People from Andy's formative youth who are now dead

…and that’s the bit you CAN (just about) print.

Condolences to Zippy, George and Bungle.

Glad to hear I wasn’t the only overage fan of this show.

Ray Sawyer is off to see Sylvia’s Mother. R.I.P.

Probably Off Topic even for this Off Topic topic but I was greatly saddened to learn today of the untimely passing of Dianne Oxberry on the 10th January.

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I remember her doing the weather reports when I lived down on Merseyside. Sad to die quite young like that.

Nicely said, Neil. Ray’s voice will long live on the oldies radio. R.I.P.

Boo! Hiss! Now Paul Darrow, who played Avon in Blake’s Seven, has left us aged 78.

Here he is with arch nemesis Servalan (who died 9 months back, see a few posts up.)

sevalan-avon

© BBC 1978?

Now Rutger Hauer has left us like ‘tears in the rain’. Hauer most memorable role was as Roy Batty in Bladerunner, a film that was de riguer when I were a young 'un at university.

Remember he saw C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate.

I’m off to give a Voight-Kampf test to someone.

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JOE LONGTHORNE MBE 1955-2019

The initial line in this thread says “Completely off-topic for SOTA…”. Well not in my case, not in this case. When I first saw this great entertainer on the TV in my teenage years, I’d have never have imagined that over 30 years later I’d be in his band, writing his orchestrations, recording his album and touring with him.

But it was the latter - the touring - that was my greatest thrill. I found a way to combine it with SOTA, and in fact the tour schedules actually facilitated the opportunities to do much more activating, and over a much wider geographical area.

On the first day of a run of tour dates, I would set off early and activate something that was reasonably en route to the theatre. If there was no summit en route, I would do The Cloud G/SP-015 or Gun G/SP-013 (or both) at the very start of my journey.

Then while away, while the rest of the band and crew would be having a lie-in, a late breakfast and a mooch around whatever town we were staying in, I would be up with the larks and off to find a summit to activate. Theatres in Essex, London and the Home Counties meant that I saw a lot of places like Wendover Woods G/CE-005 and Detling Hill G/SE-013. But consecutive tour dates in (say) Portsmouth and Southend-on-Sea would throw up a surprisingly large number of SOTA options along the South Downs.

Heading up to Scotland, which we did regularly due to Joe’s huge popularity up there, meant a lovely selection to choose from while driving up the M6 through Cumbria, and if then coming from GM down to Leeds or Hull, there would be the G/SB, G/TW and G/NP summits to choose from.

I renewed my YHA membership as this was a good option for cheap digs while on the road, in nicer places than some of the grotty holes the other band members were staying in, and closer to the hills ready for my next day’s adventures. My XYL Marianne - if there was a gap day with no show while on the road - always encouraged me to stay out, and treat myself to a day off on the hills, rather than burn a load of fuel and money getting home for one night.

My SOTA antics became part of the show. Usually, the first we would see of Joe on any gig day was when he actually walked out on stage! He would come over to my riser, usually about 6 or 7 songs into the show. He would tell the audience “This is Tom, our bass player and arranger, and he also climbs mountains. Where’ve you been today Tom?” Joe was very sharp and could improvise a joke from whatever weird and wonderful summit name I threw at him! His facial expression was priceless at The Brunton in Musselburgh when I told him I’d been up Arthur’s Seat.

It was well-known that Joe had been battling various forms of cancer continuously for 38 years. He had incredible courage, fight and positivity all the time. We all got routinely used to him beating his battles and getting back on stage within days - so this has come as the biggest shock to us all.

He was one of the most lovely, kind, considerate and caring human beings I’ve ever met. He was a brilliant vocalist and entertainer, lovely to work with, but more importantly we became very close friends. He even welcomed my son Liam into his Blackpool home for a recording session in his studio. You may have heard Liam’s rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage-Eclipse” that I have used as background music for SOTA-related videos I’ve posted on here. That was recorded at Joe’s house, with the session musicians being Joe’s band.

We lost Joe at 2am on Saturday morning, 3rd August 2019. R.I.P. my dear friend.

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Oh noes… Larry “The Mole” Taylor who played bass with Canned Heat for many years has joined the choir invisible.

Here he is, almost exactly 50 years to the day, playing at Woodstock.

I’ll pip you to this one, Andy: Ginger Baker, the drummer with Cream, has just passed at the age of eighty. To my mind his style was more like a jazz drummer than a rock metronome but YMMV.

…and with Graham Bond Organisation (also with Jack Bruce I think). Coincidentally I have been transcribing and learning Eric Clapton bass parts this week for a tribute festival in Bahrain in a fortnight. Not taking a radio…

He went through bands faster than Henry VIII went through wives, and usually left a trail of wreckage!

There are a few excellent “rock world” drummers who are jazz influenced. Bill Bruford, Neal Peart, Ginger Baker to name 3.

As for Jack Bruce, I kick myself regularly for not rearranging some commitments so that I could have gone and seen him when he was touring with Robin Trower and Gary Husband.

Nice tributes to Ginger by Geddy Lee and Neil Peart on Rush’s Facebook page. :slight_smile:

Now the Urban Spaceman has departed! Neil Innes RIP.

I saw he had died a week or so back but never considered him “one of mine”. Though The Rutles was quite funny.

So was the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, but I hadn’t realised that he wrote the musical sketches for the Pythons!

Neil Peart was only mentioned a few posts above. Sad news. My favourite example of “morse music”:

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I wondered how I could have missed this news till I saw it was just breaking now!

I kept missing Rush when they visited the UK so I only caught them once.

Just watching La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise In Self-indulgence) on Youtube (Rush - La Villa Strangiato - YouTube) and I thought wow they look young there. I can remember hearing it for the 1st time when I borrowed the album from a schoolmate. Hard to believe it was 41 years ago, stills sounds fresh. I was never one for drum solos but I do like powerful drumming with plenty of rolls and fills.

I’ll be giving this a proper airing tomorrow on the big hifi.

RIP Neil

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Derek Fowlds 1937 - 2020

In truth my sister, who is 5 years older than me, was a bigger Basil Brush than I was.

RIP Mr. Derek.