Dear Members Having been a long term fan of the Beatles and having the joy of growing up with their music on the radio as a child it was with immense pride and some amazement that in his last interview when asked if he kept up with the new bands of the moment back home in the UK he confirmed that he did and went on to name Madness. I believe I am right in saying and this is from memory that he said something like " They have a really tight and solid drummer and bassist and its a strong backline the band has" I cannot remember who the DJ was but I will wager that one DR. Peter Gardener might be able to shed some light among others. I am 99% certain though that I when he was murdered and we were performing on stage in Scotland at the time the news came through our manager at the time Kellogs Kalaknowski got the word to us on stage and we had a minutes silence out of respect. And I recall thinking in that moment about the interview in question and he fact that i had hoped very much that we could have met him and feeling we had lost the opportunity of thanking him for the mention. That very year we had been in the States touring and when in New York I had chanced to walk into a very tasteful bric a brac shop near the Dakota building where he lived and saw an accordian. Instantly falling in love with this beautiful instrument I asked for the price as I wanted to but it and the shop owner said "hey sorry man John Lennon has just bought and he's sending someone to pick it up, the guy just left a couple of minutes ago" I ran out and could not pick him out or see him on the street..I had the missed the chance of meeting a personal Hero, Idol, Genius and Craftsman in my craft I was truly gutted. Dear list members when you get a chance raise a glass next 8th of December and drink a toast to his memory...absent friends.... goodnight all and sleep well... Chas Smash PS. another quick story.....re The Beatles... We were recording Grey Day in George Martins Studio, Air Studios In Oxford St. And Paul McCartney cam e in to the relaxation and games room...I dont know if you remember a game called asteroids but I was pretty hot at it and Paul liked the game too so we decided to have a challenge and play each other in a match of doubles...Player one went first and if your ship failed to destroy by shooting your lasers you got exploded by these Asteroids when they hit spaceship that floated across the screen at an increasing speed, which was very tense making it was then player twos go. I put my twenty pence in he put his in, we tossed a coin I won, I won the toss and went first............... On my first go I clocked the machine three times and he stood next to me waiting and watching me rack up extra ships on my first go for about what seemed like an hour and a half and when he finally got his go I think he was a bit fazed and lost his ship in double quick time and gave up the ghost as he didn't fancy standing around for another hour when I took my next go..... In true McCartney style his eyebrows went up and his fist with his thumbs up salute was given and he said smiling nice one. He is from the few times I met him a truly genuine, warm and decent human being. I have to admit to him being my favourite Beatle..... tata.......... Regards Mr Smash - ______________________________________________________________ Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for: latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ... http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/ Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
