Starfish Rising

Of Hero and Giant

Of Giant and Hero

It is fitting that the first journal since transferring my personal growth writing from the TV Smith Forum to this starfishrising weblog is on the great man himself.

Talent Victorious…

TV Smith is a extremely gifted songsmith, a passionate singer, an energised guitarist and a captivating entertainer. A man of true genuine values. A man fuelled by belief and perseverance. A man of humility and humour.  A man with the gift.

Television who?

TV Smith first appeared on many people’s radar screens in 1977, when he shot into our music charts at eighteen with a bullet. Looking back, it is rather bizarre that TV Smith, and his band The Adverts, are best known for the black humoured and quirky ‘Looking through Gary Gilmore’s Eye’s. Even TV Smith himself admits that of his 200 songs it is far from his purple patched peak. This doesn’t really matter though as the song has served a far higher purpose. It has enabled him to change his history now and build a true and honest legend. Over the last 30 years the song has enabled TV to clearly explain who he is, to be remembered and to draw the crowds of the Earth, bound for his shows. Describing a TV Smith show as a gig doesn’t do it justice as the man is the consummate entertainer. The fusion of his ‘alive with energy’ guitar playing, the passion of his inspirational singing and his quick witted and thought provoking speeches leave many expecting just the simple fun of nostalgia in total awe.

The Adverts, Gary Gilmore’s Eyes, was a catalyst for me too. In 1977 the prairie fire of Punk Rock set my life ablaze. It is where I first cultivated the attitude of “I don’t believe you have to sell your soul and do what everybody says” and “do anything you wanna do.” It was when I first started to believe that we can do anything. The teenaged shy introverted Harry Potter metamorphed into a confident, enthusiastic and extrovert believer.

On the 1st September 1977 TV Smith pushed his microphone into the face of this believer and he sang along…

“Looking through Gary Gilmore’s Eyes.”

In 1978 the first light of Punk faded and TV Smith carried on his journey and explored bold new sounds of great imagination, supported by his cast of thousands. As the new decade began TV enlisted Colin Stoner to join the cruise. Stoner had been the bass player of the Ziggyesque legends the Doctors of Madness. Considered, by those who believed, to be the finest band ever risen in our green and pleasant land. It was Stoner’s face, with cocked cool hat, on the back of TV Smith’s fourth album that kept the light ablaze. I had little back then and had to leave the cast behind, but after seeing Stoner’s face I knew I couldn’t simply turn my back on these great explorers and simply walk away. I loved every fun note and every perfect word. It would keep me carrying on. 

Years later we are in the grip of an iron maiden and I’m walking the streets of Leeds. I notice a poster of TV Smith’s Cheap. TV Smith Cheap? …How the mighty fall.

That night I visit The Duchess and TV Smith and I chat like two long lost friends and remember fondly our years as bored teenagers.

The early morning call shatters the dream. The Credit Controller trudges off to work to plead with people to pay his Company their overdue debt.

Ten years after exploring the sound of Smith and Stoner and it’s the same street, but different shop. The vinyl has shrunk to disc. I notice a blue sleeve with TV Smith March of the Giants emblazoned across it in brightest canary yellow and tangerine. On the cover a lone figure wards off a huge skyscraper armed with a high swinging acoustic guitar.

I mistake the skyscraper as the giant.

At home the dining room is filled with the purist beauty of a master guitarist. I quiver at the atmosphere and cross the room to sit and soak in the magic of Earth sound. “I see you sparkle in the mud, like a little diamond in the rough.” I shall never forget that life tingling moment. I was hooked, lined and sunk forever.

March of the Giants now sits on my top shelve alongside the Doctors of Madness, Late Night Movies, All Night Brainstorms… the greatest albums of all time.

TV Smith re-invented himself with a sound immortal. Rich in melody, wise in words and a voice of purest compassion powerfully fused with protest passion. The Punk Dylan came of age.

We roll like a river into the 1990’s and I’m in Plymouth and I bump into TV Smith walking out of The Dolphin in Plymouth. TV lights up and we chat like two long lost friends and remember fondly our years as bored teenagers. I follow TV back into The Dolphin and TV plays “The Day I caught The Big Fish.” The room swirls in joy.

The early morning call shatters the dream. The Credit Manager strides off to work to lead his dream team to facilitate the ‘Looking Forward To Success’ culture change.   

It’s the late 1990’s and the Group Service Improvement Manager is leading the ‘Improvement Through People’ culture change with companions old and new. I’ve had enough of dreams. It’s time for reality. My feeling thoughts pulse vigorously in positive passion. The time is now. Time to meet the hero. Time for the magic of giants.

It’s February ’99 and I’m, in the Duck and Drake devouring a fine ale. I pick up the local gig listing mag perched on the bar. I turn the pages and mind chant… “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!” “TV SMITH!”

“TV SMITH!”

It’s the 21st of February and I’m walking back from the bar armed with two pints of Old Peculier. My good friend Burkey watches as I bump into an old friend on my return. He glances with but a passing interest as the two long lost friends catch up on the long lost years since they were bored teenagers.

“Who was that?” enquires Burkey, “An old mate from football?”

“TV Smith,” I reply… sounding like it’s someone I bump into every month.

Contact!

A circle is complete.

An electric live wire takes to the stage armed with an acoustic guitar that can out punch a skyscraper. And it does! The fusion of his ‘alive with energy’ guitar playing, the passion of his inspirational singing and his quick witted and thought provoking speeches leave me in total awe.

The future just got better.

I chat with TV about his new album and the mystery of Channel 5. A friend yet to be found...

I borrow fifty quid from Nev, who had been at my side when I sang Gary Gilmore’s Eyes, as I hung from the side of the stage at The Adverts gig at Leeds Polytechnic all those years ago. I buy two copies of Generation Y, two copies of Late Night Movies, All Night Brainstorms and two copies of Last Words of the Great Explorer. Both the later albums are on the Ozit label. Strange? Favourites brought together by destiny or design? …Another seed is sown.   

“Bloody Hell! He’s bought the shop!” laughs a jubilant TV Smith.

29 years and 10 days after that first sharing the mic contact  and 50 TV Smith gigs after the first sharing words meeting in The Duchess and I’m in the New Roscoe in Leeds being interviewed for a documentary on Punk Rock. By now even Richard ‘Kid’ Strange, the lead singer on the Doctors of Madness, has confessed on stage that TV Smith is a legend.

We talk about the leg end and I share my stories… How I set up the TUTS fan club based around the amazing people on Klaus Fleischer’s wonderful website and forum. Why I think the anti-hero is in reality the alive-hero. Why Punk was such a catalyst for so many. And how I met the man; it’s the first time I’ve told anyone the story.

Is the secret out?

Jamie, the interviewer, asks me to take a drink for the camera. I quaff the fine Exploring Madness ale I have brewed for the event with my good friends, the exceptional brewers; Dave ‘E&S Elland’ Sanders and Mark ‘Two Halves’ Smith. The taste is both delicious and dangerously drinkable. Jamie, who is also a huge Adverts fan, asks about the double Doctors of Madness and TV Smith’s Explorers re-union event. I talk about the seven years I’ve spent persevering to fulfil the two favourite bands re-union dream. I talk of other dreams… of how it felt to sing lead vocals for the Doctors of Madness on the previous night in Doncaster.

Livings dreams changes forever…

Two hours later and TV introduces Carrying On and dedicates the song to me. He talks about how one man can make a difference. TV’s most positive and inspirational song perfectly captures the Dare To Dream spirit of the two magical gigs. Stoner’s bass playing simply divine, as one with TV’s voice and acoustic guitar. TV Smith has seldom sounded so exquisite.

“We can do anything.”

Ten minutes later and I’m called onto the stage. I stand with TV Smith to my right and Stoner to my left. Right in between the two and it’s great. We sing in unison… “I can jump a mountain now. Poke my head above the cloud. I’m proud, I’m alive, now I’ve found some purpose.”

Opportunities disappear like snowflakes on the path of life. I seize the moment and go for it! I punch my fist though the dream cloud and raise the wreck to sail anew.

Dare to dream?

The second circle is complete

A success coach awoke this morning filled with the light of the ultimate day of this, the most successful month of his life, and he knew it was time to tell the hero’s story.

A flash of clarity hit him like a thunderbolt out of the blue. It wasn’t magic that brought them together… it was science.

Quantum physics to be precise.

To tell you more I’d have to share a sacred law.

Instead, for now, let’s just say it’s a secret.

And due to the flaw in the sound recording of the documentary interview, it’s just like this story was.

… Until today.

Are you ready to hear The Secret? 

Are you ready to awaken the giant within?

Are you ready to take the hero’s journey?

Are you ready to truly dare to dream?


Tim Sundown

30.06.07

The Passion of Fan

Today is Tim's birthday and he is spending it on holiday in Cornwall, enjoying this amazing (and very un-English) heatwave. However, he has found time to write me two postcards crammed with all the reasons why he is so passionate about the artists who are playing at his dream gig in September, so that I can update this blog. That's the thing about fandom - it doesn't feel like a chore, even when it comes to writing, buying postcards (even cards with Starfish on), purchasing stamps and actually mailing holiday postcards. (I don't know anyone who loves doing it, admit it all of you!)

I can't say I'm a fan of someone in the same way that Tim is for TV Smith and the Doctors of Madness. Except when I think about it, I can be pretty obsessive about Jos Whedon (he of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other such works of genius). I recall the thrill of securing tickets to the International Premiere of his first Hollywood movie Serenity earlier this year - and the glorious groupie feeling when a certain handsome star of the film walked the queue shaking hands with all the fans as we patiently waited for admission. It was exciting seeing the cast and hearing them handle the Q&A. Couldn't think of a single intelligent question of course. Curious how they seemed quite normal and well, human sized.

But I'm not sure that's real fandom or at least it's Level One on the scale. I've got a way to go yet. Ultimate fandom - if you are lucky to reach that level - allows you to actually participate in the dream. It's not about worshipping celebrity at all. It's much more about wanting to get the voice heard, believing that the object of your admiration really does make the world a nicer, more inspiring, and generally happier place in some unique way and finding your own means to let the world know about it. And maybe, now I think about it, I'm further up the levels than I think. I'm so passionate about the great messages for living a heroic life in the Buffy canon that I've referenced it in my book about coaching and so far my lovely Editor hasn't vetoed it. (The book is my dream, and more of its progress to come, but all in good time...)

So back to the Dream Gig. Here's what Tim shared with me on his two postcards:

Why TV Smith?

• The live wire! The energy! The humour! The entertainer! The daredevil! The inspirer! 
• The Adverts were the first band I sang along with - a link once formed never broken
• His incredible lyrics - the finest in the land (only one other master songsmith can compete)
• His live show - from witty intro to rocket fuel performance
• His words reach out and touch. He really means it! Every word. The real deal - totally genuine
• His values are in tune with mine - he cares about this planet and those mistreated on it
• He's a good friend with a great sense of humour
• He re-recorded Carrying On , an 80's demo for me and Klaus (who runs www.tvsmith.com)
• He never gives in - in his darkest hours he always bounces back
• 100% commitment to everything! Never a dull gig! Never a poorly crafted song! Just perfect!
• March Of the Giants is my equal favourite album of all time
• He's recently been categorised as a legend. For once this is a man who qualifies for the title!

Why the Doctors of Madness?

• Once tipped to be the new Beatles - I love the Doctors of Madness because they weren't!
• Instead they became ground breaking pioneers and a hugely influential cult band
• The missing link between (Ziggy) glam, progressive (electric violin) and punk rock
• They play eeire, mystifying music for weird scenes addicts everywhere
• Di Lemma - The Rock - Kept the band on track - as solid as the board as punchy as the surf!
• Blitz - The Enigma - His violin, the best noise on Earth - from sweet melody to bubbling mud!
• Stoner - The Backbone - skeletal face! Melodic voice! Great arrangements! Pounding bass!
• Strange - Master Songsmith - That guitar! The charm! That voice! Those looks! The audacity!
• Live the Doctors of Madness were pure entertainment! Bewildering! Alternative! Captivating!
• All three albums, Movies! Figments! Survival! are in my top ten of all time
• Late Night Movies and All Night Brainstorms is the equal best album of all time
• What characters! What a band! What music! What a story! - Just waiting to be told in film! 

...I guess he likes them both?

Jeni Starfish