US Touring problems

[Keith A Henderson]

The palindromic astral rodent puts forth...

> Hi all,
>
> We would really like to take this side of things out of the promoters hands
> and set up some gigs ourselves. Hawkwind would then have more control over
> promotion and ticket sales. This isn't an easy job but there must be someone
> out there that could set this up. I've already had one offer from a guy (not
> on the list) and we are following up his lead.
>
> If anyone has any ideas/links/contacts, please contact me and we'll take it
> from there.

OK, this sounds good...I'm afraid, though, that people like me (and others on
this list for sure) are huge fans of HW and other more obscure music, and
attend lots of events and buy lots of merchandise, but we have no knowledge of
the behind scenes action of putting on a gig...advances, advertising,
logistics, etc.  Nor do we know who (all) these people are that need to be
contacted/dealt with.  Although I shouldn't speak for others, I'd think that
we'd be willing to do our part to help things work out well for everyone
involved.  Tell us how.

The suggestions I could make on contacts would be fairly obvious I think, and
only relevant to my neck of the woods.  These would be...

1) Cleveland -- lot's of folks (who *do* know the business/promotional side of
   things), but mainly Jim Lascko (of Strange Trips..address on the Love in
   Space booklet), Steve Taylor of Sun Machine (who should *certainly* be
   considered in advance for doing opening slots in Cleveland, etc.), and Scott
   (?), who was part of the touring group for the April '95 tour here (and
   who's also been on stage with Sun Machine).  I would suggest them looking to
   play the Odeon this next time....I saw Gong there, and it is a nice club.
   They could even perhaps sell it out and add a second show (as they did at
   the Empire (R.I.P.) in '90 (?))...I'm sure the band would like a day with no
   travelling.

Of course, Cleveland is one of the few places that HW *can* get a lot of fans
to show up even with minimal adverts.  They played the Agora last year, which
can hold probably >2,000 comfortably.  They had perhaps half that last year,
maybe the largest NA gig since the 70's.

2) Chicago -- I'm sure Jim Collins of Tentacles of Erpland is in the know about
   getting in contact with the right people.  All I can add is my wish that
   they would get to play in the Metro, rather than in the Cubby Bear place
   down the street, which was too small.  The *other* Chicago HW gig I saw was
   in an even worse place (the Thirsty Whale), which has now been replaced by a
   McDonalds.

3) Toronto -- Well, I don't know any booking folks there, but I've been there
   for three HW shows in the past, and all three have gone well, and were
   reasonably well attended.  The Phoenix is a fine club, and would work fine
   again I think.

   I believe that someone like Louise McAuley (who has lived in various
   places in Canada, from Toronto to Montreal) would be willing to offer her
   services - she is a very good artist (and usually makes her own 'promo-type'
   hand-coloured posters for special events like HW tours, and the NYE Sun
   Machine/F/i show) and also has her own lights/slide show gear.  And her male
   companion is the well-known 'flame' guy, Stew Orr (the Wizard) who's well
   known around these parts for being repetitive to the point of being
   repetitive to the point of being repetitive....you get the idea.  I don't
   need to see his 'act' again...although with Louise, you probably get both.
   [And I don't need to see the 'Sloan Gypsies' again either, the loser crew
   who 'opened' for Gong at the Odeon.]

   Oh, the artist guy from the second Sun Machine show would be a good thing to
   have on stage for HW...he could do some cool Aliens while Ron is doing his
   thing...and I'm sure he could come up with a Robot as well (if Ron can't
   bring his mechanical beast).  I have no idea what his name is, but I figure
   he's a Clevelander as well.

4)  Columbus - I can't say I believe my present hometown would be such a great
    place for a HW gig, even despite the huge student population here...they're
    just a bunch of 'alternative' freaks it seems.  But the Newport here next
    to campus is a great place for shows (BOC, Motorhead, etc. play there
    often), and would be awesome for a Hawkwind show...similar to the Agora in
    Cleveland, but a bit more intimate (ie. smaller).  If you know the right
    people here to get in touch with, I could do what I could to urge them on,
    as I'm the lone Columbus-ite on the list here (unless there's a lurker
    here somewhere).

    The positive things about Columbus are that you'd probably still get a lot
    of Clevelanders heading down for a second opportunity to see them, plus you
    might draw folks from Dayton, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Wheeling, etc. -
    places that HW *always* skips on it's 'Great Lakes' swing across to
    Milwaukee.

5)  Cincinnati - Never been to a concert there, ever, but all the bands that
    come through the Newport play at Bogart's in Cincy.  I guess this would be
    a good place to look to if Columbus seemed too close to Cleveland, and
    would have the same advantages as here (they haven't played there on any of
    the four tours in the 80's-90's).

BUT although this would be nice to see happen again (ie., another NA tour, with
the same old cities represented - and *no* gigs in the south, Texas, or
anywhere between Milwaukee and San Fran except Denver), my dream is to see what
Carl has already suggested (and which I have been suggesting for several years
now, to folks here, as well as Brian Tawn)....and that is a travelling all-day
(or maybe half-day...say, 4-12) sort of event that would be outdoors (at the
'non-corporate' places, if you know what I mean, the places *without* Coca-Cola
in front of them...not that those places would even be remotely interested).
We could have (in my most technicolour dream):

Sun Machine
darXtar
Amon Duul II (or maybe SunDial)
Gong (or maybe Ozrics)
Hawkwind
Monster Magnet

I'd go to every show in North America, unless I fell asleep at the wheel and
crashed into a ditch...and I'd *still* try to get to the next one.

This would probably suck though, as far as any success is concerned, as all 500
people that showed up would be huge fans of all six, but all the other
potential concert goers would think 'Who the hell are all these bands??  I mean
I've *heard* of Monster Magnet...even saw them on MTV, but what the hell is
'Gong'?  So someone with more insight than myself would have to come up with a
way to mix some of our personal favourites with a few artists to draw in some
'cross-over' fans.  I suppose BOC could be a potential selection, although only
the listmembers know why there's a connection to HW, and they tour *everywhere*
so often, having them perform wouldn't be particularly noteworthy.  Monster
Magnet is the only one I could think of, unless we could have a Lemmy reunion
with Motorhead performing.  But then, the whole space rock concept would be
sort of stretched with all the HM'ers involved.  But it'd still be the event of
the decade for the rest of us.

I hope noone suggests we throw in a whole slew of techno-type raving lunatic
folks...that seems to be the modus operendi in London, but I don't think *too*
many midwestern folks are into all that.

What's a better idea??

BTW, Roswell sounds cool....I mean, I think the whole thing about Area 51 is
sort of silly, but I think the scene would be something to check out if HW were
involved...kinda in the same way as the Limelight gig was interesting.  And I
wouldn't be surprised if you could get FOX television to broadcast the thing
live, with maybe Will Riker as host.  That whole network seems to be interested
in only broadcasting programs on the wonders of breast-enlargement surgery, and
paranormal phenomena.  And HW can relate to both!!  although I don't think
Stacia *needed* any breast-enlargement done.  :)

Well, my soapbox is getting worn out....we've (or I should say you've, as I
haven't done any of the work) managed to arrange our little fun projects
(Codex, T-shirts, Covers tapes, etc.) with success....could we manage
to take on something of a larger scope??  (Sure, as long as it wasn't our money
on the line, eh??) :)

Keith H.  (FAA)




> Yours with thanks,
>                         Star_rats at hawkwind.com
>
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