Andrew Gilhooley's Blog

What's that fool Gilhooley talking about now?

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I’m a British ex-pat living in the Monterey Bay Area of California. I’m a musician, writer, educator and sometime technologist. Opinions expressed on this site are my own.

Category: Music

  • I was a Teenage Heavy Metal Fan

    I admit it, I was. It was inevitable really. I always loved music from a very young age, and I had older cousins who introduced me to bands like Led Zeppelin, Rush and Deep Purple. Then a school friend came by with a couple of Kiss albums, including a borrowed copy of Alive! That was…

  • The Power of the Playlist

    I have written before that one of the experiences I think has been lost in recent years is that of listening to all the tracks on an album in order. In my recent post about Pipedream by Alan Hull I made reference to the musical and emotional journey that this provides for the listener and…

  • Remembering Jarrow Elvis

    Estimates as to the number of Elvis Presley impersonators active in the world vary wildly, from around ten thousand all the way up to half a million. On Tyneside during the 1980s and 1990s, we had a unique Elvis tribute act of our very own in the shape of Joe Allen, aka Jarrow Elvis. Joe…

  • Classic Albums: “Pipedream” by Alan Hull

    When I selected my “20 Albums that made an Impact” for a Facebook challenge several years ago (they are reposted starting here if you’d like to read them), I mentioned that Pipedream by Alan Hull would be a strong contender for my favourite album of all time. I thought I’d spend a little time looking…

  • Music Video: Never Give Up (2026 Remix)

    “Never Give Up” is a song from my band Grumbling Ginger’s album “Smooth the Rough”. We recently did this gospel-style remix, inspired by listening to the Heritage Gospel Uplift show on one of our local radio stations, KSQD-FM. It seems that with so many things in the world being uncertain at the moment, so many…

  • 20 Albums that made an Impact – Part 4

    Here’s the final part of a series of 20 albums I picked for a Facebook challenge a few years ago. The challenge was to choose 20 albums that had made an impact on me. For each album I mention, I’m including a YouTube link to a track from that album so you can get a…

  • 20 Albums that made an Impact – Part 3

    Here’s part three of a series of 20 albums I picked for a Facebook challenge a few years ago. The challenge was to choose 20 albums that had made an impact on me. For each album I mention, I’m including a YouTube link to a track from that album so you can get a taste…

  • 20 Albums that made an Impact – Part 2

    Here’s part two of a series of 20 albums I picked for a Facebook challenge a few years ago. The challenge was to choose 20 albums that had made an impact on me. For each album I mention, I’m including a YouTube link to a track from that album so you can get a taste…

  • 20 Albums that made an Impact – Part 1

    I’m starting off 2026 with a re-post of a series of albums I picked for a Facebook challenge a few years ago. The challenge was to choose 20 albums that had made an impact on me. The original challenge was to post an album a day for 20 days; here I am going to present…

  • The Dragoni Brothers

    When I was a youngster in the 1970s, I remember people of my mother’s generation and older being very keen on a local band called the Dragoni Brothers. They played widely around the North East at the time, mostly at clubs and smaller venues, though they did perform at both Newcastle City Hall and the…

  • Goodbye Ace

    Yesterday I read the news that founding Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley had died aged 74. Since then, I have been reading tributes from people in the world of rock music as well as discussing it with friends on Facebook and wanted to gather a few of my thoughts here. First, the music. I remember a…

  • 20 Influential Singles – Part 4

    Here is the fourth and final part of my list of influential singles from a 2023 Facebook challenge. The idea of the challenge was to post each day for 20 days a single that had been influential in my life. I expanded this to include singles which, when I listen to them, vividly conjure up…

  • 20 Influential Singles – Part 3

    Here is the third part of my list of influential singles from a 2023 Facebook challenge. The idea of the challenge was to post each day for 20 days a single that had been influential in my life. I expanded this to include singles which, when I listen to them, vividly conjure up a particular…

  • 20 Influential Singles – Part 2

    Here is the second part of my list of influential singles from a 2023 Facebook challenge. The idea of the challenge was to post each day for 20 days a single that had been influential in my life. I expanded this to include singles which, when I listen to them, vividly conjure up a particular…

  • 20 Influential Singles – Part 1

    Early in 2023 I took part in a Facebook challenge to post each day for 20 days a single that had been influential in my life. I expanded this to include singles which, when I listen to them, vividly conjure up a particular time in my life. In addition, I wanted to concentrate on singles…

  • The Lion Sleeps Tonight

    I first published this post on April 24, 2016 on squashy.net I have to confess to having something of an obsession with the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. Whenever I hear it on the radio, I find it rather mesmerizing, and always think the same thing: “What would inspire someone to write a song like…