David Bowie - Five Years ( gone )

"Something happened on the day he died"

"News guy wept and told us..."

"We could be Heroes just for one day"

"Gotta make way for the Homo Superior"

Purple Reign

"I was dreaming when I wrote this / Forgive me if it goes astray / But when I woke up this morning / Coulda sworn it was judgement day"

It was a year ago today that the world lost Prince Rogers Nelson, the pint-sized musical genius whose songs were the soundtrack to so many people's lives. Whether it was the early perv-funk of Dirty Mind, the rock histrionics of When Doves Cry, the '60s pop of Raspberry Beret or the social commentary of Sign O The Times, Prince had a song and a style for every occasion. In the mid to late eighties if you were into American R&B / dance it often felt like there were only two ultimate choices  -  Michael Jackson or Prince. Jacko of course was one of the biggest stars in the world, a phenomenal singer and dancer with a shed-load of pop classics to his name, but he never captured my imagination like Prince did. Prince always seemed cooler, edgier and more self-mocking and weirder than MJ   -  of course we didn't know at the time just how weird Jacko really was!

I remember seeing photos of Prince in music mags in the early '80s, in his dodgy flasher-mac and underwear phase, but not actually hearing his music until the likes of 1999 and Little Red Corvette hit the charts. However, it was the Purple Rain album that really did it for me. An exciting, over the top collision of rock and R&B, this was the record that Prince used to grab the mainstream audience by the unmentionables. Hugely, insanely over-produced with pounding beats, squealing guitar solos and packed with hits ( the title track, When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy ), this album was an absolute monster. Just don't mention the terrible film! My mate Paul ( Death Planet Commandos drummer ) and I played the Purple Rain album to death at ear-frazzling volumes and it became an obsession for us  -  before being replaced by other musical obsessions involving Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Beastie Boys. I was now officially a Prince fan and followed his career for many years until his star began to wane in the '90s. At one point Paul and I had tickets to see the Purple One at Wembley Arena but there was some trouble with the local council over the gig's licence and it was cancelled, so that was my one chance to see Prince lost. I really should have made more of an effort to see him on a later tour...

And now, of course, it's too late. Although Prince's latter career saw him endlessly regurgitating inferior takes on his original funksplosions, he will always be remembered as that singing, dancing, twirling, guitar-playing Sexy MF who always partied like it was 1999...

Are you ( Doctor Who ) Experienced?

2017 will prove to be something of a bitter-sweet year for Doctor Who fans: there will be 13 new episodes this year ( yay! ) which will lead up to the swan-song of the wonderful Peter Capaldi ( boo! ), while this Summer will sadly see the closure of the equally-wonderful Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff ( double boo! )...

We've visited the DWE many times over its five-year existence and always had a great time, exploring its dazzling array of Doctor Who props, monsters, sets and general Gallifreyan goodness. In fact we all went down to Cardiff Bay on James' 17th birthday last September and had the above photo taken by a passing Raston Robot Warrior. Or it may have been a member of DWE staff...

It seems a real shame that such a well-loved and supported exhibition will soon find itself homeless. As well as bringing joy to the thousands of fans who come from all around the world to step through the exhibition's dimensionally-transcendental doors, the DWE is also surely a great boost to Cardiff's economy. Well, we weren't the only people thinking along those lines. A lovely lady named Bex Ferriday set up a petition via the pressure group 38 Degrees to highlight the er, degree that people love the DWE and want to protect it. Nearly 12,000 people ( me included ) signed the petition to urge Cardiff Council to save the exhibition in one form or another and hopefully keep it in the spiritual home of modern Doctor Who  -  Cardiff. We went down to Cardiff Bay last Saturday with a few like-minded Whovians to hand over the petition to the DWE manager, ahead of a formal hand-over to the council at a later date. We had a very positive meeting with the exhibition's boss who was very hopeful for the future and was at pains to stress that the council shouldn't be seen as the bad guys in this situation. Hopefully some good will come from all Bex's hard work but at the very least we had demonstrated the love and support people have for the DWE.
After that, Sarah and I had a great day in Cardiff Bay and also in the city centre, even though the weather was typically Welsh in its "changeable" nature. I'll just finish with a few more photos from the Doctor Who Experience...

And finally Esther, some wonderful examples of the great Christos ( "Chris" ) Achilleos's artwork from the 1970s Target Doctor Who books. What a treat to see a collection of these lovely pieces!

Soundtrack: My Woman by Angel Olsen

Mega 2016 Catch-Up - Amazing Amsterdam!

Just a few photos from my trip to Amsterdam last May with my mates Glenn and Rob. As mentioned in a previous post we were mainly there to see The Dandy Warhols but we also managed to spend a few days seeing the sights of the beautiful Dutch city. Here are Glenn and I posing in front of the obligatory canal with the equally obligatory bicycles...

More canals and more bikes...

And, of course, trams...

We were staying a 20-minute tram ride from the city centre and they were definitely the best way to get around. And when we got to the centre we found such lovely places as these:

The Royal Palace in bustling Dam Square with added middle-aged Punks

More lovely buildings and waterways

Above is the stunning Rijksmuseum. We didn't have time to properly investigate this huge museum / art gallery / cultural centre but we had a great time wandering around its grounds and just generally hanging out in the neighbouring park and gardens...

( Who let this idiot get in the water? )

 We met a familiar face outside the Van Gogh Museum...

And, of course, Rob had to mess about in the fountains :-)

We had a look around the train station, much to rail enthusiast Glenn's delight...

"Trains!" ( Double-decker ones at that... )

And from the train station we headed down to the waterfront ( not a cue for a Simple Minds song )

I was very tempted to hop on board this ferry and investigate the other bank but we didn't have enough time. And there wasn't enough time for this either:

The infamous Red Light District was certainly eye-opening!

And here's a friend I made at the hotel who helped me eat my breakfast.

All too soon we had to head for home but it had been a fantastic long weekend in a truly beautiful, friendly, laid-back city. It was my first trip abroad for 9 years so I really appreciated the experience and the great company. Hopefully I'll be able to take Sarah there sometime  -  Amsterdam is just too awesome to keep to myself!