Where was I? Oh yes, in Brighton giving a reading ...

Where was I? Oh yes, in Brighton giving a reading at the launch of Charlie McQuakers fine pulp novel, Die Hard Mod. I have known Charlie for quite a few years now (hold the jokes) met him when he and chap named Bosie shot a four minute doc for TV about mod which featured yours truly with much shorter hair. 


He contacted me recently about his book which features a Northern Ireland Mod named Steve who is forced to flee Belfast and so heads for Brighton where the love of his life lives. Naturally, there are loads of Quadrophenia tugs - scooters flying over cliffs, Ace Faces stalking the narrative etc. Refreshingly, the book does not pretend to be anything other than what it is, a good pulp experience right down to its cover. At the launch I read the intro from my book The Sharper Word, met some good people, had a few drinks, then off to hotel Pelirocco to meet my friend and writer Cathi Unsworth of whom I am a great fan. 


Check her and her books at this site -http://cathiunsworth.weebly.com/. She is my idea of a treasure. Found her in the bar with several others, including a Howard Gunnell who gave me his book Marine Boy and some very nice compliments. Ended up putting the world to rights in Cathis' room until one in the morning with Cathi, her man Mike, Brian,, his colourful publisher and partner and maybe a few others but who knows? 


Stayed at Brian's who in the morning made me coffee and a fantastic Scott Walker CD, a collection of his songs where the great man actually sings and does not go for the Jacques Brel doom laden vocal sound he applies to so much of his music and which has always put me off him. Have been playing nothing else since. God Bless you Scott and God bless all the England fans who in the midst of a terrible recession somehow found the cash to travel thousands of miles only to be sneered at by Wayne Rooney, a man whose right to be considered one of the best players in the world has surely run thin now. 


His contempt for those who pay his wages and would actually dare to criticise his lacklustre performance sums up the arrogance that runs right through that squad and would convince me at least to put him on the first plane home. That won't happen although when Italy lost in the 1966 World Cup to Korea the Italian players flew home to be greeted at the airport by an angry vegetable throwing mob at the airport. 


Heaven forbid that should ever happen to such a committed and talented England squad..............

Not much work on at the moment ...

Not much work on at the moment so am catching up with folk. Had coffee in the morning with Mr Jeff Barrett of Heavenly Records. 


Great to catch up with him.I hung out a lot with Jeff in the 90s and he put me onto so much good music I remain forever in his debt. It is why I dedicated The Sharper Word to Jeff and his family. Today he is involved with the great Caught By the River web site which mixes great nature with quality tips towards great books, films, music etc. Jeff tells me how hard it has been for his company Heavenly Records since EMI dropped them and I think to myself I must write him something for his website on the Van Morrison album Common One, a true countryside lover's album. Most of the songs are about hills and valleys and Coleridge and Wordsworth smoking dope. He hands over to me the new Cherry Ghost album which is a stunna, especially Kissing Strangers and Only A Mother Could, two absolute gems. 


Kissing in particular should be the hit of the summer, gorgeous transcendent pop music. After Jeff and I part I hook up with Gary C, Simon Wells and Mr Baxter and we take a little stroll down to the Dickens house on Doughty Street in Holborn. Incredible how much Dickens involved himself in - novels, journalism and running house for 'stricken women' and raising a family. A quite incredible man and still one of my favouriite writers. Great Expectations is for me his masterpiece though I can not say I know his entire oeuvre. After the house we stop at nearby pub and let the sunshine envelope us. 


A lovely day for which I thank God and hope he may bless you. 


Paolo

17th June

Where was I? Oh yes, filming the latest episode of Svengali (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-b1ZuLwYG) in Fopps, Covent Garden. With me, Jonathan Owen, Martin Freeman, Jenni Davies. Good script, as ever. Martin F is the mod manager of Fopps, Jonathan and Jenni his useless employees. Then Boy G walks in.....Good day filming, everyone in good shape, Mr Freeman has just finished playing Watson for a BBC Sherlock series set in modern times coming up in September, plus has a new film with Bill Nighy plastered on the side of buses. As soon as he arrived and once the formalities were done with, he and Jonathan and Jenni set about making the episode the best they could. Have known Martin for a few years now. He is as you would expect, top man. Shit at returning phone calls, no interest in football, loves a cape, but that aside, ticks my boxes. If you ever get the chance see his performance as Rembrandt for Peter Greenaway. It is brilliant, absolutely and my favourite part of his work, by a mohair mile. Seek out. 


Meanwhile Kevin from Baracuta, Eddie from Acid Jazz popped in, both dapper and good company. Eddie is a lot more relaxed these days, a consequence he thinks of not smoking half of Essex every morning. Which probably helps. In late August he is republishing my Small faces biog The Young Mod's Forgotten Story. I updated it a month ago and was nicely surprised by how well it read considering it is now fifteen years old. When it was published people used to come up to me and say your SF book is great. I'd say thanks very much. The pictures are amazing they would say............... 


Boy G did not arrive until four. He had seen several Svengali episodes on You Tube and wanted to appear. I first knew the Boy back in the days when he was top of the pops. My Ex - Pearl (RIP baby) used to do his make up. He has certainly been on a trip since those days. He is living proof of the adage that if it does not kill it will only make you stronger. Fittingly, he was in good shape and form, the Boy, chatting openly about prison ('had to call a few people see u nts in the first few weeks and then they stopped taking the piss,') his plans, etc. He seemed nervous talking about his upcoming tour dates but for me this country has always had a place in its heart for him and will love him to death. He reminds me so much of Oscar Wilde - Irish, witty, a dresser of style, King Of The Town and then shame, disaster, prison, followed by a kind of by personal redemption.


 I play a customer in this episode. Was going to do my De Niro bit but 'the talent' talked me out of it. Realised afterwards they only did it to save themselves being upstaged.....Stronzas. Now then Inglese, stop your sobbing. You won't win the Cup - Diego will and on my birthday too - but you will have a good one. Now then Neil Sheasby who I will see on the 17th of July for the Dexys event in Birmingham - first few games are always cagey- boring-drab. Things now starten to liven up. 


In the meantime, May God Bless you all. 


Paolo

19th May 2010

Not much work on at the moment so am catching up with folk. Had coffee in the morning with Mr Jeff Barrett of Heavenly Records. Great to catch up with him.I hung out a lot with Jeff in the 90s and he put me onto so much good music I remain forever in his debt. It is why I dedicated The Sharper Word to Jeff and his family. Today he is involved with the great Caught By the River web site which mixes great nature with quality tips towards great books, films, music etc. Jeff tells me how hard it has been for his company Heavenly Records since EMI dropped them and I think to myself I must write him something for his website on the Van Morrison album Common One, a true countryside lover's album. Most of the songs are about hills and valleys and Coleridge and Wordsworth smoking dope. He hands over to me the new Cherry Ghost album which is a stunna, especially Kissing Strangers and Only A Mother Could, two absolute gems. 


Kissing in particular should be the hit of the summer, gorgeous transcendent pop music. 


After Jeff and I part I hook up with Gary C, Simon Wells and Mr Baxter and we take a little stroll down to the Dickens house on Doughty Street in Holborn. Incredible how much Dickens involved himself in - novels, journalism and running house for 'stricken women' and raising a family. A quite incredible man and still one of my favouriite writers. Great Expectations is for me his masterpiece though I can not say I know his entire oeuvre. 


After the house we stop at nearby pub and let the sunshine envelope us. A lovely day for which I thank God and hope he may bless you. 


Paolo

5th May 2010

Off to the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgravia Square with my boun amico Marcantonio to see a documentary about the Andorra Star. This was the boat sank by a German submarine in June 1940 carrying mainly Italian prisoners of war from Liverpool to Canada. It is a tragic story. 


Many Italians who were interned by the English had sons fighting in the British army and considered themselves British as much as they did Italian. When Benito Mussolini made a speeh declaring war on Great Britain, the very next day thousands of Italains were rounded up and deported to prisoner of war camps. A month later some of them were put onto the Andorra and sent to Canada. Their families were not told of their whereabouts. After the film two Italians spoke movingly about their parent's involvement in this terrible story. Very moving.What impressed was their desire not to apportion blame - this was war, people act foolishly - but to work towards such an event never re-occuring. 


Today, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy replied to my email thanking me for my support and professing his hope that Spurs grab three points tonight.I worte back saying whatever happens the season has been a great one for the Spurs. That perked me up as did some Facebook correspondence with Geoff Deane who wants to write about the Mod culture he grew up in circa 69. 


That is the thing about Mod, never goes away, just keeps on and on. Me, I am trying to find a way for a new breed of Mod to emerge - the Long Haired Modernist. 
Can it be done? 
Who knows except the man above and so 


God bless.


 Paolo

4th May 2010

Up early as usual. the birds singing sweet melody, a swim, then Church, home with the papers, reading. playing the new album by Richard Warren called Laments. Played twice, impressive stuff. 


Loads of discussions with Spurs people about Wednesday especially the man I call the Voice Of Doom who has us already knocked out of the Europa League. 


Me? I'm with my man Rob White who thinks we can achieve third place. And why not? Aim for the moon etc. meanwhile, the Voice Of Doom thinks I need help. Wrote to the Independent website about a piece they did on Daniel Levy the Spurs chairman, written by Sam Wallace who I do not normally like. His match reporting always feels one sided and I hate the way he - along with so many others in the press - try to sanitise the game with their callous remarks about players swearing or fans chanting. Still, it was a good piece about Lev and told him so as well as that Harry Redknapp is the manager of the season. Roy Hodgson has done amazing at Fulham but to take a team from relegation worriers to Champs League football in 18 months is astounding. 


Read more of the Alistair Taylor book about working with the Fabs, there is an amazing quote in there from Lennon talking about how when he was a kid he would fantasise about beautiful women coming to his bedroom and at a click of his fingers disrobing and then making love to him. 


In The Beatles, that is exactly what he got to do but after a while instead of enjoying the climatic moment - 'when for that second you don't need anything or anybody but are just as one' - he suddenly felt nothing but revulsion. Be careful what you wish for is the message. 


God bless. Paolo

BACK

Got so many messages about keeping up the diary - for which many many thanks - that I now bow to huge public pressure and decided to carry it on. My main concern about the diary was being too open. 

A lot of my life at the moment is taken up by work and the last thing I need to do is give away my ideas before they reach fruition. With that in mind....Spent yesterday lunchtime with a band called The Branco Heist who I have a lot of time for. They have about four or five great songs and many good ones to back them up. They are also getting better as the days pass which is always the acid test for me. Dennis The Menace kindly came along to the meet and gave them a few ideas about promotion to them and their managers John and Andy. Both are big Goonas but expressed their wish - as have other Gooners - that we we beat Man City on Wednesday. In fact they want Arsenal to lose their next two games and us overtake them for third spot so as to to give their club a huge kick up the proverbials.

 When I then invited them to watch the game with me so as to ehar them shout, Come On You Spurs they politely declined for some reason. Very strange. Branco are playing this Thursday election night at the Luxe which is in Spitalfields. Admission free as well so it is a good time to catch them. Went swimming after the meet and then back home to read Alastair Taylor's biog which ahs been very kindly elnt to me by my clsoe Amico, Signor Chandler who looks after the south east part of the operation. When Epstein signed the Beatles he offered Taylor two and a half per cent of future income on the band. Taylor turned him down, reckoned he lost 150 million in doing so.

 Book is very interesting. Lovely Macca story. When he signs to Epstein and says well I hope this band is going to be big but don't worry if it is not because I am going to be a huge star. I have a theory that at fourteen years of age most people who become greatly successful know this at that age and that success is just a matter of time. Good idea for a book book that looking at success and...see there you go, giving my ideas away again. 

Met ian Munn St lunchtime, had a nice chat and drink with him. Spoke about e Books. Got the rights to my oasis books back so going to look into the possibility with them. Day before Iain ventured to the Elephant and Castle where he 'lost' his seventy quid headphones...strange that.

 Loving You Tube at the moment. Today am on Nick Drake and a lot of Marmalade. On my stereo are Dexys, Van Morrison and Brian Wilson Specifically Until I Beleive In My Soul and My National Pride by Dexys, When Will I Ever Learn To Live with God and The Mystery by Van and Lay Burden Down by Brian Wilson, written the day he discovered his broth