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BYTES FROM THE INGLORIOUS SUMMER
6th October 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Autumn in the Big Apple is a true delight, and, quite frankly, the season couldn't have made its presence any sooner. Summer 2011 dispensed weather extremes of the highest order, to the point where New Yorkers, not the most tolerant souls at the best of times, became fed up to the back teeth with freaky forecasts and unimaginable conditions. So, being as the mysteries of meteorology have now become an...
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HUMAN’S RIGHTS FROM THE BIG APPLE
2nd August 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Once upon a time there was a lawyer, a school master, a mariner, an accountant, a bookmaker, a salesman and a chiropodist. Together they ventured forth into the waters of the North Sea that lapped around the South Bay in their home town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The only thing was, they chose to dip their toes and every other part of their shivering bodies into the foaming briny during...
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Bytes from the Niggling Insomnia
23rd June 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Right now, amongst other things, I am preparing for a new recording session. And already one of the long-established occupational hazards that goes with the gig has begun to kick in. I'm talking about the inescapable intrusion into one's sleep pattern of key signatures, harmony lines, potential guitar fills and lyrical changes that occur when you are prepping a production.
Having spent the past few weeks sifting through a trough of... -
BYTES FROM THE BIG CONVENTION
19th May 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Even after five decades of rock & roll, observers of the form can't make up their minds as to whether or not the classic 'rock' guitar is a phallic or a female symbol. This is an intriguing issue, because when a fretboard is projected, thrust or jiggled on stage, the first option comes to mind. But when you consider that the instrument is shaped with sensuous flowing contours, which many...
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Bytes From the Big Apple: A Script, a Cast, a time and a place.
31st March 2011 | 5 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
In terms of originality and inventiveness, January 12th 1960 will forever stand as an indelicate date on the entertainment calendar. Not because Emile Ford and the Checkmates were topping the charts with 'What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For'. Not because "Tommy the Toreador" was doing the rounds across the U.K. And not because the strong arm crooner Don Arden was busy emceeing the Gene Vincent Show on...
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Bytes From the Big Apple”: Bill Haley & the Comets
10th February 2011 | 5 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
The chorus of Bill Haley's ‘R-O-C-K’ says it all. “Strauss discovered waltzes, the ‘Handy Man’ found the blues. Well Haley came along with a rockin’ song, ‘Crazy, Man Crazy’, crazy news”. Yes, the news was ‘crazy’ indeed. So too was the response to the revolution, the reaction from the kids, the reaction from the longhairs and the price that Bill Haley paid for fathering Rock & Roll. William John Clifton...
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Bytes From the Big Apple: The Ripe Mr. Rupe
6th January 2011 | 3 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
January is, by tradition, a time when the award shows start to kick in: A time when you turn on the TV and scratch your head as to who the individual being honoured actually is. Outside of the Grammys, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild events, the focus around these parts is currently on those individuals who will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a...
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Bites (At Home and Away) From the Big Apple
2nd December 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
It won’t come as a surprise to be prompted that the Collective Review is all about assessments, analysis and appraisal. In fact, that’s the main reason why we are here. So I thought we might do the food thing this time, and turn Bytes into Bites in order to evaluate a couple of recently-purloined menus.
The Jazz Standard is a long-established eaterie located just north of Gramercy Park in downtown Manhattan.... -
School Bytes from the Big Apple
27th October 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
"Forty years on, when afar and asunder, parted are those who are singing today. When you look back and forgetfully wonder, what you were like in your work and your play". Those words still ring true as a piece of poignant prose. 'Forty Years On' has for many years been the alma mater song of Harrow School, an institution that was never on my short list of potential seminaries. I...
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Bytes From the Secure Big Apple
30th September 2010 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
They've gone, they've skedaddled. So huzzah! Let the joybells ring, because those indeterminate world-leaders, tub-thumpers and Foreign Office types who've been in New York for the United Nations' Annual General Assembly, have finally left the building. Allow me to explain. The Colmans happen to live in Turtle Bay, a delightful little neighourhood that is within spitting distance of the United Nations complex. Popular spots include the Katharine Hepburn Memorial Garden,...
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