Well, actually ... no. But in my defence there is no mischievous intent in the above mock-up. I simply want to alert new readers to th...

[read details about kickstarter campaign for new Peter Skellern CD here - 8th March 2024 is last day to pledge] A memory which linger...

The radio play Hancock's Ashes, a neatly executed and witty piece about bringing the great comedian's remains back home from Aust...

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore, as recorded by the Walker Brothers, is one of those rare non-Beatles songs remembered from childh...

Not sure whether the above is an actual release or merely a figment of someone's imagination but this is such a good, and obvious...

I first read Joe Brown's autobiography Brown Sauce, ghostwritten by Graeme Wright, in the late eighties, and enjoyed it very much. A...

I recently joined a music forum which asked its readers to name their five favourite doo wop records - an impossible task, but fun t...

I was surprised - no, make that gobsmacked - to learn that there are plans to fashion a stage musical out of David Bowie's Deram era...

I'm over it now - I think - but for a while I was repeatedly drawn to a youtube video of the Les Humphries Singers.

From time to time, and more in hope than expectation, I spend a few minutes searching youtube for anything new relating to the New Jer...

Leafing through a copy of Chris O'Leary's book Rebel Rebel in Foyles in Charing Cross Road a few years ago, I felt a surge of...

This is to let UK readers know that a programme in the Classic Albums series about Don McLean's American Pie will be available...

There may be additional streaks of mellow nicotined yellow tangled up therein - I don't know - but the big news in my little worl...

For those whose interest in the great gospel and soul star has been piqued by the new Netflix documentary The Killings of Sam Cooke ( ab...

Have just heard something I had been hoping to hear for many years: the original demo for That Day Is Done by Elvis Costello and Paul Mc...

Advance publicity for Finding Fame, a documentary about David Bowie's early years, promises newly unearthed material; the enterpris...

Following on from the previous post about Ben E King touring the UK with Johnny Moore in the eighties, here is a more recent example of ...

This  is to let readers know that youtube currently has what appears to be the complete version of a Drifters appearance on TV in the UK ...

In an earlier instalment of this series I promised to devote a post to Dilly Barlow's long-vanished Radio 4 programme Friday Trea...

I have just returned from a screening of Stan and Ollie, the new biopic about Laurel and Hardy written by Jeff Pope, centering around t...

To commemorate the fact that this blog is now nine years old here are some posts discussing the Five Satins' In the Still of the N...

I am delighted to share the news that the DJ Clarke Davis is back online, at Top Shelf Oldies. Clarke is currently presenting two sh...

The writer and broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove is currently on a tour to promote his latest book, Harlem 69, the final part of a trilo...

The discussion in the previous post of a sitcom which didn't make it to pilot stage has reminded me of one which did pass that hurdl...

According to a new biography, when Sid James died in April 1976 he had been just about to finalise plans to record a sitcom pilot for Th...

[update 23/4/19: this Kickstarter project did not meet its target but a second attempt was successful - to celebrate which I have written...

For readers who might be visiting the Edinburgh Fringe Jeffrey Holland is currently appearing in Gail Louw's play ... And This Is My ...

Scan the famous faces who populate the Sgt. Pepper album cover and one may seem conspicuous by his absence: Irving Berlin, regarde...

50 years ago yesterday, the talent show Opportunity Knocks was the last programme to be broadcast from ABC's studios in Didsbury, a ...

I thought this blog's series of posts about the early David Bowie, entitled Gnome Thoughts , had come to a natural end but today I ...

Some time ago I looked into the origins of My Old Man's a Dustman, the 1960 song by Lonnie Donegan which helped broaden his appeal....

For UK readers, the happy news that Dick Lester's It's Trad, Dad! is to get a rare television airing on Thursday the 5th of ...

Having written recently about Michael Hill, author of a memoir about the young John Lennon, this seems a good time to repost my earlier ...

  If you happen to be within reach of West Chester, Pennsylvania, a new musical about the Orioles and Deborah Chessler, entitled Soul...

If you aren't already familiar with the longrunning Something About the Beatles podcast, it can be heartily recommended -...

Such is the magic of onlinery that the above photograph, tweeted last night by Kliph Nesteroff, swiftly led to an explanation of a piece ...

Discovering that this great 1965 gospel record by Inez Andrews and the Andrewettes is, at long last, on youtube has prompted memories o...

I can pinpoint the moment I succumbed - at least, I think I can. When I call the details to mind they seem fantastical: a young cou...

Knowing of my regard for Ben E King's song Stand By Me, a friend emailed to share his unease that it had been "so casually a...

Forty six years ago, almost to the day, I went to my first concert: a 1972 benefit gig for Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, headlined b...

If you have already read about the Flamingos' early sides (list of posts here ) you may not be aware of a postscript recently added...

I don't normally review fiction on this blog but I'm going to make an exception for Spencer's Risk, a hugely enjoyable firs...

  I have just watched AKA Doc Pomus, a documentary about the songwriter best known for his partnership with Mort Shuman in the late 50...

It has been some time since the writer, singer and all-round force of nature Ian Whitcomb was mentioned in this blog, so this is to ...

After rediscovering the parody of Jennifer Juniper mentioned in the previous post, I looked around to see what else could be found out ab...

A few days ago, surfing the net in a rare moment of relaxation, I came across a Fairport Convention parody from 2013 by John Watterson, a...

I was saddened to hear of the death of Ken Dodd, who contributed a generous and funny introduction to Funny Bones, the book I wrote wi...

Paul McCartney fans may be interested to learn that one of the songs from the Red Rose Speedway album may actually date from Beatle d...

Oh Lord, Rupert Street 1975. Cheapo Cheapo Records would have been just there on the left, chock full of gold & wonder. I'd g...

It's now almost eight years since the death of Phil Cording, owner of Soho's Cheapo Cheapo Records , on the 29th of January, ...