In 2004, on tour, Mr Rod Stewart performed a duet singing this same song with one Amy Belle a Glaswegian busker “discovered” by a friend of his and whisked off to London to perform with him at the Royal Albert Hall.
His performance was, as ever, that which made him famous; as far as Ted is concerned she has a powerful voice worthy of going on to greater things but whatever happened to her after that – who knows? Was she too much like a younger, sexier, female, less raspy Rod? (Nice sax too)

Rod Stewart & Amy Belle perform “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”

Click on picture for opening titles

The Old Grey Whistle Test was a pioneering BBC2 television show which ran from 1971 to 1987. I had been known to watch it on occasion and so perhaps it influenced my taste in music. Certainly it seemed rather rebellious at the time, listening to music recommended by the likes of “Whispering” Bob Harris and Annie Nightingale, when neither of the adults in the house approved of the “genre” (any genre it seemed to me) That being the extent of my rebellion I lived to tell this tale …

… and lived a long time apparently as I find to my horror that Emmylou Harris is 65 years old today! I guess when I look at YouTube videos I should remember what I saw in the mirror this morning and then I won’t be so surprised that Emmylou, myself, and a bunch of other young people don’t actually fit that description anymore!
“Whispering Bob” has a year on EH (66 in a few days), Annie is 70 (yesterday), and I’m really not that far behind them all – such is life.

So, just to be clear, I am still 24 years old in my head if not in reality and here is a link to a 1977 edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test featuring a 30 year old Emmylou Harris so you young ‘uns can see where I live (mentally, mostly, much of the time): Tulsa Queen 

BTW I never embraced the sartorial abominations of the era so it’s only slightly sad, not totally embarrassing, for my children to look into their fathers’ past

What? Who? Where?

A family of 3 at least

Austin Street, Rockport, TX

Mrs Ted’s van was in need of new tires and so I had ordered them from the local tire shop and arranged to take the vehicle in to them on Saturday morning. Since no-one in our household is particularly keen on being up early on Saturday mornings I determined to “do stuff” in Rockport on my own for a change.

Compass Rose Park, Rockport TX

The plan, which needless to say had to be altered in real time, was to go to the barber at 7:30am, deliver the van at 8am, cycle to Main Street Art and Deli for breakfast and then head for the beach park on the bike until telephoned to collect the van.

Well the barber doesn’t open until 9am on Saturdays so I took some pictures on Austin Street and generally pottered around until 8am when I dropped the van at the tire shop and cycled off to breakfast. Didn’t run into anyone I knew there, which is a bit unusual, but nevertheless I refueled on bacon, eggs, rye toast and coffee before setting off to the barber for my “delayed” haircut.

Cross country where there be dogs

Post barber, instead of the beach park, I headed for the other side of town to attend to some personal chores which are difficult to deal with given the less than flexible approach to time management that some folks exhibit in the Sparking City by the Sea but we wont go there today! After visits to the local pharmacy and bank I intended to visit the beach park but the phone rang and it was time to collect the van. So off I went, heading for Market Street, cross country where I encountered a Chihuahua, a Poodle cross, and a Pitbull-esque creature all of whom thought they would impress me with their Cujo impersonations. Fear not the barking dog, just keep cycling. The dangerous dog is the one you find out has been chasing you when you feel his vice like grip on your ankle!

Pretty (expensive)

Returning to the comfortable confines of our newly shod Mercury van I phoned home and took orders for breakfast from the Ted clan. (it was now 10:30am so really I was tempted to ask for lunch orders) Anyway breakfast was delivered and I thought, before taking a shower, it would be a good time to mow the yard.

That was my Saturday morning.

By 11:30am Little Ted had started his weekend mantra of “what are we going to do today” and would not be put off by the suggestion that I had been doing it since 7am. He was keen to cycle to the beach park and so, with the slight change to his plan of waiting until after lunchtime, I agreed and off we went cycling again.

Rockport Beach Park

Having reached the beach park where, it being Spring Break, you could not move for people and vehicles Little Ted could not pass the Sno Cone van without stopping. Even there, or perhaps especially there, the queues of people were very large and it took a long time to get his sno cone of choice – Wedding Cake flavor.

Sno Cone Queue

We were lucky there because the sno cone guy had to shut down for 20 minutes just after we were served to make up a new batch of flavors as he had been so busy he ran out. Heading home Little Ted said he had spotted a shop he wanted to look in and it was, he said, on the way home. He thought he had seen a skateboard shop but it turned out to be  water sports. He did enjoy looking at the wakeboards and flotation devices and, surprisingly, seemed to actually appreciate exactly how expensive such items are to buy.

A good day indeed and I managed to clock up 14 cycling miles so hopefully I have lost a few pounds in weight as well as a few dollars in new tire expenses.

Picture taken after the danger subsided

Usually I find that female drivers are more courteous, careful, and caring than their male counterparts. However the lady in the white truck clearly has no idea how fast traffic doing 70 mph makes its’ approach (hint: it would be at 70 mph, or 102 feet every second Lady!) What she was thinking I do not know but she entered the two lane highway from the right in front of 2 vehicles approaching side by side at 70 mph and pulled into the left lane thus causing an uncomfortable moment for all of us. Then, as we slid into single file in the right lane she merrily drove along in the left lane at considerably less than 70 mph. Looking in my mirror I saw her lose her front tire off the highway and perform a wobbly correction. She was either on drugs or the phone. Continuing along the highway she maintained a slower speed behind us until, critically, we came to the on ramp from 188 when she sped up to pass me and stick alongside the vehicle in front of me thus blocking it from moving left to let merging traffic join the highway. So close to a four car pileup and yet somehow I feel she did not notice. Next she sped up again and wobbled between lanes before exiting at Pearl Street without stopping at the stop sign. At that point she lost me, thank goodness. Given that I’m still alive I shall call it the end to a perfect day. Rant over.

The “darker” photos are from the journey to work Wednesday morning. There was rain in Rockport as I left but it wasn’t until approaching Gregory that the sky started to look ominous. In Portland I was greeted with a flash of lightning and accompanying thunder clap. On the causeway you could hardly see for driving rain and by the time I got onto the bridge the traffic was doing 15mph.

Eddie helps to distribute the pizza

However, even although she was bribed to help her Daddy, she was in fact very helpful and carried the garland and bows to each lamppost and then wrapped the garland around each pole as I returned to firm ground to secure the bottom end of the garland with a zip tie. We decorated two streets this way and also managed to visit with other groups of volunteers to record their efforts in photographs and video. Click the icon for a link to the Youtube video we made of the event. After everyone was finished we returned to the House of Rock on Starr Street for a pizza and soda lunch.

Eddie in toy mode

Eddie in teenage mode

No sooner had the pizza and soda been consumed but I was reminded of the price my daughter’s help commanded and so it was off to La Palmera Mall where Eddie had very specific ideas about which shops we were going to visit. Picking up a directory on the way in I was impressed with my little girl’s navigation of the mall utilising the map. It was a confusing time for me as I was led from store to store first looking at 10 year old toy like things then moving on to clothing and jewelry type stuff more toward the 16 year old spectrum (I imagine – what would I know,

Eddie standing on "Mr Fishy"

I’m just the Daddy) Eddie purchased a stuffed toy (category 1 I suspect) and appeared to be very keen to remain within sight of her Daddy. Then she disappeared amongst the jewelry and seemed quite content to not know where I had gone. (For the avoidance of my dear wife’s doubt – I always knew the whereabouts of our daughter!) Eddie was determined to purchase earrings and took much time selecting a pair of little yellow ducks; sadly I felt the need of telephone consultation with Mommy who delivered the sad news that Eddie’s choice was not of suitable quality. It’s an allergy thing, we know from past experience that if Eddie wears anything “cheap” she will suffer an allergic reaction and so precious metal is the way to go. Thinking to avoid disappointment I heard myself say “Never mind Pet, I’ll take you to the Treehouse Art Collective on the way home”. And so it was to be that we visited the Treehouse, Eddie bought two pairs of suitable earrings, and she got to visit with Mr Fishy again (the 10 year old coming out again I guess).

And so the denouement of our Daddy / daughter day drew to a close. We headed home via Aransas Pass to collect Little Ted who had been staying with a friend overnight. When we picked him up he was full of horse riding stories the likes of which he might wish to moderate prior to enthusing to his mother – just saying.

Little Ted with "the attached bike"

On Sunday Little Ted volunteered to get started with our training for the 2012 Conquer the Coast bicycle event. I thought he had forgotten all about it or simply didn’t want to take part. However, like the proverbial elephant, Little Ted has a) remembered and b) decided to eat the task one bite at a time – starting today! Of course there was a catch. He also remembered that, when suggesting that an eight year old cycle 65 miles with me, I had told him we would use “the attached bike”. When he is 9 going on 10 he will be much bigger and heavier and therefore, in my opinion, able to use his own bike. This is not his view at all.

Little Ted and Ted

Anyway I am grateful for anything he is happy to do with his Daddy and so we put the bike together and set off to the local park to begin our training with a 6.5 mile cycle. I’m thinking he has his sights set on the time trial stage of Conquer the Coast (dream on mate!) as he was obsessed with reaching 21mph in the park. I have told him that I once reached 42mph going downhill from Scotland into England and so he decided 21 mph would be a fair target for us (for us read the Daddy engine) to reach on a flat course. We did achieve that speed and Little Ted went to sleep early and exhausted. (Still not sure quite how he comes to be the exhausted one!)

Here is a YouTube video  slideshow of our day.

What was I thinking – ils sont francais!

Given the life she has led I think that, all things considered, she is still an amazing personality. Many folks her age look worse and sound as they look. At 62 (2009) she still gets my vote. Actually she now looks a bit like one of my neighbors and that is scary weird.