- Joined
- Mar 5, 2002
- Messages
- 20,281
- Reaction score
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I wuz just thinking.
I was just reading about the band The Velvet Underground and it reminded me.
This one usually gets attention at party conversations.
Andy Warhol once told me to turn the music down.
Funny looking geezer he was.
My first ever disco booking was at a place named the Country Club in Hampstead and I remember the barman there suggesting we call ourselves (there were 3 of us at the time) T. F. Much Rock Disco. We liked that, so we did. I later found out it was the name of Oz magazine's publishing company.
And the following week painted the name on the coffin (console) lid. The barman took my number and a few weeks later phoned me up and asked if I'd like to do a reception for the cast of a play after their first performance. The play was written by Andy Warhol and named 'Pork'.
So me and Bob loaded the gear into the back of me minivan (had to leave the back doors open cos the coffin was too big) and off we went to Hampstead Town Hall. I played records from 9 til 12 and a band named Bronco finished off the evening.
As we entered, a topless lady and a transvestite handed me and a Bob two bottles of wine each, one red, one white. The floor was filled with the strangest people I'd ever seen, lots of naughty bits both male and female were on show.
It was a warm August evening and the music I played went down well, I remember distinctly holding up a toy rubber mouse and introducing him to the audience as Gerald. I then proceeded to play 'Bike' by Pink Floyd. They loved it but them Americans are easily impressed
I also remember several people asking for someone named Alice Cooper. 'Sorry mate, never heard of him' I replied. Of course the day after I checked him out, bought some import albums and became possbly the first mobile DJ to introduce London folk to Alice Cooper.
We had a hundred watt PA formed of a WEM 100 watt amp and two 4 x 12 WEM columns.
At around 10.30 Andy Warhol entered stage left and said to me 'Excuse me, would you mind turning the volume down a little please? Thank you.' And walked off again. And that was my encounter with Mr Warhol. And yes, I did turn the music down a little.
A fella named Jess Roden was the lead singer with the band Bronco (onstage after me) and when I attempted to strike up a conversation with him he told me he didn't talk to DJ's, stuck his nose in the air and walked off in a huff. Poncey stuck up git.
Oh, that first gig I ever done at the Country Club, the promoter was a man named Eugene Finn. He ran a club at the Bickley Arms near Chiselhurst railway station and promised us a fiver for the gig. He knocked us, we never did get paid.
We can't have been the only people he knocked cos we noticed one day that his Jaguar saloon had been the victim of a bin bag full of brake fluid and battery acid left on it's roof. Nice paint job.
We did get paid for the Pork reception though. With a cheque for £12.00. It bounced. So Bob went up to some arty farty agency office near Bond Street and threatened to knock some geezer out until he was paid cash. He was paid.
And to sign off, the same episode between me and Jess Roden also happened between me and Bob Harris, he of the Old Grey Whistlle Test. It was late 71 or early 72 and I found myself seated next to him side stage at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. I was one of the roadies on a T Rex tour and Bob Harris was introducing the band at that venue.
'How's the DJ-ing going then Bob?' I enquired with a smile. He replied 'I'm not a DJ, I'm a music presenter' gave an expression as if he'd just trodden in something nasty, got up and walked off.
I thought to myself 'I seem to have a knack of doing this'
Reminiscing
I was just reading about the band The Velvet Underground and it reminded me.
This one usually gets attention at party conversations.
Andy Warhol once told me to turn the music down.
Funny looking geezer he was.
My first ever disco booking was at a place named the Country Club in Hampstead and I remember the barman there suggesting we call ourselves (there were 3 of us at the time) T. F. Much Rock Disco. We liked that, so we did. I later found out it was the name of Oz magazine's publishing company.
And the following week painted the name on the coffin (console) lid. The barman took my number and a few weeks later phoned me up and asked if I'd like to do a reception for the cast of a play after their first performance. The play was written by Andy Warhol and named 'Pork'.
So me and Bob loaded the gear into the back of me minivan (had to leave the back doors open cos the coffin was too big) and off we went to Hampstead Town Hall. I played records from 9 til 12 and a band named Bronco finished off the evening.
As we entered, a topless lady and a transvestite handed me and a Bob two bottles of wine each, one red, one white. The floor was filled with the strangest people I'd ever seen, lots of naughty bits both male and female were on show.
It was a warm August evening and the music I played went down well, I remember distinctly holding up a toy rubber mouse and introducing him to the audience as Gerald. I then proceeded to play 'Bike' by Pink Floyd. They loved it but them Americans are easily impressed
I also remember several people asking for someone named Alice Cooper. 'Sorry mate, never heard of him' I replied. Of course the day after I checked him out, bought some import albums and became possbly the first mobile DJ to introduce London folk to Alice Cooper.
We had a hundred watt PA formed of a WEM 100 watt amp and two 4 x 12 WEM columns.
At around 10.30 Andy Warhol entered stage left and said to me 'Excuse me, would you mind turning the volume down a little please? Thank you.' And walked off again. And that was my encounter with Mr Warhol. And yes, I did turn the music down a little.
A fella named Jess Roden was the lead singer with the band Bronco (onstage after me) and when I attempted to strike up a conversation with him he told me he didn't talk to DJ's, stuck his nose in the air and walked off in a huff. Poncey stuck up git.
Oh, that first gig I ever done at the Country Club, the promoter was a man named Eugene Finn. He ran a club at the Bickley Arms near Chiselhurst railway station and promised us a fiver for the gig. He knocked us, we never did get paid.
We can't have been the only people he knocked cos we noticed one day that his Jaguar saloon had been the victim of a bin bag full of brake fluid and battery acid left on it's roof. Nice paint job.
We did get paid for the Pork reception though. With a cheque for £12.00. It bounced. So Bob went up to some arty farty agency office near Bond Street and threatened to knock some geezer out until he was paid cash. He was paid.
And to sign off, the same episode between me and Jess Roden also happened between me and Bob Harris, he of the Old Grey Whistlle Test. It was late 71 or early 72 and I found myself seated next to him side stage at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. I was one of the roadies on a T Rex tour and Bob Harris was introducing the band at that venue.
'How's the DJ-ing going then Bob?' I enquired with a smile. He replied 'I'm not a DJ, I'm a music presenter' gave an expression as if he'd just trodden in something nasty, got up and walked off.
I thought to myself 'I seem to have a knack of doing this'
Reminiscing
OMG!! 