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        Pete Atkin >> Members >> Seven Years On
        
(Message started by: Gerry Smith on Today at 01:34)

Title: Seven Years On
Post by Gerry Smith on Today at 01:34

On 050904 Steve Birkill wrote:

It's been a great seven years. Thank you all for your support, and let's
look forward to the next seven via the new channel!

That concluded the last ever posting to the old MV mailing list. Well, nearly another seven years have passed and I have just spent an hour reading some of the old posts from the manual list (yes, I still have them all in Eudora.)

Whilst the forum works well, it strikes me that people are less inclined to write at length, depth, or even as intimately as they did via the old list. Where has the in-depth discussion of the music and lyrics gone, for example? Where have they all ( former ubiquitous contributors) gone?

It seems to me that web-based stuff commands a sense of transience, brevity or whatever. It's public domain. The mailing list was far more personal. We were writing personal letters and sharing some innermost thoughts.

It doesn't seem to happen (much) on the forum and I miss that.

Gerry

(This was all fields when I...)

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by BogusTrumper on 02.02.11 at 15:49

It is possible that the start of the list (oh so long ago) released many years of pent up thoughts that we had been unable to share before, as we were spread all over the world (and we have just had a blizzard in Iowa), and that after a few years we got most of it out of our system.

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by Leslie Moss on 27.02.11 at 05:57

No I'm with Gerry. The web forum has a much less intimate feel about it. It certainly has some advantages - threading related messages together for one thing - but to me it's lost the sens of community we had at the beginning.

I am certainly an example of one of Gerry's former ubiquitous contributors who has largely dropped off now except to check the Forum once every month or so and post the odd response (like thios one).

But then again, I also used to post much more frequently to this Forum so maybe it is also true that there's just Nothing Left To Say..

No doubt some new gigs to report on would help, but maybe it's just that nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Leslie

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by Richard Bleksley on 06.03.11 at 13:31

I agree with everything you say, Leslie, except that I believe Bogus is right too. I think it's a bit of both.

It's a bit sad, but there it is. The fact that Pete was laid up, gigwise, most of last year hasn't helped.

And now, just when we're getting near to the next Eastbourne gig, which I fully intended to go to, I've gone and committed myself to moving too far away. Don't suppose there's much chance of a gig in South Wales....

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by Gerry Smith on 10.03.11 at 02:31

Come on, Richard; if memory serves me, you're a professional driver!

Gerry

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by Richard Bleksley on 30.03.11 at 23:11

I was a professional driver. It's a long story, but I am one no longer.

Having lost my job, I took a look at my pension rights and decided to go for early retirement and a life somewhere a lot greener and quieter than the London suburbs I've been lurking in most of my life. Contracts have been exchanged and the removal van booked.

Whereas a drive to Eastbourne used to take me about two hours, from where I'll be by May 18th it'll take more like five. Mind you, now that my time's my own, I suppose I could consider a two-day trip and an overnight stay. It is the first gig for God knows how long, after all. Hmm....

Just thought: I'll have to change my tag, or whatever you call it, since I'll no longer be "in deepest suburbia." Thank God.

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by Gerry Smith on 31.03.11 at 20:25

Yes, I spent a lot of my life in the London suburbs - Shooters Hill and Peckam most notably. Escaped to Sussex 12 years ago but still miss the old smoke and all the grotty south east london pubs I used to gig and drink in. It's just a bit too 'nice' around here somehow.

Anyway, I'll be at the gig so may see you there.

Best

Gerry

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by BogusTrumper on 25.04.11 at 14:42

on 03/31/11 at 20:25:16, Gerry Smith wrote :

...but still miss the old smoke and all the grotty south east london pubs I used to gig and drink in. It's just a bit too 'nice' around here somehow.
Gerry

Me too. Spent many years working in Herne Hill, and one famous night in 1981 found out that the Frontline and Railton Road was between me and my flat in The Junction.......

Title: Re: Seven Years On
Post by Gerry Smith on 26.04.11 at 01:03

Rock and a hard place!

One of the aforementioned grotty pubs in Peckham hadn't changed its decor since the late 60's. I was often reminded of liquid circles on formica tables. I took a drive around the area when passing not long ago. Nearly all of the Peckham back street boozers have gone. And as awful as some of them were, I felt sad.

In one such establishemt, I often saw an old man who no-one talked to, sitting on his own drinking a slow pint. He reminded me of someone but I couldn't think who. It bugged me for months. Almost out of pity, one night I struck up a conversation with him. Eventually, he said "I expect you'll have heard of my famous cousin." When I enquired further the famous cousin turned out to be Paul McCartney! And then it clicked - *that* was who he reminded me of - same droopy eyes!!

Comes to something when Macca can, appartently, leave an ageing relative to rot on a sink estate in Peckham (I took him home on another occasion after he became unwell in the pub).

Gerry

PS For the benefit of Sue Grabbitt and Runne, I have no reason whatever to believe this account to be untrue. The man in question, once revealed bore a striking resemblance to Sir Paul.