PAUL WELLER'S DUNDEE PEN PAL

These 2 poems penned by Paul Weller, were published in Dundee fanzine, Cranked Up, in the early 80's.

The reason they ended up there was because they came from Alan Matheson. Alan used to correspond with Paul Weller, and during the course, Paul would send examples of his poetry up to him.

Alan was working in DC Thomson's at the time, notably with pop/teen mag, Jackie.

Alan actually had the lyrics to The Jam's "That's Entertainment" a year before it came out as a single.

Anyway, Alan passed these two poems on to Cranked Up, and they may very well be exclusives!

Bearing in mind that poems don't always mean they are song lyrics, however I did a bit of research on the net with songs in mind, and I found 1 tiny sketchy reference linking Paul Weller to "Along The Grove", which may possibly have been recorded as a demo. Nothing clearer than that.

As for "Optimmorning"- absolutely nothing whatsoever cropping up on that one at all.

I know Paul has dabbled in publishing too, with the material not relating to his musical output, but I can't find any trace of info about the two poems above via that route either.

So if there are any Paul Weller aficionados out there who can pass on further details, feel free to share it here.

"Optimmorning" - published in Cranked Up 1981.

"Along The Grove" - published in Cranked Up 1982.

Alans brother, Keith, played in Big Blue 72, a band who have been featured on Retro, and he has also had a stint working in Grouchos.

Sadly, Alan Matheson died in 2002.

Click on the poems to enlarge, if you are struggling to read them as they are.

VIEWS FROM URBAN DWELLINGS - 1983

A dip into Dundee's underground publishing now, courtesy of Aagapublications.

This book called "Views From Urban Dwellings" came out in 1983 and was the 2nd volume of the title.

Aagaproductions is credited as being Mike Kane & Steve Grimmond, who also make an appearance as contributors.

The others who submitted material for vol 2 were - Kevin Dyer, Ray Flood, Pete Horobin, Charles Lear, Craig Methven, Bob Philips and Steve Sneyd.

The content of the book was a mixture of poems, short stories, photos, musings, art, short plays, bits & pieces like that.

In fact I've already featured the graphics of Pete Horobin from the book, so this time I thought I'd focus on the writing and have plucked out an example of Ray Flood's poetry.

This one titled "The Meaning Of Life" deals with the routine and boredom of being stuck in a mundane job.

He mentions he gets the 1B into the city centre to work at "JM".

John Menzies? Could be..!

Anyway, big thanks to Craig.

AND THE LAST WORD GOES TO...

Time to bring the retro pub crawl to an end now, so I thought I'd finish the sequence with an amusing quote by Tayside Bar manager, Brian Sinclair. When the pub's Xmas party was in full swing in 1981, he came out with this little ditty - "I want to see The John Cooper Clarke's here."
A slip-up that I'm sure JCC himself would find amusing!
I like to have fun with words, so does John Cooper Clarke, a poet who cropped up on the scene the same time as punk and so found himself dubbed "The Punk Poet". Some of you may recall him performing at the Caird Hall as support to Elvis Costello in 79.
Talking about having fun with words, this is a good time to put up this excellent illustration of JCC done by graphic genius, Ian Wright, who's art career also began around the same time punk started. He first became known with the stuff he did in the NME in the late 70's. This example is actually one of his early ones from his NME days. Not only a great likeness to JCC, but the image, made from a rubber stamp of his name, also reminds you that the man is a bit of a wordsmith.
The perfect portrait of him!

THE SEEVIN WEEKIES POEM - 1972

Not quite the 7 weekies, but my wee break was enjoyable just the same.
Time to get back into Retro mode again though!
Talking of summer breaks, here's a neat little poem on the subject of school holidays called "Seevin Weekies", written by local journalist & author David Phillips. He used to write using the Dundee tongue in publications such as Peoples Journal and Scots Magazine. DP also published a few books in his time, with this poem taken from a 1972 book of his titled "Oor Dundee".
7 witty verses to make you smile.
You should be able to read it ok as it is, but if you're you're struggling, click on the image to ENLARGE.

DON PATERSON - CREATIVE ALL-ROUNDER

Son of Russ Paterson (see previous post), multi-talented Don has been involved in the creative arts straight from leaving school in the 70's when he had a stint working on the Commando comics. From there he embarked on a career in music, and after getting a fair bit of experience playing guitar around the social clubs in Dundee, he went on to lead a trio in the 80's which included Nico Bruce (nephew of Jack). Next up was a group called Restless Natives, a free-improvising collective that included fellow Dundonian, Ken Hyder on drums. Ken, who had his own 70's jazz-folk band, Talisker, still operating, got Don to join them in 1984, with a line-up that included King Crimson violinist, David Cross. When Talisker split a while later, Don formed the successful Celtic-jazz outfit, Lammas, with well known saxophonist Tim Garland, and recorded numerous albums over the next few years with them.
By this time, Don's other talents were flourishing, most notably writing poetry and plays. He has won many important awards for his books of poetry, and his plays have been broadcast on radio as well as performed live on stage, including "Land of Cakes" at Dundee Rep.
And if that wasn't enough, he is also editor for a publishing company, a journalist and teaches at St Andrews University. Phew!!
His own personal website is currently under construction, but you can read about his career in more detail on various literature and poetry related sites on the net, not to mention a general overview available on Wikipedia.
Oh yeah, nearly forgot, add O.B.E. to his name too!!