Some time ago, I posted a blog on this site about my favourite year – 1966. If you are familiar with Ready Steady Gone you will be aware that the…
The Geordie Jazz Man
In 2011 I was present at a reunion of people involved in Newcastle’s club scene in the 1960s. The rendezvous took place at the Jazz Café on Pink Lane, a…
Free Mania In The Northeast
“DEE THE HUNTAH! DEE THE HUNTAH!” If you were in a northeast band for a couple of years between 1970 and 1971 or you went to gigs where local bands…
Sunderland in the Swinging Sixties
I wasn’t born in Sunderland but I lived there all through the ‘swinging sixties’, long before the town was granted its city status. I’m always fascinated by pictures and stories…
Pirates
Everyone knows that unauthorised downloading or copying of mp3s and other forms of digital music is illegal. Music piracy is nothing new, though – it actually predates the digital age…
The People’s History Of Pop
In 2016 BBC Four are to broadcast a series of documentaries entitled ‘The People’s History Of Pop’. The programmes will be about pop music from the 1950s through to the…
1966 – My Favorite Year
Since Ready Steady Gone was launched it’s had well over a quarter of a million hits. I’m guessing that most visitors to the site will be in their sixties and…
How Motown changed my life
There is a long list of singers, songwriters and musicians who say they were influenced by Motown. And it’s not just artists that grew up during Motown’s golden era of…
Saxcetera
Whatever happened to the sexy sax? Unlike guitarists, not many saxophone players outside of the jazz world have become household names. I suppose most people will have heard of Kenny…
Alnwick Revisited
In November 2010 I was given the opportunity to play at charity gig in Alnwick with a couple of my old band mates. Driving up the Great North Road through…