Toyah & I have returned from an Indian restaurant nearby. We drove up from London yesterday via the Horse's parents near Pershore.
Today's calls included one to Adrian in Nashville. We are discussing the possibility of touring the UK during the first week of July. Richard Chadwick, Manager to the Stars, is speaking to The Agency to see what is possible. Factoid: gig income for the UK provinces is 25 - 33% of what is available in Europe. Factoid 2: the current Rolling Stone (Germany) gives TCOL 4 stars, which equals ITCOTCK ("Red" gets 4.5 stars), with the banner "Music for the 22nd. Century".
"Caped Crusaders", the Radio Two history of Prog Rock on Saturday night, might also have been called "Heroes & Villains". There were interviews with Ian MacDonald, Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks & Keith Emerson. One of the disadvantages of being Crim's surviving founder member is that I continue to be asked questions on the early years, & having interviews (as in Paris last Thursday) which cover the full 31 years of Crim life. This is legitimate. But the disadvantage is to privilege my opinions over the views of the other members. So, it was interesting to hear Ian's take on the first Crim. Ian suggested that the first "progressive" album was "Sergeant Pepper" rather than ITCOTCK. Drugs were mentioned briefly in the programme, but (in my view) it is impossible to have an understanding of the period without knowing the effect of drugs on several of the key players.
"When a musician believes that music is a commodity, music dies in them."
