Thunderbirds are blue. And red. And yellow. And green. And purple...

We live in a very monochromatic age. Vast swathes of apparel, furnishings, cars even, are increasingly produced in varying shades of black, white and grey. However, it wasn't always thus; take American automobiles for instance. One look at this Ford colour chart from 1955 would be enough to convince you that Henry Ford had come a long way since his 'you can have any colour you like as long as it's black' mantra. Goldenrod Yellow, Waterfall Blue, Tropical Rose, Torch Red, Buckskin Brown and Regency Purple to name but a few of the vibrant colours you could order your next T-Bird in.

Speaking of T-Birds, imagine my delight at seeing a 1955 Ford Thunderbird parked outside my (spiritual) local on Thursday evening. Looking very sexy in its Thunderbird Blue (or is it Sea Sprite Green?) livery. (Definitely not Teal.)

I blame Dr. Who

Thérèse Bonney (1894-1978)

Not for the first time do I find my self returning to the subject of mannequins. In fact we even featured them in Photo Challenge May 2024. In the same way that I find clowns and ventriloquist dummies menacing, so the inanimate human doppelgängers found in millions of shop windows the world over have a tendency to, if not chill me to the marrow, haunt me in my darkest dreams. (I blame Dr. Who.)

Thérèse Bonney was a photographer of great repute. Born in New York in the late 19th century she was heralded for her depictions of children on the Russian-Finnish Front in WW2. Much of her work can be found in the Smithsonian; whether or not the following images of hers can be found there, I can't say for sure. However, for me, I find them far more shocking than any war photography.

Alive!

When Peter Kenneth Frampton first released his single Show Me the Way in June 1975 it fell flat on its arse. Lifted off his fourth solo album Frampton (which also included Baby, I Love Your Way) it gained zero traction. Only when he toured the album and released his Frampton Comes Alive double album the following February did it get under the skin of every FM radio station within a five thousand mile radius. Show Me the Way was the album's lead single and, basically, cemented Frampton's career. Listening to the original version from '75 without the crowd whooping and hollering is quite strange - you're almost hearing it with a sense of loss. Watching him play it acoustically many years later without a crowd going ballistic, his flowing locks or his famous talkbox is another experience altogether; kind of endearing, but at the same time, a tad deflating.

Peter Frampton (with Gordon Kennedy) - Show Me the Way

 

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 Ever wondered how the (now patented) Framptone works?

Feel the Teal

I've mentioned teal before; when you talk about Weezer's various colour coded albums it's hard not to. What I didn't explain last time was how the colour was named. It's no great mystery - it's actually named after the Eurasian Teal duck - with its flash of green/blue on its head. The first mention of it as a colour, however, is relatively recent (1917); the Teal itself goes back a lot further, obviously, and was first scientifically named in 1758. 

As you know I love a flag, and if you study the back issues of Are We There Far you'll see numerous specimens. An interesting example with teal in its make up is the Mozambique flag. I'm very taken with it and in particular the five pointed star/book/hoe/AK-47 machine gun combo; a heady mix, I think you'll agree.

Teal is also the colour of many of the world's oceans, the predominant colour of the Northern Lights, Quaker parrots, Blue Racer snakes and the main identifier of Blue Bottle flies.

In addition to Weezer you'll also find it on a whole host of album covers including Nirvana's Nevermind, Tommy by the Who and AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. It's also the colour of my watch.

The only game in town

I forget just how long* I've been hanging on to Phil Cooper's coat tails; long enough to know he's one of the most talented singer-songwriters around and certainly one of the best discoveries I've made in all the years I've been blogging. (And, in the immortal words of Donny Osmond, that's a long, long time.)

The fact that he hails from Bristol and that he's got a brand new album in the shops chimes in perfectly with this year's BlogCon meet-up in the heart of Brizzle (you fancy playing a little pub gig for us, Mr. Cooper?!). 'Playing Solitaire' is jam packed with some beautiful and intricate songs that expose a side of Phil we've rarely seen before. Several songs are quite raw and introspective yet it's still balanced with an underlying wave of positivity. The whole thing appears to have been recorded very sparsely, with primarily just one voice and one guitar - and none the worse for that. It's an album I've been playing the hell out of since it dropped a couple of weeks ago and could well be on the podium come my end of year roundup. My standout track? I'm gonna go for this five and a bit minute slice of homespun wisdom...

Phil Cooper - Beauty in the Cracks (2025) 

 

Phil Cooper · Beauty In The Cracks

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 For all things Phil Cooper check out his website.

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 * At least since 2018.