Attila says Firstly:
I am doing a marathon non-stop SPONSORED GIG in aid of Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s ‘ Keep the Albion Alive & Kicking Fund’ next Sunday (November 28th) at my local, the Evening Star in Surrey Street, Brighton, 2 minutes’ walk from Brighton Station.
http://www.eveningstarbrighton.co.uk
I’ll be doing all the material I have ever done, 24 years’ worth, and it will be great to see you at any time. It’s the first time I have ever done this....
THE SPONSORED GIG: Sun 28 November, Evening Star, Surrey Street, Brighton, http://www.eveningstarbrighton.co.uk
Starts: 12 noon – opening time.
Ends: 10.30pm – closing time.
It’s free to get in, but there will be a very large sponsorship bucket in attendance!
If you feel like sponsoring me you can do so by the hour or for the whole gig, either by replying to this email or turning up on the day. Sponsorship forms are also in the Albion Club Shop and the Evening Star. If you’re coming and you’re a fan of another club, wear your team colours!
The Dark Star Brewery, based at the Evening Star, have brewed a special 'Attila's 10 1/2 Hours' beer and are donating a large barrel of it so your beer money will go to the Albion too! (thanks Rob!)
In addition to hours of my stuff, from 1980 to 2004, there will be some special bits.
3-4 pm will be Albion Hour: all my Albion poems and songs, finishing of course with 'Goldstone Ghosts' (for the past) and 'Tom Hark' (for the future, see below)
4-5 pm will be REQUESTS. Anything considered, however unspeakable, as long as the Albion are well rewarded. Sliding scale. The worse the song, the more the pledge has to be. Currently leading in this section are Paul Samrah, who has put up £50 for me to do 'The Logical Song' by Supertramp, Richard Hebbard, Chief Security Officer at the Albion, £50 to do 'Mistletoe and Wine' by Cliff Richard, and £30 from Alan Wares to do “Hopelessly Devoted To You’ from ‘Grease’ (all of which I’ll be doing accompanied by my wife Robina on piano.!)
7-8pm I'll be doing some songs with various members of my band Barnstormer (hampered by the silly 2 in a bar rule but we'll get round it) including our Renaissance/medieval material.
8-9pm Selections from the work of some of my favourite poets (Hilaire Belloc, Roger McGough, Adrian Mitchell, JCC) and some weird cover versions of classic songs!
And all the way through, of course, hours of my own stuff, old and new. Hope to see you there!
More details of the Single by Seagull Ska below:
THE LYRICS
TOM HARK
(We Want Falmer!)
Intro:
‘Prescott, Prescott give us a ground!’
(recorded live by the massed ranks of Albion fans!!)
We Brighton fans are angry - we’ve been messed around
Since the ....... Archer sold the Goldstone Ground
We’re stuck in an athletics track we really hate
Like playing in Albania Division Eight!
The whole thing’s daft
We don’t know why
We have to laugh
Or else we’ll cry
Our ground’s too small
The costs too high
Without Falmer
Our club will die
For years the planning process has dragged on and on
A paralytic snail wouldn’t take that long
So listen Mr Prescott as we tell you how
We need our Falmer Stadium - we need it now!
The whole thing’s daft
We don’t know why
We have to laugh
Or else we’ll cry
Our ground’s too small
The costs too high
Without Falmer
Our club will die
(Instrumental)
We want Falmer
We need Falmer
We needFalmer
We want Falmer
Fade to end.
SEAGULLS SKA are:
M.M.McGhee - drums: David Beaken - bass: Dan Woods - guitar Ralph Brown - solo sax: Marlon Johnson - trombone: Tony Fish - trumpet: Alan Perry: sax Attila the Stockbroker - vocals, lyrics
Backing vocals by the Falmer For All Community Choir, Dave Cook and Too Many Crooks
Recorded at 811 Studio, Cowfold www.811studio.co.uk in November 2004. Engineered by Mikey Miller.
Produced by Attila and Mikey. Thanks to Robina Baine for transcribing and arranging ‘Sussex By The Sea’ for us!
www.seagulls.co.uk
www.clubsincrisis.com
THE EXPLANATION
In 1997 Brighton’s Goldstone Ground was sold by an opportunistic moneyman called Archer, who gained control of the majority shareholding in a cynical asset stripping operation.
We played our last game there on April 26 of that year. I, and many others, battled hard and long to get rid of Archer and his cronies and install a board who loved the club. We eventually succeeded, with Dick Knight, who is a true fan and a great chairman, taking the helm, but our ground had gone.
For 2 years we played ‘home’ matches at Gillingham, 70 miles away: it was at that point that I became PA announcer and DJ, to try and bring a sense of ‘home’ to the dedicated fans who would travel 140 miles to watch a very poor side, with no money, at the bottom of the whole League.
Huge pressure from thousands of fans forced the local council to find us a temporary home in Brighton, at an athletics stadium, Withdean, in the leafy suburbs of our city. It has a capacity of 7,000. We’ve been there for the last 5 years. It’s nowhere near big enough.
Every week, the club loses money. Years ago we made a planning application for a new stadium near Brighton University at Falmer, the only feasible place in this crowded area – bounded, remember, by the sea and the Downs – with overwhelming support from the local community, 66% supporting us in a referendum on the issue.
But pressure from local residents meant it was called in for a public enquiry and the planning process has dragged on, and on, and on, costing the club over £2 million while we struggle on in a ridiculously small stadium, losing money every week.
We suspect that the local NIMBYs are just trying to delay things until the club goes bust. Desperate for funds, we have launched the ‘Keep the Albion Alive & Kicking Campaign’ where fans donate/raise money to keep the club afloat. The final part of the planning enquiry starts in February, after which there must be a decision – that’s why we are putting out the single in January, to gain maximum publicity.
Please support us!
Attila
I am doing a marathon non-stop SPONSORED GIG in aid of Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s ‘ Keep the Albion Alive & Kicking Fund’ next Sunday (November 28th) at my local, the Evening Star in Surrey Street, Brighton, 2 minutes’ walk from Brighton Station.
http://www.eveningstarbrighton.co.uk
I’ll be doing all the material I have ever done, 24 years’ worth, and it will be great to see you at any time. It’s the first time I have ever done this....
THE SPONSORED GIG: Sun 28 November, Evening Star, Surrey Street, Brighton, http://www.eveningstarbrighton.co.uk
Starts: 12 noon – opening time.
Ends: 10.30pm – closing time.
It’s free to get in, but there will be a very large sponsorship bucket in attendance!
If you feel like sponsoring me you can do so by the hour or for the whole gig, either by replying to this email or turning up on the day. Sponsorship forms are also in the Albion Club Shop and the Evening Star. If you’re coming and you’re a fan of another club, wear your team colours!
The Dark Star Brewery, based at the Evening Star, have brewed a special 'Attila's 10 1/2 Hours' beer and are donating a large barrel of it so your beer money will go to the Albion too! (thanks Rob!)
In addition to hours of my stuff, from 1980 to 2004, there will be some special bits.
3-4 pm will be Albion Hour: all my Albion poems and songs, finishing of course with 'Goldstone Ghosts' (for the past) and 'Tom Hark' (for the future, see below)
4-5 pm will be REQUESTS. Anything considered, however unspeakable, as long as the Albion are well rewarded. Sliding scale. The worse the song, the more the pledge has to be. Currently leading in this section are Paul Samrah, who has put up £50 for me to do 'The Logical Song' by Supertramp, Richard Hebbard, Chief Security Officer at the Albion, £50 to do 'Mistletoe and Wine' by Cliff Richard, and £30 from Alan Wares to do “Hopelessly Devoted To You’ from ‘Grease’ (all of which I’ll be doing accompanied by my wife Robina on piano.!)
7-8pm I'll be doing some songs with various members of my band Barnstormer (hampered by the silly 2 in a bar rule but we'll get round it) including our Renaissance/medieval material.
8-9pm Selections from the work of some of my favourite poets (Hilaire Belloc, Roger McGough, Adrian Mitchell, JCC) and some weird cover versions of classic songs!
And all the way through, of course, hours of my own stuff, old and new. Hope to see you there!
More details of the Single by Seagull Ska below:
THE LYRICS
TOM HARK
(We Want Falmer!)
Intro:
‘Prescott, Prescott give us a ground!’
(recorded live by the massed ranks of Albion fans!!)
We Brighton fans are angry - we’ve been messed around
Since the ....... Archer sold the Goldstone Ground
We’re stuck in an athletics track we really hate
Like playing in Albania Division Eight!
The whole thing’s daft
We don’t know why
We have to laugh
Or else we’ll cry
Our ground’s too small
The costs too high
Without Falmer
Our club will die
For years the planning process has dragged on and on
A paralytic snail wouldn’t take that long
So listen Mr Prescott as we tell you how
We need our Falmer Stadium - we need it now!
The whole thing’s daft
We don’t know why
We have to laugh
Or else we’ll cry
Our ground’s too small
The costs too high
Without Falmer
Our club will die
(Instrumental)
We want Falmer
We need Falmer
We needFalmer
We want Falmer
Fade to end.
SEAGULLS SKA are:
M.M.McGhee - drums: David Beaken - bass: Dan Woods - guitar Ralph Brown - solo sax: Marlon Johnson - trombone: Tony Fish - trumpet: Alan Perry: sax Attila the Stockbroker - vocals, lyrics
Backing vocals by the Falmer For All Community Choir, Dave Cook and Too Many Crooks
Recorded at 811 Studio, Cowfold www.811studio.co.uk in November 2004. Engineered by Mikey Miller.
Produced by Attila and Mikey. Thanks to Robina Baine for transcribing and arranging ‘Sussex By The Sea’ for us!
www.seagulls.co.uk
www.clubsincrisis.com
THE EXPLANATION
In 1997 Brighton’s Goldstone Ground was sold by an opportunistic moneyman called Archer, who gained control of the majority shareholding in a cynical asset stripping operation.
We played our last game there on April 26 of that year. I, and many others, battled hard and long to get rid of Archer and his cronies and install a board who loved the club. We eventually succeeded, with Dick Knight, who is a true fan and a great chairman, taking the helm, but our ground had gone.
For 2 years we played ‘home’ matches at Gillingham, 70 miles away: it was at that point that I became PA announcer and DJ, to try and bring a sense of ‘home’ to the dedicated fans who would travel 140 miles to watch a very poor side, with no money, at the bottom of the whole League.
Huge pressure from thousands of fans forced the local council to find us a temporary home in Brighton, at an athletics stadium, Withdean, in the leafy suburbs of our city. It has a capacity of 7,000. We’ve been there for the last 5 years. It’s nowhere near big enough.
Every week, the club loses money. Years ago we made a planning application for a new stadium near Brighton University at Falmer, the only feasible place in this crowded area – bounded, remember, by the sea and the Downs – with overwhelming support from the local community, 66% supporting us in a referendum on the issue.
But pressure from local residents meant it was called in for a public enquiry and the planning process has dragged on, and on, and on, costing the club over £2 million while we struggle on in a ridiculously small stadium, losing money every week.
We suspect that the local NIMBYs are just trying to delay things until the club goes bust. Desperate for funds, we have launched the ‘Keep the Albion Alive & Kicking Campaign’ where fans donate/raise money to keep the club afloat. The final part of the planning enquiry starts in February, after which there must be a decision – that’s why we are putting out the single in January, to gain maximum publicity.
Please support us!
Attila