Ari Up

photo by Caroline Coon
I met her mum Nora when she came into the Chrysalis office in 1970. It wasn't many years later I was watching The Slits on a double bill with Siouxie and the Banshees in Croydon.Sadly its now an obituary. Simon F has written something on his blog http://yammer.blog.co.uk/ that I thought I might reprint below.

Lead singer of radical post-punk girl-band ‘The Slits’, Ari has a special place in my heart. The reason? I was a member of The Slits for 24 hours. It’s a terribly long story, and one I might write about another time. Suffice to say, they were looking for a drummer to tour with them after the recording of their seminal album ‘Cut’. Budgie, who had played on the record, had commitments with The Banshees, hence his unavailability.

I had met with their then extraordinarily-glamourous guitarist, Viv Albertine, who had checked me out by dragging me to a screening of Samurai movies at The Electric Cinema (light years from being a members’ club). Having evidently passed muster, I was then auditioned at a rehearsal room in Pimlico. Naturally I was terrified, and remember Ari howling and leaping around the room in a sort of free-form scat-toasting capacity, with me trying to figure out what was the verse, chorus or middle eight, only to realise such structures were wholly irrelevant to her. Nevertheless, she took pity on me, was extraordinarily sweet, and announced that I had the gig, only for me to receive the news the next day that the quite-brilliant drummer, Bruce Smith (then of The Pop Group and later of P.I.L), would be doing it instead.

Secretly I was relieved. Ari was on a powerful trajectory that I knew I would never be able to keep up with.

I am delighted to read she kept shining for the rest of her life.

PRINCE Nikaia,Nice July 2010 The Sacred and the Profane

In the last 3 or 4 summers I've seen a few great shows in the south of France. Bob Dylan played at Le Cannet an unprepossing suburb of Cannes in a municipal hall called La Palestra that seems to have been mainly used for boxing tournaments. He was amazing in the way only he can be. I saw the Rolling Stones play the stadium in Nice. They beat the previous attendance record of 50,000 plus formerly held by U2, which they had themselves taken from the Stones, and which they were likely to have regained had they played there July 15th this summer, as was originally planned. The Stones show was extraordinarily well structured to allow a bunch of over- sixties to play a 2 hour stadium set,with solos, solo spots, accoustic sections and multiple changes in stage sets. The two key 20 minute bursts at the beginning and especially at the end surprised even my 'seen it all before' persona and I found myself with my mobile in the air during 'Sympathy for the Devil' for my wife, who was at home, to hear. By the way that can't be said of supporting band Kasabian.Their singer came out dressed in black, which ensured none of the crowd could see him, as opposed to the Stones who all wore something glittery or shiny and could be seen from anywhere. He then announced 'Bonjour France' or something like that, and immediately lost the crowd,whereas Mick Jagger came out and made a 5 minute intro in perfect French, along the lines of 'good evening,its a beautiful evening here on the cote,we're here to rock and roll etc...' and had the audience eating out of his hand before he'd sung a note. When the singer got to 'we're Kasaaabian' in that horrid mock manc drawl they've all affected since the Gallaghers it was all over,certainly for me.


Given how memorable Dylan and the Stones had been I rolled up to Prince with some excitement. I'd seen him a few times before and I'm a huge fan, but hadn't seen him for a while.
Rumour in Nice Matin suggested Prince had wanted to be part of the 'Jazz at Juan' Festival which was celebrating its 50th Year Anniversary since its beginning in Antibes in 1960,and this was the closest he could get. Starting with Sidney Bechet and followed by Louis Armstrong,Dizzy Gillespie and many others this has been one of the greatest jazz events in history and its no surprise that someone as intimately connected to the traditions of his music as Prince should want to pay tribute by participating. He managed on the night to do a good deal more than that, opening with 'Purple Rain' he stormed through 'Let's Go Crazy! Pt1' into 'Delirious' then 'Let's Go Crazy Pt 2' and followed that with '1999.' I danced for two hours.
I'd been listening to Sam Cooke live at the Harlem Square Club in Miami in 1963. He had the gospel feel and fervour that he had when he was in the Soul Stirrers, but of course by 1963 he was also a musician of the flesh "Don't fight it...feel it. Don't fight it...feel it!" he called to the crowd, and to himself. The contradiction between doing God's work and the Devil's work runs right through the music coming directly from the blues and gospel dichotomy. It runs through Prince's music to, and the atmosphere at the gig was as close to the Harlem Sq Club as a stadium show could be. "Dearly beloved we are gathered"...I had seen Prince play a club date in Camden Town in the '80's,an aftershow party following a Wembley Arena concert at which he went on at 1.30 and by 4.30 was into an extended version of The Temptation's 'Just My Imagination'. Prince's knowledge,respect and command of his music tradition showed in Nice. Just as Bob Dylan's 'Theme Time Radio' show demonstrated the enormous depth of knowledge and the inspiration he can draw from, so Prince's love of jazz, gospel, funk, r&b,rock and soul shines through his music, as his encores after 'Little Red Corvette' and 'Kiss' showed, including songs from the Jackson 5, 'Everday People' and 'I Wanna Take You Higher' from Sly & The Family Stone and finally 'Dance (Disco heat) by Sylvester. Actually Bob Dylan who is reportedly unhappy with video screens could take a tip from Prince's brilliant use of video technology. He had screen behind the stage so we watched the close-up through the live band and stage lighting which meant it was able to intensify the visuals rather than distract.

We read a lot about the 'strangeness' of Prince's life.Just recently he has been criticised for 'giving his new album away' and casting doubts on the internet.It's always interesting with him, remember the Prince merchandising shop in Camden market? In Nice he checked out of his hotel because the decor offended him, probably correctly. Does any of this obscure his place amongst the greats of music? No. He has listened carefully and has with courage and dedication forged a unique contribution to music,and earned his place, not just amongst the stars, but amongst the legends. Salut!

Mercury Music Prize

It rolls out every year with an announcement in the 'off season' which guarantees it lots of attention, followed by an award show quickly enough to hold that attention. Or does it?
I wondered. I called Simon F an ex-music journalist, ex-muscian, ex-video director and writer for an opinion. His first reaction was abusive, however when I asked for a quote I got "wake me up when its over".
Looking down this years list and as usual I'm irritated. Why does the formula have to be repeated so slavishly with all the usual nods in all the usual directions, one credible pop, a couple of neo-folkies a token look at contemporary jazz, trendy alternative one etc etc.? It's in a competitive area agreed, Mojo, Q, NME,Ivors,MOBO's and Silver Clef (google it) amongst many others celebrate the Brit music scene and I suppose they have to maintain their brand very carefully. It is after all the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize.
I think my irritation is because the Mercury Prize reminds me every year about something that I do care about. As someone who has been actively involved with British music for a very long time I'm unhappy about the inability of the music industry to properly recognise and archive the achievements of it's music community. America has very many awards shows but nestled in there is the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'. I've been to that show a few times, I saw Pete Townsend induct the Rolling Stones beginning his speech with " I hate that bastard Mick Jagger", Lou Reed induct Dion with an atmospheric poem composed for the occasion, and Little Richard induct his neighbour from Macon,Georgia Otis Redding. I could go on. I have never failed to feel humbled and proud of my involvement with music at that event. I believe the UK music community deserves the same attention and respect, and feel the UK music industry has been short-sighted in not combining its efforts to find ways to properly celebrate its creative legacy. There is a British Music Experience at the O2 I could recommend to you, but that's it.Its not something that can or should be left to the media, most of their coverage of music is either hagiography or pop sociology,with no real sense of music as an artform.
Perhaps if a UK MUsic Hall of Fame existed the Mercury Prize would be free to present a genuine annual debate about the state of the art in music, to discover and award the most creatively significant albums of the year? Let's face it we need such a debate. The fact that so many releases can be tagged so readily tell us that niche marketing rules, and new artists are in danger of being sucked into style tunnels when they should be heading off into the great unknown.The frantic commodification of music is depleting the creative activity. The discussions around both art and literature are more intense than the music discussion these days aren't they? I'm worried about Simon F's quote but I'm more worried about the quote from Lou Reed's friend Donald "stick a fork in their ass and turn em over,they're done".

Bob Lefsetz Blog

I don't know what the rules are regarding posting other people's blogs but I'm hoping Bob won't object to my posting part of his blog today. If you're tempted to subscribe after reading this post let me warn you...he is relentless. I don't mind myself, I often find myself learning something, and the delete button is an easy option His tone has all the passion of a rabid fan who is absolutely beside himself at having found himself able to peer behind the stage curtain, and is thrilled and horrified by what he sees.
Today's Bob...
''The goal in life,' Mr. Walker said, 'is to work for yourself, and with your friends.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/arts/music/07lolla.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Corporatization killed the music business.

Come on, the business was built by entrepreneurs. Everyone from Ahmet Ertegun to Brian Epstein to Robert Stigwood. Forces of nature, these were go-getters with no backing, who needed to make it purely on their wiles.

David Geffen and Irving Azoff were no different.

But then all the labels were bought by corporations, after the Fortune 500 realized how much money there was in music. One can argue that the music died in the early seventies, when Elektra and Atlantic and Asylum were fully integrated into Warner.

Or, one can go later, to when Island and A&M were bought out by PolyGram, and Alain Levy ignored Chris Blackwell and Jerry Moss. Chris Blackwell? He started off selling singles from the back of his motorbike. Not only did he sign Traffic and so many other English acts, he made Bob Marley mainstream, by backing him up with rock players. Blackwell wasn't just a businessman, he was a creator, with only his own bank account to fall back upon. Ditto with Jerry Moss. And isn't it interesting that Jerry is successful in another field, horse racing: http://www.dmtc.com/racinginfo/pr/index.php?article=14handsofloveon17handsofpower

The last great hope of individual entrepreneurship in the music business occurred with rap. Russell Simmons did it his way. Because the corporate behemoths were not only not interested in his way, they weren't even interested in the music, they certainly didn't get the culture, they just wanted good-looking automatons who could be featured in expensive videos on MTV.

He didn't mention CHRYSALIS! You can subscribe at htpp://lefsetz.com/list?p=subscribe

GLASTONBURY 1970-2010

My first festival was the Cleethorpes Jazz Festival in 1963. I'd read 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac and decided that's the life I wanted. Going to Cleethorpes seemed a step in the right direction,on the beatnik trail. I don't remember how I got there,whether I had a ticket or just gatecrashed, but I do vividly remember the sleeping rough and listening to Johnny Dankworth and quite a lot of the trad jazz that was popular at the time. It was the year the Stones were the first rock and blues band to play the National Jazz Festival at the bottom of the bill, I wasn't there but I heard on the grapevine they were a sensation. They topped the bill the following year, I suppose that makes it the first rock festival. Since that time my festival-going has always been in a working capacity and I've never since shared the experience of camping out for three days listening to bands and hanging out and all that.
I've been to the Glastonbury festival a few times. I've had good experiences there. The Waterboys were regular performers in the mid- 80's. Most memorably Spiritualised headlined the NME stage on the closing Sunday night for two consecutive years in 1993 and 1994, with incredible performances. Jason Pierce playing along with and through the fireworks display in 1993 was literally astonishing. My main impression of Glastonbury has always been the atmosphere amongst the crowd.I've never failed to leave the festival without being reassured by the generous good spirits and enthusiasm of the,mainly young, audience.
I was there again this year on the 40th Anniversary,my second only festival as a spectator,to see Gorillaz headline the Friday night. I hadn't been to Glastonbury for perhaps ten years and I was a bit shocked when I arrived. The site has grown exponentially, someone told me its now somewhere between 800 and 1,00 acres. The support services have grown along with it,endless fences, security checks, trucks,acres and acres of catering stalls and BBC outside broadcast vans as far as the eye can see. I wandered around a bit, but on a site of this size I found it slow to and difficult to get round and bumping into people I knew, Mike Pickering and his mates watching the bands and the World Cup, was a bit of a surprise. I saw some of Vampire Weekend, a fair bit of a pretty routine performance from Dizzee Rascal (including a surprisingly lacklustre duet with Florence) and Gorillaz.
I hadn't seen Gorillaz before, and as they came out I realised that neither had most of the more than 120,000 crowd. At the same time I also realised many of them probably hadn't heard the latest album. My jaw dropped a bit. Its bold going out on a headline stage with a new band and new album even for Damon Albarn. It turned out not to be a cartoon band relying on digitally generated visuals,but a kind of musical and social tour d'horizon.The featured artists included Mos Def,Mark E Smith of The Fall,Bashy,Kano,Bobby Womack,Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays,Snoop Dogg and Lou Reed backed by a band that included Mick Jones and Paul Simenon. Exploring social issues via the intersections of contemporary pop music over the last two or three decades made for a fascinating show.I'd listened in the sound booth and making make way back during the last song the crowd seemed as engaged as I was, enough for me to be dragged into dancing quite a lot on the way.I loved that, and I was elated. It helped with all that hanging out I hadn't done.

I got back to London on Saturday evening in time to have dinner with my close friends and neighbours Sarah and Sandy Lieberson. We chatted about Glastonbury. Sandy had produced the first film about the Glastonbury Festival, not the first festival in 1970 but the second in 1971 directed by Nic Roeg, and remembered something that really struck me. He told me that in 1971 there was free water, milk, juice, tea and coffee for everyone at the festival. That impulse seemed so at odds with contemporary festival economics. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, after all it began in 1970, and was inevitably influenced by the counterculture of the time. I'd been reading about the history of the counterculture in Barry Miles' book 'London Calling'. He writes about a conference called the 'Dialectics of Liberation Congress' held at the Roundhouse over two weeks in 1967.It covered topics such as Gregory Bateson proposing the theory of global warming saying it would be at least 25 years before the effects would be noticed, R D Laing and David Cooper discussing the pressures of society on the individual, John Gerassi and Paul Sweezy discussed monopoly and global capitalism and Herbert Marcuse spoke on 'Liberation from the Affluent Society'.The instincts, ideas and impulses behind that meeting have driven our contemporary culture, thank goodness. Nuclear disarmament, global warming and the problems of global capitalism are now the central issues for all governments so the counterculture was influential in those topics, although I don't know where we are on the liberation of the affluent society.
I found myself wondering about the impulses that created Glastonbury and have driven it forward.On the one hand the virtues of an undoubtedly good and eclectic booking policy, continued commitment to social issues, support for charities, great staging, care for the community attending and massive enthusiasm from headlining musicians, who all perform for perhaps less than they earn elsewhere, has given succeeding generations a great festival and an invaluable rite of passage. On the other hand it is now firmly located as an expensive social networking opportunity with all the overtones of celebrity society. Gorillaz were roundly criticised by the media for their show. Since it was a first I'm sure it will get better, but they were criticised for their risk taking, for not playing the crowd pleasing anthems the media felt the audience wanted. That seems to me to make assumptions about what Glastonbury has become.There are now lots of independent festivals using a similar model to Glastonbury all trying to present an alternative face. I don't know anything about them although I gather that at the Hop Farm Festival that Van Morrison and Dylan played people were searched as they entered to make sure they didn't bring their own drinks depriving a corporate drinks sponsor of captive sales. I also notice they run a military display a couple of weeks after their festival called The War and Peace Show. I suppose I question the impulses behind of all of this activity.How real is the committment to social causes and how much of it is simply a corporate culture looking for consumer-friendly branding? I'm sceptical now about all this, and it may sound odd given how many artists are playing these shows, but how central is music actually to it?
Barry Miles quotes Emmett Grogan, representative of the San Francisco Diggers, addressing the Dialectics of Liberation meeting thus "Our revolution will do more to effect a real inner transformation than all of modern history's revolts taken together!...Nobody can doubt the fact that during the last year,an environmental revolution of the most momentous character has been swelling like a storm among the youth of the West...Power to the people" Grogan got an ovation, he waited til it died down then said "I neither wrote nor was the first person to have given this speech...I do know who did, it was Adolf Hitler and he made his delivery of these same words at the Reichstag in, I believe, 1937.Thank you and be seein' ya' "
Liberation from the affluent society isn't a matter of of presentation.It may need a different starting point and also take a little more rigour in our choices. Its not just a consumer choice is it?

MIDEM 2010

It was a much smaller MIDEM than its been in the past.It's still the largest and most focussed opportunity the music biz crowd has to trade and make new contacts around the world, its just that at this precise moment there are fewer of them.The Croisette at Cannes and its Palais du Festival was noticeably less frenetic,however its future is in no doubt as the French cherish their institutions and know that if you preserve them they will become modish again. So if you haven't been there's still time. My wife finally went some years ago. She was visibly shocked by the crowds."Who are those bulky men in tight jeans,the ones with leather jackets and pony tails?' she asked "the Germans" I replied."Some people seem quite desperate" she commented,"Yes they still haven't closed the deal that will pay for their trip" I replied. I've been to many, many, MIDEMs but they all merge into a single episode of handshakes, snatched conversations and hangovers. I'm sure everyone has those same trade show experiences, lifelong friends, business partnerships and spurious enmities are nurtured in that strip of the Croisette and the attendant hotels and restaurants.I have met and re-met many wonderful people at MIDEM, often in the same year. I remember vividly the first meeting of the Chrysalis delegation, Chris Wright,Des Brown and myself with Monti Lueftner head of Ariola Germany (pictured above with Liz Mohn) who,in a pitch to licence our label, instantly proceeded to outline his ambitions to create a new WEA (Warner Elektra Atlantic the then industry giant led by Steve Ross supported by Mo Ostin and Joe Smith at Warner Bros, Jac Holzman at Electra and Ahmet and Neshui Ertegun at Atlantic). This was heady stuff, indeed Neshui was strutting his stuff that MIDEM with his close friend Pele in tow. Monti went on, supported by his friend and employer Reinhard Mohn the owner of Bertlesmann,to add Arista and RCA to Ariola to create the Bertlesmann Music Group, as well as licencing Chrysalis and supporting us loyally. A case of what starts at MIDEM having repercussions, not least a long,entertaining and generous partnership between him and us. He became the third of our Chrysalis kameraden,the German music business folk with whom we built our own personal post-war reconciliation. The first was Fritz Rau the rightly legendary German concert promoter whose autobiography is unfortunately only so far available in German, and the second being Ossie Drechsler, for a time MD of Polygram Germany. I continued my relationship with Monti through my 'Dedicated' joint-venture with Bertlesmann until his retirement party in the Munich Hilton in the mid-90's.





Apart from nurturing close relationships MIDEM has had another and more profound effect on my life, the discovery of the Cote D'Azur and its lifestyle. A childhood in Hull does not prepare you for lunch on the beach in January, particularly when you're invited to Eddie Barclay's birthday party. Eddie (pictured above top) was the top French music producer, musician, businessman and a leading figure in French society. He managed nine marriages as well as the best parties,including his famous 'Soirees Blanches' at his home in St Tropez. His MIDEM birthday party involved lunch at Tetou the fish restaurant in Golfe Juan,where you eat bouillabaisse. "What is it?" I asked, "Fish stew " I was told. A regular Hull diet of fish and chips did not prepare me for this either.The process of discovery continued over lunch with the Dutch at L'Oasis in La Napoule where Louis Outhier was the chef, and this peerless genius produced Loup en Croute. I was a bit abashed by all this and frankly uncertain,but I knew I would be back for more.

JOHN THE REVELATOR John Lydon interview with Andrew Graham-Dixon on BBC4

I don't read or watch TV interviews with performers normally. They need to burnish their public persona and that gets in the way of anything interesting. Not so with this John Lydon interview. Perhaps its the advancing years or the vapidity of the current music scene but he seemed determined to share his sense of what has shaped his whole artistic career, rather like some of Bob Dylan's recent interviews, and probably for the same reasons. Lydon took us from his childhood roots, and explained how a period of his early years in the Norfolk countryside had given him an accent that enabled his reading of Shakespeare's verse, and showed us a clip Laurence Olivier in Richard III (which sent me straight to video rental) by way of explanation. He extolled the beauty of Mozart particularly his Requiem,and talked about his feelings around his mother's and father's deaths and his subsequent PIL recording of Death Disco.

I tried a couple of times to sign the Sex Pistols to Chrysalis. The first time came after I saw an early gig at the 100 Club which had been a revelation. It wasn't easy to get everyone on board, particularly after we were locked out of a gig at the Screen on the Green in Islington, but we persevered and ended up competing with EMI for them. Chris Wright didn't entirely believe Malcolm McLaren's claim to be in serious discussions with EMI, so one of our team, Phil Cokell, was sent round the back of our Oxford St office to Manchester Sq where EMI were based to check on whether Malcom was actually going there and how long he was in there. You know what happened. We tried again to sign them after A&M but they ended up on Virgin. McLaren was determined that they wouldn't sign to Chrysalis. I like to think that it was because he recognised we were more interested in the band than his pr ideas. It didn't help when they went into record with our friend Chris Thomas as the producer, in our Wessex studio and with our studio manager the great Bill Price engineering. That was pretty much the end of my involvement apart from a brief appearance in 'The Great Rock n Roll Swindle' later recycled in 'The Filth and the Fury'.We signed Generation X and moved on. Many years later Midge Ure put Kent Zimmerman, one of the Zimmerman brothers who were working with John Lydon on the writing of his autobiography, in touch with me and we relived the whole period.

The Sex Pistols rhythm section was extraordinary,and that is always a prerequisite of the great bands. Its not a surprise that the departure of the original bass player spelt the end of it. Lydon talks about that in the interview. The atmosphere and personality of The Specials struck me as being in a bit of a parallel universe with The SexPistols, and I think one of the reasons The Specials 2009 reunion was so successful was the fact that the rhythm section,led byBrad, Horace and Roddy was as good as ever.

Watching the interview I was conscious again of John Lydon as a revelation, and by the
passion, honesty and the commitment to expression that I'd encountered at the 100 Club.Its on BBC i-player!

Chrysalis 40 Years

I was working at the Ellis-Wright Agency when it expanded and changed its name to Chrysalis sometime in the late summer or autumn of 1968. Jethro Tull’s first album ‘This Was’ was released in November that year, but you could argue that Chrysalis really emerged when records started appearing on it’s own label in late 1969.

Either way it’s been a forty-year story, of an extraordinary, at times almost surreal, range of music. Just on Chrysalis Records it not only includes Jethro, T.Y.A. and Procol, Blondie and Billy Idol,Benatar and Huey Lewis and the News, Spandau Ballet and Ultravox but also in a random and incomplete list… Astor Piazzola, Richard and Linda Thompson, Monie Love, Milli Vanilli, Robin Trower, Rupert Everett, Frankie Miller, Lynx, Stockhausen, The Babys, Paul Hardcastle, Lonnie Donnegan, Nick Gilder, Steeleye Span, Rory Gallagher, Leo Sayer and a variety of labels, 2-Tone with the Specials and the Selector, Go Discs with Billy Bragg and the Housemartins, Blue Guitars with the Mighty Lemon Drops and Shop Assistants, Cooltempo with Adeva and Kid ‘N’ Play, Ensign with the Waterboys,World Party and Sinead o’Connor,China Records with Labi Siffre and the Art of Noise. There is an equally long and varied list in Chrysalis Music, one that is still being extended today.

Inextricably wrapped up in this story are the people who worked there creating wherever or whenever a unique atmosphere and doing some amazing things. I know they are all rightly proud of their various achievements and contributions. We were supported by a fabulous and bizarre cast of managers, promoters, and agents, sleeve designers photographers, drug dealers, video makers, PR’s, promo people and a high-voltage concept generator.

We’re making some efforts to work out how all this forty year story can be commemorated but in the meantime you can keep in touch through a Chrysalis Records Facebook site and a Chrysalis-reunion website http://www.chrysalis-reunion.com

Led Zeppelin Reunion

Peter Grant told me to book some warm-up college gigs for The New Yardbirds, which I did. I assume Richard Cowley and Kenny Bell booked the club dates. Peter subsequently appeared in our office to approve the bookings and tell me that the band now had a proper name, Led Zeppelin.

I protested a bit, the New Yardbirds would be a recognizable draw, but Peter leaned over my desk and looked at me…so Led Zeppelin it was. He was a charming, entertaining man who I’d first met when he was working for Don Arden, but I was always very respectful around him, and learned quite a bit. I don’t remember going to any of the gigs, which seems strange now of course.

I didn’t see them until they went on a subsequent tour of town halls in the UK, which the newly formed Chrysalis Promotions had organized. I remember going to, probably, the first show on the tour which may have been Birmingham or Sheffield. I was nervous frankly. My first concert tour had been with The Family, and I’d fucked up badly, amongst other mistakes, I had booked the Mecca or Locarno in Bristol because the Colston Hall wasn’t available, but didn’t realize that whilst the Colston Hall supplied local advertising the ballrooms didn’t, resulting in an unusually poor attendance for a Family show that night. I traveled to the Zeppelin on the train, I couldn’t drive in those days, worrying all the way that I might have made a mistake. I was more worried about looking stupid to the band than Peter’s anger actually. In the end I survived, albeit with some piss-taking on the subject of my Alvin Lee tapestry trousers with the furnishing fringes on the bottom, and Zeppelin were astonishing.

For a few years there had been a lot of blues rock bands around playing the obligatory ‘Dust My Broom’ and lots of great guitarists, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Alvin Lee, Jeff Beck and of course Jimmy Page. Then Jimi Hendrix arrived. Once here Jimi, and the psychedelic wave, transformed the level of artistic ambition in playing, performance and sonic conception and forced everyone to respond. Led Zeppelin was part of that response, transforming blues rock into something else.

I saw them quite a few times after that in the first part of 1969, and by June of that year I was working for the newly-formed Chrysalis Management. Terry Ellis had sent me, still without a driving licence, to America to tour manage Jethro Tull, who were supporting Led Zeppelin, on their third US tour. At that time a regular series of six to eight even twelve weeks tours of America was the norm. We all missed the Woodstock Festival that summer. Ten Years After were there of course but our US representative Dee Anthony was with them. Chris Wright was getting married in London and Terry Ellis was his best man. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull played an outdoor show on a racetrack in (I think) Laurel, Maryland around that time. I watched the first part of their show from the side of the stage, but Tull had to leave, so we watched the second half driving on a beautiful summer night, around the track to get back to the main road. We watched the last number from the far side of the racecourse, and Zeppelin seemed able to fill whatever distance we made. I remember thinking that night who can ever do this better? I hope they have a great reunion show.

Audu Maikori wins IYMEY award

Audu Maikori, CEO of Chocolate City, is the winner of the British Council's International Young Music Entrepreneur (IYMEY) of the Year award 2007.

Audu, 32, is a law graduate from the University of Jos and his company, Chocolate City is an entertainment company that administers a record label, artist management, entertainment facility management, recording studio, events management and promotion as well as general consultancy work for clients. The company has won considerable success in the past two years with artists Jeremiah Gyang and Djinee (who won best artist at the Nigerian Music Awards in 2006).

Now in its second year, the British Council’s International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2007 (IYMEY) aims to turn the spotlight on the brightest and best young creative entrepreneurs (between 25 – 35 years-old) from the music industry in emerging economies. The ten finalists who were selected represent the best of what Egypt, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland and Tanzania have to offer. Over the course of a packed two-week programme, they toured the UK, forging networks with industry leaders and discovering more about the dynamics of the British music industry through visits to London, Manchester and Glastonbury festival.

Gerry Dammers at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Thankfully musicians continue to refuse, like horses led to the fence. Refuse to appear and disappear based on an idea of what they do, or shouldn’t do, required by a view of music, which has a limited sense of the possible.

Gerry Dammers appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Hall like a magic genie…leading his Spatial A K A Orchestra into the hall and on to an incredibly designed stage, which immediately created an atmosphere in which anything could happen. Great musicians and singers, costumed and masked, performed arrangements of mainly Sun Ra material.

We in the audience were encouraged to gargle away, creating a vocal background for the intro to ‘Ghost Town aka Ghost Planet’, which became ‘Nuclear War’ featuring Anthony Joseph on vocals. Francine Luce provided astonishing vocals for ‘I Wait for You’.

To play music of this complexity in such a beautiful and urgent way is unusual, but Gerry Dammers can do this and engage us in a mix of ideas and emotions of such intensity that anything seems possible.

SET LIST FOR JERRY DAMMERS’ SPATIAL AKA ORCHESTRA
QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL June 20th 07

(All tunes selected and arranged by Jerry Dammers)

Springtime Again (Sun Ra)
Incidente in Fabrica (Enzo Scoppa)
Mayan Temple (Sun Ra)
Egypt Strut (Salab Rageb)/Ancient Ethiopia (Sun Ra)
Theme from the Excorcist (Mike Oldfield arr. Dizzie Reece)
Ringo Rock(Trad Japanese arr.Coxsone Dodd)/Love on a Far Planet (Sun Ra after John Coltrane)
Journey in Satchandanda (Alice Coltrane)
Om Nama Sivay/Battle at Armageddon (Alice Coltrane)
I’ll Wait for You (Sun Ra) vocals Francine Luce
Where Pathways Meet (Sun Ra)
Ghost Planet (Jerry Dammers)/Nuclear War (Sun Ra) vocals Anthony Joseph
Soul Vibrations of Man (Sun Ra)
Space is the Place (Sun Ra) vocals Francine Luce

International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year

The British Council held a competition for 'International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year' featuring aspiring music people from ten different countries, Argentina, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland and Venzuela, who having competed successfully in their own country came to the UK last summer for the final.There they had the opportunity to meet a cross-section of the UK music industry,hear some music,but most importantly compete for the prize. The winner had to " be someone who will be able to develop a mutually beneficial culture of both personal and professional engagement, collaboration, and partnership with the UK, and more broadly put the wider international dialogue of IYMEY to work." The joint runners-up were Jesse Singh from India and Yoris Sebastian from Indonesia and the winner was Mohamed 'Momo' Merhari from Morocco the co-founder of "Boulevard des Jeunes Musiciens' the largest contemporary music festival in North Africa.


The range of music, aspiration and commitment that all the candidates brought to the UK was exceptional.The communication and support for each other that they developed during their trip to the UK was a joy to see.Their attitude would have been impressive in any context,but given the challenging economic and social circumstances that they experience in building their music careers you can't help feeling that perhaps the best training we could offer young music entrepreneurs in the UK might be an exchange visit with their international counterparts, where they can share that experience, and test their own resourcefulness and passion against that background.

A Long Way Home

‘Long Way Home’ is Frankie Miller’s first new album for twenty years. I’ve been listening to it and reflecting on his life whilst I recover from a back injury suffered when a wave rolled over me in India. I’ve known Frankie since he was in ‘The Stoics’ a Glasgow band that moved to London around 1970,changed their name, played the Isle of Wight festival and split up quite soon afterwards. The Stoic philosophers who expressed the idea of enduring suffering without complaint may not have had in mind the dangers of getting up to sing in a Glasgow pub but there at least they were in the right area. In fact Frankie ended up singing in a London pub in Kentish Town called the Tally-Ho where a lively mix of Scottish roadies and Irish builders had chosen to congregate and drink. They were part of an old story. When Scottish and Irish immigrants had traveled first to England, and later America they brought with them their songs and melodies, and when they met the music of early Afro-American blues it created a mix, which is the basis of pretty much everything we think of as popular music today.

A typical example was ‘The Unfortunate Rake’ a funeral song that first appears in Cork in the 1790’s, first written in the ‘Irish Musical Repository’ of 1808. It reappears in England in the mid-19th century as ‘The Buck’s Elegy’ or ‘The Unfortunate Lad’ a cautionary story about the lethal dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, and the same song later appears in many different variations, ‘a Trooper cut down in his Prime’ or ‘a Sailor cut down in his Prime’ or even ‘a Young Girl cut down in her Prime’. They share the common theme of young people deprived early in life by such dangers as drink, gambling or simply ill health, and what goes with those risks and losses. The song becomes in America both a cowboy classic titled ‘The Streets of Laredo’ and the jazz classic ‘St James Infirmary’.

Nick Tosches has followed many of these connections in his book ‘Country’ if you want to know more. As he tells the story, words and melodies flip flop backwards and forwards between country and blues. This history shaped every part of the music, indeed one of Frankie Miller’s greatest influences Ray Charles had himself yodeled in a hillbilly band the’ Florida Playboys’, long before his greatest r’n’b innovations and success, and long long before he recorded one of Frankie’s most enigmatic songs “I Can’t Change It”.

In the 1970’s I saw Scottish soul meeting the deep south yet again when Frankie joined Allen Toussaint to complete the writing of his ‘Highlife’ album in New Orleans, later to be recorded in Atlanta. Frankie’s passionate and whole-hearted singing inspired that unfailingly courteous and charming southern gentleman who had spent his life steeped in the rhythm and blues of New Orleans. Communication and mutual respect were instant, and whilst Frankie sweated away day after day in an unaccustomed heat and humidity, with the ever-cool Toussaint, they added yet more to the thread of that dna which links our music consciousness to those early pioneers. ‘Shoorah Shoorah’ which wasn’t a hit for Frankie, was for Betty Wright, which in the mid-80’s Pauline Black of ska band ‘the Selecter’ covered, and indulged me by allowing me to direct the promo in a garage in south London which passed, at least that day, for the French Quarter. The migration has been constant Van Morrison, Joe Cocker and the Average White Band all made that same journey, sharing musicians and friendship and a common purpose with each other.

Frankie wrote and recorded many songs and albums over the following years and toured a good deal before being stricken by a brain haemorrhage in New York in 1994.It was a terrible tumble. Our paths had crossed throughout a lot of this and there is plenty to say, never mind all the stories I could tell, but also a great many musicians have come forward with their own testimony. What are we to make of his story? Well the music is all there to be listened to. I think of what Van Morrison called ‘the secret heart of music’ (or was it ‘the sacred heart of music’?) that place where the long threads of the genetic code of notes and words forms itself into the body of our music. It’s a place where most music traditions at their core find some common ground if they are performed with proper reverence and belief. Its within that place that musicians, in my experience, really feel the need to connect, to participate, to belong, and its to that body of music they must add in order to feel they have really and truly testified. Listening to the title song ‘It’s A Long Way Home’ reminds me more forcefully than ever that whatever else has happened Frankie Miller has done that.

Listen to 'It's A Long Way Home'