Diary 1988

Binbrook, Lincs.

JANUARY, Monday 24th. Rehearse the Who at Nomis Studios, London, from 12pm to 4:30pm, 25th ,26th and 27th. Rehearse the Who at Nomis Studios, London. 2pm to 5:30pm. January 28th - Travel back to the Caravan in Binbrook, Licolnshire.

FEBRUARY 7th. Rehearse the Who at the Albert Hall for the up-coming BPI Awards Show at 5:30pm. 8th - The Who perform at the 1988 BPI Awards Show in the Albert Hall. It was really a cool thing to do, but I was so drunk, I was all over the place, and most likely an embarrassment to the other guys I'm sure. Mad as a hatter I am. I'm drunk all the time now. 9th - Back to the Caravan pit in Binbrook.

MARCH 17th. Me and Sue packed our bags and went to the airport to make a trip to Texas for a long visit with my Mom and Dad at their Country River Home. Beautiful place. Holiday time! Yee-haw!!! Lots of fishing, bar-b-que's, fun, fun, fun and relaxation, and Mom's country cooking! Wow! 25th, Still here in Texas. Row, row, row your boat.

APRIL 1st. We decided to extend our stay in Texas. Our flight back to England was supposed to be today, but we went to the Airlines and had the trip extended. It's too nice here this time of year. Besides, I'm not through fishin' yet! Let's have some more Bar-b-que Brisket please?!

7th. Sue's getting anxious to go home I think. Hmmmm..

10th. Still here..

13th. Texas..long holiday!

20th. Uncle Rusty, Mom's twin brother took me and Sue to the Astrodome in Houston to see a Baseball game between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves. Houston - 1, Atlanta - 0. Yey!

30th - Jam session time. We set up in Mom and Dad's house, and old friends Margaret and Leon Elliott came over to Jam. Me on my old piano that Mom bought me when I was 11, Dad on Bass, Margaret on vocals, and Leon on Harmonica. Good old hillbilly songs, jamming away. We drank beer, jammed and had a great old time, just like the old days when I was in my teens. Nice day!

MAY 15 1988. Me and Sue were in Texas, on a holiday, visiting my Mom and Dad, for about 3 months. While we were there, on the 15th of May, we all decided to take a trip to 'Goose Island', (Matagorda Bay) for a bit of fishing, sun-bathing, etc, on the beach. It was me, Sue, my Mom and Dad, Uncle Sam and Aunt Nana-Lea, cousin Larry Travis and his wife. We drove down in Dad's travel home, and lived in it on the beach. Did a lot of fishing. Uncle Rusty came along later on, and one night, I got really drunk, and started a 'mock' fight with my Dad in the cramped quarters of the 'travel home'. I think I nearly scared him to death. He thought I was really serious, and gonna belt him. NO WAY, DAD! I'm sorry Dad, that you had to see me like that. I ruined the whole fishing trip. Sue got drunk as well, and I remember Mom yelling, "John, you're wife is nothing but a lush!" It really was all my fault, though, for Sue's drinking. I encouraged her to do it, and we were a bit uncomfortable with the whole trip by now, so I think it was a way of releasing my tensions. Sorry Mom, but Sue ain't no lush, cause as you now know, she just wanted to go home to England. We were trapped, with no way out, so I did what I normally did when I was in a fix, I got the bottle out!! My aunt Nana-Lea and uncle Sam Travis, sat back in amazement, and just watched the 'Bundricks' at work, hitting the bottle hard. I don't think they will ever invite me on a holiday ever again!

Thursday, May 26 1988. We buried Dad's dog, Missy, today in the yard. She died of cancer. Dad took her to the vet, and she died in the truck on the way home. A very sad day! Me and Dad both broke out in tears, and to hide our man-hood from Mom and Sue, we both went in separate directions to shed our tears in private. I cried down by the river, and Dad cried in his shed. He loved that old dog!

Sunday, May 29 1988. This is it! The end of the holiday! We're going to back to England tomorrow. After Dad's dog Missy died, I think a few other feelings died with her, in Dad's heart. I think maybe Dad could use a rest, away from my goings-on and up-heavals. Time to reflect, so he could sort of get to grips with his feelings about losing his beloved dog. Missy was a great dog. a beagle of some kind, I'm not really sure of the exact breed. Anyway, Sue was ready to go home, and after all, our own dog, Sally, was wasting away in the kennels back in England. She's been there for 78 days. Damn! I bet she's mad at me! I guess it's "time to mosy on back to the ranch", as they say down here in Texas. I love you, Mom and Dad, and I had a wonderful stay with you both. Thank you very much.

Monday, May 30 1988. We flew out of Houston International Airport today, heading back to an uncertain future in England. Bye Mom and Dad. I'll miss you both so much. What a trip! Sorry about all the booze, and the sleepless nights. Here we go, back to Binbrook and the dole, after a long, and fantastic!?, Texas holiday with my Mom and Dad: Bill and Maxine.

JUNE. We arrived back in England totally wrecked. We might as well have been on a Who Tour, cause I caused as much havoc at Mom and Dad's as I do on a tour.

1st. Pete gave me £500 advance to work on his solo album 'Iron Man'.

I needed the money so he put it 'up-front'. Thanks Pete. We spent the night in London after our arrival. Too knackered to make it home after the flight.

2nd. Back to the pit in the Binbrook Caravan after a long and fantastic Texas Holiday with my Mom and Dad. We're back!

7th. Travelled to London to start work on Pete's 'Iron Man' project. He let me and Sue stay on his Dutch Barge, which is parked on the river, right outside of his Twickenham Eel Pie Studios. Cool for a while, but cramped quarters is never any good, wherever it is.

8th–18th. We worked on Iron Man. It was fun sort of, but there wasn't a lot for me to do on that album, so it wasn't a great time. On the plus side, on the barge Pete had a small studio set up in the bow of the boat, and he let me make use of it in the times we weren't working, or when I wasn't needed. So, I recorded a bunch of my own stuff, like 'Outlaw', 'Symphony for Sue', 'Brown Gravy', etc, etc. It was cool for me cause I could still do my own music while working on his. One drunken night on the Barge is where I got the Mocassin Warrior/ Dream Jungle idea. I woke up one night singing and chanting and hollering Indian sounds and noises. I was doing it in my sleep, and it woke me up, so I just carried on yelling and chanting, and the whole Mocassin Warrior idea came out. Weird!

30th. Pete's wife, Karen's sister, Virginia Astley asked me to play piano for her at her gig at the Purcell Room in London. So we have done a few rehearsals for it on the Barge, and today is the day of the gig. She's a singer, so it's just me and her doing the gig. It's okay, but it sort of went over my head. Not my cuppa tea.

JULY. From the 1st to the 29th we worked on the Iron Man project. There was a few days off here and there, but we were pretty much going at full tilt.

August. We were still in London, but the recording has stopped now and I'm sort of hanging around waiting to see what Pete wants to do now. It turns out that me and Sue just stayed on Pete's barge for the whole of August, just farting around, getting drunk, or at least I was, and doing absolutely nothing on the Iron Man project. On August 22nd I bought a used Red Renault 9TC car for £1,895 and only 14,444 miles on the clock. Not bad. Dave Leatham, who looks after Pete's barge for him, helped me find it, and showed me the best deal to look for. Thanks Dave.

August 23rd. The 'Iron Man' Project has officially finished, so I'm off back to the Caravan in Binbrook and more drunken nights down at the Pub.

SEPTEMBER 23rd. I went back to London to do another session for Pete, but it was only the one day, and afterwards I went back to the caravan again. Lousy place to live. Lousy! I spent all of September, other than that day's session, drunk going in and out of the Pub, drinking on the caravan site, and just generally being totally fucked up. I still made my own music in my Caravan studio though. That never stops!

OCTOBER. Earlier on, somewhere in some Pub, I met the guys from a band called Dogs D'Amour. I think it was one of those deals where I heard somebody talking in a Pub about their band, and as it always happens, I approached them and started bragging about how great I was and that "I was the keyboards player for The Who, Yeah?, so top that mates!" Anyway they fell for it and we became Friends, or drinking friends anyway.

5th. Went to London to rehearse with Dogs D'Amour at Nomis Studios, for a gig at the Greyhound Pub in Fulham. I'm in! I'm gonna get to jam with these guys onstage. Nice one. They drink Jack Daniels like it's water, so they won't even notice that I'm drunk. Cool!

6th. Today I did the gig with these guys, and it was fun. It was in reality a big old drunken brawl of a gig, no telling what we sounded like, but the band were sort of 'glam-rock' with the make-up and the whole thing, with the pretty little girls in tow, and I'm sure they borrowed their make-up from their girlfriends, cause one of them actually ask Sue if he could borrow hers. But whatever, it don't matter. We all had a good time, lying on our backs on the floor in the dressing room after the show, from too much Jack in our bellies. We were fucked to the eyeballs. Rock n' Roll!!!!

12th. I sold my old Volkswagon to a bloke on the Caravan site for parts. He paid £25 for the whole car! I spent the rest of the month in a blind blizzard.

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