WEBVTT - Peter Rudge 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:13.080 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left's podcast. My 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:17.279 guest today is Uber Manager. In his tenure, he's looked 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:23.000 after the Stones, The Who, Leonard skinnerd James Peter. Good 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.919 to have you here. Nice to be here, Bob. Finally, 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.160 thank you very much for inviting me. And where exactly 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.480 are you right this very second? Right now, I am 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.960 in what is presently called Rhode Island and the plantations, 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:42.519 but it's about to be just called Rhode Island, I understand. Um. 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.839 I kind of moved to America in the early seventies 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:50.120 and got my green card way back in seventy three, 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.680 and subsequently married a young lady from a from American 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.720 lady who resided in Rhode Island, and we bought a 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.160 house up here about thirty years ago in a wonderful 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.679 part of the country, very very pretty. Now we've had 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.440 previous conversations. You've spent time in Australia. Was that just 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.039 when we were emailing or you all? I think that's 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.679 when we were emailing, Barba. I mean, I'm I'm born 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:21.080 in Britain, in the Midlands, Wolverhampton, where Slade came from. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.319 Um and it's rather like the equipment of say Akron. 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:30.080 It's where Goodyear tires are made in Britain. Um And 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:34.080 I spent my early youth in Britain. And I first 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.320 came to America when I was twenty three and got 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.759 a green card shortly afterwards and have been an American 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.759 resident ever since, although just by some strange quirk as 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:51.600 life can present. UM, I've tended to be have most 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:55.040 of my business has been centered in the UK, so 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.760 I've kind of gone across the Atlantic backwards and forwards 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.440 for many years. Let's go back to the Midlands. What 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:05.680 did your parents do for a living? UM? My father 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:11.680 was um a farmer. He was kind of um, you know, 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:14.240 he couldn't hold a job, Bob. We moved around the 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.680 country frequently every two or three years. And he was 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.160 one of these guys who was brought in when farms 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.399 were kind of struggling. He would be asked to come 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.200 in there and try and get it in shape, you know, 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:31.040 replant the fields and etcetera. Etcenter, bring cows in instead 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:35.360 of sheep. But he he wasn't the easiest of guys. Um. 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.639 And we moved a lot around the country. I would think, 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.440 on an average every two or three years my mother, 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:46.639 bless her. Um was a wonderful woman. She actually was 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:50.560 a florist, was a gardener and of some repute, and 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.040 was one of the first gardeners in the fifties and 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.640 sixties to kind of look at Japanese flower arranging, which 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.639 was kind of the cutting edge world of flour arrangement 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.480 in those days, an event and did very well, exhibited 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.520 all around the country, run flower shop, and actually was 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.120 part of the team that did the flowers for Princess 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:14.000 Margaret's wedding in Westminster Abbey. So I had a tough 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.040 act to follow. That's certainly a flower in her cap. 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.400 Was he more of a businessman or did he get 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.960 his hands dirty? No, he got his hands dirty. He 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.280 wasn't a businessman at all. Um. He we didn't have 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.520 a good relationship, Bob. I mean, I'm one of those 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.359 guys and I think there's a lot in the music 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.880 business and there's must be a story there who didn't 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:41.000 have a particularly happy childhood because of him. I as 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.960 a result of not really getting on with him, I 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.240 went to I was put into this kind of boarding 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:51.880 school when I was about thirteen, and frankly after that 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.240 I went to university and after that I went down 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.400 to London and I never really lived at home after 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.640 I was thirteen. Um, we didn't have a good relationship 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.640 my father and I. Okay, so how many kids were 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.800 in the family. There are three of us. There's myself 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.040 the oldest, there's my sister who's two years younger than me, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.120 and then my brother who is fifteen years younger than me. 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.800 Came very late when my mother was forty nine. Actually, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.719 I think, um, yeah, and that my brother that lives 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.200 in Britain in in the UK, as does my sister, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.320 up in a place called Ilkley, Yorkshire, very very nice 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.560 and my parents funny enough, my father passed away a 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.840 number of years ago at ninety six, and my mother 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.040 passed away only two years ago at a hundred and two. 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.080 So um, hopefully I've got good g right. If the 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:45.120 COVID doesn't get you, you're gonna be well. Certainly we're 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.120 in a bubble here, and you know, Rhode Island has 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:53.279 got just about the least kind of cases in the 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:55.800 country right now. Of course it's the smallest state, but 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.599 they she's done a remarkably good job, the governor here, um, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.920 and people seemed to be being sensible as opposed to 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.479 much of the rest of the country right now. So 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.960 growing up traditionally the oldest child or the hopes and 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.039 dreams of the family or in that child, did you 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.400 feel that or were you so estranged from your father 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:23.080 that wasn't a factor. More of the latter. My father, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.960 you know, I'm trying not to be cruel, but he 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:36.080 wasn't very successful ending he did did. Uh. He treated 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.280 my mother terribly. He treated me terribly. Um, he couldn't 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.960 hold a job down. He wasn't an educated man. He 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.839 came from a very very interesting family. I'm from a 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.480 very interesting family. I think my great great great grandfather 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:56.440 started Rudge Bicycles, which was quite an esteemed bicycle brand 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.760 in um in Britain and has traveled the world. And 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.320 you know, it was bought by Rally then brought by 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.040 bs A. But my great great grandfather drunk it all 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.120 away and so we had The family fell in very 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:12.520 tough times. My father, according to many people, and was 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.520 very quite jealous of me. I was, you know, fortunate, 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:22.080 and I was good at sport. UM, I was relatively bright. UM, 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.159 I did very well at school at Rugby. UM I 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.159 kind of got an England trial, and funny enough, the 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.760 day I got the England Under sixteen trial, Um, it 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.640 was in Leicester, which is not far from Wolverhampton from 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:38.919 where and where I went to school in Ludlow, the 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.760 boarding school, and my father didn't want to go, but 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.400 my mother insisted and my mother went to went to 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.400 see the game to watch me and my father sat 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:53.200 in the car in the parking lot. So oh god. Yeah, 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:58.320 So that has been someone of a motivating for me 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.400 throughout my life. Um. You know, one of the funny 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.720 things on the iron is of it was that I 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.239 didn't learn to drive till I was fifty in fact 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.240 when I came up here, because you know, I was 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.880 born into the music business. I was still a kid 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.040 when I was started with the who I didn't know 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.600 anything but Limos, I mean Limo around London or Limit 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:19.400 around New York. I mean what else was it a 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.480 better Limos? And I never learned to drive. And so 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.040 at fifty, on my mother's birthday, I passed my test. 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.680 So he didn't learn to drive until you were fifty 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.000 fifty because um, that was one the one thing my 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.320 father told me and my mother that he could do 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.880 that I couldn't do. So I thought, well, instead of 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.360 like learning to I won't drive. I'll prove to him 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.000 that I can exist quite well and be hopefully relatively 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.640 successful without driving. So I didn't drive until we moved 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.880 up to what is essentially the country. Um. One of 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.559 those odd circumstances in life. So he obviously played quite 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.520 a factor in my life. My mother I do with Bob. 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.240 She was a wonderfully creative, very talented. To the day 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:05.920 she died, she asked me when I was going to 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.040 get a proper job. She could never understand because when 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:10.960 I got in the business, it wasn't a job, It 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.200 wasn't an industry. It was well like a cottage industry 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.640 of anything. And you know, we went along, we were 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:20.360 kind of making up the rules. Um as we went along. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:25.080 You came of age, uh in the pre Beatle era, 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.320 shall we say, the Beatles really kind of hitting sixty 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.560 two in England, sixty four in America. Were you a 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:35.080 music fan? I was. I was at this boarding school 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:39.720 and I was huge Rolling Stones fan, right and my 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.000 best friend was a huge Beatles fan. But I wasn't 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.840 a massive you know, I don't think there were music 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.400 fans quite like there are now who were actually like, 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:53.480 are so knowledgeable. So also was an incredible elects I 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.440 never came across it was. It was it was slightly 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.240 a different dynamic, so Peter music for and we're not 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.320 to seem not as knowledgeable in your era as they 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:07.080 are now. You were saying, yeah, I think so. Maybe 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.040 it's because music as we know it, Bob didn't exist, certainly, 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.160 not in the critical mass that it does now. It 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.720 was very early, it was, it was just beginning to evolve. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.840 I mean, the first record I bought was a seven 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:25.480 inch single was by Del Shannon right run Around right 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.440 then I think it was le Roy Van Dyet walk 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.240 on By. And then I discovered Bill Haley and Rock 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.640 around the Clock and that was the fifth is and 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:36.960 you know, and we were at down and then the 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.280 Beatles and the Stones and the so called English invasion 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.480 kind of begun and started to kind of travel the 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:49.959 world the west, the West coast. I think American sound 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.679 kind of started. The birds and people, Buffalo, Springfield. That 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.360 was a little later. Dylan was there or there, but 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.439 it wasn't like on the level to any extent by 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:05.280 any comparison to now. So I and for me anyway, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.880 I wasn't aware of that intensity of feeling of kids 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:13.000 of young age during at that time it was in 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:17.560 some respects it was more than ever it has been 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.480 ever since, and which it sadly isn't now the soundtrack 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:26.160 to a cultural movement, um a youth movement which I 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:30.120 think culminated at Woodstock. That was kind of when the 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:34.479 major which was a music a musical, sociological and political 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:39.240 statement that transcended pure music. But in those preceding ten years, 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:44.679 it was a much smaller world. I feel that from 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.280 what I recall now. Okay, so you were in boarding school. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:53.640 You're obviously a uh an athlete in many different venues, 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.920 and you were a good athlete. Were you the kind 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.079 of kid who got along with everybody and a lot 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.120 of friends who you're of a loner or what kind 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.560 of kid were you? No? I think I did. I 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.199 think I got along with everybody. I mean I I 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.640 was head boy at school, captain of rugby, captain of cricket, 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.160 a kind of things. I was an athlete, which put 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.440 me in good stead. And I believe that the one 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.120 of the primary reasons that I got into Cambridge was 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.440 because I was a good athlete. And one of the 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.280 reason that I got into the music business was because 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.680 when at Cambridge after my first year, I blew my 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:33.520 knee out. Um, so, you know, I was pretty social then. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:35.720 I think as I've got older, I've got less social. 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.640 I think that's part of getting older. I've noticing that myself. 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:41.920 I think you're right, Bob, I think you have less 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.240 patience and less everything and if everything's ground dog day, 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.200 you've seen everything, so you've become kind of a little 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.360 bit more cynical and less forgiving. But no, I was. 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.280 I was pretty social back in the day. I have 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.360 to say I felt I was. I mean I always say, 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.480 you know, guitarists have a guitar, singers have a microphone, 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.720 managed just have a mouth. So well, that's why I 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.000 was asking people think just people think that, you know, 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.040 the skill is just knowing a lot about music or 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.679 being able to plot a course. We're getting along with 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.000 people is the first criterion. But how devastating was it 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.640 for you that you blew out your knee? It was 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.679 a crushing I mean, really was. I mean, I love rugby. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.880 It was you know, rugby and music. I was there 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:30.480 and but I was passionate about rugby, and it left 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:34.280 a massive void in my life obviously. And although I 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.680 was a music aficionado, a fan, and I bought music 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.920 and followed it under the bed sheets like so many 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.280 people in Britain with Radio Luxembourg and everything else after 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.520 lights out, you know, the then back in, you know, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.839 all those things that kids did in those days to 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.480 get the kind of music, and all the imports shows 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.679 of the American bands. I mean, I still had that, 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.360 but it left a huge hole in my life because 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:03.319 I'm kind of probably already gathered pretty hyper um and 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.760 and you know, I need things to do, I need 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.240 things to occupy myself. So what we did, my friend 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.720 and I we said, okay, we looked around at Cambridge 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.440 and it's a number of independent colleges, almost like like 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.080 the States. Here it's it's a federal system, it's and 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.000 all the colleges were independent of one another and had 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:29.200 no um coordinated entertainment budgets. All the colleges booked all 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:33.360 their things separately individually. There was no kind of social 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:37.280 secretary or no entertainment's board or whatever they have, And 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:39.559 so we thought, there's a good chance it's a bit 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.400 of a good business here, and so we formed an 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.560 agency corp Mono because by that time the English folk 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.959 scene was becoming really kind of cool and the incredible 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.439 string band and bands of that nature. We started to 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:56.080 kind of like come, you know. We started to follow 0:13:56.120 --> 0:14:00.640 and we started to book them around the other universities. Um, 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.640 the Pink Floyd we from Cambridge. I got friendly with Gilmore. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.360 Gilmour was in a band called the Wall Flowers. He 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.960 wasn't even the guitarist, he was the bass player and 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.440 they played in our local public cry. So we started 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.160 to get the field for booking stuff. We also managed 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.960 the band. We put a band together. My first band 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.520 was called the Pineapple Truck and we tagged it UM 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.200 even though and back then you needed a tagline the 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.680 band with the highest I que in the world. And 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:35.440 we managed to get um interest. We got a story planted. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.360 I god knows how you do it. You know, when 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.720 you're young, you don't think, you just act um. And 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.160 we we got a story plan and as a result 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.240 we got this kind of a and r rushed to 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.400 come up. They all came up to see this band, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.200 who are terrible. Um, but I I remember and it's 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.040 a funny story. And it's quite separate from my relationship 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.040 later with Mick Jadder, but one of the things we 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.200 decided to the lead singer. We had a kid called 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.840 Ricky Hopper. Best friend at school was a Chris Jagger, 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.520 happened to be mixed young brother. We thought, let's get 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.440 him in. Let's get him in. We got a Jagger, 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.280 we got the i Q, we got everything, and we 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.840 kind of spun this story. And and a well known 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.760 he was a journalist then he came a playwright and 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.920 an author of some repute. Michael Frayne was sent up 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.360 by the Sunday Times to do this piece on on 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.760 this band of Pineapple Truck, and you know, I just 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:30.000 fell in love with it. I just thought, this is fantastic, 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:35.960 you know, orchestrating these things, tweaking, um, this is fantastic, 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.800 and you know, putting on concerts, and I just fell 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.480 in love with the business. And I think inasmuch as 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.760 the music, I fell in love with the business because 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.760 it was you could there were no rules, there was 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.160 no structure that it was like you had to follow 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:55.040 your instincts and it was just for me, It just 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.240 it was just hit a sweet spot and That was 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:03.280 the beginnings of my love, my my, my, my, my, 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:07.680 my involvement in music from the other side of the 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.800 of the room, as it were, the management, the business sidemen. 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.480 We promoted a lot of shows at the Cambridge Corner Exchange, 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.880 and I mean I loved all the American bands, so 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.760 we had it. We bought over It's a Beautiful Day. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:25.040 I'm Butterfly. We had their um who else, We had 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.840 the Electric Prunes. We toured w all those old California 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.800 bands as well as the as well as obviously the 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.960 String Band. I remember we booked her Anosaurus Rex and 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.280 I had them at the Cambridge Corner Exchange and actually 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.560 sat there watching it. Mark Bowl and fell asleep on 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.760 stage when he was singing. I mean, you know with 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.760 me it was him and Mickey hook the two of 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.160 them before Mark wentz you know, and I hooked up 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:52.880 with Mark later attract records. Um but and that was it. 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:57.320 And so what happened was I booked the Who or 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:02.320 we booked the Who just for one second? Okay? Uh. 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.159 Even though it's easy to tell the story, it's not 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.280 so easy to do to start an agency in booking 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.520 at different colleges. Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit or 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.720 was it another member of the so called we. No, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.440 I think it was me, my my, my, my mate 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.760 who did it with me? John Willis, um wonderful guy, 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.600 was still friends. He went on to the head of 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.119 Channel four. He's made documentaries, he's the head of Bathta, 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:32.399 he was chairman of Bathta for a number of years. 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.960 He was. I think I was probably more entrepreneur than him. Actually, Bob, 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.960 I kind of like, yeah, I had that at that point. 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.720 You have no fear, um, just no fear you just 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.120 as a young person, you kind of don't you don't 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.960 you don't think it through drilling down a little bit, 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.359 was the money to book these towards your personal money 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.480 or the school's money? Now our personal money? We actually, 0:17:57.600 --> 0:17:59.840 we both know being a culture promoter is a like 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.000 to go broke. So how did how did you manage 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:07.160 to stay in business? Well? Hold on, now, then when 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:11.720 we booked these shows, remember hold on, no, I see 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.320 what you're saying. When we booked shows for the may balls, 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.120 which are the big kind of balls on graduation balls here, 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.440 that was the college money. We took a percentage. Okay, 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:25.120 when I promoted concerts at the Cambridge Town like Cambridge 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.600 Call Exchange like the Prunes, or we we did family 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.119 with Roger Chapman. That was our own money. We we 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:35.920 just it was again back to your point, it was relationships. 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.280 There was one agency in particular that would sell to us. 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.080 Some agencies wouldn't sell to young college kits without you know, 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.200 with bank accounts with no money in them. One agency 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.240 that sold to us, who I cultivated with John Willis, 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.880 was called the Brian Morrison Agency. I remember now one 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:58.280 thirty two chairing cross Road. That agency represented, amongst others, 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.080 the Pink Floyd, the Pretty Things and a number of 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:06.280 other bands. There was the bookers there, one being Steve 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.640 O'Rourke who went on to manage the Pink Floyd, another 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.560 Tony Howard who went on to manage the Soft Machine, 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.760 and um a guy called Brian Murray who managed actually 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.560 Mungo Jerry. You'd probably know who they are. Yeah, yeah, 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:25.200 you got it. Um. But they sold to us and 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.840 they taught me some lessons very early on, some big lessons. 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.720 I remember we booked a band called Jimmy James and 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:34.840 the Bag of Bonds into Cambridge Corn Exchange. I remember 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.840 we paid a hundred fifty thousand, hundred and fifty pounds 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.199 was the fee we paid them. No back ends in 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.840 those days. Um, And for some reason, I don't know 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.439 whether we blagged it or what, we didn't pay the 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:54.399 full amount of money to the agency ahead of the show. 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.240 You know, as you know, normally you have to, especially 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.440 if you're an unknown promoter. So we agree, need um 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.760 to settle with the band's manager on the night. So 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:06.560 we go in and I go and say, all right, 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.680 I've got I've got your money already. Here's the hundred 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.240 and fifty. And the guy said, when we're only getting 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.320 hundred and twenty five, I said, no, that here's the content. 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:17.960 So I learned about buying and selling very early on. 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.760 That That was Steve A raw Bless his heart, and 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.040 he became Yeah, he became a lifelong friend until he 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.080 sadly passed away. Um. Okay, just like okay, we're in 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.840 like sixty seven, sixty eight. Uh, this was I was 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:42.160 a camera from sixty five to sixty eight. Yes, okay, 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.400 A side question, because the Incredible String band was big 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:50.119 at that time, fell completely off the radar. Is that 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.359 a sound that could ever come back? Or it was 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.879 just a moment in time. It was a little bit 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:58.399 at a moment in time like Donovan and listen, it 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:02.040 was a little kind of a little hippie you know. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:08.240 Um two great musicians, Mike Williams and Mike Heron, great musicians, 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.680 and there were them. Was like the Fairbook Convention. We 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:13.560 booked them as well. There are a number of those 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.080 man's not quite like the Incredible String Band, but they 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.760 kind of bridge the gap, I suppose in some ways Bob, 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.440 between real real folk and things like the Fairpool Convention. 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:27.480 Because that time you had Bertie and and John Renborne 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.399 were really doing well. There was the folk thing. There 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.399 was a girl called Julie Felix in Britain, obviously in 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:37.440 America because I remember my record collection at Cambridge had 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:41.720 things like Tim Buckley, had things like Tim Harden, had 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:46.159 things like um, oh God, Jesse Winchester. I remember that 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.960 was a particular I liked that music, and obviously that 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:54.760 you know, the Bob Dylan and co um So I 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.040 don't know whether it could come back quite in the 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.520 same incarnation, but I think there's always and for any 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.040 type of music, how big its footprint can be. I 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.159 don't know. They were great to stream and it was 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.480 quite unique, right, they certainly had a moment. Okay, so 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.520 you booked the Who, I interrupted you. Oh yeah, well, 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:14.359 so I booked the Who. We booked the Who for 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:18.920 the price mayble, and we pay them four hundred We 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.959 got them for four hundred pounds, which was like probably 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:25.200 four million now, four hundred pounds for the Who to 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:30.560 play and this was sixty eight I think sixty seven 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.159 or sixty eight um. And then on the morning of 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:38.160 the show I get a telegram as they were called then. 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.040 It was Cable as we've known America from Kit a 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:46.760 kit Lambert Um, dear Mr Rids, Mr Willis, it is 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.520 with sad, great sadness and greatest may that we're uf g. 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.200 Keith Moon has been the drummer has been taken sick 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.720 Vladi bl and we're unable to fulfill tonight's function. Bard. 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.720 Now we were like the Who were like I was 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:04.240 a massive hoo fan. I love the well it begs, 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:06.919 the begs the question were you a martyr a rocker? 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:11.560 Did that even apply a cambridge? It didn't really, Honestly, 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.400 I didn't really feel either way about it. In fact, 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:16.800 I kept away from both of them because they were 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.479 always in fight, so I didn't actually I didn't wear 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:24.960 any colors. It didn't that I wasn't aware of it. 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:27.879 When I was at Cambridge it was more mark. We 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:30.959 were kind of marching against the bomb and things like that. 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:33.480 The you know, we were more in that world in 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.880 those days, CND and everything. Um. But anyway, so I thought, well, 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:39.560 and they can't do that to us, what are we 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:42.000