SAD TIMES

A double whammy last Saturday, when news came through of two deaths, on the same day, of two of my heroes, The Captain and Ralphy Coates. How funny it is to put the two of them into the same sentence. Had they not sadly passed at the same time it might never have happened, and why should it? They were at two opposing ends of the entertainment spectrum, indeed Ralph, who played for Spurs in the seventies, scoring the winning goal in The League Cup Final at Wembley and at the same time confusing my very good friend Nick Iddon with his shiny shorts, ,probably never considered himself as part of the entertainment industry. He was a great little player. I remember him for having an even greater 'comb over' than Bobby Charlton. Many's the time I witnessed him flying up the wing with it streaming behind him, like a jet vapour trail. He was only recently interviewed on the pitch at half time and now.....he's gone.

And then there was The Captain. Childhood friend of my hero Frank Zappa and a little bit weird to say the least but as usual with artists such as his eccentric self, a genius, capable of mind-bending harp playing such as I first experienced as a callow, youthful hairy muso, when I bought the sampler entitled 'Gutbucket' As well as The Groundhog's 'Still A Fool', TonyMcPhee's 'No More Doggin' and The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band's 'Can White Men Sing The Blues?' , there was also the classic Beefeheart track 'Gimmie That Harp Boy' and I can honestly say that as a 15 year old I had NEVER heard harmonica playing like that. And then there was his vocals. I was converted. His classics 'Safe As Milk' and 'Trout Mask Replica' were soon added to the collection and the highlight for me arrived later in his contribution to Zappa's album 'Bongo Fury' to be followed a few years later by the magnificent 'Observatory Crest'. click here to view and listen to the track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2yWkgs_Nk

I suppose there will be more to add to this list next year and soon our own contemporaries will start to fade away and then.......

Anyway.......Happy Christmas!