It was Kenny MacPherson at Harvey Goldsmiths' office that called and asked if I'd help
The Cars on their first and only European Tour.
Let the good times roll.....
1978 The Cars
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Evidently it was a request from the management of The Cars that they have a tour co-orddinator on their first European tour as their own tour manager had never visited Europe before. Steve Berkowitz had been with the band for a long time, all the guys had come from the Boston area.
A great bunch of guys they all were too. I became good friends with Steve from this day on and met up with him on various trips to NYC for the most part.
The two YouTube clips to the right are from the two shows we played in Brighton at Sussex University on November 22nd and Empire theatre Paris on the 27th. It's great to be able to link up my story with live footage of the shows.
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Here is a picture of me on the last day of the tour. The picture in the background giving away the date Monday 27th November at The Palace in Paris
So looking at my diary for the end of this year 1978, I can't quite believe what I've done really, 7 different tours, over 50,000 miles travelled and I counted 97 different shows. The scan below is from the inside cover of Diary 1978, I wrote down the tours I was also offered but could not do because of my commitments. I often pondered on how to clone myself, but heh I was glad to get the work I was offered and that's that as they say.....
The Brighton show came a day after we had been to Oxford, my home town, where we had played at the Polytechnic, a venue that I had been to see many different bands before and after I left school in 1972. It was a great treat to be in my home town for the second time in the year, having just played Trinity College with Sailor in June, the first ever show I looked after in Oxford.
I remember specifically asking the band if I could introduce them on this night, and they let me. I was a very proud Oxonian for a night I can tell ya.....
Below right is a picture of Kenny MacPherson in the middle with Steve Berkowitz on the right, and myself in Paris too.
The year ended with me moving into an apartment as I started a three month building extension on my first house. And in the last week of the year I went to see Dame Edna Everage, Peter Gabriel and Rod Stewart at Olympia with Jim in the band.
Happy Days indeed....
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