DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME;

"A London diary of sorts" [Day two]

Mike!

Your memory is playing tricks on you, you didn't go back to the hotel and go
straight to bed, you went with Lizzy, Chris and me for a Kebab in Canterbury
at about 1.30am Saturday night after a few beers in the Holiday Inn. Hope
you're now safely back in LA with at least a few brain cells left. It was
great to see you all in the UK again, hope you come back again soon

Tina
******

The next morning, which was Sunday, I woke up hungover and grumpy and in no
mood to smile. I went over and got some orange juice from the breakfast area.
I saw Tina and Lizzy and Chris and they smiled and said hello (they were
staying at the same hotel) as I snarled back, showing my teeth. The Singer
walked up to me and asked if i'd taken my vitamins. I was peeved and walked
off. Yep, the barstool blues. Went back to my room and slept till noon.

Texted Keith saying I was coming out to the festival round 2pm but then 2pm
passe and I was still running from this ferocious hangover that followed me
like a lost kitten on skid row. Then the phone rang about 4:30 saying we were
all going to dinner at the Cantebury grounds. I took this opportunity to try
out my new voltage converter. I read the directions, though I was doing the
right thing and, BAM, fried to pedals and my main power supply unit. So I went
to the petrol station and bought batteries. Of course this would send the
average bloke into a tail spin. Not me. I just didn't give a rat's tit, to be
honest. I was hungover.

We arrived at the grounds around 5;30 and in typical festival style, we were
served crap food masquerading as some sort of catered delights. Maybe it was
the hangover? Hard to say. I had the veggie chili, A.K.A. "The Bland
Special." Things were looking up when I eyed a case of Stellas in the corner.
Grabbed a cold one and headed over to Paul's Sangria Oasis, again, HOME SWEET
HOME. Gave Scottish Keith a ring on the mobile. I figured by now he'd probably
had half of Kent wasted (or worse.) Roland UK had sent a representative over,
Hannah, who had the unfortunate luck of entering in a drink-fest with Mr.
Stodart. Roland has been instrumental (i couldn't resist!) in helping me
navigate and troubleshoot sounds problems on my 1180CD gear. So, of course, I
had to be nice to Hannah and she knew it.

While I waited for Keith to meet me, a few fans came over and they were all
very nice and wanted pictures and autographs and stuff. The whole LOVE gang
(Keith and posse) came over and we were all chatting and then Hilary walked
over and it was great to see North London Hil. Soon Ratdog came on and they
were great and i actually talked to Bob Weir after his show but like a dumb
ass, i addressed his as "Phil." Whups. Also finally met Josh Hobbs and his
dad, Phil and his brother as well. Thay had a cool tent right near the front,
just to stage right. I watched some of the Buzzcocks with Ringo and then got
ready for the LOVE experience.

Our show turned out to be WAY fun and even a few funny things happened during
it like how my strap broke mid-song and our guitar tech (Choorles) saved the
day by grabbing my other strap, the 'Porno Special', which is this hideously
looking leopard skin strap that Guitar Center gave the Singer, but he decided
it clashed with the brim of his hat and divyed it off to me and I was too much
of a dumb ass to buy a new one. Serves me right.

We all enjoyed the show and was ready to play more when we were told that we
would be fined if we went over. Glenn Povey had fined Robert Plant the night
before for going over by 8 minutes! So we went back and chilled. I got a
photo signed for 'Kentish Gazzette' writer, David Parker. He interviewed the
Singer and I at our hotel at the Guildford festival back in July and now the
article was out. He told me that though it was heavily edited (and it's STILL
quite long), the full, un-edited version will be available on the CASTLE
on-line, which, as you know, is the same site that you are reading now; the
FREEDOM MAN site. yep.

Thirty minutes later, Ringo and I went over to the Sangria Oasis and there was
a Hootenanny in full effect. It was the LOVE posses and a couple of hippies.
So we all played some songs, sang and also Keith and i, as promised, did a very
drunk version of 'SLOOP JOHN B' that would have brought even the mild mannered
Al Jardine to fist-a-cuffs. Everyone was having a blast and Ringo and I lost
track of time and missed our ride back to the Hotel but Hilary offered to drop
us off. There wasn't any room in Chris and Tina's car, if remember correctly.
And we weren't gonna camp out since we had an early wake up call the next
morning.

We said goodbye to Keith, Hannah, (Hannah's friend) Miranda, and god knows who
else and hopped in Hilary's car. One problem; we didn't have a clue as to
where the fek the hotel was! So Hilary picked a direction and, by sheer luck,
we found it. Again the bar was closed but i charmed the bartender into keeping
it open and soon, pitchers of Stella were flowing like $100 bills at the Bunny
Ranch on New Year's Eve (but hey, that's a WHOLE NUTHA STORY.) Hilary chatted
with (violinist) Ketil over a few pints and then bid us farewell (Hilary, THANK
YOU for saving us!) and drove off as 3am was upon us. We continued to drink
until the bartender pleaded with us to allow him to go home. It was now 4:15
am. I thought, 'fair enough,' and I stumbled off to my room where Chapple and
Ringo, who'd turned in earlier, were safely tucked in, snoring their bums off.
I peeked out the window and on the horizon was another hangover. I took some
aspirin, drank some water and went to bed. I was not going down without a fight.

=====

Mike Randle
mike@lovewitharthurlee.com

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