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Sunday, June 26, 2016
Notes on a Coffee Cup:
Don’t know how i’m up at 7:30am, as we
didn’t roll into York until 3am and i didn’t fall asleep until nearly 4am. Huge
round of applause for the Liverpool crowd last night. There always seems to be a
real competition between Manchester and Liverpool and we kinda knew L’Pool
wasn’t going to be outdone. Of course, no disrespect to Manchester! That crowd
was amazingly good fun and the town was swinging and swaying to the beat.
Liverpool was a much younger crowd over all and seems like there were loads more
people in bands, male and female. Although the crowds have been quite sausage
heavy, there were definitely more birds in attendance last night than any other
night!
Our day yesterday began with us leaving
our nice hotel in Warwickshire and driving an hour to swap out Dave Chapple’s
Bass rig for another in Salford. In that time to take to swap things, Stevie and
Rusty had a wander over to the Salford Lad’s CLub, made famous from those SMITHS
album covers. Speaking of which, Johnny Marr wasn’t able to make the Manc. show,
although he asked David Jenkins to have us sort him out tickets. No problem,
Johnny. Anytime!
After we got the amp we headed to a
place (i believe) called Far Lyes on Bates Road to visit Nick Drake’s family
house he grew up and lived in his entire life. There was a church near there and
this area was called Tanworth in Arden. We then visited his grave site and paid
our respects. The headed over to the local pub for lunch. Some of us had Steak
or chicken pie. Dave Green had soup and I had Cabbage and potatoes. We settled
up and did the rest of the haul to Liverpool.
Pulled into Liverpool just about 5pm and
Johnny had to quickly get dressed and taxi over the LOVE film that was playing
down the road (10 min ride) for a Q&A, while we unloaded and set up. This is a
total team effort...no roadies not named Mike, Stevie, Rusty or Dave! We got
everything into the venue when Scottish Keith arrived and helped out with the
merch table. A bit after that, Tina Winter and Liz Barnett - two Old School
Arthur Lee and LOVE fans - arrived and it was like the old days again! Arthur
used to have Tina film all the shows for him. Then, yet another old fan arrived;
“Brummy Jim”. He was like, “You’re not gonna remember me, Mike. I’m Jim”. But I
did remember him, even his last name! Then, to top it off, the biggest
troublemaker of them all arrived; Irish Barry! Anyone who ever kept up with my
tour diaries from 2002-2005 may recall this guy. I can’t remember how long we
been pals but we go as far back as 1997, if not before that. Well, Barry showed
up with his beautiful wife, Ciara, and we had some good nice laughs and it was
so great that they could get baby sitters and jet off from Ireland and catch our
show. Thanks again, fellas.
We sound checked about 6:30 with Edgar
Jones and then with Mick Head, of Shack, who used to back Arthur back in 1992, a
year before Baby Lemonade. As a matter of fact, when I first met Arthur, he
could not stop playing me a cassette tape of him doing 7&7 Is with them in
Paris! (I’m sure Diane Lee and David Fairweather could go on and on about all
the tapes Arthur made us listen to in his black townhouse car he used to have
WIlliam Youngblood drive him around town in !!!!) He was so proud and he really
wanted that energy back and I think he saw that in us when we opened for him in
1993. We got the gig to be LOVE the next day. Sometimes things just happen for a
reason.
With all the soundchecks done, Proto
Idiot played a blistering set, definitely apt for the scene at hand. The Edgar
Jones came on and did his numbers with his acoustic guitar and sweet voice and
soulful groove. The it was our turn. The club was PACKED. Security muscled
Rusty, me and the Daves to the right side and onto the stage. Johnny had to be
brought in the other way round from outside. And as we played the first 2 or 3
tunes, it felt like THE OLD DAYS. Seeing all the familiar faces...Alun Morgan
was there as well with his wife...and here I was, 11 years older than the last
time I played this town, yet feeling 20 years younger. The Brits were leaving
the bad taste of the Brexit fight outside and leaving nothing but LOVE inside.
After the gig, got to hang with another
old fan/ friend, Capt’n Louise Dowell, her hubby and her pal, Nici! Capt’n
Louise even offered up a “How yahz doin’” to The Lovely Lady, via my iPhone
video! Speaking of which, The Lovely Lady had me cracking up before showtime,
which had me totally chilled. She just has this really amazing sense of humor
and makes me laugh like nobody else can :-) And , so nice of her, to wish us a
great gig and then when i check my phone after the show, there’s a sweet text
asking how it went and stuff. When you’re away from home, for 6 days now, things
like that really make you feel great about what you’re doing.
After we got all packed up we figured,
what would this trip to Liverpool be like if we didn’t at least get a Kebab!!!!
Yes, everyone remembers Kebabs and Mike Randle!!!! And so it went, we all got
Kebabs and ate them on the mean streets of Liverpool (and I mean MEAN! We
witnessed a drug bust a few feet from us!) We set off at 1am and finally made it
to York about 3am. I listened to some Brian Eno and eventually drifted off to
sleep. But not before first running the entire night’s wonderful vibes through
my mind... All the nice people...all the music lovers...how great the club and
staff treated us and the fans...how everyone wants to make me Deviled Eggs LOL!
Well, I’m back in Los Angeles in 9 days and the Lovely Lady has promised me some
so I am definitely looking forward to that. Signing off from the beautiful house
in York I’m staying in…
(Last Night’s Set lIst!)
***LOVE revisited (set list Liverpool)
My Little Red Book
Can’t Explain
You I’ll Be Following
Andmoreagain (w/ Edgar Jones)
Stephanie Knows Who (w/ Edgar Jones)
A House Is Not A Motel (w/ Mick Head)
She Comes In Colours (w/ Mike Head)
Your Mind and We (w/ Mick Head)
Orange Skies
Between Clark and Hilldale
Alone Again Or
Softly To Me
Daily Planet
Bummer In The Summer
Live and Let Live
The Red Telephone
You Set The Scene
Robert Montgomery
August
Laughing Stock
Revelation
Signed DC
Seven & Seven IS |
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