Conversations With Rock Stars

But that suit will be around wherever you're goin'

April 18th, 1970

1700 Montgomery Street, San Francisco

I finished editing one of my coworkers articles and tidied my desk for the weekend. A fellow journalist, Brian, came over and perched on the edge of my desk. He said,
"Are you free this evening?" Yes, I was free; no I did not want to go out with Brian. I didn't look up, but I said,
"I'm busy this evening, sorry." He tried getting me to talk about the next issue of the magazine, but I wasn't interested. I managed to relieve myself of him and drove home to my apartment.

It was only 7:00 PM. I looked outside at the sun slipping towards the horizon. I wanted to go out. I got changed and went to one of my favorite places: Turn The Dial Records. I walked in and began to meander down the aisles, picking up and discarding. I just wasn't feeling it at the moment. Then something caught my eye. I lifted the album and studied it. It said "small faces" on it and had five guys and Mickey Mouse. I wrinkled my nose and put the album back. I kept walking and ended up by the counter. I looked at the knick-knacks that were kept up here to advertise impulse purchases. The lady who ran the store finished her cataloging and came over to me, chewing gum. I held on to the counter and leaned back on my heels.
"Didn't find what you were looking for?" She said. I shook my head. I came back down and asked,
"Do you have any recommendations?" She came out and had me follow her through the aisles. She pulled out a couple albums from different sections, all of which seemed lame. Then she pulled out that same one I had looked at, but passed on. She looked at me and said,
"This is the one." I shrugged and she rung it up at the counter.

Back at my apartment I took it out and listened. I was thankful she had grabbed it. I absolutely fell in love with the last track: 'Three Button Hand Me Down,' with that bass line at the beginning. And, to my extreme delight, Rod Stewart was the lead singer!

The next day at work I was madly researching Rod Stewart and everything to do with him and this band. What I discovered was that the "small faces" were a band, but the original lead singer, Steve Marriott, had left to form the band Humble Pie in 1968. Rod Stewart and the guitarist, Ronnie Wood, were in the Jeff Beck Group and they had disbanded. So Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined the Small Faces. They had just released the album I bought last night, First Step. I needed more information. I sought out Kevin, who subscribed to an English rock magazine and got issues every month.
"Kevin?" I asked. He looked up from his work and I continued, "Can I take a look at your collection of Melody Maker's magazines?"
"Sure. Are you searching for something in particular?" I debated about telling him. He was nice and nerdy, but I didn't want him to steal a possible scoop.
"I want to do some research on Rod Stewart," I said. He nodded and swiveled in his chair.
"Great voice," was all he said as he handed me the magazine. I said thanks and went back to my desk to absorb all the information I could. After reading, I put in a long distance call to England to talk to the journalist who had written the album. He mentioned that the band was coming to the United States for a tour and he gave some locations of where they'd be. I wrote them all down and thanked him. I went to my boss to talk to her about doing a scoop on the Small Faces. She wasn't very interested, but she said I could go, as long as I got another story on the Beatles final album.

I planned to meet the guys when they would come to Michigan. I got in my car to go home from work and turned on the radio. I caught the end of 'Purple Haze' and then the beginning of another song. I stopped at a red light and heard the lines,
"Baby, I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time." 'That sounds like Paul McCartney.' I thought. At the end of the song the radio host said,
"Well that was Paul McCartney with 'Maybe I'm Amazed.' He just released his first solo album, McCartney I."

•••

May 5th, 1970

I flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan in the morning. I had managed to get in contact with their manager, Billy Gaff, to request permission to interview them for a space in Rock Star Reads. He agreed and arranged for me to do a short interview with the band. So here I was, in another beat up conference room. I wasn't the only one here; there were some other journalists and photographers, standing in front of the table where the band was seated. I spotted Rod Stewart right away, sitting second to the left. The keyboard player, Ian McLagan, was on the end next to him. Ronnie Lane was in the middle, then Ronnie Wood, and finally, Kenney Jones on the other end. The interview opened, in a similar way to the interview I did with Led Zeppelin. I listened carefully and wrote down the questions and answers. I was very amused by this band. They were all very witty and used lots of English phrasing and sarcasm. I paused my writing and observed Rod Stewart as he answered a question. I reached my hand into my bag to grab my camera and moved to the side of the room to take a few pictures. The interview came to a close after an hour and the boys were going to go back to their hotel. I had enjoyed them so much! The manager was by the door answering a few final questions. I walked over to him and waited my turn. Then his attention was on me and I asked, "Mr. Gaff, I am quite grateful to you for allowing me to come to the interview." He smiled graciously and I continued, "I would love to spend more time with the band, to get to know their characters more. I am hoping there will be another opportunity." He tilted his head up to the ceiling and said,
"There will be, but they're about to go on tour." I understood. He looked back down and said, "I noticed you had a camera. We are hoping to do a photo shoot tomorrow. If you'd like to tag along, you are welcome to." I thanked him and left.

The next day I hitched a ride with the other journalist who was scheduled to take pictures of the band. We got out of the car and explored a bit of the park, to decide where it would be best to photograph the guys. The band arrived a quarter of an hour later in two cars. The journalist (Randall) greeted the guys and explained what he had in mind for the day. They were shuffling and whispering like schoolboys. Randall had them pose in the woods, around trees, and in the grass. I didn't comment, but I could read all over their faces that they hated every minute of this. Randall called for a five minute break and came over to me.
"This is going great!" He exclaimed. I nodded (pained). "Do you want to have a go?" He asked. I glanced at the band. Ronnie Lane had gotten hold of a bottle of booze and they were passing it around. I said sure and Randall stood to the side. I got my camera ready and walked over to the band. Ronnie Wood saw me approaching and immediately started air playing a guitar. Ian McLagan joined him on the keyboard and Kenney picked out a beat. Rod Stewart started singing an old blues number and Ronnie Lane joined in. I laughed a little and snapped some pictures, making sure to get different angles. I came around by Ian to take a picture and he turned and asked,
"Darling, what's your name?" He made a large sweep of his hand across the keys and then turned to me, with his hand out to shake. I smiled and was aware the rest of the band had paused their playing.
"Beverly Madden," I said shaking his hand. He grinned and Ronnie Wood came around and draped his arm around Ian.
"Mac, aren't you going to share the bird with us?" Ian shrugged and they got into a tussle with each other. I was going to watch but, Rod came and bowed, flipping his feather boa as he stood up.
"Pleased to meet you, madam."
"You as well," I said, smiling shyly. The other two walked over as well to be introduced.
"Do you want us to pose like we did for the other bloke?" Ronnie Lane asked.
"No," I said. "I'm hoping to photograph you being yourselves." They agreed that this was wise and proceeded to be themselves.