I watched the final episode of last laugh In Vegas where a selection of aging celebs from this country were invited to Vegas to appear there....it was a pretty rough ride for some of them with all the rehearsing etc but the final show was really good....they all fulfilled their dream....and got the ultimate buzz....I had a similar experience when I was asked to do a Ricky Nelson tribute concert backed by the guy who played the solos on his records...James Burton...to sing Hello Mary Lou etc backed by the guy on the records was surreal.....I have always been a massive fan of James (who also backed Elvis) since the 50's and although I ended up doing 8 concerts with him it was the first one I will never forget. 2.The news in this country is obsessed with the royals.....headline news about Kate and William's latest addition with huge proportions of the news spent standing outside the hospital....then we have the up and coming royal wedding with everyone guessing what she might wear etc....THERE ARE OTHER THINGS WHICH ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT GOING ON IN THE WORLD!!!....the media goes worse by the minute....I think most of it is run by star struck teenagers. 3.ABBA have reformed to record a couple of songs...which I haven't heard yet....to me they were the ultimate group...they never wrote a bad song...musically and lyrically brilliant....considering the are Swedish....and also back on the scene is Gilbert O'Sullivan who is another brilliant songwriter...I really enjoy good lyrics which tell story...an art which seems to have been lost these days...I know we are from a different universe but even now the likes of Jailhouse Rock still stands the test of time...it is a masterpiece....I remember Gilbert O being ripped off by his then management..... 4.which brings me to the next subject...The Bay City Rollers....there was a documentary on their rise to fame which was very interesting....I didn't realise how huge they were at the time...they always looked like a bunch of barbie dolls to me...but they were virtually as big as the Beatles concert wise....it was a very interesting insight into the reality of showbiz...ending up with them seeing nothing of the millions they must have made....and they were just one of many....I actually did a gig with Eric Faulkner a few years ago...he played folk stuff and songs he's written himself.....no John Lennon I'm afraid. 5.The secret of surviving in the pop world is to keep control of you material....youngsters are too anxious to sign anything to get famous.....I have sent you one of my songs which illustrates how to do it....it is called Urban Cowboy and has a very interesting story concerning a cowboy organisation (in every way) in Birmingham back in the day....had I not been tuned in U could have lost a lot of dough.

.Cliff Richard is quite rightly suing the BBC for their biassed coverage of his alleged sexual assault....for which he was never charged.....poor old Cliff had to watch on TV his house being searched by the police while he was away on holiday... with the BBC reporting from a circling helicopter.....he was found to be completely innocent but has said it wrecked his life and career....in this country the gutter media wade in without any proof thus anyone involved is tainted straight away....I despise these little revolting creeps who have achieved nothing in their sad lives and try and make a name for themselves off the back of those who have earned their fame. 2.Ant McPartlin...of Ant and Dec fame....has been found guilty of drink driving and has been fined 85 grand and band from driving for around 18 months after causing a three car crash....it's easy to call him an idiot but he has had a few problems in his life but there is no excuse for getting behind a wheel when you've had a few....he was lucky no-one was injured....which all goes to prove it's not about money....his millions haven't solved his problems. 3.I watched a programme on guitarists and was informed that Ry Cooder played guitar on the Rolling Stones Honky Tonk Woman....it wasn't Keith R.....I also remember Jimmy Page playing the solos on The Kinks stuff which upset the young brother and caused problems....also the original Brotherhood of Man who made United We stand...which was great....were also Edison Lighthouse...The Pipkins....and White Plains....same line-up....The Brotherhood of Man as we now know them were in a different league and not for me....not forgetting Hermans Hermits who were Herman and session men.....it just goes to show the kidology that goes on in the music biz....mind you time is money. 4.I was discussing age with a young fella in the gym....I have discovered that ageing isn't a gradual process...it happens all of a sudden....suddenly you realise that you no longer want to go out partying...then you realise that a lot of your past friends aint around anymore...modern technology has left you behind...and TV entertainment only exists for the young....as does modern music.....you suddenly realise that the over 70s are not really altered for....the young chap had a polite smile on his face because like me when I was age he doesn't think he'll get old. 5.The song I have sent you this week is another I wrote for wrestler Adrian Street and is entitled "I'm In Love With Me" and although it was perfect for him I originally wrote it for Bobby Sox and The Prizeguys who performed it on a TV comedy show in the 70's....Adrian had a video made of the song in the states and we got it on to MTV....how I'll never know.

.Is it me or has modern pop music totally lost its way?....I know I come from a different age and perhaps I am indeed past it....but most modern music has no point....there is no content to listen to....my problem is when listening to records I know how it is all done and understand all the technology....bit like watching a conjuror when you know how he does his tricks....but to me there has to be a point to a song....instead of the repetitive lyrics we seem to get these days....come back rock and roll...all is forgiven. 2.Are we not all sick of adverts telling us how much these banks and insurance companies care about us?....telling us they will get us compensation for any accident we have ...or sort out PPI etc etc....with the no win no fee statement....what they don't tell you is how much THEY will make.....banks are not your friend their aim is to squeeze as much money out of you as they can....it's like the friendly car salesman who is a great guy until you tell him you don't want the car....when he turns into a different bloke altogether. 3.They keep going on about how it is so hard to get on to the property ladder....or how one parent families are struggling to survive...or newlyweds having to struggle...which is very sad but in my day you settled for cheap items not top of the range televisions or brand new cars ...or fancy expensive holidays.....if we couldn't afford it we did without....but not these days....which seems to me to be the problem....and there is always someone there to cash in on your "big day"....by draining your bank account....while people are so gullible there will always be millionaires. 4.Our national treasure,The Lake District,has been awarded the the same status as The Taj Mahal and other world wonders....quite rightly so...I spend a lot of time there particularly through the Winter and it really is a spectacular place to visit....I have been to many picturesque places within Scandinavia and Europe and The U.S.A.....and have yet to find better views than in The Lakes....yet a large proportion of our population want to go abroad and sit beside a swimming pool and fry....when this is on our doorsteps....it's beyond me.....Prince Charles was brought in to present the award.....however I think he was ill advised when he bought that overcoat....it was huge and would weigh a ton if he got caught in the rain. The song I have sent you this week has an interesting story....it is one I recorded round about 1980 for Blackpool council....it was originally called "Blackpool Magic"......they neither liked it nor wanted it....so I simply went back into my studio and changed the words to "Long Live The Isle Of Man"....and I sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived there....to my delight he phoned me up and and said he liked the song and would record it when he got the chance....and we had a chat about his films and career....what a lovely man....a short time later I met him back stage when he was on a theatre in Liverpool.....I don't know whether he ever got round to recording the song but it was worth it all just to meet him....that's showbiz.

The song this week is from a musical play I wrote back in the day and it's called "School Without A Teacher" and was performed by several schools around the area....it looked at what would happen if computers replaced teachers (ahead of my time or what)...seems like an ideal situation for pupils but as the play demonstrates this is not necessarily the case. Went to the local panto in New Brighton....Peter Pan...took the 3 year old grandson which was his first panto...I was hoping he would have a long enough attention span....no need to worry...he was transfixed....it was so loud but really well done...they had "stars" from Coronation Street and the kid's TV channel ...neither of which I had heard of with Tinkerbell on roller skates....the little fella said "Grandad...I like Tinkerbell"...to which I replied "Yeah...so do I"....but for very different reasons. Another brave protector of the realm has been knighted...SIR Ringo Star....I suppose he must have done something other than being a passenger on the Beatle bus....it's all getting beyond a joke....I'm sorry but I never got The Beatles (shock horror)...to try to understand what it was they had which made them so popular world wide I've been watching several documentaries on Sky Arts about their various activities including the making of The Magical Mystery Tour which was an absolute pointless load of rubbish proving they had no idea regarding making films...and their disastrous business set up with Apple Corps which lost millions...which still left me unconvinced...they did write a lot of decent songs and a lot of debatable ones but that's all they did all day....I wonder how long they would have lasted if they had carried on doing live gigs?....but hey who am I?...and it's only my opinion...and not that of the masses who all pile into the shops for a few days before Christmas. I watched a programme called All Star Musicals which featured none singing celebrities learning to sing showsongs....the idea was bad enough as most showsongs belong in a show not as a solo spot sung by someone who isn't a singer...it was pretty bad with the likes of Nicky Campbell...Tony Robinson etc proving you should stick to what you actually do.....it was presented by Andrew Flintoff who was an uneasy watch...he really should have stuck to cricket...and to top things off we now have a female Dr.Who...not that I watch it...don't get it....but lo and behold Bradley Walsh is going to be in it....when he can drag himself away from The Palladium....The Chase....his new album...and the police series he's in...there should be a competition to try and find a day when Bradders isn't all over our TV screens...is there no-one else out there? I remember a while ago when a local corner shop butcher called the shop "Sausages R Us" (with the R the other way round)...he was threatened with legal action for copyright by "Toys R Us" which I found pathetic....however what goes round comes round...one of our major stores put an advert on TV comparing their prices with Toys R Us for the same item....showing big reductions...illustrating a sense of greed on the part of Toys R Us,...since then Toys R Us are closing down a lot of stores....when will retailers get the message?...the public are getting wise to them and these days with shopping on line it's all about PRICE.....I do like to see people power now and again.

The song this week is from and album I produced a while back called Stars Over 45...with original tracks...this one is called The Ballad of John Wayne and is a tongue in cheek look at this "hero"....for a guy who never did his national service he sure won a lot of wars and made sure the west was won etc etc...even the Yanks regard him as some sort of hero...which says it all. I can't stand Morrisey or his terrible songs which sound like he's making them up as he's going along BUT....his latest record goes on about not watching the news for various reasons...I couldn't agree more BUT I still can't stand him !!!....I watched Tina Turner on the Jonathan Ross Show...now SHE is the real deal...I am a massive fan...she is fantastic with a voice to match...she has retired but is over here to promote the musical based on her life...the lady ROCKS !! On the subject of the rubbish news we have been bombarded with sexual harassment claims both in Hollywood and Parliament...who cares??...this is NOT national news...some alleged drunken behaviour 15 years ago by Kevin Spacey is NOT news...it belongs in a cheap gossip magazine so those with no life at all can read all about it...I AM NOT REMOTELY INTERESTED....I think the TV news is run by school kids going through pubity....forget killings and war torn sections of the planet let's have a headline story of some politician allegedly brushing up against some highly sensitive female looking to make some money from her story...allegedly. Adam Sandler was on the Graham Norton Show....he put his hand on Clair Foy's knee...as a friendly gesture .. which is how SHE saw it...WOW all hell broke loose....all the sheep were texting in complaining...what it has to do with them is beyond me...which shows how ridiculous the whole thing is getting. Even more ridiculous was another stupid news item whereby an ethnic woman regarded dressing kids up in Halloween costumes from other countries was RACIST....I have now heard it all...so now I must re-assess my outlook on life...I must apologise for being white...I must hope I have not had any office banter with the opposite sex in the last 50 years...I must be sure I don't accidentally make physical contact with a female unless it is on the tip of her toe or the very top of her head...and I MUST lose any sense of humour and NOT admire women even though they wander round making themselves as sexy as possible...because that is NOT why they do it...is it? finally....we are approaching Bonfire Night....which incidentally I see no point in whatsoever...total waste of money...but appreciate it gives the majority the opportunity to to oggle up at the sky...not to mention the injuries which will be obtained...but we need to know the true meaning of November 5th....so there is a three part drama on BBC all about the gunpowder plot with Guy Fawkes...I have watched the first two episodes and am none the wiser...I may as well watch a programme on quantum physics...what a load of rubbish.....I think they have...dare I say it...lost the plot.

The song this week is called Subway Songman and a tribute to the musicians who brave the weather to entertain hundreds of passers by...I wrote it a while back and I thought I'd send it because they had a programme on the TV whereby would be buskers had to audition to be allowed a speck in the city....to be honest some of the buskers in Liverpool are better than you see in the charts....and I salute them all.Talking of which I watched Gregory Porter on the Graham Norton show singing live with Jeff Goldblum backing him on piano...Gregory sang Mona Lisa but I'm not sure what Mr.Goldblum was playing...I appreciate jazz piano allows a variation on a theme...but not THAT much....it was pretty bad proving that some "stars" should stick to what they do...and that goes for TV presenters,footballers etc.....when the England football team make a record it's no wonder we lose the world cup.We have had the tail end of hurricane Ophelia which presented us with a strange red sun due to the sand from The Sahara blowing through the air....this was explained on the day by the weatherman....then NEXT DAY we are told that scientists at some university have studied the phenomenon and arrived at the wonderful conclusion that the sun was red because of the sand from the Sahara blowing through the air...WOW !!...aren't they clever...is it me or are we all losing it ?.....it was a lovely sight to see and was NOT the end of the world as some of our meditation loonies suggested.I remember not long ago that we were told to buy DIESEL cars because they would save the planet from pollution...now we are told the opposite (probably because the petrol car market isn't doing too well)....so much so that you now have to pay £10 to drive your diesel car in London...if it was made before 2006....nice little earner for the mayor ?....so FORGET what the "experts" told us back then...diesel is OUT...petrol is IN.........AND because peoples heart rate goes up when driving on the motorway when you have to slow down to 50mph when passing roadworks (according to "scientists" and other "experts")....they intend to raise the limit to 60mph...so drivers can "accelerate away from big wagons"....correct me if I'm wrong but if the limit goes up to 60mph won't the wagons be doing that as well?......all this seems to say is the faster you go the safer you are?....forget the guys who are working on the motorway they obviously don't count....do these mallet heads who come up with these ideas actually get paid??And finally...your favourite game has been in the news...Ladies Football...the girls have been very upset about certain remarks made by the management....SEXIST and RACIST comments...boo hoo how dare blokes call them names....how much are they getting again?....this is sport not an episode of "Loose Women"....get over yourselves girls then maybe you may get a few supporters....I was told that a world champion lady boxer challenged a male club boxer...who knocked her out in three seconds...says it all.

Googi The Liverpool Duck was a song I wrote for a local girl called Penny Page who had a ventriloquist act and it has a strange history....I wrote it in the 70's purely for her act and a few years later she recorded it as a single 45 on her husband's (David Alexander) record label....at the time it sold in droves and she performed it on the Palladium and other TV appearances....it went on to be used in a TV drama which became a film....this week it has made the local charts ; on radio Merseyside where people vote for the worst novelty records ever....in at number 6...rock on 40 years later. Wirral has also been in the charts...there has been a national survey as to the happiest place to live in Britain and Wirral came third !!!...which is close...it is actually the BEST place to live but it's best if we keep it to ourselves....we don't want to be invaded by strangers. There is a move afoot to increase the penalties for death by dangerous driving....it is suggested a life sentence be invoked...which I am all for as when you are driving like an idiot you KNOW what you are doing and you are in charge of a lethal weapon...HOWEVER as I see it the problem could be easily solved by putting speed cameras everywhere....a fortune would be made in fines until the boneheads finally got the message....and the cameras would pay for themselves....but apparently you can't set up a speed camera until there has been THREE fatalities in that area....SO CHANGE THE LAW.....also I believe the cameras are self contained and send out the fine notices without requiring staff....it's a no brainer....but obviously not to the powers that be. Harvey Weinstein has been headline news with all the ladies deciding to report their unwanted alleged sexual encounters with him...he aint the best looking bloke in the world is he?....the main point is if the ladies didn't go along with his advances they wouldn't get acting jobs....I....some of the victims; have said it was several times....wouldn't you walk away after once?...obviously at the time fame was more important than your honour....it won't be long before blokes will be accused of sexual harassment for watching women's football. We are getting the remains of Hurricane Ophelia which give the media the opportunity to dramatise and over-sensationalise the situation....and scare the daylights out of us....I've seen worse....when the worst storms in the history of Wirral struck in the 80's it was also a time on high tides and there was a ballroom attached to New Brighton Baths...which is right on the coast....which was totally washed out as the promenade was destroyed and the tide crashed through the walls.....and guess who was playing there that night...yep you got it in one....wasn't one of our better gigs.

The song this week is entitled "Seasons" and came about atfer a conversation I had with a chap a while ago....he had emigrated to Australia and decided he had made a mistake....he was originally from Wirral and I mentioned hot weather and "barbies" to which he replied he was fed up with the heat etc...I casually mentioned the fact that I enjoy the seasons and he said that was it...that is what he misses most....this was the inspiration behind the song which ended up on one of my DVDs of the area. Theresa May had a cough during her speech at the Tory Conference...which has become BIG NEWS....it was a COUGH that's all...we all get them...the BBC news coverage was pathetic...as always...I thought she did really well...but the stupid BBC have to make a major issue of it with unfunny comedy clips.GROW UP!!!!....I am an admthe pressure while others keep in the background and share the glory but not the disasters....and I'm getting a bit sick of politicians thinking they are showbiz personalities with their modern hairstyles etc....they should concentrate on doing their job !!! And still with the useless BBC....a car crashed in London and injured 12 people....it wasn't a terror attack...but just in case the BBC send a helicopter up with full news crew taking aerial pictures of the situation ending up with a disappointed statement that it wasn't a terror attack....cost of the whole thing ONE MILLION !!!....what a total waste of money...MY MONEY !!...what a pity they couldn't sensationalise the situation like they do with everything else...the BBC are rubbish..I watched a programme about chat shows going wrong which featured amongst others Jerry Lewis being interviewed and he was so rude to the interviewer....he simply answered Yes or No to the questions with a bored look on his face....I could never stand him anyway....and Denzel Washington was the same....these "stars" need a reality check and should remember who put them there in the first place....the programme also featured Wogan trying to interview that drunken idiot George Best....dreadful...I remember Jimmy Nail turning up at Radio City in Liverpool and a young lad who worked there asked him for his autograph to which he got "I haven't got time for that sort of thing" and brushed past him...haven't heard much of Mr.Nail lately....I wonder why. And finally...I am delighted to announce that my composition Googi The Liverpool Duck has entered the charts at NUMBER 6 !!....however NOT the charts we know....it's the Bottom Of The Pops chart which is featured on Radio Merseyside on Sunday...the programme is presented by a chap called Graham Mack and is really good....he has asked the local population to vote for the worst novelty records ever made...they are all in there...Benny Hill...Bernard Bresslaw...the number one was The Barron Knights....but hey there is still time...I was very disappointed when Googi never made the classical music charts but this has made up for it.

The song this week is The Colour Of Time and is one I co-wrote with a good friend of mine called Patricia Knapton...it features a painter who sees rainbows where there is no rain and everyone in his painting is smiling with no hatred etc....proving the world is a better place through a six year old's eyes instead of the goons who run things at the moment. We have been bombarded with documentaries on Lady Di....telling us nothing we don't know....I think we have all had enough now.....so much so I wrote to the "Have Your Say" section of a TV magazine....and got 10 quid for my letter !!!...so I'm not alone in my opinion........and adding to the mountain of flowers I realise that until people get a life and stop acting like sheep there is little hope for humanity. We also have coverage of the gay pride marches etc.......it's time some organisations got over themselves..companies have given them an 8% rise...so up goes the TV licence...brilliant.....we'll have "Sir" Chris Evans next.. are....confused?...just a bit....mistakenly taking him to the pictures could be an error. We've had two major crashes on the motorways....one in the Conway Tunnel in Wales causing miles of tailbacks and another on the M1....this will never change unless they alter the driving laws....we need to rid the roads of complete idiots who think they are Lewis Hamilton.......jail sentences are what is required....and stiffer driving tests.....but then the human rights brigade would come out of the woodwork. I'm not the biggest Beatles fan but they have had a Beatles celebration event in Liverpool....which has been a success .... when you live here it wears a bit thin.. Di....Beatles...human rights....political correctness.....I think I'll apply to be an astronaught and take up residence on Mars.

The song this week is called Song of Anglesey which I composed for my pal Paul Damian and is a track off the album Portrait of Wales......it is available from my website. As I said I was in Anglesey over the weekend and visited a village on the north of the Island called Moelfre...it is a small picturesque fishing village with a lifeboat station....close by is a huge bronze statue of a famous lifeboat man called Dick Evans....his bravery earned him the lifeboat equivalent of the Victoria Cross....and he was once featured on This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews.....back in the 90s I had a good friend who would show me around the Island and he took me to meet a pal of his...."The is Dick Evans" he said....I had no idea who this delightful chap was until he showed me the book he received from the TV programme....sadly he died shortly after but you can imagine my amazement years later when I first saw the statue...I nearly fell over backwards....I bought a book of his adventures which was like reading a James Bond novel...I am so proud to call this hero my friend. I watched the programme on the nations favourite 20 Elvis songs....it was quite interesting how the public saw him.....a lot of the songs were from the Vegas years but personally I preferred his earlier stuff....I thought the best record he ever made was Jailhouse Rock (which appeared about halfway on the list)....when you listen to this song and consider there are only four instruments it is a masterpiece....the drum riff was genius...and lyrically brilliant.....the man was a one-off. Show business has just lost Bruce Forsyth....he was 89....although I wasn't a huge fan I appreciated his great talent....he could sing and dance and play piano......and was an excellent stand up comic....he had it all.Going by the many tributes he seemed like he was a decent bloke as well.....I can't remember a time when he wasn't around...and I remember when he failed to make in America and the media slated him....and still he bounced back.....another one-off and I think his catch phrases will live on..as they say "Didn't he do well". The solar eclipse has caused a sensation in America with thousands going out to ooh an aah at the moon blocking out the sun...we only got a partial one in this country...I believe...I doubt if anyone saw it through the clouds...I remember the one we had here in 1999 and I went out on to the River Dee in my laser dinghy with my son in his... and sailed through the sudden darkness which was quite surreal ...seals started popping their heads up and seagulls dropped down to the water...it was quite an adrenaline rush not knowing what would happen.....a great experience.