Diary 1981

London

JANUARY 1981 - From Monday the 5th to Friday the 9th of January we started rehearsals with The Who, then had the weekend off, and started again on Monday the 12th and the 13th, Tuesday. then we had some more time off. I was well in and part of the Who by now since joining them in 1979. More rehearsals took place from the 19th to the 22nd, and then again from the 26th to the 30th. Then on January 31st the Who took it's Entourage to Cornwall for some gigs. I can't remember where they were, cause I was very, very drunk at the time, but I do know that we were in Cornwall.

FEBRUARY - We did 2 gigs down there on January 31st and February 1st. The 2nd was a day off and on the 3rd and 4th of February we did Gigs at London's Rainbow Theatre. We travelled to Brighton for a gig on the 7th, Lewisham on the 8th and 9th. We then travelled to Glasgow for 3 gigs there on the 14th, 15th, and 16th. On the 17th I was in jail in Dumbarton.

February 17th- It was a day off from the tour, so me and Sue rented a car and drove from Glasgow to the Loch Lomond Hotel for a weekend break. We spent that night in Jail in Dumbarton, Scotland for 'Breach of Peace' at the Loch Lomond Hotel. It was my fault, poor Sue, she was asleep at the time. I got drunk in the Hotel Bar drinking ' White Russians', and when I went back to my room I tried to switch on the TV but managed to knock it off it's stand, and it landed on the floor with a very loud Bang! Then, stumbling around the room, I knocked over the bedside table with another very loud bang. The next thing I knew was the door being busted open, cause it was locked, and a couple of very big guys from security smashed their way into the room, and held me there until the Police arrived. The Police, upon arriving, immediately handcuffed me and dragged Sue out of bed and handcuffed her as well. It was as if we were # 1 on the FBI wanted list or something. They were vicious. They man-handled both of us down to their 'Black Mariah' van and off to Jail in Dumbarton. Wow! What did I do to deserve this!? What did Sue do to deserve this!? She was asleep at the time! They put me in one jail cell and Sue in another to split us up. I think they did this on purpose because they harassed me by walking past my cell and saying things so I could plainly hear them like, "Have you been in the cell with that blonde Tart we just brought in with that drunk from the Who band? What a great fuck she is. You'd better get in there if you want a great 'head job'. In fact let's both go in and give her a right old fuck she will never forget!" They said these things out loud so they could make sure I heard them. It drove me nuts cause I was so drunk I believed every word they said. Boy was I Pissed Off! Obviously I started yelling my lungs out and the last thing I remember is that the little sliding window on the cell door opening, so I stuck my face right up against it so I could see what was going on. Then one of the Cops sprayed something right into my face. It must have been Mace or something like it cause it burned a bit, and I slowly passed out from it. Out like a light! The next thing I remember is waking up the next day with a bad headache and very drowsy. I swear, I had visions that night of them killing us both and dumping our bodies in the Loch. I was that scared! They were that mean! Anyway, the next day they let us go. We drove off in our rented car, totally fucked from last night, to Edinburgh for tonight's Who gig. When we arrived and got on the Travel Bus everybody looked at us real suspicious like. Bill Curbishely, the Manager of the band, was holding a newspaper and pointing to an article that said, "Who member arrested for drunk and disorderly." I was embarrassed and I got the feeling that they were a bit pissed off with me. Still, I was lucky to be alive, so, tough shit mates! All I was concerned with was that I was still alive, and well pissed off at the way the Dumbarton Police had treated us, even if I was drunk and loud that night in the Loch Lomond Hotel! Off we went to do the gig in Edinburgh, very sore headed. We did 3 gigs in Edinburgh on February 19th, 20th, and 21st.

On the 23rd of February we shot a video at Shepperton Studios for the Who's hit single, 'You Better You Bet'. The shoot started at 12pm and took all day into the evening. The 24th and 25th saw us gig in Newcastle. Ahhh…back to good old England again. On the 28th we gigged in Teeside, up in North England.

MARCH - The 2nd of March took us to Manchester, then 3 days off and to Birmingham on the 6th and 7th. We were knocking the crowd dead. I just wish I was sober enough to enjoy it too. Monday the 9th, the 10th and the 11th we did a big show at Wembley Stadium. Very Cool! On the 14th and 15th we went to Southampton, 16th was Poole and on the 17th we ended the whole British Tour in Bournemouth. That was a wild night, let me tell you. No one slept. We were all up all night, shit faced! What an end of tour party that was. Plenty of drugs, booze, and birds, although I was a good boy and was quite happy to have my own, Sue, thanks you very much. I still partied as hard as anyone though, probably more so, since I was very good at 'one-man parties'.

END OF WHO BRITISH TOUR.

We all had the next several days off to reconstitute our 'insides'. Then on the 27th we flew to Germany to play at the big event, that was also broadcast 'live' on TV as it happened, called 'RockPalast' Festival Eurovision, 8. Networked TV show with Simultaneous Stereo Broadcast, WDR, on the 28th and 29th. The gig was in Grugahalle, Essen. This was a wild time for me. I nearly got into a fight with the Angus, the guitarist from ACDC, in the Hotel Bar, was so drunk on the day of the gig that I could hardly get on stage, and just spent 48 hours on the booze and coke. As we were about to leave for England, after the event was over, I missed getting arrested at the Hotel by 30 seconds. We were waiting to go to the Airport, and I got drunk and was talking to some guy in the bar who was on Acid. He completely freaked me out so I started throwing chairs and tables around the bar and lobby. My roadie, Roger, took me aside so he could calm me down in order to get me and Sue out the back door of the Hotel, and into a car to get us to the Airport. The Hotel manager called the Police, and as we were leaving out the back entrance, the Police were arriving at the front entrance. Also, for some reason I picked Sue up in my arms and started carrying her out of the Hotel back exit, and was so drunk and wobbly on my legs, that I dropped her on the hard floor. A big swelling came up on her back. I 'm sorry Sue, I know it must hurt. I was so afraid for you. Please forgive me. The flight home was horrible for both of us, and probably for everyone else too. What an Asshole I am! Once we got back to England we had the rest of the month off. Something tells me that it's 'not good' for me to go on Tours!

APRIL - Time off until the 15th, when I did a session at Scorpio Studios in London for an Australian artist which I can't remember the name of. It was produced by Tim Freegreen and we started at 2pm and went on until 8pm. On the 16th I did a session produced by John Sinclair at Sarm Studios for, of all people, The Buggles. Wonder what that track was? I also did an Interview at 2pm for Melody Maker, in the Pub across the street from Keith Altham's office in the Who offices in the West End of London. I remember it well, ha! The interviewer was astonished! Ha!

Me and Sue went for a Holiday on the 22nd to Wales. I got into a fight with the son of the Owner's of the Hotel. This guy was a big Welsh National Front member, and I wound him up something rotten. So much so that he kicked us out of the Hotel, which was in Mertha Tydfell. As we were driving off, drunk and no where to go, this guy had called the Welch Police force on us and told them that he had just thrown us out of his Hotel, and that we were driving a car totally drunk. The Police were waiting for us as we left the Hotel premises in our car. They pulled us over and took us to fucking jail. We 're in Jail again! Fuck! This time they didn't put Sue in a cell, cause rightly so, she didn't do anything, but I sure did, and they put me in a cell straight away. I was calling the red headed copper a 'faggot', bastard, all sorts of names. I was pissed off again. This is the 2nd holiday where I wound up in Jail. Shit! They let me out the next day, but court was looming. We stayed in Wales until the 27th and then went home. What a catastrophe!

MAY - It's the 1st of May, and I mailed mine and Sue's Dumbarton Citations off to Dumbarton, Scotland, (remember the Loch Lomond jail story?) Spent the rest of May off and on the 19th I received a letter from Trinifold Management saying that "Your services are no longer required by the Who." They've all had enough of my havoc and fired me. Is this the end of my career with the Who? Let's wait and see. I spent May in a terrible miserable mood. I'd been sacked from the best rock 'n roll band in the world. I thought with their own reputation that they could take my shenanigans, but oh no, even they couldn't handle 'the Rab'. Too much for them.

JUNE - I spent the whole of June in a drunken stupor. Isolated from the World. Poor me.

JULY - On Wednesday the 8th, I did an interview with Diane, of 'Who's News', in the White Bear Pub, on the corner of 5 New End Square, Hampstead, where I lived. 6pm. Then on the 9th I did a session with a guitarist called Les Davidson. I remember nothing about it whatsoever. Wednesday the 14th me and Sue had to go to Nicholas Morris Solicitors office to see Vivien Elsen, about my being arrested in Wales on April 22nd. 3pm meeting. We talked about what happened so we could all get our story straight, in order to build a case to keep me out of jail for drink driving. On the 15th my accountant Brian Walters introduced me to the 'VAT' Man in person. Yuk! Thanks for that Brian! July 21st took us back to Wales to get ready for the Court session regarding my drink driving offense in April. Went to Court on the 23rd. Scared, but we did our homework, and I got off with just an endorsement on my Liscense. Whoa, lucky boy! Not only that, but at the same time this was happening, mine and Sue's Dumbarton, Scotland court case for Hotel damage in Loch Lomond and breach of the peace on the Who tour is also being heard in our absence. The results were, 'Pay the fines and Shut up!' Lucky again.

AUGUST, Wednesday 5th. Me and Sue took a Holiday in Lee-on Solent, Hampshire, England. We really went to look at the summer chalet she and her family lived in when she was just a little girl. It even still had the caravan in the back that her and her sister, Anne, played and slept in as little girls. It was wonderful at the Beach. The chalet next door to theirs was for sale, so we looked into it at the Estate Agents, and talked them into giving us the keys as 'prospective' buyers. We took the keys and went in and spent our holiday there. Fuck it! They gave us the keys so we went in. There was no electricity and as far as we knew, no running water. (We discovered much later that there was indeed running water, but I just didn't know where the stop-cock was). There was no toilet though but we fell in love with that old run down chalet, and as we were broke, no job, no money, and London was beyond our means now, we decided to leave 5 New End Square, Hampstead, with outstanding rental bills of £2,500, and move to the beach. We mustered up enough money, £7,000 and bought the Chalet outright, cash, and moved in permanently. There we were, no electricity, no toilet, or water that we knew of yet, but we had our own house paid for. The Council only allowed people to stay at the chalets as holiday homes for the Summer months, but we were such a 'hard-up' case that they turned a blind eye to our situation and left us alone. Hard times were upon us, all because of the Alcohol abuse. We spent the rest of August off.

SEPTEMBER - All of September off, just a drunken fury of a time. We were really living the 'down and out' method now. To eat we gathered shell fish off the beach, picked wild mushrooms, clover flowers for salads, and starved.

OCTOBER - This month was another one of drunken hysteria and panic. What on earth were we going to do? Would we die here together of starvation!? Ahh..on the 10th I got a session for Alvin Lee at Bray Studios. Produced by Windor-Adam Francis, (likely name), the artist was the famed guitarist Alvin Lee, and the track we did was'silent Night' for a Rock n' Roll Christmas album. What!!?? I'm doing a session with the famous Wildman of Guitarmania and we are playing Silent Night!? Come on man, is this is the Twilight Zone or what!? Bass was played by Fuzzy Samuels at we kicked off at 2pm. I got paid £70, which in my case was a fortune! Nothing else happened this month apart from more drunken debauchery.

NOVEMBER - A session on the 9th and 10th with my Steel Guitar mate B.J. Cole, and his friend Charles Ainsby, and on the 11th I did a 'Jingles' session at Advision Studios, 9am, for an advert for 'Everstone House Outdoor Cladding'. Big deal! Paid £80 though, not bad for the circumstances. Mustn't Grumble. Then on the 13th another session took place at Satril Studios at 444 Finchley Road, London. Tel # 435-8063. 7pm to 12:30am. Fee came to £100. Don't ask me what it was, cause I sure don't remember. It was for some guy named Jay. That's all I know. In fact I did a return on the Jay session on the 19th, but this time only got paid £30. Whoops! Spent the rest of November off, in my usual manner at the beach. November 21st, Happy Birthday Rabbit - 33 years old today.

DECEMBER - On the 21st I took a Holiday on my own to Stockholm, Sweden. I stayed there for the rest of the month. Stockholm is my favorite place to be. It's just fantastic there. I love it, and spent Christmas there with close friends that I'd known since my Johnny Nash days there in 1971. I miss them all very much.

That's it for 1981. A rough year, but I'm still alive. Give it up for 1981! Bye Bye Now.

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