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On The Road tales
There is a new mini E-book coming soon. This one will have tales of life on the road back in the day and the experiences of the musicians as well as the poor crew who saw the world from back stage or a a van which they slept in too. This one that did not…
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Willie Morgan describes what it was like to take records to Radio One
In the Seventies the biggest promotion any record could get was being played on Radio One, so the record companies employed callow young youths to go bang on the doors of the BBC producers to try and get them to play their priority records.
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From Branson to Vicious
Last week we had the pleasure of a trip to the coast and a long chat with Sue Steward recounting her years with various madmen (and women). For many years she worked with Richard Branson in the early years of Virgin Records as it grew from a student newspaper into a indie record label. Then…
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The Davy Graham documentary moves forward
. We have been doing more filming recently and while outside Davy’s old flat in Camden, all sort of people saw us and stopped for a chat, telling us stories and memories of the man. This is Brian who lives next door with one of the photos he took of Davy all of which he…
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Kingston-on-Thames shows off their musical history
For those of you interested in the musical history of the Kingston-on-Thames area, there is a new exhibition just opened at the local Rose Theatre. Supported by the Lottery Fund it collects together local history testimony covering the role of the American GIs based in nearby Bushey Park during WWII and their taste in ‘race’…
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Nigel Grainge RIP
A hugely respected record company A&R man who signed Thin Lizzy and the Steve Miller Band to Phonogram and then went on the found Ensign Records with the likes of Sinead O’Connor and the Boomtown Rats. He was filmed about three years ago at his home in Santa Monica and the conversation and memories ranged…
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Roy Tempest and BBC Records
I have been irritated today by the continued ease with which inaccurate articles appear on the internet and then become deemed to be actual fact. This week for example an article appeared on the august and mighty BBC website written about BBC Records and how wacky it was in the day. This was a company I used…
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Artists on the road
All that hanging around in hotel rooms could be very tiring
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Caldwell Smythe launches Colonel Barefoot’s Rock Garden
The old hotel had fallen by the wayside but when Colonel Barefoot’s Rock Garden sprang back to life on the Eel Pie island, it was to showcase so many brilliant rock groups
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Willie Morgan goes from shop to jockey with a few diversions enroute
This week we have managed to film the current country music disc jockey Willie Morgan and hear tales of summer holiday jobs in record shops whilst under age in the Sixties. Hi-jinks with the artists at a variety of record companies in the Seventies and the role of an ever changing radio service for us all…
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Vince Connolly working with the stars and musicians
Vince Connolly was last week’s guest in front of the camera, spilling the beans on life as a Liverpool son who grew up there in the Beatle years. He eventually made his way down south to become a promotion man on radio and TV for the major record companies in London where of course he…
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Vic Flick starts his extraordinary recording career
One from the archive that is proving eternally popular, session guitarist Vic Flick explains how he started off in the world of endless sessions