By virtue of
my longstanding friendship with Keith Altham, one of the UK’s longest serving
music writers and PRs, I have been attending these lunches at the Bull’s Head
in Barnes – the Scribblers, Pluckers, Thumpers & Squawkers (Writers,
Guitarists, Drummers & Singers) Club – for about a dozen years now. As
Lesley-Ann Jones relates above the pictures on my FB page, they began in a
small way with Keith at the helm, then grew as others took over the admin, John
Pidgeon followed by Ed Bicknell and now LAJ herself, assisted by David Stark and Rab Noakes. They take place twice a year, one in summer and the other in
early December, and yesterday someone told me that the waiting list now runs to
over 200. The only way get on it is for a regular to die, a bit like the MCC
but probably more fun and there’s no dress code.
The only rule is to leave your ego at
the door. In this way those attendees who’ve made a bit of a name for
themselves in the world of music are the equals of those who haven’t. In times
past Bill Wyman was a regular but he seems to have dropped out, and I seem to
recall Roger Daltrey joining us a decade ago. Noddy Holder is a regular, though
he hasn’t showed for the last two, but his old drummer – sorry thumper –
colleague Don Powell never misses. Reg Presley was a regular until he left us,
and we are usually joined by a couple of Shadows, Bruce Welch and Brian
Bennett, and three other drummers from the thumpers Hall of Fame, Clem Cattini,
late of The Tornados and many more, Rob Townsend of Family, and John Coughlan
from the Quo. As a surprise for Clem, LAJ once brought along his old Tornados guitarist pal George
Bellamy who brought his son, Matthew, of Muse, probably the biggest ‘young’
star we’ve ever had.
At first it was an all-male affair.
Then I recall that Sandie Shaw once turned up as an honoured guest, which
delighted me because Sandie was the first pop star of note that I ever met,
back in Bradford in 1968 when she was modelling fashions for a mail-order clothing
company based there. As the pop correspondent on the local paper, the Telegraph & Argus, I was assigned to
cover her arrival in the city. She was very tall indeed and wore shoes, and
quite lovely too. She didn't remember me.
But back to Barnes. Sandie opened the
floodgates in a way and now the female contingent, all of whom dress
exquisitely, number about 25% of us. There are some singers – yesterday we
welcomed Madeline Bell, no less, along with the Lewis sisters, Linda, Shirley
& Dee, Mari Wilson and Suzie Quatro, who’s become a regular – a couple of
glamorous Quo wives, Patty Parfitt & Gillie Coughlan, writers, like my old friend Pauline McLeod, who was on the
Daily Mirror when I was on MM, LAJ herself, and PR Judy Totton, who
told me she’s working on Joe Brown’s forthcoming tour – and Joe will be 78 next
May.
Frank Allen of The Searchers has been
an attendee for longer than I have, and I was saddened to learn yesterday that
after a 60-date UK tour that takes place next January, February and March, The
Searchers will finally retire, thus bringing a close to a career that began in
1959. “The two hours on stage is still magic,” said Frank. “It’s the travelling
we can’t handle any more.”
Tich (aka Ian Amey), of Dave Dee, Dozy,
Beaky, Mick & Tich, is still a regular though his boss, who once graced us
with his boisterousness, left us in 2009. Rab Noakes, who now brings his guitar,
is another long-standing member, along with singer Billy Nicholls and Mo
Foster, who’s played bass on more records than he’ll ever remember, and who
once wrote a great book called 17 Watts,
all about the gear British would-be rock stars were obliged to suffer before
Fenders and Gibsons arrived on these shores. Another regular bassist who joins
us is the affable Tom McGuinness, late of Manfred Mann and many others. Yesterday we were joined by Blue Weaver, late of Amen Corner, who played keyboards for The Bee Gees for many years. It was nice to be able to tell him that ‘(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice’ is still of my favourite singles.
We also welcomed a couple of DJs,
Andy Peebles and Paul Gambaccini, whom I’ve known since he used to be Rolling Stone’s London correspondent
back in the '70s, which brings me to my writer friends, John ‘Bizarre’ Blake,
his former colleague David Hancock from the Sun
and Mirror, Gavin Martin and Chris
Salewicz from NME, Phil Sutcliffe
from Sounds, the acclaimed author
Philip ‘Shout’ Norman, who’s at
present working on a book about Jimi Hendrix, and my old MM colleague Chris Welch, next to whom I sat yesterday and, as
ever, wallowed in nostalgic reminiscences from the time we sat next to one another
in MM’s Fleet Street office.
Simon Napier-Bell who, on handing over
the management of The Yardbirds to Peter Grant famously advised him to fire Jimmy Page because he was a troublemaker, turned up yesterday, having
evidently flown in especially from South East Asia. Another hi-octane manager
who always joins us, of course, is Ed Bicknell, who managed Dire Straits after
a career in the music business that began as the drummer for pop star Jess
Conrad way back when. Ed took over the running of the event from the dear
departed John Pigeon and, after inaugurating a tradition whereby the names of
those in music, performers or otherwise, who’d left us in the last six months
are read out, always lightened the mood with a few hilarious stories from his
past.
So I’ll end this little report with one
of those, one that I’ve repeated many times now, with apologies to Ed. In 1988,
as some may recall, a Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert
was held at Wembley Stadium, and amongst the many star names taking part were
Dire Straits and Whitney Houston. Sometime during the course of the day word
was passed to Ed that Whitney wished to meet Mark Knopfler with a view to him
perhaps playing on a track on her next album. The meeting was duly set up and
La Houston arrived at the DS backstage caravan. Amiable conversation ensued
during which Mark advised Whitney of his willingness to contribute, it being decided
that the details would be confirmed soon through Ed and Whitney’s ‘people’.
Just as Whitney was leaving, however, things took a turn for the surreal. “I
can’t wait to see Nelson,” she said. “I’ve got all his albums but I’ve never
seen him live.”
No surprise, perhaps, that Mark didn’t
contribute after all.
Apologies to anyone I’ve forgotten to mention. Like all of us, I’m looking forward to the next luncheon immensely, and as ever am grateful to LAJ, David and Rab for their efforts in assuring a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
Apologies to anyone I’ve forgotten to mention. Like all of us, I’m looking forward to the next luncheon immensely, and as ever am grateful to LAJ, David and Rab for their efforts in assuring a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
Sounds like a wonderful gathering many rock music fans would love to be there as a “fly on the wall.”
ReplyDelete