...to absent fiends

Incredibly it's nearly a year since Paul Fox died. There's a tribute show called 'West One Year On' coming up, at The Breakspear Arms in Ruislip this Saturday 18th October; The Dirty Strangers and The Dubcats are playing (both bands that Paul played had played in at one time or another) as are the somewhat clumsily-named Foxy's Savage Circle Of Fiends. Hmm... that'll be the rest of Foxy's Ruts (Paul's son Laurie on drums, the ubiquitous Mark Wyeth on bass and Mark Paul on vocals, the band Paul had at the onset of his illness) then won't it? They've asked me to play with them- kind of, but more about that in a moment- but I can't make it, as I'm playing with The Chicago Blues Brothers in Braxted Park near Chelmsford that night. As it happens it's a gig that I could probably get someone else to do for me- I mentioned it to Pete in a 'should-I-shouldn't-I' moment of weakness last week and he suggested I asked my occasional dep Joe to do it so that I could go to, maybe even play at, the Ruislip gig. But it's not quite as simple as that...

I had a visit in the shop from Dave Snow last Tuesday- I first met him 20-odd years ago in the early days of The Price, when we played quite a few gigs with his band Jonestown, he was a close friend of Paul's who looked after him towards the end of his life and was one of the pallbearers at his funeral. He's involved in organising the tribute show, asked me if I could play at it, wondered what it would take for my CBB gig to be cancelled and even suggested that I could come to the show after my one's ended as it 'should be a late night'. A more rational and/or reasonable person than your humble narrator would have simply pointed out that it's sadly not possible for me to be in two places at once, and that Chelmsford is nearly 2 hours drive away so I'd need a Tardis to make it back in time, and that the only way that the CBB band would agree to cancelling the show is if Dave paid their wages for the evening- but this fails to take into account that I'm rarely (if ever!) a rational and/or reasonable person when it comes to anything relating to music, particularly when it's played on the electric guitar. I'd really like to be at the gig- Paul's one of my favourite guitarists ever, and I'm very proud of the part that I played in last year's Ruts-related activities. But- and it's a VERY BIG BUT- even if I could make the show I'd be unlikely to attend. Due to the insanity surrounding the Foxy's Ruts name debacle earlier this year I felt that I had to turn down the chance to play in Simaryp with Laurie and Mark as I felt it would have been hypocritical for me to do so (see earlier postings for further thoughts on this and other related topics.) Much as I would love to play the music of The Ruts again- and Laurie and the 2 Mark's play it better than anyone else that I've heard outside of the original band- the same arguments voiced earlier this year apply; if I play with them again and it gets called 'Foxy's Ruts' from the stage then everything goes tragically wrong. I just can't take the risk- and that's a real shame.

When I opened the shop on Saturday morning there was a poster advertising the gig taped onto the front of the counter. I hadn't seen it before- I was last in on Wednesday so it must have been put up sometime in the previous couple of days. There's a picture of Paul on it from, I'd guess, 1978 'though it could be 1979. In it he's holding a Fender Stratocaster- that's the one that I now own, the one that I last played onstage at The Palace Theatre in Mansfield on November 1st last year, the day of Paul's funeral. I'd like to be, indeed I should be, at The Breakspear Arms gig- but I can't be, can I? More to the point, I mustn't be... looking at his photo I felt a lump in my throat, and I suddenly felt as though I might be about to cry- but I couldn't because there was someone waiting outside the shop, so I had to get on with opening up. I hate it when real life intrudes on my little world; 'life's a savage circle' as somebody once sang...