Ralphadeus. Music movies comics feature in this look at life from Somerset.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Hastings 960 - a collosal paper recreation of Hastings 1066
James Mogsymakes says: Awesome day out with The Paperboys Page running the Battle of Hastings with 16,000 paper minis at Partizan Wargaming and History. Kudos to the 28 volunteers who snipped soldiers for the game and Peter Dennis for an entirely cardboard/paper hill, and cheers to our Midgard Heroic Battles veterans who turned up to make the game run smoothly. — with The Paperboys Page and 2 others at Newark Showground.'
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Red River Blues [Colourised] 1946
This is a real rare one!!
This outtake is earlier and longer footage of Brownie and Sonny (as shown on the library of congress documentary). Although the black and white source footage had no audio the quality of the video was so good I had to have a go colourising it and I synced it to the 'live' version shown on the Library of Congress documentary released in 1968. You can find the original here: https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.a... (Brownie & Sonny are about 12minutes into this). Big thanks to the Rr R- Folk Music channel for finding and uploading the silent black & white outtake footage I used to colourise this, check out their excellent channel here: / @rrr-folkmusicchannelfocusi4476
Human League - Path of Least Resistance (live BBCtv 1979)
Susan likes this era Human League.
Top clip of the original line-up performing a song from the first album on some programme called "Mainstream". Repeated as part of the "Sounds of the Seventies" series, hence the daft bookending with Paul Darrow and Patrick Troughton.
The Black Cauldron - 1985 Theatrical Trailer (35mm 4K)
I picked this up recently on DVD. It's a good film. The Black Cauldron (film) - Wikipedia
The Cure Jumping Someone Else's Train 1979
Jumping Someone Else's Train - Wikipedia Just played on Sounds of the 70s. We bought the first threee or four Cure singles.
The music video shows a speeded up view from the driver's cab of a train journey from London Victoria to Brighton Station.[3]
960th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.
new label 1066
Samsung S24 Ultra.
Fast Show The Very Best of Jazz Club
The Fast Show - Wikipedia We loved this show and this sketch series was hilarious.
Madonna Beautiful Stranger 1999
Beautiful Stranger - Wikipedia From the Austin Powers' movie The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Alfred The Great (1969) Trailer
Alfred the Great (film) - Wikipedia I saw this at the cinema as a child. The Vikings frightened me. I like this film though I don't own a DVD of it. Filmed in Ireland but set in Somerset and Wiltshire.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards & Walter Horton - 'Love of Mine' live 1969
This was part of a session held on Wednesday the 3rd September, 1969, at the Thunderbird Motel on South Shore Drive in Chicago. Johnny Shines called Big Walter in for the session, and Adelphi sent a taxi to pick him up from home and deliver him to the motel. Upon arrival, Horton apologized for his appearance. It seems he had been in a fight the night before and had just returned home from the emergency room when Shines called. The white stuff you see on his hand is medical tape.
The 101’ers, Joe Strummer - Keys To Your Heart (2026 Mix) [Official Audio]
The 101ers - Wikipedia Saturday Night Selection. There is a new box set of 101ers recordings.
- Adge Cutler & The Wurzels ' Back on the Farm' 1967
I enjoyed the book on him. Very good on the Bristol Jazz and subsequently folk scene that spawned the band. Scrumpy and Western music was a group of artists including people like Fred Wedlock, the Yetties, and the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra to name but a few.
The Premiers Farmer John 1964
American Bandstand. August 01, 1964. First appearance by The Premieres on American Bandstand.
Dodge City Chronicles by Andrew Barnes
Dodge City Chronicles by Andrew Barnes — British Comic Crime Fiction
A friend recommended these books. They are set in Radstock and Norton in the 80s I believe.
“Boom Boom!” John Lee Hooker Brings The Blues | The Blues Brothers (1980)
Sue and I saw this at the cinema when it came out. Blues Unlimited magazine flagged and though I'd never heard of the concept considered it worth going to see it. In pre Youtube days you would go to the cinema to see two minutes of your musical heroes. It really took off on VHS.
Blues Brothers book
Today's charity shop purchase. Looks good fun.
The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colourful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard's Lampoon and Chicago's Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM Trailer [1988]
*TONIGHT 10PM*
Friday, October 09, 2026
Wargaming Normans
I had a Norman wargames army. I bought it off a friend so I didn't paint it. I think it was Essex. Sold it to Chris Scott. Nowadays it looks as if Victrix is worth investigating.
Tony Joe White Polk Salad Annie
The original. Polk Salad Annie - Wikipedia I love this song. Knew the Elvis version but this is the best.
Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie - 1 September 1969
Slab House Inn near Wells
I forgot the name of this pub Slab House Inn, West Horrington it was driving me mad - I dug out maps and all it said was PH. Then suddenly the name came to me about a month later. Closed now I went there a few times with Susan when I was working in Wells. Called the Slab House as during the Black Death food and drink was left on a slab there.
X RAY SPEX - Identity "Live Birmingham" (Revolver TV, Outtake #2) 7th August 1978
Great band. We saw them about this time.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Boiled eggs
Sue likes these. Unusual to get white eggs here. We used to keep chickens. Bread is sourdough.
Ralph and Henry c1976
At my parents' house copying the Stupidity album cover pic. This line-up busked in Frome Town Centre. We soon got a bassist (Ivan) and a drummer (Bunse) who was very young (about 14 - me and Ivan were 16) but it never stopped us getting gigs in pubs. We never got stopped from drinking. I drank from about 14, in village pubs that didn't care.
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| Here we are in 1978. |
Stupidity Dr Feelgood 1976
Stupidity (Dr. Feelgood album) - Wikipedia
This came out September 1976. It got to number 1 without a single. It was probably their high point certainly of the Wilko period. I remember borrowing Henry of the Ba Detectives' copy as I was too poor to buy it for myself.
I Wanna Be Sedated The Ramones 1978
Our kids favourite Ramones song though they didn't know what sedated meant.
Road to Ruin (Ramones album) - Wikipedia
"I Wanna Be Sedated" was described by the author Brian J. Bowe as one of the band's "most classic" pieces of music. After a show in London, Joey told manager Linda Stein: "Put me in a wheelchair and get me on a plane before I go insane."[14] This quote would be the chorus to "I Wanna Be Sedated", whose lyrics invoke the stress which the band was under during touring. It is the most downloaded song from the catalog by The Ramones.[13]
My 1066 books
Some books I have acquired. One is a library book. I visited the Tapestry on a school trip in the 70s but the souvenir booklet was picked up by our daughter from Cheddar Car boot sale. I used to have spears and shields and kit that would have passed the test to take part in the reenactment this weekend but I am too old but I wish them well.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Alligator Wine (1957)
Halloween must-have. A big budget follow up to I Put a Spell on You but it flopped.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Wikipedia I actually met him in about 83.
Donovan - Season of the Witch - Live (Bouton Rouge, 1967)
Another song for Halloween playlists. Released 1966. Season of the Witch (song) - Wikipedia
In a retrospective song review for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer commented: "Few songs so perfectly reflect the dawn of the psychedelic pop era as aptly as Donovan's 'Season of the Witch' ... Both lyrically as well as musically, the languid and trippy contents project a dark foreboding atmosphere [and] a sort of sinister tale of paranoia and the paranormal".[8]
Mitchards the Butchers Radstock pics by Sue
Established 1913. Quality meat with famous faggots (see below). They source their meat from local farms.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Bob Dylan - "Don't Start Me Talkin'" and "Jokerman" (Late Night with David Letterman) 1984
Covering Sonny Boy. He knows a good song when he hears one.
Fattening Frogs For Snakes · Sonny Boy Williamson II 1957
Sonny Boy II was a genius songwriter. He simply took a few pencilled notes into the studio and improvised on the ideas.
James Cotton on Sonny Boy
James Cotton and Sonny Boy
'Crazy. He was crazy. Drink a lot of whiskey, had a pretty fast temper. He would fight right away, he'd cut 'cha. He'd get that knife open he'd sure cut 'cha. Crazy guy. But other than that, he was a good man, you know. He had a fast temper, liked to drink, liked to stay out all night long. That's where I get that from, I guess. I tell my wife all the time I'm a country boy. I like to stay out all night long. Me and him used to go playing, see that the other guys get home. There'd be times we'd ride around till daylight, wouldn't be doing nothing just ride around and talk, come home at daylight. He loved to stay out all night, loved to do that. I think that's where I got started on at that.'
Elvis Don't Be Cruel January 1957
Don't Be Cruel - Wikipedia A great Otis Blackwell composition. "Don't Be Cruel" went on to become Presley's biggest selling single recorded in 1956, with sales over six million by 1961.[1]
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - What Ever Happened To My Rock And Roll 2001
Our daughters won tickets from the NME to see this band about then. They enjoyed it
Adge Cutler and the Wurzels - Hark At 'Ee Jacko
Currently reading this biography. A lot about Nailsea in the old days. The song below celebrates the art of telling tall tales in the pub.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Haysi Fantayzee performing Shiny Shiny 1983
I used to like this band. I bought their singles which were good but the LP was a bit rubbish.
900TH ANNIVERSARY BATTLE OF HASTINGS RE-ENACTMENT
(15 Oct 1966) The annual re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings takes place at Battle Abbey, Hastings. The re-enactment battle is shown including a victorious William the Conqueror and a dead King Harold. This year is the 900th anniversay of the battle.
Van Morrison - Moondance (from..It's Too Late to Stop Now...Film) (Live) 1973
Neath the cover of October skies.
