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 ..

Sit back, relax ..

Well, I set my quiz yesterday and sat back and relaxed, waiting for the deluge of email answers to flood in. I was totally underwhelmed! Two people answered! Two! (And they were both wrong! Sorry Simon and Jo!) Come on, dear reader, I am sulking! Where's your enthusiasm? There was a signed Martin O'Neill photograph up for grabs there! (Or is that what put you all off entering? Hm!..) Anyway, if anyone gives a monkeys, the answer was .. The Statue of Liberty. The shots were taken inside the statue and show the windows in the crown on Liberty's head, which was used as a fantastic viewing platform, and the very crowded spiral staircase which visitors climbed - and vertiginously descended - to get up to said Crown. So now you know. Quiz over ..

Great evening at my pal's book launch last night and all the more satisfying as I get two mentions in the story and a byline for two pictures within the book. Lots of laughs and love for the late, great Chris Sievey. By a strange coincidence I also received yesterday two contracts to sign, one of which was to grant permission for some of my Chris Sievey photographs to be used in a forthcoming film. The other was the hard copy from the Mary Evans Picture Library to arrange representation of my "terrific photographic collection". If it carries on like this I'm gonna have a mug as smug as Rod Stewart's, seen here at Maine Road and, yes, dug out of my archive during my latest 'root'! ..

Now, my IT bod says that, in order to get a better Google ranking, it's very important for me to mention Manchester Wedding Photography in my blog. Not too often, mind. Just enough for the great analyst in the sky to pick up the words. Oh, there ya go! Done! Sit back, relax ..

Do you read me, Roddy?...

I searched my computer the other day for images of me old mate Roddy, and a certain Mr R. Stewart popped up on the screen as well! (So did Dyno-Rod - tee hee - but that was because of an 8 year old email I sent to 'em about my drains!!) It's amazing what photographs you forget you've taken though, so all the more thrilling to go through this old box of negatives to make all these rediscoveries. (You know the box I mean? The one I keep going on about!!...) Well now Getty Images have taken a selection of these old shots for their archive, and I'm absolutely over-the-moon! I think I'd have been even more thrilled if they'd picked the shot of Roddy having a piddle, but I suppose you can't have everything! At least he didn't need Dyno-Rod!