Doon the toon...

Playlist
Various – Milano Jukeboxes 1998-2010
Laura Pausini – Platinum
The Bad Plus – Jazz Cafe
White – White
Circa – Circa 2007
GPS – Window to the Soul
Buggles – Adventures in Modern recording
Laurie Anderson – Homeland
Yoso - Elements

Up around 7 and to the PC for more quick downloading of some Laura Pausini prior to heading to Newcastle...

Also burned a 2CD MP3 set of all of Anne’s “Milano Jukebox” discs from 1998 to 2010 to soundtrack the trip...

The Milano Jukeboxes are annual Xmas presents from me to Anne which comprise what I think might have been her favourite tracks each year...

Leaving around 8:30, we drove to Lynn’s to pick her up, then round the city bypass and off down the picturesque A68...

After an hour or so, we stopped for coffee at Jedburgh...



An adventure with a crow accompanied our refreshments...

We were in a large glass conservatory to which the doors had been left open to try and dissipate the gathering heat...

A crow wandered in...

After a couple of aborted attempts at flying back out – each ending with a sore beak and a stunned look but, thank goodness, no permanent damage – it ended up under one of the cupboards behind the counter...

One of the ladies, rather bravely, lay flat out on the floor and reached in underneath, grabbing the bird’s feet with a towel, before gingerly carrying it upside down to the door and letting it go...

The journey resumed and we made good time to the airport, where I dropped the ladies off bidding them farewell and wishing them a happy holiday...



..before heading into Newcastle, finding a parking spot and walking to the centre of town...













...where I met up with Mr Sid Smith for a coffee and a natter for an hour or so, exchanging stuff...







...pre a wee tour around the city centre looking at things which, in the main, were no longer there or were different to what they used to be...

For example, this is the 02, which was once a dance hall to which Sid’s sister would go of a lunchtime for a boogie and in the evening to see the likes of The Beatles...



...all as explained by my knowledgeable guide...



Salsa was once a record shop with its own airline seats in which a young lithe long haired Sid would sit listening to the latest sounds on the headphones provided by the coolest record shop assistant of them all, Scott Pickard...



...after which Sid would go to this music shop and ask to try out a bass, advising he already had a Rickenbacker at home...



On this corner, the building used to come down to a point, now sadly lopped off...



...and, just up the right hand side, was the Bob Monkhouse financed, hypnotist Romark run (into the ground by all accounts) club, “Change Is” where, in February 1969, Giles, Giles and Fripp came to play a week’s residency and left as King Crimson...



On towards China Town and along a little back lane, home now to the bins at the back of the restaurants...



...but also, to The Morden Tower...



...a haven for beat poets in the early sixties, such as Allen Ginsberg...



...and the UK's own Basil Bunting...




It remains a performance space to this day - in fact there was an event happening as we walked by...

Sid then pointed out to me the spot where Club A Go Go once stood - the room where Jimi Hendrix was discovered by the manager of the Animals...

I forgot to take a pic but the blue building at the end of this street was also once a groovy club, while the red brick building next to it was a chemical factory, right in the centre of town...



Back to the coffee shop for another hour's worth of chat on our love of music and CDs, before it was time to say our farewells...

I walked back up to the car and drove back up the A68 through the rain, stopping off again at Jedburgh...



Once in the house with Meg the Black Cat, I stayed up till 2am, recording the latest podcast and posting it up and generally doing anything to not have to go to bed...

Eventually, fatigue won out...

The house is empty without the Exec Producer executively producing matters...

Highlight of the day : A meet with Mr Smith...