GATESHEAD SAGE:
Me & the gulls breath clean before the world wakes, the hiss
of traffic crossing bridges, white wing, black wheel, the Nice.
Lone walkers skirt walls, hunched, pocket’s full of fists,
approach me suspicious, black wool pulled low to the eye.
Heavy stone on the other side, Newcastle memories cling to
staunch architecture, the pride of times. River Tyne,
liquid chocolate, stilled by the incoming tide, quite as bath water,
heavy as the industry that built this city, confident tit will
outlast us all, reassuring animal friend slips through the valley.
Cold morning, everybody wrapped & tight. Two lads in geezer-T’s,
unshaven fingers dipped into bags of salties, feed on the move,
images of back end G-strings, black & white across their chests,
stare down a chill wind, let you know exactly what they’re thinking.
Men chase woman. laughing, who collapse into tickled heaps on
pavements screaming, happy, red-faced, sunglass concealed in bottle
hair.
“Oh Jesus!”
Down on Wesley Square, along the re-invented waterfront.
(K)
Karl Hyde 
Like The Nice vid – Brian D was a good friend of mine (RIP) – miss him. And even more bizarrely, I jammed with Lee Jackson a few weeks back! – still going strong : )
Excellent gig at the Sage, truly awesome.
Since seeing The Nice link I’ve been thinking of Brian D, one of my best mates (RIP) – I miss him. Played with him loads – the art of drinking coffee, rolling one up and doing a double stroke roll on his kit was his party piece! He had a passion for cake too…bizarrely enough, I had a jam with Lee Jackson a few weeks ago too…he’s still going strong too. Emerson? Probably tangled in leads trying to negotiate that mammoth patch board!? At least they managed to bury the hatchet and get back together for a brief tour a few years before Brian died. Something that had plagued him for years after Emerson broke up The Nice to form ELP.
Anyway, all that aside, he was my best friend above all that ‘trip’ and let’s face it, there’s not many friends in life that get banned from The Albert Hall. : ) Hope the tours going well. Rob.