again sees only occasional activity on the Island, but increasingly “progressive” acts like Edgar Broughton, Van Der Graaf Generator, Stray, Hawkwind (put on by the Richmond Arts Workshop run by Grenville Sheringham), before Caldwell Smythe reinvents the venue as Colonel Barefoot’s Rock Garden with the likes of Mighty Baby, Wishbone Ash, Audience, Cochise, Egg, If, and Pete Brown’s Piblokto……

Fri. Jan 17 ^th  – Marque’s Group

Fri. Jan 17 ^th  –  Pancake now known as Steppes

Gary “Legs” Harvey got in touch in early 2021: he was the bassist in the Pancake Blues Band, who at this point were obviously attempting rectify that poor decision on the band’s name! Gary and Richard Stevens then formed Nearly, before becoming involved in the first incarnation of Rococo, who became a respected band locally. Not for Gary and Richard, however, as they emigrated to New Zealand and started another Rococo there

Fri. Jan 17 ^th  – Shaemushaemushaemus

Fri. Jan 17 ^th  – Muskrat Ramble

Fri. Jan 17 ^th  – Jo-Ann Kelly

All the above acts featured on the bill for a Benefit Ball for the Release organisation, organised by Richmond Area Free Press. This was advertised in Vol 1, No1 of the aforementioned Richmond Area Free Press magazine, which espoused virtues in common with the more famous ‘underground’ press prevalent at the time, such as Oz, and featured record reviews, poetry, “agitprop” information, as well as information on local events and a community service guide. It is not clear at this point how many issues RAFP went on to achieve, but this Issue No 1 has been loaned to the Museum by Garry Rutherford (the friend of one of our volunteers), who was in the line-up of the Muskrat Ramble band (on vocals and keyboards) who played on tonight’s bill. Jo-Ann Kelly went on to become one of the significant people still treading the boards in the British Blues scene during the early 70s. Mostly her stuff was acoustic Blues, and, of course, being a woman rather marked her out as a rarity in a predominantly male genre. Jo-Ann’s brother Dave Kelly helms The Blues Band, along with Paul Jones, the ex-Manfred

Fri. Jan 31^st – Van Der Graaf Generator

Fri. Jan 31^st – The Nice (These two entries are from an advert in the Richmond & Twickenham Times via Andrew Humphreys. The advert has a headline of “REOPENING AT EEL PIE ISLAND”)

Sat, Feb 1^st – Happenings Plus

Sat. Feb 1^st – Andromeda (These two entries are from an advert in the Richmond & Twickenham Times via Andrew Humphreys.)

Fri. Feb 7  ^th  –  Ian Whitcomb with Turnstyle

Ian Whitcomb had hit the heady heights of #8 in the American Billboard charts in 1965 with “You Turn Me On”, where he remained thereafter as nothing he did sold in the UK. When he did return to the UK, he embarked on a successful writing career, but tonight he has Turnstyle in attendance 

Fri. Feb 7 ^th  –  The Pretty Things

At this point, The Pretty Things would have been promoting the previous year’s epic “S.F. Sorrow” album to little commercial avail, leading to guitarist Dick Taylor’s departure a few months later . Unfortunately, despite the poster in existence that confirms this date, Jackie Elvy contacted our Facebook page to tell us that she arrived on a freezing night for this one, only to be told that the gig had been cancelled, as the band couldn’t get their gear over the bridge, due to the ice. This has since been backed up by Len Woolford, who visited the Museum in June, further pointing out he didn’t get his 12/6 back. So maybe that explains why Phil May reckoned they never played on the Island! “BOB DYLAN’S UNDERGROUND FILM” was promised in the Richmond & Twickenham Times advert for this evening, but is not mentioned on the poster from which this information was originally gleaned

Sat. Feb 8 ^th  –  Van Der Graaf Generator  (from  http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/vdgglive.htm  )

Sat. Feb 8 ^th  –  Pegasus

Fri. Feb 14 ^th  –  Edgar Broughton

Fri. Feb 14 ^th  –  Juniors Eyes

Junior’s Eyes were responsible for the intriguingly titled album, “Battersea Power Station”, but later this year, guitarist Mick Wayne guested (amongst others) on David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” single and I think all of the Eyes were on Bowie’s resultant eponymous first album

Fri. Feb 14 ^th  –  Roy Harper

June 1969

Sat. Jun 21^st  –  Hawkwind Zoo

Sat. Jun 21^st  –  Stray

The Hotel was closed (again) at this time, but Grenville Sheringham had rented it to house the Richmond Arts Workshop. Both Hawkwind Zoo and Stray rang Sheringham wanting the chance to play at the Island. Despite not knowing them, Sheringham agreed, they played for free (to Sheringham), and the gig acted as Sheringham and three friends’ 21  ^st  birthday party, with about 400 punters turning up. It was advertised as “A Midsummer Nights Dream”, with the handbill promising “Entertainments include music, dancing, and possibly a police raid”.I guess this persuaded the Arts Workshop to continue to put gigs on for fundraising purposes

Thu. Aug 7 ^th  –  Spice  (from  www.uriah-heep.com/newa/giglists.php  )

It seems likely that Caldwell Smythe’s tenure as Colonel Barefoot himself started at this point, though John Lethbridge, who worked the Mass Spectrometer Light Show, asserts it was not until December 29 ^th (see below) that the Colonel “steamed in”, citing the fact that Richmond Arts Workshop gigs were on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that Smythe changed the nights of operation to became Fridays and Saturdays.

Fri. Oct 3 ^rd  –  Mighty Baby

Mighty Baby evolved from the ashes of The Action, who appeared here early in 1968

Fri. Oct 10 ^th  –  Grope

Fri. Oct 10 ^th  –  Stray

Fri. Oct 17 ^th  –  Medicine Hat (sic)

Could this have actually been Medicine Head, purveyors of an album called “Dark Side Of The Moon” before someone else was?  Assuming it was, as they were certainly on the circuit at this point, their demo of “His Guiding Hand” was released as a single on John Peel’s Dandelion label in 1969, and while they went on to chart success with four singles, none of their subsequent albums repeated that success. Their final album was recorded in Pete Townshend’s Eel Pie Studio in 1976, and they broke up a year later. Both members continued in the music biz, and guitarist John Fiddler is often to be seen performing around these parts, like at Strawberry Hill Music Day a year or two back. Having said all that, when John Fiddler visited the Museum recently, he confirmed that there was indeed an outfit calling themselves Medicine Hat, (named after the town in Canada), so this could indeed have been them: Medicine Head do have an entry for the following February

Fri. Oct 17 ^th  –  Steve Miller’s Delivery

Nothing to do with “The Joker” provider of later years

Fri. Oct 24 ^th  –  Hawkwind Zoo (from  http://www.hawklord.com/hw/HWgiglist.html  )

Hawkwind have yet to find their “Silver Machine” and go “In Search Of Space”, but they are led by Eel Pie Island habitué of the early 60s  Dave Brock (who schooled a young Eric Clapton in some early guitar chords back then). According to the ‘pooterland’ site (see below), they are still actually billed as Hawkwind Zoo tonight: it would be a wee while later that they dropped the “Zoo” tag

Fri. Oct 24 ^th  –  Stray

Fri. Oct 31 ^st  –  Snake

Fri. Oct 31 ^st  –  If

I suppose you could argue that If represent the return of jazz to the Island, but their jazz-rock leanings are probably a million miles from the trad arbiters of yore, though Dick Morrissey and his tenor sax had been here with his quartet back in August 1966, playing with Jimmy Witherspoon

Fri, Oct 31 ^st  –  Egg   (£3 as per Caldwell Smythe)

(from  http://calyx.perso.neuf.fr/bands/chrono/egg.html  – site since closed )

Tricky time signatures from these Canterbury progsters, who I much preferred to their overblown oppos, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and who were led by Dave Stewart (not the Eurythmic one) who had chart success with both Barbara Gaskin and ex-Zombie Colin Blunstone in the 80s. As Caldwell Smythe recalls paying Egg only £3, that suggests they were supporting If tonight

Wed. Nov 5 ^th  –  Rapture

Wed. Nov 5 ^th  –  Clouds

Fri. Nov 7 ^th  –  Tara’s Harp

Fri. Nov 7 ^th  –  Pete Brown’s Piblokto

Pete Brown was Jack Bruce’s lyricist, but evidently his vocal style didn’t impress his own band, The Battered Ornaments, as they sacked him the day before they played on the bill at Hyde Park, supporting the Stones. However, he bounced back with Piblokto, who featured respected Scots guitarist Jim Mullen

Wed. Nov 12 ^th  –  Fat Daughter

Wed. Nov 12 ^th  –  Alexis Korner  (£75 as per Caldwell Smythe)

Caldwell Smythe was managing Alexis Korner at this time

Fri. Nov 14 ^th  –  Tobias Wragg

Fri. Nov 14 ^th  –  Warm Dust

On the heels of If’s jazz-rock leanings come Warm Dust, who weren’t to set the world alight, but did feature Paul Carrack, later of one-hit wonders Ace, and later credits with stints in Squeeze (notably “Tempted”) and Mike & The Mechanics, Mike Rutherford of Genesis fame’s spin-off band

Wed. Nov 19 ^th  –  Strawberry Blues

Wed. Nov 19 ^th  –  Virgin Hearse

Wed. Nov 19 ^th  –  Radha Krishna Temple

“Hare Krishna Mantra” strains from George Harrison’s Buddhist buddies, supported by someone called Virgin Hearse? Wow!  Former lead guitarist Keith Simpson has been in touch to point out that Virgin Hearse were a blues/rock group from Oxford, and not a person, which I may have implied! They did a couple of demos for Polydor and EMI, but that was it

Fri. Nov 21 ^st  –  Train

Fri. Nov 21 ^st  –  Battered Ornaments

Pete Brown’s former band featured Chris Spedding, a respected session guitarist who would later feature in a number of TV appearances as a greased-up biker for “Motorbikin’”, as well as that of one of The Wombles in full Womble gear. Variety, as they say…

Wed. Nov 26 ^th  –  Tara’s Harp

Wed. Nov 26 ^th  –  Greatest Show On Earth

The name doesn’t appear to have worked in their favour, particularly, though they did get to #1 in Switzerland with “Real Cool World” in 1970. However, they did feature within their ranks bassist extraordinaire, Norman Watt-Roy who, of course has featured in Ian Dury’s Blockheads line-up since “New Boots And Panties”, and also currently is working with Wilko Johnson

Fri. Nov 28 ^th  –  Hawkwind Zoo

Fri. Nov 28 ^th  –  Mandrake

Or Mandrake Paddle Steamer to give them their full name

Sat. Nov 29 ^th  –  Nemesis

Sat. Nov 29 ^th  –  Amazing Gas Medicine Show and Junk Band

Wed. Dec 3 ^rd  –  Old Nick’s Train Set

Wed. Dec 3 ^rd  –  Edgar Broughton Band

Fri. Dec 5 ^th  –  Cochise

Fri. Dec 5 ^th  –  Andwella’s Dream

Andwella’s Dream were from Northern Ireland, and were responsible for one of the most valuable albums around: despite failing to sell on its release, “Love And Poetry” commands about £1000 these days, in mint condition, of course. And mine is. Despite suitably psychedelic origins, guitarist/vocalist Dave Lewis went on to write “Happy To Be On An Island In The Sun” which was taken into the charts by Demis Roussos in 1975. Now there’s a name I didn’t expect to be mentioning here

Sat. Dec 6 ^th – Dawn

I’m betting this is NOT Tony Orlando’s lot and that were no yellow ribbons being tied on any trees in the hotel grounds

Wed. Dec 10 ^th – Skin Alley

Skin Alley were responsible for one of the better tracks, “Living In Sin”, on the CBS sampler, “Fill Your Head With Rock”, released the following year. They featured one Thomas Crimble, who went on to play bass in Hawkwind

Wed. Dec 17^th – Stray (from advert in Surrey Comet)

Sat. Dec 20  ^th  –  Wishbone Ash

At this point, Wishbone Ash had only been together for two months, but their novel use of twin lead guitars held them in good stead when their first album was released just a year after tonight. They’d peak in 1972 when “Argus” was voted Melody Maker’s album of the year

Sat. Dec 20 ^th  –  Audience   (both above from  http://www.saxmusicplus.com/audienceareback.com/69-05.html  )

Round about now, Audience, meanwhile, were commissioned to write the film score for the critically acclaimed East End Skinhead flick, “Bronco Bullfrog”. Paul Griffiths visited the Museum in September 2021, and remembers seeing this “heavy prog” band from Bournemouth supporting Wishbone Ash on this day. He does not recall Audience…

Sat. Dec 20^th – Elias Hulk

Wed. Dec 24^th - Shades

Fri. Dec 26^th – Fat Daughter

Iain Miller, guitarist with Fat Daughter, informed us “We played the island several times, and once with Alex's Korners blues band. Great memories, especially transporting Marshall stacks, a split hammond M100 and Leslie cab, and the rest, over the narrow bridge, many trips using the designated mini van..

Sat. Dec 27^th – Nexus

Sat. Dec 27^th – The Houseshakers

Wed. Dec 31^st – Screw

Wed. Dec 31^st – Egg

 Entries for 1969 otherwise obtained from  www.garagehangover.com  courtesy of Nick Warburton and itself sourced from Melody Maker and Mick Capewell’s Marmalade Skies, or from  http://www.pooterland.com/index2/chronikles/1969/1969.html  (Oct 3  ^rd  to Dec 5  ^th  apart from the first Hawkwind and Egg entries, which I knew about already) as spotted by Phil Emerson. The entries between December 24^th and January 3^rd are from a poster sent to us by Iain Miller, guitarist with Fat Daughter who played on December 26^th. The poster also informs us that “JASON THE MAD DJ” was responsible for “SOUNDS”, and that the light show was provided by “MASS SPECTROMETER”.

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