It is also home to some splendid people.
World's sexiest man Stephen Fry is a local lad, Bill Bryson lives just across the river from me and today - after our usual breakfast in the city, Phil and I bumped into another local denizen in the basement of the cheapo discount bookshop off Norwich market.
So who should we find buying a book of tales from King Arthur for £1.99 (reduced from £5.00), but the man who himself staged a musical version of King Arthur … er … on ice, back in the glorious days of prog rock, when bands vied to be the world's silliest and this man was unquestionably the silliest of them all.
There in the bookshop was Rick Wakeman, disguised as … er … Rick Wakeman.
I think he was even wearing the same jacket he wore on the HIGNFY clip (third one down, where he explains just why King Arthur was performed on ice).
He was remarkably happy to be collared by a couple of fanboys and chatted away as we queued together and he signed our copies of "Grumpy Old Men" (another TV show he stars in where a bunch of grumpy old men sit around and complain about young people … not like me at all) which I spotted in the bargain bin at £2.99 each.Yay!
Hoorah for Phil for always carrying a pen around with him.
And many a hoorah for the lovely, chatty, sociable grumpy old man Mister Rick Wakeman; the man who played that beautiful piano on Bowie's Life On Mars, who was my hero in the heyday of prog with Yes and who is now officially a national treasure.
Ah … the hair, the cloaks, the bombastic pomposity, the sheer, unashamed silliness of it all.
Sigh …
Enjoy these nostalgia-fests, fellow wrinkly prog fans.
"Six Wives", with Yes …
King Arthur on … er … Ice …
HIGNFY …
And many thanks to Lynn for this one … Rick on "Grumpy Old Men".
Yay!
Yay!
31 comments:
I love Rick Wakeman! You lucky boys you. Apart from his obvious music catalogue of success, his humour is really my cup of tea. Grumpy Old Men (and Women) is my favourite tv show, well one of them. He especially always makes me laugh, getting to the crux of the everyday problem which drives us all mad. He's great. I'm very envious and constantly wish he was single and in my area in more ways than one. When you bump again and check he's single first, give him my phone number :)
Grumpy Rick
Oh, Lynn, thank you! You are such a sweetie. I've added your link to the post as it is so totally excellent!
Now here's yet another reason to come up to Norfolk.
When we meet up for coffee we can go on a Rick hunt. The guys in my fishmongers say he's up there a lot on Saturday mornings.
perfect saturday morning then, sugar? xoxox
(i have to admit, i'm not remembering much of the '70s anymore...other than being pregnant or nursing a baby or being pregnant and chasing after toddlers.)
Oh yes! You can have the pleasure of watching me become tongue-tied and silly, fawning and ridiculous, most likely, if we met him! After which I'd spend many hours regretting how I'd messed up my one chance of meeting him and not displaying any matching wit in the slightest. LOL.
I like being a Sweetie, by the way, thanks ;)
It was fun, Savannah. He's a great guy and actually seemed happy to chat with us.
I enjoyed the seventies. For me it was more … er … sexanddrugsandrockandroll.
Get well soon! And don't take any stick from Miss Daisy.
xoxox
Lynn: Be assured, he really is a delightful and very nice man; not the Grumpy Old Man he projects on TV.
So get up here and look after your mum while she convalesces, then we can hunt Rick down.
We were soooo into Yes in high school. Saw Yes at Madison Square Garden in New York the summer of 1977. Still remember Rick's beautiful blonde hair capturing all the colors of the lights as he swirled from keyboard to keyboard, his cape flaired out behind him. The winner of our first annual cookie contest that year copied one of the Roger Dean covers onto a giant sugar cookie using food coloring. Oh, the folly of youth. [sigh]
Oh, wow, Lulu! A giant, Roger Dean sugar cookie?
That is totally awesome!
And you saw Yes at Madison Square Garden at the height of their pomp!
I am so jealous.
Saw Pink Floyd that summer, too. Animals tour.
Yay!
I was there for the last night of their final tour. It was pretty darned awesome!
Sheesh! We are SO OLD!
That's awesome! Go you.
I'm jealous.
Go us indeed.
I'm so glad he turned out to be an approachable Grumpy Old Man and not a grumpy, unapproachable "celebrity".
i should have stopped here again before supper tonight *sigh* she made me weep xoxox
I thought YOU were the sexiest man alive, Dive.
Huh.
I'll be there soon Dive.
I loved Yes. Had a few of their albums, saw them in concert when I was in college.
I think I'd like Grumpy Old Men. I'd better, considering that may be my future.
This reminds me of the time I saw Mick Fleetwood at Costco. It was slightly different because he was actually selling wine.
Dive, this is completely off the subject, but when I read this I thought of you.
Lucio: Me, too. He was delightful, charming, polite and seemed genuinely happy to chat. A lovely guy.
Savannah: Sigh … xoxox
Katherine: Hee hee hee hee hee!
Lynn: Ah, incentive seems to work with you!
Petrea: It's so nice to find other people who aren't afraid to admit they quite enjoyed prog rock at the time.
There's a sister programme to "Grumpy Old Men" called "Grumpy Old Women" with comedians and writers like Germaine Greer on it that is utterly hilarious. Worth checking out.
And Yay! Mick Fleetwood! selling wine in Costco? That's a weird one!
I love the "book" article! Hahahahaha! That hit the news over here, too. I was hardly surprised as most of the people I see reading on the train and the tube read crap like Harry Potter or Dan Brown. I see very few people reading real books.
I love the fact that men apparently try to impress other people by lying about the books they've read. Around here, that would not impress the girls; they only ever read Z-list celebrity mags and wouldn't know a book if I hit them in the face with it.
You know from my "Pimp My Dante" post a while back that I DO actually read all my books, though it doesn't impress anyone around here; I live in the middle of a cultural desert.
Hey ho.
But YOU are the Voice of the Desert
Well, Dive, you AND Rick - who could resist?
Well, you know I can be tardy with the comments at times but I go at a slightly slower pace than most for some reason. I had to look up those dudes and then I watched a whole bunch of what was it called....The Fry and Laurie show. Fry is so clever! Oh Youtube, I so under appreciate you!
Anyway, yes Norwich does seem like a lovely place full of lovely people and I'm glad I know this now. That must have been so fun for you and Phil! If only Rick knew you guys would have the most awesome jam session together(jam session? I don't know what else to call it).
And lastly because you mentioned it. Why is Dan Brown so popular? He is a horrible writer! I think the Harry Potter books are very good but people like Dan Brown and that dude who wrote the ever popular 'Shack' are really hard to stomach and I'm a far cry from an English major.
I saw a preview for Angels and Demons last night when I went to see Slumdog Millionaire and I was thinking about Dan Brown's success. Hmmm...I guess it is just the subject matter.
Have a good evening I've got to quit stalling and get ready for church!! :)
Shan, I'm so glad to "hear" you say it: Dan Brown is a terrible writer. His style might work for photo captions in the tabloids, but as for complete paragraphs, nope. I tried reading "The Da Vinci Code" and couldn't get through it because of his sophomoric.
He doesn't care what you and I think, of course.
Dive, it was your "Pimp My Dante" post that prompted my sending you that link. I'd forgotten the title of the post, though. I love great literature. I'm not a snob, I admit to reading the occasional mystery or thriller, but I like them well-written. No Dan Brown. Yes Robert Ludlum.
As for Fleetwood, just Google Mick Fleetwood Wine. He's developed a line of wines that get decent reviews at tastings.
Oops.
*because of his sophomoric style.*
That must have been a fun time meeting a legend. I once ran into Cloris Leachman at a small pub in St. Paul, MN. She was wearing black high-top sneakers and sweats. She could not have been nicer and we chatted with her for about half an hour. I love "down to earth" stars.
Anonymous: I'm more the voice of the dessert.
Lynn: Lots of people seem to be able to.
Shan: Slow is good.
Scrivens! I'd completely forgotten about Fry and Laurie! That was so long ago.
As for Dan Brown: I reall yhave no isea. I feel kinda dirty when I see people reading that crap and I know full well it's the only book they've ever read and they are complete morons.
The man is a menace to society and a cultural black hole.
Hee hee, Petrea.
Dan Brown's tosh is one of those things I class as a "non-book". A "book" for the ignorant TV generation who don't read real books as they're frightened their brains might start working.
Mick Fleetwood wines sound kinda fun.
Mark: Cloris Leachman?
You had a half hour conversation with CLORIS LEACHMAN?
That is so fucking awesome! I LOVE Cloris Leachman!
I've loved her since Kiss Me Deadly (still one of my favourite movies of all time); I loved her in the MTM show and in The Last Picture Show and I loved her as the incomparable Frau Blücher.
Sheesh! I am so hideously jealous. you are a truly lucky guy.
I like sweet dessert...too
Have you seen my promise comment yesterday?
Sorry,not yesterday. Marsh 5th.
Anonymous: I did! I have just replied to it.
Oh my! I was a huge Yes fan in the seventies. And I thought Rick Wakeman was hot! He looks even hotter with that awesome cloak and that fake chain maille (or however you spell it).
You're taking me back to my youth and yes the seventies were the same for me as for you when it comes to sexanddrugsandrockandroll!
(Of course Rick looks about as hot now as I do now-haha).
Neetzy: He's still kinda hot (well, Lynn thinks so, anyway).
He's definitely a nice guy, though.
Now I think Blogville needs to hear about your sexanddrugsandrockandroll past!
I've already posted about mine at exhaustive length so now it's your turn. Hee hee.
HeeHee. I don't remember any of it!
Hee hee hee hee hee!
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