It's an age thing ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny to think Rod Stewart will be playing Glastonbury today. I mean, who the hell wants to see an 80 year old geezer up on stage, reeling out his 'hits' for an audience one quarter his age? And then I have to come clean. Last weekend I skipped over to Manchester to see one of my all-time favourites, good ol' Charlie Harper from punk band UK Subs. At 81 he's even older than Rod but, oh boy, you wouldn't know it. Beer in hand, he belts out songs that first saw the light of day when I was 18, way back in the 1970s. (And if that's what punk and alcohol do for you, then I'm glad I signed up early!) It's just a matter of taste, isn't it? I wouldn't dream of standing in a crowd of 100,000 to watch a screen showing an old fart a quarter of a mile away, but stick me in front of Charlie in a small venue of a couple of hundred punters and I'm in heaven ..

I genuinely dropped upon this photograph this morning, a picture I did of Rod at Manchester City's old Maine Road ground back in the .. 90s? (I'm compiling a set of images for a talk I'm giving next Saturday and there he was, along with a bevy of other 'famous' people in a folder I named 'Slebs'!) I'd forgotten I'd taken it, much as I forget a lot of things these days. It's an age thing ..

Ps: My informal talk 'A life in Press Photography' will take place at GALERIE 16 in Chef-Boutonne at 11 on Saturday. Please come along, if you can remember ..

Punk forever ..

Last Friday evening I was in the bizarre position of being entirely alone! All on my own! Poor Billy No Mates! It was fantastic..

Lesley was working late and three sets of neighbours - on both sides - were away on holiday. There was no-one within .. what? 120 feet of me. So, what did I do? I did what any right-minded 54 year old punk would do in that situation. I opened a beer, hit the record player and cranked the volume up to 11 !..

I started with a bit of The Exploited, and then turned straight to the UK Subs. It was at that moment I remembered I had a DVD of the Subs, so switched the telly on to watch that instead. There's a great moment in the film where Charlie Harper, the band's lead singer, replies to someone in the audience. I couldn't hear what the punter said but Harper's reply was "I don't do that anymore, I'm 40 next year!.."

He's 71 this year, and still gigging! There's hope for me, yet! Punk forever! Yeah ....

 

U.K. Subs - Peel Session 1978

Turns out I can share videos with you on my blog, so ...  there's no better way to start than this!

Charlie Harper, the lead singer is now .... 70!

Larger than life ..

How to get ahead in business! I was shooting some PR photography at an office in Manchester yesterday - on the day they'd just received some 'blow-ups' of some work I did a month or so back - and couldn't resist a quick shot of the prints, all stacked up and ready to go on the walls! Can't wait to see my new 'exhibition' when it's up, as it'll cover all the stairwells of a 3 storey building!

On the subject of 'larger than life' I'm off to a birthday party with a difference this weekend. The event is a Punk 'All-Dayer' with the good old UK Subs to celebrate the ... gulp, I can hardly write this .. to celebrate the 70TH!! birthday of their lead singer Charlie Harper! I'm amazed! 70 and still heading a punk band! My hero! I'm in awe! I'm .. who the hell left that zimmer there?