Warning – this blog post contains several bits of good news, including meetings with 80s film & TV stars, a musical genius and brushes with greatness on the football field.
Anyone not in the mood for unusual cheeriness on the present author’s part, look away now, because we start at Liverpool Comic Con, a biannual bonanza of toys, costumes and general geekiness which me and B just love frequenting.
This time our theme was Ghostbusters, after she became smitten with Frozen Empire and I was secretly elated as I got to resurrect a costume from a Uni party a quarter of a decade ago.
The real highlight of the day was me posing for a photo next to One Eyed Willie’s Bone Organ (really) and a guy in a white baseball cap walking past and telling me “you look perfect” in a familiar Californian drawl.
It was none other than Sean Astin, Mikey from The Goonies, a film I’d watched a thousand times in childhood, and the waiting hordes of people who’d paid hundreds for his and the other LOTR cast ( we also spotted Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan et al but I’ve never been into that sort of thing) must have been so envious seeing me agape at having been paid a compliment by an early hero, for free!
Even B was especially impressed as she loved him in Stranger Things, and it was only in writing this I learned he is the son of Hollywood royalty Patty Duke. He was also brilliant in 50 First Dates. I’ll be honest, we felt like minor celebrities what with the dozen or so people who came up to ask for selfies afterwards – one guy took the photo above and said we were his favourite cosplayers from the whole weekend! – and even though we saw John Cleese, Jay & Silent Bob and myriad other pop culture legends, my chance encounter with Ziggy from Grange Hill will last nearly as long in the memory.
The theme of Scouse actors and recognisable scenes continued with the excellent second series of The Responder, featuring many local areas of interest (we’d seen it being filmed nearby last year) and then a lifelong ambition of scoring at the College Road end of the MTA as Elijah played in a Summer tournament there every Saturday morning (more of which later!) which featured this iconic celebration, captured by the official photographer for prosperity.
Other notable seminal moments came with the final series of Inside No 9 – and the poignant final episode – and The Gathering – again, filmed locally and featuring friends of friends but also making the city look beautiful.
The most surrreal moments of early summer were still to come…
On a trip to Bootle Strand, never the most inspirational place at the best of times, a familiar face boarded the bus and sat a few seats in front of me and my bewildered daughter. It was none other than Michael Head, whose new album I’d been listening to all that week as it entered the top ten, whose earlier stuff as part of Shack had shaped my youth and before that The Pale Fountains for many others, who had a mutual friend and whom a colleague had been to see recently in an intimate church gig and subsequently waxed lyrical about it… yes, that Michael Head.
I probably made a bit of a show of myself but he was a perfect gentleman and obliged for the obligatory photo aboard the 53 as a document of the time I met a musical maestro on Merton Road.
An even more bizarre encounter than the ones which have gone before came at the private hospital I’ve been frequenting for investigations into an ongoing back issue and a man in the waiting room having a similar procedure to me, an ex pro golfer originally from the town I’ve called my second home for twenty years and a fascinating guy but a rather sad figure; I’d call him a kind of guardian angel like the elder characters in Its a Wonderful Life! or The Golden Vision, sent to give me a message of sorts. I know his name but will keep it hidden in case anyone knows him… suffice to say he gave sage advice and I’ll remember him fondly.
Lighter moments and a new found fascination for the kids with Jim Carrey movies, just as the Home Alone house went on sale and a similar theme ran through the second best thing I’ve watched recently…
That I binge-watched Eric over a whole weekend whilst WW was- puppets and graffiti, what’s not to love? – which evoked the late Maurice Sendak’s beautiful Where The Wild Things Are, Sesame Street , Basquiat (and even our own travails of letting the first born walk to and from school in preparation for high school) all set in early 80s New York, a period which fascinates me. It also featured a cameo by a certain Bobby Schofield who I used to teach and I was so proud to spot him I reached out to commend him on his performance.
Many were uncertain about the lead character but he struck a chord, even wearing the same watch as me, and the music in there was epic. I won’t spoilt the ending – beautifully shot and soundtracked – so here’s another classic from the six parter.
Talking of Basquiat, I took the kids back to my roots for the degree show at JMU and was thrilled to see not just the quality of work on show but a Jamie Reid retrospective. He’d come to talk to us back in 2000 and we were thrilled to be in the presence of such an important artist and activist whose legacy lives on.
Back to football, and another massive heart in throat moment when E got scouted by a big northwest club in a tournament on the Wirral. I won’t say too much so as not to jinx it, but he performed superbly only a few days after falling out of bed and cutting his head open leading to a trip to Alder Hey (and a call from social services) so played in a bandage and it must have brought him to the attention of a representative of said club and we’ll see what happens there.
The nearest I got to greatness was trailing boots for Ryan Giggs and Reebok when I was twelve, so the recognition for him at merely seven makes me so very proud.
Next up, a fantastic gig by Richard Hawley, following his excellent new album (with the standout track for me being the brilliant Prism in Jeans) preceded by a visit to the impressive Renshaw St Food Market for a spritz, Mexican fare from Baja and excellent Chinese courtesy of Mong Kok (really) and the ubercool White Hart pub where I played the fanboy again, meeting one of my favourite graphic designers and an all round good guy. Check out his website!
All this played out over the opening weekend of the Euros, when football came back to the fore – predictors had been filled in, stickers tentatively collected, new kits ordered and excitement filled the household (well, half of it!) but the music was ten times better than anything German football pitches could offer.
Theatre of a different kind, though still loosely linked to events in Germany, came the following weekend with another date at a local am drama group and a great little short play at Lucilla House. We’ve been past the place hundreds of times, whether feeding the ducks or staggering back from the local (pre children) but this was our first foray inside and the performance itself, Figments was an excellent play within a play which started and ended with the Tales of the Unexpected theme tune so I knew I was in for a treat given how much I loved that series.
The lead character looked familiar… he had more than a look of my (and Elijah’s) current favourite footballers, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, simultaneously impressing at the tournament, so I made a beeline for him when entered the bar afterwards to commend him on his performance and we worked out we had several mutual teaching friends and I’d actually met him in said local last year! Imagine the awe on E’s face the following morning when he pulled up alongside us on his bike and quizzed him about his favourite footballer… it must have brought him good luck as he went on to win the players’ player of the year award at the subsequent MarinaFest prize giving which brought yet another tear to my eye.
Africa Oye was an enjoyable day out, some great music and fun rides and a foray down ‘Bohemian’ Lark Lane, which was replete in the sunshine; IF was a great, thought-provoking and nostalgic trip back to childhood at the cinema.
Oh, such a Pangloss I’d become!
More tears of joy were to come when B’s team won the league and she got player of the match on the final game. As she nears the end of y6 and the transition into high school, we prepare for end of school plays, confirmation services and long goodbyes, I get the feeling there’ll be a few more of those moments from us all…
We end on another positive and the brilliant Inside Out 2, perfect for any of us with teenage or pre pubescent girls – Anxiety is an excellent addition to the brain-based emotions, and it prepares you perfectly, let me tell you – and as if by magic, one of the best characters is also voiced by the brilliant Ayo Edebiri, one of the stars of The Bear, who even directed an episode, of which the third series dropped last week on Disney+ and it’s quite simply mesmerising and magnificent in equal measure.
Some critics were divided when the new episodes were made available, with comments that it has slowed down a bit and doesn’t make the progress the first two series might have in its earlier episodes but the opener is so clever in recapping what’s gone before, and very beautiful in the plating, and the second episode is particularly intense, which is what I love about the series so much, and the viewing thereof was succeeded by the ever excellent The National at Glastonbury.
Now, I do love a bit of SZA, but this set for Sad Dads was the perfect headliner act of the weekend for me, even if Coldplay’s addition of Michael J Fox was the most emotional, but I said I’d stay upbeat and optimistic regardless of the circumstances, so won’t dwell on the sadness and tears that that moment also caused.
Later that week, a good omen was delivered when Frank Cottrell Boyce was named Children’s Laureate. Richly deserved, not just for his excellent books and plays and scripts and screenplays, but also the way I’ve seen him interact with young people in myriad circumstances such as open evenings as well as in the doorway of our local chippy… they were my own kids, and he was brilliant with them as he was with me, when our paths crossed at a literacy event a few years back and he gave the most enthusiastic speech possible about a statue he’d seen in the foyer of the venue on the way in to speak.
Finally, General Election time! I have to stay apolitical and neutral because of the day job I do when not ruminating on what to share with you every couple of months… but let’s just say we end on a positive note, too.
On to the next one.