More One Liners, and some Old Timers.

Lately, some of the people we used to encounter at gigs up down and around the country have sprung to mind. There now follows some brief descriptions, see if you remember anyone. Some names may be incomplete or missing, but I’m pretty sure most of them were real people.

You’ll also come up against a few choice phrases associated with them.

Jean-Luc…a French fella who used to be a regular at many shows. His favourite number was “Trouble In Mind”, and George would always oblige.

Wee Neily..a small man with a beard and a big voice. You would often hear him before you saw him…with a cry of “HHHHendrix” before descending the stairs into Platini’s. He didn’t like Disco.

A chap called Gillies, can’t remember his first name. He would show up occasionally, and almost always end up saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. Sometimes it was the same person as the last time.

“The Coatbridge Mob”. Again names escape me, but they were a travelling support of varying size. They seemed able to make it to the most remote and obscure of gigs. They turned up at Drumnadrochit…and some Blues Fest in Lancashire. Dedicated or what?

Peter McDougall, playwright and bon viveur. I remember George spotting him once and saying…”See him? He doesn’t know it, but he wants to work with me.” It did come to pass and George and Deke had a bit part as “band in pub” in Down Among The Big Boys. Peter once said of the secret of George’s success; “It’s not the way you sing or play guitar..it’s the way you walk down Byres Road”

Wee Craig was about fourteen and his dad used to smuggle him into gigs, where he would get up for a jam and cause jaws to drop. Wonder what he’s doing now?

Just a short one this time folks…I hope to dredge up some more soon

Off Road Moments…

Now these could get really hazy, and maybe inaccurate. However, it has oft been said that I was the best at remembering this stuff so my version goes.

Unless someone has proof otherwise…

Watching a movie with Big George was always an “experience”. I’m pretty sure that he invented the concept of the commentary track well before DVD’s were even thought of. This was augmented by the “one more time” feature..whereby a favourite moment would be replayed at least once.

I had seen The Last Waltz once before, but never saw it “properly” until an after gig gathering at a house I know not where. We were, shall we say, well oiled and fun was being had. George then spotted a copy of said movie and it was put on, duly complying with the “Play This Film LOUD” instruction. George was quite the musicologist throughout, and I even noticed how good Neil Diamond was when in the right place at the right time.

One fella wasn’t interested though and decided to sit in a corner, don a pair of headphones and listen to a Monty Python album. Cue lots of short bursts of laughter that didn’t quite go with the movie.

There is now a DVD of The Last Waltz that has three different commentaries, but none are quite as good.

By far the best nights were hosted by good friend of the band, Susan Coleman. If I ever got a phone call from George containing the words “Saturday Night Special”, a fantastic night would be guaranteed.

Susan seemed to have magic wine glasses which would never be less than full, no matter how small a sip you took. The entertainment was always top notch as well, with many a fine jam session with George and various other musos. The acoustic guitar and fiddle version of Purple Rain with Fraser Neill was a particular highlight. Have a look for him on Facebook, he’s in Denmark these days but still gigging.

Susan also had a cool trick involving a bull whip and a willing volunteer with cigarette in mouth. She would always say “It’s OK if I’m drunk. It works better when I’m drunk.”

There would always be a point in the evening when Susan would ask for a volunteer to take her dog Queenie for a walk. She was a lovely animal, but by God she took the piss out of me. I can’t remember how many times she ran off and didn’t come back until I was sure I would have to return without her. Her

timing was always excellent!

Susan lived nearby, so it was always easy to walk/stagger/crawl home.

One more to end with…although I only heard about this one.

BGB went back to Montreal for the World Scottish Festival. There was a fairly posh reception which George attended. After a while, a tall African American chap arrived clad in a kilt.

“You’ll be the Black Watch then?” says George, to the sound of dropping jaws around the table.

The kilted fella thought it was a hoot!

Roadies Tale..music from and inspired by.

Something a wee bit different this. Various songs by various artists that bring back various memories for various reasons.

You’ll find there’s a variety of categories, and thanks to Youtube you can join in.

Van Soundtracks

Dances with Wolves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHvKviaeulg

Imagine…three musicians and a butler driving through the Highlands of Scotland and the scenery that unfolds around an old transit van. We had our mellow moments as well you know.

Lady Love- Robin Trower

One of many Trower moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhFlYIrwcVk

Little Rock ‘n ‘Roller-Steve Earle

A Shifty favourite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3CdKS9Tbl0

Orangefield-Van Morrison

Another one of those mellow moments..Avalon Sunset was a firm fave album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpOwVWFOo3Y

The Cover Versions

You all know the blues type ones..but there was more to it than that.

The Cross-Prince

Very often a set opener..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwPwBfBmcmY

Biko-Peter Gabriel

Can never quite remember how this one came about…but I remember writing the words down for George one afternoon in Platini’s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlBAvLNUaP0

Devonside- Richard Thompson

Oft performed at parties and after gig relaxations, BG once did this when he was support to Wolfstone at Glasgow City Hall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AeIsU2686Y

Sail Away- Randy Newman

BG used to do this with a pre-recorded backing track. We’ll not mention the time John “JR” Robertson did a new backing vocal line of “bombs away”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwwhHI_IMog

Biloxi- Jesse Winchester tune.

Jimmy Dewar used to sing this one. Ted Hawkins is mighty fine too mind..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFdiYDzbodM

Helpless-Neil Young

Last but not least, Tam’s tour de force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2z7LXpAX3Q

Moments

More RT..me and BG were in the audience. You may spot a well known hat, back right of picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xvZxI_NSHo&feature=related

Excitable Boy- Warren Zevon

Another party favourite..listen out for the “social worker chorus”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eUsSXXc8wU

Purple Rain- Prince

George on guitar, Fraser Neill on fiddle. It worked!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l75skRMlXk

More to come...I enjoyed this :-)

Odds, ends and one liners.

Odds, ends and one liners.

Odd gigs? There certainly were! The “Oor Wullie Song Contest” at the wee hall in the SECC. BGB performed someone else’s song about a’body’s Wullie. I never worked out how the hell this one came about.

The Special Unit at Barlinnie, on the back of a song George co-wrote for a documentary about the place.

Drumchapel Shopping Centre as part of Mayfest. The same festival gave us a show in a tent on Glasgow Green with some local angry poets.

The Rockaway Day festival at Dingwall fitba ground, sharing the bill with Runrig and Andy “Mr Boom” Munro. Slept outdoors afterwards, part of the train station was stolen for the bonfire. The next day was the Highland Seer’s Summer Solstice Party in Ardgay, complete with bonfire jumping.

These spring to mind as well…

George used to incorporate a toilet roll into the act on occasion, demonstrating how to sort out the age old problem of uneven lengths at the end of the roll.

Deke the Sax used to have a broom with an SM58 gaffa taped to it as a mike stand..held up right by the loyal road crew.

Walkie talkies were used to convey drink orders to me at the bar. Big G would quite often forget to step away from the mike while doing this though.

“That’s twice you’ve sworn…get out!!” shortest gig we ever did. Thank you barman, and goodnight.

Proposed content for Gig posters:

“Big George and The Business..you’ll believe a man can fly.”

“Be afraid, be very afraid,”

“Nurse! The Screens!!”

A controversial one to end with..”Ladies and Gentlemen, the band that brought AIDS to Edinburgh..BLUES ‘N’ TROUBLE!!”

More Montreal

More Montreal

Some random small snippets from Blues ’92. Some are incomplete, some may be embellished but don’t ask me which are which.

At the aforementioned show at the St Denis, I left one of George’s pedals on the stage. Stage manager’s solution was for me to lead Jimmy Rogers and band on stage right and exit stage left in one smooth movement. This was achieved without further incident.

An aged blues lady, Jessie May Hemphill, was to be heard backstage “ How comes I don’t get no fried chicken? Buddy Guy gets fried chicken!”. She was later having tuning problems on stage, George Ross Watt to the rescue!

Overheard at one of the breakfasts organised for the more well known artists..”Did you hear about the Scotchman?”. We know not what had been heard..

George had been asked to attend a “guitar clinic” along with a chap called Robert Junior Lockwood. He was Robert Johnson’s godson though I’m sure there are many claimants to that title. He had very bad piles and his wife carried a cushion everywhere.

George and I were offered a lift in one of the festival limos, which was on a return run from dropping someone else off. George was most upset to find the on board bar empty, but we had a blast. Upon the reaching the Hard Rock, I exited the limo with no problem. George however managed to lock all the doors. The driver got out and could not manage to remedy this. I will never forget the look on his face, bet he had had all sorts in that car and never experienced this.

Favourite memory though is of a late night jam session at the Hard Rock. Basic band was Buddy Guy’s drummer and bassist. Then Johnnie Johnson joined in, the man who played piano on all those Chuck Berry classics. I set up his piano as well.

They were then joined by Mick Taylor, ex Rolling Stone. Then…George was asked to join in. This was something else, the boy from Glasgow up there with some of the greats doing one of his songs. To say I was moved was an understatement, mind you Mr Taylor was a bit strange. I attempted to speak to him, but there was nowt. Not even a “go away”. Ach well…

The event was later raided by the cops for after hours drinking, but there was a plan. They were going to say that it was a publicity shoot and that all the drink was fake. I never heard how that one panned out.

Good Morning Montreal

1992 was the year was the year that Big George and The Business went transatlantic…across the pond…and temporarily emigrated to Canada.

The boys were invited to play at the Blues 92 Festival in Montreal, Quebec and I got to go as well as road manager. George did want to me to be “butler”, but this was voted down. Can’t quite remember how it all came about but it did involve an ex-pat Glaswegian named Allan Patrick, a lovelier guy could never meet, who came to a few gigs with his business partner Andrew.

Suffice to say we were all soon in the transit van heading for the airport and the first leg our flight via Amsterdam Schipol. Not much to say about the flight, except that Tam did awfy well with his first ever flying experience.

On arrival at Mirabel Airport, the first hurdle was customs and immigration. A more obvious rock’n’roll band had never been seen on the premises, and as we stood “behind the line” the decision was take that I (as the most sensible looking) should approach the beckoning official. This I did, and assured him that our visit was “for pleasure” despite the guitar cases, cymbal bag and preponderance of long hair. We were then asked what was in the cardboard box..”albums” says Tam.

There was then a delay as they were checked to see that no Canadian record dealer would be short changed by us importing them. The assurance that they were for promotional use only and their home made look seemed to convince the officials and we were sent on our way.

Allan met us in the arrivals lounge and immediately presented us with the first official T-Shirts. Pictures speak louder than words at this point.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=21837758593&set=o.19810346594&theater

The next morning (or whatever it was, jet lag and whisky does that to you) George and I were whisked off for a round of radio interviews. Talk about in at the deep end! We paused to pick up another festival performer on the way, Kat Dyson, who George bonded with from the off. I think we visited three separate stations with some fine jamming and pidgin French from George. There was also a TV interview in which he in advertently mentioned a favourite drink which in local patois meant something similar to a Molotov cocktail. The security forces must have had a sense of humour.

Then it was breakfast, or was it lunch?

As has happened before in this tale, the following incidents may not have happened in this order but they all happened by crikey.

The opening show of the Festival was at Montreal’s Hard Rock Café and George was down to do two sets, one acoustic and one with the band. The soundcheck was a hoot, as the engineer kept asking Big G to “turn down”. The reply of “speak English boy!” seemed to do the trick.

The bigger show was next..opening for Jimmy Rogers at the St Denis Theatre. If you’ve ever seen the “Just for Laughs” comedy festival shows TV then you’ll know the venue. I remember George and the guys going down really well, and showing Jimmy Rogers the way to the stage. We were in that venue for another few nights mingling with the likes of Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, John Campbell and the man who wrote Texas Flood, Larry Davis.

I’ve got to say before I end this part one that Allan and his wife Sonia were the perfect hosts and I have such fond memories of them both. George and I knocked it off being billeted with them..not least as Alan was in charge of looking after the band riders!

I’m sure we drank Buddy Guy’s brandy…

In the next episode: limos, guitar clinics, after show jam sessions and a Rolling Stone.

In The Studio…Allegedly.

In The Studio…Allegedly.

Bar the odd demo and straight to tape live recording, there was not much in the way of recorded BGB music around. I’m not sure how it came about, but in 1989 plans were laid for an actual vinyl record..with a cover and everything.

As far as material went, the bare bones were there. Many of the blues and other standards that were played live were radically different arrangements, so George decided to write some lyrics, re jig arrangements a bit and transform them into new originals.

Some examples..

Van Morrison’s “Streets of Arklow” became “The Storm”, “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” morphed into “Long Black Train”, “Crossroads” turned into “Roll The Dice” and “Hey Miss Linda” became less specific as “Hey I Gotta Tell You”.

I was not around for the first day of recording when the basic tracks were done at Shabby Road Studios in Kilmarnock. The journey down the following day was a lyric writing frenzy for Big G, and this continued in the studio. If only I had kept the cardboard curry lid with original hand written lyrics!

The frenzy continued into the mixing stage, compounded by George spotting some fellow musos wandering around Kilmarnock with little better to do. The window was opened and a cheerfully obscene invitation to join us was hurled. Thanks to Johnny Carr for reminding me that it has he and Kenny McKay that I couldn't remember paying a visit.

At that point, ngineer Clark Sorley requested that we all please adjourn to the pub so that we could get some peace and quiet. It got done somehow though.

There then followed a protracted process, George and Shifty went down to London to get the master cut. This was performed by the legendary “Porky”, who will be known to the vinyl junkies amongst you. He added his “A Porky Prime Cut” comment to the run out groove. This was apparently only done with albums he liked, so this was praise indeed from the man who did the biz for some major artists.

When the cover was discussed, a bootleg look was decided on. Well, it was much cheaper. Shifty knew someone who could get a thousand blank white 12” sleeves done, Greg pulled in a favour and got a load of front and stickers done and we persuaded someone or other to print up some inner sleeves.

Ian Robertson (God rest you sir) provided the venue for the packaging plant, here’s how it went. Drink…

Insert album in plain white sleeve..add printed inner as album did not quite fit..stick sticker on front..stick sticker on back..write catalogue number BGB 001 on by hand…stick the odd sticker upside down and a cheeky message to relieve the tedium

Drink….

Repeat a thousand times.

The first delivery was also made by hand. Me and George took a hundred copies (bloody heavy) to the legendary Lost in Music shop in nearby de Courcey’s Arcade. A startled customer, who was about to buy an Eric Clapton album, was advised that the Alleged Album was a much better buy.

The first run of a thousand was sold really quickly after being hand delivered to all the major stores in and around Glasgow, and at gigs. A second pressing followed, with a pre-printed cover…relief! CD releases followed via German and Canadian companies, but that first DIY operation was still my favourite.

I’m finding it hard to believe that this was all twenty one years ago.