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| Pull that gut in Fat Boy! |
As it was still early, we went for coffee and a catch up before piling into my sister’s car and driving home to Norwich. The journey home was filled with my stories and theirs. They told me the latest news of my brother Richard and his wife Tracey in London, Brother Mark and sister in law Monica, their sons Ben and Jason and daughter Michelle. Julian and his girlfriend Toni, who had just had a baby boy Lewis, were now going to get married. I was home for three weeks and was due to take Mum back to California with me.
Once home (mums house) and after a sleep, I was off to the Wensum Community Centre to catch up with the lads there. One commented on my tan thus “Look at the fucking colour of him!” I did not tell them it had been developed by spending some serious time on the sun bed, rather, I said that it was due to the unending sunny days in the Bay Area, in fact, the days can be overcast and cloudy/foggy more often than not.
I planned to hold a party at the community centre for my 24th birthday and booked Saturday the 18th June. A buffet would be pulled together by family and friends and I was looking for some live music, a disco and as I had by now been perfecting my “George” shtick, would need a tape deck and microphone as I had discovered that I could actually sing. Mark and I had been to a couple of Karaoke bars and I always got up and did a George Michael number. I had bought the Father Figure CD single as it had an instrumental version on it. I also had an instrumental of Faith and Kissing a Fool, all from the Faith album.
I went around to my friend Rick Holmes house and after a few cups of coffee and multiple cigarettes, we agreed that his Band “The Law” would play a few covers, as well as their own stuff; I would then accompany them on backing vocals and follow them with my George songs. With at least a week to go until the party, I went along to rehearse and watch the band go through their numbers.
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| Rick at Back, Luke Bullen seated in blue denims |
I expect many of you know someone who had been in a band,
had almost made it, should have made it etc.
The Law were one such band.
Patrick (Rick’s brother) was a front man in the style of Bono/Adam
Ant/Mick Jagger/Jim Morrison. He looked
not unlike Adam Ant, had Jonny Depp cheekbones and a swagger and attitude that
made him the perfect vocalist for their brand of rock music. Their cousin Steve was on Lead Guitar (he now
teaches guitar in schools), Melly, an old school friend on bass, was a steady
consistent player and they had Luke Bullen on drums.
Luke, then a young drummer learning his craft, has gone on
to great things and is now married to KT Tunstall, after becoming her drummer, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Bullen). He was very committed to his craft even then
and attended Drumtech (http://www.techmusicschool.co.uk/)
in London. The Law won the “Battle of
the Bands” on Radio One and recorded in London, performing live sessions. The pictures here are (apologies for the
focus – crap camera) of the band in the recording studio in Norwich recording a
EP “Jacky D”. Not lacking confidence, they even gave themselves more "rock star" last names Rick Holmes became Rick Sheridan and Patrick Holmes became Patrick Kingston! Love it........
The picture left is Rick (Red Bomber jacket) and Luke Bullen leaning on wall far end in Black Leather Jacket.
I met up with everyone I knew, including the girls who came
to Rhodes (http://jw-alifeofsurprises.blogspot.com/2011/10/all-roads-lead-to-rhodes-and-police.html)
along with Helen Breakell, (my Brother Richard’s sister in law and an ex of
mine), Jackie Barton who I had a serious crush on, but who was going out with
someone else, Elisa Savory, who I dated after Helen, and her twin sister
Emma. I invited all the boys from the club
and the football team, my extended family and anyone else I bumped into and
felt like inviting.
When not rehearsing during the day, I was organising my
mum’s trip to California. She had
organised her flights already, (linking with my return on BA) and we went into
Norwich City centre to the CO-OP to get her travel insurance. He trip was for 32 days in total. The insurance was sold in blocks of weeks and
months. Mum could have insured herself
for the month (31 days) for £44. I told
her better safe than sorry, so she added an additional month for another £44,
had some discount applied (returning customer) and paid the grand sum of £81
for travel insurance. I realise there a
bit of detail there, but hold on to that as it becomes very relevant in the forthcoming
blogs.
Saturday 18th June 1988.
I accompanied “The Law” to the community
centre and helped them set up and we sound checked, laid out the buffet and then
all headed off to change. Patrick and Rick
always put on a proper show no matter where the gig was being held and my party
was no different. Imagine a rock concert
at a stadium venue, intro music on a mix tape that Rick would produce, some
light show effects, a backdrop, an intro song to reflect the bands output and
then their entrance, well the musicians anyway.
They’d kick off the first number, something like Sympathy for the Devil
(Rolling Stones) and repeat the opening bars, until with much fanfare and ado,
a bottle of brandy in one hand; Pat would emerge through a backstage door and
make his way to the front of the stage. They’d
crank it up and Pat would launch into the song, a showman.
This photos shows the band at full throttle, note the concentration on the face of Steve the Guitarist far right.
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| The Law - Left to Right, Rick Holmes (Sheridan) Patrick Holmes (Kingston), Luke Bullen and Steve (Coz) |
I joined in on a number of songs towards the end of their
set. I then took to the stage and sang
Faith, but started it Acapella (without music) and slowed down. Rick picked up his acoustic guitar and Luke
his sticks and we punched out a version of Faith that had everyone singing
along. I couldn’t believe it!
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| Well, You Gotta have Faith |
I loved performing in front of people, even if the songs weren’t mine. I called my nieces Claire and Katie on stage and on bended knee, sang Father Figure to them. Yea, I know, really gushy, but those girls were/are so special to me.
My mum said “I never knew you could sing” and I am sure someone said, “He can’t”. But, everyone had a great time that night and we closed it off with a trip to Ricks Place, at that time the “in” club in town.
The next few days were spent putting final plans together for mum, making sure she had her visa sorted and that she had all she needed. She was really excited to be coming to America and when my sister drove us back to Heathrow she was smiling all the way there. Goodbye over and done with, we made it through to departures and ate breakfast. The flight was mid-morning, getting us into SFO late afternoon. Mark was due to collect us and his cousin Trevor had flown over to California in May and was working with Paul to cover my absence. Trevor was a real character and he and my mum got on like a house on fire.
Mum took my room and checked in next door to Mark’s
room. He was eager to have mum stay as
he and she were really close. Mark has
always had the ability to make friends with the generations older than us. He is a great listener and a good sounding
board for people to share their thoughts with.
We arrived in Sa Francisco on a Friday afternoon. Mum got over the flight pretty quickly and
Mark, Trevor, Tammy, and I showed her around the local area, especially
Burlingame and we took her to meet CeCe at La Piñata, the Mexican
Restaurant.
She met Paul, Victor, and
Shirley, and she and mum were soon great friends, talking about home (UK) and
life in America. Mum thanked Shirley for
helping Mark and I out when we first arrived and after a few days
reconnaissance, mum said “Jonathan, you’ve got a wonderful life out here, you
are very lucky”.
I introduced mum to Tammy’s parents on a trip down to San
Jose. We were talking about how mum was
going to occupy her time whilst I was at work.
Tammy’s mum then suggested she accompany her and her sisters to Santa
Barbara for a week. Mum would have been
stuck in our apartment once I returned to work, Paul having let me take a few
days off, he was starting to moan about workload and I knew I’d have to go back
soon.
Tammy’s mum explained that she and her 3 sisters were taking
a week in Santa Barbara, staying at Fess Parker’s Red Lion Hotel (http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/SBAMCDT-Fess-Parker-s-DoubleTree-Resort-by-Hilton-Santa-Barbara-California/index.do)
that the actor had opened during his movie
career along with a Winery at Santa Ynez.
His most famous role was as Davy Crockett for Disney studios. Mum was a bit worried about the trip, but
Tammy’s mum assured us that she would be well looked after and she would have a
wonderful time. Mum decided to go and
after dinner, we went back to the apartment in San Mateo.
There was a week or so before the Santa Barbara trip and I
had to go back to work. On our
excursions, mum had been short of breath on occasion. She had her Ventolin inhaler as she was
pretty sure she had Asthma and would take a few goes on her “puffer” as she
called it to ease the breathlessness. I
went back to work concerned about her breathing; she said I wasn’t to worry and
that she would take a walk along the sidewalk everyday to get some air. This she did and most evenings when I got
back she’d be out of breath again.
Whilst I did not have health insurance, she certainly did and I told her
we would go to the medical centre. Mum
was having none of it, telling me to stop worrying, but agreed that once back
from Santa Barbara she would see a doctor.
The Friday evening before her trip to Santa Barbara on Sunday,
Mark’s pals at the Karate studios organised a BBQ, at Coyote Point County Park. The guys were all 3rd Dan Black
belts and above, so knew how to handle themselves. Marks pal Frank came along and they all doted
on mum and made her welcome and she, being my mum, treated them like long lost
sons and they loved it. She soon took
over the cooking duties as they played Frisbee and threw a football back and
forth.
One of the gang had a Dodge Shelby Daytona, a beast that could go Zero to Sixty in 8 seconds, was fully trimmed out, and went like stink. I had only met this guy twice before, he was a great big bear of a guy, but really decent as I was to find out.
BBQ over, we headed home, mum out of breath and me fussing
and getting told off, which made her more out of breath, so I stopped. Saturday afternoon Tammy’s Dad collected mum
and she stayed over at their house, so to leave early on Sunday. The distance to Santa Barbara from my place
in San Mateo was 308 miles, a five hour drive.
I would speak to her when she got to the hotel she said. So, mum packed off and my room back for a week, what else to do but get Tammy over for a weekend of debauchery. Saturday night dancing and dinner, Sunday morning in bed, Sunday afternoon a drive out and Sunday evening, well we decided to take a shower together.
The shower was running and we were both oblivious to outside interruptions. In fact, it took Mark quite sometime to get our attention, which he eventually did, by hammering on the bathroom door with his fist. I opened the door and asked what was so important? Mark said "Tammy's Dad is on the phone, its not good"....................
Well, Dave's crying and my anxiety levels have gone up! I didn't know she was breathless before she went to SB. Little bugger she was!xx
ReplyDeleteFunny how these things fade somewhat but the emotion still remains ! I was working in Harlow and what a drive back to Norwich that was. I knew she was short of breath as we used to go to see her every Saturday morning and we usually caught her dragging 2 bloody great carrier bags back from Downsway !I used to give her a right telling off and said she must wait for Monica and I to arrive and we would take her enough said !
DeleteMy older Brother Mark and older Sister Helen, commenting above on the health of my mum. Seems so long ago now, but true to say that emotion does remain and for those so closely involved even the smallest reference can sometime trigger memories.
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