Wednesday, August 03, 2005
The School of Rock
Sunday afternoons in the basement of the Music School. We dreamed of Marshall stacks, Stratocasters, Les Pauls, EB3s and so forth, whilst the reality was 2nd hand Vox amps from Joe Macaris musical exchange in Shaftesbury avenue and cheap Ibanez copies. Nevertheless, long extended improvisation sessions, playing Cream, Hendrix, The Doors, Led Zep, Iron Butterfly...
"Badge" often sounded more like "bodge" and its pretty hard to do a "Ginge" bass drum roll with only one bass drum...
Now repeated trips to Silicon Valley and elsewhere have allowed me to build up my musical menagerie - a Strat, Fender Precision bass, Sax from Japan, pocket trumpet from Prague, mandolin from Ireland...
Managed to revive the Jazz club - a la Dead Poets' Society - to allow frequent visits to the Rainbow theatre in Finsbury park: 80p to see Miles Davis, West Bruce & Laing, Chick Corea, Eric Clapton...
Mind you, then there was the famous "Wheeley pop festival" (in an off year when the Isle of Wight was cancelled). Berkley James Harvest playing Mocking Bird late at night, Rod(?) and T-Rex(??!) No Janis or Jimi...
Stayed at a B&B in SFO where the latter used to hang out - actually in the Janis room.
Waiting to board a plane in Hong Kong and I read about the Cream Reunion concerts in the Albert Hall - my old haunt, just opposite Imperial College. Is there any way I can make it back in time?
When it gets tough, just put on Goodbye Cream, crank up the volume to max, hang the Gibson round the neck and play
this
"Badge" often sounded more like "bodge" and its pretty hard to do a "Ginge" bass drum roll with only one bass drum...
Now repeated trips to Silicon Valley and elsewhere have allowed me to build up my musical menagerie - a Strat, Fender Precision bass, Sax from Japan, pocket trumpet from Prague, mandolin from Ireland...
Managed to revive the Jazz club - a la Dead Poets' Society - to allow frequent visits to the Rainbow theatre in Finsbury park: 80p to see Miles Davis, West Bruce & Laing, Chick Corea, Eric Clapton...
Mind you, then there was the famous "Wheeley pop festival" (in an off year when the Isle of Wight was cancelled). Berkley James Harvest playing Mocking Bird late at night, Rod(?) and T-Rex(??!) No Janis or Jimi...
Stayed at a B&B in SFO where the latter used to hang out - actually in the Janis room.
Waiting to board a plane in Hong Kong and I read about the Cream Reunion concerts in the Albert Hall - my old haunt, just opposite Imperial College. Is there any way I can make it back in time?
When it gets tough, just put on Goodbye Cream, crank up the volume to max, hang the Gibson round the neck and play
this
