THE
ALTERNATE MCGEOCH
(Bansheeiana)
While browsing through my files I found a long writing of mine addressed
to a soulmate of mine.
Being more accurate than what I wrote years after for the blog, here it
is.
No corrections, no “ps, just as it was.
QUOTE
15th
of March 2004
A propos de John McGeoch.
I met him after the concert in Torino, 26 of
June 1981.
In the afternoon I already talked with Budgie
and with Tony Selinger (then the sound engineer for the band and a sort of my
“big brother” when I attended S&TB concerts for some time).
Ended the concert, Siouxsie was ill for food
poisoning and we waited for the band to come out of the theatre, while she was
treated at the hospital emergency.
When John came out I tried to talk with him
and, straight, let him know that I was not going to discuss guitar strings or
Di Marzio pick ups: not a musician myself I was more interested in knowing who
was going to bring dirty clothes to the laundry. He was somehow surprised and,
laundry apart, he told me he had chickens in the backyard at home.
I told him I was going to be in London in the
summer and he told me to try to get in touch with him outside the venue.
I don’t remember exactly (probably some
memories are written in my diary, at home), but first I managed to get myself
recognised the first day (indeed I waited some five hours outside the
Hammersmith Palais). For sure the second night I obtained the unobtainable and
had been ushered backstage by one of the security big guys: Pat (kind of
walking mountain in size).
Inside the dressing rooms it was a sort of
dream come true and in the end John invited me at their hotel for an end of the
tour party: I was sitting next to him in the van and when some fans asked for
autographs he told me to take away my pen: “them were them, and I was I” (a
lesson learned).
We met again in Milano, 19 July 1982 and some
shit hit the trees (it was an open air festival) when almost a scuffle followed
because the Italian promoter tried to throw out a friend of mine (who should
kiss my ass: he got the backstage and the band just like me, with no sweat!)
during the afternoon. Both John and the band manager ensured that things should
calm down.
Last time we met was a few months after: I was
in London and by chance Tony told me the band was recording, and the place was
also close to my hotel.
I waited some two hours in the reception: in
the end John came out with a pint of red wine. I spent some six hours in the
studio and witnessed the birth of a recording (and much more).
That was me and John; always missed since
November 1982, when because of some nervous problems he quit the band before
the English tour.
Tony got me the tickets for the two London
dates, I sneaked inside in the afternoon and I was playing pinball. A voice
from behind says: “You must be Steffàno”.
That was Billy Houlston (You know him), and this is another story.
I saw John onstage with Public Image Limited,
at a concert I attended with Billy some years after. No way to meet him
afterward.
UNQUOTE
Steg
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