Hold tight
Another Friday, another (yep, you’ve guessed it) classic Gillan video clip. This time it’s On the Rocks off the Rock Goes to College from February 23, 1981.
Thanks to Steve for his continuing vigilance.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse2.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey2.jpg)
Another Friday, another (yep, you’ve guessed it) classic Gillan video clip. This time it’s On the Rocks off the Rock Goes to College from February 23, 1981.
Thanks to Steve for his continuing vigilance.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It is MAGNIFICENT! – really no more to say 😍
Oh yes, maybe this: WHAT. A. VOICE 🤩
July 5th, 2025 at 11:12With his amazing catalogue of catchy songs, you do scratch your head with this choice of song in the set list.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:59Peace ✌️
Uwe would like to unequivocally state that this is – for once – a GILLAN song where he has nothing to complain about. Proper music. Once you were proud to be man, you‘d carry out your own tiny part of the plan …
Unless I can still think of something.
July 5th, 2025 at 14:21This song well represents how bastard Gillan’s sound was:
July 5th, 2025 at 17:16an underlying drone of NWOBHM, something punk and then the keyboards and Gillan’s voice that prevent excessive trespassing into the two genres mentioned above,(although little or nothing in this song),
all this topped off with an incredible technical ability for such a “dirty” band.
wild and refined at the same time.
So we have a little bickering over the Spinal Tap /Black Sabbath Stonehenge setup? However more seriously than that, just what are Tony, Bev and Big Ian up to behind this shirt or jacket. Geezer finds it all very amusing while he isn’t partaking at all. Cheers.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/this-is-spinal-tap-director-insists-stonehenge-scene-was-not-inspired-by-black-sabbaths-stage-prop-blunder
July 6th, 2025 at 03:30I don’t remember this story at all. It seems Blackmore and Bonham enjoyed taking the piss out of each other, literally. Cheers.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/ritchie-blackmore-deep-purple-thought-of-john-bonham-led-zeppelin
July 6th, 2025 at 03:39But Adel, for dramatic impact, this is one of the best GILLAN songs ever!
July 6th, 2025 at 05:56Mac
July 6th, 2025 at 19:36There’s quite a lot of good stuff about Bonzo in Colin Harts book …it does indeed appear like Blackers and Bonham were good mates !
There’s a story about Bonzo coming over to Blackmores place ” pissed ” and insisting they take led Zep off the record player …and put ” Man on the silver mountain ” on ….apparently Ritchie was quite concerned about his guests being upset by Bonzos drunken antics !
@ 8 – thanks Steve for that information. Yes indeed Bonham liked the drink too much unfortunately. Another one destined for a quick exit. A shame it was when he passed but many were not surprised, including myself. Same with Keith Moon. Cheers.
July 7th, 2025 at 03:39I’ve read about Ritchie’s lighthearted banter with Bonzo about “who stole what where better” before. Ritchie also liked Bonham’s drumming style, in a late 70s interview he called him Zep’s greatest asset. (And I guess that Ritchie’s choice of Cozy Powell as Rainbow’s drummer showed too that he didn’t rate Ian Paice’s more fluid style the be- and end-all of all things rock drumming.)
Bonham was close with Glenn Hughes too, coming from the Midlands as they both were. There are also pictures of Glenn, Tommy, Tommy’s then girlfriend Karen Ulibarri and Robert Plant on a night out or backstage after an Mk IV gig at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/57/d8/e257d8e968cf8f188f32c3e93cfc41b7.jpg
https://forums.ledzeppelin.com/topic/22840-robert-with-glenn-hughes-and-tommy-bolin-ny-february-1976/
Finally, Jimmy Page already rated Tommy Bolin back in the latter’s Zephyr days when the Colorado band opened for the Brits.
July 7th, 2025 at 09:37I am becoming Gillanified again. I just received a message that the Gillan deluxe seven disc box set has arrived. A strange feeling is overtaking me, not sure if I like it or not. Any help as to a way to deal with this would be gratefully appreciated. I will drive into the big smoke tomorrow and pick it up. Wish me luck. All this Gillan and Ian Gillan everywhere. He is taking over. I wonder who is responsible. Cheers.
July 8th, 2025 at 06:10@11
“All this Gillan and Ian Gillan everywhere. He is taking over. I wonder who is responsible.”
– well it’s certainly not me! 😇
July 8th, 2025 at 10:50The intro on Glory Road to On The Rocks is bonkers. Surely one of the finest in the extended Purple family history.
July 8th, 2025 at 12:57Brother MacGregor, in case you haven’t noticed: This Danish woman is the second coming of Mary Magdalene
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4de30a2d87df3841912d2fc832be87d3/tumblr_p5o8qheSLF1up42jgo8_540.gif
and she will not stop bearing witness to the resurrection of the great IG/JC …
https://youtu.be/IhDL9fa2ct0
July 8th, 2025 at 13:05Mac
July 8th, 2025 at 13:32You certainly won’t be disappointed…believe me !
All those classics…album gems and rarities…plus incredible B sides …you’ll be back in your youth again !
It’s fantastic value for money too !
@11 I think you’ve lost this battle. It dawns on me that Gillan is a cat in a human skin. He enters your space, establishes contact, crushes your will and then proceeds to do whatever he wants with you, like buy treats for him or a box set of his CDs. Whatever he prefers.
July 8th, 2025 at 14:14I sincerely hope John McCoy and Colin Towns receive some royalties from this recent box set release of Gillan. Cheers
July 8th, 2025 at 21:53@ 12- feeling guilty are we Karin? Better remove that halo just in case, he he he. Seriously though, that music was very loud that you had playing with Ian Gillan Deep Purple, when Anton posed for his video shoot a few days ago. I didn’t have my sound turned up the first time I viewed that. Yesterday I didn’t realise it was on with the volume cranked up a little and it nearly blew me out of the room. I noticed Anton’s ears were naturally covered too. Although one ear was slightly raised, as if he was waiting for his masters command or something. Poor little thing. Cheers.
July 8th, 2025 at 22:02David Black …yeah, I thought that too ..with the puppet ( or whatever) laughing …its obviously Colin Towns …and you can hear why he has gone on and done so well in Television and Film
July 8th, 2025 at 22:38Mac
There’s a new John McCoy vid that I’ve sent to Nick to post …apparently, they all get 3 % …but, this royalties argument is rumbling on …and I don’t think you can blame J.M …apparently it’s just a reply to all the comments they’ve had …not least , from sites like this !
Gillan could probably come out and say his piece …but I doubt he wants to Stoke the fire …..and, moreover….I bet he’s sick to death about hearing about it !
July 8th, 2025 at 22:44Thanks for all the replies chaps, it is all becoming clearer as we speak. @ 14- yes Uwe, that is why I have ‘ordered’ Karin to remove that halo, the nerve of that lady! @15- thanks Steve, I will have it in a few hours to peruse through etc. @ 16- Georgivs, you are not wrong there at all, plus he does all that and more while living in a huge old castle way up in the mountains, a bit like Count Dracula. Sucking all the cash out of us, leaving us penniless and destitute and definitely NOT living in castles. @ 20 -thanks Steve 4422, nice to hear that about the royalties. Being involved in many of the compositions and all, good to hear. @ 14- and that 1987 live clip Uwe, good to hear that and at that time too, as I thought those two (Blackmore and Gillan) had had enough of each other by then. Cheers.
July 8th, 2025 at 23:43@14
Oh thank you for the link to Ian and Ritchie having at least some sort of banter on stage 😊🥰
I enjoy immensely that to see that!
And didn’t I stress in @12 that it certainly wasn’t me…?
July 9th, 2025 at 03:32@15
Indeed you’re right Steve! It’s a great box-set 🤩
@16
He is the inventor of the Portable Door 😄
@17
July 9th, 2025 at 03:35Don’t they do that by law? I guess our Lawyer in here must know these things!
@18
No! Not the slightest feeling of guilt whatsoever ☺️
Oh thank you for worrying about my little doglet, but the microphone in the iPad picks up on music, more than on talking actually.
I’m checking and testing his ears and eyes regularly, and he can hear if I whisper ‘Anton vil du have en godbid’ (Anton do you want a treat) from the office and he is in the living room 😄 (two rooms in each end of the house).
Normally when I listen to music, I either have my headphones on or Anton is tucked away in his little bed far away from the loudspeakers 😊
July 9th, 2025 at 03:42@20
3%?!
That’s not a great cut…but Steve I guess that’s the normal rate?
July 9th, 2025 at 03:43@22 if it’s banter you want listen at 19.00 to this. You can hear IG clearly but if you turn up the sound you can hear RB speak!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZd42_PZ2Zw
July 9th, 2025 at 10:11I have the Gillan box set, it is a nice package. A good booklet and I had a listen to Magic first, of all the albums. Why, because it had a few deformities on the playing surface and I wanted to make sure it played ok, thankfully it did. A couple of interesting extra tracks on it. Uwe sent us the Fiji link a while back and it is nice to have that song on a hard copy. Magic has a few good songs on it, it isn’t a strong album though. I have not owned the album for decades and I must admit to hearing Ian going off vocally so much, does remind me of his following stint in Sabbath. I don’t recall having noticed that in that light back then (1980’s) as it all sounded grand. These days, not all of it is that grand, but that is ok. That Beatles cover Helter Skelter, what was Ian on????????????? Not a good cover, too much hedonism going on perhaps. Interesting to hear ‘South Africa’ the Bernie Marsden song and ‘Smokestack Lightning’ too. Nice to have Bluesy Blue Sea and Demon Driver again. Looking forward to hearing the two albums before Glory Road. I am not familiar at all with any of that, so it will be good to go in at the deep end. Cheers.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:40Mac
So glad you got it . Both Karin and I can vouch for your enjoyment of it!
I can’t believe you’ve never heard Mr Universe before …you’re in for a treat !
With the rest …I just don’t know where to begin !…..the version of Smoke from his Kingsway studio is jaw dropping …I’m your Man …Spanish Guitar …all the b sides ( especially Your sisters on my list ) …the list just goes on and on ….I actually transferred all my cds to my phone …then I put them on random play through my soundbar….and it ends up being played all night …and getting louder and louder !
July 9th, 2025 at 13:05Enjoy with a few Fosters !
@26
Ohh thank you so much David 👍🏼
Ohhh man Blackmore really was something else!
I hear BB King hasn’t lived in vain in the little solo before “Gypsy’s kiss” 😃
Anyone knows where I can get a new pair of eardrums? Because foolishly I turned up for my ear-thingies to hear the bantering, and the came the ‘Ian-scream’ 😄
July 9th, 2025 at 13:45Well it was worth loosing my eardrums to hear that 🤩
The video is great, i love Glory Road, but Gillan in that video could be a part of this gallery here:
July 9th, 2025 at 16:44https://dangerousminds.net/comments/battle_of_the_bulge_classic_rock_stars_and_their_packages/
@28
“Both Karin and I can vouch for your enjoyment of it!”
– so very much YES!
Actually I think about buying this fireproof safe and put all my Purple and Ian stuff in there!
(Well else can I do to all my valuables 😍)
But of course, I do own a very nice mug (for coffee) with SotW lyrics, and to get that out of the safe, drink the coffee, carefully wash up the mug, place it in the safe again….well that’s doable!
https://youtu.be/gXLcQ2Fl6BU?si=ANfArUvGYNS1aSbI
July 9th, 2025 at 19:03@30
Gerd, I think you are very funny 😅
July 9th, 2025 at 19:04“I thank you”
July 9th, 2025 at 19:23“He thanks me”
“I thank you”
“He thanks me”
Purple up to ‘76 were “dangerous “ for want of a better word. Gillan were far more “dangerous” than either same era Rainbow or Whitesnake. Brings back very happy memories of getting on my bike after school to ride down to Virgin, Bristol to buy the latest Gillan 45 for 99p. It’s only 45 years ago. Fm.
July 9th, 2025 at 19:29Now that Gerd has thankfully introduced valid male fashion concerns to this site with his Battle of the Bulge link, I feel honor-bound to remind you all of Black Panther Comrade Eldridge Cleaver’s legendary sartorial design, do get the hang of it:
https://i.imgur.com/RE8EL.jpg
https://images.app.goo.gl/6ToFTmsEiu8LoJsr7
https://youtu.be/O1qbBf1qP10?si=DC4nos3DIds7jRaE
It’s just like that famous Elton John song Dangle in the Wind.
I remember reading about this scintillating piece of fashion news in DER SPIEGEL in 1976 on their Personalien double page and filed it away in my memory, wondering if I would ever have to retrieve it one day. That day has now come, danke Gerd!
PS: Gerd really only referenced a few tips of the iceberg, so honorary mention must be bestowed on …
https://tyrannyoftradition.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/manowar1.jpg
July 9th, 2025 at 20:12@35
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Cynthia “Plaster Caster” Albritton. Her website went away after she died… but you can probably find it with the Wayback Machine. The HTML version will yield a better result; the Flash version has a few bugs.
July 9th, 2025 at 22:37#26 David:
Thanks for the link to the concert!
July 9th, 2025 at 22:59You made me listen to Gillan again from 1985, who 95% of the time could still hit the high notes of Child in Time!
Great!
@ 30 – Gerd, from being worried about Glenn Hughes getting a bit of jest because of his hair, to the battle of the bulge. I am confused? Anyway it is all good fun at times, well some of it, depending on how we all look at things in life. Karin will be appalled at this, well perhaps not, he he he. Diamond Dave with Van Halen. Yes, I do remember my Dutch lady friend telling me about those days. Going to see them way back then and being ‘gobsmacked’ to put it mildly. Ha ha ha, those were the days eh? Thanks for that link, not that I mean that in a’certain’ way, we have to be careful here at THS, anybody could take that the wrong way. Cheers.
July 9th, 2025 at 23:06@ 28 – thanks Steve. I will be picking away at it over the next few weeks. My days of playing a lot of hard rock are behind me. It is intense some this Gillan, I tend to go for the less intense these days, if that is the way to put it. When alone in this house and in the mood, I may crank Unchain Your Brain and No Laughing in Heaven and a few others. First up is Mr Universe and the earlier songs that I have never heard. Cheers.
July 10th, 2025 at 04:25@ 29 – “Anyone know where I can get a new pair of eardrums? Because foolishly I turned up for my ear-thingies to hear the bantering, and then came the ‘Ian-scream’ 😄 Well it was worth losing my eardrums to hear that 🤩” This sort of behaviour is EXACTLY why I worry about little Anton. Sheeesh, the mind boggles looking at his life of seven years living on planet Earth. Anton has heard more Ian Gillan related music than all of us here at THS combined over our entire lifetimes. Now that is saying something, the poor little thing. I can just imagine the look on his face when Karin arrived home with the Gillan seven disc box set. Cheers
July 10th, 2025 at 04:35@40
“This sort of behaviour is EXACTLY why I worry about little Anton.”
– well, well, well, MacGregor, you ought to know how much I respect you, but here I do need to point out that you missed a very important part of my post:
I had my ear-thingies in my ears!
Anton was sound asleep besides me, and he couldn’t hear anything!
It was only my eardrums that got spoiled 😄 (but it was worth it!)
July 10th, 2025 at 07:01@38
“Karin will be appalled at this, well perhaps not, he he he.”
– Smiling and nodding (like a crazy person 😄)
And can we please now change the subject so to speak!
Let’s instead talk about coffee….. uhhh, yummy delicious warm beautiful coffee….Mmmmm
See! It’s not difficult to change your mind patterns 😂
July 10th, 2025 at 07:04I thought to myself: if Glenn is ridiculed and I regret it, I must use Gillan’s phallic illusions as compensation to restore balance between these singing gods we admire, because no one should be placed above the other; that is how it is with gods. I love them all, even knightly bard tights of Richard and the easily frozen forced smile of Dave due to too many cosmetic surgeries or the absolutely terrible drumsound (in case of worse tuning his toms) of Ian on the studio LP ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ or Jon’s pornographic 80s glasses – nothing stops me from worshipping these gods like a teenager and admiring their music to this day! As a Deep Purple fan since youth, one is lucky to have chosen the right band, because which hard rock band continues to delight us with so many high-quality albums well into old age? Black Sabbath and Zeppelin do not compare, and apart from Heep, I don’t know of any other band that is as productive, especially regarding their family offshoots. Nevertheless, the question must always be asked: why has no Abandon been released on vinyl and why does ‘Future Shock’ not have bass frequencies below 100Hz?
July 10th, 2025 at 07:42“Karin will be appalled at this, well perhaps not, he he he.“
Herr MacGregor, I personally believe that Karin rests confidently in her unshakable faith that Ian Gillan is well-equipped by nature re all relevant aspects – that is the holistic concept of all things immaculate. She will not
bulgebudge on this …That said, my Glenn will certainly not be outdone here!
https://de.pinterest.com/pin/deep-purple–111323422031815713/
https://de.pinterest.com/pin/81838918224520515/
https://de.pinterest.com/pin/398568635791197355/
https://de.pinterest.com/pin/104005072665301180/
Sigh, it was only a question of time until a subject as unsavory as penis envy would be washed upon the shores of this fine site like debris from sick minds. And we have no one else but Gerd – reputedly Glenn’s hairdresser/coiffeur – to blame for this!
July 10th, 2025 at 13:14Sorry Mac!
July 10th, 2025 at 20:28on the topic that Gerd started above (@30) watch this to the very end – 7.10 mins in –
July 11th, 2025 at 10:00https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzK19bzom0g
@44
So Uwe, I take it you are belonging to the Freud-fanbase?
That’s why an innocent girl like myself always support Carl Gustav Jung 😌
Have a lovely weekend everyone 🤗
July 11th, 2025 at 15:25Karin has likely already diligently researched this, but please take note how, uhum, “Big” Ian (sorry Paicey!) wore soft fabric pants on the eve of the Concerto which were prone to caress his natural endowments in a more pronounced manner…
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/3066316/photo/english-composer-sir-malcolm-arnold-poses-with-newly-formed-british-heavy-metal-rock-band-deep.jpg?s=612×612&w=gi&k=20&c=URCv5zEjxbHodbMFxb7oa8I1W91Q-34oIFzW9x-gZ0A=
Isn’t Sir Malcolm Arnold’s well-intentioned donkey reference slightly misplaced, isn’t the proverb in question hung like a …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxh9Da_EJB4
I really like how Gerd thinks, but we wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t commented about Glenn’s hair. I mean I was just dicking around!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFZcQtGxnqc&list=RDUFZcQtGxnqc
July 11th, 2025 at 15:59“Why has no Abandon been released on vinyl and why does ‘Future Shock not have bass frequencies below 100Hz?”
1. Because the legal situation re the rights to Abandon is messed up and no one dares go there.
2. A profound question indeed, especially given how John McCoy was involved in the production. It has always been a horribly half-baked sounding record. Sometimes people think that cutting bass frequencies makes an album sound more direct and immediate – MC5’s Back In The USA, The Stooges’s Raw Power and of course Metallica’s … And Justice For All come to mind. Future Shock certainly jumped at you with its aggressive sound, but it was a grating, nasty sonic picture. I find it hardly bearable to listen to.
July 11th, 2025 at 16:44#43 Gerd
You’re right, the Purple Family is absolutely the largest, longest-lived, most prolific, and most influential in the entire history of rock!…there’s nothing comparable among other bands!
we are fans of the right band, as you rightly said!
July 11th, 2025 at 20:03I’m a great friend of old Sigmund F, he is to the human psyche what Karl Marx is to capitalism: It’s brilliant analyst.
Too much esoteric humbug with Jung for me, deep down we’re animals, full stop.
July 12th, 2025 at 00:01@ 41 – Karin, I didn’t miss that comment you made about your ‘ear thingies’. I just left it out of the ‘joke’ in regard to Anton’s hearing. As we know doggies have very sensitive hearing, so do cats and other animals. They don’t hang around if given the choice when there are annoying sounds, for example a vacuum cleaner, a leaf blower and even Ian Gillan related music etc. Sorry, I cannot resist and believe me, with this new Gillan box set, I am revisiting that conundrum, madness that could possibly be, but good fun all the same). Animals have common sense and it is us humans that have invented all these contraptions. Hence the need for hearing protection which most of us have ignored, especially when younger. Pete Townshend has a major tinnitus problem, has had for decades. The Who were demonstrably loud in concert back in the day, however Townshend insists that it was his studio work and the wearing of headphones that really did the damage. Too loud and too often. I would think it would be a bit of both, but I get his point. Headphones, ear buds etc are terrible for the ears. Nowhere for the sound to ‘escape’, for want of a better description. Rock ‘n roll eh. Who said that rock ‘n roll isn’t noise pollution? AC DC wasn’t it.
“Heavy decibels are playing on my guitar
July 12th, 2025 at 02:02We got vibrations coming up from the floor
We’re just listening to the rock that’s giving too much noise
Are you deaf, you want to hear some more?
It’s not just the sub-basses that are missing, with Future Shock even my bass controls on the hi-fi system have almost no effect, even on the CD version, which is a real shame, a remix would be very helpful, but who knows if the multitrack tracks even still exist.
Incidentally, there were other strange trends in mastering in the 70s and 80s. For example, the Burn LP: if you slow down the pitch on the Technics 1200 by almost 2%, you only get the correct pitch and tthe correct tuning of the instruments, just like in the live versions of the time. I therefore suspect that the entire Burn LP runs too fast in the original, and you can hear it in the sound of the Ludwig drums, the guitar, and the vocals. Not only the sounds, also the tuning! Turn the pitch down 2%, and suddenly the Burn sounds a bit warmer, bassier, and more natural. It was common practice back then to make music supposedly more “dynamic” by turning the pitch up a bit, thus making the music a bit faster and higher in pitch. Led Zeppelin admitted this in interviews with Houses of the Holy, which can also be “de-smurfed.”
July 12th, 2025 at 08:24@51
“Too much esoteric humbug with Jung for me, deep down we’re animals, full stop“
– now I need to be a naughty little school girl and stick my tongue out at you (and will you please NOT read anything nasty into that sentence!)
What I meant about the Freud post is that all he ever was concerning about was penis-envy!
Whereas Jung was a master into the human psyche! With all what we as humans have going on.
Freud was so sex-fixated, and nothing wrong with sex at all, but hey come one, human are (most of us all that is…!) so much more intriguing creatures!!!
So while I guess I have to be nodding and smiling a lot in the future I will actually make myself a lovely cup of coffee! Have discovered a brilliant new blend: Irish Rum Cream mixed up with Dark Chocolate – woah mamma! 😄
July 12th, 2025 at 11:05@52
“Karin, I didn’t miss that comment you made about your ‘ear thingies”
– 👍🏼
“for example a vacuum cleaner, a leaf blower and even Ian Gillan related music etc”
– WHAT!! you used to be so nice once upon a time 😳 Again I blame Uwe!
“Pete Townshend has a major tinnitus problem, has had for decades.”
– so sad to hear this 🥺 I could actually help him. Have helped tinnitus suffers a lot of times…
“Who said that rock ‘n roll isn’t noise pollution?”
– well, with Purple and indeed Ian, it isn’t pollution but healthcare in highest potency 🥰
“We got vibrations coming up from the floor”
July 12th, 2025 at 11:18– AC/DC actually is on to something important here! The right vibrations, and preferably from a decent bassist and a good drummer, are known to have healing effects!
I have been reading a lot about it, and f.e. severe pains caused by arthritis, goes away when the person is listening to the music in loudspeakers. And loud! Comes back when the music stops, but over time, listening to this, the pains become lesser and lesser severe!
Here headphones don’t do the good work. It has to be very good loudspeakers, so your body can detect and collect the sound waves!
Also helps with connective tissue that has issues!
Change of subject Karin (now that I have sufficiently established that my Glenn will not be out
July 12th, 2025 at 13:40donehung by your Ian, that was important to me in a Freudian sense), did you know that Billie Eilish has chromesthesia like you too, experiencing colors when listening to music? I just read that about her and thought of you!@56
No, I had no idea!
For me it’s not just music, also numbers, letters, humans (some people simply have the wrong names according to how they look, can be soooo confusing for me, f.e.when a woman is named Annette, but she so is a Brigitte! For the life of me I will never remember her birth-name, and therefore I have developmental certain techniques: ‘hey you’, ‘ohhh I’m so happy to see you’ and never do I mention the name, simply because I have no memory of it!)
(otoh when peoples names suits them, they often become close and personal friends, Hans, oh sorry, YOU! 🤣)
July 12th, 2025 at 16:32@57
“some people simply have the wrong names according to how they look”
OK… you’ve piqued my curiosity. I gotta know. You’ve seen several photos of me, do I I look like a Russ to you?
July 13th, 2025 at 08:24@58
Are you completely sure you wanna know??
No you do not look like Russ – you are more a Pete, a John or a Parker….
But don’t be sad because my name certainly doesn’t fit me either! So you might imagine what kind of confusion I go through every day receiving mails, when René calls for me, well even when I look in the mirror!
July 13th, 2025 at 09:43You’re not alone, I never understood what possessed my two southern Germany-bred, dark-haired and brown- and green-eyed parents to name their dark-haired and brown-eyed middle child ‘Uwe’ either. It is a name I will forever identify with blond hair and blue eyes – you know the type of people where Karin lives. It never really stuck well with other people as my name either – in social circles I regularly become “der Hornung” rather than “Uwe” and I never minded that at all. (If someone calls me “Uwe” in speech I’m always kind of startled by it, that doesn’t happen in writing though.)
Of course it came from a late 50s/early 60s popular German soccer legend from Hamburg, Uwe Seeler from HSV (who was needless to say blond – to the extent he had hair at all – and blue-eyed)
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/07/27/obituaries/21Seeler1/merlin_210397416_4dbe42c7-1daa-4310-9635-4db66e3c8651-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg
who popularized the name in the early 60s (invariably, almost all German Uwe’s are late babyboomers like that). That was adding insult to injury, because all my life I have taken less than zero interest in soccer which in Germany is tantamount to a genetic defect!!! 😂
Add to that how “Uwe” is unpronounceable in nearly all languages, my parents really took a crap choice for my first and only name (I don’t even have a middle name). 🙄
July 13th, 2025 at 14:43@60
Der Hornung…. Goes well with the bloodthirsty lawyer supreme I take you are 😄
I seem to remember your face when I found your email, and you ought to be named Hans, oder Karl, vielleicht Jürgen! (No kidding, for once ☺️)
Uwe, it’s never too late to change your name!
July 13th, 2025 at 15:30I believe it’s free in Denmark to change one’s name. Maybe that’s the situation too in Germany!
@ 60 – “(I don’t even have a middle name). 🙄” Is that a hint Uwe, for all of us here to come up with a ‘middle’ name for ‘you’? Cheers.
July 13th, 2025 at 22:33@62
MacGregor now all we need is a nice picture of you and your real name 😃
July 14th, 2025 at 05:30@61 Karin, a russian fb-friend of mine summed the situation in Germany up just fine She said: You mean it’s easier to change your gender than your name then here?!
July 14th, 2025 at 08:28Hard to believe. But true.
I know a man who doesn’t want the family name of his father cos that father never cared for him. Instead he’d like to take on his mother’s name. They won’t let him – or if they do it is very complicated and expensive. If he chose to be female though….
@64
Woah Max! That is indeed weird in my head 😄
I have seen you Max, air your pic at FaceBook, and you are very fortunate that your name fits perfectly, at least in my head ☺️
If you all moved to Denmark you would experience some sort of freedom, we can change name, gender, marital status online 😄
July 14th, 2025 at 09:59@ 63 – good luck with that Karin. Ok, I borrowed the main gist of that old saying and changed it a little to suit. Cheers.
“We seek him here, we seek him there,
July 14th, 2025 at 11:27Those Danes seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?—Is he in hell?
That MacGregor, elusive as a sorcerer’s spell.”
@65 …now that sounds like a lot of fun! A whole new world of possibilities…
July 14th, 2025 at 12:08@66
Ok well you want all of us to live in suspense 😄😄
What if we all come to you part of the world and go look for you 😃
July 14th, 2025 at 18:29@66
Well you surely don’t need to change your name, as far as I’m concerned 😄
I guess the gender thing you could take care of in Germany!
Re marital status, well I don’t know if you are married, but I would advise you, in that case, to talk it over with your wife! I know of a couple of, well, couples, where the spouses got a pretty big surprise when they discovered they were actually divorced! 😝
July 14th, 2025 at 18:35But hey, Denmark is the land of possibilities – I guess 😄😄
Don’t push him, like a lot of Aussies, Herr MacGregor does not want too much light shed on his personal history, that convict descendant culture and all … We should not pass judgement.
https://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/files/2012/08/Convicts-in-chains-359×500.jpg
https://youtu.be/hdv5vBQM1Sc
(That’s Roger Glover playing the bass!)
I believe wholeheartedly in giving people the chance of a brand new start!
July 15th, 2025 at 13:53@ 68 – I have alerted the Tasmanian Coast Guard to keep a watch out for any suspicious looking vessels Karin. Just in case anyone tries to venture down this way. I will reman incognito and very vigilante in keeping any strange looking people at bay. And little doggies too. As we all know, if the doggie finds me, then the owners will not be far behind. Cheers.
July 15th, 2025 at 22:51Well Karin I am not sure if everyone can their gender thing (as you so nicely put it!) taken care of over here – or if taking care of gender things is only for Germans … or maybe I guess for inhabitants of the EU. But for people from way round the planet to have their gender messed about in Germania? I don’t think so…
On the other hand Denmark seems to be the land of the free – and easy … after all there are a lot more people willing to change the martial status than their sex I would guess. So we gladly traded that gender thing in for the possibility to get divorced online. Anyone who’s been through it off line at least I’m pretty sure …
July 16th, 2025 at 09:29@72
I cannot tell you which is better: taking the fight offline or chicken out online!
It must depends on the person involved 😊
And changing one’s gender, well I guess that ship has sailed for me… if I did I guess my new name would be Knud, pronounced like the English do it:
July 16th, 2025 at 18:12Ke-nuud 😄
Oh no, Knuuud would be rude!
July 17th, 2025 at 17:34@74
Then it’s good I stay femaleish…
July 17th, 2025 at 23:48If you change gender, I swear we’ll shut this site down, Karin. You’re to THS what Gwyneth Paltrow is to GOOP, lots of whimsical and irresponsible ideas, but ultimately attention-grabbing and entertaining!
https://youtu.be/ZpkFxc1A6ZI
July 18th, 2025 at 15:28@76
Well, in that case! 😄
Gwyneth Paltrow?? Really??
Thanks I guess….
July 18th, 2025 at 16:49@71
Ohh but MacGregor, all your secrets are safe with me!
July 18th, 2025 at 17:29And no need to be nervous about me sailing to your lovely part of the world, you see here where I live there are so many people I have to take care of, yes and I don’t complain because no one has ever promised me that my life would be tranquil ☺️😃
As long as I have well, coffee in the jar (hope Thin Lizzy doesn’t rotate in their grave because of my serious mis-transformation of their once so great hit!) (and please don’t tell me that the buttertenor made that song too 🙄) I’ll be fine and dandy!