The WELL: inkwell.vue.408: Julian Dawson, "And on Piano, Nicky Hopkins" May 25-June 1

#61: Jon Langford (jon-langford) Mon 26 Sep 11 05:48

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 05:48:00 PDT

Hello Julian the book is really great Jonny L [Read entire topic]

#60: Ed Ward (captward) Sat 4 Jun 11 11:53

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 11:53:00 PDT

If I remember right, Phelge was interviewed for the Keith Richards book. [Read entire topic]

#59: Andrew Alden (alden) Sat 4 Jun 11 11:51

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 11:51:00 PDT

Good ol' Nanker Phelge. Never got interviewed, to my knowledge, and what a lot of great stories we must be missing. [Read entire topic]

#58: Julian Dawson (juliandawson) Fri 3 Jun 11 03:15

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 03:15:00 PDT

Thanks back to everyone who took part in this. It was a new experience for me and a glimpse into a world I didn't know existed. Fascinating stuff.

Thanks Julie for the introduction and Ari for starting the ball rolling.

I hope if you liked the book that you'll tell your friends about it and put it out there anywhere you think is helpful on the web. As regards Nicky Hopkins, I am a 'musician on a mission'. Let's see him in the Hall Of Fame next year!

Byeee... [Read entire topic]

#57: Ari Davidow (ari) Thu 2 Jun 11 13:26

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:26:00 PDT

The book is great. Thank you, Julian. [Read entire topic]

#56: raccoon related legal/banking question (crow) Thu 2 Jun 11 12:30

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:30:00 PDT

I enjoyed the book and I've really enjoyed this. Thanks, Julian. [Read entire topic]

#55: Julie Sherman (julieswn) Thu 2 Jun 11 10:07

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:07:00 PDT

Julian is right in that this is the end of his scheduled interview/discussion. I want to thank Julian and Ari and everyone else for a wonderful conversation over the past week. As always, the topic will remain open indefinitely in anyone wants to post more. [Read entire topic]

#54: Mark McDonough (mcdee) Thu 2 Jun 11 06:23

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:23:00 PDT

Glad to hear that he had a happy ending. As a person of, ahem, a certain age, it's always fun to read about musicians who had their best years at the end (Louis Armstrong is another good example).

The Stones were sort of notorious for making darn sure that the songwriter credits always read Jagger/Richards (or Nanker Phelge!). [Read entire topic]

#53: Julian Dawson (juliandawson) Thu 2 Jun 11 05:20

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:20:00 PDT

Hi everybody, Slight delay for a day as I was doing radio interviews in the UK. Nice to see some more postings here, although (I think) today is the last scheduled day for Nicky Hopkins. I'll check in tomorrow to see if any one has some last questions or comments.

Re. Nicky's contributions to the Stones (and others), Keith Richards freely admitted to me that, for instance, 'We Love You' didn't really exist as a song until Nicky came in with his piano riff. He didn't seem to see any contradiction between saying that and the fact that the songwriter credits read Jagger/Richards!

Nicky's slide into habitual drug and drink usage probably began while working with the Stones and accelerated when he moved to California in 1969. Having to sit out sessions that often went on for 15 hours or more probably made the idea of some stimulants attractive, if not a necessity. By the time Nicky came off the legendary 1972 tour of the USA he had acquired a cocaine habit and almost certainly was flirting with heroin too. Most of his close friends agree however that alcohol was his true drug of choice during his 'lost years'.

The 'happy end' came when he successfully kicked his habits, regained his connection to his music and had 7 very happy years with his second wife, Moira. [Read entire topic]

#52: those Andropovian bongs (rik) Tue 31 May 11 15:31

Tue, 31 May 2011 15:31:00 PDT

Which brings up another question. How did Nicky handle the obvious use of hard drugs at Stones sessions? [Read entire topic]