Arts
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. It is time to light the first candle. #Hope. O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of [more…]
Music
Arts
The History Of Christmas Number Ones 1952 – 1999, Part One: 1952 – 1975
Holy mince pies and brandy butter Batman! Is it bauble and tinsel time again already? It seems like we just got the last of the pine needle out of the carpet and here we go [more…]
Arts
A (short) Postcard From “The Firkin Fox”
I have a good friend who lives in Essex, although we are very different people we’ve always got along well since we first met, we share a sense of humour that not everyone gets. We [more…]
Arts
Friday Night at GP
From time to time it is perhaps appropriate that we should relax a little the bonds that tether us to the straight and narrow. As we all know well, A fitting apologia for a bit of [more…]
20th Century
The History of Pop Music – 1995
Featured song: Oasis – Some Might Say This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 when they stopped making it. [more…]
20th Century
The History of Pop Music – 1994
Featured song: Elton John – Circle of Life This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 when they stopped making [more…]
Arts
Meet Markos Vamvakaris (“Mark Cotton”) – Patriarch of Rebetiko
Some things are not quite what they seem: hardly an earth-shattering perception, but you have to start somewhere. I imagine that a fair number of GPers have spent a holiday in Greece. I dare say [more…]
20th Century
Bax of Delights
There have been quite a few occasions when one wished one was a fly on the wall to listen in on a conversation. The private discussion between Sir Arnold Bax, Master of the King’s Musick, [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Bloodstock 2018
I know, I know – in two months you’ll be seeing another piece from me. ‘Postcard from Bloodstock 2019’. What can I say, this is one of those posts I had been meaning to finish [more…]