Deke, Deke, Deke, Deke....

This man is legend. The sole reason we drove 1800 miles to be in Swansea last Saturday. OK, we did fit in a lot of visits too. But last year someone flew in from Japan to see him, while another came from New York. I flew down from Inverness, and another drove from Glasgow. This year G and I drove all the way from Scourie, and AH did the trip from Glasgow again. There were fans from Manchester, and London.

Deke has had a checkered career starting off in local Llanelli bands, before joining the Bystanders (sung the original 98.6). Before performing with them they changed their name to Man, and their musical direction became more "progressive". Loosely based of the dual guitar sound of the San Francisco band Quicksilver Messenger Service, they recorded a few albums, and then sacked Deke. He went to work in a piano factory before playing with "Help Yourself", and re-joining the Man band. He then went solo, recording some great albums, before joining Man again.

He is featured in the Guinness Book of records as being "the least successful musician", the qualifying criteria being "appearing in the singles chart at position 50 for one week only"..

In recent years he's had success touring with a "one man" show, giving anecdotes about his musical history. He has also published three books recounting his musical career.

He may not have achieved the musical praise he deserved, but he's been a huge influence on my musical tastes and life. And far more talented that the bunch of morons that appear on X-factor..

The music and check out the Welsh Male Voice Choir!!..

We got in at 3:00 am after the show, and after picking up Tanni, spent the night in Sheffield (I did wave as I went by BowBelle!)..