Pushing it to the back of my mind, you see to all intents and purposes I'm fine

Just finished reading my first book of the year.  I really should have done it sooner especially as I claim to be such a big Edwyn Collins fan. The book is quite heart breaking most of the time, as you read all of what he and Grace, his wife went through to get him well again but they got there in the end,  it's an incredible story.

 

My best Edwyn story is the one about me and Graeme from The Love Parade going  to see him play at the Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton. We thought we would be able to pay on the door but it was sold out when we got there,  so we had to stake out the doors to try and catch Edwyn coming or going. Graeme was lucky and as Edwyn strided up to the back stage door he told him we had travelled miles to see him and would there be any chance of us getting in on the guest list,  "of course" he said. We witnessed a magnicent performance, it was around the time of the Hope and Despair LP and he was on fire, i can remember him jumping about on the speakers brandishing his guitar, I wish there was some footage of that gig somewhere.



I was late to the Orange Juice party Rip It Up was first thing I bought by them. It was a double pack 7" with a fold out cover that I remember having up on my bedroom wall, the bue tack stains remain on the reverse. I always preferred  A Sad Lament, reminded me of T Rex? I also remember recording a Janice Long session around about the same time and one of the songs was Flesh Of My Flesh, for years I always thought it had a bit of "are you being served" vibe about it, but I found an mp3 of it on a web site recently and it sounds nothing like it!