Steve's Online Diary

DIARY 04/01/08

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To the BUPA hospital in Brentwood, Essex for full health check. Results astounding. Cholesterol fine, especially considering the amount of wine I consume. Blood pressure normal; all the usual problems associated with men of a certain age apparently being kept at bay. Don't feel I get much exercise when not touring, and then it's all on stage, sweating like melting wax hour upon hour under megawatts of lighting. The exercise bike gets the occasional battering. Maybe 6 or 7 kilometers in a session twice or week, say. I hear that many men are somewhat averse to the prostate test, but I found it no hardship, as the doctor was a pretty Italian woman, no more than 30 years old. Then she told me off over the wine consumption, suggesting that a glass and a half a day/night was best if a man is to maintain good health. More like a bottle and a half, most nights, I said. The lecture, never patronising, but pretty stern, that followed gave cause for a little consideration, and I have been trying to keep to the one bottle - that's only, what, 5 or 6 glasses for heaven's sake.....hardly makes me a lush. But it goes down so easily once you start. So I've been trying to delay the start, and to stop, go to bed, a little earlier. I'd never take alcohol to the bedroom; conscience would never permit. Just a good book: Steve Martin's autobiography is making me laugh out loud, and the memories are good, as I saw his Live act in the mid-70s, at the beginning of his stand-up success. Was in Las Vegas. He was support act to the Aussie woman who sang "Angie Baby". It'll come to me.....brain cells burnt from all the Chardonnay and claret, I suppose. Martin was hilarious. The Brits in the audience at the MGM Grand hotel, that means the 9 of us on a Capitol Records shindig out of Los Angeles (the singer was one of their acts) were near to collapse at his balloon animal gags and stories of ill-treatment towards his own ageing mother. Everyone should be familiar with most of that stuff by now, but at the time, when fresh, it was original and wild. "Wild and crazy guy", that was his Live album. Hilarious. Still can't think of that singer's name. Hope she doesn't read other people's on-line diaries. Feel this would insult her. It'll come to me.......Happy new year.

DIARY 23/12/07

Bruce was good. No knee-slides anymore, and no piano-hopping. And Clarence is struggling to get about, but it was a decent show. Brilliantly paced.

Max Weinberg is the best drummer for backbeat rock in the world. In Because The Night, Nils Lofgren played the guitar solo, maybe 5 minutes long, of all guitar solos. He went into uncharted lands at times, thumb-pick and fingers dancing serenely, generating dynamics most guitarists can only dream of achieving. Roy Bittan smouldered through a piano break, as long as it was beautiful (and it was glorious), a little later, and the big screens picked out every tiny flick and hammer. Took my boy the Barrister. He was stunned. Great moments. I should get out more.

DIARY 18/12/07

This black cab snaked into the drop-off point at The Westbury and decanted a couple. Without the door closing, another couple filled their seats. The doorman told the driver, "Apollo Theatre". The cab scratched its way out and, at the lights, red for them, he spoke down into his left shoulder, "The Apollo! You wanna cab? Yer cn wawlk that!"
They let it go. But for several minutes (it's further than he thought) it rankled. They wondered, are we at a point in post-Call-Me-Tony Britain where the bloke who earns his livelihood from those who hire him, can make crass remarks, without thought or care for the guys in the back - strangers?

DIARY 07/08/07

Warsaw: The Rolling Stones. Big buzz. I've been in so many countries and played so many shows in the past 34 years that I've lost count - long ago.Who counts, anyway? Just to have a job, an audience to play to, is a bonus. What once I took for granted, as a right, I now cherish and accept with all the humility learnt through those years of peaks and troughs. Nothing like a rotten trough to teach you a little humility.

DIARY 22/07/07

The Beckett experience was interesting. Very interesting. Met several Beckett aficionados, those who met him, worked with him, directed his plays, written books on him and his work.

Jim Knowlson gave me a copy of his "Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett". I can't put it down. Jim is a lecturer at Reading University and founder/keeper of The Beckett Archive. His kind words regarding our production were gratifying.