Chapter 1......
Before he had even
cut off the last note of the song the audience was cheering and clapping. As he finished, bowed and waved, Harry Jones
was awed by the adulation. It was incredible
that after all his years in the business it had taken this rock and roll
invasion from America
He turned to his backing group, The Pirates (Sid and Johnny on
guitars and Olly on drums) to thank them and invited the audience to applaud
them. If it wasn’t for them he wouldn’t
be here now. He was the new “teenage”
sensation, Long John Silver, a glittering figure in silver trousers and blouson
top. With, of course, the regulation
black hair cut in the style made popular by film stars such as Tony Curtis (and
copied by Elvis Presley who, now doing his military service, sported a much
shorter cut) – a quiff on top and the sides brushed back into the style called
a DA (duck’s arse).
The Pirates? They were
dressed as pirates in black trousers, white frilly shirts, red bandanas and
long black hair tied back at the nape.
“Oh! Wow! You’re fantastic!”
Harry told the audience.
“No, you are!”
“I love you, Long John!”
“You’re the best!”
These were just some of the replies from the teenagers in front of
him.
Having entertained them with his new song, he broke into the one
they had all been waiting for – his latest hit.
“Whew! That was some show.” Johnny, the bass guitarist flopped down on a
sofa beside Olly and looked around at the group as they relaxed in the green
room with its grubby cream walls. Sid
and Harry were stretched out on easy chairs, the guitar cases on the floor
between them. Olly’s drum kit was
covered and stowed just off stage.
“The best!” Sid Field who was the laconic rhythm guitarist agreed.
“Liked that new riff you put into ‘Singing the Blues’,” Harry told
him as he pulled off his wig, revealing floppy straw coloured hair.
“Bit dangerous, innit, taking off the wig?” Johnny asked.
“Fans aren’t likely to come in here.”
“No, mate, but back stage staff might and it only takes one to talk
to the press,” Olly Dickens, his close friend, reminded him.
Harry replaced his wig and grumbled.
“It’s alright for Johnny with his black hair but I don’t want to start
going bald.”
“D’you reckon?” Sid asked
with a worried look on his lean face.
“Don’t worry, Sid,” Harry reassured him. “Fashions change. If we continue as a ‘success’” (he finger
quoted the word), “we’ll change our style.
If we fail, we do something else.”
“If the fans here in Granton-on-Sea are anything to go by…..” Olly
left it unfinished.
“And Manchester , Birmingham ,
Bristol
