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Watching Bob and Nik
work together for the first time since Astounding
Sounds, Amazing Music was great! They really had fun together,
those rehersals remain some of my fondest memories, they would trade
Rock'n'Roll standards, delivering them tongues firmly in cheeks,
almost camp.. they are of course both absolutely mad, (in the clinical
sense...)
They became other
people on stage, you could talk to them during shows and not a word
got through, their eyes complete glazed over, giving 100% of themeselves..
I've never seen that in any other people I've played with.
Calvert was mainly
a writer, he lived
in a small rented flat in Margate with his wife and kid ("Iggy"!)
and there in his shed he would smoke his pipe, drink coffee and
write... it was this lifestyle that killed him, the body needs food
every once and a while.
As you probably
know, he was ripped off totally by Hawkwind
for royalties and was in court right up to his death... I think
he perversley enjoyed the legal too and fro' ..but didn't enjoy
being poor.
Bob was hyperactive,
whenever I roomed with him on tour he would keep me up all night
talking about everything... I didn't mind as after all he had been
my hero!
He would skit from one topic to another, always interesting and
always original in approach to whatever subject, (I loved to pump
him for ancient Hawk history). But, even this after a while became
annoying... (I was tired!)
At shows he needed
looking after like a kid, he had to have constant stimulation or
he would get bad tempered and be even more of a pain... after the
last tour we did with him I will admit I really had gone off being
around him, I still recognised him as a genius the like of which
I could never hope to meet again, and respected him more than any
other for his talent, but he was totaly erratic and hyper... too
much to deal with and remain sane oneself.
When he died
I was invited to his funeral but didn't go as I'd spent the previous
six months slagging him off and felt it would be hypocritical to
turn up. ..In hindsight I should have gone.. Dead Fred told some
really funny stories about things that happened that day..
In summary, comparing Nik & Bob the two Hawk people I have
had involvement with, I'd say that Nik
is a great (GREAT) entertainer, an ok sax player and a bit of a
writer.
He also has the ability to inspire and give confidence, I really
admire the way he lives his life and gives of himself so readily..
(I wish I could do that..)
The man is a Star.
Bob was a total
100% genius, he could also entertain, with a different stage personae
than Nik's, but equally valid, and he
had a great singing voice, (Often overlooked) he was also a
VERY funny man, always making jokes & puns about everything... I
really miss him. <
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STEVE POND 
