It is a coming of age drama about growing up on Long Island and it was shot in Massachusetts - a State we know quite well.
The interesting thing is this isn't about murder, it isn't about violence, it isn't about kidnapping. No it's a gentle story abut a young boy adopted by his uncle and how he becomes friends with the people at his uncle's bar. It's based on a book written by American writer J. R. Moehringer which is a name new to me.
It's the kind of gentle drama that we need more of at the moment and an antidote to all the violent pieces that seem to dominate our screens.
The problem is once somebody pushes at the boundaries, others have to follow and there seems to be an obsession for outdoing what's gone before. If x has swearing in it we must have even more. If x has gratuitous violence in it we must have even more and so the cycle goes and the films become more and more graphic.
So its good to hear that a tender drama film is on the way. Incidentally I don't want to get into American politics but was amused when Clooney referred Donald Trump as "a knucklehead who just chased girls."
That reminds me that yesterday I watched a documentary about Jimmy Savile. I know that it's easy to be wise after the event but I always thought there was something decidedly iffy, grimy or strange about Savile. I used to listen to Savile's Travels on the radio where Savile would talk uneducated nonsense in a stuttering style that just made you question just why he was on the radio.
The documentary was uncomfortable viewing but the obvious question was how did this man get away with so much for so long? Of course we are talking about a different time and a different culture but so many people must have been aware of what he was really like and covered for him. He was a powerful man, friend of the famous, a benefactor of numerous charities but underneath it all he was a criminal of the worst kind.
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Yesterday I mentioned a number of rock bands and artists I have been listening to - many of which come from the prog rock field. Today I listened to a whole lot more on a special playlist on Apple Music.
My friend John Andrews told me about the days when, at the tender age of 17, he became a rock music promoter for a short while, putting many of these artists on in Norwich. His time as an entrepreneur didn't last, however, as he packed his bags and went to journalism college and that's where we met.
I only had one experience of putting on a rock/pop band and that was when I was in Round Table at Beccles in Suffolk. Round Table is an organisation for young professional people who meet for fellowship and to raise money for charity. It was founded in Norwich by Louis Marchesi who now has a pub named after him. This is where the Norwich Number One Round Table met. I believe it is still in existence.
I was asked to join Round Table at Beccles by the local garage owner John Gale. Suffolk people will probably still remember Gale's Garage. Subsequently I was a member of Round Tables in Long Eaton and Wymondham as I moved around the country.
I knew a member of a very popular Beccles band imaginatively known as The Half Dead Live Band. I believe one of their members was called Buzz (obviously a nickname). Anyway I contacted the band with a view to doing a show for charity at Beccles. I seem to think the venue was Beccles Cinema, although I can't remember whether Beccles had a cinema.
I phoned up the venue a week before the event and they had sold about 10 tickets. I contacted the band who didn't sound deterred and assured me that people would be buying the tickets. I wasn't convinced but when I contacted the venue a couple of days before the concert to see if I needed to cancel the event I was told that all the tickets had been sold.
It was a good evening although I can't remember which charity we were supporting or how much we raised.
I have no idea what happened to the Half Dead Live Band but of course the internet rarely lets you down and I was able to find a few facts.
They were a quartet consisting of Chris Read and Buzz Hunt (so I did get his name right) on guitars, John Seppings on bass and Willie Neech on drums. Their original name was Pikestaff and they split up in February 1979 with their last gig being at Beccles Loaves and Fishes pub. Read was leaving to join a Norwich band, Neech was playing with a Colchester based band, Seppings was joining a Lowestoft band and Hunt was "taking a breather."
The band came back together to play occasional gigs with Tim Marriot replacing Neech on drums. Read had joined a band called Roundabout and Seppings a band called System.
I would love to hear from anyone who can remember the Half Dead Live Band. They mainly played covers and they made a hit with me when at a fete I heard them play "Mill Boys" by my favourite band Barclay James Harvest. Most people haven't even heard of the band let alone know one of their less well known pieces. Not that many are well known. I guess the best known is probably "Hymn" which Radio Two plays around Christmas Time. It's rather ironic that this is one of their songs that I really do not like.