Sixties Pop Memorabilia

Yes I know this blog is a 70's blog but I couldn't resist including this vintage bit of Beatles memorabilia! It's a Beatles towel described like this:-

"Rare original vintage Beatles fab four unused Irish linen tea towel 1964
Superb vintage piece of fab four sixties ephemera!
The Beatles images have adorned everything from mugs and plates to toys, thermos flasks to beauty products and most things inbetween!
Here is a great item for any enthusiastic Beatles collector - an original irish linen tea towel featuring John, Paul, George and Ringo circa 1964.
Printed in black, claret and dusky pink on cream, this fab tea towel has a border of guitars and drums, and features printed signatures above the heads of each of the band.
Printed along the bottom "all pure linen, made in Ireland, Ulster, copyright, fast colours".

The seller is asking for £70.00, which may seem a bit steep for a bit of cloth but aah, this ain't any old bit of cloth. This is a bit of cloth with the mugshots of the Beatles on it, which makes all the difference, and mightily increases it's value! I remember when I was a fan of a pop group in the 70's, anything with their faces on I just had to have! It was the same with other fans, and fans of other pop groups or singers in the 60's and 70's - even in the 80's. A young girl's love for a pop group or star is such a powerful thing, it takes over every aspect of her life. She lives, eats, sleeps and dreams this boy band or singer and will buy anything she can get her hands on that has anything to do with them, if possible! And it is this phenomenom that makes the discovery or management of a young boy band or boy singer so lucrative. As long as the boy band or singer is popular and they still have hordes of teenage, (or pre-teen) obsessional (and very hormonal!) fans chasing after them anything featuring them will sell. Why else do talent scouts or managers continually hope to discover the latest boyband! As a source of money, what can rival them? (well of course there are some things but I can't think of them at the top of my head) Because like I said, once a young girl is in love with a boy band or singer she will buy virtually anything that features them - whether records, magazines, posters, badges, bags, watches and yes, even tea towels.

Once In a Lifetime Tour 2010 Gets Underway

Well it's that time again! Yes, time for the 'Once In A Lifetime' tour - that fabulous tour that celebrates the best of the 'boy bands' or 'boy singers' of the 70's! You know the ones, the ones that caused mayhem up and down the land and caused teenage (and pre-teens) to swoon at the very sight of them! The ones that caused young girls to collect their posters and put them up on their walls and run away from home to try to catch a glimpse of them! (ahh, young love eh) Well I went to a 'Once in a lifetime' concert again this year. Missed the tour last time so was determined to get there this time! And I believe sadly, it'll probably be my last time. Personally I believe the first 'OIAL' tour was far better than this year. It had all the excitment of everyone who grew up in the 70's being able to once again see some of the 70's groups and singers they'd loved (or even loathed) from that groovy and great era. The line-up back then was David Cassidy, David Essex, The Osmonds and The Bay City Rollers! Erm... actually, not the real BCR from the 70's, it was the lead singer and some other guys who probably weren't even born when the original Rollers were at the height of their fame so it's a little bit naughty to call them the Bay City Rollers. Even calling them the 'LM legendary BCR' doesn't sound right to me. Anyway, at that first tour there were loads of David Cassidy fans, many had on David Cassidy scarves, some had on DC badges. Then there were the Osmond fans with their Osmond scarves (their seemed to be far more Osmond merchandise than anyone elses!) many had Osmond T.shirts on, some had Osmond badges on, some Osmond necklaces on. Many brought the programme which sold for around £10. (ouch!) Actually, I can't really remember seeing that many Osmond badges, saw some rosettes but I think it was mainly Osmond scarves. And they wore them around their necks with pride. There was a pair of Osmond fans who were outside before the concert started. They looked absolutely great in their Osmond gear. I can't remember what they wore but it was bright coloured and they had hats on (kinda like cowboy hats, not the purple 'Donny' hat) along with Osmond badges and rossettes. I just wish I'd had the guts to ask if I could take a picture of them! Sights like those of loyal fans of pop groups or singers of the 60's or 70's are priceless, because they capture a time when society was much more innocent. In those days, every girl had her favourite BOY pop singer who she was in love with or BOY pop group who she was in love with and no girl was interested in girl groups and no one was obsessed with sexual perversion! It was called the 70's, when people were a little bit more normal! There were also plenty of David Essex fans milling around but the ones that stood out the most were the Bay City Roller fans, as usual! Many had on their Roller gear (or some of it) There were Roller fans with tartan scarves round their necks or round their wrists, Roller fans with Roller badges on or with tartan trimmed trousers, (some shortened others not) tartan trimmed shirts and stripey socks on and plenty of Bay City Roller badges. Oh, and 2 Roller fans came in matching outfits, both had on denim jackets with a Bay City Roller T. shirt on underneath (the original 70's one which many fans had in the 70's including me) BCR necklaces and home-made BCR badges on their jackets. Oh, and of course tartan scarves! Boy, the memories came flooding back I can tell you. So much tartan everywhere. It felt like we were back in the 70's. It was so great seeing so many loyal Roller fans who'd come to see the Rollers. (or Les' Mckeown's version of them anyway) and the other 70's groups/singers. It was good to see the loyal fans of all of the groups/singers actually, really good. The most unusual sight was a woman dressed in half Osmond gear and half Roller gear. Or was it half Os half DC? No, it was half Osmond gear and half BCR gear And though she looked good as all the fans who made an effort to dress up as fans did , she also looked very strange! It looked so weird. In the 70's, girls liked either or, not both! There may have been the odd exceptions of course, but it was unusual for any fan to like both the Osmonds AND The Bay City Rollers in the UK. So seeing that was kind of weird. Anyway, saw this post of 'The Liverpool Echo' giving the low-down on the Once In A Lifetime (Remember The 70's) concert in Liverpool. There was a line up change this year, Leo Sayer replacing David Cassidy. I would have loved David Cassidy to have been there again but Leo Sayer was very good so it was ok. It would have been great to have had all 5 of them actually. That would have been ideal. But like I said, Leo Sayer was surprisingly good - I really loved hearing 'moonlighting' again. What a great tune. It bought back tons of memories. And all good. Anyway, a great time was had by all. Who was the most popular on the night? Hard to tell, but the fans sportingly seemed to support all the artists, regardless of who their favourites in the 70's were. In the 70's their was bitter rivalry amongst fans, especially amongst the David Cassidy and Osmond fans. Actually I seem to remember Osmond fans hating Roller fans, and visa versa. (I think the former was probably due to jealousy!) But on the whole, on that night, old rivalries were forgotten and everyone had a great time. The atmosphere was electric - so exciting, so happy, full of laughter and joy. And we all soaked up that wonderful, happy atmosphere. It was an absolutely FABtastic night - pure 70's nostalgia!

Fiona Bruce's Vintage 70's Antiques Roadshow

To many, Fiona Bruce is a classy lady. When she reads the news or does any other type of broadcasting on telly, she just seems to be so cool, calm and collected. She's a successful woman and seems to have become one without losing any of her femininity. A little while ago I was quite surprised to find out I have something in common with her. Ms Bruce was a David Cassidy fan in the 70's! I was very surprised to learn that. I saw an interview with her where she spoke about how in the early 70s there was a pop rivalry between David Cassidy and the Osmonds. She said she was a fan of David Cassidy. She loved him! (like millions of girls all over the world) She had all his pics on her bedroom wall (so did I!) and did all the other 'fan' stuff I presume. The funniest part was when she desribed how, when watching the Osmonds on television, her and her family would have to turn the brightness down because of the Osmonds teeth. They were too bright! And even when the brightness was turned down all you could see were the Osmonds teeth! They were still there! Anyway, here in the UK, Ms Bruce is well-known as a newreader and presenter of Antiques Roadshow. But I've just found out that she has said that she would like to feature some vintage 70s stuff on the show. And that's another thing we have in common. A love of 70's things! She has lots of vintage 70's stuff which is so cool. I wish I'd kept my things I really do. This is what she had to say about it:- "1970s outfits, from bell-bottom flares to multi-coloured maxi-dresses, are deserving of a slot on the show. The idea of what is vintage or antique is so much more elastic now," she said. "At the moment, there's a massive trend for 1970s fashion. People are buying it to wear or just to collect. And they're paying big money." She spoke of her "love affair with second-hand clothes". 70's fashions are really growing in popularity over here. I don't know, maybe people are longing for a piece of that more innocent era. Or maybe they just like the styles. Perhaps a bit of both. But I for sure still love the 70's and some (not all) 70's fashions. Ms Bruce has her critics saying that she is 'dumbing down' the Antiques Roadshow. But I disagree. I and I'm pretty sure many others welcome the broadening of the understanding of the word 'antiques' and look forward to seeing those 70's vintage dresses on the show sometime in the future