THE CALLIOPE CRASHED TO THE GROUND

THE CALLIOPE CRASHED TO THE GROUND

Luton Sucks !.
It could well have been any erstwhile depressed factory town in England at the time.
I'm finding that as I grow a little longer in the tooth, that which was just an aspect from my past, the experiences, sights, sounds, feelings all of which shaped me to be who I am today, are  fast becoming fodder for today's movie going public.

I head into the affluent Cineplex of the American, Southern Californian suburbs, desperate to spend an hour or so escaping the pressures of life, and hoping that Gurinder Chadha can again truly "Bend it Like Beckham", and send me back on that magic carpet ride to my British roots.

As I watch this cinematograph unfold Its not lost on me that I "got out" and became an immigrant in another country searching for that better life, I always was set for leaving, as far back as I can remember, way before the calliope crashed to the ground....

Blinded By The Light , the latest offering from acclaimed British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha is more than just an hour and a half's worth of  escape from the ritual of daily life, Yes a fabulous movie of that there is no doubt, and particular kudos to the cast and crew, most notably to you Sarfraz Manzoor.
Thank you for sticking to your dreams writing and writing as you did and showing what can be done, I hope one day to silently shake your hand, and share a smile knowing words have already been written, you are an inspiration and in fact seamed to have climbed the mountain, rode the river and drank from the magic fountain, not unlike Jesse James...

I squint walking back out into the sunlight, allowing the warmth and brightness to wash over me, I find it hard to capture the flashbacks that recur in my minds eye after walking the story of Javed in parallel to my own.
The driving angst of Springsteen's Born to Run, its all I can do to stop myself running down the street as the gravelly voice of the working class man known simply as the Boss echos deeply ...

On a dreary, damp, dark, dare I say depressing evening, in the cold baron outskirts of Sheffield a town itself struggling with the closing of the stainless steel factories, I've crossed the Pennines as if running from my own screaming desolation, Bolton whose cotton factories long since gone, and simply replaced by only the promise of Thatchers increased taxes to the unemployed, this is the early eighties, living the eighties not quite as bright as the pop songs of the time would have you believe.

The singer I've made my pilgrimage to see, is the guy who's songs I am exposed to, and just as Javed hears the Greetings from Asbury park icon, Springsteen in his head, I am inspired by my own working class hero.

Its a bit early for the show at Dingwall's night club, whose tag line Rhythm and Booze flickers in faded neon attached to the dirty brick wall, so, trudging across the street to a Wimpy Burger joint, hardly the James Dean Diner of route 66 fame, our band of friends united as a group to see "Our own" as Depeche Mode would write in the future "personal Jesus"
The food very much reminiscent of Lindisfarne's "sickly sausage rolls" but as the darkness outside gets deeper and time gets later, the passenger tucked into the corner of the same lame British burger joint looks familiar.
Long before the internet, social media and paparazzi telling you where the celebrities of the moment hang out, fate seams to have shone its light, and the closer i get, the better it looks.
I have now somehow gone, nay glided it seams, from there to here and am standing now in front of my own musical hero.

That was my first time meeting Chris Rea. Likely only a short conversation but time froze, in one

instant every lyric and thought flashing through your mind, what in the world should I ask.
This wasn't at all where I thought this movie would take me, I've seen first hand the 80's, the ugliness of depressed industrial northern towns and the underlying urge to get out.

A short while later at a different show I once asked him about his first album .. Whatever happened to Benny Santini? his reply simply with a glint in his eye, and in his wonderfully colorful Middlesbrough accent said "I dunno you're here aren't you?" the name stuck as you can see if you're reading this blog.

Gurinder's accuracy as she tells the story of Sarfraz from his  biographical book "Greetings from Bury Park" is uncanny  and unnerving all at the same time, the reality of the National Front in the 80's to her spectacular cameo as the teller in an Athena store at the mall, wow.

She made time travel possible, as I walk up Bradshawgate in Bolton circa 1982, chips and peas in a tray with gravy, the sustenance of champions, a pint in the Clarence, but this thriving little town will soon again bow to the winds of change and the boarded windows will reappear... "Badlands, you gotta live it every day, let the broken hearts stand, as the price you've gotta pay, we'll keep pushin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good..." BS

Her use of Springsteen's lyrics confirm her fandom, and tell the story perfectly, so if you are looking for that silly coming of age movie that intends to waste the next hour and a half, don't go see this movie, if on the other hand you want to smile, laugh, be inspired, cry, cheer, go see this gem of a picture, and i hope you get transported as i did.

It took me rather a lot longer to discover my love of writing, but I've always loved music and love to live life through those well written lyrics still. 

"I've been ten thousand miles from this place and seen it I swear
I've woke up happy thinking that I was there
It's the place I love, it's where I wanna be
And I won't give up until I get to see
A little something in there to call my own
Pass the time of day and head off home
The evening shadows on the dry stone walls
The night draws in and the ale house calls
And happy I will be
When the road goes no further than what I see
When past here it's nowhere to go
And I ain't gonna give up until I get see
Those angel eyes looking up at me
The prince of peace and time is standing still
On Chisel hill"

Chris Rea once described as England's answer Bruce Springsteen, and most recently described as everyone's fourteenth favorite singer, is a survivor and his music and lyrics do for me what Blinded by the Light did for Javed.

Go see this movie its bloody brilliant...

#bennysantiniproductions #grahamsataconcertagain