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| Kansas City, Kansas. The Old West modernised a bit. |
Whoever chose our Kansas City hotel, knew what they were doing. It was the ideal place to unwind and freshen up and by driving through the night we had got there in time to enjoy it for a few hours. To our surprise, certain other people were already there, having flown from Minneapolis, a way of letting people know who was in charge. Still, we didn't let that worry us and we spent the day swimming in the pool, playing table tennis and sitting in hot tubs, all this in the glass-protected and roofed outdoors, necessary because, although it was a little warmer down here rather than up north, it still was pretty cold and there was some snow residue to remind us.
When we got to the venue, we found that the dressing room was in fact normally a bar with pool tables which we spent time playing on. I can remember little about the gig which probably meant it went OK, as they all seemed to. I wasn't over-happy with my keyboard sounds as Simon had taken all the effects pedals except for a tape-echo box. So I had no flanger, phaser or chorus, all of which are quite important for Hawkwind-type keyboard sounds. I mentioned this to Dave who told me I could go and buy some more but I didn't have any money to do this. Now Dennis had told me that he recorded each gig off the sound desk and gave the tape to Dave, so I figured Dave would hear the keys and get reminded by the sound.
Anyhow, Dave suggested I rode in with himself and Bob to St Louis which was quite a short run. I seem to remember having a scary experience with a local sheriff in one small town we drove through, one of many. There was a stop light in the middle of town but when we pulled up at it, the sherif walked over to us and pointed at a small notice attached to the stop light which said,"Cars must stop 10 yards before this stop light". Now it was small print and definitely not-readable as a driver
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| Small town cop. |
approached the light. Jeff was driving and he had the presence of mind to get out of the car (he was the smartest-dressed of us all), show his licence and slip the cop a fifty dollar bill inside it, whilst making a grovelling apology. Of course, the cop let us go and off we went at a very correct speed. Then Jeff told us the story that another British touring band, Foghat, had fallen into a similar trap, used to bump up town funds by fleecing people from out of town, particularly out of state. They had spent a couple of days lying about in the town jail until their manager turned up with enough cash to get them out.
Dave suddenly shouted, "Turn right here, into this car park. Shopping time." It was a Cowboy Store, a place for buying all the clobber associated with cowboys, local history and culture. Dave, Bob and Jeff all got stuck into examining various items of interest and everyone bought something, Dave getting himself some good cowboy boots. As usual, I had no money so I bought nothing at all.
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| Good cowboy clobber. |
A bit further down the road, when I was driving, we needed to stop for gas, so I pulled into a small gas station. There was no-one around, so I wandered towards the small building which was part office and part garage. Just as I was getting there, a red-neck guy came out, pointing his finger at me, and in his broad accent shouted," I'm giving you long-haired bastards one minute to get off my property." Now, as he was wearing a belt with a pistol in it, real wild west style, I didn't hesitate and had the car off his property in the required time. Funnily enough, the next place was really friendly.
Apparently, due to concerns about bad behaviour at rock concerts, our venue had been moved from St Louis to East St Louis. a mainly black suburb, to ease the concerns of the city fathers. And I think it was here that rock and roll behaviour really started to manifest itself. It was here that I became aware of Simon King's heroin habit and I first took a line of cocaine. There were groupies around our hotel from the moment we arrived and generally people wandering about in the corridors and gardens of this one storey motel. Jeff Dexter told me I would be fourth in line to have a hair cut and 'blow' in his room. I was phoned to go along and there was Jeff with this very attractive brunette who had various hairdressers' items. She took her time and gave me a good cut, not off the length but just here and there, rubbing her boobs into me quite regularly. But the way Jeff was salivating over the prospect of her giving me a blow job, put me off entirely so I just got up and left.
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| Bob Calvert on stage. |
After the gig, which was quite rammed but in a rather small hall, the chaos in the hotel continued. Unfortunately, I was sharing with Dennis again who was being his usual superior, boring self. Dave invited me to his room where there was a very curvy black woman who seemed to know Dave quite well, no doubt from a previous tour. Dave said he was going for a shower after we had had a short chat and I was left with this nearly naked woman who kept coming up close to me, at one point snogging me and taking my hands to curl round her tidy bum. I wondered what was going on. Then Dave reappeared, drying his hair, and said that I had better leave now....it was not to be a three-some after all.
Another girl grabbed me in the corridor and we headed for my room where Dennis again refused to move and she said she'd come back in the morning. Now we were to be flying the next day but didn't have to leave the hotel till late morning so that seemed like a possibility and, knowing that Dennis liked to be ready to leave early rather than late, I thought this was a possibility. And sure enough, as soon as Dennis had left, about an hour earlier than necessary, the girl knocked on my door and came in just as I was finishing packing. We were both in a bit of a hurry and got straight into it, kissing as we started to remove each others clothing. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and saw that members of the band and crew were watching through the window and taking photos. I'd been set up and I dumped the girl, tucked in my shirt and started grabbing my bags after giving the lads the finger.
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| St Louis with the famous gateway to the west arch. |
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