Reviews
London England
 

 

   
 

 May 6th &  7th 2000

 
 

By Alex Gitlin

Now then… my turn, right?

In a fit of anxiety before the big trip, on Wednesday, I was pacing around
the house, thinking about the last-minute logistics and particulars.  The
phone rang - it was Bob Winbag.  We talked for a while and then he alerted me
to the fact that the hotel may not admit us prior to 2 PM and that I should
better check…  Oh horror - after a sleepless night on the plain, do I really
have to kill a few extra hours at some God-forsaken pub??  I rang the hotel
and sure enough, Bob was right!  I was NOT looking forward to it. 

On Thursday morning, having deplaned, I switched the terminals over to No.3
(the one I got off at, No.4 had a really foul, rotten smell to it, so I was
only too happy to switch!) and assumed waiting position in the Meeting Area. 
After about 25 minutes of agonising wait, who knocks me upside the head but
our staff Heepster Leprechaun Petey The Drunken Worm! :-)  ("You'll pay for
this one, Alex!")  Let the festivities begin!  He was there with his wife
Janine and children.  Right then, the Winnabego family has arrived and we
were whisked away on Pete's Vauxhall (pronounced: "Asshole" but with a "V")
mini station wagon to the coveted hotel.   Travel Inn is located in Kenton,
on the outskirts of London and if you travel by tube, don't - too expensive. 
We were lucky it was a good area; in 1998, I stayed at the Arena Hotel near
Wembley and it was a rathole.   The only thing that bugged all of us was the
proximity to the train station, this put a damper on our sleeping proceedings
- more on this later.

Indeed we were three hours early, so we decided to go to the Beefeater pub
(more on this later as well) to kill some time.  We joked, we laughed, we
drank beer, then I had the audacity to try their chilly.  I now call it the
2.5 minute chilly.  Precisely in 2.5 minutes I was inside the Beefeater loo
(they call it "disabled toilet" for some reason - actually for a very good
reason) probably upscaling turbo engine designers by decades!!..

As soon as we were let in at the proper time, I opted for the room I was
supposed to sleep in - to my horror, it only had one bed.  I and Paul Kubler
were supposed to be sharing the bloody room!  The first night, as you may
have guessed, was a torture, two grown men in one bed, and neither one of us
is gay!  Each person had to pretend the other one doesn't exist, but it is
not so easy with him snoring!!!  In fact, Paul's very loud snoring had taken
away many precious hours from my sleep for days to come!..  But that first
kip was all mine - before Paul arrived.  At roughly 5 pm, in barged Paul, who
could barely stand on his feet, the concierge swore she had to hand-carry him
upstairs to the third floor, really brave woman, isn't she!  We had a nice
chat while I was taking a shower (behind closed curtain mind you) - he was
sitting on the bog trying to smoke… in all the steam coming from the hot
water - not a good idea for either one of us.  This is when I realised we
probably resemble The Odd Couple (the TV series and also a late 60s movie),
and I'm Felix Unger!.. 

Bobbo came up soon enough and we had a hearty chat before prompting for the
tube to find that darn Monkey Puzzle place…  Yeah, right, Sussex Gardens. 
Took us 3 hours!  On the way, Paul was trying to endear himself to London's
fast-growing black community, and probably nearly got stabbed as a result,
but thanks to yours truly who carefully dragged him away by the sleeve
blaming "too much alcohol", he's alive and with us today. :-) 

What I saw at the Monkey Puzzle exceeded all of my expectations.  It was a
great experience.  People, faces, the music, and most importantly FOOD!!!
(No, just kidding, the people, mostly, but chicken Tikka Masala was great!) 
We spend a great time socialising, talking (no, shouting!  That's how I lost
my voice!) all things Heep, and so forth.  It was GREAT to meet everyone.

The first true mistake made by me during the trip was to visit Beefeater
again in the morning for their ridiculously overpriced "Traditional
Breakfast".  I call it the 7.5 minute breakfast, no explanation necessary. 

Skipping over to Saturday, in the morning, I had stomach cramps - I don't
know if it was the nerves or the 7.5 minute breakfast, probably a little bit
of both.  Richard Wagner, the one person who has already witnessed all of my
gastro-intestinal antics before, was NOT amused!..  We arrived at the venue
in the afternoon; during the ride, I had to unbuckle my belt and unzip my
bell bottoms - too tight!!!!  (For the 7.5 min. breakfast anyway).  I must've
looked a sight, zipping back up in the middle of the street, near Corrib
Rest.  Another emotional meeting with many friends (and also making new ones
in the process) at the bar downstairs while the soundcheck was taking place,
you all know who you are!.. 

Now skipping over to the jam.  I was supposed to open the proceedings with
the first notes of "Sunrise", and I was obviously very nervous.  Luckily,
Madman is a clockwork-like drummer, he never fails ya.  He cued me right in,
and off we went!…  It was like living in a dream, playing the Hammond,
playing the Heep classics, and if my memory doesn't fail me, I think we
pulled it off very well; like a very tight, pro unit, which is very
surprising to me, considering we didn't have even one rehearsal together! 
Well done, lads.  Next up - "Why", to me, probably the highlight of the jam,
cause it came off picture perfect, thanks partly to John who learned it
backwards and forwards.  Again, kudos!  Various other jams followed, and I
hope I'm forgiven for not being able to recount every single detail, as it's
all a blur to me now… except the Hensley Lawton Band performance of course! 
This was not only  the highlight of the entire event but also a
transcendental experience for me.  It's as if the late 70s Uriah Heep had
just sprung back to life!..  Watching Ken on organ and John in action alone
was worth the price of admission, and with Paul Newton on bass - a helluva
bonus, too!  It occurs to me that Paul would've fit in superbly into the late
70s Heep, judging by what I've heard and seen, what a GREAT bass player he
is!!..  Ken simply slaughtered me on that Hammond - had I not been a fan
before, I would've instantly become one now.  Such sheer power of delivery!… 
He was every bit as dramatic and immediate as he (and his music) was during
the hey days of Heep.  I think it's fair to say we were all speechless after
the concert, I dare conclude that there may have even been a few tears in the
audience.  They played a mixture of old and Ken's new material but it looked
and sounded like a very tight and coherent concert program with nothing being
out of place at all.  Right then, they blew us all away, so how could we
continue on with the jam afterwards?  Needless to say the rest of the jam for
Saturday was canned…

Sunday.  If I'd only lost 50% of my voice prior to that day, this was the day
when I was to lose the rest of it.  There was simply too much excitement
going on, everything going on at once, and the music - very loud, impossible
to talk over…  At first I thought it was going to be a mere afterglow of
Saturday - not so!  The programme consisted of another Heepster jam, an
intermission when people had the chance to mingle with their favourite star,
eat a piece of dead bird and buy CDs from Rob "I'll remaster everything"
Corich.  In fact, Rob's stall reminded me of my own record collection; I had
almost everything he had there on offer.  But the highlight of that evening
became first the Q&A session with John and Ken (the first half of which I
unfortunately missed out on, so I'm looking forward to the video!) and of
course the Gunhill gig.

This was to be my first ever Gunhill gig, and if it's representative of what
these guys are capable of on an average day, I'm an instant convert!!!  First
of all, Reuben - WOW.  This dude just blew me away; rarely have I witnessed a
tighter, more technical and more soulful guitarist live, this side of Ritchie
Blackmore.  Secondly, Jason and Neil K. - a very tight, professional rock
rhythm section which just could be the envy of most rock bands out there
(this side of Glover and Paice!)  Finally, last but not least - Roger Wilson
on keyboards.  This man's a monster.  Definitely of the Ken Hensley school of
Hammond thought!..  He looked like Mozart playing that organ, with two
candles lit on either side of it.  Did I leave anyone out?  Hahaha! :-) :-)
:-) :-)  John L. was in his element, as always - vocals superbly done!..  Ken
was asked to come up on stage for "Lady In Black" and put on a helluva
performance. 

The songs Gunhill have in their set - a mixture of covers and originals - fit
their style very well, with the exception of "Still the one" by Shania Twain.
 The band may have given it the Deep Purple treatment with heavier guitars
and a clearly defined organ presence, and it all sounds very cohesive, but I
think this style of playing doesn't fit the kind of a song "Still the one"
is, basically a modern country-pop song.  Not to mention, in my opinion, it's
very poorly, unimaginatively written, so I don't quite understand the appeal.
 But like I said, the boys held their own and proved that they can pull off
even the most hopeless of songs and make it sound at least presentable.  The
rest of the set was a blinder!  Grand Funk's "Some Kinda Wonderful" done
Brit-rock style, again with the Hammond, a very unusual, pleasant treat! 
Jason and Reuben handled themselves like real pros on the Heep classics too
such as Firefly, etc. as if they'd played them before in Uriah Heep!…  These
guys are naturals.

One quick raffle later, it was all over, before we all knew it… Time to say
goodbye, and it was a series of long, tearful goodbyes indeed. 

Monday looked dreary in comparison.  I made good use of my time though,
having hooked up with Alexander Kolesnikov, the author of One July Morning
video, and his sister Olga, and we simply wandered the streets of London
until late…  did a bit of shopping too.  Angus Steak House at Piccadilly
Circus was the only decent place I've eaten in London during this trip; a
superb, posh restaurant with excellent cuisine, although a bit on the
expensive side.  Unbeknownst to me, this turned out to be Alexander's most
expensive dinner (50 pounds for the two of them, which translates into 2
months' salary in Russia), so I felt a bit bad about that, but he insisted it
was worth it for him.  It was certainly worth it for me to have met them both!

The following day I spent time with my friends Rodrigo and Christof from
Germany (others having departed) in Queens' Park, near Corrib Rest, a great,
quaint place, where we talked all things Heep, Axel Rudy Pell, Stratovarius,
Gamma Ray, you get the picture. :-)  At 6 o'clock PM I felt dizzy as if I'd
just been swept off my feet  by a force too powerful for me to resist… this
was the beginning of my illness.  I'm still down with an atrocious case of
flu, but luckily the worst is over.  I think I slept for 26 hours non-stop,
so I don't remember much of the rest of my stay.  Except watching a funny
program on TV called Euro Trash.

The last day of my stay, which I think was Wednesday, the rest of the crew
had planned a get-together at the Monkey Puzzle.  John and Iris was there;
all the Southerners were there as well; Merrick, Dale, etc.  I felt like shit
missing out on it, but I couldn't move or even get out of my bed.  So I wrote
John a funny letter instead.  I heard the rumor that Lannis received a call
from Mick Box on Pete's mobile?  I've yet to hear details on that one! 
Anyways, Lannis is a real trooper as he's had something much worse than me -
a stomach flu to contend with during his flight.

Predictably, I don't remember much of my flight back home, except thinking
over and over again, these memories will last me a lifetime, and that if I
could do it all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Alex