May 3rd.
Parents Meeting. Pretty boring though every teacher seemed to like me. [I wonder
why?] No homework. Stayed in baths [i.e. stayed in the swimming pool after the
swimming lesson was finished. I loved swimming.] Gattrell [gym teacher] is
human!
[Gattrell was the epitome of gym teachers –
large, Amazonian and about as feminine as a saw horse. But that's not why I had
thought of her as inhuman. I'd put her in with the rest of the teachers, many
of whom could have played the part of Dolores
Umbridge without missing a beat.
May 4th.
Sowden [hellacious teacher who would have been
much improved by hanging, drawing and quartering] denied everything she'd said
about us yesterday and told us how useless we were. Not much homework.
May 6th.
Bought Metal Guru in Dewsbury.
May 7th.
Go to London. Went to Soho for supper – or late
tea. 2i's not there! Lovely day.
[Parents took me to London. I'd convinced
myself I'd like London, particularly Soho, because the 2i's café was
there. This was the hangout where all young stars went to be discovered in very
early Sixties - Cliff Richard, for instance. Marc Bolan had hung out there with
his heroes and done the wannabe thing, long before he was famous. It had closed
down by 1972. I wrote about it here.]
May 8th.
Went shopping in Regents Street area [London].
Bought Desdemona. Went to Trafalgar. Came home.
[Desdemona was a single by
John's Children that featured Marc Bolan on vocals. Nowadays you can summon it
up on YouTube within about three clicks. At the time, it was a Holy Grail. I'd
been waiting years to get a copy. And this wasn't the original, but a reissue
on Track Records
that featured three other songs. I believe they were The Wind Cries Mary
(Hendrix), Fire (Arthur Brown) and Something in the Air (Thunderclap Newman).
Although getting music was like pulling dragons' teeth at the time, you can't
say you didn't get an eclectic bunch when you finally found it. All of these
became firm faves. Desdemona was famous in my eyes for having been banned by the BBC for the line "Lift up your skirts and fly". I
wonder what they thought it meant? I loved Trafalgar Square, where you could
buy little paper cones of corn for the pigeons. As soon as you held out a
handful of corn, the birds descended on your outstretched hand, your head, your
shoulders, your shoes and proceeded to peck at anything corn-like. It was
great, in an anti-Hitchcock sort of way. I don't think they allow bird-food
sellers in Trafalgar Square anymore, because the world has gone to pot.]
May 11th.
Not much homework. T. Rex on television!
May 13th.
Was rugby final. Taped a Marc interview off
Scene and Heard.
[Wish I still had it.]
May 14th.
Went to a fish show, then to a quarry with
[Bruv].
[Ah, quarries! What a day out. I remember
Bruv's fish tanks, though.]
May 21st.
Uncle George came from America. Gave us lots
of coke, whisky and peanuts. He gave me 30p [50 cents]. He's oll right.
Alice Cooper!
[Ah, the rich American uncle arrives with his
riches, richitude and legendary largesse!
30p! And the coke was Coca Cola, of course. And I didn't get any whisky,
being 14 at the time.)
May 25th.
T. Rex on TV!
2 comments:
On the subject of T.Rex, session drummer (and potential Zeppelin member) Clem Cattini claims to have played on Hot Love, Get It On & Telegram Sam. No mention of Bill Legend. Know anything about this?
I leave you with Webb Pierce, Teenage Boogie.
Wel,l according to Mark Paytress, Bill Legend 'got a kick out of' hearing his drumming on Hot Love played on the radio, though the book is a bit confusing on the details of how that exactly came about. (He was called into the session, but didn't join the band permanently until a few weeks later.)
Get It On was recorded on tour in the US at Wally Heider's in LA, and Telegram Sam in Copenhagen, so I don't see how Cattini could have been involved in those.
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