Tea time

I  can count the number of songs about superheroes from Barnsley written and performed by folk musicians from Barnsley on the fingers of one finger. Likewise such a song being covered by a children's choir also hailing from said South Yorkshire town. Step forward then Kate Rusby, for it is she, and the BYC Junior Choir (4-7 year olds) who sing their hearts out in this fabulous ode to a Yorkshire Tea drinking titan.

Kate Rusby - Big Brave Bill (2016) 

 

Not just a great cover version, check out too the kids' marvellous costumes & actions. And shameless product placement!

Um Bongo

It wasn't till I trawled through my back pages that I discovered the last time I saw Kid Congo was way back in 2010. Yet seeing him again on Saturday night it was like he'd just walked back in the room after, I don't know, making a phone call. OK, maybe he was a bit greyer and, yes, sporting a few more lines around his eyes (perhaps it was a longer than average phone call) but he was still Kid* Congo. And still as urbane as ever. Still as punchy. And just as tight as he ever was. His disciples had turned up in their droves to see one of his all too infrequent UK appearances at Nottingham's legendary Boat Club and they weren't disappointed. Oh, and he was wearing a rather fetching jacket**. Here he is from a few years back over at Seattle's KEXP.

Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds - Live on KEXP (2014)

 

* Maybe that's the thing about Kids; isn't Kid Jensen still a Kid despite his advancing years on whatever Smashie & Nicey classic station he's currently at the helm of? 

** About that jacket - here it is in colour.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

My London based travel companion had been keen to firm up an itinerary for my visit to the capital last week. After a few WhatsApp exchanges we decided that North London would be a fertile manor in which to expend some serious shoe leather. I was keen to get some altitude to enable a few skyline shots. Every time I get off the train down there they've thrown up at least one new mile-high glass & chrome skyscraper since my last sortie; it's always good to document the changing vista. However, long story short, that only works when there's a vista to be had: thick cloud cover and sideways rain meant that visibility on Friday was measured not in miles but feet and inches. The photographs above and below captured what you could see from the Archway Bridge looking towards the city. Need I say more? If you want to see the kind of commanding views this particular vantage point would normally afford, take a look at January's Photo Challenge and scroll down to David Willoughby's amazing pics taken from the exact same spot.

Anyway, did a bit of rain stop my travel companion and I from having, in the words of Nick Heyward, a fantastic day? No, it did not. Twenty thousand steps*, some great stories, a couple of quirky coffee houses (and a crazy lady to boot), we laughed off the inclemency and just got on with our adventure. File under 'always take the weather with you'.  

* Not to be confused with leagues under the sea.

Farmed out

It should have come as no surprise to anyone that when Squeeze recently went into the Radio 2 Piano Lounge to play the tried and tested format - a three song set comprising two originals and a cover - that they should have chosen a Beatle related number; Glenn Tilbrook & Chris Difford have carried the surrogate Lennon & McCartney tag around with them for well over forty years; so when they saddled up to play a Macca penned power pop classic all bets were off. Junior's Farm is a diamond in the rough. At the back end of 1974 McCartney had just recruited Jimmy McCulloch on lead guitar who would go on to play on the Venus & Mars album followed by the mammoth Wings Over America tour and accompanying triple live album. This sounds like it was a contender for V&M but Macca put it out as a single instead. And what a single. If this doesn't get your pulse racing then you're probably dead.

Squeeze - Junior's Farm (2026)

Do you want a flake in that?

Reliant

I discovered Kieran Gabriel's artwork on Instagram. I say' discovered' - save for the briefest of bios on his website I know next to nothing about him. Originally from Merseyside and now living in London he uses light, shadow and form, working within the familiar scenes of everyday life and "aims to evoke memories and the nostalgia that lies within the significance of insignificant things." Sounds a bit pithy but I think you'll agree his work is kind of special. Who else could make a Reliant Robin look sexy?

Towers

And the brutalist imagery he conjures up on these blocks of flats almost makes me want to live in them. How does he do that? This is pure psychogeography with a side order of Mary, Mungo & Midge.

Ninety Nine

And I have lived on streets like this. I've seen that sky on a scorching hot afternoon. I've seen that ice cream van. We've all seen that ice cream van.

But this, for me, is the clincher; as soon as I knew he'd painted those iconic services on the M6 I was well and truly reeled in. I've photographed Forton many times, though never from this angle. Now I've got to go back. Again. 

Forton Services