13 posts tagged “birmingham”
John Carter My hometown hero John was born John Sheakspeare in Birmingham 1942. He teamed up with fellow Brummie Ken Lewis (Hawker)(they loved their writing pseudonyms in those days!) in the 50’s forming a skiffle band and they started writing songs inspired by the likes of Buddy Holly. With a move to London a brief stint as Carter-Lewis And The Southerners which although uncharted, demonstrated their excellent songwriting skills, having a initial success with Mike Stearn’s ‘Will I What’ featuring 60’s blue eyed soul girl Billie Davis. The combination of strong close harmonies honed through their experience as singers and amazingly commercial writing of pop songs soon got them noticed and they began writing. Despite having Jimmy Page as their guitarist for a short time, the success never happened in mainstream. In 1964 they met Perry Ford (Bryan Pugh) who worked as a sound engineer in a studio in Denmark Street. This added a third harmony and they started writing and recording demo’s which resulted in a single for PYE Records “What more do you want’ under the name of the newly formed Ivy League. Their break came when Herman’s Hermits recorded ‘Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat?’ giving them a number 1 billboard hit in the US (A smaller hit in the UK recorded by Goldie & The Gingerbreads). Their harmonies were also in demand providing backing vocals on ‘I Can’t Explain’ by The Who. Their second release "Funny How Love Can Be", became a UK Top 10 hit. Further hits followed, including "That's Why I'm Crying" and "Tossing and Turning", which reached #3 in the UK chart in1965. The original trio released just one album, 1965's This is the Ivy League – panned in the music press as disappointing, with its excessively wide spread of musical styles and material but demonstrating the creative skills as writers – before both Carter and Lewis left the group. Carter departed in January 1966, with Lewis leaving about one year later. The duo then set up a production company called Sunny Records Following the release of their fifth single, John Carter was replaced by friend Tony Burrows (later of Edison Lighthouse, White Plains, Brotherhood Of Man and the Pipkins) other members of the band Neil Landon went on from the Flowerpot Men to join 'Fat Mattress (Noel Redding’s outfit formed post Jimi Hendrix Experience). The Ivy League had one further hit without their two accomplished songwriters before being transformed into the 'Flowerpot Men' hitting #4 in the UK with its single "Let's Go To San Francisco" & ‘summer of love’ in 1967 with messrs Carter and Lewis fulfilling the roles of songwriter/ managers but little interest in touring again. The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record hisnovelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and aRudy Vallee megaphone style vocal. To his surprise, the song became a transatlantic hit that autumn, reaching the Top 10 in the UK and rising to #1 in the U.S. Global sales of the single were over three million, with the RIAA certification of gold disc status. The track also won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song in 1967. The lead vocal was sung by John Carter who had sung on the demo of the record, which Stephens decided to keep for the commercial release. An initial long play Album was also issued in late 1966 by Fontana Records titled: Winchester Cathedral. The band were managed by Peter Grant (Later to manage Led Zeppelin). In 1968 they featured in a cameo appearance in one of my all time favourite films ‘The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom’’ starring Shirley MacLaine and Richard Attenborough (Also featuring a wealth of British character actors and those destines to become legends in their own right such as Barry Humphries & John Cleese) Starting early 1968 Carter's writing output under a variety of names, styles and recording project names with changing line ups became more and more confusing. Songs intended for The Flower Pot Men were released as Friends, Haystack and Dawn Chorus, only to be re-released in this century as The Flower Pot Men. The 1970s saw Mary Hopkins became runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Knock Knock Who's There", which Carter had written with Stephens. Under the name John Shakespeare. In the following years Carter released records under many names: Stamford Bridge (# 48 with "Chelsea"), Kincade, Scarecrow and Stormy Petrel. He also released a single as The Ohio Express, an American bubblegum group renowned for not playing or singing on most of their records. The hit came with "Beach Baby" by First Class in 1974. After two First Class albums Carter started concentrating on writing advertising jingles. Among his work are commercials which demonstrate their genius, for the generation who grew up with them in the 70’s, by the ability to sing along to them after hearing them for the first time in 30 years. His Advertising jingles formed the backdrop of my youth with British adverts for Vauxhall, British Caledonian and Rowntree. (remember rowntrees tots?) and Birds Dream Topping are instantly recalled. His TV writing credits span the mainstay of family entertainment from the 70’s providing memorable themes. See the huge list on IMDB His last shot at a hit single was in 1979 as Starbreaker with "Sound of Summer". In more recent times Carter has been managing the marketing of his back catalogue through Sunny Records, releasing many songs that were never released at the time of recording. John – If you are ever available for an interview or back in Birmingham, let me know. You are my hero! Buy an excellent John Carter compilation here
Soon to be re-released the critically acclaimed Artists in Focus.
In 1998 a film crew spent a few weeks following an aspiring artist who had recently moved to Birmingham, UK.
The documentary reveals the determination of one man to access the art world, find commissions and make a name for himself.
Photograph:Anthony J Hughes
Mop Fair
Traditions associated with Autumn/ Harvest
Mop Fairs (also "The Mop" singular and "Mops" plural) are a feature of many English towns and are traditionally held on or around "Old Michaelmas Day". They originated as a "hiring" fair and their history dates back some 600 to 700 years.
History
Farm workers, labourers, servants and some craftsmen would work for their employer from October to October. At the end of the employment they would attend the Mop Fair dressed in their Sunday best clothes and carrying an item signifying their trade. A servant with no particular skills would carry a mop head – hence the phrase Mop Fair.
Employers would move amongst them discussing experience and terms, once agreement was reached the employer would give the employee a small token of money and the employee would remove the item signifying their trade and wear bright ribbons to indicate they had been hired. They would then spend the token amongst the stalls set-up at the fair which would be selling food and drink and offering games to play.
Michaelmas Day is celebrated on the 29th September but Mop Fairs were tied to the seasons and the harvest, not the calendar. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1752 and 11 days dropped from that year events associated with the end of the harvest moved 11 days later to the 10th October. This date is known as "Old Michaelmas Day" and since 1752 has been the date Mop Fairs take place.
Tewkesbury Mop Fair, as with others, takes over the entire town centre
Mops are still held in some English towns, though many have died out. To confuse matters some fairs have adopted the term Mop even though they are not held on or near to Michaelmas Day or they are a recent creation.
Mops usually last for 2 days and take over the centre of the town, they attract thousands of visitors. In recent times the Mops have become little more than a funfair with the traditional reason for the fair playing no part. Many of the rides at the Mop are fast, brightly lit and very noisy but traditional rides such as carousels and helter-skelters will still be found though their days may be numbered as visitors more and more ignore them for their more modern competitors.
Mop towns
The following towns have a history of holding Mops and still hold one each year on or around Michaelmas Day. A theme common to these towns is that they were, several hundred years ago, medium sized thriving market towns surrounded by a large number of smaller villages, hence their obvious choice as the location for the Mop.
Alcester, Banbury, Chipping Sodbury, Cirencester, Evesham, Kings Norton, Marlborough, Moreton in Marsh, Stratford upon Avon, Tewkesbury, WarwickPhotograph:Anthony J Hughes
Crying The Neck
Traditions associated with Autumn/ Harvest
Crying The Neck is a harvest festival tradition practised in the West Country of England, in particular Cornwall and Devon. Although mostly discontinued the tradition is still practised by members of the Old Cornwall Society every year.
In The Story of Cornwall, by Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin, the following explanation is given on the practice:
"In those days the whole of the reaping had to be done either with the hook or scythe. The harvest, in consequence, often lasted for many weeks. When the time came to cut the last handful of standing corn, one of the reapers would lift up the bunch high above his head and call out in a loud voice.....,
"We have it! We have it! We have it!"
The rest would then shout,
"What 'ave 'ee? What 'ave 'ee? What 'ave 'ee?"
and the reply would be:
"A neck! A neck! A neck!"
Everyone then joined in shouting:
"Hurrah! Hurrah for the neck! Hurrah for Mr. So-and-So"
(calling the farmer by name.)"
Sunset over retail, originally uploaded by anthonyjhughes.
Wow this was absolutely blinding! in more ways than one.
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