Mentioned this in the Ron Eve thread. Thought I'd make a new thread of it. Mandel is writing a book about his experiences in the music industry called ""Famous A**holes I Have Known".. (or) I'll Never Work Again.. The Real Story of my life in the Biz...And what I've learned from it". Actually it's a working title, and you can email suggestions to him about the title.
Chapter 6 is called "Herr K", probably "Herr Knopfler". It's not active yet, as he writes "Tommy Mandel, keyboard sideman to the greats: Mark Knopfler, (whom
we diss at a later date), Bryan Adams, (not bad for a boss,) ..."
http://www.tommymandel.com/mybookch1.html . Chapter 7, Prince Charles and Lady Di, starts with "(this chapter continues, in a mellower vein, some of my Dire experiences with the Straits, 82-3!)". Seems like the guy had some serious issues with DS and MK ...
In chapter 7, he writes:
"Dire Straits played the Prince's Trust in 1983, a yearly concert in London, where Prince Charles and Lady Di used to invite their favorite artists to perform, the proceeds benefiting Charles' favourite (!) charities.After a "pep talk" from "the Prince's Roadie", probably Scotland Yard, or whatever James Bond's branch is, ("Don't address the Prince directly, wait to be spoken to," etc.), we all lined up in a reception line, and with Peter Townshend in his blue Bar Mitzvah suit as Presenter, met the couple. Prince Charles was jolly, interested in our work, and a fine conversationalist. "What exactly IS a synthesizer?" he asked me, the only obvious Yank in the group. "A combination of a computer and an organ, sir" was my answer. After the show, he excitedly complimented me on my stage energy. (Being on stage with a fabulous band, in front of a killer keyboard rig, and not being allowed to touch a key for the first four minutes of a great song like "Sultans of Swing", which originally had no keyboards on it, and now was supposed to support 2 whole keyboard maniacs, left me in a state of rhythmic frustration, which I used to soothe by jumping up and down in time to the beat. Townshend told me he found it distracting but that his wife quite liked it. After my first show with the band, Illsley had said to keep doing it; I guess the Straits tended to be a bit cerebral about the show, and a little visceral motion was a welcome addition.) So Prince Charles is ushered up to me and asks, "I admired your energy....how do you stay so fit?!" I just told him I ate a lot. It didn't seem right to burden his Royal Highness with my everyday band-generated frustrations. He was also amazed at how much like a real piano my synthesizer sounded. Apparently, from his royal box, keyboard player #1, Alan Clark's stage position was obscured from sight. Luckily, Alan happened to be right by me, and I graciously introduced the true Dire Straits pianist to his Prince and future King, bowing out of the picture.
Lady Di was a bit of a tease, and her eyes are among the most hypnotic that I have ever fallen into. They have a million silver blue sparkling pebbles, and one is tempted to count them all. Later one finds that he has been staring vacantly, oblivious to the rest of the world around him. On the other hand, she IS a big woman, and when her magnificent eyes are not trained on you, there is something equine to her appearance. So she goes to me, "How long have you been with the group?" When I, with what I thought was humility, told her that it had not been a long stint, and that I did not even merit a replacement, so insignificant was I, she took it as me saying that no one could ever possibly replace me; she raised an eyebrow, impressed with my self posession and cheek. "Mmmmm," she hmmed.
George Martin was at the Dominion Theatre as well, and looked very distinguished and silvery; I did not approach him. What could I say?
Actually, I should have asked him if the harpsichord solo on "In My Life" is really recorded one hand at a time, at half speed, which is my theory."
http://users.rcn.com/tmandel/mybookch7.htmlWhat do you think?
