I'm John Medd (no alias for this boy!)

Gonna need a bigger pocket

(On the back of my recent BlogCon25 Q&As, Alyson & C, between them, have been vox popping our fellow bloggers and have presented me with a number of their questions! (The tables are well and truly turned. I'm sure Robin Day never suffered such a fate). So, as Alyson said in her covering email, "this is a guest post from your blogging pals." Even the title of today's post is hers, nothing to do with me! - JM)

I think we can all agree that John is the least anonymous of any of us in our little corner of the blogosphere. Bit by bit, however, he has cleverly and sensitively drawn the rest of us out from the shadows, and what with the Swedey McSwedeface gallery, and the three meet-ups in the real world, many of us are now a lot less anonymous than we ever intended - but what a joy it has been, and for most of us a completely unexpected bonus from this hobby of ours. Covid got in the way for a couple of years but without John's persistence BlogCon22 would never have got off the ground and for that we thank him. BlogCon25 is not far off now - who would have thought ten years ago such an annual event would be on the calendar? We've all been enjoying his recent Q&A series with BlogCon25 participants and affiliates. Now it's his turn to spill the beans, the questions coming from bloggers north, south, east and west. Over to you John.

From Charity Chic: What would be your Desert Island Disc record and book? 

As a devotee of BBC's DID I'm assuming CC is asking me which of my favourite eight discs I'd rush to save from the waves on my desolate island? Having a constant diet of just eight discs would be a kind of torture in itself, let alone just one. Therefore, as big a Beatles nut as I am I wouldn't feel the need to have any of their stuff with me as every note, every hook, every verse, chorus and melody are hardwired into my skull; I hear them even when they're not playing if that makes sense. So I'll go with something that won't grate every time I hear it (providing I get rescued before too long!). And that disc would have to be Blockbuster by the Sweet. My book? That's easy. The complete works of Magnus Mills. I can reread his novels and short stories and always find something new in there. 

From Ernie: You are commissioned to present a travel series called 'Medd on the Med'. Where do you head for first and why?

I'm reliably informed there are 33 cities on the Med. I'd like to spend a few days in each one and go round them all in alphabetical order (much to my producer's chagrin) - starting in Alanya in Turkey and winding up in Vlorë in Albania.

From C: As you know, I do like your taste in shirts. Have you always been a fan of unusual and striking designs and are there any particular characters whose sartorial style has inspired your choices? 

Why, thank you! Nope, I just buy shirts I like (and fit). Back in the day, I used to love Pop 84 and Disciple shirts; these days they can be from goth shops, charity shops, Ebay. I'm not proud! Many moons ago, whilst watching Have I Got News For You, I was chuffed/put out (in equal measure) when I saw Paul Merton wearing a shirt I'd recently bought in Madrid. 

From Khayem: What, when and where did you first perform as a musician to an audience, and why that particular song?

It was the early 90s and I was performing in a trio called The Three Daves (don't ask). We played a local beer festival in a big tent to a crowd who were nearly as drunk as we were. I was on vocals, guitar and percussion. We did a load of Beatles covers but for some reason I can only remember Across the Universe. 

From The Swede: The old time machine is on its way out I'm afraid. I've tried turning it off and on again to no avail, it's basically kaput. It has two seats, but only three still operating settings and just enough juice left for you to make use of one of them. Which do you choose? (a) A journey back to 1972 to witness ELP play Trilogy in its entirety, exclusively for you and a guest, (b) A similar trip to 1974 to be in an audience of two while Sweet play Sweet Fanny Adams from start to finish, or (c) To 1978 where Generation X will bash through their debut LP for the delectation of you and your +1. The supplementary question is of course, just who would be your +1? 

Oof! This is tough. So when you say a performance just for me and my +1 you mean like a soundcheck? Sorry to be pedantic. Three very appealing scenarios but I think I'd have to plump for the Sweet; I never saw the original four piece with BC so, yeah, it'd have to be SFA. My +1? It would be my good friend Steve. Even now, rarely a week goes by where we don't talk about the Sweet. (FYI - if I'd have gone for Gen X my +1 would have been Riggsby. We did see them at West Runton Pavilion together in '78 when they essentially did the setlist you mention (it'd be great to relive it). And if I'd have set the coordinates for ELP then the Swede would have been riding shotgun with me.) 

The Sweet - Blockbuster (1973)

From Alyson: We all know you have a great love for photography and taking artistic shots. What was the first camera you bought with your own money and what did you first take pictures of? 

As a teen I had an instamatic that I took everywhere, including Charlton in 1976 when I saw The Who. Then came a cheap and cheerful 110 film camera - quality was poor but I was only snapping cars and girlfriends so it didn't really matter!. It was only when I discovered 35mm SLR photography that I 'got serious': I bought a clunky East German Praktica MTL3 which was virtually indestructible. Not long after I also got my first Olympus XA2 (point and shoot) which meant candid photography became so much easier.  

From Martin: You write, you make music, you take photographs... if a Faustian pact was offered that promised widespread critical and commercial acclaim in one of those fields but at the expense of having to completely give up the other two, permanently, would you take it? And, if so, which field would you choose to be a star in, and why? 

You flatter me, Martin! However, I only profess to be a jack of all trades. Neither my writing, my photography or my music, I feel, (with a couple of exceptions*) is good enough to warrant plaudits. I'm just happy that 1. I still enjoy doing all three and 2. (Sometimes) others seem to enjoy it too. * That said, there are a couple songs of mine I would really like to see 'out there' i.e. with someone else singing them. Maybe one day... 

From Rol: Imagine the Beeb bought your script about Lennon & McCartney back in 2009, and as a result, Sir Thumbs Aloft himself invited you round for tea. What would you talk about? Would you be embarrassed to meet him? Would you try to think up some questions nobody had ever asked him? What would you wear?

Good question(s)! I'd try not to be a fanboy, but it'd be hard. I think I'd like to talk to him about John and Stuart Sutcliffe: the best Beatle stories, for me, are of those early days in Liverpool and Hamburg when they were being managed by Allan Williams. I'd probably wear my Monkees tee shirt. 

From Swiss Adam: My question is in honour of the Manchester's 90s dance music magazine Jockey Slut who used to close every Q and A with this question... Have you ever ridden a horse? 

Yes. And it didn't end well.

Thanks, John, for your entertaining series of Q&As and thanks also for taking the time to answer our questions above. I think we all knew the Sweet would put in an appearance.

* 

(Thank you, Alyson. And to all my inquisitors! Just a quick footnote: remind me, TS, when we meet up, to give you a copy of the owners' manual for the time machine. It probably just needs its annual service - JM.) 

Chasing Rainbows

Much has been written (and is still being written as we speak) about the year just gone; for once it won't just be historians who will end up poring over the events of 2021 - last year was a game-changer for so many of us. I only have to read my fellow bloggers' posts from the last 12 months to realise that for some they know, they actually know, their old lives will never come back. And it's true. You can't step in the same river twice.

And I'm no different. Like a lot of people, 2021 changed me. But I still go to bed each night and list three good things that have happened to me that day (I still like to chase rainbows); tho' some days are easier than others. As usual I sought solace in books: Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being and a bunch of Chekhov short stories have helped: like someone holding your hand on a long walk. And music; always music. Tunes - tons and tons of tunes - many of which have been played and talked about here in the last few months. A lot of you will know that I resurrected my vinyl sessions earlier this year* - two really successful nights in October and November followed by a break in December and we're back raring to go later this month. We'll be listening to - and talking about - Elvis Costello's debut from 1977 - 'My Aim Is True'. The orange vinyl below is a three track sampler we'll be playing as part of the Elvis night. It's an American 12" import and as well as Costello's 'Radio, Radio' it's also got Mink DeVille's 'Soul Twist' and Nick Lowe's 'Cruel to be Kind' on there. The yellow vinyl on the left was a Crimbo present: Curse of Lono's 'People in Cars'.

* Like something out of a Magnus Mills** novel, my old Sunday Vinyl became Monday Vinyl. And from January this year we will become, wait for it, Thursday Vinyl; I know, I think I've out-Mills'd Mills!

** I gave a copy of The Forensic Records Society to my good friend, Vladka, and scribbled in it: "It may not be Chekhov, but I think you'll like it." Turns out she does... 

Shed Seven - Chasing Rainbows (1998)

.....

It's customary at this point to offer up a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by last year; even if you don't leave a comment I'm so glad you took the time. I started this blog way back in 2010 (who remembers 'Even Monkeys Fall out of Trees'?) when the world was a completely different place. Twelve years later and, despite everything, I'm still here. I may not be as prolific these days (who is?) but I do still get that thrill when faced with a blank page and just half an idea about what my next 500 words will be about. And, as we all know, the future is unwritten...

Happy New Year!

John x

Bookish

You may be forgiven for thinking today was just another lockdown day; another identikit Thursday - if Thursdays even mean anything anymore. But today was World Book Day; no, I'm not sure what that means in the context of a global pandemic either. I guess it's all about promoting books, bookshops, writers, writing, reading and anything remotely bookish. With most kids not even in school at the moment I don't know how this year's event reached younger readers. By Zoom, I guess. Like everything else.

For what it's worth I'm currently reading Anne Tyler's The Amateur Marriage and am also dipping in and out of Henry Normal's latest poetry anthology. Oh, and I've just ordered the new Magnus Mills. 

...

If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to know what you're reading right now...

My Life in 10 Objects (#10)

I was certainly standing on the shoulders of giants when I commissioned myself to write this homage series; the idea that there are 10 objects I'd run into a burning building to rescue is really nothing more than me storing my thoughts in a safe place so that I can maybe look at them again when my memory maybe isn't as sharp as it is now. Which, in all honesty, is probably why, a decade after I started, I regularly update this journal, this web log. (Without getting too deep here, I'm not afraid of dying; but I am afraid of getting old; there, I've said it. When I look back at my life thus far I often think that much of it happened to somebody else, not me; a version of me, but not the me I recognise through the lens of 2020.)

But I digress. I said at the outset of this project that I would also mention the items that didn't make the cut. Of course I can't possibly list all the trinkets that have come into my possession over the last six decades. But here are a few that just missed the crucial cut off: my paperback copy of Magnus Mills' All Quiet on the Orient Express; my guitar; the bagatelle Santa put in my sack in 1966; a square of my Nanna's sewing; a set of Beatles autographs (fakes, but I don't care); one of my (many) watches; my mother's music box; the mixing bowl I use to make bread. All precious to me, but not as precious as this.

I've wanged on about this band quite a lot around here so, I won't bore you any further; suffice it to say this is my last item and these are the stats.

What's it called? Block Buster!

Who's it by? The Sweet

When and where purchased? January 1973/Grantham Market

How much? 25p

Number of plays? 17,550 in its first year alone*

Has there ever been a better single released since? Hell, no!

Will it be going in my coffin with me? Of course

* That's a very precise number, I hear you say. But I reckon I listened to it at least 50 times a day thru 1973 (less my two week holiday in Ireland). So, I make that (365 -14) x 50 = 17,550.

Textbook

My admiration of Magnus Mills is unbridled. Show me a better writer and I can see we'll be looking for the nearest branch of Burtons.

His new novel, The Forensic Records Society, landed on the doormat yesterday; I started it this morning after breakfast and already it's shaping up to be a classic. When a couple of music buffs decide to start a record listening club in the backroom of their local pub on a Monday evening, it's not long till a counter group forms - meeting in the same pub on a Tuesday; textbook Mills.

Did I ever tell you that he once wrote me a postcard? I've just dug it out of my copy of Mills' The Scheme For Full Employment. Nesbitt is a character from same, in case you were wondering.

Dear Keith,

I've never written a fan letter. But there are two I wished I had penned. Too late now, both would be recipients are on the other side: George Harrison, a frequent cameo stalwart of this blog, and Keith Waterhouse. And who, to the best of my knowledge, never met.

 Keith Waterhouse the Leeds born writer and (some would say) inventor of the liquid lunch was a wordsmith who could turn his typewriter to novels, short stories, screenplays, TV, newspaper columns and still be back in the pub for last orders.

 If I had scribbled a few words to him I would told him that from the day his seminal Billy Liar appeared on our English Language O Level Sylabus I've never not had a book on the go. In fact, I'm currently rereading Office Life: a A Waterhouse novel from 1978 which, I'm sure Magnus Mills used as the template for his The Scheme For Full Employment. But he was so much more than Billy Liar (not that he needed me to tell him that); scriptwriter for The Frost Report, That Was The Week That Was and Whistle Down The Wind gained him serious credibility in the 60s. And, with his good friend and co-writer Willis Hall, came up with one of the 70s most memorable TV series - Budgie. Adam Faith brought their script alive and depicted a seedy and down at heel Soho while still giving its characters - Budgie Bird and Charlie Endell - and their surroundings a rich and multilayered veneer. Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell proved he had lost none of his magic and later novels like Bimbo, Our Song and Palace Pier were among his best ever. The latter possibly being the finest depiction of Brighton after Patrick Hamilton's West Pier. Looking back, it's probably just as well I didn't write. It may have left one or both of us feeling a little foolish. Maybe I should have just bought him a drink instead. Cheers Keith.

 .

Taking a reading

Six months ago I set up a Book Club. We're known as The Sun Readers; meeting monthly in The Sun Inn, what else could we have called ourselves? We're a merry band of readers who between us have an eclectic taste in all things literary. Everyone gets to have a say (we never stand on ceremony) and it's always fun to pull the pin on an idea, lob it into the group and watch the sparks fly. Does the beer stimulate the conversation? Maybe. Do we take ourselves too seriously? Definitely not. Are we brutally honest about our reading experience(s)? Always.

So who have we read? Magnus Mills, Edward Rutherfurd, Julian Barnes, A D Wilson, Henning Mankell and George Orwell thus far. After a rigorous discussion we always close the evening with the scores on the doors - Barnes' Sense Of An Ending is shading it at the moment closely followed by Wilson's Snowdrops and The Scheme For Full Employment by Magnus Mills. Paramedics had to be called to The Sun Inn last week, such was the ferocity of the kicking Henning Mankell received for his non-Wallander dirge - Kennedy's Brain. He'll survive.

We also have a sub-branch: when friends from Nottingham came over  a couple of months ago they took the idea back with them and now, complete with a couple of new recruits, read along with us and email their pithy reviews and all important marks out of 10. If anyone would like to be one of our 'distance readers' we're currently reading The Road To Wigan Pier, followed by Fannie Flagg's Can't Wait To Get to Heaven.


Any excuse to shoehorn Ringo (or a Ringo lookakikey) into my Blog

On The Buses

It started as a murmur and now appears to be getting louder. I refer to the current crop of blogs in which the great and the good seem to be falling out of love with the novel. Can this be true? Have our attention spans really been wiped so that all we can manage is the sports page of the paper and the occasional glossy? Now this humble outpost has never had any literary aspirations, however, I'm always on the look out for a good read, a new author, something that will capture my imagination. And the blogeratti always come good - I'm thinking of The Word's 'A Night In With' in particular.

So now I'd like to return the favour. Magnus Mills has a knack of creating ordinary characters, living ordinary lives, and observing them like we would observe leaf cutter ants in the garden. Novels like The Restraint Of Beasts and All Quiet On The Orient Express find Mills turning the prosaic into mini masterpieces. But the one I'd recommend to everyone is The Maintenance Of Headway. Taking a bunch of bus drivers and watching their every turn (quite literally) will transport you headlong into Mills' parallel universe. From The Arch to The Bejewelled Thoroughfare. To a world where the timetable is king. It's less than 200 pages and Amazon are practically giving it away. Like I said to Cocktails and ISBW - what have you got to lose?