for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (D)

PLAYED ALONGSIDE PETER
THE LOOKER LOREN
I didn't get to meet Sellers.
I met Milligan, his friend.
I met she who played The Millionairess,
the lovely Sophia Loren.

I'd seen her in the movie,
met her later in the flesh.
Though she was much older
she was still worth nothing less.

LIVES STRANGER THAN FICTION
Some say ignorance is bliss.
Wisdom they have never sought.
They live inside a bubble
that's rounder than a naught.
They go through life non-plus
not ever having been taught.
A strange kind of bliss
to ones of intelligent-thought.

THE MOULIN ROUGE AFTERSHOW
THERE IN MY HOTEL ROOM
Could the ladies can-can ?
Oh boy, they could, they could !
There I was in Paris.
There it was in my girl's blood.

Could the ladies can-can ?
Oh boy they could, they could !
There we were in Paris.
In our room my girl danced good !

PASTOURELLE
"With talk like that
you must come from France
when you ask me
do I May-pole dance.
You're such a bad boy
I shall tell you true.
It seems I will have
to keep my eye on you."
Oh merry maiden -
if maiden you really be -
I'm a high Romantic
and a revolutionary.
I rebel against convention.
I believe in love that's free.
Come into the tall grass
and lie down low with me.

"I think you but a satyr
who takes me for a goat.
I've heard much about pan-pipes
and in your look I note
a sun-shiny brightness.
Your eyes are on fire.
Merely with lust they burn.
Your horny head I don't desire."

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (C)

A CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
The spirit of Christmas
floated down the chimney.
Gifted the girls and boys
in the Orphanage he.
Gifted the boys and girls
as he did yearly.

"Oh spirit of Christmas
your children are we.
You are like a father
who feeds us spiritually.
We thank you for your presence
and what you give for free."

The spirit of Christmas
floated up the chimney.
He came like a ghost,
like a ghost went he.
"Be cheery small children
and in high spirit like me."

SEEING THROUGH ?
There are fortune tellers,
many who are quacks,
folk being seduced
by these Count Dracs,
vampires who have
own fortunes made
via scare tactics,
such is their trade.

There are fortune tellers
will your money down.
There are victims -
their minds unsound -
sought some comfort
in a future near.
If only their minds
had been crystal clear.

TRYING TO SAVE THEIR OWN
POLITICAL BACON
Who'll plant more trees ?
Who'll plant more trees ?!
Our politicians have caught
Dutch Elm Disease !!
They'll take their snouts
out the trough for hogs
and save the world
so we can sleep like logs.
They'll save the earth.
Yes save the earth
if into number ten
we shall let them surf.

DIZZY WORLD
Yes some believe in angels
and some believe in fairies.
Some believe in God's son
and in his mother Mary.
Some believe in aliens
who live in the stars,
and some once believed
they lived as close as Mars.
Science tended to dismiss
the whole - above - lot,
now parallel universes -
multiverse - are hot
topics for their discussions.
We surely live and learn
that nobody knows everything
in our global spin and turn.

MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 150   (The flyer/circular)
Over The Green Hills parts 1 and 2 serve as bookends for the album Tons Of Sobs by the band Free. The track was inspired by the Green Fields area of Middlesbrough, near to where vocalist Paul Rodgers was born. The band's last album, Heartbreaker, features the track Muddy Water. The title is a reference to the River Tees, as well as a tip of the hat to blues legend Muddy Waters. Rodgers opens with "I was born on the muddy water..." Paul had earlier been with Brown Sugar. Guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke with Black Cat Bones. Bassist Andy Fraser had played alongside bluesman John Mayall. Free had played a number of gigs at Redcar Jazz Club. Paul went on to form Bad Company with Kirke and the guitarist Mick Ralphs from Mott The Hoople. Then he formed The Firm with guitarist Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. He then formed The Law with drummer Kenney Jones from Small Faces, Faces, and The Who (where he'd replaced Keith Moon). Rodgers would go on to replace Freddie Mercury in Queen. When Brian May of Queen says he and Paul were sat outside a public House called The Queen but nobody recognized them, it was in Saltburn. I was there. Andy Fraser formed Sharks. Paul Kossoff formed Back Street Crawler (a reference to a heroin addict which he was. The drug eventually killed him). Rodgers had toyed with a band called Peace before forming Bad Company. Tetsu and Rabbit joined Free on their last album. Free's single All Right Now came from their album Fire And Water. The stealer came from Highway. My Brother Jake didn't appear on an album. Little Bit Of Love came from Free At Last. Wishing Well (and I wish Paul well) came from their album Heartbreaker.  

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 147 (the circular/flyer)

Some more celebs who used the alleyway by my then home on Glenside, via Albion Terrace, as I suggested long before, to avoid Saltburn town centre, on the way to the seafront, following a gig in Teesside with McFly, Famous Friends and Celebrity Guests, several years ago:- Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Leslie West, Yoko Ono, May Pang, Julian Lennon, Tony Visconti, Mary Hopkin, Warren Beaty, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Hopper, Peter and Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Germaine Greer, Richard Gere, Barbara Windsor, Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey, Deborah Harry, Nicole Kidman, Amanda Redman, Rula Lenska, Dennis Waterman, David Soul, Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Martin Sheen, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Echo And The Bunnymen, Spandau Ballet, The Hollies, Brian Wilson, LORD OF THE RINGS cast, HARRY POTTER cast, Robert Plant, Tony Iommi, Peter Noone, Donald Trump (before he became president) who told me he was a big Elton John fan. Eddie Izzard, who told me Elton was not amongst the celeb visitors to  Saltburn. Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, and Bill Wyman who said Keith Richards was still in Jamaica. Pricilla Presley, Elvis Costello. Peter Perrett, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Iggy Pop, Bruce Springsteen, Marilyn Manson, Britt Ekland, Edward Woodward, Quentin Tarantino, Bay City Rollers, Alan Bennett, Alan Sillitoe, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, Benedict Cumberbach, Ray Dorset, Maggie Bell, Ian Anderson, Elkie Brooks, Brian Eno, Rick Wakeman, Eric Burdon, Cat Stevens, Will Ferrell, Bruce Willis, Cybil Sheperd, Faye Dunaway, Ursula Andress, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Lynda Carter, Grayson Perry, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Shwarzenneger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, Tiger Woods, Ian Botham, Peter Stringfellow, Graham Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, X-MEN cast, Carly Simon, Neil Diamond, Patrick Macnee, Grace Slick, Grace Jones, Val Kilmer, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Peter Falk, Michael Caine, Jeremy Paxman, Melvyn Bragg, Robert Redford, Albert Finney, Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Bob Geldof, Alexi Sayle, Madness, Bananarama/Shakespeare's Sister, Courtney Love, Foo Fighters, Jon Bon Jovi, Demis Rousoss, Demi Moore, The Doors (minus of course Jim Morrison), Dustin Hoffman, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep, Daniel Craig, Uma Thurman, Robin Williams, Robbie Williams, Ben Stiller, Mel Gibson, Sharon Osbourne, Joe Cocker, Jarvis Cocker, Sandra Bullock, Lindisfarne, Roy Wood, Blur, Paul Weller, Fish (Derek Dick), Guns 'n' roses, Chris Rea and Paul Rodgers (both from Middlesbrough. Paul's song with FREE, 'Muddy Water' is about the River Tees).

THE SPELLBOUND PRISONER'S PROPHECY
"Wicked warlords will have their evil way
while King Arthur sleeps this very day,"
Merlin-the-Magician was overheard to say.
"There is not the magic anymore,
priestcraft came and rendered poor
the wizards of old-Albion's lovely-shore.
Long I've been a prisoner in this cave.
Arthur will not rise and the Kingdom save
till Britannia's children ride-above-the-waves."