The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, was found dead at the age of 42 from a suspected massive heart attack in 1977.
As I wrote in my last post, my dad was Elvis’s biggest fan and his music was played a lot in our house and that’s how I became a massive fan too.
It’s often asked, where were you when you heard Elvis was dead.
I was with my family on our annual holiday in Weymouth when we heard the sad news. My dad was devastated and I think it was the first time I saw him cry. I was only 10 and a bit bewildered at the time, but later understood what was going on.
To this day my Elvis songs are constantly played on my ipod and will continue to be enjoyed for many years.
After reading Jack Scott’s post on Perking the Pansies about his radio show appearance, it got me thinking about my very brief moment of stardom on the radio waves. My claim to fame is not nearly as exciting as Jack’s, but nevertheless it was good for me.
A few years ago our local radio station, known then as GWR, was doing a daily slot called ‘Four play’. Listeners were invited to contact the station with 4 songs; their favourite song at the time, their song they dance like their dad to, the song to turn up their speakers to and the song that makes them cry. The presenter would then do a quick interview about the reasons behind the choices and it was edited and played back in the show.
I listened to that show quite often and decided I should let Bristol know about my favourite tunes.
My favourite song at the time was Take That’s ‘Shine’, I liked the song because they had just reformed and I never really was a big fan of the band first time around, I felt it was much better than their old stuff.
My first choice for the song that made me dance like my dad was ‘Suspicious Minds’ by Elvis Presley because my dad was a huge Elvis fan and he actually won a prize once for dancing when he was in the RAF. But alas they didn’t have that one so I had to think of something else, my son suggested ‘Get down on it’ by Kool and the Gang as there is some ancient video evidence of his dad dancing to this somewhere.
The song to turn my speakers up to was ‘Summer of 69’ by Bryan Adams. I have been a fan of Bryan for many years and have seen him live in London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol and I adore him…enough said!
I always cry when I hear ‘These are the days of our life’ by Queen. I am a massive, lifelong fan of Queen and I loved Freddie Mercury. Like many people I was upset when he died and the video for the song is just heartbreaking because of Freddie’s appearance. It was the last video he made before he died and he was just so thin and fragile, but still he managed to perform for the camera to thank the fans for all the support over his fantastic career.
What a fabulous Jubilee we have had in our country. To celebrate 60 years of the reign of our wonderful queen, Great Britain came out to party on a massive scale proving why we are called ‘Great’.
I must admit I was a bit of a boring old fart and stayed in to watch it on TV. I was going to go down to Millennium Square in Bristol to watch the concert on Monday night on the big screen, but alas the lure of the sofa in the warm won me over. But I did make an effort on Friday evening with my brownie and rainbow guide units and had a jubilee tea party and I decorated the outside of my house with some flags and bunting.
I thought Her Majesty looked amazing all through the celebrations, so serene and beautiful even in the appalling rain on the barge on Sunday.
A few things puzzled me, however, about the concert; who invited Grace Jones to hula hoop and why Cheryl Cole was allowed to ruin Gary Barlow’s performance with her dreadful singing. But the song Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow wrote for the occasion was fantastic and so moving, as was Prince Charles’s speech for his “mummy”. Overall the concert was great and the fireworks at the end were spectacular.
Sunday’s festivities were marred by the Duke of Edinburgh being taken ill, but the Queen looked elegant and lovely again for the thanksgiving service in St. Paul’s Cathedral, but I felt she looked a bit lost without him at times. The celebrations concluded with the Queen’s procession and the balcony appearance. No one does pomp and pageantry as well as us Brits and it was fabulous, union flags everywhere, horses and carriages, bands and cheering crowds. After the orderly surge of 1000’s of people down the Mall, the main members of the royal family appeared on the balcony and none of the annoying minor, hanger on members that no one wants to see. Although it was cloudy and raining the very impressive fly past took place.
The massive 3 cheers from the crowd and the singing of the National Anthem for the umpteenth time signalled the end of the balcony appearance and I think Britain should be proud of the way we celebrated over the 4 day holiday. I believe the Queen was genuinely moved by the response of her people on this very special occasion and achievement.
This year for the first time I’ve really got hooked on BGT. I’ve really enjoyed watching all the audition and there have been some really wacky ones as well as some very talented acts.
All this week I’ve been glued to the semi finals, not only to see which acts go through to the final on Saturday night, but also to watch Declan Connelly metamorphis into Aled Jones before our eyes……..what do you think??
Carole Gardiner
back to life 