Post by theboot on Jul 29, 2004 4:24:02 GMT
G'day
Read part 1 first, as all of this article wouldn't fit in one thread.
"This guy in a suit was standing in the doorway just watching us and he looked right at Townshend and said, 'you're coming with me'. Pete asked him 'am I under arrest?' and the cop said he wasn't. 'Well I ain't going anywhere with you pal, cause the last pig that said come with me when I wasn't under arrest kicked the s**t out of me in Germany. So I'm not going anywhere with anybody unless I'm formally charged in front of witnesses and at this point I can't understand what you could possibly charge me with'.
"The policeman huffed a bit and said: 'Be it as it may, you will all have to get off this plane and you will go into the VIP lounge where you will be under close surveillance. You will not be allowed to ring or contact anybody, you will not be able to leave the room, and you will not be continuing on this flight."'
Airport manager Allan Trail had been rung at home about the "massive problem" and dashed in wearing gardening shorts. He knew Blackmore and persuaded police to let him use a phone, though not an Ansett one. The Commonwealth Police let him out of the room on the condition that he would not speak to the waiting media. As he walked past a row of phone booths outside the airport he overheard reporters talking to their editors. "Because nobody had told them anything they started making up stories, things like 'they're all under arrest, it seems they stripped naked and ran up and down the aisles' or 'they had a fist fight with a couple of passengers and three people have been taken to hospital' and on it went."
The flurry of calls began but being Sunday, everyone had gone fishing, or to the beach. Blackmore demanded to speak to airline owner Reg Ansett. "Oh no, it's Sunday, he's at home, can't get him ..." As a last resort Blackmore asked to speak to the captain again.
Blackmore apologised for whatever it was the bands were supposed to have done.
Blackmore recalls: "Then, I'll never forget this, I extended my hand and said 'Incidentally my name is Ron Blackmore'. He [the captain] put his hand behind his back, said 'I'm not going to touch you mister, you're s**t', turned to Trail and said, 'if they're on the plane it doesn't fly, that's all there is to it', then stormed off with Bawling Bertha [the flight attendant] in tow.
"When I got back, the Who and Small Faces wanted to tear the place apart. Stevie Marriott [Faces singer] was just lovely to control. He wanted to kick a wall down and I was holding him in the corner saying, 'shut up man, cool it'. There wasn't even a beer to calm him. Paul Jones was simply dumbfounded, he just didn't believe it was happening. He was running around warning the rowdy ones, 'no, no that's the worse thing to do'."
Trail finally relented and got Ansett on the line and held the handset an arm's length as Ansett "blew up, went berserk, absolutely bananas: 'Who made the decision to offload them? Who gave them the authority, these sort of decisions are made at management level, do da da da.' When Reg calmed down I got called over and handed the phone. 'I don't know whether you did this or not' and I jumped in with 'great, somebody who can finally tell me what we've done'. 'Well, they're claiming you endangered the lives of the passengers on the aircraft.'
When I got my breath back I said, 'Mr Ansett, nobody had a gun, nobody got out of their seats, they didn't even make a noise because they were all exhausted.'
"That may be, but nevertheless we've got to get you to Sydney," Ansett said. Blackmore thanked him and pointed out that his group had been held for 5 1/2hours without a biscuit, sandwich, cup of tea or even a drink of water. Ansett barked, "right, give me back to the airport manager" and in five minutes laden trolleys materialised.
By this time the waiting media was becoming fevered and Ansett insisted that there be a statement to the press.
Blackmore recalled: "I talked them into letting Paul Jones [whose big solo hit had been, ironically, I've Been A Bad Bad Boy] be the spokesman with all the others sitting quietly behind him like a portrait painting. Paul Jones spoke very ... well very, at the front of a wedge of suddenly angelic musicians. He went through the spiel: 'We didn't do anything, I don't know why we are here, but I believe we are leaving'."
Ansett had an Electra rolled out of a hangar to fly the party to Sydney, though the only way the pilot would take the plane up was if there were two Commonwealth Police along for the ride, and no other passengers. "The Electra flew back to Melbourne empty except for these two cops," said Blackmore, "and they couldn't work it all out. They'd never seen such a well-behaved bunch of guys. Sure they were typical rock'n'roll people, a yell and a shout, but that was about it."
At Mascot airport the beleaguered musicians walked off and on to a coach loaded with Customs and Immigration men who processed the group on the way to the international tarmac and a New Zealand flight. Within three minutes of them stepping on board, the door slammed shut and their bizarre Australian odyssey was over.
* * *
POSTCARD, the opening track on the Who's 1974 Odds & Sods album, penned by bassist John Entwistle, mentioned "people who hurt us in Germany" and included the verse "There's kangaroos and we're bad news in Australia/Thrown off the plane for drinking beer/So long on the plane it drove us insane, so long on the plane".
The Who play Wednesday and Thursday at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Saturday at Melbourne Vodafone Arena.
Read part 1 first, as all of this article wouldn't fit in one thread.
"This guy in a suit was standing in the doorway just watching us and he looked right at Townshend and said, 'you're coming with me'. Pete asked him 'am I under arrest?' and the cop said he wasn't. 'Well I ain't going anywhere with you pal, cause the last pig that said come with me when I wasn't under arrest kicked the s**t out of me in Germany. So I'm not going anywhere with anybody unless I'm formally charged in front of witnesses and at this point I can't understand what you could possibly charge me with'.
"The policeman huffed a bit and said: 'Be it as it may, you will all have to get off this plane and you will go into the VIP lounge where you will be under close surveillance. You will not be allowed to ring or contact anybody, you will not be able to leave the room, and you will not be continuing on this flight."'
Airport manager Allan Trail had been rung at home about the "massive problem" and dashed in wearing gardening shorts. He knew Blackmore and persuaded police to let him use a phone, though not an Ansett one. The Commonwealth Police let him out of the room on the condition that he would not speak to the waiting media. As he walked past a row of phone booths outside the airport he overheard reporters talking to their editors. "Because nobody had told them anything they started making up stories, things like 'they're all under arrest, it seems they stripped naked and ran up and down the aisles' or 'they had a fist fight with a couple of passengers and three people have been taken to hospital' and on it went."
The flurry of calls began but being Sunday, everyone had gone fishing, or to the beach. Blackmore demanded to speak to airline owner Reg Ansett. "Oh no, it's Sunday, he's at home, can't get him ..." As a last resort Blackmore asked to speak to the captain again.
Blackmore apologised for whatever it was the bands were supposed to have done.
Blackmore recalls: "Then, I'll never forget this, I extended my hand and said 'Incidentally my name is Ron Blackmore'. He [the captain] put his hand behind his back, said 'I'm not going to touch you mister, you're s**t', turned to Trail and said, 'if they're on the plane it doesn't fly, that's all there is to it', then stormed off with Bawling Bertha [the flight attendant] in tow.
"When I got back, the Who and Small Faces wanted to tear the place apart. Stevie Marriott [Faces singer] was just lovely to control. He wanted to kick a wall down and I was holding him in the corner saying, 'shut up man, cool it'. There wasn't even a beer to calm him. Paul Jones was simply dumbfounded, he just didn't believe it was happening. He was running around warning the rowdy ones, 'no, no that's the worse thing to do'."
Trail finally relented and got Ansett on the line and held the handset an arm's length as Ansett "blew up, went berserk, absolutely bananas: 'Who made the decision to offload them? Who gave them the authority, these sort of decisions are made at management level, do da da da.' When Reg calmed down I got called over and handed the phone. 'I don't know whether you did this or not' and I jumped in with 'great, somebody who can finally tell me what we've done'. 'Well, they're claiming you endangered the lives of the passengers on the aircraft.'
When I got my breath back I said, 'Mr Ansett, nobody had a gun, nobody got out of their seats, they didn't even make a noise because they were all exhausted.'
"That may be, but nevertheless we've got to get you to Sydney," Ansett said. Blackmore thanked him and pointed out that his group had been held for 5 1/2hours without a biscuit, sandwich, cup of tea or even a drink of water. Ansett barked, "right, give me back to the airport manager" and in five minutes laden trolleys materialised.
By this time the waiting media was becoming fevered and Ansett insisted that there be a statement to the press.
Blackmore recalled: "I talked them into letting Paul Jones [whose big solo hit had been, ironically, I've Been A Bad Bad Boy] be the spokesman with all the others sitting quietly behind him like a portrait painting. Paul Jones spoke very ... well very, at the front of a wedge of suddenly angelic musicians. He went through the spiel: 'We didn't do anything, I don't know why we are here, but I believe we are leaving'."
Ansett had an Electra rolled out of a hangar to fly the party to Sydney, though the only way the pilot would take the plane up was if there were two Commonwealth Police along for the ride, and no other passengers. "The Electra flew back to Melbourne empty except for these two cops," said Blackmore, "and they couldn't work it all out. They'd never seen such a well-behaved bunch of guys. Sure they were typical rock'n'roll people, a yell and a shout, but that was about it."
At Mascot airport the beleaguered musicians walked off and on to a coach loaded with Customs and Immigration men who processed the group on the way to the international tarmac and a New Zealand flight. Within three minutes of them stepping on board, the door slammed shut and their bizarre Australian odyssey was over.
* * *
POSTCARD, the opening track on the Who's 1974 Odds & Sods album, penned by bassist John Entwistle, mentioned "people who hurt us in Germany" and included the verse "There's kangaroos and we're bad news in Australia/Thrown off the plane for drinking beer/So long on the plane it drove us insane, so long on the plane".
The Who play Wednesday and Thursday at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Saturday at Melbourne Vodafone Arena.