How James Bond whisked the Queen to the Olympics - Video
In this year of extraordinary events there was a week in late March of unseasonal glorious sunshine, when we basked in its early arrival and dreamed we might be set fair for summer.
That week, an extraordinary - surreal, even - event happened at Buckingham Palace when Her Majesty The Queen made herself available for a few short hours to appear in a film sequence alongside another British icon, James Bond, 007.
Although not a drama in the conventional sense, "Happy and Glorious", as conceived by Danny Boyle, has a gentle narrative which sets up the Queen's arrival at the stadium for the opening ceremony.
Her Majesty, Daniel Craig, our Brazilian schoolchildren (a nod to four years hence of course) and the corgis all played their parts impeccably and none of it would have happened without the extraordinary and tenacious Tracey Seaward who somehow fitted in co-executive producing these two films with her day job of producing the entire ceremony.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19018666
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because it was it was a R & R gig and most of us were dancing. The glimpses I caught I couldn't figure what on earth was going on but seemed to be history of the British Isles. 
I picked up on the Bond bit when I got home. Must say that's a pretty cool first for the Beeb. 
If by any chance you can use BBC iPlayer then catch up on Bert and Dickie : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00q4vrs
Wonderful film that. I hadn't realised that our competitors were still subject to rationing in 1948- thought they might have had a pass.
My mother took me to the '48 Olympics - we lived in Wembley anyway and could walk to the stadium. We watched the athletics while my dad watched the men's hockey. I recall very little other than being there. I've got a clearer recollection of a few years later when my grandmother took me to the stadium for a cultural evening at the dogs.
off topic - what music do your friends play ?
I'm feeling a bit delicate after last night. A bit too much Weizen. 
As for the rationing thing - strange to think, but true. Also bizarre that rationing got worse (in certain respects) after the war. Officially even Princess Elizabeth had to use ration coupons for her wedding dress. I've had a plan for a long time to try and live off the 1945 rations for a week, just to prove I can. Never quite get round to it, though.
James and Diane (aka The Limpets) play "classic and contempory rock and pop, as well as British and Irish folk" (quoting from their website there). One of the highlights is always Smoke On The Water played on a mandolin. 
Funnily enough, when Mike Oldfield came on they were playing Moonlight Shadow, which was a slightly weird experience. Almost like Mike was miming to them.
Got a link to the band you watched last night? Always ready to listen to something new.
Tonight its this outfit - live :
The German's kidnapped that from the US early seventies and turned it into a six beat dance and made it popular again. This guy, Axel , is the best in the world :
and this is an Old Skool original from Joe Turner
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I found the website for your friends at "the-limpets.de" . What they play sounds my type of music too. As far as I'm concerned there's really only two types of music : well played / produced and not well played / produced. I'm into everything from Jazz and Old Time American Traditional through to Abba etc.
Tomorrow afternoon its these friends over at Hampstead :
Cliff and the Cavaliers: Love the stand up bass. Nothing quite like. And the piano really rocks. And rolls. If boogie woogie piano doesn't get your blood pumping you must be dead.
The Zimmerman's singer can hold a tune better than Dylan. 
I was in a Beatles cover band with James for a while and he destroyed a rehearsal once by doing Dig A Pony as Dylan, and then Michelle as a cockney singalong. "Shell, mah bewll, veez are werdz that goe tugethu wewll, mah shell."
You are, of course, absolutely right. Most (if not all) music is great if well played and well produced. Allen Rubin makes much the same point on the Blues Brothers DVD extras. My tastes run from classical, through opera, rythmn and blues (I play guitar in an R&B band), rock, etc. There's not much I don't like.
There is a classical violinist who busks in the middle of Hamburg. He has a CD as backing and is fantastic. I stood there spell bound for a full ten minutes once and a friend of mine who is notoriously careful with money even parted with a Euro.
At the other end of the scale a few weeks ago I found myself in a field in Hampshire with a plastic glass of bitter in my hand while I was assaulted by something that was less a band and more two bass players and a drummer. No melody, no direction, no idea. Ho hum. Still, I'm probably just too old to receive what they're trying to transmit. (best if read in a Henry Crun voice).
There is some Limpet stuff on youtube, but I don't think it does them justice.
Enjoy your gig.
is not trying to sound like Bob - just knows all the lyrics to everything he's written. They do play other stuff too like Wooly Bully and I learned last night that a few weeks back Vinnie Jones was about at the pub a few weeks and he joined in that too.
If you play guitar its a shame you're not here - I've about 30 despite the fact I can't play. I'm one of the nuisances that players know as collectors. I've still got about 80 banjos I can't play too. 
That's the only answer. And it's never too late to learn. Our harmonica player/singer didn't touch an instrument until he was forty, and other bands try to poach him now.
If you've got any questions about technique I can stick something up on youtube for you, if you like. Of course, modesty prevents me from putting any of my links here. 
Thirty? Okay, you've got me beat. I've got seven guitars at the moment, but somehow it just isn't enough. Oh, and a Vox AD50VT - the finest and loudest 50 watt guitar amp you'll find.
I've always though that in cover bands it's essential not to try to ape the real singer unless you can do a perfect impression. Otherwise it just sounds like a karaoke parody, particularly with a distinctive voice like Dylan's.
