ENGLAND, MAY - JULY, 1974

Ronnie Lane left the FACES after the American Tour in the Spring of 1973. He spent that summer getting his solo act off the ground and started with a Number One single in the UK produced by Glyn Johns called "How Come". He concocted the idea of playing in a tent and tested the idea by staging the single's release party in Gerry Cottles's Big Top pitched on Clapham Common, London, in November, 1973. The party was a blast and the bug for the PASSING SHOW" was planted. I left the FACES after the American Tour in November, 1973, and became Ronnie's "Tour Manager" and was heaved head first into this bazaar carnival.

Ronnie's first solo album "Anymore for Anymore" was recorded at his farm in Wales on his 16 Track Mobile studio housed in a 26' Airstream Trailer. The album, released in the UK on Billy Gaff's GM Label, was a gem but ultimately did not sell that well and was never released by A&M Records in the USA. One management fiasco after another followed during 1974 and 1975 thus Ronnie's career never gelled the way it had with The FACES. An example of his poor luck was that during the PASSING SHOW in June of 1974, he had released another very fine single called "The Poacher" and we were scheduled to go on the BBC1 TV Show called "Top of the Pops" which would have catapulted the record into an assured Top 10 spot. That very week the Camera Men's Union went on strike and the show was off the air for 6 weeks. Of course by then the record's progress in the charts had waned and that event signaled the start of a series of bad omens.

Ronnie, pretty much abandoned by his manager, Billy Gaff - who was much more interested in Rod Stewart's career - had to rely on his own romantic ideas and the limited music business experience of his brother-in-law business manager, Paul Lambert. Together they met with and contracted a retired circus owner named Wally Luckens to provide the Big Top, trucks, generators, crew and all other circus trappings for the proposed PASSING SHOW Tour. I met with Wally Luckens twice during the recording sessions of the album in March and April, 1974, and he assured us that his equipment was up to par and he would be able to provide the 3-phase 60 amp AC generator etc. that we needed to power the PA and stage gear. As we were busy with the recording sessions in Wales and also as I wasn't really very interested in driving down to London again to see the trucks and tent gear as they were being prepared for the show, I asked Paul Lambert to check them out. Big Mistake!!! Paul had no experience with trucks, transport or touring and therefore was not ready to express any concern about the condition of this equipment. He said to me; "the trucks are a little old but Wally has them all painted up and they look pretty sharp." That was the ploy! Wally banked on taking the œ6,000.00 advance from this spoiled-brat Rock Star and gamble that we would give up and never attempt to complete the tour or even the move to the second venue in Bath. Wrong! Little did he realize how stubborn Ronnie was and how determined I could be in the face of adversity. Also, there was Michael Hurst. Michael Hurst was an unusual character to say the least, an ignigma. He was well educated based on his accent and vocabulary but a street wise and equally un-washed individual. He came to our mixing sessions at the old IBC Studios on Upper Regent Street and asked for "Ruff". He was looking for me and as we took our break around the corner at the local pub he confirmed that he had gear that we needed. He had theatre lighting, generators, trucks etc. and some good deal of Rock n' Roll experience having done the lighting at the Isle of Wight Festival among other events. To be honest I hadn't given a great deal of thought to lighting the PASSING SHOW as I expected Wally Luckens to provide most of what we needed and I would supplement that by hiring whatever PAR lamps and spots we might need from one of the several London Lighting Companies available. Also, I was at that time consumed with the problem I was having getting Roy Clair to ship the small Clair Brothers PA we had bought from him in the States. It was evident that Michael Hurst was very keen to be a part of our show as this was a concept dear to his own heart being the itinerant he was. We contracted him for 6 weeks at œ600.00 per week for his "Scamell" mounted with a jib and a 45KVA 3-phase generator, a Ford 5-ton box van and all the lighting kit and cable we might need. There, done! Lighting is taken care of the hell with Wally Luckens!

The album was mixed and finished by mid-May so we gathered our drum kit, amps and old Small Faces M-100 Hammond and Leslie and headed for Marlow in Buckinghamshire - about 30 miles west of London - ...and the shock of our lives! The photos tell the story in the book.

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