Dark road riding in the fast lane

Swishing spray from wheelrims spin

Blinking bikelamps light the way

Cars road past , blurring , fast.

Wheels in motion, brakeblocks strain,

Wet fleeced and denim damp

Wet leaves blowing , Autumn’s ochres,

Gutters gleam with streetlit rain.

( A poem from 2004, when I attended a poetry group which I ended up running for years)

Original Rockers – Richard King – (2015)

I read this book in two sittings!

It’s an excellent evocation of the pre-digital, pre-Internet era and how music fans interacted.

I am of the generation to whom record shops were a social hub, a place to hang around, a place to gather arcane knowledge of obscure bands, the more obscure the better!.The objective of this being to build up a record collection of excellent music, the coolest of course, never  kowtowing to commercial music or what was in the pop charts of the day or anything like that.Richard King knows his stuff , and like myself, has a passion for music of all genres, and this comes out in the writing.I too am a fan of Sun Ra, Can,and like a bit of dub reggae or free jazz every now and again.

It was good to read about the late John Peel in his heyday as Peel and Tommy Vance were very much my favourite DJs when I was growing up, and helped shape my musical tastes.

 I was never in Revolver in Bristol, but was a regular Aberdeen’s 1-UP records for many , many  years, and the earlier ‘Other Record Shop’, also in Aberdeen and Edinburgh too, so I can identify totally with frequenting such a place and chatting to the regulars, a wee bit like going to a pub with music being the substitute for alcohol!.

A great music related memoir, and one I would heartily recommend!

Aberdeen’s Haunted Heritage by Graeme Milne (2021)

 I have been interested in the supernatural / paranormal since childhood, when in the early ’70s, I discovered the delights of the ghost story via ‘The Armada Ghost Book’ edited by Christine Bernard , and since that time, I have read a great many books factual and fictional on the subject . Colin Wilson was someone whose books I really got into in the ’80s, ‘Mysteries’ and,’Poltergeist’ being special favourites, then I read Norman Adams’ ‘Haunted Scotland’ and ‘Haunted Neuk’, which brought things closer to my home city of Aberdeen. Author Graeme Milne carries on the paranormal investigation tradition with ‘Aberdeen’s Haunted Heritage’, which is in essence an amalgam of his first two books ‘Haunted North One’, and ‘Haunted North Two’, with additional updated material contained therein. The stories Milne tells , along with those told by people he has interviewed including the late Stanley Robertson, legendary storyteller and ballad singer , really send a chill down the spine, especially if , like me , you have walked down the streets, drank in the pubs, and worked in some of the buildings that the book refers to.
Its brilliant to hear the people relate their paranormal experiences to Milne, their sighting of spectral shadows, orbs, apports and the like , and its not for the faint of heart ! Places in Central Aberdeen figure prominently in the book as sites of hauntings or paranormal activity, ‘Ma Cameron’s Inn’, which was a favourite bar for myself and many others of my generation in the ’80s, ‘The Tivoli Theatre’ and ‘The Aberdeen New Market’ are just three of the places given a chapter in the book, and many locations which will be very familiar to Aberdonians . A few chapters are devoted to Aberdeenshire with mysterious happenings in Braemar, Aden Country Park, Mintlaw,Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, Fraserburgh, and ‘the Phantom Piper’ of the Wine Tower. I would strongly recommend this book , some of the tales will remain lodged in your mind for days after reading!