The Importance of Small Things 

I’m tired of the grand gestures.
The overblown bows in front of an invisible crowd
The forgettable pomp and unnecessary circumstance
The people-pleasing patinas on public faces.

I’m tired of political windbags blowing a gale
The Lèse-majesté torpor and the majestic mistakes
The talking up themselves
And the clown princes offering their ring.

I’m tired of the bank holidays
withdrawn when we’re defeated
the invitations to the palace
for people who already have keys.

I’m tired of the big affairs, the current divorces
The Sturm and the Drang
And the Oxbridge classical references that go klang.

I’m tired of the entitlement, ennoblement and grubby entertainment
The front page screws
The big government, the little government
And the grubby lairs of local government.

I’m tired of trying to stop an entire planet
reversing into a wall
The G8 elbow bumps, the smart road gyratory of nations
and the gestures that are just gesticulations.

I’m tired of owning a pandemic that is bigger than anyone else’s
The contagious 4x4 in the driveway
The rapidly spreading girth of the top half of the nation
The lack of an apology or an explanation.

I’m tired of knowing that our ills are so big
that no one person can own them.

So I stop trying to defibrillate the day’s events
And walk into the glades of the future
Where the small things are.


Roy Stannard 17th July 2021

Poetry

The Importance of Small Things (final)

My 33rd
 
by Martyna Kielek

Why should I be ashamed of age 
When it offered me so very much 
Too many gifts I can't afford
The thirst for knowledge 
Served in bottomless goblets
Drunk in hasty bitter gulps 
The shameful longing 
For every place I was not wanted 
Among their furtive glances 
And their fingers pointed at me
And their whispers nibbling at my toes 
The Acceptance and the Fight
Waltzing, brawling, sleeping
Always together, skin to skin
Fur to fur, like mama's kittens 
Still not ready to let me go 
For all the things, good and scary 
The harsh truths I broke my tooth on
And the soft lies that devoured me 
I'll write a love letter to life.

My 33rd

Dancing like Nobby Stiles

Sometimes it’s good to be undignified..

I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember this? In 1966 England managed to lose and win the World Cup in the same year. Before the tournament, while on display at a stamp exhibition in Westminster Central Hall in London, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from under the guards’ noses.
During their noon patrol, the guards found the rear doors of the building forced open and the display cabinet broken into. The trophy, which had been awarded to World Cup winners since 1930, had been nicked.

Three days later, the Football Association received a ransom note. An undercover police officer took fake money to an arranged spot and met Edward Bletchley, a petty thief. He was arrested, but didn’t have the cup, insisting he was only a middleman. The thief was never found but Pickles, the dog who found it was turned into a national hero, even invited to the celebrations after England won the World Cup.
 
His owner David Corbett shared in this celebrity and allegedly danced down the road with joy – in a manner similar to Nobby Stiles at the end of the final. Dignified no. Victorious, yes..
We hate to lose things. Football matches, world cups, or the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was Israel’s holiest artefact, lost in a humiliating battlefield defeat to the Philistines. Why? Because David’s predecessor as king, Saul, had lost his relationship with God and was turning to snake oil salesmen and tarot card readers.

The Philistines went on a kind of celebration tour of the country to show off their prize. But instead of excited crowds lining the streets, there was death and destruction. God objected to being taken on a victory tour by unqualified people who couldn’t even dance.

The Philistines realised that they had taken a poisoned chalice, sent it back to Israel and parked it in a field. David, who had spent years on a campaign to reclaim the Ark, was delighted. He could just send a cart with some hardy mules and collect it. The trouble was that God didn’t like Reliant Robin-style transport and killed one of David’s top men as he was leading the wagon. 

Dancing David, who had been made to look like a fool, got angry and told his men to take the Ark to the house of the Levite Obed-Edom. David had done his research and discovered that only Levites were allowed to carry the Ark. The Ark spent 3 months with Obed-Edom during which time his house was blessed to the level of a FIFA expense account. 

Properly packaged and with Levites in control of the logistics, the Ark moved in a stately manner into Jerusalem. Unable to contain himself, David body-popped like a dervish, Dad-dancing in front of the Ark.  His wife Michal remarked dryly that it wasn’t very dignified for a king to dance like a wild-eyed, teeth-missing former undertaker.

David answered like this: "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes...." (II Samuel 6:22)
When it comes to our relationship with God, the best thing we can do is not gain status, but lose our inhibitions.

David was a King, but he was also a dancer and a musician; he wrote Psalms and made loads of mistakes – and yet God blessed him
So what is the difference between the slightly embarrassing Nobby Stiles and the uber cool German Captain Uwe Seeler? Uwe lost the cup and most of his hair. And Nobby won the World Cup – the one that was lost and then found..

As convention-free people, we are proud to be undignified because we get the Ark over the line.

Roy Stannard 13.2.22
A piece written for Alex Strangeways-Booth for the BBC. Thanks to: 
Passion ft Chris Tomlin - God's Great Dancefloor (Reyer remix) and David Crowder Band - Undignified (writer Matt Redman)

Talks

Dancing like Nobby Stiles Talk

Marlo - Time Will Tell On Roy Stannard 'The Whole Nine Yards Burgess Hill Radio 103.8FM 27..2.22

A special tribute to Shirley Melvin on her 70th 4.7.22

Shirley Happy Birthday

Keith Hayes is 84. He has Parkinson's. He isn't defeated or angry about. He's a great writer so he wrote about it. I was privileged to read it.

Roy reading Keith Hayes - Falling in Love with Parkinson's

I first heard Terry Carvey performing this track in a back street bar in Worthing, West Sussex. It was a 'no mic' night and everything was pared back, unadorned and raw. Terry had written 'Sunshine Follows You' for his wife Sally and it was written with love and affection, but lacked an arrangement, and Terry had yet to produce a full instrumental context for the song. However, I could hear a great melody and memorable lyrics through the chatter, banter and room echo.

I suggested immediately to Terry that he get together with a producer friend of mine, Owen Vyse, who is no mean R'nB performer in his own right. Owen added lead, rhythm, bass, drums and keys and magically realised the full soul glory of this song. It exudes Isleys, Bell Records, Stax, Sam Cooke and a touch of Paul Weller.

It could be the song of the Summer. Who is going to get to it first?

Terry Carvey - Sunshine Follows You Final Final Mix

Willow Catley and Karl Stevenson make their radio debut as Black Rose on the Terry Carvey Soul Special on Roy Stannard's 'The Whole Nine Yards' on Thursday 12th July 2018 playing Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colours' live in the studio.

The whole show can be heard at www.mixcloud.com/roystannard

Live

True Colours (live at Seahaven) by Black Rose

Fred Brownell - brother of Sheila Elgie who lives in Burgess Hill, designed many coats of arms, badges and flags, including the arms and the flag of Namibia in 1990. In 1993/1994, he designed the current South African flag, with a three-armed converging cross of the sort called a pall in heraldry, to symbolise the convergence of different cultures into one for the future South Africa. He later designed arms for the new provincial governments in South Africa. He was awarded the Order for Meritorious Service by President Nelson Mandela in 1999 for his role in the design of the South African flag and the Vexillon Award for excellence in the promotion of vexillology in 1995 and 2015, the only recipient to have won it twice. He has also published many articles and several books on heraldry and flags. He has also been involved in the field of honours and awards.
Shortly after his retirement Brownell and his wife moved to the Newlands Park retirement home, south east of Pretoria. He continued to be an active member of the Southern African Vexillological Association and completed the SAVA Journal series on South African Military Colours (1664 to 26 April 1994). Furthermore, in September 2015 he was awarded the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy (D.Phil) in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria for a dissertation entitled Convergence and Unification: The National Flag of South Africa (1994) in Historical Perspective, based on the process of, and his role in, the designing the current South African flag.

Early in 2019 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died at his home surrounded by his family on 10 May 2019. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sheila his sister and brother Robin.

Following his role as Mandela in 2013's Long Walk to Freedom, Golden Globe winner Idris Elba curated and produced this album that showcases the best in South Africa's unsung talent. Mixing both British and South African artists, mi Mandella includes collaborations with Mercury Prize-winner James Blake and co-producer Mr. Hudson. Mumford & Sons, who this year wrote the soundtrack to Inside Llewyn Davis, contributed their writing skills to the song 'Home. Dedicating the album to Mandela, who died on the December 5 2013 and his late father Winston, Elba recorded the album at Jazzworks Studio in Johannesburg. Already an established DJ, he has produced and recorded tracks since 2001, with mi Mandella being his latest effort to promote previously undiscovered artists.

Broadcast by Roy Stannard on Burgess Hill Radio 103.8  5.5.19 www.burgesshillradio.co.uk www.mixcloud.com/roystannard

Idris Elba – Hold On (Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela 2014) - Fred Brownell Tribute

Always, my friend

The warm muffler of friendship
The kind you put on
Without thinking 
before going out into the cold air 
of mere acquaintance
the scent of many walks, many talks
The Swallows and Amazons hide-out
Safe from stalkers
Camouflaged from the inquisitive
 A place for after the apocalypse
The tenderness amongst the elements
The uncrazy point in the kaleidoscope
Where nothing changes except the seasons
And a word given is never ungiven
Where there is nothing unforgiven
That special seat in your favourite bar
The thoughts
who know who you are
The words that don’t need to be spoken
Because there are no cracks in the pavement
No promises broken
No potholes in the road
The one-eyed teddy
The veteran of childhood
The record with your past scratched into it
The tree house safe from the for-sale sign
The car that always starts
And drives without question
Even after the crash
The arm on the shoulder
When the shoulder is shaking
Time given
Rather than taken.
This is the nest without cuckoos
The place of rest
The church door that is never closed
A friendship that is never tested
Because there is no cross examination.
Where the beginning
Is also the end.
Always, my friend.


Words and voice by Roy Stannard  1.2.20  Music by Matt Staples - One and Only (c)

Always, my Friend

Hassocks based singer songwriter Jez Gates used to be a member of post punk new wave band The Derelicts. In a vain attempt to get them to reform I invited them on my Seahaven FM show several times to play some of their old tracks.

Main songwriter Jez Gates has now produced his first solo album 'The Boy Who Found a Fossil' available via Spotify, iTunes, Amazon etc and my colleague at Burgess Hill Radio Lee Everest was kind enough to interview Jez (remotely) a couple of days ago and the interview and the song went out on Wednesday 1st April 20.  Lee will repeat the interview next Monday 6th April at 11am on Hailsham FM.

I you are a radio presenter or station message me with contact details on how to get the track and playlist it. ('A listed' on BHR)

Lee Everest And Jez Gates Interview On Burgess Hill Radio 1.4.20 8.30am

The Godfather

Twenty-one years ago
Your parents made you.
Forty-eight years ago
Coppola made The Godfather
So I had twenty-seven years to prepare for the role
Of Don Corleone.

Chewing on words like a hamster
In a church where promises have been passed like wafers
down the generations
Then I saw this unformed baby boy
Full of promise amongst the promises made.

And I stood like the method mobster Lenny Montana
next to the master illusionist Brando
and badda-bing the deed was done
and we were bade to sing like the angels
or sleep with the fishes
But in the church of Corleone
the Don commandments still resonate

A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man
Great men are not born great, they grow great
Don't raise your voice - Improve your argument
Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment
Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty
Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult
Never let anyone know what you are thinking
Forgive. Forget. Life is full of misfortunes.

And most of all
When the world serves you sour grapes, bitter juices and lemons
Drop the gun. Take the cannoli..


For Jack on his 21st Birthday 10.1.21
Roy Stannard
2.1.21

The Godfather

I’m someone who doesn’t like parameters, barriers or fences. I’ll try and climb over them, burrow under them or just pretend they don’t exist – until they don’t. Sometimes I’ll write about the mind in a poetic way, or poetry with neural undertones, or I’ll proselytise endlessly about my favourite new band – or one of the old ones. My Blog (www.roystannard.wordpress.com) will give you the keys to the kingdom. A kingdom with no borders, no expectations and, therefore, no failure..

Because I am endlessly curious in people, their motivation, their behaviour and their quest for knowledge, I am working in a thriving Brighton ad agency that involves itself in a plethora of fun and games. We are called Zerofiftyone.

Nobody in advertising works, but we do play very seriously.
Sometimes as I stare out towards the English Channel I know that a great many activities would not have come into being if they hadn’t assembled quietly in my head first.

I can be reached at Zerofiftyone -  44 (0)1273 587446 roy@zerofiftyone.com / www.zerofiftyone.co.uk if some thoughts have started gathering in your head too. If those thoughts are even more baby-like, then text this number 07803 269154. I’ll call you.


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