The Yardbirds: I'm a Man

When David Bowie died local newspapers scrambled to find a local angle on the story.

The Leicester Mercury did rather better, reprinting a rather sniffy review from 1973 of a concert he gave at De Montfort Hall:

He's become the figurehead of a new phase of rock sub-culture with its transvestitism and glitter trappings. There are those who have dubbed the Bowie-Roxy-Cooper glam-rock as the decadence preceding the demise of rock. 

But I can't believe that Bowie or his followers really take the Gay Liberation bit seriously. 

Certainly the man himself seemed to have his tongue firmly placed in cheek throughout last night's performance as he pouted and minced his way through all the best numbers from his exceptionally fine last four albums. 

Bowie has brought show-biz back to rock with a vengeance, and judging from last night's hysterical response, the younger fans are only too eager to accept the theatrical trappings that their elder brothers and sisters once rejected. 

But the Larry Grayson aspect is just a pose - albeit a highly successful one. Bowie has become Ziggy Stardust - the focal character of one of his songs. 

'The music' I can hear some of you saying. What about the music? Good point. Well to be frank, there's nothing new about that. It's mostly rough and raucous rock, power-pop as Pete Townsend calls it. The sound is based on Mick Ronson's strident rasping chord work with bass Trev Bolder and drummer Woody Woodmansey providing perfect support for Bowie's strong Anthony Newleyish vocals. 

Bowie's biggest recent hit for example, "Jean Genie" is a straight rip-off of the Yardbirds' 'I'm a Man', and last night Bowie performed the song with even more of an R and B flavour, swapping harmonica with Ronson's lead work just like Keith Relf and Becky used to do. 

But the music's not important. Presentation is what today's rock is all about, and no-one could complain about that last night.

I'm not sure you would get such an opinionated review in a local paper today, and that is a shame.

There was also a good letter published in the paper yesterday from someone who attended this concert as a 15-year-old:

I am sure if you talk to anyone present on that night they will have the same opinion: it was the gig of a lifetime. Those of us who loved Bowie are gutted at his passing in a way that non-believers can never understand. He, for me, was the man that opened my eyes to all art in a way my teachers never could. 

It is true to say that every book I have chosen to read, every painting admired, every play, show, ballet and gig that I have attended since that June evening in 1973 owe something to it for the beautiful spark it ignited. 

Thank you, David, your show was life-changing and life-enhancing and it took place in the city I love.

Anyway, thanks to that 1973 reviewer, here are The Yardbirds with "I'm a Man".

There is an earlier, live version with Eric Clapton, but I can't find it online, so here is Becky (as I have never heard Jeff Beck called before). The link with "Jean Genie" is obvious.

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Barbara Windsor and Murray Melvin talk about Sparrows Can't Sing

Joan Littlewood was a renowned theatre director but made only one feature film. Sparrows Can’t Sing was released in 1962.

Here two of the film's stars, Barbara Windsor and Murray Melvin, talk about the experience of making it.

Among the subjects they touch on are working with Littlewood, the Kray twins, Stephen Lewis (Blakey from On the Buses, who wrote the play on which the film was based) and Queenie Watts.

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Keith Vaz changes his mind on Trident. Again

Embed from Getty Images

Eager to support his new leader, Keith Vaz tells the Leicester Mercury that Jeremy Corbyn has persuaded him it is right to scrap Britain's nuclear deterrent:

"He's made it very clear when he's prime minister he's not going to be able to use these weapons so what's the point of having them.

"I've known Jeremy Corbyn, all the years I've been in Parliament. I'm sure he will use his persuasive skill in order to put these views forward. 

"I've changed my mind on Trident and I've been persuaded by the things that he's said."

I find this puzzling. The first time I came across Vaz was when he was the Labour candidate for Richmond and Barnes in the 1983 general election.

During the campaign (or perhaps shortly before the election was called) I attended a debate on nuclear weapons organised by the local churches.

All three candidates took part - as well as Vaz there was Jeremy Hanley (Conservative) and Alan Watson (Liberal Alliance).

And Keith Vaz proposed that Britain should unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons.

I suspect that Vaz's always has the same beliefs on Britain's nuclear deterrent as his leader - whether that view is for it or against.

Note that today agreeing with Jeremy Corbyn is not the same thing as agreeing with Labour policy.

Later. Thanks to Troy for tweeting this old advertisement. It confirms my memory of Vaz's views on defence in those days...

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Trevor Eve remembers Shoestring and Robert Banks Stewart

Robert Banks Stewart, creator of Shoestring and much else, died yesterday.

By chance I found this interview a few days ago. In it Trevor Eve remembers Banks Stewart and making the series.

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A bird's-eye view of Ludlow and the Teme

Thanks to the Shropshire Star for leading me to this video.

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I have been blocked by Nick Rushton, Conservative leader of Leicestershire County Council

How very strange!

On Tuesday I reprinted Nick Rushton's statement in full. (He explained that his Twitter account had been taken over by a hacker who had misused that access to follow a number of risque accounts and Harborough Conservatives.)

Today I find I have been blocked by him.

What is the point of issuing a statement if you don't want people to reproduce it?

I would have thought that, following the saga of their previous leader David Parsons, Leicestershire Conservatives would have realised the imporance of open government.

But even if you not been blocked, this is what you see...

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Six of the Best 566

MediaMasters has a cracking interview on Labour and political communication with Gordon Brown's former spin doctor Damian McBride.

"Recess is a lot more than just a free break for kids to play after lunch period. That free, unstructured play time allows kids to exercise and helps them focus better when they are in class. Now a school in Texas says it took a risk by giving students four recess periods a day, but the risk has paid off beautifully." Elizabeth Licata brings news from Fort Worth.

Lion & Unicorn on cautious welcomes.

"It’s time we authors were paid, not in promises of better sales and high profiles, but in money. Yes, actual cash. Is that too much to ask?" Guy Walters complains that literary festivals expect writers to work for nothing.

Andrew Hickey pays tribute to the great Roy Wood and in particular his LP Boulders, which was recorded earlier but released in 1973.

The names proposed for Crossrail's stations are all wrong, argues John Elledge.

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