Every ten years or so, a band emerges on the rock’n’roll scene that ignites a rare sense of ‘must see’ excitement. Having missed out on the arrival of bands like Big Sandy, the Planet Rockers and the Bellfuries, I was keen to explore what the buzz was about around a trio from Toronto, Canada, […]
What do get if you combine 29 DJs and record collectors, 3 venues, 8 record decks, 31 hours of music and around 800 records? The answer, the Catch My Drift R&B weekender held on 20 and 21 October in the heart of Bristol. To review an event like that is a literal impossibility – […]
Having posted a selection of photos of central London taken in the 1980s, I started trawling back through other albums and was saddened to see how many great midcentury venues we’d lost in the past decade or so. It’s one thing to find that buildings photographed on wet film have gone, but when you’re […]
Whilst readers of this blog will know me as the MidCentury Chap, reflecting the breadth of cultural topics I like to encompass, those more familiar with my record-spinning activities at gigs, on Rockabilly Radio and through MixCloud might have wondered where my disc jockey sobriquet ‘The King of the Rocket Men’ comes from. So […]
Normally around this time of year, I’m writing detailed reviews of the Rockin’ Round-Up and Rockabilly Rave, not just for this Blog but also for the pages of Now Dig This magazine. Sadly, this year my attendance at both events was curtailed by other far less entertaining commitments which means I can’t offer a […]
Recently we watched a programme on the history of Covent Garden Market, ending with its rescue from redevelopment after it closed as a fruit and vegetable market in the late 70s. The footage of an altogether more grimy and more industrial London took us straight back to the start of our working lives at […]
Having joined the ranks of the Rockabilly Radio DJs some 6 months ago, I was interested to find out a bit more about a station that’s been around since internet radio first became a ‘thing’. Fortunately, Marketing Manager and fellow DJ Julie Miranda (aka DJ Miss Aloha) was on hand to fill in the […]
So, you love the 50s so much, I bet you wish you lived back then, yeah? That’s a refrain I’d lay money that most of us with a passion for the past have heard a thousand times, and someday it’s got to the be subject of a soul-searching article on whether I would step […]
OK – so we really didn’t need another vintage lamp, but the nature of the Malvern Flea Fair is that sometimes something will catch your eye on a stall and, so long as the price is fair, you just can’t resist it. So it was when we spotted this item lurking amongst a bunch […]
We’re more likely to get excited about a good record hop than a live band, but when Big Sandy and the Flyrite Boys hit the country it’s an event not to be missed. Their short pre-Xmas tour was a true UK event, with appearances top, bottom and far left and right of these isles. […]
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
