Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Late 50s/early 60s rock 'n' roll in the UK is fabulously and humourously remembered in one of those BBC2 Arena documentaries on Joe Meek ('Telstar' and other hits). Also the book 'Brown Sauce' which is Joe Brown's hilarious take on some of the figures of that era. As well as his own hits with The Bruvvers Joe was a versatile guitarist who backed some of the visiting American stars of the day. He has much to say about the svengali entrepreneur Larry Parnes who he refers to as Parnes, Shillings and Pence.

Don Arden was more my sort of chap. You always knew where you were with him - usually hanging out of a window.

brian walling says:

"...I still do a daily 1km swim before breakfast..."

I was very impressed by that, brian, until I saw that you live in Penang, where an early morning swim is not exactly a hardship.

Been there several times, the last staying in a very nice hotel built as a cylinder with a hollow inside - can't remember the name. My main memory is of a butterfly farm nearby where the butterflies were bigger than dinner plates and probably fed on cats - very impressive.

David

blueeyedboy wrote: ↑Sat Sep 29, 2018 7:48 am Don Arden was more my sort of chap. You always knew where you were with him - usually hanging out of a window.

I think it was Robert Stigwood (Cream, the Bee Gees) who was trying to persuade one of Arden's bands to sign with him. Arden himself had a good track record in taking other people's bands off them with extravagant promises. I met Arden very briefly when he had signed Alan Price as a solo act and held a launch in the garden of his home in the leafy suburbs. I noticed that his driver and general factotum had a mysterious slash across his cheek. Arden had hired the local army cadet corps to fire a three-gun salute, and Jeanette Charles - the woman who looked like the Queen - to mingle withe guests. The Small Faces and Lynsey de Paul (New Seekers) hated him and others feared him. A colleague of mine on the music papers told me that while waiting for his appointment Arden sat him in the corner of his office while Arden and his heavy mob openly discussed ways of enforcing a debt they were owed - and it didn't involve the courts. His daughter of course is the famous Sharon Osborne who seems fairly aware of Dad's modus operandi.

I bow in considerable respect rockfreak, that must have been some party. It was always reputed to be the Small Faces that Stigwood was trying to appropriate; Arden also threatened Allen Klein with the window treatment, and Klein wasn't exactly a pushover - as forcing Richard Ashcroft to sign over the rights to Bitter Sweet Symphony for $1 on a very dodgy plagiarism rap testifies. What a lovely industry.....

Chinese Whispers or what?

A thread on Fish Edwards (a strait-laced puritan if ever there was one) morphs via Elvis Carter (who I certainly remember) into rock 'n' roll c. 1960. He'll be rolling in his grave.

The 50s generation would never have understood how everything morphed into rock'n'roll in the 60s. But RIP Fish anyway.

"The Small Faces and Lynsey de Paul (New Seekers) hated him and others feared him."


Pedantic I know rockfreak, but I think you have Lyn Paul and Lyndsey de Paul confused.

Gingerbeard17 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:12 am "The Small Faces and Lynsey de Paul (New Seekers) hated him and others feared him."


Pedantic I know rockfreak, but I think you have Lyn Paul and Lyndsey de Paul confused.

It's nice to be old enough to get confused !!

(Nurse !! It's medication time again.)

J.R. wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 2:22 pm

Gingerbeard17 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:12 am "The Small Faces and Lynsey de Paul (New Seekers) hated him and others feared him."


Pedantic I know rockfreak, but I think you have Lyn Paul and Lyndsey de Paul confused.

It's nice to be old enough to get confused !!

(Nurse !! It's medication time again.)

Well done Gingerbeard, I do believe you're right.