I know that Blackpool features prominently in your memories, Bill, and it's 1950s-1960s Blackpool, but this suddenly appeared in my YouTube feed. Thought it might be of interest.
There's something poetic about that film clip, which is clearly not a professional production, nor a piece of retro-nostalgia, but it has a poignancy in that the promenade and beach front seems so deserted, devoid of the happy holiday makers that I remember from my visits to Blackpool as a young boy.
The weather looks sunny and warm and the sea so clear, its sound is soothing and familiar, but the sight of the Tower and Central Pier floods my mind with fond and tender memories.
It was at the Central Pier that I saw, (on the theatre at the end of the pier,) a rock and roll show featuring Marty Wilde and his Wildcats, The Tornadoes and many other rock n' roll stars of the day, way back when I was just a boy.
My Mum and Dad and I went to shows on all three piers, North, Central and South, to see all kinds of variety acts of the '50s and early '60s. Morcambe and Wise, Mike and Bernie Winters, Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, Matt Munroe, Tommy Cooper and so and so forth, so many more...
What subtle impact, what insidious influence did being taken to see all those different shows have on my development as an artist and musician? All I know is that they were magical times.
Something special was in the air, unseen, unrealised, something that tinted my childhood's innocent atmosphere and brought wonder to my experience of life. A certain undefinable feeling that, no matter how 'modern' my music sounds today, somehow fuels it with a certain yearning and warmth. Those days, for me, are priceless...
Crystal clear sea at Blackpool ...