Fall, 1979

12-9-11

Fall, 1979

I flew to England by myself in the fall of 1979.  I was going to meet up with Cameron Hand in Paris, at a pre-determined date – in a couple of days.  The hotel that I had the name / address of didn’t have any rooms available – no, I didn’t have a reservation!  They took pity on me, however – and found me a place to stay (that was even cheaper than the hotel) in Lime Grove, Shepherd’s Bush.  I was so 21-years-old!

I remember lying in that bed & breakfast listening to a cassette that Don Bolles had given me, an aircheck of an imaginary radio station, “KDIL”.  Older record collector friends had given me the names / addresses of record stores to try to go to.  I had been in touch with Steve Stapleton of Nurse With Wound.  Our band was on his list of favorite bands / records (currently on Wikipedia as “NWW List”).

I walked up and down Oxford St.  I took the Tube.  I shopped in the Virgin Megastore, near Tottenham Court Road.  The HMV @ Bond St.  58 Dean St.  Cheapo Cheapo.  Rock On…and then I discovered “The Record & Tape Exchange” in Notting Hill Gate.  I ate a Wimpy Burger, walked Carnaby St. (nothing happening here, mate).  I remember finding all the bookstores – Foyle’s, Compendium!  I saw films:  “The Kids Are Alright”, “The Life of Brian” – both on Oxford St.

I took the boat from Dover to Calais, got the train to Paris and met up with Cameron at Gare du Nord – how, I will never know.  Cameron & I had first class Eurail passes, which got us as far north as Helsinki, and as far south as…Irun, Spain!  I don’t know where else I went on that first trip that would’ve been any further south!

We wandered around “The Latin Quarter” – Crocodisc, on Rue des Ecoles!  FNAC Montparnasse!  We called Gilles Yepremian, the manager of Urban sax / Lard Free – he spoke English.  Silly us, we both forgot about the 1 hour difference between England and France – so we were continually either an hour early or late to out ‘events’ – we saw Polanski’s “Repulsion” in a theatre, but walked in on it , much to the consternation of the avid cinema viewers.  When we were to meet Gilles, we went to his place, but nobody was home – we waited for an hour, and just about as we were going to shuffle off into the Pelforth afternoon – Gilles appeared, reminding us of the time difference.  We met Roland Bocquet.  Gilles knew The Doors.  Gilbert Artman had never seen any American fans before, so that was cool.

I also got to meet Aldo Tagliapietra (of Le Orme) in Venice, Italy – Aldo spoke very good English.  Also met Holger Czukay in Koln, Germany – he was in the phone book.  It was all about music and music people, on that trip.

I remember buying a canvas LP / 45 bag at Virgin Records in England – I filled it with mostly 45’s – it got quite heavy.  Amsterdam!  Febo!  Concerto!  With or without?  Huh?  Chocomel!  Hey, everyone here speaks English fairly well!  Rock In Waterland, Trekweg 8, The Hague!  Stockholm!  Clock Burger!  Helsinki!  Tunnelenlevy!  I met someone from New Zealand in Helsinki…which gets us up to Wellington, NZ 1980.