The pictures you will see in the gallery below, are in no particular order. They show a day in April when we got to visit the FBI building , not only given the tour of the building but also allowed into the firing range and the opportunity to shoot off a few rounds with a colt 45.
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It's got to be the only one mile stretch of road in the world with three rock and roll hotels, and I've stayed in one of them every time I've come to this city, except for with one band who were based here anyway. Of course the Sunset Hyatt House is probably the most famous.
What a great rock and roll hotel this place was at the time. it didn't have a restaurant. You had to get up and walk up the road to the cafe on Sunset to have breakfast. It did however have a mini kitchen in each room, which in reality didn't help us at all, except for the really big fridge to put the beers into to chill. Here is a site to tell you a little about it's history https://www.sunsetmarquis.com/item/history
Then there is the Chateau Marmont, which we also stayed in on this tour. We had spent quite a lot of time on the last tour here and they gave us a nice reception. I know my date sheet and the itinerary show us staying at the Sunset Marquis but I remember it being the Chateau so I don't know really what happened.
However, I got this telex from the promotion department at EMI, not too kind to the band really, given they had just conquered America. So we finished this tour and just had five days back in London before we flew out to Munich for a week of European promotion for the album in Germany, Italy and France. I've created a page for what happens next, including a couple of weddings and the rest of my year.
A very happy Mike Berrow, one half of the bands management team in Tritec Manangement......................... and why not eh!!!
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The photo above I took on our visit to the FBI building in Washington on our way to a show in Virginia. In the forground is Lesley Calmels, who was Mike Berrow's assistant and a lovely lady. It also seems to be the only picture I have of Simon Cook, he's the one between Charmane and Doris and was the bands personal assistant and to a lesser extent, my assistant. Simon had been with the guys for a while, coming from the Birmingham area and with his twin brother Viv, had worked as security I think for the Rum Runner. Simon was an angel in disguise, he was just the best guy to have on this tour for so many different reasons, and the most charming man. He basically did not have an ego as such, and went about his job with a never ending amount of energy and enthusiasium.
Well here is a picture I found on the internet with Jim Callaghan right in the middle of it with the band. Jim did a certain amount of this tour with us and it was a pleasure to work along side him. Jim was one of the most experienced security guys in the business, working for the big bands like The Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin from the early 70's. I believe he had to jump ship, so to speak half way through our tour, and Mr Bob Wein took his place. A great job he did too. Here's Bob with Roger as they check into a hotel I do believe. Bob being the guy with a flower in his lapel !!!
Here are the cast for this tour. Mentioned below left on the inside of the tour programme. We all know the famous five but I'd like to introduce you to some of the hard working folks that made this famous tour tick, on the road.
When Mandy Berrow finally hung up her ironing board we hired these two ladies. Kerry above and Doris below. These guys had to look after two huge wardrobe flightcases, full of the guys stage clothes. Nowadays on these sorts of tours you can request a wardrobe person to be on call backstage, with ironing board, sewing machine and steam machines, but when we were here in 1984, we carried everything we needed with us. For Kerry and Doris is was a frantic time keeping the clothes fresh and pressed. Well, the guys didn't look too shabby I guess!
Mr Spy Mathews was hired for this US tour, really because none of us was experienced enough to make sure we were as efficent as possible in dealing with the production values needed in the venues we were now playing. I had worked with Spy the previous year all over the world with Supertramp, and this bulldog Aussie was kept busy everyday just advancing the next couple of shows.
Here is a lovely photo, I think, of Mr Roger Oakley, with Charmane. Roger looked after everything equipment wise for John Taylor, and on stage kept an eye out for the two backing singers too.
One half of our very experienced personal security team, Dave Moulder was always in demand by busy touring bands. I believe I brought Dave on to this tour, having worked with him first back in 1981 with Adam and the Ants.
Well here is a passport photo of Rox, aka Paul Neate. Rox had been with the band from the very early days, and was the longest serving member of the road crew. Rox looked after all the keyboards for Nick Rhodes. I do hope to track Paul down to see if he will tell a couple of stories he particularly remembers form these days.
Must not forget our tireless camera team leader, Chrissie Smith. Chrissie flying around all over the place getting and logging everything we were doing, well nearly everything!!
John "Ozzy" Osbourne to the right here was Alan's replacement and was flown in by the Production Company, Tasco, which was providing most of all the sound and lighting equipment, including the brand new live video projection and control equipment.
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Here we have a picture I took in Sydney Australia actually, with Rob Cowlyn at the back, the only pic I have of Rob, who was our FOH, front of house sound engineer for the US tour. Rob was also a director of our sound company Tasco. Gordon 'Gungi' Patterson in the middle and Keith Morris in the foreground. Gungi was only with us for the Aussie shows.
Well I pretty much started my journey with Duran Duran with Keith Morris. As soon as I had been hired, I got Keith on board as the new sound engineer. He had not worked for a band directly before, but was highly thought of at ML Executives where he made his mark in their sound division. When we lost our monitor engineer, I persuaded Keith to swap jobs and he also took on the job of stage manager. As the band swiftly rose in stature, Keith became de facto production manager. He, in fact went on to work with John and Andy in Power Station, as I hung up my boots as a tour manager in 1986 for the next 15 years. We remain good mates and I hope you'll hear from him in the coming months.
I first met Matt, out new stage manager, when I flew into Sydney to start setting up this 83/84 world tour. Matt had been at Aston Villa football club when the guys played there for a charity event and clicked with Keith Morris.
Keith, Matt and myself then got to know each other quite well when we shared a beach house on the north shore in Sydney for 6 weeks getting ready for the world tour. A better tash I've yet to see.
Denis O'Regan was hired from the start of the world tour to travel with us where ever we went, and what a lovely guy he turned out to be. Taking pictures every day, feeding the publicity machine that could not get enough of the boys on this tour. I dred to think how many pictures he took, and all on film. He must have a shed somewhere full of slides and prints of all of us, where are they all Denis?
Alan Goldberg was our Lighting Designer for just about two years and worked on several tours. He came on board with me for the first Australian tour in April 1982. It was in February 1984 in Tokyo that I was asked to find a replacement for him, by the Berrow Brothers. It was not a pleasant duty to tell Alan he was being sent home and replaced. I recall he was very sanguine over the affair and I wished him the best for his future.
