Last night my son and his girlfriend saw the meteor that streaked across the sky. I am very envious. Several of their friends saw it too, but I had just got back from a long but inspiring day in London, visiting the Hockney exhibition and then the Courtauld Gallery. There I had seen Van Gogh's self portrait with bandaged ear - not the one where he is smoking his pipe, pretending everything is normal! I was settled in for the evening, with no plans to venture out again.So I missed the meteor.
Don McLean received a lifetime achievement award at this year's Radio 2 Folk Awards. Watching him perform, I was reminded of going to see him in concert in the heady days of Vincent and American Pie. He was on at the Odeon in Manchester, just off St Peter's Square. It seems an unlikely venue now, but I saw lots of groups there - many of them on package tours. The Herd, the Small Faces, Dave Dee etc etc, Roy Orbison, Gene Pitney, Helen Shapiro even - and the wonderful Walker Brothers. If I think back, I can sometimes remember where I was sitting, who I was with, and even what I was wearing. Is this a sign of getting older?
Don McLean was in concert - I still have the ticket stub somewhere. The audience were extremely enthusiastic - he was at the height of his commercial success. It was unthinkable to categorise him as a folk singer then! In one song, we started to clap to the beat. He stopped singing and sternly told us to stop - it was putting him off!
I never felt the same about him again.
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