Memoirs – French Travel Books – France, Paris, Provence & French Food & Wine

Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen album darkness on the edge of town on an artists easel

It is this classic, definitive collaboration with the E-Street Band that is my number one go-to album by him. It is pre the superstardom he was to have. The process of making great art is pressed into these tracks on ‘Darkness.’

My Vinyl LP Record Collection – a life through Music

Alt='My LP vinyl collection, Carole King, Jackson Browne. Neil Young' Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Paul Simon"

Today, as I listen to the Bruce Springsteen ‘River’ album, I am wondering what it is that shapes our love of music and particularly a genre that we seem to stay with for life. To be fair I did come to Springsteen a little later in life although the seeds were already there for him to step into my collection. My reason for starting this journey through my past, to paraphrase Neil Young, was my father’s vinyl collection. My father died recently, and he left a vast collection of vinyl including 78’s which I suppose are technically shellac. His CD collection was even more extensive, but it was the vinyl that fascinated me.

Discovering my family in Victorian Preston Lancashire

This photo always intrigued me. It was in a collection that once belonged to my great grandfather John Richard Parker who was from Preston. He was a notable footballer in the 1890’s and had a good career as a mill manager. He was an active participant in local life including the Preston guild. The photosContinue reading “Discovering my family in Victorian Preston Lancashire”