Who Do You Think You Are?

Who's That Man With Linda and Ed?!

"It's great to be here . . . then again, it's great to be anywhere!"

Profound words aren't they? They were uttered by the seemingly immortal Keith Richards, the legendary guitarist of the Rolling Stones, in Manchester back in 1990 when I had the pleasure of seeing them in concert for the first time at Manchester City's Maine Road ground. They were touring England as part of their "Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle" world tour.

One member of the Rolling Stones currently back en vogue because of his radio show is Ronnie Wood. I'm listening to one as we speak. You can find further details at this address http://absoluteclassicrock.co.uk/onair/wood/

The Rolling Stones Urban Jungle Programme 1990

 It's a great show and Ronnie is very articulate and knowledgeable. He's also very down to earth. For all the trappings of fame he's come into in over 40 years in the "biz" he's still comes over as a very ordinary "geezer"! Rod Stewart was a special guest the other day and listening to it you'd think you were eavesdropping a conversation between to blokes down the local! It made great listening. It's no wonder Ronnie won an award at the recent Sony Radio Awards in Great Britain. It was well deserved.

It's always been interesting when I have had the opportunity to meet "famous people". I was always told by my dad not to put people on a pedestal; his remark of " they still stand up to pee just like you and me" still rings in my ears!

Since we've been together, to my recollection, Linda and I have met two famous people from the music industry. The first one we met together was someone who we played on both "The Late English Breakfast" and "The Nightclub" back in the day on Valley Free Radio 103.3FM (www.valleyfreeradio.org)

I've mentioned James Hunter several times on this blog. We saw him supporting Los Lobos at the Calvin Theater in Northampton. He very kindly signed a CD for us which we gave away as a prize and was jovial as we chatted. The next time we met him was at The Ironhorse  (www.iheg.com) when he signed a poster for us and chatted like we'd known him for ages! We reminded him that we'd seen him at The Calvin Theater earlier that year and he really appreciated it. We were fortunate to see him again at The Ironhorse last summer when the joint was packed out. He really goes down well here in the Pioneer Valley.

The other man who was a joy to meet was Ian McLagan, the keyboardist with the Small Faces, The Faces and The Rolling Stones. There was just him and a guitarist playing and they played the most sublimely beautiful music. What made the night special was that he was more than happy to chat with fans afterwards. He signed his autobiography and we had a good old "chin wag" about England; he had even heard of Congleton! He was a most gracious and humble man. His anecdotes whilst performing live on stage were very interesting and his autobiography was a riveting read. Linda and I loved reading it.

Ian McLagan's book - a great read!

Linda's met the band members of Simply Red and from what she tells me, you have to take your hat off to Dave Clayton, the keyboard player. He, by all accounts, was a friendly bloke and still keeps in touch with my good lady. He sent us a copy of his own work from his side project "Pressurezone". The best way I can describe their music, which is well worth a listen, is dance music for grown ups. Their website is http://www.pressurezone.co.uk/. Have a listen to it sometime and you'll find it's great to listen to. Oh yes, he's also one of our Facebook friends as well, so he really is a top top bloke!

So, fame doesn't always affect someone. It can do, mind you. If you read my football blog www.motdusaway.blogspot.com I'll tell you all about the day I almost met one of my early footballing heroes and what a complete shit he was!

You don't have to let your surroundings affect who you are. If you are true to yourself you'll be liked. Image counts in many aspects of life but sometimes even a whiff of insincerity can blow your cover wide open! I met someone the other day at our tag sale. This woman had known Linda for years. She took great pride in showing off her kids' photos to her. Nothing wrong with that you might say. Nope, not really. Yet the clincher in the BS stakes for me, the "wtf" moment if you like, was the fact that these photos were stored on that oh so important necessity to exist - the iPhone! The person concerned then proceeded to protest all innocently that she was unemployed and couldn't even afford $1 to buy something from us. People like that really piss me off!

I've had more enjoyment from meeting famous rock stars like James Hunter and Ian McLagan and appearing in Open Air Theatre productions back home working for the Lord and Lady of manor of Gawsworth Hall, Tim and Liz Richards than dealing with the "nouveau riche" of Wilmslow and some of the supposedly progressives here in the Pioneer Valley.

You are who you are, so don't be shy of it and be true to yourself!

Keep on Rocking and thank you for reading this wherever you are around the world, it really makes me smile.

Ed