HW: Woronzow news

[Doug Pearson]

On another mailing list I'm on, there was recently a message from Rod
Goodway (of Magic Muscle and Rustic Rod's mailorder) with an explanation of
the Frond situation (that may or may not apply to Adrian's unfortunate
cancellation of his appearence at Brixton).  Rod kindly gave me permission
(apparently the word from Adrian is: "Tell anyone man. It's no secret.") to
pass on his message to this discussion list:

>HI PEOPLE,
>I've just got the ok from Adrian Shaw to clear -up this
>little mystery for you all:-)
>
>Basically, Adrian (like myself) has the Hepatitis C virus,
>but he's recently been given the go ahead to try 'the cure'
>(Interferon, etc.) .... which has about a 30% chance of success.
>He's taking the gamble, but for anyone who's tried it or knows
>anyone who's tried it, it's a long & very painful process which
>is definately NOT conducive to the travelling musicians lifestyle,
>to say the least !! Thus, The Bevis Frond Band will not be gigging
>for as long as it takes for Ade to get well,.... or not ... as the
>case may be. I think if the 'cure' fails, Ade may have to give up
>touring anyway. (I know I have.) And Nick will have the unenviable
>task of having to find a 'replacement' for the BEST bass player HE
>(and I) EVER had the pleasure to work with. Terrastock 4 will be
>Ade's last gig abroad, so check him out for yourself. THE final gig
>will be in London on Sunday, September 19th.

(I think that's supposed to be Sunday, NOVEMBER 19th)

>Just in case, we are ALL treating it like the LAST gig ....
>but, hey, won't it be great if the treatment works ??

On a much lighter note, Rod also passed on the following anecdote
(following a brief discussion of the "Spinal Tap"-ishness of the 'Chronicle
of the Black Sword' tour video):

>As for the greatest Hawkwind 'Spinal Tap' moment, (and sorry if
>you've heard it before) it's hard to top the ATOM HENGE stage props,
>where (at Ade's first gig with the Wind) Bob Calvert dragged me
>onstage, at the Roundhouse, to be his 'Man', in "Waiting For My
>Man", and there's me "...all dressed in black,.... cocaine in his
>shoes and a big straw hat....etc" selling the Bobster this white
>powder which, in desperation for 'stage props' I'd grabbed up a
>scoop of DRY SHAMPOO from the make-up table. So, in front of this
>thrashing heap of hippiedom, Ade looks accross at me (his old mate
>... ONSTAGE at HIS FIRST GIG with the band) mock-'dealing' Calvert
>this heap of dry shampoo .... and looks- on IN HORROR as Calvert
>leers at the audience in true pantomime Dame expression of "Mmmm,
>nice" ... and SNARFS THE BLOODY LOT UP HIS NOSE !! Arf arf.
>What a true STAR Calvert was. But PLEASE someone, check out those
>ATOM HENGE stage props.

*sigh* ... what would I give for video recordings of '76-'78
Hawkwind/Hawklords performances?

Rod also added,

>Oh yay, by all means use the "Waiting For My Man" story,
>but tell Brock "Magic Muscle ALWAYS did it BETTER !!
>(As can be heard on the "Laughs & Thrills" bootleg.)
>
>p.s. Calvert was a gent.

Best of luck to Adrian on his recovery,

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com

On Wed, 18 Oct 2000 23:50:48 00100, Andrew Gilham
<Andy.Gilham at BTINTERNET.COM> wrote:
>The following arrived in my inbox today...
>
>----
>THE GREAT VALEDICTORY ALL-DAYER
>We're sure you'll be pleased to know that when we
>return from Terrastock 4 in Seattle, we'll be doing an all-
>day London show. This is basically where we bid you all
>a Frond Farewell for the time being. Due to certain
>circumstances beyond our proverbial control, The Frond
>will not be doing any more live work for the foreseeable
>future. Without wishing to be too mysterious, it's a bit
>personal and completely unavoidable. Hopefully,
>everything will work out okay and this lay-off won't be
>forever, but right now, we just can't be sure.