Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:36 pm Post subject: BFN
I remember Cpl Mick Harris contacting the Billy Cotton Band show as a mickey take sometime in 1960 requesting a signed photograph of his singer Alan Breeze, which he got and displayed on the wall in one of the "B" watch rooms, I'm sure it was done as a joke,I'd be pleased to hear if anyone else can remember this
Gordon, is there not a connection to your 'Classical world' here? A touch of the Romulus and Remus perhaps.
A great song indeed!
Was it originally written for a woman or a man to sing, I wonder? It is certainly in the style of speech adopted by those who wrote in the Afro-Amenican folk idiom with roots firmly in the 19th Century slave world.
It was one of the songs I loved singing at the top of my voice staggering back to Langeleben - very far from sober.
One of my pet hates are modern so-called folk songs and the people who sing them. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger have a lot to answer for as far as those who followed them are concerned. Perhaps we should examine the words of that horror about houses being 'little boxes'.
Then there was "Magic Moments". The lyrics were a bit soapy, but Perry Como sang it well, and it had a catchy tune. Also fitted the mood of many a National Serviceman coming up to demob around that time!
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:42 pm Post subject: BFBS
Glad you mentioned the letter from Alan Breeze, Hughie. Just been trawing through the entries after being away for a few days. You are quite right it was Mick Harris and the photo with letter from said AB was pinned to the wall above his bed. Tongue firmly in cheek all the while !!
Bill, sorry but it wouldnt have been Shakin Stevens in 1955 behind the Green Door, at a guess it would have been Frankie Vaughan.
Quite right Gerry - it was Frankie Vaughan who recorded Green Door way back there in the 50's. Not only was there the radio but I seem to recall that we were able to purchase LP's at what we considered a bargain prize. Does anybody recall all those Jazz records? Tradional or Modern - oh and there was also Mainsteam. I started off by following Trad and then after a while began listening to Modern Jazz. I have to admit that I still enjoy listening to the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.
Do I remember those records? Indeed I do Bob. I drove up to Chicksands listening happily to Gerry Mulligan,Nights of the Turntable was the one I particularly recall from Langeleben, yes and the MJQ. I have never found the Langeleben LP though. I still trawl through 2nd hand records.
There was also Brubeck's Jazz goes to College. Paul Desmond on Alto and Joe Morello on drums - all fantastic stuff. There would be great characters like Ernie Cooper and Ernie Casteldine.leaning on the shack walls.... all very cool. I wonder what happened to Ernie Casteldine Bob. He was SO good looking he should have been put down at birth. He was supposedly going to be an Olympic wrestling 'possible' for the '56 Games. He got very badly beaten up by the Germans during the time they were regaining their sovereignty. (It wasn't all "let's love each other" despite what those with short memories would like us to think. We had been 'occupying' them after all.
I've already entioned the fabulous Katerina Valente and the 'Breeze & I@. It would still give me goose pimples.
If the others would forgive the ramblings of an old codger perhaps they would be kind enough to let us play a few of those tunes at Loughborough. They were good music
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject: BFBS
Yes Gerry, you are quite correct, it must have been Frankie Vaughan, as Shakin' (b. 1948) would have been a bit young when I first heard the song at 12 Wireless in 1958.
The 'Shakin' Stevens' version must have stuck in my mind from a later date, as if I remember correctly, there was a rather 'rude' version of the song that one couldn't listen to if mother was in the room at the same time.
Whilst mentioning 12 Wireless, I will be in Degerndorf, (now Brannenburg) in early October, and hope to have one last walk around the Kaserne, before its closure as an military establishment on 12th November. I will say a 'goodbye' to the place on befhalf of any former 12 Wireless N. S. & Regulars who are still with us.
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:30 am Post subject: Blasts from the past......................
For you out there who like the odd reminder of our time in Upstairs Shumans, Kliner Shumans or the D/House tune into Upchucky.com and peruse the right hand column. Scroll down to 'Love letters in the Sand' and away you go!! If that don't take you back then nothing will.
If you've got the odd few days to spare peruse all the other items. As a Glenn Miller man like myself, always keep getting pulled back to 'In the Mood'
BrianK. 1 Wireless April '56
RAF Handorf D/F. Sep-Dec '56
Langey D/F Rabke Dec '56 - Sep '58
Thanks Tom, that was a real trip down memory lane that brought back some very pleasant memories of days gone by. I recall listening to AFN one morning when the announcer said, "we have a young man here who might go far, name of Elvis Presley singing Heartbreak Hotel". Ah those were the days
This brought back memories, Bob.
There was a chap 55/56 who had the nickname 'Teddy Boy'. (Was his surname 'Jones'?) I wonder if he still sports the same hair style or whether, like so many of us he tends to polish rather than comb.
JR is going on about some singer called 'Gloria Mundi' now. I've got a pretty good memory but I can't recall her. I do remember, though, Yma Sumac. Now that was a voice and a half. She sang with the Billy May Orchestra I think. Four and a half octaves. Wow! And, in a sultry way she was pretty good looking too.
Paul, I'm not 100% certain but I'm sure it was Teddy Boy Jones that I met a number of years ago when I went down to Fuddy Freestone's birthday celebration. Once having met up we got talking about the old days and he produced a couple of photographs of himself whilst at Langeleben. The photographs showed a man in almost Teddy Boy attire, who along with a group of other young men were smiling from the back of a three tonner, which was more than likely about to go down to Koningslutter. What I found difficult to come to terms with was that the man in the photograph, who had a good head of hair, was now in very short supply of those golden locks.
Hi Bob & Paul, I do remember being on the same watch as "Teddy boy" Lees at Langeleben 55/56. If you go to the gallery for that time; scroll down to the 7th row 3rd from the right. It's a photo taken upstairs at the Deutches Haus , of him with Ted Doyle Bill Brown & yours truly. I was the only Jones at that time as I recall. I'm afraid I was too square to be a Ted!!! Interesting topic re BFN & AFN etc. Do you remember the R206 set that was installed upstairs at Frau Grahn's for our free time listening to the aforementioned? I thought Valente & Yma Sumac were great. I can't recall the title of Sumac's most often played number: was it her only "hit"??
Peter I can't believe you where ever square. I've had a look at the photo and I've got to say I'm not sure if that is who I spoke to in London. There again I was never on A watch,
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:32 am Post subject: BFBS
Congratulations to the Webmaster for the inclusion of the 'Golden Oldies' music from the '50s. I even had Mrs Lloyd wondering where all the 'great' music was coming from!
The sign of real 'class' was the scratch noises at the start of the 'Green Door' 78 record. A nice touch.
A real trip down 'Memory Lane' for us oldies. Thanks.
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