WHO SAYS DALEKS AREN'T 'FUNKY'...THE SKA-LEKS FROM SKA-RO CAN EXTERMINATE AND SKANK!

A wee while before the extreme excesses of the festive season kicked in proper i accompanied my missus 'The Lovely Lynne' to a very strange boozer in Oldham in manchester to see her and the rest of the hooligans and nutters that comprise the MANCHESTER SKA FOUNDATION play a 'gig'...The pub was called a very un-pub like name...AREA 51. Which as any UFO /X-FILES buff will know is where the yanks keep all the crashed alien space ships and flying saucers as well as their alien crew members who graciously help our transatlantic cuzn's to develop weapons based on alien technology. Whereas the real AREA 51 is in the middle of the desert, our AREA 51 was down a cobbled side street round the corner from some kebab and fried chicken shops which i wouldn't have been too suprised to discover had their origins in some dead alien crew members, i'm not too well up on how many alien ships make the journey across billions of light years to land in that region, but looking at a few of the people ....Quite a few!

THE MANCHESTER SKA FOUNDATION are a really good Ska cover band ,(MADNESS, THE SPECIALS,etc) and have a really good following who do follow them around quite big distances . I've gotten to know quite a few of them ,all lovely people, but totally nuts!...I looked to the side and there was a full size DOCTOR WHO'S T.A.R.D.I.S. I thought, "My the bands reputation is spreading!" I mean the good Doctor has Gasped n' Wheezed his way through time and space to get to a little back street gig.

Even more incredulous, alongside was a real genuine DALEK...It's true music can bring people together ,even eccentric time lords and gooey slimey globules with a sore throat and lousy singing voice that live inside giant pepper pots.

But the love of music didn't end there ,as alongside was a real CYBERMAN standing placidly by his worstest enemies in the whole galaxy

It didn't end there as alongside them minding his own buisness was 'ROBBY THE ROBOT' from 'LOST IN SPACE'.....He'd found his way through space ,but was lost in Oldham, don't ask me which is better or worse.  Oldham and the AREA 51 started to pale as it proved absolutly impossible to get served at the bar. Our interstellar Ska-Fans mustn't be drinkers as they placidly stood and listened to the 'gig', meanwhile there was almost mass 'Exterminations!' at the bar as people were trying and failing miserably to get served.

Although the T.A.R.D.I.S. was there, there was no sign of the DOCTOR. I think he was inside sulking....He'd travelled through billions of years , billions of light years and couldn't even get a bloody pint of GUINNESS at the end !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVELY LYNNE.....EVEN THOUGH SHE'S GETTING ON A BIT ,SHE'S GORGEOUS AND HER SPIT VALVE STILL DOESN'T SQUEAK!!!!!

Ah t'was only the other day when the apple of my eye; My reason for living had another birthday.....Bringing her within hailing distance of my advanced years , i'm
 !Hrrruuuummmmpppphhhh!!!!",years of age,  Whereas she's a mere "Koff! Koff!, Koff!"years of age!.......So i did her this picture of her in action with her ska band THE MANCHESTER SKA FOUNDATION....Look 'em up on you tube and face book and all those funny sites that we spend what were once precious hours of our days studying what other rubbish others have put up ,so you can reply with some equally inane rubbish ,but theres some good footage of the band and my eternally young missus parping and tooting away ......I would like to point out this isn't a gastric problem due to her age ,its the sound of her trombone, admittedly it can sound like a gastric problem from people of advanced years, esspecially those with a taste for guinness!.....

For years shes played in brass bands ,swing bands ,orchestras and various groups always reading her music ,so people would ring and she could play for them that night, not a bother! For years she refused to believe she could 'play free', but over the last year with a quality bunch of players around her ,she plays and dances and even writes and plays her own solo's.

 She loves the SKA music now and is always home from her working days in Birmingham to rehearse on a Thursday. I often go ,but get fed up as i'm at the side having a drink getting knocked all over the place by the nutters who follow the band dancing n' leaping around and there is a fair following and it can get pretty wild ,but Lynne living the rock n roll and ska life loves it, ironically the sweaty effort that goes into her performance actually relaxes her and takes her mind off work and the trials n' tribulations of the daily grind.

Her bones might start creaking ,but her spitvalve on the trombone isn't squeaking yet ,so theres plenty of ska tissue in the old girl yet!

I'M A PROGRESSIVE REGRESSIVE !

I haven't always liked music ,when i was a kid i didn't particully like THE BEATLES for instance ,there were bands on the telly ,but mainly your Sandy Shaws ,Dusty Springfield, and , of course CILLA, who i'm ashamed to admit i fancied as a snotty 5 year old, but that passed as the teenage juices were formed and fermented to screw me up forever ,as far as i can tell.....52 and still seriously screwed up and proud. The telly was also flooded with your ANDY WILLIAMS,MAX BYGRAVES ,THE BATCHELORS,etc, etc ,enough to drive anyone to get out of watching music shows on the telly, and then i started listening to some records ,dont ask me why, but the first record i bought was 'MORNING HAS BROKEN, by CAT STEVENS. Followed by 'SCHOOLS OUT' by ALICE COOPER. By then i liked the 'FAB FOUR', although i hadn't got any records yet ,but time passed and i remedied this lapse in musical taste. Dad came home one night with an 8-Track player with two tapes ,can't remember one, but the other was THE WHOand although i only heard it a few times there was a couple of "Ay ,Dad put that one on again!" tracks.....It was a few years later when they released 'WHO ARE YOU' that i watched the video of them recording it in the studio and that was it !I was hooked!

As the years've ground by i've listened to most stuff . I am not particually knowledgable on music matters, but "I know what i like!"....Over the last ew years i've always likedrock guitar- based music and hated synthesisers and Moog thingies n' stuff and the keyboard pop bands, but i have developed a liking for a lot of the 60's-70's progressive rock ,mainly the main ones ,GENESIS,PINK FLOYD, YES,etc although THE LOVELY LYNNE cant stand YES' JON ANDERSON 'S singing ,admittedly it can be an aquired taste, but i must've aquired it. I love the musical half hour long tracks, i love instrument solos, but still like a good tune.

Although i like nicetunes i still like nasty stuff ,some of the PUNK ,although it was the music of the kids and all that shit  you have to admit there was an awful lot of shit out there....SID VICIOUS, etc as an example ,i loved THE SEX PISTOLS, but he was ,well!!!..

Recently i've developed a liking for the old BLUES stuff, LYNNE hates that as well. I like folk and even some COUNTRY(eeeek!!), y'awl !

I've had to develop a liking for SKA as LYNNE is in a Ska Band and i get to hear a lot ,the other day we went to see MADNESS ,and very enjoyable they was too. And ,apparently we're going to see THE SPECIALS sometime soon. 

I like a proper orchestra too after going to a few performances with lynne ,and love film music ,the soundtracks by people like JOHN BARRY, JOHN WILLIAMS, etc.

Having said i'm not a keyboard fan ,we went to see RICK WAKEMAN a while back and he was great to watch and listen to his banter between songs ,a clever fellah he is ,indeed his son is carrying the family torch as e also saw him perform with his son....on the keyboards!...

Now any day now i'll get into boy and girl bands ,HIP HOP and various music of 'DA STREETZ??' and all that fuzzy,dance DJ SHITE!......I DONT THINK! ......But for now THE WHO are the boys ,well maybe not boys, but definitly 'the dogs bollocks' ,just listen to 'MY GENERATION' from 'LIVE AT LEEDS'....I rest my case, m'lud!