11.30am July 1st 2011. It has been difficult getting back to my normal day and swimming my reduced distance of 500 metres was a struggle although I achieved the target and enjoyed a Jacuzzi
09.00 July 2nd It was even more of a struggle this morning on what has developed into a fine day although clouds are anticipated later but should remain dry as is the forecast for the morrow. Today is thee official launch of the Catherine Cookson Festival Month with a parade followed by a promenade type concert in the evening on Sunday although I will be too tired from the cricket to attend. On Friday Yorkshire come for a 20 20 and then it is Mouth of the Tyne Festival with free Traditional jazz on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Tynemouth with free ferry and bus if I get myself down to the riverside. There is also street theatre on Saturday evening followed by fireworks.
Returning to yesterday I intended to watch the Cricket England V Sri Lanka at Headingly, Andy Murray Semi Final against Nadal at Wimbledon and listen to Durham at Old Trafford to play Lancashire in a 20 20 vital to both teams if they are progress to the quarter finals later n the year. Should Murray will I will rush to the Cineworld at Bolden to see if I can get a ticket for the big screen 3 D showing on Sunday and forgo the 20 20 game at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.
It is 18.17 and Murray has started well, England look as if they will lose the second one day game and Lancashire put into bat by Durham are scoring well.
I cannot bear to watch or listen to any of the events live as they are all going wrong and did. Murray after winning the first set and missing the opportunity to go 40. 15 on Nadal‘s service in the second set failed and then crashed losing the next three sets. Durham’s bowlers failed o hold Lancashire at first but then did well to restrict to under 170 and the crashed so that despite Plunkett and Borthwick adding rubs at the rate of 10 an over towards the end they lost by 26 runs. England’s bowlers also failed and lost by some 60 odd runs.
Blue Bloods ended its first season with a resolution of what happened to the eldest son. Unbelievably the youngest son continued not to mention to any member of his family the FBI investigation that his elder brother was murdered by a secret organisation within the NYPD and that the FBI contact had then died in dubious circumstances. Nor does he say anything when he finds his gun missing from his locker and is subjected to a vigorous Internal Affairs interview. Then the sister of the FBI agent gives him a small package which her sister had told her to pass on in the event of her untimely death.
The package contained a voice recorder from the elder brother indicating his concerns. This does trigger the young man informing his older brother and in turn the rest of the family becoming involved and engaging in the investigation to establish what happened. What emerges is that a group of member of the secret society set up to bring their form of own justice (the Blue Templar) had kept the proceeds of a drug bust of several million dollars but had not distributed the cash until the time was right and the members arranged to leave the force and commence new lives. Most of the Members were unaware that the eldest son of the Commissioner had been killed because of his interest in their activities as had been the FBI agent, although her murder did not appear to be followed up as the first season ends. The family is able to find the person who supplied the officers with weapons. Weapons which should have been destroyed and were recorded as having been destroyed but were then either sold back to the criminal underworld or used by the members in their illegal activities.
The police Commissioner visits the senior officer who sanctioned the reuse of the weapons forcing him to leave the force without pension, farewell party and the like. At one point an attempt is made on the life of his daughter, the assistant DA but eventually the gang are caught just as the money is being distributed and family members leaving the country. One of the group is forced to admit he killed the eldest son and is then allowed to blow his own head off. The family visit the graves of their loves ones.
In the penultimate episode of the season, the family are also collectively involved when neighbours are found murdered and the most likely killer is their son who had become a drug and drink addict. He was also the first boyfriend of the daughter assistant DA. It is Danny who is uncertain about what to everyone else appears an open and shut case. Danny’s instincts are proven well founded as he uncovers that the other son and daughter were responsible for the death of their parents and framing their brother. He and the former girl friend reflect on their lives and futures.
It is understood that for the second season which commences in the USA in September the programme will concentrate on single episode stories.
Their Chicago Code rival continues to offer single episode stories with the overall subject of corruption involving the political and corrupt Alderman Police boss. The Undercover agent is asked to help out during an exceptionally hot snap in which and the poor and elderly suffer unless they are wealthy and have air conditioning in their homes. The undercover policeman saves an elderly woman who has collapsed in her home and the Alderman rewards by placing him on the city pay roll. He begins to question his mission as all the evidence is that the Alderman goes to great lengths to help anyone in the community in need irrespective of whether they voted for him.
The police chief has a new driver following the death of the predecessor. He is a perfect young man with two tours in Iraq behind him and dedication to his new position.
In Sopranos Full Leather Jacket Tony reveals to Dr Melfi his behaviour in giving to his daughter the vehicle taken off her boyfriend in part payment for the father of the boyfriend’s gambling debts. He admits that having shielded her from the nature of his true life he then rubbed her nose and does not understand why. Dr Melfi suggests to him a positive interpretation that as the daughter was shortly graduating and going to college he was preparing her for the reality of life.
Meadow wants to go to a major university away from home. Berkeley, California while her mother wants her to go to Georgetown where as luck would have it the sister of a next door neighbour is a well known alumna of the University, so Carmela strong arms the neighbour and then the sister to write a letter recommending Meadow for a place. Meadow is unaware of her mother’s actions.
Ritchie Aprile has become a regular visitor and contact since setting up home with Tony’s sister. Two young men working for Christopher are trying to establish themselves as gangsters and overhear Ritchie commenting unfavourably about Christopher. Christopher is full of remorse after his breakup with Adriana’s and persuades her to return after proposing and giving her a large diamond engagement ring. The two young men are too nervous to make a good impression on Tony and in order to get themselves noticed they attempt to kill Christopher who kills one but is severely injured and in hospital. Meanwhile Ritchie has given Tony a leather jacket from the 1970’s which he took from the toughest gangster around at the time. Later he is depressed and angry when he sees the jacket being worn by the husband of the maid at Tony’s house. The title of the episode is a play on the film Full Metal jacket. Tony visits Christopher in hospital and comments How could this happen?
Spartacus developed a nice (!) twist as the social climbing wife of the Gladiator school owner arranged for an influential wife to enjoy Spartacus wearing only a mask. Spartacus agreed with any fuss. The school owner also insists that the wife of general should have Crixus unaware that his wife has an exclusive interest and in turn is unaware that Crixus is in love with her leading slave as is going through the motions. In preventing the situation the wife arranges for Spartacus to take the wife of the general to the horror of both when the truth is revealed, Spartacus tries to throttle the woman whose husband turned him into a slave, and his wife leading to her death. The influential woman can see the funny side of the situation but when she laughs, the general’s wife kills her. The Gladiator school Master’s wife arranged to dispose the body so there will be no link to school and thus has the woman in her power. Interestingly when Spartacus apologies to his master, the master is sympathetic understanding the man’s reaction.
I have experienced one film Sweetwater based on the true story of the 1960’s band singer Nancy Nevins who followed Ritchie Havens on stage on the opening day of the Woodstock in 1969.
The band reflected the soft peace loving aspect of 1960’s music with the members of the band playing classical instruments such a flute and cello. The group appears with all the major bands of the era including Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Joe Cocker, Santana, the Who, Crosby Stills and Nash, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry, and even Bing Crosby. They were among the first interracial bands to achieve national USA recognition. Tensions arose when the rest of the band expressed concern that they were being regarded as the backing group for Nancy and then disaster struck as Nancy was involved in a serious accident which left her in a coma and with a damaged vocal chord during operation to save her life.
Nansi stage name Nancy Nevins was born in Glendale California and a musical family although her amateur musician violinist father died when she was 18 months. She attended a Roman Catholic Grammar School where she learned to play classical piano but listened to the emerging rock and roll and wanted to be a singer from her childhood. She describes herself as becoming a juvenile delinquent smoking cigarettes, truanting and boyfriends before the age of sixteen years. She did not behave conventionally.
One evening the nucleus of Sweetwater, calling themselves Jay Walker and the Pedestrians was playing at a coffee house near Los Angeles City College at which other musicians and singers were free to join in. Nancy attended with her boyfriend and when the band started to play, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,” she grabbed the microphone to sing one of her favourite numbers. She was invited to sing on for the next half an hour and from that Sweetwater with Nancy was created a short time afterwards as Nancy reached her eighteenth birthday. They were an unusual group for the day with a white female singer, a Cuban Conga player, a Jewish drummer, an Italian on Keyboard and a Mexican bass player.
Understandably her mother was unhappy at the a situation where her just eighteen year old daughter was on the road with seven or eight musicians although Nancy recalls that they were protective behaving as older brothers, and in those early days they played on gigs with the Beach Boys and Canned Heat in addition to those already mentioned. In 1969 they played at the Miami festival which drew 50000 and the largest crowd at such an event and then in Los Angeles where the event attracted 250000, with Jimi Hendrix Big Brother and Jefferson Airplane on the bill, an event which is rarely mentioned because of what happened weeks later with Woodstock. The reason they played immediately after acoustic playing Ritchie Havens was that their instruments had been delivered to the site separately and they were able to get to the stage via a helicopter while other bands were caught up in the traffic jam as more and more people attempted to the site. They had no sound engineers and relied on those provided by the organisers.
Their appearance is believed to have contributed to invitation to appear on national television much to the delight of her mother who came to accept her daughter‘s chosen way of life and interests.
That she survived the near fatal vehicle accident was due to the presence of all the Southern Californian Neurologists holding their monthly meeting on the night of her admission. Nancy was in a coma for two weeks and the damage caused by the intravenous tubes on her vocal chords was irreversible. She was given no hope of recovering and also the last rites according to the Catholic Church. She overheard the doctors telling her mother that if she survived she would have permanent brain damage. She had six operations to try and reduce the damage to her vocal chord but aged only 20 years she was discharged from hospital feeling her life was over unable to continue the only things she felt destined to do.
Sweetwater attempted to continue having 18 months of bookings but the public wanted to hear the sound on the records that had been released.
According to the film Nancy refused to accept the situation and gradually regained her ability to sing with her voice having a deeper and richer sound. She made one record which failed and became an alcoholic cutting herself off from family and friends. Eventually she went into treatment about the same time as her mother contracted terminal cancer but in recovery she was reunited with her mother before her death. She disappeared from the music scene graduating with honours, gaining a Masters degree in English and American studies becoming a college English teacher in Orange County.
According to the film a TV journalist whose career had zoomed and fallen because of an addiction problem decided to try and find out what had happened to the band and eventually tracking Nancy after three of the surviving core members who did not know what happened to her. With two of the original members Nancy reformed the group, recorded and performed including the anniversary Woodstock festival, The Band and Nancy established have Internet sites including MySpace and Facebook. I found the story inspiring.
09.00 July 2nd It was even more of a struggle this morning on what has developed into a fine day although clouds are anticipated later but should remain dry as is the forecast for the morrow. Today is thee official launch of the Catherine Cookson Festival Month with a parade followed by a promenade type concert in the evening on Sunday although I will be too tired from the cricket to attend. On Friday Yorkshire come for a 20 20 and then it is Mouth of the Tyne Festival with free Traditional jazz on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Tynemouth with free ferry and bus if I get myself down to the riverside. There is also street theatre on Saturday evening followed by fireworks.
Returning to yesterday I intended to watch the Cricket England V Sri Lanka at Headingly, Andy Murray Semi Final against Nadal at Wimbledon and listen to Durham at Old Trafford to play Lancashire in a 20 20 vital to both teams if they are progress to the quarter finals later n the year. Should Murray will I will rush to the Cineworld at Bolden to see if I can get a ticket for the big screen 3 D showing on Sunday and forgo the 20 20 game at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.
It is 18.17 and Murray has started well, England look as if they will lose the second one day game and Lancashire put into bat by Durham are scoring well.
I cannot bear to watch or listen to any of the events live as they are all going wrong and did. Murray after winning the first set and missing the opportunity to go 40. 15 on Nadal‘s service in the second set failed and then crashed losing the next three sets. Durham’s bowlers failed o hold Lancashire at first but then did well to restrict to under 170 and the crashed so that despite Plunkett and Borthwick adding rubs at the rate of 10 an over towards the end they lost by 26 runs. England’s bowlers also failed and lost by some 60 odd runs.
Blue Bloods ended its first season with a resolution of what happened to the eldest son. Unbelievably the youngest son continued not to mention to any member of his family the FBI investigation that his elder brother was murdered by a secret organisation within the NYPD and that the FBI contact had then died in dubious circumstances. Nor does he say anything when he finds his gun missing from his locker and is subjected to a vigorous Internal Affairs interview. Then the sister of the FBI agent gives him a small package which her sister had told her to pass on in the event of her untimely death.
The package contained a voice recorder from the elder brother indicating his concerns. This does trigger the young man informing his older brother and in turn the rest of the family becoming involved and engaging in the investigation to establish what happened. What emerges is that a group of member of the secret society set up to bring their form of own justice (the Blue Templar) had kept the proceeds of a drug bust of several million dollars but had not distributed the cash until the time was right and the members arranged to leave the force and commence new lives. Most of the Members were unaware that the eldest son of the Commissioner had been killed because of his interest in their activities as had been the FBI agent, although her murder did not appear to be followed up as the first season ends. The family is able to find the person who supplied the officers with weapons. Weapons which should have been destroyed and were recorded as having been destroyed but were then either sold back to the criminal underworld or used by the members in their illegal activities.
The police Commissioner visits the senior officer who sanctioned the reuse of the weapons forcing him to leave the force without pension, farewell party and the like. At one point an attempt is made on the life of his daughter, the assistant DA but eventually the gang are caught just as the money is being distributed and family members leaving the country. One of the group is forced to admit he killed the eldest son and is then allowed to blow his own head off. The family visit the graves of their loves ones.
In the penultimate episode of the season, the family are also collectively involved when neighbours are found murdered and the most likely killer is their son who had become a drug and drink addict. He was also the first boyfriend of the daughter assistant DA. It is Danny who is uncertain about what to everyone else appears an open and shut case. Danny’s instincts are proven well founded as he uncovers that the other son and daughter were responsible for the death of their parents and framing their brother. He and the former girl friend reflect on their lives and futures.
It is understood that for the second season which commences in the USA in September the programme will concentrate on single episode stories.
Their Chicago Code rival continues to offer single episode stories with the overall subject of corruption involving the political and corrupt Alderman Police boss. The Undercover agent is asked to help out during an exceptionally hot snap in which and the poor and elderly suffer unless they are wealthy and have air conditioning in their homes. The undercover policeman saves an elderly woman who has collapsed in her home and the Alderman rewards by placing him on the city pay roll. He begins to question his mission as all the evidence is that the Alderman goes to great lengths to help anyone in the community in need irrespective of whether they voted for him.
The police chief has a new driver following the death of the predecessor. He is a perfect young man with two tours in Iraq behind him and dedication to his new position.
In Sopranos Full Leather Jacket Tony reveals to Dr Melfi his behaviour in giving to his daughter the vehicle taken off her boyfriend in part payment for the father of the boyfriend’s gambling debts. He admits that having shielded her from the nature of his true life he then rubbed her nose and does not understand why. Dr Melfi suggests to him a positive interpretation that as the daughter was shortly graduating and going to college he was preparing her for the reality of life.
Meadow wants to go to a major university away from home. Berkeley, California while her mother wants her to go to Georgetown where as luck would have it the sister of a next door neighbour is a well known alumna of the University, so Carmela strong arms the neighbour and then the sister to write a letter recommending Meadow for a place. Meadow is unaware of her mother’s actions.
Ritchie Aprile has become a regular visitor and contact since setting up home with Tony’s sister. Two young men working for Christopher are trying to establish themselves as gangsters and overhear Ritchie commenting unfavourably about Christopher. Christopher is full of remorse after his breakup with Adriana’s and persuades her to return after proposing and giving her a large diamond engagement ring. The two young men are too nervous to make a good impression on Tony and in order to get themselves noticed they attempt to kill Christopher who kills one but is severely injured and in hospital. Meanwhile Ritchie has given Tony a leather jacket from the 1970’s which he took from the toughest gangster around at the time. Later he is depressed and angry when he sees the jacket being worn by the husband of the maid at Tony’s house. The title of the episode is a play on the film Full Metal jacket. Tony visits Christopher in hospital and comments How could this happen?
Spartacus developed a nice (!) twist as the social climbing wife of the Gladiator school owner arranged for an influential wife to enjoy Spartacus wearing only a mask. Spartacus agreed with any fuss. The school owner also insists that the wife of general should have Crixus unaware that his wife has an exclusive interest and in turn is unaware that Crixus is in love with her leading slave as is going through the motions. In preventing the situation the wife arranges for Spartacus to take the wife of the general to the horror of both when the truth is revealed, Spartacus tries to throttle the woman whose husband turned him into a slave, and his wife leading to her death. The influential woman can see the funny side of the situation but when she laughs, the general’s wife kills her. The Gladiator school Master’s wife arranged to dispose the body so there will be no link to school and thus has the woman in her power. Interestingly when Spartacus apologies to his master, the master is sympathetic understanding the man’s reaction.
I have experienced one film Sweetwater based on the true story of the 1960’s band singer Nancy Nevins who followed Ritchie Havens on stage on the opening day of the Woodstock in 1969.
The band reflected the soft peace loving aspect of 1960’s music with the members of the band playing classical instruments such a flute and cello. The group appears with all the major bands of the era including Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Joe Cocker, Santana, the Who, Crosby Stills and Nash, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry, and even Bing Crosby. They were among the first interracial bands to achieve national USA recognition. Tensions arose when the rest of the band expressed concern that they were being regarded as the backing group for Nancy and then disaster struck as Nancy was involved in a serious accident which left her in a coma and with a damaged vocal chord during operation to save her life.
Nansi stage name Nancy Nevins was born in Glendale California and a musical family although her amateur musician violinist father died when she was 18 months. She attended a Roman Catholic Grammar School where she learned to play classical piano but listened to the emerging rock and roll and wanted to be a singer from her childhood. She describes herself as becoming a juvenile delinquent smoking cigarettes, truanting and boyfriends before the age of sixteen years. She did not behave conventionally.
One evening the nucleus of Sweetwater, calling themselves Jay Walker and the Pedestrians was playing at a coffee house near Los Angeles City College at which other musicians and singers were free to join in. Nancy attended with her boyfriend and when the band started to play, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,” she grabbed the microphone to sing one of her favourite numbers. She was invited to sing on for the next half an hour and from that Sweetwater with Nancy was created a short time afterwards as Nancy reached her eighteenth birthday. They were an unusual group for the day with a white female singer, a Cuban Conga player, a Jewish drummer, an Italian on Keyboard and a Mexican bass player.
Understandably her mother was unhappy at the a situation where her just eighteen year old daughter was on the road with seven or eight musicians although Nancy recalls that they were protective behaving as older brothers, and in those early days they played on gigs with the Beach Boys and Canned Heat in addition to those already mentioned. In 1969 they played at the Miami festival which drew 50000 and the largest crowd at such an event and then in Los Angeles where the event attracted 250000, with Jimi Hendrix Big Brother and Jefferson Airplane on the bill, an event which is rarely mentioned because of what happened weeks later with Woodstock. The reason they played immediately after acoustic playing Ritchie Havens was that their instruments had been delivered to the site separately and they were able to get to the stage via a helicopter while other bands were caught up in the traffic jam as more and more people attempted to the site. They had no sound engineers and relied on those provided by the organisers.
Their appearance is believed to have contributed to invitation to appear on national television much to the delight of her mother who came to accept her daughter‘s chosen way of life and interests.
That she survived the near fatal vehicle accident was due to the presence of all the Southern Californian Neurologists holding their monthly meeting on the night of her admission. Nancy was in a coma for two weeks and the damage caused by the intravenous tubes on her vocal chords was irreversible. She was given no hope of recovering and also the last rites according to the Catholic Church. She overheard the doctors telling her mother that if she survived she would have permanent brain damage. She had six operations to try and reduce the damage to her vocal chord but aged only 20 years she was discharged from hospital feeling her life was over unable to continue the only things she felt destined to do.
Sweetwater attempted to continue having 18 months of bookings but the public wanted to hear the sound on the records that had been released.
According to the film Nancy refused to accept the situation and gradually regained her ability to sing with her voice having a deeper and richer sound. She made one record which failed and became an alcoholic cutting herself off from family and friends. Eventually she went into treatment about the same time as her mother contracted terminal cancer but in recovery she was reunited with her mother before her death. She disappeared from the music scene graduating with honours, gaining a Masters degree in English and American studies becoming a college English teacher in Orange County.
According to the film a TV journalist whose career had zoomed and fallen because of an addiction problem decided to try and find out what had happened to the band and eventually tracking Nancy after three of the surviving core members who did not know what happened to her. With two of the original members Nancy reformed the group, recorded and performed including the anniversary Woodstock festival, The Band and Nancy established have Internet sites including MySpace and Facebook. I found the story inspiring.
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