By this time Lizzy had introduced me to Love on the internet - both the official tour site and also a fantastic site run by a dedicated Danish fan, Torben. I started getting involved in the message board and via the sites we also got to know about a "secret" gig that was being staged in London, under the Andmoreagains name rather than Love. We decided we had to go, and booked into the Kings Cross aka Islington Thistle (why do we always stay in Thistles??) - the venue was within about 100 yards of Kings Cross station and the hotel was handy both for Kings X for Lizzy and St Pancras for me. I arranged to take the following morning off work as well but had to be back in the afternoon because I had a big work social event in Nottingham the following evening (which also meant I had to make sure I didn't drink too much!!).
We arrived early evening, and had a few drinks and something to eat in the not very salubrious neighbourhood of the venue. We then queued up to go in to the Scala and Lizzy spotted Gill, who she had met at previous gigs and who we would subsequently share lots of good times with over the coming months. The Scala is a converted cinema, a nice set up - it wasn't completely full and we settled near the front on steps near the side walls during the support act. Mike and Rusty from the band came out from backstage with beers and were watching the support act too - I said hello to Mike having met him in Manchester - he was pleasant and charming and asked how I was, but I don't think he knew me from Adam! A guy in the audience recognised Lizzy and introduced himself as Steve 64 from the Love message board.
Then Love were on...no orchestra this time, just the five piece so a different sort of show from the two previous occasions. Great sound, more rock and roll than psychedelic, and it was good to see the band in a much more intimate setting than the RFH and Manchester gigs. At the end we hung around for a while and Arthur came out on stage - a guy that we have later come to know as John E was up on the stage getting Arthur to sign his record covers and joking with him about wine. This was the nearest I'd ever been to Arthur - I got onto the stage followed by Lizzy who was by now suffering an extreme case of nerves . We stood there in the proximity of Arthur, grinning inanely - more like a pair of awestruck teenagers than a couple of middle aged women with husbands, grown up kids and responsible jobs!! Arthur looked over in our direction and said to me " Excuse me Ma'am, what's your name?" - I told him and said that we had been fans of his for a very long time, and asked if I could have his autograph for my friend (i.e. Lizzy).
Yes, I know, the old "Its not for me its for my friend" routine - why I said that and not just "Can I have your autograph please Arthur" is beyond me, but anyway he took my outstretched piece of paper and wrote "To Lizzy from Arthur Lee " on it. Lizzy still has this somewhere and hopefully treasures it as one of her most precious possessions.
There had been a tall guy with dreadlocks, carrying a young child, visible in the wings throughout the performance - after a while Lizzy and I staggered out onto the streets of Kings Cross, and there was this same guy and child talking to Arthur in the street. We made some "Oh look there's Arthur Lee" type noises which immediately sent Arthur rushing back to the sanctity of backstage - we engaged the guy in conversation and he told us he was an old friend of Arthur's from way back when. Not wanting to get a reputation as stalkers, we made our way back to our hotel via a local kebab house, a habit which was to become quite familiar over the next weeks and months.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Friday, February 25, 2005
No 2. Manchester Academy. 25th January 2003
After the triumphant night at the RFH, I just knew I had to see this band again. They were still touring the UK, I knew Lizzy had booked to go and see them in Glasgow but that was a) a lot nearer to where she lived than where I lived b) on an evening which was inconvenient to me from a work point of view. What to do?? After a number of phone calls and emails we came up with the solution - Manchester on Saturday 25th January. Not too bad a drive from either Nottingham or Newcastle, only downside was that as Lizzy's husband Chris wanted to come along as well, he's a pharmacist who works on Saturdays, they couldn't set out until after 6pm. Anyway, tickets were booked, a hotel was found (with some difficulty - we ended up with the last two rooms at the Manchester Thistle) and we were off again. I would point out at this juncture that my husband Keith is not a Love fan, more of your Dylan type, but he has no objection to me going off gallivanting.
I set off driving from Nottingham and arrived at the hotel later afternoon, time for a swim and a sauna in the hotel leisure club. I was in the sauna when I heard a couple of female voices in the changing rooms discussing going to the Love show that evening - later discovered that this was Jane from the Isle of Man and her daughter who Lizzy already knew. Got myself ready, went down to the hotel bar for a snack and a lager or three and waited for the Newcastle contingent to arrive - which they duly did at about 8.30pm.
Lizzy and Chris swiftly unpacked and we piled into a taxi to the Academy, which is on the Oxford Road near the main part of Manchester University. Our tickets were on the door, we were in - the support act had just finished so we grabbed a few more beers then made our way down to the front. Now this wasn't one of your arty-farty sitting down venues like the RFH, this was more in the style of Nottingham's Rock City, a big barn of a place, sticky floor, unpleasant bouncers, the works. It took me back I can tell you to a simpler place and time - here I was at age 49 in a venue the likes of which I hadn't stepped inside for at least 20 years - since about the time that parenthood had ensued in fact - and I was loving every minute of it!! The aforementioned Scottish Keith was in attendance, as well as some folks that Lizzy knew from her work. There was also a chap with a big stick dancing down the front who may or not have been Bez, erstwhile Happy Monday's mad dancer and subsequently an unlikely Celebrity Big Brother winner - whatever, Bez was certainly around.
The show? - well, it was amazing, I was completely knocked out. The RFH had been a very emotional experience but this was just raw energy from beginning to end. Arthur's voice was unbelievable, the band were giving it all they had, and we had the young Swedish strings and horns section (whose subsequent claim to fame was playing on the Smile tour/album) playing on the Forever Changes tracks just to top it off. I couldn't believe a gig could be this good, I was overwhelmed - which might have been something to do with the numerous lagers that I had consumed by that stage.
Anyway, the end arrives, after a rousing encore of 7and7is, we meet up with SK again and its off for some more beers. Now, by some means unbeknown to me at this stage, it seems that Keith is a pal of Mike Randle, the lead guitarist, so it is arranged that we and sundry others will meet up with Mike and his bandmates at a neighbouring hostelry, Big Hands. We headed off there, paid our admission charge, and we were in. No sign of Mike or any other of the band at this stage but there were plenty of other folks all set to have a good time. After an hour or so, the door opened and there they were - the band members (sans Arthur) and a smattering of Swedes. Now, one thing I can't be accused of is lack of self-confidence and very soon I was chatting away to Californian band members and Swedish horn players as if I'd known them for years - Lizzy was slightly gobsmacked ("you're talking to the band!!") but with a modicum of encouragement she got into it as well. I took a particular shine to Bjorn, the 28 year old trombone player from Stockholm with a fin hairstyle, but alas (or perhaps fortunately) it was not to be!! I must admit I was slightly the worse for drink before the end of the evening, but hey ho, I was reliving my lost youth here. Fortunately Lizzy and Chris were on hand to get us all in a taxi and back to the Thistle at the end of a fantastic night.
I set off driving from Nottingham and arrived at the hotel later afternoon, time for a swim and a sauna in the hotel leisure club. I was in the sauna when I heard a couple of female voices in the changing rooms discussing going to the Love show that evening - later discovered that this was Jane from the Isle of Man and her daughter who Lizzy already knew. Got myself ready, went down to the hotel bar for a snack and a lager or three and waited for the Newcastle contingent to arrive - which they duly did at about 8.30pm.
Lizzy and Chris swiftly unpacked and we piled into a taxi to the Academy, which is on the Oxford Road near the main part of Manchester University. Our tickets were on the door, we were in - the support act had just finished so we grabbed a few more beers then made our way down to the front. Now this wasn't one of your arty-farty sitting down venues like the RFH, this was more in the style of Nottingham's Rock City, a big barn of a place, sticky floor, unpleasant bouncers, the works. It took me back I can tell you to a simpler place and time - here I was at age 49 in a venue the likes of which I hadn't stepped inside for at least 20 years - since about the time that parenthood had ensued in fact - and I was loving every minute of it!! The aforementioned Scottish Keith was in attendance, as well as some folks that Lizzy knew from her work. There was also a chap with a big stick dancing down the front who may or not have been Bez, erstwhile Happy Monday's mad dancer and subsequently an unlikely Celebrity Big Brother winner - whatever, Bez was certainly around.
The show? - well, it was amazing, I was completely knocked out. The RFH had been a very emotional experience but this was just raw energy from beginning to end. Arthur's voice was unbelievable, the band were giving it all they had, and we had the young Swedish strings and horns section (whose subsequent claim to fame was playing on the Smile tour/album) playing on the Forever Changes tracks just to top it off. I couldn't believe a gig could be this good, I was overwhelmed - which might have been something to do with the numerous lagers that I had consumed by that stage.
Anyway, the end arrives, after a rousing encore of 7and7is, we meet up with SK again and its off for some more beers. Now, by some means unbeknown to me at this stage, it seems that Keith is a pal of Mike Randle, the lead guitarist, so it is arranged that we and sundry others will meet up with Mike and his bandmates at a neighbouring hostelry, Big Hands. We headed off there, paid our admission charge, and we were in. No sign of Mike or any other of the band at this stage but there were plenty of other folks all set to have a good time. After an hour or so, the door opened and there they were - the band members (sans Arthur) and a smattering of Swedes. Now, one thing I can't be accused of is lack of self-confidence and very soon I was chatting away to Californian band members and Swedish horn players as if I'd known them for years - Lizzy was slightly gobsmacked ("you're talking to the band!!") but with a modicum of encouragement she got into it as well. I took a particular shine to Bjorn, the 28 year old trombone player from Stockholm with a fin hairstyle, but alas (or perhaps fortunately) it was not to be!! I must admit I was slightly the worse for drink before the end of the evening, but hey ho, I was reliving my lost youth here. Fortunately Lizzy and Chris were on hand to get us all in a taxi and back to the Thistle at the end of a fantastic night.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
No 1. Royal Festival Hall, 15 January 2003
So this was to be my first Love gig. Lizzy and Chris had a spare ticket, Lizzy's cousin Joan, also an old friend from the 60s/70s was due to come down from Scotland but unfortunately she wasn't well. When I was trying to remember the day, I thought that I had worked a full day and then rushed to London on the train - however looking at my diary I took a half day off work and caught the 3.30 train from Nottingham. Lizzy and her husband Chris had told me that they were booked into the Travel Inn at County Hall, it was full when I tried to book so I booked the Charing Cross Thistle on the other side of the Thames, not far over the footbridge. All sort of thoughts going through my head - would I recognise Lizzy, what would I wear??? etc etc. Booked into the hotel and they had given me a very nice room overlooking the London Eye - I'd stayed there for work previously and the rooms they'd given me were always s**tholes, they must treat you better when you're paying yourself.
Solved the what to wear problem by donning my best aging hippy gear - embroidered jeans, bell sleeved t shirt and a sort of afghan type coat (not an original, Designers at Debenhams!!), patchouli type Samsara perfume (more about that later) which I reckoned would be suitable garb - and headed across the bridge to the RFH feeling extraordinarily nervous. What if I couldn't find Lizzy, or worse still, found her but discovered we had absolutely nothing in common? What if Arthur and the band were crap? It didn't bear thinking about...
I arrived at the RFH feeling extremely apprehensive. Wandered around for a while, couldn't see anyone vaguely familiar, however the vibe was good, lots of folks my sort of age as well as lots of younger people. Then rang Lizzy on her mobile, turns out she and Chris are over the other side of the lobby from me, we advance on each other waving our hands in the air for ease of spotting..
and there she is!! She looks very much the same as I remember her, hair still red but shorter - I'm surprised she still has a Geordie accent but then she tells me she has been back in Newcastle for 15 years!! It has been a long time.
Lizzy and Chris have arranged to meet some other folks in the Hungerford Bar upstairs including the aptly named Scottish Keith - I am that long lost friend from 30 years ago mentioned in the link(more like 20 but who's counting). They're a great bunch, we end up talking to Mark Ellen and his cronies from Mojo magazine and start discussing the first single you ever bought (24 Hours from Tulsa by Gene Pitney in my case). Scottish Keith's pal seems to have taken a shine to me and keeps hitting on me (as they say in Hollywood teen flicks) - I put it down to the Samsara (passim). We spend the whole of the support act discussing old times etc and it was great - then its time to take our seats for the main event.
What can I say - I was just completely choked with emotion from the first chords of Seven and Seven is - and then the orchestra come on - and the mariachi trumpet in Aloneagainor just makes me cry and cry - absolutely wonderful. The whole gig was recorded and is available on DVD and CD. Just brilliant from beginning to end.
We weren't sitting with Scottish Keith so at the end of the gig Lizzy tried to raise him on his mobile, to no avail as it was switched off. We learned later that he had blagged a ticket to the after party, as he knew Mike Randle, the lead guitarist of the new Love. So Lizzy, Chris and I headed back over the bridge in search of something to eat, found a handy curry house and spent some more time catching up with 20 years worth of gossip. I staggered back to my hotel room and then they headed back over the bridge - but I had the feeling that this was only the beginning, this would not be the last time......
Solved the what to wear problem by donning my best aging hippy gear - embroidered jeans, bell sleeved t shirt and a sort of afghan type coat (not an original, Designers at Debenhams!!), patchouli type Samsara perfume (more about that later) which I reckoned would be suitable garb - and headed across the bridge to the RFH feeling extraordinarily nervous. What if I couldn't find Lizzy, or worse still, found her but discovered we had absolutely nothing in common? What if Arthur and the band were crap? It didn't bear thinking about...
I arrived at the RFH feeling extremely apprehensive. Wandered around for a while, couldn't see anyone vaguely familiar, however the vibe was good, lots of folks my sort of age as well as lots of younger people. Then rang Lizzy on her mobile, turns out she and Chris are over the other side of the lobby from me, we advance on each other waving our hands in the air for ease of spotting..
and there she is!! She looks very much the same as I remember her, hair still red but shorter - I'm surprised she still has a Geordie accent but then she tells me she has been back in Newcastle for 15 years!! It has been a long time.
Lizzy and Chris have arranged to meet some other folks in the Hungerford Bar upstairs including the aptly named Scottish Keith - I am that long lost friend from 30 years ago mentioned in the link(more like 20 but who's counting). They're a great bunch, we end up talking to Mark Ellen and his cronies from Mojo magazine and start discussing the first single you ever bought (24 Hours from Tulsa by Gene Pitney in my case). Scottish Keith's pal seems to have taken a shine to me and keeps hitting on me (as they say in Hollywood teen flicks) - I put it down to the Samsara (passim). We spend the whole of the support act discussing old times etc and it was great - then its time to take our seats for the main event.
What can I say - I was just completely choked with emotion from the first chords of Seven and Seven is - and then the orchestra come on - and the mariachi trumpet in Aloneagainor just makes me cry and cry - absolutely wonderful. The whole gig was recorded and is available on DVD and CD. Just brilliant from beginning to end.
We weren't sitting with Scottish Keith so at the end of the gig Lizzy tried to raise him on his mobile, to no avail as it was switched off. We learned later that he had blagged a ticket to the after party, as he knew Mike Randle, the lead guitarist of the new Love. So Lizzy, Chris and I headed back over the bridge in search of something to eat, found a handy curry house and spent some more time catching up with 20 years worth of gossip. I staggered back to my hotel room and then they headed back over the bridge - but I had the feeling that this was only the beginning, this would not be the last time......
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Arthur Lee and Love
Since that fateful day on 15th January 2003 when I met up with my great pal Lizzy again, and saw Love in concert for the first time, we have been on a significant journey and over the course of the next few weeks/months I will endeavour to set down some of the details. It has taken us as far afield as Aberdeen and Los Angeles and various points in between. I have also met my teenage hero Arthur Lee several times and my opinion of him has changed somewhat. I have also made a number of real friends ranged over a large geographical area - and its been great.
Can music save your mortal soul?
Don't know - but I do know that I was just in the kitchen and Ken Bruce on Radio 2 played Aloneagainor - and I was moved, as I always am when it is played unexpectedly on the radio. It touchs parts other music can't reach. The stoic in me forgets that I'm not supposed to be susceptible to overt displays of emotion. What I do know is that music is very important to me - and I feel like my soul could do with a bit of saving at the moment.
The owl that flew into our house
Yesterday I posted a picture of the owl that flew into our house without any explanation - here it is now.
We live in suburban Nottingham, as you might imagine not the most fertile area in the world for wildlife spotting, unless you count the squirrels who steal the nuts we put out for the birds.
One evening Keith and I were watching TV and we heard a banging noise - we rushed into our conservatory as it sounded as if something was banging into the window - from there we could see into the kitchen and spotted something flying around in there. We walked around there and found , yes you've guessed it, an owl --- a Little Owl to be precise, which had somehow found its way though an open window or a chimney into our kitchen. Keith was astounded, I quite frankly was fairly freaked out as I have a bit of a bird phobia - I managed to calm down and we both had a look at this beautiful creature, which was remarkably calm, albeit probably a bit shocked. I took the photo while Keith held it before letting it go in the garden.
We also get Green Woodpeckers sometimes, and Herons, as well as all the usual suspects.
We live in suburban Nottingham, as you might imagine not the most fertile area in the world for wildlife spotting, unless you count the squirrels who steal the nuts we put out for the birds.
One evening Keith and I were watching TV and we heard a banging noise - we rushed into our conservatory as it sounded as if something was banging into the window - from there we could see into the kitchen and spotted something flying around in there. We walked around there and found , yes you've guessed it, an owl --- a Little Owl to be precise, which had somehow found its way though an open window or a chimney into our kitchen. Keith was astounded, I quite frankly was fairly freaked out as I have a bit of a bird phobia - I managed to calm down and we both had a look at this beautiful creature, which was remarkably calm, albeit probably a bit shocked. I took the photo while Keith held it before letting it go in the garden.
We also get Green Woodpeckers sometimes, and Herons, as well as all the usual suspects.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Your mind and we belong together
I've already indicated an interest in the band Love - their roots are in the 60s but they are still playing today, and in fact are due to tour in the UK again shortly.
I was first introduced to Love in about 1968 by my great friend Liz - now Barnett but at the time Coulson. We both lived on the outskirts of Newcastle on Tyne - we weren't at school together in our teens but had been when we were very young, and then had met again via a drama group , Northumberland Experimental Youth Theatre - sounds pompous but was in fact great stuff. If you can imagine being a teenager in 60s Newcastle - it wasn't exactly West Coast USA, we were a bit too young to be tuning in and turning on, but the music coming out of Los Angeles / San Francisco blew our minds. It was like nothing you'd ever heard before - not just Love but also the Doors, the Byrds, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band etc etc.
To cut a long story short, I lost touch with Liz when we were in our late 20s / early 30s - until early 2003 that is. I received a card out of the blue from her at Christmas 2002, containing a list of the forthcoming Love Forever Changes gigs - no address but a Newcastle postmark, she'd been living near London when I'd last known her. I managed to trace her parent's address, wrote to them including my email address, and then lo and behold an email arrived. Liz, now normally known as Lizzy, was living back in the North East with her husband Chris and two children , working in education and still a big Love fan. We arranged to meet up at the Royal Festival Hall when Love were appearing there in January 2003 and the rest, as they say, is history...
To be continued
I was first introduced to Love in about 1968 by my great friend Liz - now Barnett but at the time Coulson. We both lived on the outskirts of Newcastle on Tyne - we weren't at school together in our teens but had been when we were very young, and then had met again via a drama group , Northumberland Experimental Youth Theatre - sounds pompous but was in fact great stuff. If you can imagine being a teenager in 60s Newcastle - it wasn't exactly West Coast USA, we were a bit too young to be tuning in and turning on, but the music coming out of Los Angeles / San Francisco blew our minds. It was like nothing you'd ever heard before - not just Love but also the Doors, the Byrds, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band etc etc.
To cut a long story short, I lost touch with Liz when we were in our late 20s / early 30s - until early 2003 that is. I received a card out of the blue from her at Christmas 2002, containing a list of the forthcoming Love Forever Changes gigs - no address but a Newcastle postmark, she'd been living near London when I'd last known her. I managed to trace her parent's address, wrote to them including my email address, and then lo and behold an email arrived. Liz, now normally known as Lizzy, was living back in the North East with her husband Chris and two children , working in education and still a big Love fan. We arranged to meet up at the Royal Festival Hall when Love were appearing there in January 2003 and the rest, as they say, is history...
To be continued
Thoughts for today
Hello there everyone in cyberspace. I have decided to start my own blog after a few weeks / months of logging into Troubled Diva. My reasons are unclear even to myself - lets just say that lots of thoughts are going round my head and cyberspace seems like a good space to let them out (let me out let me out!!)
At the moment I'm off work with a bad back, hopefully won't be for too long. My family and I are also on the periphery of something horrendous, i.e. its happening to some people we know well and we're on the outskirts. When I say horrendous I mean stuff of your worst nightmares - it wouldn't be fair on the people involved to say more, but lets just say its the sort of stuff that makes you look at your life and wonder what the hell you're doing with it. So some of my thought may be of the what is the meaning of life sort - we shall see.
When you have a bad back, they give you a little book telling you not to feel too sorry for yourself and get out and do stuff, so I think I'm going to do that now. See y'all later
At the moment I'm off work with a bad back, hopefully won't be for too long. My family and I are also on the periphery of something horrendous, i.e. its happening to some people we know well and we're on the outskirts. When I say horrendous I mean stuff of your worst nightmares - it wouldn't be fair on the people involved to say more, but lets just say its the sort of stuff that makes you look at your life and wonder what the hell you're doing with it. So some of my thought may be of the what is the meaning of life sort - we shall see.
When you have a bad back, they give you a little book telling you not to feel too sorry for yourself and get out and do stuff, so I think I'm going to do that now. See y'all later
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