Happy 30th birthday to A Head Full of Wishes

2024-12-19
Categories: news editorial

Happy 30th birthday to A Head Full of Wishes

A couple of days ago I casually threw into a social media post that around now was the 30th birthday of this website. I had intended (like I always do) some sort of grand celebration, but (like it always does) it turned into a hastily rattled out blog post. Welcome to that post!

To make this even more half-arsed than that I’ll point you towards the posts I made for AHFoW’s 20th birthday… and then bolt a bit more on here. So, for the site’s 20th I broke down my celebration into “20 bite-sized chunks” spread over four posts - so, start there…

and now… ten more to get us up to 30:

21: Fanzines and tribute albums

Over the last few years AHFoW entered the physical realm with a series of fanzines, and tribute albums

That bass, with Damon & Naomi's copy of Everything's Swirling #1

Dean with his copy of This Music is Ours

22: Terrascopaedia #11

In 2019 Phil McMullen asked me if I’d like to have a piece in his lovely letterpressed magazine “Terrascopaedia” so I pitched an interview with former Galaxie 500 members about how to keep Galaxie 500 a going concern even when it wasn’t a going concern. Dean, Damon & Naomi were all happy to answer my questions and Phil did a fine job of wrangling my attempt into something others would like to read and it was published in issue 13.

Here is a PDF of the final interview you can also read my unplugged interviews

23: It’s all about me

Poetic Justice online magazine asked me to pick my 10 favourite Galaxie 500 songs… so I did and explaied why
It’s Psychedelic Baby interviewed me about AHFoW and more.

24: Heading north

I moved from London to Whitley Bay in the North East of England and saw Dean on my doorstep not long afterwards

Dean Wareham - Duchess / Tugboat @ The Cluny (July 2022) (play on YouTube)

25: We all got older

From 1995 until 2020 I ran a survey every Christmas but interest seemed to wane (half as many people voted in 2020 compared to 2018) so I finally gave it the axe. In the final survey I posted a graphic that might explain why!

In 1999 Bob was the first of us who edged into the “over 50” category - in 2020 44% of us were over 50 - maybe old folk just don’t like doing surveys!

26: Every cloud…

COVID happened… and we were all stuck at home for ages, some of us getting periodically sick, the rest getting tired of it all - but the silver lining was that Dean & Britta, initially with trepidation, but then later fully embraced, live streamed concerts from their living room. It was lovely to spend real time with them, and with other fans around the world.

Here’s a playlist of clips from those shows (or rehearsals, or promos for those shows).

Also, always a joy watching them trying to switch off at the end of the show!

27: Other people’s posts

Most of AHFoW over the years has just been me, wittering on about whatever comes into my head - this sort of explains why periodically Motorhead get snuck into my posts! But when Luna reformed in 2015 Joakim became an AHFoW correspondent, following the band around and writing his beautifully wordy essays covering not just the shows but the experience of being a fan following the band around.

There’s a list of posts by Joakim here, where you can also find a few of the other guests who’ve been kind enough to write for the site over the years.

Joakim’s AHFoW posts, plus more, and some by Ulrika, plus lots of photos, were compiled into a lovely paperback book - A Strange Fascination. You can possibly still get a copy from Joakim.

I’m still open to guest posts please get in touch.

28: Special guest DJ

I was invited to be the Special Guest DJ at a Sonic Cathedral Luna tribute night. I DJ-ed to a disappointingly small crowd. Everyone who didn’t come missed a great evening and some top DJ-ing! [This post] (/2023/06/08/my-record-collection-041-luna-something-in-the-air/) has a bit more details and a link to my DJ set on Mixcloud.

29: Tea with Naomi

Damon was in London promoting Ways of Hearing and had two events scheduled. The first was in Rough Trade West and then the following day at the Walthamstow Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club. I went to the first and arrived in the area a bit early and while wandering past a pub someone started knocking on the window from the inside and there was Naomi beckoning me in! I joined her, ordered a cup of tea and sat chatting to her. We talked about my imminent retirement and the fear of leaving London. She was very encouraging!

She also asked if I was planning on coming the following night. She cryptically suggested that it would be in my best interests to go.

I did, and this happened:

Damon & Naomi - Another Day (Walthamstow, 2019) (play on YouTube)

30: Baby my head’s full of colors

And so, A Head Full of Wishes enters it’s fourth decade, and doesn’t show any signs of letting up:

Dean & Britta have just released a splendid Christmas LP.
Dean mentioned in a recent interview that he was working on another solo record, and will be in Europe in April.
Luna get together for live shows periodically - they have two on the US west coast at the end of the month.
Damon & Naomi were in Japan recently and posted that they had been “recording basic tracks for a new album with Michio Kurihara at the wonderful Peace Music”.

Maybe, come 2034 I can get my arse into gear and do something memorable for the site’s 40th birthday!

Thanks to everyone who has been here for some or all of this long ride… I don’t do it for you, I do it for me - but it’s nice to think it’s for more than just me.

If you made it this far… I’m impressed!