True. My favourite British band up to Peter Green leaving. Green, Spencer, Kirwan. 3 out of 5 with issues.
I worked on the dodgems @ Browns Amusements in the summer of '64. Magic time was that. Big hit that summer was "Tobacco Road".
Remember clearly reading on a newspaper stand "Pop singer dies in plane crash" and the feeling when I bought a paper and saw it was my favourite singer. Must have showed because when I got back to the office they asked me what was wrong. A clip from the best edition of the best music show on TV.
Used to spend half my time in there in those days. Used to make a bomb knowing all the fiddles on the machines. Risky as Brown had a few heavies working for him. Saw the Nashville Teens a few times down the years at Brid Spa. The manager always considered them as one of his reliable, always pulled in a decent crowd and caused no hassle. Always put on a good show. We had a drink with them a couple of times. Good bunch of blokes.
Remember watching that show. All of our circle were Otis fans. It was a great time to be 16.They did a Solomon Burke special and a James Brown one as well. The Solomon Burke one was great, James Brown was awful. No copies of those survived though.
I once posted on YouTube about how great that show was. Got a lovely email back from the daughter of the bloke playing the black guitar. She said it amazed her how many people have watched clips of that show and was touching how many said all these years later how they remembered it. She said her dad always said they couldn't get over the difference in this country from segregated America and how they enjoyed being accepted in pubs and clubs and going in whatever shops they liked. It changed their attitudes and made them more determined for things to change. She also settled the argument of who the excellent drummer was.A lot of people assume it was the great Al Jackson. But he played for Booker T and the MGs. It was .Elbert "Woody" Woodson. YouTube can be good at times.
She did. It was donkey's years ago though. She told me both the guitarist's names, but can't remember their names. He was the one stood nearest the drummer. The name of the drummer stuck as it was unusual and I have seen him mentioned often since as people have put people right who thought it was Al Jackson. Didn't think of it at the time but seeing it decades later the drumming really stood out. Found out after that he was highly regarded by other drummers and backed a lot of Motown artists including Marvin Gaye as well as Wilson Pickett. Amazing how they got all these great musicians back then. Booker T and the MGs the house band at Stax along with the Memphis Horns, the Mar Kays and the likes of Isaac Hayes. Then Otis put that band together for touring in late 1966, he had another line up backing him in early 1966. and the next year the Bar Kays after he had toured with Booker T and the MGs.
The staff had their own methods of "fiddling" the system. Palming the punters, manipulation of the tills used to notify the enforcers how many punters were on a given ride. Bloody corrupt it was - taking advantage of mums & dads wanting to give their kids a fun time in their one annual short holiday trips. The rides were of very short duration, so the attention of parents was directed to getting max enjoyment rather than checking their change from a quid or 10 bob note, given to them from someone holding onto the back of a moving dodgem car or a moving fast ride (waltzers etc).
They used to estimate the takings by filling up dustbins with coins and taking them to the bank. That happened a few times a day in peak summer. Having said that the rather seedy atmosphere was better than the sterile place it is now. Age restrictions on even going in, no unaccompanied under 16s on an evening. We would have been stuck at what to do with a lot of our time. Can't even work there under 18 nowadays.
I remember at the end of the day, we'd empty the slot machines and carry the coins up in leather bags to store them overnight in the loft above the main ground level. One of my mates (actually my best man - I was his too, lives in Toronto and still comes round on Satdees to listen to City's games) was/is a coin collector and used to spend an hour each evening up in that loft searching for "rare" pennies,thrupenny bits & tanners. I seem to recall there was some way of identifying rarities. One of the other lads I worked with there in '64, also an old school friend, arrived at my place today ( he still lives in Hull) for his annual 2 week concert tour (he's into Americana music, whatever that is ?). We'll no doubt do a little reminiscing (yet again) about our experiences in Brid way back when. Our first real "escape from the nest" experience - wild time. Apart from the Nashville Teens, the Kinks got a lot of air time that summer.
I Get Around and Do Wah Diddy were regulars on the Joyland jukebox as well as the Stones and Animals. Joyland was like the Allams, the sons couldn't carry on what the father had built up.
