[no subject]

'THE PARKAS AND VESPAS HAVE GONE, BUT WE'RE STILL
MODS' SAY SIXTIES CHILDREN

The Sixties are alive and well for one group of
modern-day mods in Lincoln. Anyone who thought the
movement had been consigned to the history books while
its members slowly resigned themselves to the onset of
middle age can think again.

The scooters and Parka jackets have gone, but the
music and "live for the moment" ethos is very much
alive for Ann Fraser and Bryan Wood.

These two original 1960s mods have refused to throw
their R &B and Motown records away and are now
inspiring a new generation of people to embrace the
lifestyle. 

Ann (50), who is a partner of King and Co Estate
Agents in Lincoln, can still remember how she got
involved in the movement.

"I got into it through girlfriends really," she said.
"Someone would say, 'look we're going to such and such
a place' and I'd go. There was always a party going
on."

Mod epitomised so many things to many - fashion,
lifestyle. The theme was change - hence the term
modernist, which is how the movement got its name.

Mods first started to appear in 1963 and 1964 in
London, and quickly spread.

For many being a mod was really about the music - R
'n' B and Motown.

"We were the biggest thing in terms of youth movements
since the Teddy Boys," said Mrs Fraser.

"There wasn't a particular point at which it started,
although Quadrophenia, made later, was a cult film.

"It just happened overnight. People were travelling
around, meeting other mods at places like Nottingham
and Newark."

Mrs Fraser - who is married with two children -
remembers regularly going to Skegness on Bank Holiday
weekends.

"We used to hitchhike," she said. "Mods were running
riot in Brighton. The seaside towns were frequently
the scene for trouble and for us it just happened to
be Skegness that was the meeting place. People would
meet up from all over."

She also remembers scuffles between mods and rockers.

"I think as far as the violence went, there was more
talk than anything. You'd get one or two incidents and
then it would be the mods all over the papers. We
always blamed those greasy rockers. They were the hard
drinking type of people."

Mrs Fraser has organised four reunions where all the
original Lincoln mods from the "66-69 Dukers" will
meet again.

At a reunion just before Christmas a crowd of mod
revivalists turned up by surprise and the original
mods were impressed by what they saw.

"They looked and dressed just like we did 30 years
ago. They were wearing the red Doc Martens, red braces
and Levis," she said.

Bryan Wood (55), a mature student at the University of
Lincoln, who lives in the city, was an original mod.

"Being from Lincoln, it wasn't that easy to be a mod
because the clothes weren't around for a while, so it
wasn't until I went down to London that we could get
the clothes," he said.

"We liked the clothes and the lifestyle and wanted to
be different. We were coming out of the drab Fifties
and weren't old enough to be rock and rollders and
Teddy Boys.

"We listened to groups like The Who, The Faces and the
Kinks. The Beatles were always around but they weren't
a mod group because, as we progressed into manhood, we
went more into Motown and R 'n' B.

"I think it was because things were changing that we
were trying to pull away from our parents, like most
young people.

"The clothes are all locked up in my mother's
wardrobe," he said.

"I didn't keep them and it's obviously a sad thing
because when I look at the photos we have got these
mohair suits on. We all look similar. It's almost like
a uniform.

"But you never stop being a mod. Once a mod always a
mod."


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com

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