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Tailor John
Pearse, graphic artist Nigel
Waymouth (and girlfriend Shelagh York) opened Granny Takes A Trip
in 1965. At the entrance was some lettering reading ‘one should
either be a work of art or wear a work of art’. Granny Takes A Trip
was the first multisex boutique selling miniskirts, op art shirts,
garments in loud florals and paisleys… Perhaps more of importance were
the second hand ornaments: flapper dresses, Victorian bustles, Boer War
helmets, antique military jacquets, Chicago gangster suits, fezzes,
turbans and other ‘cleaned and darned exotica’.
Nigel Waymouth: "I was with this girl at the time and she used to
collect old clothes. We thought that it might be a good idea to open a
shop with all these things. (…) Of course it was terribly vain."
The Granny T-a-T boutique was known for its outrageous decoration. The
entrance of the shop changed a few times: in the early days it had a
mural of a North American Indian, in 1966 (probably) it was replaced by
a pop art picture of Jean Harlow and at a later stage a real Dodge
(well, part of it) was pop-artistically glued to the wall.
Granny was expensive, elitist and wasn’t afraid of saying so. Journalist
and critic Jonathan
Meades once tried to get in dressed in a casual black suit and tie:
“I remember Nigel Waymouth sneering at me, you could hardly see his face
by through this mass of afro hair. (…) He obviously thought I was a
jerk. (…) and wanted me moved out of the way because I was an extremely
bad advertisement for his shop.”
"The underground was exactly the same as everything else: there were
rich people and there were poor people. It was class ridden. There was
no working class in the underground because nobody did any work." (Cheryll
Park, art-student).
"The underground had a star system exactly as did pop music and films
and everything else." (Andrew
Bailey, journalist Variety, Rolling Stone UK).
The press that cherished Swinging London reported vividly about the
so-called mundane settings (shops, bars and restaurants) visited by
working class heroes such as Michael Caine and Twiggy. The sudden press
attention made the flower power movement mushroom and disappear in a
couple of months time.
Look At Life was a series of short documentaries about British
life, made by Rank Organisation and shown in the Odeon and
Gaumont movie theatres. Between 1959 and 1969 over 500 tongue-in-cheek
episodes were made. One particular episode from 1967, called IN Gear,
narrated by Michael Ingrams, deals with several Swinging London shops
and clubs.
It's the swinging London fashion scene on parade and features an
eye-candy array of dazzling & colourful mod fashions! Suits, shirts,
pants, shoes, boots, jackets, dresses, belts, bags, hats, caps, ties,
skirts, blouses, scarves, dickies, and more! Mary Quant shows off her
latest collection! The viewer is taken to King's Road, SOHO, and Carnaby
Street.
Some of the shops visited are: "Granny Takes a Trip," "Hung on You,"
"The Antiques Supermarket," "I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet," and "Gear."
The narrator tells us that, "A year or two ago fashion originated in the
haute couture's of Paris, then spread downward through society in ever
cheapening copies; now these shops which would have interpreted the
mould, originate today's fashion, owing nothing to Paris or anyone else."
Next, it's off to the discotheque club scene where the "in" gear is
worn. Clubs include: "Tiles," "Bag of Nails" (the Beatles used to hang
out here), "Samantha's," "Georges" and "the Saddle Room." Groovy pop
music soundtrack! (Taken from Videobeat.)
When Late
Night member dollyrocker watched this particular episode on YouTube
she recognised a familiar face at 1:43. The girl who visits the Granny
Takes A Trip shop is none other than Iggy the Eskimo. This
probably means that she was hired by the makers of the documentary as an
actor for the movie and further proof indeed that she was a professional
model.
Unfortunately the credits have been cut of from the YouTube video and
I’m not sure if they appear on the Swinging London DVD it was taken from
(unfortunately the DVD is out of print and its editor DD Home
Entertainment is out
of business).
We don’t know exactly when the documentary was made but as another shop,
Biba, moved somewhere between March and September 1966 to Kensington
Church Street, and that location is shown in the movie, one can deduct
that the movie dates from summer 1966 - spring 1967.
So far for the small story. But what really matters is:
Who hired Iggy for the documentary? What agency did she belong to? If
she was a professional model there must still be promo shots or fashion
photo shoots available in the darker corners of this world…
Sources (other than the above internet links) Green, Jonathon: All
Dressed Up, Pimlico, London, 1999, p. 80-81. Green, Jonathon: Days
In The Life, Pimlico, London, 1998, p.187-190., p. 218-220 Levy,
Shawn: Ready Steady Go!, Broadway Books, New York, 2003,
p.190-191.
Moviemaker Anthony
Stern, who knew Iggy before she met Syd, has confirmed that the
person at the Granny Takes A Trip boutique on the IN
Gear movie is indeed her. On his turn he will present a home movie
called Iggy, Eskimo Girl at The
City Wakes festival in Cambridge. A short teaser can be found on YouTube.
According to Mick Rock Syd was touched when she left him:
Once I’d developed the film (from The Madcap Laughs photo
session, note by FA), I went round to show Syd the pictures.
He took this one opposite (page 21 in the PR-book, note by FA)
and scratched some lines and his name onto it. I think there was a bit
of negativity directed at Iggy. He just started scratching the print,
with a big grin on his face. (Taken from Psychedelic Renegades.)
It could be that the scratches on the picture were destined at Iggy, but
why did Syd Barrett scratch (more or less) around her figure? Not (and I
hope my shrink will never read this) her face or body, in my garbled
opinion the logical thing to do if one would try to express negative or
revengeful feelings on a photograph. Syd’s body and face is far more
scratched than Iggy’s and Barrett also cut the letters SYD
on the picture... Perhaps he was just trying to make clear to Mick Rock
that he wanted to get rid of his pop-life alter ego.
Mick Rock writes further that he heard from Duggie
Fields, the painter who was Syd Barrett’s roommate and who still
lives in the same apartment today, that ‘she later went off with some
rich guy in Chelsea and lived a very straight life’.
On an old and abandoned blog (and also on the Late Night forum) I wrote
that none of the Pink Floyd biographers have been really looking for
Iggy. Mark Blake, author of Pigs
Might Fly, responded: “I can't speak for all the PF or SB
biographers, but I certainly tried.”
The only bit of new info I found was that there was a chance 'Iggy' may
have gone to school in the South London area, as she was known as one of
the regular teenage girls at the dancehalls around Purley
and Caterham.
This would have been around 1965. Duggie Fields recalls seeing her some
time after the Madcap Laughs photo session and she was looking a lot
more "sloaney". Most of the people I spoke to who knew her believe Iggy
married a rich businessman and doesn't now want to be 'found'. (Taken
from The
Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit on Late Night.)
Although scarce the above information is about the most relevant we have
had from a biographer in about 30 years.
The most famous dancehall in Purley was the Orchid Ballroom where The
Who, The Troggs and The Hollies gigged a couple of times. It started as
a regular dance
hall (and concert and sporting events hall) in the Fifties and had a
local house band The
Jackpots in 1963 and 64.
In the mid Sixties (1964 – 1966) the Orchid Ballroom was the meeting
place for the Croydon mods who would assemble every Monday night.
Witnesses remember Mike (?) Morton, Tony Crane, Jeff Dexter and Sammy
Samwell spinning the records. Pete Sanders and Mickey Finn used to be
part of the crowd.
Not all these names ring a bell. I could not trace back Mike Morton, but
Lionel Morton was the singer and lead guitarist from the Four
Pennies who had a hit in 1963 – 1964 with Juliet. Tony
Crane was a member of The Mavericks, a band that became famous when they
changed the name to The
Merseybeats, later The Merseys (David Bowie would cover their Sorrow
on his Pin-Ups album, a tune they had borrowed from The McCoys). Mickey
Finn could be the man who was the drummer of T. Rex and who also
played on the record made by Hapshash
and the Coloured Coat, the people who were behind the Granny Takes A
Trip boutique.
Elizabeth Colclough used to work at the bar in 1968: "It was the place
to go to meet friends old and new, weekday evenings and also at the
weekend. We saw some great bands, some who are still going strong today.”
Another witness recalls how Cathy
(Mc Gowan), the queen
of the mods and presenter of the ever popular Ready Steady Go! Show,
came to the Orchid Ballroom to spot for dancers to appear in her show.
Seen the fact that Iggy was present at an RSG!-party,
organised by the show's main choreographer, it is not improbable that
she may have been present at some RSG! television-shows as well, as a
dancer or as a pretty face in the public.
A book about the history of the Orchid Ballroom has been made and the
Church will try to contact its author, there is the (very small) chance
that Iggy is mentioned in it.
Update August 2009: Brian Roote, who studied the history of The
Orchid confirmed later to the Church: 'I have no knowledge of this girl
whatsoever'.
Sources (other than the above internet links): McAleer, Dave: Beatboom!,
Hamlyn, London, 1994, p. 57-59. Rock, Mick: Psychedelic Renegades,
Plexus, London, 2007, p. 20.
Did I already mention that the people of the Late
Night forum are a bunch of fantastic people? Probably yes, but I
will keep on repeating it. Eternal Isolation found a lecture by Anthony
Stern, held at La
Cinémathèque in Paris in June 2008. Here is how our fellow
Europeans describe him:
Anthony Stern était l'un des secrets les mieux gardés de la
cinématographie anglaise. La Cinémathèque française lui offre sa
première rétrospective. Camarade de classe de Syd Barrett et de David
Gilmour, assistant de Peter Whitehead, Anthony Stern a réalisé certains
des plus beaux poèmes documentaires des années 60 et 70, à la fois
sensuels, endiablés et railleurs. Taken from La
Cinémathèque.
(Translation) Anthony Stern is one of England's cinematographic
best-kept secrets. The French Cinémathèque offers him his first
retrospective. Friend from Syd Barrett and David Gilmour, assistant of
Peter Whitehead, Anthony Stern has realised several of the most poetic,
sensual, boisterous and mocking documentaries of the 60’s and 70’s.
The lecture, videotaped by a member of the audience, has been issued on
YouTube in three consecutive parts, but part
3 is the most interesting for Iggy fans. After the tiresome lecture,
due to the fact that Anthony’s English explanation is translated into
French and back, a copy is shown of his 1969 movie Wheel, followed by
Iggy, Eskimo Girl. Unfortunately only snippets of the different movies
have made it onto the web, but any additional material from our goddess
is appreciated.
Update: the Church made a compilation of Anthony Stern's lecture
at La Cinématèque (removing the French translation parts). You can watch
it here: Anthony
Stern Movie Talk.
Update April 2017: replaced invalid YouTube link (2008) with a
new one.
The so-called Lost
in the Woods movie, that was part of the Knebworth pre show
documentary, is a mix coming from different people, at different places,
on different occasions. The Church quotes archbishop Dark Globe, who has
scrutinized the movie before:
There's footage of Syd larking around in a garden with friends in 67,
the 'lilac shirt' footage of Syd (late 67/68?) in which Lyndsay Corner
also appears, and the blue suit/yellow ruffled shirt footage of Syd in
the woods with two girls (Iggy and a mystery brunette) from 69.
The home movie footage is multilayered and you can catch glimpses of
different footage superimposed on top of the main footage.
During the bit of Syd in the woods with Iggy, there's some footage of
Syd with an acoustic guitar (at least that's what I can see). The
flashbacks movie only shows tantalising glimpses of the Syd home movie
footage. (taken from Late
Night.)
The home movie snippets are used twice in the Knebworth documentary.
The documentary starts with Pink (Langley Iddens) pouring a glass of
wine. For the next 39 seconds several vintage clips, taking no longer
than a couple of frames, will be intercepted with shots from the actor.
The first home movie scenes have already ended when the documentary is
just one minute old. The main bunch seems to be filmed at a garden party.
The second home movie scenes arrive about 10 minutes later and will go
on for 42 seconds. The main footage has Syd walking in a park with Iggy
and a mysterious brunette, Syd and Iggy climbing trees, the two woman
running hand in hand, Syd acting funny with a stick in his hand… The
park footage is intercepted a few times by other home movies from other
occasions…
Part 1: Garden fun – blowing bubbles
Several garden shots have been used in this compilation. There is a
scene with a girl on a swing, people blowing soap bubbles and generally
having fun, Syd eating a - very hard to spot - banana…
The Church tried to identify the people in the movie with the help of
the worldwide web, posting screenshots at several anorak fora, and Dark
Globe took it upon him to show these pictures to David Gale and Matthew
Scurfield after a reading at the City Wakes festival this year.
Hester Page. It could be that screenshots 1 and 2 depict the
same person. She remained unidentified until Dark Globe showed the
pics to David Gale who recognised picture 2 as ‘Hester’. Barrett fan
julianindica could narrow this down to Hester Page. Hester Page gets
mentioned in the Syd Barrett biography by Julian Palacios, aptly
called Lost In The Woods, as part of the 101 Cromwell Rd incrowd.
That two-storey flat in Kensington was the place for many
Cantabrigians to sleep, meet and greet. Syd Barrett and Lindsay
Corner lived there for a while and Pink Floyd used the place to
rehearse (much to the annoyance of painter Duggie Fields). It was
also somewhat of an LSD epicentre and a ‘critical nexus for
Underground activities of every shade and stripe’.
David Gale. This man is David Gale. To quote his own words at
the City Wakes – it’s the hooter that gives me
away. Gale was a schoolmate of David Gilmour and a friend of Syd. In
1965 David’s parents went to Australia for a 6-month period leaving
the house and its garden in the safe hands of their son. It didn’t
take long before the Cambridge jeunesse would meet there and there
is a chance that the first part of the Syd Barrett Home Movie has
indeed been shot in the garden of David Gale’s parents. Nigel
Lesmoir-Gordon and Storm Thorgerson had film cameras so one of them
may have shot the footage (NLG made the iniquitous Syd’s First Trip
movie where David Gale can be seen). It was also at David Gale’s
place that Syd Barrett had a cosmically encounter wit a plum, an
orange and a matchbox, as witnessed by Storm Thorgerson who would
later use this for a record sleeve and for a concert movie.
Lyndsay Corner. David Gale and Matthew Scurfield identify the
girl on a swing as Lyndsay Corner.
Part 2: the Lost In The Woods footage
Mick Rock. When Syd and Iggy are walking in the woods a face
is superimposed. It is Mick Rock who has (probably) shot the movie.
Iggy is wearing the same necklace as on the Madcap Laughs photo
sessions and (perhaps) the same clothes. Syd however has another
shirt than in the Psychedelic Renegades book. The Lost In The Woods
scenes have been edited on the Knebworth documentary and carry parts
from at least 3 other home movies.
Unknown. Syd and another man walking & talking in a garden
in front of a house. Identity Unknown.
Unknown. Syd and a girl blowing bubbles in a park. Identity
unknown.
Lyndsay Corner. Close-up of Lyndsay Corner (in a park).
Mysterious brunette. 3 people can be identified on the Lost
In The Woods movie: Syd, Iggy and Mick Rock. In several shots with
Iggy and Syd we see a second woman, the mysterious brunette, whose
identity we don’t know yet.
Update: on second thought, she could be Hester Page (see
first picture above), although it is a wild guess. JenS,
however concludes that the girl is not Hester Page. Gretta Barclay
does not recognise her either: "I do not recognise the brunette –
the name Jennie Gordon came to mind, but in truth, I simply have
no idea of who she is."
Radiocarbon dating
Pop-art painter Duggie Fields, who still lives in the same apartment,
and Mick Rock have testified that Iggy only stayed at Syd’s place for a
couple of weeks. When Mick Rock showed Syd the pictures of the photo
sessions for the cover of The Madcap Laughs she was already long gone….
According to Duggie Fields, a homeless and drug-addicted couple, Greta
and Rusty, took the vacant place, much to the aggravation of the painter
who had to bring Greta to the hospital after an overdose.
Update 2010: in an exclusive interview to the Church
Margaretta Barclay absolutely denies the above. Please consult: Gretta
Speaks and Gretta
Speaks (Pt. 2)
Neither Mick Rock nor Storm Thorgerson give the exact date when The
Madcap Laughs photo shoot was made: the closest thing they can come up
with is Autumn 1969. Syd Barrett and David Gilmour met at the studio on
the 6th of October to sort out the running order of the album. Other
studio work, that didn’t need Syd’s presence, was done the same month:
banding the LP master (9 October) and cutting the LP (16 October). After
hearing the master Malcolm Jones ordered a recut early in November. The
record was officially released on the second of January 1970.
Malcolm Jones recounts:
One day in October or November I had cause to drop in at Syd's flat on
my way home to leave him a tape of the album, and what I saw gave me
quite a start. In anticipation of the photographic session for the
sleeve, Syd had painted the bare floorboards of his room orange and
purple. Up until then the floor was bare, with Syd's few possessions
mostly on the floor; hi-fi, guitar, cushions, books and paintings. In
fact the room was much as appears on the original 'Madcap' sleeve. Syd
was well pleased with his days work and I must say it made a fine
setting for the session due to take place.
Based on this information most anoraks radiocarbon the photo shoot date
in the second half of October, although November is also a possibility.
The Lost In The Woods home move with Syd, Mick, Iggy and the mysterious
brunette should thus be pinpointed to that period (this was written
in December 2008).
Update: But... as the Holy Church would find out the next year
(January 2009) the above photo shoot date appears to be wrong. It is
pretty sure that Iggy left Syd in April 1969. Further analysis of the
Madcap pictures show that several details point to spring 1969, rather
than autumn. For a complete report please consult: Anoraks
and Pontiacs.
(This is the second part of the Love In The Woods post. Part 1 can be
found here: Love
in the Woods (Pt. 1))
Sources (other than the above internet links): Blake, Mark: Pigs
Might Fly, Aurum Press Limited, London, 2007, p. 141. Jones,
Malcolm: The Making Of The Madcap Laughs, Brain
Damage, 2003, p. 13. Palacios, Julian: Lost In The Woods,
Boxtree, London, 1998, p. 241. Parker, David: Random Precision,
Cherry Red Books, London, 2001, p. 154-158.
The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band Six Hour Technicolour Dream
gig, on January the 27th 1972, was not, as you probably know, Syd's last
gig, nor was it his last recording. Actually, Syd never joined LMPTBB
but gigged with them twice as a surprise guest. How the tape survived
into the twenty-first century and was finally published by Easy
Action records is a story you can read here: The
Last Minute Put Together Reel Story.
Apparently the vibes were so good that two out of three LMPTBB members
started dreaming of a post-Floyd Barrett band, not very much to the
amusement of singer Bruce Paine if we may believe Joly MacFie
(Twink's business partner in the Cambridge music club Juniper Blossom
and Stars roadie annex sound-man):
I was sharing a house with Twink and Paine. Paine was a somewhat vain
and career oriented American who went on to join Steamhammer. He wasn't
compatible with Syd. When Twink showed more interest in Syd, Bruce got
pissed off and moved out and that was the end of the band. (Taken from
So what's with 1972 Stars reel? @ SBRS (forum no longer active.))
Stars
was formed shortly later and would gig about five times, dates and
venues can be found at the Pink
Floyd Archives:
Date
Venue
City
Band
1972 01 26
King's College Cellars
Cambridge
LMPTBB
1972 01 27
The Corn Exchange
Cambridge
LMPTBB
1972 02 05
The Dandelion Coffee Bar
Cambridge
Stars
1972 02 12
Petty Cury, Market Square
Cambridge
Stars
1972 02 12
The Dandelion Coffee Bar
Cambridge
Stars
1972 02 24
The Corn Exchange
Cambridge
Stars
1972 02 26
The Corn Exchange
Cambridge
Stars
Pink Floyd biographer Mark
Blake tried to find out more about the mythical Stars tapes, that
have been rumoured to exist, and posted his finding on the Late
Night and Syd Barrett Research Society forums (here edited a bit):
Rehearsal tapes - Twink has mentioned on more than one occasion that Syd
recorded the early practices. It goes without saying that these tapes
must be long lost. Dandelion Cafe - lots of people (Twink, Jack and
possibly Joly [MacFie]) remember Victor Kraft sitting there with his
Nagra tape machine at the Dandelion, and possibly the Corn Exchange as
well. Market Square - recorded, supposedly, by a friend of someone
who mentioned it on the Laughing Madcaps list. The tape, supposedly, is
at the taper's parents' house in Oxford. [Note from FA: this is probably
the tape mentioned at Fortean Zoology. All efforts to make the blogger
move his lazy ass have been effortless: Beatles:
Off topic but not really.] Final Corn Exchange show (with Nektar)
- according to Joly MacFie, his co-roadie Nigel Smith had a friend
called Chris who taped this show.
Although some YouTube videos claim to contain Stars tapes these are
believed to be either fakes
or mislabelled Barrett solo concerts, so it is still waiting for the
real deal, if they not have been buried in the vaults of Pink Floyd Ltd.
But the good news is that the Six Hour Technicolour Dream tape has been
released by Easy Action, that Syd Barrett stars (sorry, we couldn't
resist the joke) on three of its tracks and although the sound quality
is only slightly more than average, the fun is dripping out of our
stereo boxes. Mythical drummer Twink, who is currently recording a
follow-up of his legendary Think Pink album (1968), lend us some of his
time to tell us the following...
An innerview with Mohammed Abdullah John Alder, better known as Twink
BH: Of course we all know this record is interesting for Syd
Barrett's performance, but the real discovery on the Last Minute Put
Together Boogie Band is that amazing singer, Bruce Paine. How did you
and John Lodge (Honk) meet up with him and how did the band come
into place?
MAJA: I first met Bruce Paine in the autumn of 1971 at Steve
Brink's boutique "What's In A Name" in Union Rd just before he rented a
room in Steve's cottage which was situated next to the shop. We talked
very briefly about putting a band together because at that time I was
just helping Hawkwind out from time to time. Once Bruce had moved
into the cottage the band came together quite quickly. I recruited John
"Honk" Lodge as our bass player who was living in London but that didn't
seem to get in the way of the band project. Other members included Dane
Stevens (The Fairies & The Cops And Robbers) on vocals & Adam Wildi on
congas but both only lasted one show. We called the band The Last Minute
Put Together Boogie Band.
BH: Who came up with the idea of naming it the Last Minute Put
Together Boogie Band? Is there any explanation for the band's name?
MAJA: Bruce came up with the name and I think it was simply that
the band came together quite quickly once show offers began to come in.
BH: After a record deal with Polydor had failed, Honk left the
band and was replaced by Jack Monck.
MAJA: Yes, "Honk" left immediately the Polydor deal fell through.
I think he was disheartened because Polydor's A&R department made it
clear that after the demos we did for them, we were in. The whole thing
fell down at the contract stage because the contracts manager there was
having a bad day. He refused to raise the contracts and kept playing Led
Zeppelin at full volume which drove us out of his office. He apologised
to me about a month later just after he had been fired from his job. But
the damage was done and there would be no record deal for The Last
Minute Put Together Boogie Band.
BH: Did you meet Syd in Cambridge before the Eddie Guitar Burns
gig? Did you know that Syd was going to jam with LMPTBB on the 26th of
January 1972 or were you as surprised as the audience?
MAJA: I was surprised and happy to see Syd arrive at the Eddie
"Guitar" Burns gig with Jenny and carrying his guitar case. He arrived
while we were sound checking, came to the back of the stage area, took
his guitar out of its case and started to tune up. We had been friends
since 1967 but we had lost touch in '68. It was wonderful to see him
again. The following day Syd came to The Six Hour Technicolour Dream
where The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band was supporting Hawkwind &
The Pink Fairies. Again I was surprised to see him there with his guitar
case. Syd was keen to play so we invited him to join us on stage along
with Fred Frith from the band Henry Cow who was guesting with us
that night.
BH: It must not be easy trying to remember a gig from 40 years
ago, but there are two different testimonies about the Kings Cellar's
concert. One witness says that LMPTBB played twice on that concert.
According to him, the opening support gig had Syd, Monck and you. After
the Eddie Guitar Burns gig, LMPTBB returned, this time with Bruce Paine.
According to Terrapin magazine Syd jammed with LMPTBB after the Eddie
Guitar Burns show. Not that it really matters, this only shows how
anoraky we are.
MAJA: The Terrapin report is correct however it is possible the
Syd, Jack & I tuned up together but that was not part of the show.
BH: Now to the Six Hour Technicolour Dream concert of the
following day. How did Fred Frith come on board? Did he know Syd Barrett
was going to be there as well? What was his reaction? What was your
opinion after the gig had ended?
MAJA: We had a lot of contact with Fred Frith & Henry Cow who
frequently played at The 10p Boogie Club which was run by Joly MacFie &
myself at Fisher Hall in Cambridge having taken over the venue from
Jenny Spires & Jack Monck and renamed it Juniper Blossom.
The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band often played there and so did
Henry Cow. Fred Frith guested with The Last Minute Boogie Band there
too. Fred guesting with us at The Six Hour Technicolour was more formal
and when it was decided that Syd would guest too he was welcomed by all
concerned with open arms. Our performance was well received and with
Syd's enthusiastic participation at both the Eddie "Guitar" Burn gig &
The Six Hour Technicolour Dream our creative wheels began to turn
resulting in the formation of STARS with Syd Barrett, Jack Monck &
myself a few days later.
BH: Was this the LMPTBB's last gig? Did anyone say, this is it,
last gig, finished?
MAJA: The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band continued after
Jack & I left for STARS with replacement musicians.
BH: Did you, at one point or another, think of asking Syd to join
LMPTBB?
MAJA: It was Jack & Jenny that thought about forming a band with
Syd.
BH: If our information is correct you have been pulling some
strings to make this release possible.
MAJA: The only things that needed sorting out were group members
and song details as well as contract details to include both Bruce Paine
& Roger Barrett's Estates. Then there was restoring, mastering and the
cover to achieve as well. Everyone was very helpful.
BH: As you probably know, Pink Floyd (or EMI) have another copy
of the LMPTBB tape, however at one point there were rumours this tape
actually contains a Stars concert rather. know what they really have?
MAJA: I have no idea what EMI have. It's possible they have a
STARS tape.
BH: Any chance that the LMPTBB Polydor tapes will ever see the
light of day? Does anyone know where these demos are?
MAJA: It is possible The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band
demos will be released as they are probably sitting in Polydor's
archives. I think Honk may well have a copy tape.
BH: In retrospect, what was the band you were happiest with? If
you could go back to these days what would you have changed to make it
better?
MAJA: Playing with The Pretty Things made me happy and I wouldn't
want to change a thing.
BH: Many thanks, Mohammed, and good luck with Think Pink 2!
End of part four of our LMPTBB
series. If you don't stop us, there will probably be a part five. You
have been warned.
Many thanks to Mohammed Abdullah John Alder, Rich Hall, Peter Jansens.
Inspired by questions from: Mike Baess, Rick Barnes, Andre Borgdorff,
Anita Buckett, Rich Hall, Jane Harris, Alexander P.H., Peter Felix
Jansens, Raymond John Nebbitt, Lisa Newman, Göran Nystrom, Anni Paisley,
Cheesecake Joe Perry, Paul Piper, Michael Ramshaw, James Vandervest.
Don't mind the title of this article as that is a load of bollocky
clickbait, but today...
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit celebrates its 10th birthday!
Would you believe that the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit actually
started as a joke? And that this happened 10 years ago? On the 8th of
August, 2008?
A New Religion
It all started with a fun thread, titled: Possibility
of new religion, on the Late
Night Syd Barrett Discussion Room. On the 4th of December 2007 Stanislav,
an international Syd Barrett prankster whose Dadaist Photoshop creations
even fooled the official Syd Barrett website (and who still manages to
confuse Barrett fans today!), uttered the possibility of a Syd Barrett
based religion. Dani proposed to name it Barrett's Temple, Felix
asked who would be the holy virgin and Kim Kastekniv suggested it could
be none other than Iggy.
The thread meandered on, not always in good taste, until Felix Atagong,
yes - him again, came up with the Congregation Of Saint Iggy,
adding a picture of Iggy the Eskimo, blessed by heavenly rays. (That
Felix-made picture however, already had been posted on the 29th of
August 2007 on a 'Syd
and women'-thread and may be much older, perhaps even dating from
Astral Piper days.)
It was more a joke than anything else, an early attempt that lead to
nothing. A couple of months later, on the 21st of March 2008 DollyRocker
(not to be confused with Dolly Rocker) recognised Iggy the Eskimo in a
1967 Rank Organisation Look At Life documentary called IN Gear (Late
Night forum link: Iggy
Shopping in Shops?). It lead to another Atagong comment (with the
same picture):
That's it. I'm starting the Church of Iggy! Nice find btw...
But as procrastinating is a pricey synonym for Atagong nothing happened,
again... but somewhere in a dark corner of Felix's mind a minuscule seed
was growing into a tiny plant.
The City Wakes
Meanwhile some people in Cambridge wanted to celebrate Syd Barrett in a
festival that was called The City Wakes. It was announced in July
2008, asking Barrett fans to step in and join their knowledge, and a
semi-official subforum was opened at Late Night, that was pretty huge in
those days and would even grow more popular thanks to the festival. (The
City Wakes forum
is still on the web, and as such, the only 'official' trace it ever
happened. Much kudos to Eternal Isolation for keeping it alive!)
The City Wakes is a series of arts events that together make up the
first ever official tribute to Syd Barrett.
The festival was authorised by the Barrett family and organised by Escape
Artists who tried to swindle the family out of Syd's heritage as
much as possible. Potty mouths also rumoured that the two top dog Syd
Barrett photographers, obviously we won't cite their names for privacy
reasons, filled their pockets with their 'charitable' contributions.
But of course, nobody was aware of this by then and fans were more than
happy to be able to attend the festival, that would be held in October –
November 2008. The festival promised a Barrett art exhibition 'The Other
Room', concert performances, guided tours, music workshops, a
1960s-style happening, a Storm Thorgerson exhibition, lectures and
'talks' with members of the Cambridge mafia and Pink Floyd biographers,
etc..., etc...
The motives for the start of The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit on the
8th of August 2008 have been lost in the mist of time and as such the
Reverend needs to reconstruct his train of thought, but it is certain
that the announcement of The City Wakes festival was an important
trigger.
Another Syd blog
Since the dawn of the internet several Syd Barrett related fan-sites
existed, but many simply disappeared or merely prolonged their existence
in a vegetative state. (A bit like the official Syd Barrett website now,
we might add. Announced with much pride, pomp and circumstance in
January 2016 and doing absolutely nothing ever since, not even
correcting the mistakes that crept in at launch.)
So a new Syd Barrett blog wouldn't be that bad, Felix Atagong thought.
But why Iggy?
There had always been a recurring interest for Iggy the Eskimo at Late
Night and, before that, on the Astral Piper forum. For those who are too
young to remember, Astral Piper was a Syd Barrett fan made website and
forum, run by an enthusiast webmaster who was apparently less enthusiast
when it came to money matters. The forum closed down in 2007 when the
internal quibbling between 'astralpiper1' and some unfortunate members
became too distracting to go on. The website, however, was salvaged from
destruction and a copy lives further on at the Atagong domain: ASTRAL
PIPER Redux 2013.
On those fora, Sydiots discussed Iggy's 'history' and her disappearance
since ages and some new (although very scarce) information had been
unearthed with the IN Gear movie. As such there was already some kind of
a small fan-base present.
The only problem, so thought Felix Atagong during a sleepless night, was
that the scarce Iggy evidence was shattered all over the internet.
“Wouldn't it be nice to assemble all information at one place for aeons
to come?”
This question became even more pertinent when Anthony Stern hit the
scene.
Stern and Stubborn
LSD-pioneer Anthony
Stern had been a part of the Cambridge set in the mid-sixties, with
beat poets, aspiring musicians and artists meeting at the local
coffee-bar El Patio. Ant and his pal Syd had a mutual art exhibition, in
the summer of 1964, above the Lion and Lamb pub in Milton. Just like Peter
Whitehead and Storm
Thorgerson he was an aspiring photographer and would-be movie maker.
Around 1967 he and Syd discussed co-writing and -producing a movie 'The
Rose Tinted Monocle' but the project unfortunately never materialised.
(A Barrett-less version was later torpedoed by Pink Floyd manager Steve
O'Rourke.)
However, Anthony Stern did make a few Floyd-related movies and one of
those, using the Floyd's hit-single 'See Emily Play', was the legendary 'Iggy
Eskimo Girl', a relic that had been hidden for four decades. That
movie and a set of unseen Iggy 'triptych' pictures would be a part of The
Other Room exhibition. On the 25th of July 2008 a teaser was
published on YouTube
and it is even more of a miracle that this is still online a decade
later: Syd
Barrett - Iggy.
From Eskimo to Inuit
Surely there was enough material now (and more would certainly surface
in the near future) for an Iggy the Eskimo blog. It must have been at
that point that Felix Atagong's mind went into overdrive and less than
two weeks later the first post at The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit was
published. That first post, titled: Iggy,
was literally copied from a (now untraceable) Acid Mandala forum post at The
Syd Barrett Archives, and turned out well, all things considered.
But why Iggy the Inuit?
Not out of political correctness, a newspeak term that has as much
impact on the Reverend than a fart in a wind tunnel, but as an ironic
nod, perhaps inspired by Metal Mickey's comment on Late Night nearly a
year before:
Not to get all PC on you folks but, 'eskimo' is apparently not a very
nice term and not commonly used anymore...the correct tribal/nation name
is Inuit or Innu...so there! (Metal
Mickey Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 7:01 am.)
It was clear from the beginning that The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit
would not take Syd Barrett, nor Pink Floyd idolatry too seriously. Fun
fact: the decision to call it a Church was directly inspired by a
humoristic Star Trek page that listened (and still listens to) the name: The
First Church of Shatnerology.
It was now time to boldly go where no Eskimo (or Inuit) had gone before.
The Church wishes to thank all of those who started rolling the ball 10
years ago. Unfortunately, many of them have already left the scene. :
Alien Brain, Astral Piper, Sean Beaver, Bell That Rings, Mark Blake,
Charley, Dani, Dark Globe, Bea Day, Dolly Rocker, DollyRocker, Ebronte,
Eternal Isolation, Gnome, Juliian Indica (aka Julian Palacios), Kim
Kastekniv, Little Minute Gong, Madcap Syd, Metal Mickey, Music Bailey,
Mystic Shining, Psych 62, Silks (नियत), Stanislav, Stars Can Frighten,
Syd Barrett's Mandolin, Anthony Stern, The Syd Barrett Sound... (Sorry
to those we have forgotten to mention.)
On the 20th of August 2006 Joanna Curwood organised a Syd Barrett event
in Grantchester Meadows in a field behind the Green
Man Pub. Most information about this has disappeared in the mists of
time but luckily that slightly fantastic Reverend salvaged the Astral
Piper page describing the event.
Steve Bassett (aka "Madcapsyd") reported:
I arrived at Grantchester at around 2:30 and made my way to the meadows.
The entrance was high up over the River Cam and a few hundred yards away
I could see a crowd of people and the sound of See Emily Play was
drifting through the air. A healthy turnout of around 100 people were
gathered to pay tribute to Roger "Syd" Barrett. A few light showers did
nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd. I found Joanne and she
seemed delighted by the turn out. (...)
There was some communal singing along with the performers and it was
great to hear Syd's music being so appreciated by everyone. It was also
very encouraging to see some of the children joining in, hopefully
becoming the fanbase of future generations. Most of Syd's favourite's
were performed including Arnold Layne, Dark Globe, Dominoes, Bike and a
great 3 acoustic guitar Astronomy Domine. (...)
On the river there was a steady flow of punts and many "Sunday
Strollers", obviously attracted by the music, came to see what was
happening. Many of them stayed for the duration. Two members of 70's
Cambridge punk band "The Users", Chris Free and Andrew O'Hanrahan,
spared me some time to tell me how their lead singer had introduced them
to Syd's music.
For this celebration an anonymous ‘street art’ artist created a Syd
Barrett painting on a wall at St Margarets Square and the street sign
had been changed to ‘shine on’. Insiders pretty well knew it was made by Maya
Deren, who was a well respected member on the Astral Piper & Late
Night forums.
The original Barrett street painting was rapidly removed but copies
appeared later on other street walls and on various exhibitions.
Pictures of these different Sydcarnations can be found on Maya's Flickr
and a pretty complete gallery is present on our own Tumblr
account, where this article was originally published.
Many thanks to: Steve Bassett (Madcapsyd), Joanna Curwood, Maya Deren,
Harlequin, Jabanette, Dion Johnson, Joanne Milne (Charley). ♥ Libby ♥
Iggy ♥
We ended the first season on a low note because it seemed that the
entire Iggy story had been told in a handful of articles. It seemed that
she had disappeared and that she would not be found back.
How wrong we were, but we were not the only ones. Duggie Fields (to Mark
Blake):
I have no idea who Iggy was or even what her real name was. (…) I
saw her not long after Syd left the flat and she was looking more like a
Sloane Ranger. I heard she’d become involved with one of the voguish
religious cults at the time.
(As a matter of fact, this was not that far from the truth, but of
course we didn’t know that in 2009. For a while Iggy was signaled in Scientology
circles, one of those incredible stories we might tell you one day.)
Here is an overview of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit’s tumultuous
second season (August 2009 -July 2010).
Fille de l’espace
We celebrated our first birthday with the publication of a brilliant
poem written by Dr.
Denis Combet, professor at Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada, who
specialises in French literature of the 17th and 18th centuries, but he
has also written lyrics for the pretty awesome stoner rock band Rescue
Rangers. In 2006 – 2007 he published a Syd Barrett inspired
multimedia project under the title Guitars and Dust Dancing (that
is unfortunately no longer online, but archive.org has a partially saved
backup: Guitars
and Dust Dancing).
The Church could exclusively issue the French version of the poem ‘De
Quétesh à Bastet’, dedicated to Iggy the Eskimo, and would
later publish Crystal Blue Postcards, a digital booklet with
(mostly) new poems, dedicated to Syd and Iggy. It can still be found
here:
Iggy was moved to tears when she found out that someone in Canada had
written a poem for her and she kept on repeating that on our weekly
phone-calls. Thanks Denis!
The Iggy story, so we thought, was a dead end street or at least a slow
lane. In absence of our subject of adoration we started a series about
the legendary Cromwellian club, bar and casino. We also looked deeper
into The Bend dance craze, a clever marketing scheme started to twist a Dave
Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich single into a genre.
You
don’t have to believe us but we think these are still the best articles
about this nightclub on the web, with several interviews from people who
were there. The complete Cromwellian & The Bend series (running from
2008 till 2015): The
Cromwellian
The Madcap’s Mojo
2010 started with a bang. Rock magazine Mojo had a Madcap Laughs 40
years anniversary special, annex tribute CD, and it was undoubtedly
clear that some writers had found inspiration at the Church, but without
mentioning where they had found the information. (It needs to be said
that our secret informant in those days, Mark
Blake, who also wrote for the special, was not amongst those.)
We ended our review of the Mojo special with the prophetic words:
Ig’s story as published in Mojo may be the butterfly effect that will
cause the storm at the other side of the world. So perhaps, thanks to
Mojo, the Church will be one day able to fulfil its quest.
On the fifth of February 2010 Mark Blake informed us that Iggy was alive
and well and living in a small village in Southern England. The Church
were the first to publish this news on this entire planet. World
Exclusive: Ig has been found!
Initially Iggy wanted to anonymously live her life in her little village
in South-England, but her cover was blown by The Croydon Guardian. (Here
was another journalist suffering from amnesia. She didn’t find it
necessary to give a nod to the Church, although it was us who had
informed her about Iggy.)
Timing couldn’t have been better. Iggy was found just when we were going
to publish an interview with Gretta Barclay, who – with her friend Rusty
Burnhill – was a regular visitor at Wetherby Mansions in 1969.
A decade later this is still Margaretta’s one and only interview in the
Barrett-sphere.
We also tracked down Rusty Burnhill, living in a small town in Northern
Germany and sent him a polite letter where we asked if we could ask him
some questions. To our amazement he called us a few months later,
started swearing and shouting, threatened to call the police and smashed
down the phone. Needless to say that we didn’t pursue our plans to have
him interviewed.
Iggy had been located (by a few journalists) but wasn’t communicating to
the outer world (yet). A decision we obviously accepted. The Church has
never been into trophy hunting.
The Holy Church had already published the intriguing theory that the
painted floorboards at Syd’s flat didn’t date from autumn 1969, but from
spring 1969. This was contradicting all witness reports and all
biographies and obviously it was clear evidence that the Holy Church was
lead by a raving lunatic.
But our anonymous witness JenS had said so, Gretta Barclay and Iggy
confirmed it and more ‘proof’ for this was found by Barrett enthusiast
Dark Globe, a member of the Late Night Syd Barrett forum and one of the
people helping the Church with valid information.
Rob Chapman didn’t update this information in his Syd Barrett biography,
but Julian Palacios did, just before the printing deadline, making him
one of the believers. What was a wacky theory at first, laughed at by
several people, has now become the gospel.
Our review of Rob
Chapman’s Syd Barrett biography A Very Irregular Head
was quite polemic (and made us persona non grata in top level
Barrett circles). We did conclude it was one of the better biographies
around but there was of course the Octopus – Clowns & Jugglers
controversy.
Rather than stirring up a dying fire and prejudicing you we suggest you
read the review first and we’ll talk about it afterwards.
An intriguing anecdote was told to us by Gretta Barclay. One that also
couldn’t be found in any biography. Syd Barrett and his Welsh
counterpart Meic Stevens, who also suffered from a few psychological
drawbacks, met each other at different occasions.
Prydwyn read Steven’s autobiograpy (in Welsh) and translated the
relevant bits into English for generations to come. One pretty exiting
bit is that the two musicians were filmed by a BBC camera-team, but
apparently the movie has been destroyed, unless it still is hiding in a
BBC archive somewhere.
2019 sees Meic Stevens gigging again in Britain (although he immediately
started with some controversial
statements). Men
On The Border singer Göran Nyström published an excellent follow-up
to our Solva Blues article just a few days ago, with a few new
discoveries. Or how an article from a decade ago inspires people today
to further investigate in all matters Syd.
The Church wishes to thank all of those who helped us 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, many of them have already left the scene. : Anonymous,
Banjer and Sax, Margaretta Barclay, Paul Belbin, Mark Blake, Rusty
Burnhill, Constance Cartmill, Rob Chapman, Denis Combet, Duggie Fields,
Dark Globe, Rod Harrod, JenS, Pascal Mascheroni, Kerry McQueeney, David
Moore, Julian Palacios, Paro नियत, Prydwyn, Douggie Reece, Lynn Annette
Ripley (Twinkle), Brian Roote, Beate S., Jenny Spires, Allison Star,
Jean Vouillon, Kirsty Whalley, Vicky Wickham and the Dutch Dave Dee,
Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich fan community (not online any more)… (Sorry to
those we have forgotten to mention.) ♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥
While the Reverend of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit is more and more
becoming a recluse, living in a corner of a foreign field, it is cool to
notice that the Syd Barrett community keeps on attracting new souls.
The authoritative Birdie
Hop group, with its 7300 members (August 2020) attracts new members
every day. The only negative point is that – due to Facebook’s business
model – really interesting topics (for the extreme Sydiots amongst us)
get pushed down, making them virtually invisible after a couple of days.
New members, and who are we to blame them, will ask the same questions,
will post the same pictures and publish the same songs, due to their
enthusiasm and relative unfamiliarity with the subject.
Quite a few Syd Barrett sites and fora have disappeared over the years.
You may think whatever you want from Barrett-foghorn Kiloh Smith,
but his sydbarrettpinkfloyd blog was an almost endless source of
information, written by him and his many collaborators. The Late
Night forum from Eternal Isolation, officially called the
Late Night Syd Barrett Discussion Room, has 98000 threads but less than
a dozen regular visitors nowadays. And don't let us get us started about
the exclusive Syd Barrett Research Society that was such a
creative pool of information, once upon a time.
But here’s that old fool on the hill pondering again that the good old
days were much better, while the now and the here is in the hands of the
young. But sometimes it is good to have a few dinosaurs around.
Ginger Cat
Bob Martin is a veteran of Birdie Hop who, end of August 2020,
threw a little bomb in the community with an anecdote he got from Ginger
Gilmour, David’s ex-wife.
I just had a bit of a chat with Ginger Gilmour and she mentioned that
Syd would visit their home in Woodley and record at David's studio. The
interesting bit is it would have been 1971 or later… How cool is that?
And I would like to thank Ginger Gilmour for letting me share this
story. I was not aware that Syd and David spent time together well after
the recording of Syd's solo albums.
This is something new and exciting indeed. The obvious question some
people were and are asking was if these recordings have been saved for
eternity and are still somewhere hidden in Gilmour's archives. That
these archives have some unpublished (Pink Floyd) goodies is well known.
Gilmour used to have the Bob
Dylan Blues reel that allegedly also contains demo versions of
Wolfpack, Waving My Arms in the Air, Jigalo Aunt (sic) and an unreleased
song called Living Alone (aka I Get Stoned).
Bob Martin, however, is prudent.
No one is saying anything came of these recordings, even if they were
kept. But wouldn't that be grand if David did have some jams recorded?
The Geeky Stuff
Let’s try to put a date on these sessions, shall we? The Syd Barrett
anecdote has not been put in Ginger’s ‘Memoirs of the
Bright Side of the Moon’, but she is pretty accurate on dates and
places. (Read our review here: The
Ballad of Fred & Ginger.)
Virginia ‘Ginger’ Hasenbein met David Gilmour backstage on the 28th of
October 1971, at the Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan, USA) and
it was pretty much love at first sight. Ginger followed the band for the
rest of the tour that would go on till the 20th of November, meeting
Gilmour’s parents, who were living in the USA, on the 15th. After the
tour, she emigrated to England where she lived with David in a farm near
Roydon, Essex. Pink Floyd road manager Pete Watts and his girlfriend
Patricia ‘Puddy’ Gleeson stayed with them for some time.
David and Peter spent a lot of time in his studio, which was downstairs
next to the living room.
The two couples didn’t have much free time as the UK Tour ‘72 was
starting in January. But even with Gilmour on the road, the house was
never empty.
I was alone with the BOYS - David’s friends from Cambridge. Most
evenings I got stuck doing the washing up and keeping them filled with
Tea as they smoked their spliffs and watched telly.
Those boys probably were Emo and a couple of others, but Syd was not
among them. There was also Warwick, the housekeeper, doing the odd job
and taking care of the duck Digby, the cats Gretel and Naomi and a
retired Shire horse, Vim. Emo:
Ginger moved in when she came over. I remember Ginger telling me she met
Syd when he came to the house at Woodley, Essex.
Through Emo we got some extra information from Ginger:
He came to Woodley and David helped him record some music. Syd had to
sit on a stool and David stood behind him and helped him play the
guitar… arms around him… (date forgotten).
And from Bob Martin, we know that Ginger added that Syd would stop by
the house in Woodley quite often.
So if Syd attempted some recordings it may have been in that two months
‘calmer’ period, from November 1971 to January 1972. At the end of
January, the Floyd had a British tour, followed by the Obscured By
Clouds sessions, followed by a Japanese tour, an American tour, another
American tour and a French tour. And in between, they had some recording
sessions for what would become The Dark Side Of The Moon.
Starting Over
It is not that weird that Barrett tried to put his career back on the
rails. His previous album, Barrett, dated from November 1970 and he
hadn’t been doing a lot since. As a matter of fact, he had been doing
nothing.
February 1971 had seen his last gig, 3 songs only, for BBC radio,
probably with David Gilmour in the band. There were a couple of
interviews, with Syd invariably trying to convince the journalist that
he was still in shape and that a third album was in the works.
I’ve been writing consistently for two years now and I have lots of
undeveloped things lying around. I’m still basically like I’ve always
been, sitting around with an acoustic getting it done. I never get
worried about my writing. (1971 interview in Terrapin 17, 1975.)
I've got some songs in the studio, still. And I've got a couple of
tapes. It should be 12 singles, and jolly good singles. I think I shall
be able to produce this one myself. I think it was always easier to do
that. (Melody Maker, Mar 27 1971, Michael Watts.)
Another trigger might have been the release of the Pink Floyd
compilation Relics,
in May 1971, that contained four Barrett tracks (and 6 with him in the
band). Syd had a copy of the album and bragged about it to Mick
Rock that it had reached the top 10. Probably his management must
have thought this was the ideal moment to get the third record in the
can and surf on the Pink Floyd wave of fame.
That Syd Barrett was trying to get back in shape could be seen on the
26th and 27th of January 1972. Invited by Jenny Spires Syd went
to an Eddie
‘Guitar’ Burns gig at King’s College Cellars
(Cambridge), bringing his guitar with him. After the official gig Syd, Twink
(John Alder) and Jack
Monck (who was Jenny’s husband) had an impromptu jam.
Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band
Barrett liked the experiment and joined the Last Minute Put Together
Boogie Band the next day on three numbers. LMPTBB was a power blues
outfit built around Twink, Jack Monck and the American singer Bruce
Paine. That day they also had Fred
Frith with them, who was less enthusiast about Barrett than the
others. (Read our Fred Frith interviews at: An
innerview with Fred Frith.)
The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band gig was recorded and officially
released, after a long battle, in 2014. You can read all about it in our
LMPTBB series: LMPTBB.
Stars
When Syd Barrett showed interest to start performing again singer and
guitarist Bruce Paine was thanked for his services and a new band was
formed: Stars.
Bruce Paine continued as the Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band and
had at least one gig with Rick
Fenn, Bill Gray and someone called Gary, before joining Steamhammer.
All of a sudden, Syd Barrett had become the leader of a new band,
something he wasn’t really ready for. Stars did six gigs in Cambridge
and somehow the music press got hold of it.
When a Melody Maker journalist published a critical review of one of the
lesser shows, Syd Barrett called it quits. Apart from a jam with Jack
Bruce in the summer of 1973, he would never perform again in public.
Stars, without Syd, still played a few gigs but was disbanded soon after.
The Basement Tapes
That we have never heard of the Barrett-Gilmour home tapes before is
weird, and perhaps not. The Floyd nicely cultivated the Syd Barrett myth
over the years, keeping it mysterious. Take for instance the different
Syd Barrett visits during the Wish You Were Here sessions, with
Gilmour denying that Syd was there on his wedding day, although ten
witnesses, including his ex-wife, tell the opposite. Read all about that
at: Shady Diamond.
David Gilmour has never been the most talkative kind of guy, especially
when it comes to his relationship with Syd.
This was proven once again during the A
Theatre For Dreamers / Von Trapped Family live stream #6 (9 May
2020), that was mainly David Gilmour sharing some thoughts about Syd
Barrett. When asked who was the culprit not wanting to take Syd Barrett
on a gig in January 1968 David Gilmour stays very discreet, even when
pushed by Polly Samson.
David: “Someone...” Polly: “Who?!” David:
“...said...” Polly: “Who?!” David: “...as
we were driving around West-London picking people up about to head off
to some, like Southampton for a gig. Someone said shall we pick Syd up?
Someone else said no, let’s not bother.” (Meanwhile, Polly keeps on
yapping at her husband.) Polly: “Come on, you know who said that!” David:
“Uhm, stop fishing… I actually don’t know. I don’t know the answer to
that.”
The Syd Barrett Lyrics Book
The main bulk of the conversation was about the Syd Barrett lyrics book
that David Gilmour is proofreading, comparing the master tapes with the
lyrics that have been written down. Not an easy task so it appears as
the Barrett little black book with his poems in has disappeared.
Another contributor to the Syd Barrett lyrics book will be Rob
Chapman and he had the following to say on Twitter about it:
No doubt publishers will announce this in due course but the Syd Barrett
lyric book has been put back to next year due to the Virus. A pity
because there is going to be an exclusive in there which will make all
Syd fans gasp and spontaneously combust when they read it. (Rob Chapman
April 29, 2020.)
What makes us wonder what this exclusive might be. Perhaps the fact that
David Gilmour still has a few unpublished demos or pictures in his
possession?
If we have learned something from our decades-long Pink Floyd admiration
it is that ‘spontaneous’ scoops like this mostly have been organised by
the Floyd’s management. The first 1975 Syd Barrett picture was
coincidentally found when Nick Mason had a book to promote. Years later
a second photo was accidentally revealed on the Pink Floyd exhibition.
But for the exclusive in the Syd Barrett lyrics book, we will still have
to wait a bit.
Many thanks: Rob Chapman, Ebronte, Ginger Gilmour, Bob Martin, Iain
‘Emo’ Moore, Lisa Newman, Ken Sutera Jnr, Swanlee, Wolfpack, Syd Wonder
and the friendly people of Birdie Hop and Late Night. Some pictures and
stuff at our Tumblr: Stars. ♥
Libby ♥ Iggy ♥
Sources (other than the above mentioned links): Gilmour, Ginger: Memoirs
of the Bright Side of the Moon, Angelscript International, 2015, p.
31. Parker, David: Random Precision, Cherry Red Books, London,
2001, p. 164. Povey, Glenn: Echoes, the complete history of Pink
Floyd, 3C Publishing, 2008, p. 149.