And we kissed, as though nothing could fall/Nothing could fall

Sunday 3 May - It was a busy weekend. Yesterday we had a suit fitting for my youngest daughter's wedding, an opportunity for me to strut my stuff in jeans and an Edwardian frock coat. Very fetching. Then we took lunch at The Happy Valley Chinese café, the best Chinese food in York, and ended up at mine to watch "School of Rock" as we frittered the remainder of the day away. Sunday was bookended with bacon and eggs for breakfast and a Sunday roast for nine people for dinner (that's tea if you're not as posh what I am). Then I kicked everyone else out of the house, because tonight we had a full turn out down at The Duchess for "A Night For Heroes" a charity event in aid of Angela's Gift in memory of Howard Sparnenn who died aged 55 at 2pm on Sunday 4 May 2008 of a brain tumour.

Six bands, all of which Howard had been involved with, had come together in a celebration of his life, and there were a fair few faces in the crowd that were familiar as well. The event kicked off with Smart Move, a band set up by vocalist and guitarist Dave Smith and Howard shortly before he fell ill. In fact SM seem to consist of mostly Mojos, with John Greenwood on bass, and Andrew Bone on vocals and lead guitar. Non-Mojo Steve Jackson was on drums and I think another Mojo, Mark, was on Keyboards. They turned out a short set of classic covers such as: Genesis Turn It On, Dire Straits Sultans of Swing, Queen Tie Your Mother Down, Whitesnake Here I Go Again....

Next up were a band that we'd seen on a couple of occasions, initially when Howard was drumming for them, Freeway. These played a heavier set, stuff like: Thin Lizzy Jailbreak and The Boys Are Back In Town, Black Sabbath Paranoid, UFO Doctor Doctor, Judas Priest Breaking The Law, and a Deep Purple medley of Hush, Strange Kind Of Woman, Black Night, and Woman From Tokyo.

Apparently Howard's favourite band were Free, I thought he raised his daughters on a diet of Thunder but hay hoe. Anyway, another band that Howard was involved with was Free Spirit who consist of Garry Barrett (vocals and guitar), John Simpson (lead guitar), Gavin Paradiso (bass), John Halder (drums), and Simon Waggot (keyboards). These played covers by Free Wishing Well and Stealer, Bad Company Running With The Pack, Seagull, Bad Company, and Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, and Frankie Miller Jealousy. There were others but the pints of Landlord were beginning to rot my brain cells.

Back in the 70s, when Howard first met his wife-to-be, Jeanette, he was drumming for a band that he co-founded called Flight. The original line-up then consisted of Mick Adamson (vocals), Pete Martin (guitar), Kevin Nickson (bass), and Howard (drums). After two singles they changed their name to Bulldog Breed and Howard was supplanted by Steve Roberts. So for our fourth band of the evening Flight had re-formed, for one night only, and played some of their original material, including the 1974 singles What Am I To Do With You and It's Only Money, plus some of the Bulldog Breed material.

As a drummer Howard contributed to a number of bands including Flight, Rocket 3, Freeway, Inivitro, The Occasional Band, Free Spirit, and sometimes Breathing Space whose lead singer is his daughter, Livvy. BS were fielding a few substitutes in their line-up tonight; Livvy and the brothers Jennings were joined by Andy and Bryan from Mostly Autumn, and Gary "Harry" James from the legendary Thunder on drums. They were also joined by Anne-Marie Helder on flute for The Gap Is Too Wide. My daughters insisted that I got a picture of Harry (Thunder is our favourite band) but for all my efforts all I managed was a shot of him wiping his face with a towel. Such is life.

The headline act was Mostly Autumn who interrupted their current tour (2 May Holmfirth, 8 May Lincoln) to be here tonight and provided a full hour from their current tour set. They gave an impressive and powerful performance ending with Heroes Never Die. By this time my legs were aching from having been standing for over six hours. There was no encore but the audience were asked to move back a bit and a screen was put into position. The evening was concluded with a clip of film from the 80s showing Howard performing a drum solo lasting over 5 minutes. A great end to a great evening.

Cos when she sang out that melody/I heard a sound like a backstreet symphony

Saturday 18 October - I wasn't out on Friday (family commitments), but instead braved the crowds on Saturday for the return of a great classic rock covers band, Freeway (on SpaceBook), to the Roman Tin Tub. Freeway consist of; Steve Smurthwaite (vocals), Mark Hopwood (guitars), Pete Harwood (guitars), Colin Paterson (bass), and Paul "Gibbo" Gibbons (drums).

I've reviewed them before but this was the first time that I'd seen the band since the untimely demise of their former drummer, Howard Sparnenn. Once more they really produced the goods, kicking off with Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, and powering on with the likes of; Whitesnake (Slide It In, Crying In The Rain), Black Sabbath (Paranoid), Judas Priest (Breaking The Law), Queen (Tie Your Mother Down), Cream (Crossroads), Thunder (Back Street Symphony), Free (Wishing Well), Bad Co. (Can't Get Enough Of Your Love), a medley of Deep Purple (Hush, Strange Kind Of Woman, Black Night, Woman From Tokyo), more Lizzy (The Boys Are Back In Town, Rosalie), UFO (Doctor, Doctor), Kinks (in the style of Van Halen) (You Really Got Me), and Guns 'n'; Roses (Sweet Child Of Mine).

Pete Harwood has a new band project, Morpheus Rising, and I'd be very interesting in checking them out sometime. Meanwhile, Freeway are back at the Tin Tub on Saturday 29 November, Boxing Day Friday 26 December, and Saturday 17 January.

I’m dreaming, I feel like screaming/I won my woman just before she died

Saturday 26 January – Australia Day, and the sun set in a blaze of colours like wild Alaskan salmon steaks tumbling through red-hot embers, slowly to be replaced by an unseasonably mild gloom as the shoppers deserted the streets of York and the Night-people started to emerge. Narrowly avoiding a bunch of yahoos pouring out of the Mana Restaurant, I plunged through the doorway of the Roman Bath and into a solid mass of bodies. It was very crowded, probably all here for same reason as me, to see one of my favourite York bands, Freeway.

Two lead guitars, a bass, a singer, and Howard the Drummer. They played an awesome set of classic rock covers, kicking off with Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak. In a gig of two halves we were treated to the likes of; Whitesnake (Slide It In, Crying In The Rain), Black Sabbath (Paranoid), Judas Priest (Breaking The Law), Queen (Tie Your Mother Down), Cream (Crossroads), Free (Wishing Well), Bad Co. (Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love), a medley of Deep Purple (Hush, Strange Kind Of Woman, Black Night, Woman From Tokyo), more Lizzy (The Boys Are Back In Town, Rosalie). For Led Zep’s Rock ‘n’ Roll we were treated to the vocal charms of Livvy, daughter of Howard, on vocals and wearing a leather mini-skirt and thigh-high boots. That went down a treat! Tantalizing glimpse obscured by a guitar. Oh, and a drum solo from Howard. And for the finale we had a brilliant version of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Sweet Child Of Mine, with Livvy sharing the vocals.

Oh, Mostly Brian was Hardly there.

Soapbox - Residents 1st Weekend in York, so what’s that about then? Well, as a York resident I remember previous years when the council threw open the doors of many of the tourist attractions in York so that it’s own residents could appreciate, for free, what makes our city such a magnet for visitors, and to raise awareness of our historical heritage. I was looking after my 5 year-old grandson over the weekend and was looking forward to showing him Clifford’s Tower. Except, it wasn’t free. Even with a York Card, as a resident I still had to cough up £1. And because my grandson was five, and had no York Card, I had to pay £1.50 for him. I was spitting feathers! Now I’m not complaining about the cost per se, it’s just that I was under the impression that these attractions were supposed to be free. How wrong I was. Looking over the promotion material for this year I can now see that a good many of the attractions were charging. Mind you, I guess they have to charge as much as they can at Clifford’s Tower as they have to pay the salaries of two people to man the entrance booth which is clearly only big enough for one. Hey, here’s a thought, sack one of the miserable toads and you could save enough to allow the residents in free for one weekend a year.

Take off your hat/Kick off your shoes/ I know you ain't going anywhere.

Friday 21 December – and it’s one of my current favourite York bands, Freeway, playing at the Roman Bath. After last Friday’s influx of inebriated festive revellers, I was a bit wary of the crowd but although it was pretty darn packed, and some of the folks were a little the worse for drink, everybody behaved themselves and we were able to enjoy the band.

Freeway played a fine selection of classic rock covers; Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, UFO, Queen, Free, Bad Co., a medley of Deep Purple, etc. The performance was tight with the band members playing really well. In what has become something of a set-piece in their act, Livvy Sparnenn, daughter of drummer Howard, and front femme of Breathing Space, stepped up to the mic to deliver the vocals for a ZZ Top track and Led Zep’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll”, which also featured dad Howard in a drum solo. Top stuff, and highly recommended. Oh, and Mostly was there, well, Hardly.

Here's Livvy in action with Breathing Space.....

And as a million faces go by/You’re gonna find a new connection/On that you can rely

Friday 16 November. And down at the Roman Bath Freeway are playing. Now we’ve seen these before and they were jolly good last time. They do classic rock covers and feature Howard the Drummer. They must have started around nine because I got there about a quarter past and they were already on ‘Wishing Well’. The evening was greatly enhanced by a few pints of John Smiths. Not that ‘brewed in Warrington’ nonsense, but a batch brewed back in Tadcaster using water from the artesian well beneath the brewery. That’s better!

Anyway, back to the band. As per last time they did a stonking set of covers, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Bad Co. Free, Iron Maiden, Thunder, AC/DC, and Queen. The highlight was in the second half when Livvy (that’s Howard’s daughter, the singer out of Breathing Space), was inveigled into singing to Led Zep’s ‘Rock n Roll’ and Howard did his drum solo in the middle. Also in the crowd, Mostly Brian was mostly hanging about and chatting with his mates.

If you want check out Freeway for yourself, they are currently booked to play the Roman Bath on Friday 30 November and Friday 21 December. I’ll definitely be there for 30 November; I have a date, with a lady!

Love comes shinin’ over the mountains/Love comes shinin’ over the sea

Friday and it was a trip to Fibbers as The Hamsters Play Hendrix. Utterly superb as always, a two hour show with all the hits: Foxy Lady, Hey Joe, Stone Free, Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, Highway Chile, If 6 Was 9, All Along The Watchtower, Izabella, Angel, Room Full of Mirrors. Fantastic! Catch them if you can. They are currently on tour and also doing ZZ Top covers.

A brisk stroll though the muggy evening air and we arrive at the Old White Swan. Will Hazzard County be playing? Not according to my hymnsheet. And indeed it proves correct. I believe this must be Haphazzard County, NZ Dave and Simon Snaize on vocals and acoustics, and a chap on a double bass. It was OK, but didn’t exactly set the place alight. Sometimes I think they just need to play a few more popular tunes and forget the obscure stuff. Or maybe it was because my pint of John Smiths was particularly bland. Not off, but not up to its normal standard.

Saturday and England are playing Israel. 3-0, that’ll do. After the game I end up at The Roman Bath with a proper pint of John Smiths and and a covers band called Freeway. I’m not sure of the pedigree of this band but they have Howard Sparneen drumming for them and that can’t be bad. The Smiths goes off during the evening and I am reduced to drinking Strongbow, which actually is quite refeshing on a hot and sticky evening. The band plays Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Thin lizzy, Thunder, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Bad Co., Free, Queen... you name it. Howard gives us a drum solo on Led Zep’s Roll and Roll. An excellent night out.