Life on Mars and Manchester, 1973

The view to the right is from my bedroom window, Longsight, Manchester, mid 1970s. Coronation Street for real....... :)

My fav TV show, Life on Mars, series 2, Episode 4, featured Strawb's "Lay Down" last night. We reckon that's the biggest TV audience the band have had in modern times (around 6 million)...good stuff. There's a good Forum for the show, lots of lively discussion, including filming locations. Many are very familiar to me, as they are next to the streets where I grew up.....I also had a Mk 3 Cortina once....

The series also partly inspired my song, Where We Are Today

as it reminded me of where I was (and who with...!) in 1972/73...it really is a first class program, definite TV highlight of the week just now.

Rocles enters the world of Blog......

Ok, here we go, my first Blog entry.

My main interest is playing and recording Guitar. I have some of my songs at my Soundclick page , all Home Recorded in my little studio here on the North West Coast of England. its a great hobby, and has allowed me to achieve results that previously would have needed thousands of pounds worth of Pro studio time. I partly use Zoom recording gear, and am a longtime member of the Zoom 2090 Forums , a nice friendly place with loads of helpful advice.

My favourite band is Strawbs....I have been a fan ever since I first saw them Live in Manchester, 1974. I kind of drifted away from them as the band split/changed personnel, and seemingly dissapeared...until the wonders of the Internet, when in 2001 I found Strawbsweb , and nothings ever been quite the same since ;-) I now contribute and assist with the Website with Reviews, Photos and technical help. I'm also pleased to say that all of the band are now personal friends of mine....the nicest people you could wish to meet. My Strawbs pages are here.

I also assist and contribute with David Boardman's marvellous ManchesterHistory pages. I am originally from the Longsight district of Manchester, and have attempted to document part of its history in photographs. Brisca F1 Stock Car racing is another hobby, and many of the photos at David's Belle Vue racing pages were donated by me. I specialise in the production and sale of Brisca F1 Stock Car DVDs , featuring classic racing from the 1970s/80s at Belle Vue and many other tracks.

Ok, all for now...stay tuned for more soon.