📅 Thought for today:
‘When I listen to something, I like to be taken out of my seat and thrown across the room. If it sounds good and feels good, that’s it.’
— Rory Gallagher
#thoughtfortoday #RoryGallagher #rockmusic #oldgreywhistletest #gentlylaugh #life #reminisce #television
A Facebook post about Rory Gallagher, and his performance on TV sparked a chain of thought…
There once was a time when TV had to be watched at the time a show was broadcast or you missed it.
In the 1970s, there were 3 channels in the UK, depending on where you lived (and I remember when there were two channels). There were no video recorders until a bit later. There was no catch-up, replay, pausing and very few things were repeated.
On Tuesday nights a program played called The Old Grey Whistle Test. You may remember it or have seen it on YouTube.
The opening credits were animated – a man appeared as if surrounded by a rainbow flame, became an outline in stars and then threw a starburst across the screen, and then reappeared to kick the star – affectionately known as “The Star Kicker”.
The opening title music is called “Stone Fox Chase” by Area Code 615 – released originally in 1970.
The golden years for me were the Bob “Whispering Bob” Harris years.
It was one of the few things I watched religiously and was late enough my parents had lost interest in TV.
I met Bob Harris in London a few years ago – we were both in a coffee lounge on top of a hotel. He was sitting at the table next to me, and my ring tone then was “Whole Lotta Love”, the Led Zeppelin classic which also served as the theme tune to rival TV show Top Of The Pops. Bob looked up when my phone rang, laughed a gentle laugh, and went back to what he was doing. When he left he gave me a wave.
We should all gently laugh to ourselves every so often.
Picture (c) BBC
