Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen's Newcastle debut, 11th May 1981.

by Bill Norman

I write this not long after the 32nd anniversary of what is often regarded as one of the great gigs of all time and certainly the best gig I have ever been to.

Bruce was well known but not the muscle-bound thug rock superstar of 'Born in the USA' three years later. Indeed he was still the wiry kid with something to prove in many ways.  His 5th album 'The River'  had been released some six months earlier to rave reviews.  Most Brucophiles reckoned it would have made a stunning single album.  It had quite a bit of filler, but hell, we would have accepted him singing Phil Collins songs at that point in time …

This was the first proper tour in the UK since 1975 - Newcastle upon Tyne was the opening gig.  Originally scheduled for 31st March it was rescheduled through illness for 11th May which, as it turned out , was significant for music in another way, being the day Bob Marley died.

Ticket scan from Jules Boynton

I thought "palpable sense of expectation” was just a phrase used by rock journalists when they ran out of inspiration but I really could feel the magic in the air as I entered Newcastle City Hall.





Highlights of the four hour show:

• 11th May was almost the 25th anniversary of 'Heartbreak Hotel' entering the UK charts (12th May 1956) which is appropriate as Bruce opened solo with an Elvis cover - 'Follow That Dream'.
• Two John Fogerty covers 'Who'll Stop the Rain?' and finishing with the audience singing along with the house lights up to, 'Rocking All Over the World'.
• Changing “lately there ain't been much work" to “no work on account of the economy" in 'The River' as a reaction to the deepening unemployment in the UK and in the North East in particular.
• The cover version of Ennio Morricone’s 'Once Upon a Time in The West' as a prelude to "Badlands" – he didn’t officially record it till nearly 30 years later and then won a Grammy.
• Electrifying silences for all the ballads and for which he thanked us at least three times!
• Bruce going out into the audience to sing – something I had never seen anyone do up that point.
• The audience singalong of 'Hungry Heart' and Bruce responding, “You're Hired!” 
• Turning average songs into something great live - especially 'Point Blank'.
• Finishing off part one with Thunder Road - singing the “maybe we ain’t that young anymore" line for the first time and starting part two with an astounding 'Cadillac Ranch'.
• The simply heartbreakingly beautiful, 'Racing in The Street' and 'Independence Day'.  There was a lot of throat swallowing for those two and that was just the blokes…
• A tremendous version of Woody Guthrie’s 'This Land Is Your Land' with an improvised new verse.
• The wonderful stories with Clarence - laughing and joking - especially the climbing the wall into Gracelands tale - how different to the perfunctory grunts of acknowledgement between them in later years as Bruce tried to outdo the Ramones for continuous music.  No , this was this was a show with pace.
• Doing the Mitch Ryder Detroit medley as heard on the 'No Nukes' album 

Photo by Colin Richardson

Photo by Colin Richardson

There were some omissions – 'She’s the One' and 'Jungleland' being the obvious two, but even their absence could not dim the glory of that night.

But you know, the other main star that night was Newcastle City Hall itself - a simply perfect find your feet gig for Springsteen - magnificent acoustics, a common sense approach to curfews.  The management let people enjoy themselves and at that time we still had audiences who knew how to sing and shout: "Brooooooooce!"

As a post script, 20 years later I found out that a work colleague I didn’t know at the time had been at the gig – I brought in some photos a friend had taken and lo and behold my colleague was on one …

"We're a Poob Rock Band" - Sonic Youth and Mudhoney in Newcastle and Glasgow

by Hazel Plater

The following is a transcript of an NME review from Sonic Youth and Mudhoney's 1989 UK tour, written by David Quantick and photographed by Jayne Houghton, from the 1st April 1989 issue.  No copyright infringement is intended.

The shows took place on Friday 17th March 1989 at Riverside Newcastle and Saturday 18th March 1989 at Glasgow Strathclyde University.  While we recognise that Glasgow is a little out of the catchment area of this North East Music History blog, it seemed wrong to omit the last section of the article.

Additional colour photos included here were taken at the Riverside Newcastle show by promoter Babs Johnston, used with kind permission.

WE'RE A POOB ROCK BAND

SONIC YOUTH

MUDHONEY

NEWCASTLE RIVERSIDE CLUB

GLASGOW STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY

"Banned from the poobs! Banned from the poobs!" Thurston Moore sings this happy song in the dressing-room as he fiddles with his guitar.  Lee Ranaldo's child plays with some fruit, Kim Gordon sits quietly, a monument to fun fur, and Steve Shelley lurks in his duffelcoat; Steve is probably the only duffelcoat-owning drummer in the history of American rock.

Mudhoney are soundchecking, their insidious blare almost drowned by bloody Thurston singing "Banned from the poobs!" in his weird New York/Albert Tatlock voice.

Sonic Youth and Mudhoney's tour is an infinite round of vans, signings, food, and concerts.  I am lucky enough to join them at dinner in The Naked Lunch restaurant.  Naturally, they go mental when they find out the name of the eatery.  Thurston keeps shouting "Dharma!"

During the meal they shout at Mudhoney and ask each other and ask each other about 'Shipbuilding' as it trips from the cassette player.  "Did Elvis Costello do this before the Robert Wyatt version?" asks Lee worriedly.  "Or did he do it after?"

Kim belches.  "That'll go in the article," predicts Thurston with some accuracy.  "The bass player belched," sighs Kim.

Finally, Mudhoney have enough of being shouted at and go onstage.  The audience correctly interpret this decision as a signal to shout and swear and try to get onstage too.  At one point singing Mudhoney Marc (sic) reverses the process and leaps into the audience for a tumultuous few minutes.

Mudhoney are astonishing.  From the dirty corners of the '70s, where the crap guitar solos live and the wah wah pedal still walks the earth, Mudhoney have extracted the essence of what was good about that music and rammed it like French fries up the scabby nostrils of hardcore.

They stand in a shaking row onstage and rock obscenely; on another planet in another galaxy, moss creatures tried to copy the Quo and Mudhoney were the result.  They are dead funny and proper rock music too.  The audience senses this. They shout "Ya fookun wunkahs!" and wave their fists appreciatively.

"I love those baby blue guitars," sighs Kim as Mudhoney leave the stage.  In the toilet is a piece of graffiti by one of Goodbye Mr Mackenzie.  Fiver or we print it!

Sonic Youth begin to look edgy.  Steve Shelley becomes lost in his duffelcoat.  Thurston has forgotten the words to 'Teenage Riot'.  "Da da da da," he sings to himself, then discovers he has forgotten the words to the others songs too.  "I love it when you make the words up," says Steve.  "It really gives me faith in the band."

 Onstage and rocking, Sonic Youth become even stranger.  Guitars racing in and out of spaces in the songs, shouted lines of tackiness and urgency, a version of rock music tunes by moss creatures and played by people who shout, "Banned from the poobs!" at the audience, who seem puzzled.

Sonic Youth, Riverside Newcastle - photo - Babs Johnston

Sonic Youth, Riverside Newcastle - photo - Babs Johnston

Sonic Youth, Riverside Newcastle - photo - Babs Johnston

'Teenage Riot', wrong words or not, wins on audience recognition; much Sonic past is not present and we have no opportunity to observe the bare bones of Sonic interplay, the rush of parts of songs as they collide and leap off again.  Sonic Youth can now mimic conventional rock music like those weird flies that look like wasps; they're completely alien to rock but they just sound that way sometimes.

Now Thurston is talking to the audience, except he can't understand them. "Ya fookun wankah" roars a cack-faced youth.  "Schizophrenia? Right!" agrees Thurston inaccurately.  Kim lies on her back and plays the bass guitar.  Finally it all ends with a version of 'Rocket' with Marc (sic) holding a guitar as Thurston "shows him the chords".  Our ears are ringing but there's no one home to answer them.

Thurston Moore's Mark Arm guitar arm.

Dressing-room fun.  Mudhoney start talking about Sham 69.  Thurston expresses interest in the idea that punk made crap English towns world-famous.  "Hersham!" he snorts, baffled. 

SonicYouth guitars at Riverside Newcastle - photo - Babs Johnston

People come in and have their photo taken "with the band".  We are invited to a party.  We are so, so rock 'n' roll, that we go home. 
 The Hong Kong rock press are with us.  Kim reveals that she lived in Hong Kong when she was 13.  "Are you an adult band?" the Hong Kong journalist asks.  "I'm 35," says Kim.  "I don't know if I'm an adult or what," ponders Steve, "like I'm 27 now and I feel, er, 27."  Bedtime all round.

AND IT'S tomorrow!  Time to go to Glasgow.  Steve sleeps late, waiting for his breakfast which never comes; even now, it wanders Newcastle, waiting for him.  Thurston has bought a Quiet Sun LP.  Everyone agrees that it is rubbish but it's very rare so Thurston is happy.

A long van journey ensues.  Four hours of hardcore tapes also ensue.  We pass by Lockerbie and Hadrian's Wall as the van fills with wild grunge and bits of music papers.  Refreshed, we "hit Glasgow" and go to a record shop, where pasty-faced youths proffer records and T-shirts to be written on.  Lee goes mad and empties a girl's bag and signs three old bus tickets, her diary and her cigarette lighter.
"Signing records has its own routine," explains Thurston.  "You begin writing different things for each person then you give up being interesting in the middle, and you get enthusiastic again at the end."
More soundchecks, then...curry!  Sonic Youth order the world and leave half of it.  They insist on talking about Australia.  "We like the kangas," explains Kim, and the farms where everything is the biggest.  The Big Pineapple, the Big Lawn-Mower... and we went to Wagga Wagga.  What a great name."
The concert tonight is larger and, being composed of many students, calmer.  Mudhoney burn their way through their tunes, baby blue and hairy.  "Halloween!" burbles a stude.  "We call it Hallowf--ingween!" shouts Marc (sic), with some difficulty.  Mudhoney depart, fame and fortune soon to be theirs.  The famous and fortunate Sonic Youth follow, louder than before and still more awesome.  Unfortunately, Thurston has lost his mind.
"I don't know if I can carry on," he announces to a concerned audience, "I had an onion bhaji and I think it's coming back."  Bravely he soldiers on.  "I'm going to see Scandal tomorrow!" he roars, "who wants to come?"
Finally, Sonic Youth crash through 'Rocket' and Thurston is overcome, his curry coursing through his veins like a drug he races offstage, presumably for a personal function.
The next day, as I leave, the staff of the Glasgow Odeon are startled to see 300 pale students queueing up for cinema tickets at three in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, The Lady and The Tramp is showing instead and Sonic Youth and their fans mutate into adorable chipmunks, Steve Shelley-style.  They swarm the streets of Glasgow, squeaking horribly.  "Banned from the poobs!" they horribly squeak, "banned from the poobs!" 

David Quantick 

 

  

  

Save Newcastle Hall Petition Hand-In

 

We were a bit windswept, but it was the Council that were blown away when we gave them 13,000 signatures in support of Newcastle City Hall.

Tyne Tees TV's report is here: http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/story/2013-01-31/save-the-city-hall-campaign/

And we're also on Sky Tyne and Wear, with Cllr Veronica Dunn. So, Newcastle City Council says here that they will work with the users of Newcastle City Hall. That's us, the people. Let's see if we can now find a way forward. http://tyneandwear.sky.com/news/article/55062

http://tyneandwear.sky.com/news/article/55062

 

Thanks to all who have signed and shared the petition, which remains open. The petition will also be formally submitted to a full council meeting in the Council chamber next week.

With best wishes and fingers crossed for a positive future for Newcastle City Hall,

North East Music History

http://www.facebook.com/groups/northeastmusichistory/

 

Save Newcastle City Hall - an update

By North East Music History

The Newcastle City Hall Facebook page has added a new post about its future which you can find here: https://www.facebook.com/Newcastlecityhall/posts/10151306398704204

North East Music History (NEMH) has the following comments to make about this: Firstly, as we’ve made clear previously, the focus of our campaign is certainly not the management and staff of the venue itself. Our campaign is targeted at the people in Newcastle Council who will determine the future of the City Hall. The key decisions on this will not, alas, be left to the people who work at the venue. The statement indicates there is now considerable speculation that the City Hall is under threat of closure. That’s true and is hardly surprising when Cllr Nick Forbes, Leader of the City Council and the man ultimately responsible for decisions on this issue, told the BBC on 27th November, “the whole site - the City Hall and Pool - doesn't have a long-term future given the current funding climate.” Whilst NEMH welcomes the statement that the venue management has “put forward a series of proposals to enhance the financial viability of the City Hall”, we do not consider that, in itself, changes anything regarding our campaign. We don’t know the details of these proposals, we don’t yet know whether the Council is prepared to accept and implement them – and we still don’t know what the Council’s own plan is for the long term use of the site. In short, we believe our campaign to save the City Hall as a vibrant performance venue is still very much needed. The campaign will continue and indeed will be intensified early in the New Year. Finally, as the Newcastle City Hall post says, the venue is continuing to operate and tickets are on sale for a range of gigs in 2013. NEMH hopes you will support the venue by going to City Hall gigs and continue to support the campaign by signing the petition at www.change.org/savenewcastlecityhall , which has so far collected over 8,000 signatures online and in the street. The two things are hardly mutually exclusive!

Save Newcastle City Hall

by North East Music History



PRESS RELEASE – NORTH EAST MUSIC HISTORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


NORTH EAST MUSIC LOVERS CALL ON COUNCIL TO SAVE NEWCASTLE CITY HALL 





The North East's music-loving public are rushing to defend Newcastle City Hall, demanding that it should continue as a performance venue. Newcastle City Council has asked for people’s views on the future of the City Hall, within the recently published Budget proposals.


The North East Music History group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/northeastmusichistory  has once again demonstrated the power of social media, by launching an e-petition calling for the City Hall to be saved as a music venue. In less than 24 hours, it has already gathered more than 1,000 signatures and expects to attract at least 10,000 signatures by the end of the consultation period.


North East Music History group and blog admin, Hazel Plater, author and ex-employee of Newcastle's legendary Riverside music venue, which closed in 1999, said,“We have lost Newcastle's iconic venues The Mayfair and Riverside in recent history, and the Club A-Go-Go before them. Newcastle City Hall has so much history; from orchestras and opera, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Dylan, Beatles, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Bowie, Blondie, Lindisfarne Christmas Concerts, Stand-up Comedy and much more. It’s not at all clear what Newcastle City Council’s intentions are towards the City Hall site. Our group believes that the Council should do whatever is necessary to save the City Hall as a performance venue. This would not only recognise its iconic status and its rich musical history but also acknowledge that it still has massive potential as a performance venue in the future, as part of the cultural industry activity that we hope will form an important part of our future local economy.”


Tony Stephenson, North East Music History group contributor said, "We need first to secure the council's commitment to retaining the City Hall as a performance venue in a way that will enable to offer a great experience to the ticket buying public. Whether that is as a wholly run public enterprise or as a partnership or a privately run deal (with absolutely binding terms and conditions from the Council) I, personally, am prepared to be pragmatic about. The important thing is to secure its future and commitment to its continuation as a viable venue, not to sell it off now or allow it to pass into the hands of people who will run it down in order to pitch for change of use of the site and then it's lost anyway."


Martin Craig, a musician and also part of the NEMH group said, “We want more members of the public plus performers linked to Newcastle City Hall to sign the petition before the end of the consultation period on 1st February 2013. We are conducting a high profile campaign to save the City Hall for future generations.”


If you want to add your voice to the e-petition to save Newcastle City Hall you can go online at:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/newcastle-city-council-save-newcastle-city-hall




WEB LINKS:

Relevant Newcastle City Council document: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/sites/drupalncc.newcastle.gov.uk/files/wwwfileroot/your-council/budget_and_annual_report/budget_2016_-_13_-_city_hall_and_city_pool.pdf

North East Music History Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/northeastmusichistory/

North East Music History blog: http://www.northeastmusichistory.org.uk




ENDS. XXXXXXXX

Newcastle City Hall - under threat.

The Tube

by Hazel Plater

This month marks 30 years since The Tube television programme was first broadcast live from Tyne Tees Television on City Road, Newcastle upon Tyne to the music lovers of the nation.

Channel 4 had just begun, and this show, presented by Jools Holland and Paula Yates was its flagship music show, featuring, over its 5 seasons, performances from a huge number of artists, including The Jam, The Smiths, REM, U2, The Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Tuna Turner, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Duran Duran and even Madonna.

The Tube was named after the distinctive entrance to Tyne Tees Televison

The majority of music appearances on the magazine-style show were performed live at Tyne Tees' Studio 5.  The video clip below, however, shows Billy Bragg, busking to the queue of people waiting to come into the studios to be part of the live television audience.





A large number of hip young people around the North East at the time, remember taking part in the show, a night which would often begin in the adjacent Egypt Cottage public house, where celebrities could often be seen propping up the bar.  The pub was such a part of the show that it was dubbed 'Studio 6' and was famously where presenter Paula Yates first met INXS frontman Michael Hutchense as part of a 1986 episode.

The Tube was last broadcast in 1987.  The Egypt Cottage and Tyne Tees are now both no more, having been demolished in recent years.

Post your recollections of The Tube below, or at the North East Music History Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/northeastmusichistory/

Led Zeppelin's first gig - Newcastle Mayfair - 4th October 1968

by Hazel Plater and Ian Ravendale

I'm very proud that this story, written by Ian Ravendale (real name Ian Penman, but he writes articles under this name to avoid confusion with former NME writer Ian Penman), has appeared in Classic Rock magazine this month thanks to input from the North East Music History Facebook group.  Turns out Led Zeppelin's first gig was at Newcastle's Mayfair - 4th October 1968 - a fact hitherto unreported.  The article tells the full story and includes first hand accounts from NEMH group members Ray Laidlaw and Charlie Foskett, a late-friend's tale told by John Porteous and additional research by Marshall Hall.  Well done everyone concerned - Led Zeppelin history, North East Music History and a fine story unveiled!  The magazine is available from all good newsagents or by subscription from http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/

Led Zeppelin's first gig featured in Classic Rock magazine October 2012

After I posted the above article, Ian himself got in touch with me, to elaborate on how the Classic Rock story happened:


"The legendary Led Zeppelin played their first handful of UK gigs under the name The New Yardbirds, a roll-over from leader Jimmy Page's former band whose final gig obligations they were honouring.  The first of these shows was at Newcastle Mayfair ballroom on 4 October 1968 with support slots from local bands Downtown Faction and The Junco Partners plus New York Public Library, originally from Leeds but based in London by this time. I'd found out about the show while researching another possible locally based Led Zeppelin story.  The fact that Zep made their UK debut on Tyneside and under a different name jumped out to me as a potentially fascinating subject for an article and Classic Rock agreed.

Still being billed as The Yardbirds, on the night they were billed as The New Yardbirds

If anything was going to stretch my super-researcher powers it was locating the support bands, audience members, promoter and Mayfair staff and then getting some good stories and anecdotes out of them.  The gig was, after all, 44 years ago!  But, pulling in favours and with the invaluable help of a notice on the main NEMH site, I got the response I needed from people who were at a gig that was, by most accounts, not very well attended.

In addition to interviewing Ray Laidlaw (Downtown Faction) and Junco Partners Bob Sargeant and Charlie Harcourt I also spoke to promoter Fraser Suffield and Brian Greenaway who was the manager of the Mayfair in 1968 that I located via a lead from Marshall Hall.  Brian was seriously ill when I went up to chat with him in hospital in Berwick.  He was courteous and responsive and I appreciated him seeing me under very adverse circumstances. Sadly Brian died a couple of days ago.

Some people, like NEMH member Charlie Foskett, had great recall of the event-remarkable because no-one knew, of course, that they were witnessing the first UK gig of the outfit who would become the world's biggest rock band in the 1970’s.  Others remembered less but I still unearthed lots of great information that has never seen print before.

I got off to a bit of a false start by spending a fair amount of time trying to track down Terry Reid, who was credited on the advance tickets as the main support act.

Terry rang me and told me that, no, his band Fanasia didn’t play the gig because they were off supporting Cream on their Farewell US tour!

This was why, I surmised, New York Public Library were credited on the Evening Chronicle adverts, which would, of course, have gone to press a lot later than the advance tickets.  They’d have been the replacement for Reid.  It took a bit of scurrying around (with the deadline looming!) but I managed to get hold of a couple of guys from the band.  One was convinced that the gig took place in Glasgow, but I quickly managed to disprove that to him.  The other, Tez Stokes, NYPL’s guitarist, was a very good interviewee with a good memory of the event, enhanced by him already slightly knowing John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page.

I was pretty happy with the finished article and the reaction to it.

This is exactly the sort of article I like doing where I can locate people and untold information to tell a story that has previously gone unrelated.  Zeppelin have been discussed, debated and written about non-stop since their split in 1980 following the death of John Bonham but very little exists about their first UK gig.  Until my article.  Thanks to Hazel and everybody else from NEMH who helped me do it."


.

 

Filming Fugazi

By Michael Sanderson


Fugazi playing at the Riverside in Newcastle upon Tyne on Sunday 26th November 1989, without a doubt changed my life! It seems a grand and ridiculous statement but it really is true.


Fugazi's whole outlook on playing live and their approach to the music industry was and remains to this day quite simple but radical and I admire them more than words can describe.


Riverside, as a venue, felt similar with friendly door staff and an atmosphere unlike any other club I had been to or have been to since.

Fugazi ticket from Riverside Newcastle

Before the gig I approached the band as they walked around the venue and they were only too happy to have the show filmed and then be interviewed afterwards. At which my position for the night was taken on - a hastily moved table in front of one of the mighty brick pillars, which I must say that I always liked!


God's Ultimate Noise and Crane warmed the crowd up and by the time Fugazi walked on stage the room was heaving and already dripping with condensation! They played a mixture of songs from their first two EPs plus some newer songs from their forthcoming album Repeater. 'Waiting Room', 'Glue Man' and 'Margin Walker' never sounded better. It was a combination of the band being on top form and playing in what was to become one of their favourite venues. This remains one of my most memorable gigs ever.


When I heard that there was to be a documentary made about Riverside, I got in touch with one of the producers and offered them my footage of this and other Riverside gigs I filmed around the time. I am really pleased to have my work included in the trailer, which can be found on their indiegogo crowd funding page this month. The campaign runs for 30 days. If enough funds are raised, the team will go out to interview Ian Mackaye in Washington DC, to add his recollections of Riverside to the live footage in the completed documentary.

The campaign is at www.indiegogo.com/rivfilm and embedded below.

Teesside Blues

By Martin Craig


Tyneside bands who went out through agents like Beverley Artistes, Birchall's, West End or JKR Theatrical (the legendary Jimmy King) will remember how we were often sent down the motorway to gigs in Teesside & North Yorkshire on Friday & Saturday nights during the Seventies.  Meanwhile, Teesside & Yorkshire bands would slog up the opposite  Northbound carriageway on their way to dates in Tyneside & Northumberland.  We used to flash our headlights to each other as we passed.


This exchange arrangement was done so that the Concert Chairman could announce, "Ladies & Gentlemen, put your hands together for a great group who've come all the way from...."  The theory was: the further we'd come, the more exotic it made us seem to the punters.


View Larger Map

During the decade-plus we spent doing this north-south journey it found its way into my songwriting, probably as a form of self-therapy, in songs like 'Living on the A19', 'M62' and 'Teesside Blues'.


After our first vinyl EP came out, I got a publishing interview with Chappell Music in London's Bond Street.   It was late summer in 1979.  The bloke I met wore a curved moustache and a frilly shirt with long pointed collars and billowing sleeves, looking very like Peter Wyngarde as Jason King in the cult tv series 'Department-S'.  I wore my usual black leather bike jacket.


I told Jason King that my new songs were about actual places I knew and real experiences I'd had, rather than made-up stories.  I also said my songs were often about movement, with lots of car and bike images.


Jason King took our precious quarter-inch stereo demo tape, played a few bars of each song and fast-forwarded through the rest, making us sound like the Chipmunks.  I started to bristle.


'Rockin' at the Ace Café' came on.  "I wanted this one to have a Chuck Berry sound," I pointed out helpfully, in case he'd missed it.  "Ye-e-s-s, well, we already have Chuck Berry himself on our books... you know, Jewel Music? I shut up.  He pointed to a grand piano.  "Roy Orbison was writing songs on that piano yesterday. He's with us too."  I shut up some more.


'Teesside Blues' got underway.  "I like this one," said Jason King, "but you need to change the lyrics to 'L.A. Blues.'  No-one cares about, what is it called, Teesside?  Where's that, for God's sake?  Somewhere up North?  No WAY!!"


Lynn was with me and she said afterwards that I looked as if I was going to chin Jason King. I can remember arguing that it HAD to be Teesside, because that was the WHOLE BLEEDING POINT!


Jason King was quite nice about it really.  He took us downstairs from Department S to the Chappell record shop, pulled out some albums and gave them to me, saying, "Have a listen to these, let them soak in for a while, then write me six new songs."


The albums included Ricky Lee Jones, Tom Waits, Springsteen's first album and a fantastic reggae compilation.  I think Jason King must have been good at his job (despite that shirt) because, after I'd soaked up those great LPs, the next song I wrote had no trace of a car or a motorbike in it.


It did feature a bus, though.  A bus in a Northern town, quite possibly in Teesside.  The North's gonna rise!!

L’Anarchie and the Bunnymen

By Neil Stonehouse

A diary entry from 1st May 1981 as a raw 16 year old.

The day after Echo and the Bunnymen at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne.

“Thursday is finally here - The Undertones were brilliant on Monday but tonight's was the one that I'd been waiting months for.  Work was a blur - don't think I actually did anything all day - mind was elsewhere.  Straight home - wolfed the tea down quick wash then washed the hair - almost looks like Mac's, on with the Camo gear and away we go.

Rob was on the bus upstairs waiting - doesn't look like anyone else on the bus is going to the Bunnymen.  Get into Worswick Street for 7.10 - going to go to the Jubilee for a pint if I can get Fatty in with me - success I get served.

Get into the City Hall and down to the bar just as the support band (the Blue Orchids) start their set - heard them on Peel a few times but they're not really my scene.  2 more pints of Exhibition and I'm starting to feel a bit pissed - I go into the queue for the t-shirts.  I get both colours one is mauve the other is pale blue.  The kid who looks like Julian Cope that was at The Undertones is here again and he's got the Vive L'Anarchie t-shirt on again.  B*stard won't tell anyone where he got it from.  Get into my seat 3 or 4 minutes before the bell goes.  Here we go - just as the band are coming on I make my break for the front row - Get in - the bouncer let me past - Fatty didn't get past though.

Set was:

With a Hip - off the new album
All That Jazz
A Promise - new album
That Golden Smile (Show of Strength) - know this from the Peel session
Pride
It Was a Pleasure - off new album - brilliant
Over the Wall
Zimbo
Heaven up Here - know this one from the Peel session
Pictures on My Wall
No Dark Things - off new album
Villiers Terrace
Crocodiles
Rescue

Best gig of my life – ever.

Can't wait for the album now - from what I've heard tonight it's going to be far better than Crocodiles.”

Phaze, 44-46 High Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Discussion on the NEMH Facebook group revealed this shop to have been the vendor of that coveted Vive L'Anarchie t-shirt. Photo by Neil Newton

Electric Ladyland – Jimi Hendrix in Jesmond

By Ian Currie

I was a 12 year old at the time, as I was born in December 1954. My family had experienced hardship as my father, suddenly and unexpectedly, had left the family home to start a new life in London. I lived with my mother Margaret Currie, my sister Sonia Currie and her young son, Mark, then aged about 2, in the upper flat at 72, Fern Avenue in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne. 

The black door is 72 Fern Avenue, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, photographed by Hazel Plater, April 2012

Determined to survive the shock blow of my father’s departure, my sister was employed at the ‘La Dolce Vita’ as a croupier, and managed to get my mother a job working in the chip exchange there. To assist with childcare, my mother sub-let a room in the flat to my sister’s friend Linda who looked after Mark and I when my mother and sister worked in the evenings. There were many evenings when Sonia and my mum brought back friends to party. These gatherings became well-known locally. Our living room, I remember, was decorated in typical 60s style, but with an amazing wall that had been papered entirely with cooking foil! The 'paper' was not pasted on and I remember when you opened the living room door, the draught would make the entire wall move and rustle – amazing how some things remain in your memory.

Regularly, there would be David Findlay (a doorman at La Dolce Vita); Keith Crombie (doorman at the Club A Go Go) and many other friends of theirs including other croupiers, acquaintances and a sprinkling of celebrities. Often the celebrity would be the current act that was booked at ‘La Dolce Vita’. I would often use the excuse of not being able to sleep to get up and see what was happening.

One such occasion, in February 1967 I believe, I was woken up to hear loud partying going on. I was very interested in music myself, and had been bought my first electric guitar, a Futurama 3 and a Vox Domino amplifier the previous year. Although I hadn’t realised it at the time, this guitar was not particularly easy to play. I investigated the commotion in the living room, full of people laughing and drinking. Sitting in an armchair was Jimi Hendrix who I immediately recognised from the TV! I was very impressed, but a bit overwhelmed, as was he, with the party-goers ‘thrusting’ my Futurama guitar at him requesting, “Play something Jimi, play something.” He was attempting to oblige but although the instrument may have somewhat resembled a Fender Strat, this guitar certainly was NOT that! I have to admit that I was slightly disgruntled to see my prize possession being used without my permission. Bloody cheek! 

Jimi Hendrix was photographed just before going on stage at The Imperial Hotel in Darlington on 2nd February 1967. 


Jimi Hendrix, Darlington, England 1967 | Ian Wright

Jimi seemed very quiet, with a calm aura about him. He was dressed in military attire, but I’m not sure if it was just the jacket or military trousers as well. I went to the bedroom to dig out the latest gadget I’d bought that weekend at the joke shop. It was a particularly nasty joke that consisted of a grey plastic playing card box, with a card glued on the cover with a raunchy looking lady on it, but inside was a coil and battery, which when the trick pack was opened, delivered a nasty shock. I hated it! I returned to the living room to give Jimi a look at it. And duly electrocuted him! He seemed to take the joke quite well, but I can’t believe now that I actually did it! I think the trick then went on to do the rounds at the party. On reflection, did this occurrence influence the title of his 1968 album, ‘Electric Ladyland’?

I heard an additional tale about this night, which is that in my sister’s room upstairs - the front attic, The Moody Blues and a few others had locked themselves in, and were smoking a particular substance. Apparently, and I believe this to be true, Jimi was knocking to be let in and The Moody Blues and several other people were laughing away at the fact they weren’t letting him in!

The Moody Blues had played at La Dolce Vita on 2nd February 1967.  That same night, Jimi Hendrix had played the Imperial Hotel in Darlington

I also heard that a few weeks later, Jimi had returned to Newcastle, and requested another party at our house, however, my sister’s son Mark was very poorly with tonsillitis, so an alternative venue in Jesmond was sorted for the party. 

Even though these parties would often go on until very early in the morning, there was always a pleasant atmosphere, probably because there were a lot of regulars who knew my family quite well. As I was a schoolboy at the time, I frequently managed to ‘duck’ school after getting up to a living room with guests still sitting around, or asleep with all the lights left on!


NEMH notes:


With thanks to Marshall Hall for his post on the North East Music History Facebook group which led to Ian Currie's blog post here.


Prints of Ian Wright's fantastic Jimi Hendrix image above can be ordered at https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photo/default.aspx?photographID=2414