BOC: Oysters, Wagons and the Manband

[Andrew Gilham]

Carl and Tania stopped by last night on the way to Cropredy... anyway, I
read them this excerpt from Deke Leonard's memoirs, _Rhinos, Winos and
Lunatics_, and they said to me, "you must post it to the list!"  So here
goes:

"The new tour started in New York, and it was a doozy.  The Blue Oyster
Cult, REO Speedwagon, and us [Man].  The plan was that the Blue Oyster Cult
would headline on the East Coast where they were most popular, REO
Speedwagon would take over top billing in the Mid-West, their heartland,
and we would move to the top of the pile on the West Coast, where,
apparently, we were the bee's knees.  Whichever genius though up this
little gem was a simpleton of the highest order.  Someone who must have
thought - if they thought at all - that artistic ego was an abstract.
 Someone for whom the folding of a map was an intellectual pursuit.  It was
catastrophe in waiting.

"The first night of the tour the Oysters commandeered all three dressing
rooms provided, forcing us and the Wagons to change in corridors and
broom-cupboards.  We established bi-lateral solidarity against the common
enemy.  The seeds of revolution were sown.  We didn't talk to the Oysters
and they didn't talk to us.

"REO Speedwagon were brilliant, full of flair and invention.  We watched
them from the wings, oozing solidarity.

"Until I saw the Oysters, I thought the Moody Blues were the worst band in
the world.  The Oysters were almost supernaturally ungifted.  Their hair
was neatly groomed and they wore stay-pressed jeans.  The tallest was five
foot three.  At the climax of their set all the band, including the
drummer, put on guitars, stood in a line across the front of the stage and
strummed furiously.  It was pitiful.  And the crowd loved it.

"By the time we got to the Mid-West scuffles had begun to break out but REO
Speedwagon moved to the top of the bill and we breathed a sigh of relief.

"REO Speedwagon immediately commandeered all three dressing rooms provided,
forcing us and the Oysters to change in corridors and broom-cupboards.  We
established bi-lateral solidarity against the common enemy.  The seeds of
revolution were sown.  We didn't talk to REO Speedwagon and they didn't
talk to us.

"We listened to REO Speedwagon with fresh ears.  Not only did they suffer
from a complete absence of imagination, the most that could be said of them
was that they shuffled cliches in a most tiresome manner.  It was pathetic.
 And the crowd loved it.

"Astonishingly, we had also misjudged the Oysters.  We realised that what
we had taken to be dreary leaden riffs were really cascades of shimmering
elementalism, simple to the point of eloquence.  And at the climax of their
set they did this great thing where they all stood in a line across the
front of the stage and all played guitar.  Even the drummer.  It was
inspiring."

"...three days later, amid scenes of acrimony, rancour and malevolence, the
tour collapsed under the weight of our collective egos."


- Andy

--
mailto:Andy.Gilham at btinternet.com; http://www.btinternet.com/~andy.gilham