November 2005 Hawkletter

Dear friend,           My apologies for the lack of feedback this year. This will be a short note, primarily reminding you of the two amazing mini-tours next weekend. So, a very busy month indeed. I'm more-than frustrated; my two all-time favouirite bands (VdGG and ADII) reforming and playing simultaneously, hundreds of miles apart! and twice!! Baaaddddd synchronicity!!!        I'd hoped to babble on about the excellent "Stars That Play With Laughing Sams Dice" Hendrix play performed recently at the Pentameters Theatre Hampstead, as written by Calvert. Likewise the last few Van der Graaf/Space Ritual/Tony Hill gigs and the Skegness Sonic Rock Festival. Maybe next time. Day dawns dark and the envelopes await. Trevor Hughes (5/11/05)

 

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January 2005 Hawkletter

Thirtythree (yeah, 33? would been more synchronistic I know) years ago I heard these lines stem from Nik Turner, from the stage of Liverpool Stadium (now a car park - I returned and stood on the exact spot). Great science fiction to my unformed mind. Not just that prose but the entire Space Ritual concept from the Earth Calling ‘til there were no more coats and no more homes. Orwellian in the extreme were my first thoughts. ‘Duck & Cover’ it wasn’t.
Living in the future, looking at the past, this is the present. Forgive my negativism, but I believe the whole planet’s breaking down! The Tsunami catastrophe must surely tear everyone apart absolutely, and I know I have not the ability to attempt words of solace on this natural tragedy. We all cried. It is out of respect that I change the subject.

            I do have an agenda to cover, but I need a few lines to get my literary breathe back (yeah, this is live). Seriously,
I recall, around ‘80/1 (and I have it in interview somewhere), Calvert commented he was under the impression that we’d lost the second worId war and that Margaret Thatcher was Hitler without the moustache! He was already the kid in Silicon Gulch… and let’s not forget who elected the fascists.

            I think (legal disclaimer) that Britain is rapidly turning into a very frightening place for honest decent people. Civil liberties almost don’t exist, foreign policy at odds with half the country, our leaders following guidance from god, icons copping out, NHS-induced illnesses, politicians over-ruling Law Lords, preaching (not practising) democracy and opting out of human right. Great Britain is turning into a tin-pot dictatorship maintaining power through limitless restrictions, thoughtcrime, in-camera hearings, tagging and now the power to indefinitely detain without trial with internment and house arrest. Has anyone not woken up yet? I doubt it very much. This is Freedom? Freedom of Speech falls victim to self-censorship and their Freedom to Impeach. Habeas corpus is a corpse. It’s election year, remember. And I haven’t mentioned Iraq once!

            The Times They Are A-Changin’? I prefer to cite P.F.Sloan’s Eve of Destruction (covered by Barry McGuire ’65 (7” 1965 RCA 1499 UK), Bob Calvert ’81, later by Lemmy!), verse three;

My blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’
I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’. I can’t twist the truth
It knows no regulation, and a handful of senators
Don’t pass legislation, and marches alone can’t bring intergration
When human respect is disintergratin’.
The whole crazy world is just too frustratin’.
And you tell me over and over and over again, my friend;
Ah. you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction!

            Fahrenheit 9/11… fahrenheit's just begun;
Michael Moore’s recently-screened reality-tv epic (along with the power-of-fear trilogy repeated) was the scariest viewing I’ve caught in years. Bush's war to save civilisation itself (Dubyas words, not mine), spreading liberation peace and freedom by psychopathically invading and occupying countries, is quite an effective way of building coalitions of the willing. Morally bankrupt western aggression, with its awesomely synchronised killing machine, puppet governments and double-standards, is the obscene reality of today. Why are we in Iraq? Why was Fallujah destroyed? Why are the lunatics running the asylum? Why is dissent dead?
What can one person do? It's a good job Dylan and Lennon never said that. I'm all right Jack? -Not for long now. The political terrorists who bombed Afghanistan and Iraq have an agenda, which they decided long before the atrocity of 11th September. Neo-Nazism? Make no mistake, there is pure evil perpetrated in our name by proxy. Don't duped with lies of WMD and limitless unsubstantiated propaganda.

            Welcome to the future. I doubt if even Mort Sahl could spark a gag out of me at this point. Nor Bob with his Spirit of the age. But to close off positively, and almost polarised spiritually; Two unique events that cannot be recommended strongly enough. Both are true reformations of the original members. I kid thee not!
      Saturday 12th March 2005 London Astoria 6pm start – tickets £20 advance.
     
            And finally, I've begun work on an exhibition of US/UK 1966/7 psychedelia, to be viewed at the Liverpool Tate Gallery this summer. Full Details a.s.a.p.

Take care… more soonest…

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I’d be foolish not to exercise my right-of-reply to Dave Brock's allegations of me; ('Saga Of Hawkwind' page 531) "selling his magazines at gigs for £1 or £2 and he does quite well. He takes up to a couple of hundred quid a night.
Reality Check (or should I say Cheque): I've never sold any of my publications at gigs for more than a pound. Selling few dozen copies per night, virtually never reaching three figure and rarely covering more than the print bill. To absorb all cost increases over the decades was no mean achievement. Many contributed their energies, and accusations of profiteering only devalue such labours of love.
Dave selectively forgets to mention the hundred-odd mail-shots I’ve written/published/distributed/financed… hundreds of reams promoting positive activities of the Hawkfamily. That’s a lot of sweat, stamps and ink, as most of you reading this will know. “Can you not sell your magazines at the gig? (Dave page 531) and Richard was saying ‘Trevor’s pissed off ‘cos he wants to sell his magazines. I said, ‘I’m not fucking interested’.”
Reality check: I’d actually asked Rich’ not to have a word with Dave as his mind was made up. I did point out that to put a booklet together for a five-gig tour, I needed every show to reach any readership, that I had a printing bill awaiting, and would not be able to publish further for fear of this happening again. I did take real umbrage, and quietly disappeared in smoke.
“We suddenly found out he’d started working with Nik Turner”; I can only presume this refers to my attendance at one gig (2003 Shrewsbury) and one-line listings of Space Ritual dates. (-shouldn’t-do-that shouldn’t-do-that shouldn’t-do-that...)
Well, I confess, yep, that was me! Sinner Man that I am, it app-ears I broke the sacred-yet-unwritten laws of hawkdom, a crime warranting excommunication. (Tow the line and you’ll do fine!). I’ll continue to list whatever gigs I choose, and resent being dictated to by autocrats. I have never listed xhawkwind dates. “working with Nik” accusations, following my listing of Ritual dates, reminded me of George Bush’s “with us or against us” crap somewhat. I don’t wear a gag well. You can’t deny other people their musical identities… hw do not have a total monopoly on the spirit of the age... hawkwind is yet one more word that has changed meaning over the decades.

However, it was only following the Cheltenham HW gig Oct.’04 that I made any decisions regarding Hawkfrendz alignment Re’ xhawkwind, my position was/is that it is/was morally/legally wrong for anyone to use the name Hawkwind other than Brock/Davey/Chadwick. As they had been the nucleus of the band for 15 years, this was common sense. In fact, I even levelled the word ‘poacher’ at Nik in court following one hearing. With hindsight1 that was a bit severe and legalistic, but these were strange days. Paranoia reflected in the mirror of illusion.
My analysis was that whereas Nik probably had a great case in 1977 (before my days backstage), he was 25 years too late. Those years were decisive (legally). When the. ‘ex’ prefix changed to ‘x’, the single syllable subtly altered from a description to a namesake. I wasn’t happy making a stand against Nik, but I had a duty to do what I thought right, and in the name of what I believed in, made the 3500-mile trek to five preliminary hearings around Exeter. if I’m the bread-head Dave makes out, I’d have accepted more than £50 expenses... easier still, I could have stayed in!
Anyhow, this debacle of hippy idealism v. the Law reminded us all of one thing- it’s their system, and the law practitioners are the only real victors of any civil action.
Unprovoked, Dave adds insult to injury stating that I; “want to print all this stuff about what Nik was doing. We don’t want to go into all that. No, just don’t do it’. Reality check: We’d agreed not to discuss the then-ongoing court proceedings publicly lest we jeopardised the case. I’d suggested an elaborate hand-out at a future point, but they had aspirations of a ten-pound book they could recoup some court costs from. Dave selectively forgets this, along with his final (to me) words on the subject, being a clear and unambiguous “Print what you like!”.
Not that I did. Wallowing in negativity seemed pointless.

I felt I had done my bit... stood up to be counted. To be stopped selling my pound booklet five gigs later was such a betrayal of me and the fans that I went into shock and withdrew. There’d have been no problem if I hadn’t been encouraged every step of the way to throw all my energies/money into the publications/mailshots over the decades. This was not the first rime Hawkfrendz has fell victim of sniper firing. I’ve no doubt you all bought an extra few inches of T~shirt with the cash you saved from scoring the “Hawkwind: Reality You Can Rely On” (HFZ 034 £1 from Zephyr), and I’d had enough. My mum had recently passed away, and this nasty rejection by Dave & Kris stunk of heartless unmitigated greed… these events coupled in my taking HFZ into exile.

I believe in karma.
What have Dave Brock, Kris Tait, George Bush and Tony Blair in common ?
- They all sow dragons teeth.
(They also douse fires with diesel, I’m told). HW have insulated themselves with yes-men.
Left-wing hippies they most certainly are not.

An appropriate juncture for, me to throw in another quote out of Carol’s stunning book, this time from the illustrious Mr. Doug Smith (page 529) The biggest disappointment is that the philosophy they presented more often than not they couldn't live by themselves. It wasn’t always financial. It's more ephemeral than that. They don't practice what they preached.
What was that old Tim Leary adage... Live and Let Live… But the Church demands unilateral devotion... a blind obedience and loyalty devoid of right and wrong. With this in mind, until HW Cheltenham Oct.04 I'd been in exile 17 months, unaffiliated with anyone. In conversation with Richard Chadwick (whom I still hold the greatest of respect for) I was invited down to the gig. I suggested he check things out with Dave and Alan before we went any fur-ther, explaining I was only interested in returning to do positive stuff, with no interest in walking into old wars. Next night I was told Fine. Dave and Alan say come on down, so I did. I meet up with Alan, Dave and Kris while Richard is soundchecking. Alan has words... fair comment, if a bit light on subtlety. Dave greets me with 'Hello, Trevor' and exits faster than Bilko distributing winnings in the motor pool, leaving me to be levelled (that's razed, not raised) by Kris. Apparently I'd said something in a letter that I shouldn't have said (-unfortunately she couldn't/wouldn't tell me what! I stood no chance... it was over in a matter of seconds. Defence was futile - I realised then nothing had changed since I left of my own volition in 2003, and that I did not wish to return to such a venomous environment ever. Slightly-emotionally, I turned to Alan, quietly saying 'It's not what you said, Al'. Have a good gig', and left (-even faster than Dave minutes previous). The 450-mile/£5O-round-trip was a good gag, Dave.
Especially when literally one word from you could have avoided the whole trauma.

But that’s not the Hawkwind way any more, is it? To put it creatively/philosophically/mythologically (& Greek) Zephuros (the West wind) fled Zophos (the Darkness)! Or, in Hawkterms, a zephyr blew in the wind of change. Or, Trevor's really pissed off. Interpret all as you will.
I welcome any feedback on any of the points raised in this missive. I have since donated 750 HFZ booklets to Nik & Space Ritual, and had a wonderful time at their Stoke-on-Trent gig last week. It was great to hear songs like 'Born To Go' and 'D-Rider' again after so long. I'm looking forward to Crewe this Monday, where I'm reliably told there'll be even more refugee xhawkfolk present and participating.

Anyhow, this has been painful letter to compose. I've yet to lay/print/collate and post it (x800+), so I must finish (for now).

Thanks for reading.

Keep the faith.

In hope of better times ahead.

Onward and Upward.

(19/11/04) Trevor Hughes