Special Q & A with Ed Bicknell - QUESTION THREAD

[Love Expresso]

Then answer, please. (Guess you can't be bothered to check?)

LE

[Robson]

"In the end, it is clear to me, regarding guitar sounds in DS, DK has more identity in what he set out to do, rhythm guitar, he had more expression in this and style than Hal, none of the songs on the first two albums sound like the original quartet and it's not because the next stage went to another level of dynamics because of the keyboards, it's just that when a member leaves, the sound can change a lot, it was like that with DK in 1980, it was like that when Pick left in 1982, but it wasn't like that with the absence of Hal Lindes in 1984"

That's true. I think so too.

[Rolo]

Ed, the almighty.
Lord of Laughs.


- How Hal joined the band? He was indicated by someone? He played on some kind of audition? Were other players in mind or was only Hal?
He wasn't a Joe Doe either, was he?

also here, in one of his replies he mentioned how (was it our lord and saviour E.B?) Hal got into the band...

Hey!
Thanks for the note.
I'll check again.
Probably i read it too fast his answers and this subject has escaped from my eagle eye.

[Love Expresso]

Hello Ed, my cousin Ally (not on this forum sadly) always wondered about what Mark had said at the Nelson Mandela gig about Jack. In his little speech at the Walk Of Life break Mark made it look like he suddenly and surprisingly had to find an replacement inside-left as Jack would have become daddy of two lovely babies. How much truth was in this? I wonder if Jack really would have played the Mandela gig if the babies would have been born in, let's say August.Q:  Was he ever really asked to do the gig? When was it really decided that Eric would play inside-left?

I know this touches the Jack Sonni theme again but the Nelson Mandela gig was an absolute great thing for me. I always wished this concert would have been properly and officially released as an live album (much better idea than "Live At The BBC"...)
I know Dire Straits were asked very early and were headliners together with Simple Minds. I loved that the rehearsal gigs were made available for fans, was that your idea?  Those gigs must have been pure fun. (I always wondered why Mark looked so pale, tired and old at the real event. He could have got a proper hair cut and a decent suit before. Those striped trousers! )

Thank youhuuuuuuu!

LE

jeez, feeling like the great killjoy here, but also THIS was touched by Ed (in a decent manner of course) and by Jack himself in his podcast. again, should i be wrong, someone throw the first of many stones..

I checked myself and it was not in the Podcast but Dusty had messaged him and Jack had answered that he had been contacted by the Management to play the Mandela gig, not by Mark himself and he called that phone call "ridicoulus" and even if Mandela was an important man, he never would miss the birth of his daughters. So maybe Ed can answer my question nevertheless.

LE

[elendiel]

Dear Ed,

I would also like to thank you for your willingness to answer questions, clarify ambiguities and spread a lot of humor, which is particularly commendable. This leads to my first post after 13 years of forum registration.

After the many questions I have already asked, I find a lot of interesting things in your comments about the colloborations and companions around the band and MK in the various projects. That's what my question at the end is aimed at. I could name a whole list of people I would like to ask you about your point of view and especially your personal experiences, but I will limit myself to a few.

1) Van Morrison: There is a wonderful British folk-pop-rock duo (sometimes band) called “Ezio” from Cambridge. Perhaps you know them? They are still phenomenally good in live performances today (usually gigs less than 300 in attendance  ) and their first albums showed how gifted Ezio is as a songwriter (or rather was back then). The second album was produced by Peter van Hooke, who you probably know as he is a drummer and producer and is about your age. Peter van Hooke was also the drummer in Van Morrison's band for a long time, for example when the album “Beautiful Vision” was recorded. Ezio once told me that he was probably also in favor of getting MK as a guest guitarist for the album and then had the “chutzpah” to complain during the recording of “Cleaning Windows” that the MK contribution was actually quite nice, but why did it have to sound so much like Dire Straits? Not unfunny at all... Maybe you know Peter personally and can confirm that? Anyway...Van Morrison is one of Mark's favorite artists according to his own statement and Mark has also said in interviews that the idea of a duet album came up in the days of STP. Conversely, Van does obviously not seem an easy person to deal with. I would therefore be very interested in your actual findings about the collaborations between the two (was the duet album actually planned?) and your personal image of and experience with Van from these connections.

2) Gerry Rafferty: Another one of my more favorite artists, with whom you also had a very intense and sometimes difficult professional relationship due to his illness. The first musical connection between MK and GR was most likely Local Hero, correct? That will presumably also have come about with your personal involvement?! The collaboration on “Another World” was of course musically not really from "another world", but in my opinion is still better than many others feel and for sure it still touched me in view of Gerry's life and both of their interplay on that. How did the two of them see each other? Can you a little bit elaborate about your experience with Gerry as his manager? If this takes too long, can you at least specify on your experiences and emotions when you saw the two making music together?

3) Randy Newman: One of the few real heroes for me. Of course I don't know him personally, but the wit, self-irony and sarcasm that flows from his interviews often warms my heart. Many of his songs are simply terrific and the lyrics are brilliant. His type and humor must have been right up your alley. Did you have any personal experiences with him. Maybe not because  it was probably only about “Land of Dreams” and a few joint appearances by MK and RN at that time, but if so, what would you like to say about your impressions?

4) Chris Rea: He already came up briefly in a question. As far as I know, the two never worked together, but I have read interviews in which Chris, who unfortunately had to endure an unfair and gruesome health story as most of us probably know, spoke very positively about Mark's music. The only connection that has remained with many is the worn-out “Diarrhea Joke”, which unfortunately doesn't last long. Was there anything we didn't know? Did Mark and you know and appreciate Chris and his musical work?

5) Lady Diana - a must! I had to end with something special, but have no doubt that others will be interested in this too. It is always said that Lady D was a big Dire Straits fan and the media coverage of the Princes Trust Galas seems to back this up. Is this true and if so, do you have any interesting stories of your own from that time dealig with the royals?

A big introduction to a short question, but this was also done to give you something to read and some background for the reasons of my personal interest, in the hope that it will inspire you to answer.

Now the question in a nutshell:
What are your personal experiences and views on a) Van Morrison, b) Gerry Rafferty, c) Randy Newman, d) Chris Rea and 5) Lady Diana with regard to your work as a manager of Dire Straits and MK?
Don't worry - there won't be a second question naming additional five from me.

1000 thanks from Germany!

[Robson]

 

Nice set of questions. I guess I didn't spend enough time on my question I'm curious to see what Ed says.

[Billy’s Tune]

Hi Ed,

I’m really interested to hear more about your life on the road as a manager.

You’ve mentioned before that you weren’t at every gig - did you travel with the band, were you in the same city or hotel?
What is life like running a great travelling circus like the OES tour?
What would you be doing backstage (keep it clean…) and how did that change over time - on those early days were you counting the money from ticket receipts and paying the venue etc or was that done separately?
Was much of your work pre tour getting everything set up (venues, hotels. Riggers, logistics, rtc) or was there still a lot to do to keep the wheels turning
It’s really interesting hearing about the band and the music but as the manager leading behind the scenes you and your team are at least 50% of making what we as fans see happen!

Many thanks!

Ps. As an aside, do you ever go back to Tadcaster and what do you think of Humphrey, MD of Samuel Smiths brewery closing down many of his pubs just because he heard a rude word in there or someone dared to use their phone?!

[Rolo]

Dear, Ed.

Take this question for the last day.
We asked about internal relationships, divorces, musicians, been bossy, phone calls, closing contracts, recordings, trips, drugs, gnomes, threats, tours, sausages....

I feel that, there is one question, that you thinked that it could be on the very first lot of questions. But still haven't been asked.

Tell us, before you say bye to this forum, wich questions we don't made that you were hoping for.


cheers!

[wayaman]

Dear, Ed.

Take this question for the last day.
We asked about internal relationships, divorces, musicians, been bossy, phone calls, closing contracts, recordings, trips, drugs, gnomes, threats, tours, sausages....

I feel that, there is one question, that you thinked that it could be on the very first lot of questions. But still haven't been asked.

Tell us, before you say bye to this forum, wich questions we don't made that you were hoping for.


cheers!

Brilliant, Rolo!

[wayaman]

Dear Ed, I don't know if I'm in time for a extra question from a friend of mine, who is a Fleetwood Mac fan, he said to me that in the Oldfield book it's written that Mk did a session with Stevie Nicks, and that it didn't get released but along the years it was said the song they did together was called "Garbo", there is a demo of that song in YouTube but MK is not there. Some years ago a Stevie Nicks song saw the light of day in which he used one of the instrumentals songs from the Cal score but that has nothing to do with those sessions he and Stevie did years ago. There is anything you can tell us about that?

Thanks!

[kempston_joystick]

Ok, my uncle Fred has a question:
 - I remember hearing that sometimes the band would soundcheck with The Man's Too Strong but with some rather vile alternative lyrics. Do you have any recollection as to what they were? "Strong" rhymes with "bong"  and "dong", but that's about as much effort as I've managed to put into my guesswork. Better question: After Making Movies was released it appeared that the band matured massively in terms of on-stage presence. Mark become much more natural at interacting with the audience, more relaxed, more swagger, less manic, lots of eye contact rather than staring at the fretboard etc. Do you recall whether that a conscious thing? It seemed to set them up for the arena life that was to follow.

In addition, my aunt (also named Fred) has a question:
 - Can you elaborate any further on Hal's departure? To me, Hal (and Jack) added a bit of international intrigue, and dare I say it, "cool" to what was otherwise in essence a giant pub rock band.

Cheers!

[Brunno Nunes]

Thanks for the part that touches me, Ed, it's exciting to read, it makes me laugh naturally, I understand well about being hilarious.😅 I just wanted to add an addendum, you left a gap here when you quote: "MK sounds like MK.
Tony Iommi sounds like Tony Iommi.
Hank Marvin sounds like Hank Marvin.
Joe Walsh sounds like Joe Walsh.
Richie Blackmore sounds like….and so on,
Brunno Ninny Nonny sounds like Brunno Ninny Nonny i.e crap." 🎸
And guitarist "(Rolo) Over Beethoven" sound like what? For "crap" to be complete, I'd like to know.😂

Wonderful stories, Ed. If you'll allow me, of course, my father, a young man of 65, a lover of the Golden Oldies sounds of the 50s/60s and of course, the 70s (which he says is where the "Filet Mignon" is in world music), having a son who loves Dire Straits, naturally listened to a lot of their discography (much more than he normally would) in addition to several bootlegs from 78/92, through me of course, and in view of this, he would like to know from you, six studio albums, six tours, which were the most memorable shows for you, if you want to name a top 5, that's more than enough.

Assuming that your participation here will be like Halley's Comet, a rare event that happens every 75–76 years, many of us will be old by then (yes, very soon science should allow many of us to live to be 180 years old in good health, depending on how much money you have in your bank account, it is very likely that I will not be on that team), I need to ask you one last question, while you are in our orbit:

About possible archived material of the band.

In an interview - Top of the Pops, London, UK, 16th March 1984, Mark mentions that he was satisfied that 17 different performances were not filmed for Alchemy, although some nights in Paris were filmed, but they were not used.

So, what happened to the recordings and filming of the Paris Show, in June 1983, a month before Alchemy? The live version of Portobello Belle on the 1988 Money for Nothing compilation was taken from one of the nights in Paris 83, which underscores what MK mentions in the interview. Is it possible that these recordings from Paris 83 still exist? After the completely unreleased show at Rainbow Theatre 79 on the Live 78/92 box set released last year, a spark of hope lit up in me. What do we know about the Paris 83 footage, dear Ed? Was Rainbow Theatre 79 filmed in its entirety as well?

Phew...
Anyway, I've finished my "almost scientific article", boring, something for nerdy fans.🤓😅

If you meet Bruce Welch's, please extend all my gratitude for everything he has done with the guitar, everything he does is beautiful and very competent, he moves the music like no one else through his guitar and I am another one who learns a lot from him. 

As Spock would say in Star Trek: Live Long and Prosper.🖖🏻👽

[relaxcoustic]

Dear Ed, question: just how much did Mark practice the guitar, daily? Many thanks.

[Pottel]

dear Ed,
my son, Mats, would love to know what you remember from the Chet Atkins Musician days, back in 1998?
https://www.amarkintime.org/forum/index.php?topic=7146.0
is a link to where our favourite spaniard had collected a shitload of info about the event, including the news that PBS had apparently taped it all, any idea as to why it never aired? any way to still get it out?

[dustyvalentino]

Dear Ed, question: just how much did Mark practice the guitar, daily? Many thanks.

Sorry, don't want to be the question police, but just a reminder to read all the answers before asking a question please - Ed has already answered this