June 2010 Archives

Here are some rock'n'roll happenings from the months of May, taken from my diary entries, stretching back to 1963.

May, 1963

A busy month for the peroxide blonde Denny Laine and the Diplomats, with plenty of gigs throughout the West Midlands. Amongst them, the Ritz Ballroom in Kings Heath, Shirley Annexe Youth Club, the Springfield Ballroom, Solihull Civic Hall, the Adelphi Ballroom in West Bromwich, Wednesbury Youth Centre, the Bournbrook Hotel in Selly Oak, Solihull College of Further Education, the Saracens Head Pub in Hall Green, the Woolpack in Wolverhampton, the Coronation Youth Centre in Shirley, the Masons Arms Pub in Solihull, the Harp Irish Club in Sparkhill, the Charlesmore in Coventry and Kingfisher Hall in Redditch.
Busiest day of May, '64 was on the 11th, when we played three shows in one day ! ---- Kings Norton Grammar School, the Bulls Head Pub in Hay Mills and the Moathouse Nightclub in Birmingham City centre.

May, 1969
The Move finished up a weeek of cabaret shows at the Cavendish Club in Blackburn. Another appearance at the NME Poll Winners Concert at Empire Pool, Wembley and gigs at the Stockton Fiesta Club, Notts County football ground and Margate's Dreamland, plus a short tour of Ireland.

May, 1970
The Move's new single , "Brontosaurus", selling well and in the UK top ten. Plugged it with appearances on BBC Top of the pops and Grampian TV's "Pop Scotch". Also gigs at Queens Hall in Barnstaple, Stockport Technical College, the Park Hotel in Wolverhampton, Cirencester College, Eastbourne Winter Gardens, Paisley Technical College and Kilmarnock Town Hall. Also flew to Germany for a show at Dusseldorf Ice Stadium.

May, 1972
Leading a double life - appeared on BBC TV Top of the pops to promote the Move's (final) single "California man", but touring with ELO to promote the debut album "Electric Light Orchestra", with concerts in Bristol, Brighton, Preston, Nottingham, Guilford, Leicester, Manchester, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Croydon, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Solihull and Liverpool.

May 1976
Last 4 weeks of a North American tour with ELO.
Gig in Tuscon, Arizona and I bought some of the local American Indian turquoise and silver jewellery. Flew to Los Angeles. Night off and caught Leo Sayer at the Troubadour Club and Chaka Kahn and Rufus at the Whiskey a Go Go, on the same night. Drove to Santa Barbara, then on to Santa Monica and the Elvin Bishop Band opened on both shows. Flight then to Phoenix, Arizona for two sold out nights there at the Celebrity theatre. Back to LA and got to see Harry Chapin and Maureen McGovern at the Troubadour. On to Fresno and back to LA to hook up with my old mates John Bonham and Robert Plant from Led Zep. Next stop Las Vegas to play Aladins before returning to the City of Angels to perform at Long Beach Arena, the show being recorded for a live album. All of Led Zeppelin came to the show, plus Maggie Bell.
Next night I was lucky enough to be invited to a surprise birthday party for Stevie Wonder at a nightclub in Hollywood and Bill Withers, Billy Paul and Smokey Robinson all got up and jammed with Stevie and his band ! Another night off the following night too and I went to see my favourite country rocker, Waylon Jennings perform at the Troubadour club.

Flew on to Salt Lake City then from there it took a ridiculous 5 flights to get to Seattle ( via Twin Falls, Boysie, Lewiston and Spokane ). Next stop Yakoma, Washington before returning yet again to LA. A few days there before hitting the road again with shows in El Paso (opening for Steve Miller Band ), Dallas and the Tampa Festival in Florida where also on the bill were Leon Russell, War, Ike and Tina Turner, Rare Earth and Dr John.
Flight then to New Orleans for gig there with Sutherland Brothers and old mates from Stafford, the Climax Blues Band also on the bill. Final night of the tour was opening for Three Dog Night in Madison, before flying the next day to Chica

May, 1978
On a European tour with ELO. Concert in Dortmund, then very pleasant train journey to Hannover. Another train ride to Hamburg, then flight to Frankfurt to drive to the venue in Ludwigshaven, playing there for two nights. Plenty of American service men and women in the audience. On to Cologne, Berlin and Nuremberg. Final show of the German tour in the familiar surroundings of Munich and all the folks from "Musicland studios" came to the gig. Next stop Switzerland to play in beautiful Zurich, then on to Paris. Two nights in Rotterdam and final concert of the tour in Brussells.

May, 1979
The "Ivor Novello Awards" at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London and ELO won the "Contribution to British music award", presented by David Essex.
I appeared on BBC Radio One "Round table" , along with Robert Palmer and DJ's David Kid Jensen and Anne Nightingale.

May, 1982
I appeared on BBC TV "Pop Quiz", along with Roy Wood, Colin Blunstone, Linda Nolan of the Nolans, Arabella from Bow Wow Wow and Francis Rossi.
Met up with Francis a week or so later when I went to see Status Quo at the NEC in Birmingham ..

May, 1986
TV show with ELO in Montreux in Switzerland and also on the show were the Eurythmics and Status Quo.
On to Los Angeles for more TV promo for the "Balance of Power" album First a show filmed at Disneyland in Anaheim,( getting to go on a few of the rides too.) Also on the show were Kenny Loggins and Brenda Lee and chatted with both of them. Great thrill for me to meet Brenda Lee as she was a childhood idol of mine from the early Sixties.
Also appeared on "Dick Clark's American Bandstand", along with Patti Austin and also the "Solid Gold" TV show, along with Level 42.

1991
Start of ELO Part 2 debut tour of the UK , along with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, with shows at Brighton Dome, The BIC in Bournemouth, Wembley Arena and two nights at the NEC in Birmingham.

1992
A German tour with ELO Part 2. Overnight 300 mile bus journey to get from Nuremberg to Berlin and the bumpy old East German roads making it difficult to sleep in the bunk beds. Show on the evening at the circus like Tempodrome. More long drives followed - to Dusseldorf, Osnabruck, Frankfurt and Hannover. Then aboard the same bus to drive through Germany, Holland and Belgium to get the ferry home to England.
End of the month saw a rare gig for "Belch", in Doncaster. Line up was Jasper Carrott, Tony Iommi, Phil Tree, Phil Ackrill and myself.

1993
One off gig for ELO Part 2 in Cologne for German football star Pierre Litbarski's testimonial football match and dinner.
Following week a rather scary flight on little 30 seater aircraft ( alarm bells ringing on descent ! ), to get to beautiful Guernsey, in the Channel Islands for a gig there. Flight back the following morning to board the ferry to the Isle if Wight. Back on the mainland after that with shows in Poole, Swindon, Hull, Batley, Mansfield and Corby before another island gig in Jersey.

1994
ELO Part 2 charity gig at Birmingham Symphony Hall along with my old pal Jasper Carrott. Flew then to Russia for two nights at the Rossiya Hotel Concert Hall in Moscow.
A tour of Poland followed with shows in the unpronounceable towns of Gorzow, Cieszyn, Krakow, Czestockova, Lesnica, Zeclona Gora, Skrizin and Bydgoszek.

1997
Another American tour for ELO Part 2 and shows at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnatti, the Murat theatre in Indeanapolis, the Silver Legacy in Reno, Nevada and a sports arena in Flint, Michigan. 8 hour drive in the tour bus next day to play in a giant sized tent in Pittsburg. Upmarket shows followed at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago, the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Very different venues after that though , playing County Fairs in Big Flats, NY and Hollsopple, Pennsylvannia. Final show of the tour at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, before flying back to home sweet home in England.

May,1999
ELO Part 2's final British tour.
Concerts in Croydon, Oxford Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol, Bournemouth, Manchester ( with the Halle Orchestra ), Reading, Southport, Glasgow, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Truro, Cardiff, Grimsby ,Northampton, Leeds, Portsmouth, Southend, Eastbourne and a final show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

May 2005
I played in Heather Mills McCartney's "Adopt a minefield" charity golf day at Sunningdale. Heather was actually very charming - and Paul sent his regards !
Also playing were Jasper Carrott, boxing legend John Conteh, Mike Rutherfood from Genesis, Sky TV's Andy Gray and Richard Kuyes and former Olympic athlete Kris Akabussi.

May, 2006
First ever "Brum Rocks Live" show, featuring The Bev Bevan Band, Danny King, Steve Gibbons, Trevor Burton and Laurie Hornsby, at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall.
The "Bev Bevan Band" played at the Harley Davidson Festival in Faro, Portugal.

May, 2009
I appeared on a charity fundraiser show at Batley Frontier Club, to mark the one year anniversary of the sudden death of promoter Derek Franks. Also appearing on the night were P J Proby, Maggie Bell, Chris Farlowe, The Manfredds, Mike Pender of The Searchers, Journey South, Dave Berry, Vanity Fare, Frazer Hines and Brian Poole.