Most Covid restrictions may be over in England but they are still causing problems, especially abroad.
I was due to see Joe Jackson in concert in Birmingham next week (I bought tickets before Christmas) but the European leg of his 2022 tour has been postponed until August.
He writes about the problems on his website and thanks his manager and booking agent ‘for working so hard to make the best of a difficult situation’.
I hope Joe doesn't read this because it makes me sound a bit nerdy or worse but I was curious to know a bit more about his manager and a quick search led me to this page where, in his own words, David Whitehead writes:
I grew up in the North of England, in a family of coal miners. I left school without going to University, and chose Local Government for a career that seemed like a better option than the other two presented, ie the coal and steel industries. First band I ever saw was The Faces at Sheffield City Hall who are still my favourite band to this day. I stuck Local Government out for 3 years before seeing The Clash at The Top Rank in Sheffield and thinking, I want to be involved in this, somehow.
A quote from Dave Robinson, co-founder of Stiff Records, following a motorbike accident stands out (“That’s what I like, people who are prepared to die for me”) but several other passages also caught the eye:
I graduated to selling merchandise on Stiff tours, working in mail order and continued in doing anything asked. Even being tasked with buying Dave a wedding ring and taking a cake and champagne to Ian Dury at The Montcalm Hotel in London after “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” went to #1. Ian then himself asked me to pop around to Boots Chemist to buy a couple of toothbrushes for him.
Significantly Whitehead adds:
I learned many lessons in the four years at Stiff. Mostly how not to treat people, but the sheer bravado, culture, and creative approach at Stiff was a priceless education.
Funnily enough the storytelling reminds me a little bit of Joe's beautifully written memoir 'A Cure For Gravity' which covers the period up to the point when he enjoyed his first chart success.
Perhaps David Whitehead - whose current clients also include Lloyd Cole and Hugh Laurie and past clients have included Laurie Anderson and David Bowie - should write a memoir too, focussing on the Stiff years. As he notes:
I have many Stiff Record stories, the audacity of them makes it hard to forget, and they don’t beg embellishment. It genuinely felt like a time and culture who’s only rule was, whatever is traditional is not what we are going to do.
I don’t know about you, but I’d read it!
PS. You can hear Whitehead, who is now based in New York, on this January 2021 podcast, Spot Lyte On …