Recently in Life on the road Category

OUR gigs at the Whisky a Go Go had been a huge success.

But after a wonderful 1969 week in the 'City of Angels', we loaded up our U Haul trailer once again, hitched it to our rented Dodge sedan and hit the road again.

Our route was due North. Our destination: the the hippy capital of the world, San Francisco.

This was the city, of course, "where little cable cars reach halfway to the stars" and where you had to "be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!"

If you believed the Scott McKenzie hit, that is.

In spite of a week of mellowing out in Los Angeles you wouldn't find these five working class lads from England's industrial heartland Birmingham wearing any flowers in their hair!

We were in San Francisco to rock - and rock we did!

Greatest

Being put on the same bill as Joe Cocker's Grease Band and one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers of all time, the brilliant Little Richard, was all the incentive we needed.

Plus we were playing two sets a night at the legendary Fillmore West, where almost every great Sixties group had played, and where every great Seventies group would go on to play.

Our gigs at the venue were recorded for posterity and are about to be released as a double-CD set titled (surprise, surprise!) The Move Live At The Fillmore.

These were some very special performances.

We knew that they were the last dates of the long-awaited American tour.

We hoped to return to the East Coast to play the venues in New York and Chicago that we'd missed due to our visa problems, but Britain was calling.

It would soon be time for us to go back home to Brum.

Don't miss the concluding part of my US tour diary next week to see how the gigs went, and what we played.

BACK in 1967 the importance of having a high profile was summed up by The Troggs.

Not only did they get lots of press because of their wild stage shows but they had a huge hit with Wild Thing.

I picked up the music paper one week to discover that Reg Presley's band had been given gold awards at the Mar Del Plata festival in Argentina.

They were somewhat strangely dubbed "the new interpreters of youthful rhythm in international dancing music" - but at least they got to America on the strength of it.

The headlines now said that my group The Move were actually leaving for New York for the legendary US tour.

But they were only headlines.

There had once been some semblance of truth in the idea.Our manager Tony Secunda had once talked on the phone to someone in the US who agreed that it might be a good idea, but that was all there was to it.

Difference

If we had actually gone to the States in 1967, it would have made a huge difference to us.

We started out with Jimi Hendrix and Cream - at the same time, doing the same sort of shows, almost like the same family - but they carried on with underground music while we got swayed by the screaming girls and Top Of The Pops, Jackie magazine and all that sort of stuff.

They really stuck to their guns and went to America to get away from the pop scene back in Britain. They became album bands while The Move became a singles band.

If we'd have gone out there, and persevered with our music in the same way that Cream did, we could well have become really big as a 'serious' band.

As it was, we never really got the chance. A lot of it was our own fault. We were reluctant to leave home, for starters.

Looking back, we were very baby-ish. If we'd come back from the States as an album band then the entire course of our careers would have changed.

By the end of The Move both Roy Wood and I wanted to get serious, but we let the ideal drift away again.

It was the story of our lives.

Here's the second of my weekly blogs taken from the second week of January between 1963 and 1990.

1963

With Denny Laine and the Diplomats and taking our peroxide blonde hair, mock crocodile skinned suits and silver painted winkle picker shoes to gigs at The Gospel Oak pub in Hall Green, The Queens Head pub in Erdington, the Co-Op Ballroom in Nuneaton and two consecutive nights at The Regency Club in Warwick.

1969

The Move on BBC Top of the Pops with "Blackberry Way", which had climbed to number26 on the UK charts.

1971

A week of going to see other bands performing on stage - Kenny Rogers and the First Edition and two days later Jon Hiseman's Coliseum, both at The Belfry in Wishaw, plus The Raymond Froggatt Band at "Sloopy's" nightclub in Birmingham.

1972

Some ELO rehearsals at Roy Wood's house in Rosemary Hill Road, Sutton Coldfield, plus a photo shoot at EMI in London.

1973

ELO rehearsals at the Old Moselians Rugby Club in Solihull, plus a gig at Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone.

1977

Shopping for stage clothes in Los Angeles at "Bojangles" and "Nudies". Flew from sunny LA to icy Dallas for rehearsals, then back to Los Angeles. Checked into one of my favourite hotels, "Chateau Marmont". Found time too for a day at "Disneyworld" in Anaheim.

1978

Rehearsals in Los Angeles for ELO "Out of the Blue" tour, at one of the Hollywood sound stages. Mick Fleetwood, former Turtles, Flo and Eddie and Bob Welch all stopped by to say hello.

1990

Honoured as one of the "100 Famous Brummies" at Birmingham Council House. Procession of vintage cars through the streets and me and my wife Val shared an old Bentley with newscaster Sue Lawley and her husband.

Other inductees at the lavish banquet on the evening included Jasper Carrott, Roy Wood, Toyah Willcox, The Moody Blue's John Lodge, Raymond Froggatt, ex British boxing champion Johnny Prescott, politician Robert Kilroy-Silk, Warwickshire and England cricketers Bob Willis and Denis Amiss, comedian Don McLean and former FA Cup winning Aston Villa captain Johnny Dixon.

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!

So here we are in Two Thousand and Ten - 2010. Start of a new year and the beginning of a new decade, too.

Starting now is my new-look Dear Diary blog, where I check out some of my diary entries from various years gone by.

Hope you will enjoy this trawl through the world of rock and pop music, as seen through my eyes over the past 45 years or so.

So here we go, looking at what was occurring in the first week of January.

Hi everybody !

Here's a "Christmas themed Pop Quiz" to keep you amused over the festive period.

Starting in January there will be a new look "Dear Diary" blog chronicling my exploits and adventures in the world of rock and pop music over the years - from starting out in 1963 with Denny Laine and the Diplomats right up to the present day.

Happy Xmas !

Bev.

Well, no doubt what the music highlight of 2008 was for me - appearing on Jasper Carrot's Xmas Cracker on Sunday December 21st at the NEC in Birmingham.

I have been involved in all of my pal Jasper's Xmas Crackers over the years (all of them at the NEC)

The first one was on December 19th 1993, when my old band ELO Part 2 appeared on the show, along with Cliff Richard, Showaddywaddy, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Roy Wood, Phil Cool, Chris Tarrant, Robert Powell - and Mr Blobby !

In 1997 I introduced The Troggs on to that huge NEC stage. Also included on the bill that year were Bjorn Again, Rick Wakeman, Bonnie Tyler, Bobby Davro, Fairport Convention, Chris De Burgh, Vanessa Mae and return appearances by Cliff Richard and Gerry Marsden.

In 2001 I was a compere once again, introducing The Hollies (including my old friend and former Move colleague Carl Wayne on lead vocals). Also on that star studded bill were Roger Daltrey, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham ( husband David stayed backstage, babysitting), Ocean Colour Scene, Phil Cool, Roy Wood and, yet again, Gerry and the Pacemakers. I remember seeing David Beckham asking Gerry Marsden for his autograph, and Gerry agreeing to do so, in spite of Beckham "Playing for the wrong team"! - Gerry a real big Liverpool supporter of course.

Then, 5 years ago, it was a real privilege for my band "Bev Bevan's Move" to be backing band for my old friend Paul Carrack (who sang "The living years", "How long" and "Hi heel sneakers") and my old pal Robert Plant ( who sang "Need your love so bad", "Fever" and "Baby please don't go"). Also on the bill that time were Dave Dee, Tony Crane, Mike Pinder, Dave Berry, G4 and Robin Gibb.

This year, as usual, it was like being in the secret service, with the identities of the artistes due to appear on the show, a closely guarded secret. Two days before, when Jasper and I appeared on Ed Doolan's Radio WM Xmas Special at Birmingham Symphony Hall, in front of an audience of 1600 people, I let slip that I was going to be on stage at the "Cracker" I got a loud "Shush !" from Jasper, sitting next to me, and a kick on the shin.

The day of the "Xmas Cracker" began for me around noon when the bass player in my band, Phil Tree arrived at my house and we set off together to drive to the NEC. Only my car registration, pre-listed at security checkpoint 2, allowed us through to the backstage area, where we were issued all area access laminated passes. We were shown to our dressing room, where we hung up our stage clothes.