A '12 Days' Wrap Party
and an alternative King's Speech!
I’m not expecting a rush of openings of this post today, you may well be otherwise engaged, but thought I would pre-schedule a quick Boxing Day summary of the early results from our marathon pre-festivities ‘maverick mix’. Thanks to everybody who joined in with your suggestions and comments.
Here is a quick league table, as it stands, of the number of ‘openings’ each ‘maverick nomination’ post has received so far. This is more than a tadge unfair on those nominees from recent days, so I will update you with a final version in the New Year.
Joey Ramone - 138
Johnny Cash - 135
Grandmaster Flash (or more properly Duke Bootee & Melle Mel) - 132
Jona Lewie - 132
Frank Zappa - 118
Sebastian Murphy - 118
Stephen Jones - 116
David Byrne & Arthur Russell - 108
ANONHI - 105
Ian Curtis - 101
John Otway - 98
Peter Boam - 72
It’s all still to play for then at the head of the Maverick Stakes, as we enter the finishing straight. Probably best not to run a doping test afterwards though!
And, for a bit of a singalong with your leftover turkey sandwiches (or vegan option!), here is a final re-run of the full ‘12 Days’ playlist. We ended up with some strange, but interesting, bedfellows!
It would be remiss of me though not to leave you with a few words from our sponsor:
“I’ve loved this process and would like to take the opportunity to thank all the ‘Challenge 69’ readers for their input (as well, of course, as my parents, agent, and everybody who knows me!)
I’m speaking to you ‘live’ from the ‘Merry Mavericking’ Christmas party, which is taking place (in my head I’ll concede) right now. I can see all our new members have gathered.
I can hear Peter Boam regaling John Otway with stories about Jarvis Cocker, and the fifteen years it took Pulp to become famous. “That’s nothing,” John has just replied, sounding for all the world like something straight out of a Python sketch.
ANONHI and Joey Ramone meanwhile, are busy discussing ‘60s girl groups, and their mutual love of the ‘Wall of Sound’. Don’t know if anything will come of it, but there’s surely an offbeat duet in the offing there we would all love to hear.
In a separate corner, Stephen Jones and Ian Curtis seem to have got their heads together in earnest and, unsurprisingly, intense conversation. Not sure if this is a songwriting forum, but if so we can certainly look forward to some real upbeat pop bangers!
David Byrne is introducing Arthur Williams to Jona Lewie, who is probably just pleased to get away from all the people who keep asking him, “what are you doing here?” It’s too late to make this years seasonal market, but maybe next year we might get a collaborative ‘Stop the Cavalry ‘23’ reissue, remixed by Byrne, with added cello.
Away in the Maverick Club’s darkest recess (and believe me that’s a very dark place!) there seems to be a surreptitious gathering. My eyesight’s not what it was (and they are all dressed in black), but I think I can see Sebastian Murphy, Frank Zappa, and Johnny Cash deep in discussion. Now, they might simply be swapping tips on the best way to cook your turkey, but the smart money would surely be on something far less innocent. In the ‘Maverick Club’ it’s sometimes best to look the other way!
And even if I do overhear anything that I shouldn’t, as the always perceptive Terry Hall once said, “our lips are sealed.”
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It’s been fun, and a few ‘C69’ readers have been asking whether we might play the ‘nomination game’ again sometime? Maybe for Easter, to keep the religious festival link going? (Q: Was Jesus/Buddha/Muhammad a maverick? Delete as appropriate and discuss.)
Well first I’m going to need a rest, all that daily posting and opining was knackering, but perhaps we could open up the Club’s doors again sometime. New ‘musical mavericks’ are a bit thin on the ground these days though (which is the sort of thing old people always say!), so I have been wondering if it might be interesting to extend our membership criteria, to include life’s wider maverick masses. What do you think?
Back to the ‘story’ tomorrow, bye for now.