Sunday 17 May 2015

Sunday

Well, it's been hot and sunny. That's something.

Classic 'stupid me' moment of the day - getting stuck under a wardrobe I was trying to get up the stairs on my own - only slightly less stupid than getting stuck 'in' a wardrobe - although I did once get stuck in the cupboard under the stairs... with a live cable hanging above my head.

My usual 4 or 5 hours of every weekend cleaning up dog hair, followed by going through all my clothes - getting out my summer stuff and putting away my winter clothes. I winkled out about 20 shirts that were clearly never going to fit me, as of they ever did. Half will go to charity, half distributed amongst friends. As an aside - I found a brand new Hugo Boss suit that I'd forgotten I bought in Oxfam for a fiver, months ago - it fits perfectly. I'll never wear it.

One of my oldest friends (from school) encouraged me to join a closed facebook group for people who lived in Liverpool late '70s and early 80's and were part of the 'scene'. It's been a revelation. I really regret not keeping photographs, there were very few and I hated the way I looked (I till do) but it was great seeing so many familiar faces and places. In particular - people I never knew - but saw around and idolised or fancied.

These in particular. This is Probe records in the early 80's when I used to be a customer - I'd buy singles and fanzines in there, it was a chaotic place - full of clothes, records, posters and assorted tatt. The staff included Pete Burns and his then wife, Lynne. It was a paradise for me - I was pretty desperate to leave home but not old enough, and it gave me a sense of anticipation - where I could be as soon as I had the chance. That area is very posh now, it was the main Ted Baker shop for a while - it may be a posh restaurant now, but back then - like most of Liverpool, it was barely a ghetto. My memories are unnervingly clear about everything, 30 years later.

A 7" single cost 79p - most concert tickets were £2 or £3, and at the time - everyone played Liverpool. Even more bizzare... a very young pre-Kurt Courtney Love lived in a flat that was on the way to my house. The past is a foreign country.






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Pics - v atmospheric!

And you forget that the way public realm is organised these days, and events promoted etc, you don't get the same sort of fly posting style that is caught in this image.

Well, I suppose you rarely even get record shops!

DL

Unknown said...

Spent all my saturdays in Probe.
Knew pete through my best mates Mike Percy and Tim Lever ( dead or alive co band members)
Pity ive lost the photos i had.

Sad to see Pete pass away recently

DL is spot on never get a gig just on poster pay on the door days long gone.
Its plastic over dubed mime to the studio tracks five minute wonders charging £70 a ticket plus £8.95 handling charges now a days.
Those were great days and music.. now long gone

Post a Comment