Re: BRIDGE HOUSE CANNING TOWN BOOK,£10.00 only no Postage and Packaging

[TerryMurphy]

here is the new price while stocks last £10. only no pp.
We are in talks to get the book made into a Film.which will be a exciting time,
who going to play me,then the bands  be great doing the casting..
who going to play Bono and U,2 , Depeche mode,R,D,B,Chris Thompson.
we with have to get a few tribute bands that are around for  Iron Maiden Blind drunk  etc.
So Buy the book, let me know who you think we can get dasting be interesting

[TerryMurphy]

A Article from my book Bridge house Canning town priced £10.00 only no post and packig HARDBACK 277 PAGES AND PHOTOS

[TerryMurphy]

Billy Bragg.

We first encountered Billy when we started the talent contests at the Bridge. He told us that he had been to the pub a few times and being a solo artist he hadn’t asked for a gig because we were band orientated.

He had seen the advert in the NME and decided to enter. When he told us he was a local boy from Barking, we put him up the front of the playing list.

We started the talent night because my son Glen had been chosen to appear in a play,Oba Futervarda, in Stratford with a four week run. So we had to fill his Tuesday theatre night, which he had been producing and acting in.

We were over run with tapes and had to have regular tape playing sessions, which I thought was a good idea. So on a quiet night, we would put the tapes out over the PA.
 The bands would come down to hear their tapes and we had a Jury of well-known musicians to judge them
We were over run with tapes and had to have regular tape playing sessions, which I thought was a good idea. So on a quiet night, we would put the tapes out over the PA. The bands would come down to hear their tapes and we had a Jury of well-known musicians to judge them.

We finally got down to 12 tapes and booked the bands to play live, three bands a night and the winner of each night getting to the final. Billy Bragg was the winner of the semi final Eventually the four finalists played and. I had never seen anyone so happy.

This was in the final year that we were at the Bridge House, so the next time I saw Billy was after we had moved to the Merlins Cave. We had stayed in touch and when we booked Roy Wood the bearded wonder of Wizard and the
Move as the headline act for the launch of the new venue we gave Billy the support
This was going to be a big night, Roy Wood we thought was still a big name, we booked him from an agency owned by an old friend, Kenny Lynch. Well, Roy Wood arrives, all the agency people were there and Wood stays for about 20 minutes and informs his agent that he’s not going to do the gig and he left.

We were in a real state. We had advertised a big name to try to get the new venue of the ground. Now we had got egg on our faces and Billy was there waiting patiently. I walked over and said sorry Bill the gig’s been cancelled and we are not opening the theatre tonight. Billy really went into one, ‘leave of, let me play. I got management, and record companies coming to see me. This is my big chance’. I felt really sorry but it just was not economical to open. We had to have staff in a empty hall costing us money when we would not be taking any. Then Billy came back nearly in tears, pleading with me to play. ‘I don’t want no money, nothing, just let me play’. I relented, this was a local boy trying to make it,
I had to give him his chance
He went on stage at 8.O’clock and played without a break until 11pm. He had the audience shouting and screaming. This, I believe was the making of Billy Bragg, he was sensational. That night he signed a management
contract and a little later a recording contract. Today he is a star.

What we did when woods swallowed it, was we left all the doors open while Billy was on stage so the punters knew they did not have to pay and of course once they heard Billy, they stayed.
So we did take a few quid. And Billy Bragg got what he wanted and some money to go home with.

[TERENCE]

RORY GALLAGHER PART OF ARTICLE FROM MY BOOK

[TerryMurphy]

part of first article Rory in Macroom ireland

[TerryMurphy]

Part one of three post from the book bridge house canning town
Tom Driscol and Gerry McAvoy came into the bridge house before leaving to do there gig with Rory
Tom bought a drink, I bought a drink. My son Lloyd is serving us, I said to him, ‘do you fancy going to Ireland to see Gerry and Rory play?’ I knew he was a big fan of their music so he jumped at the chance. Gerry gave me his hotel number and told me to ring him once we got to Cork.

We arrived in Cork and booked a nice room in a hotel. We left our bags, changed our clothes and called a cab to go to Gerry’s hotel. We met up and went straight to the bar; this is the day before the gig. The Murphy’s stout was going down a treat so we had a very pleasant evening.

After breakfast the next morning, we had a tour of Cork in the Limo that was provided for us. Then we went off to the gig. These cars had special passes to get in to the backstage car park, which was kept a secret. The route had been made known only to promoters, the artists and management. If the fans had found out you would not have been able to get through the crowds. I believe there was something like 50,000 fans, so there had to be a secret entrance. The one we used was probably the secret route in and out of the castle that had been used all those hundreds of years ago.

When we arrived we went straight to the bands dressing room.
Gerry, Rod ,Ted McKenna and Lou Martin were waiting there. Gerry said that Rory would like to see me, so he takes me into Rory’s dressing room, Rory was all alone and when I entered Gerry left. This surprised me, but this was Rory, a quiet unassuming man, completely different from other rock stars I have met. He gave me a drink, I thanked him and said, and ‘god bless you Rory’. He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘do you mean that’, I told him,‘of course I do’. ‘Let’s prove it’, he said. So we sat down, I looked at him and said the Lords prayer. After I had finished he smiled and said, ‘and god bless you, Terry Murphy’. He asked me where my Ancestors had come from and I told him Cork. He said, ‘ay, that’s the reason, we may be related’. I don’t know what the reason was, I never asked, but it did seem as if he had been thinking about me. Perhaps being older than him, I was the father figure he was looking for. Gerry came back so we wished them all good luck and said we would see them after the gig.

There was a special place set up in front of the stage for the guests of the bands, there were other great bands on the show including Status Quo. But everyone was waiting for Rory. Earlier, back in his adopted home town, the crowds had gathered to watch and cheer as he arrived in his helicopter. Now, they awaited their god of rock to arrive on stage. Quo at last finished their set.

We watched as Tom Driscoll did all the last minute checks to the onstage equipment, he winked and showed out a hand, five more minutes to wait. The DJ finished his last record, it went deathly quiet, then there was a screeching of car tyres and seconds later Rory runs on stage.

‘Welcome, Mr Rory Gallagher’, said the announcer but nobody heard it. Rory was straight into Bullfrog Blues, the perfect start. The gig just went into full throttle, getting better and better, the fans were going mad.

Standing in front of us was one Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols along with Bob Geldoff of the Boomtown Rats and a publicist I was to meet later, as well as a few other friends of theirs. Rotten had come in with this bucket of urine, his friend had another one and they threw it at the band. I and Lloyd rushed over to stop the second bucket being thrown, the security was quickly there and they were thrown out. Yes, sir Bob included. Rory was raving although none of the urine reached him. If it had gone on his guitar or the amps they could have been electrocuted or set alight.

There was a reception after the gig and the newly formed ‘Hot Press’ was handing out awards to the bands. It was a nice reception. Myself, Lloyd and Gerry were standing at the bar, when who walks in, Johnny Rotten. He came bowling up to the bar, Gerry remembering the earlier incident said, ‘I am going to kill him’. Gerry threw the best right hander he had ever thrown, Lloyd blocked it and I grabbed Gerry. I told him, ‘that’s what he wants, cheap publicity. Don’t let it show’. By this time Rotten had run away. This whole incident was filmed by a German crew; Gerry’s got a copy which will be nice to see one day.

Gerry’s management had come to his aid and ushered them all out the door, and then they were gone. There was me and Lloyd left in the hall and no idea where the band was. They had left the hotel where they were staying and there was another reception that we had all been invited to.

While we are standing there wondering what to do, this official comes over and tells me that Rory’s on the phone. Rory said not to worry and that he will send someone down to pick us up in about half an hour. We waited for well over an hour, and then all of a sudden there was a terrible loud noise over the hall. What a surprise, Rory had sent a helicopter to pick us up and take us the 10 miles back to cork. A lovely time was had by all.

Gerry and Tom came back with us to London and who’s sitting next to us on the plane, Bob Geldoff. During the flight, we downed a couple bottles of champagne and Tom looks like he’s going to give Bob a wallop. A good job my son Lloyd was there to stop him. We managed to get to London without any serious incident and I dropped Tom of at his home before we hurried back to the Bridge House, where we had a busy gig to promote.

We were to see a lot more of Rory, Gerry, Rod Ted and Lou as they continued to play for us at the Bridge. Rory was to change his drummer on a couple of occasions. Ted McKenna and then Brendan O’Neill, they both became regulars at the Bridge, thanks to Gerry McAvoy.

Gerry and Brendan now play with another band that started at the Bridge, Nine Below Zero. They had started with us as the Stan Smith Blues band, their harp player, Mark Felham had joined Rory’s band with Gerry and Brendan. Now they’re altogether in this band fronted by founder member Dennis Greaves on vocals and doing very well indeed as one of the busiest bands on the circuit.

The last time I saw Rory, was down the kings road, Fulham. My daughter Vanessa had put on a musical play down there. Rory, seeing the name Murphy on the promotional material, had come down to support us. He was living locally and he looked fine. It was lovely to see him, he did not stay to see the musical but we had a drink together. I remember saying to him, ‘see you at the next gig’, and he replied, ‘I will not be playing any more’, I turned to him and said, ‘what about Gerry and the guys’. He looked me in the eye; his eyes were sad and said, ‘oh, they’ve got a new band together. They’re looking after themselves’, this was not the Rory I knew, he had put a bit of weight on, which all musos do when they’re not on the road. He was very sad, little did I know, that at this time his liver had packed up and he was waiting for a transplant, he was to have the operation, but he went back in and died on the operating table at the age of 47 a really big loss to the whole world. His brother Donal, who managed him, made a video of the gig at the Bridge. I wonder if he has still got a copy of it. I should try to contact him I would love to see it. WELL THE VIDEO IS ON FACE BOOK ON MY OR RORY GALLAGHERS

[TerryMurphy]

THE NAME OF THE VIDEO IS RORY GALLAGHER 1978 IN MACROOM IRELAND

[TerryMurphy]

Rory’s funeral.

The untimely death of Rory Gallagher on the 14th of May, 1995, shocked the world of music. Here are some quotes.

Bono, U2.
When asked what he thought of Rory, Bono said, he was one of the top ten guitarists of all times, but more important than that, he was also one of the top ten nice guys. When I saw Taste play, this was my first experience of seeing a real rock band. That memory lives with me to this day and that day was the day I wanted to be a rock star. At  the time just a dream, but now a dream fulfilled. Thank you  Rory.

Edge ,U2.
A beautiful man and  an amazing guitarist. I was there in macroom, age 15 in 1977, and he was what I wanted to be. He will be sadly missed. He was great. His blues and acoustic playing I will always remember. Rest in peace Rory.

Larry Mullin jnr.
We were utterly devestated on hearing this sad news.

Adam Clayton. U2.
The first show I ever went to was the Carton in 1975 and Rory Gallagher was playing. It was with the greatest sadness that I learned of the death of Rory Gallagher. He was one of the most underrated Irish talents of all times.

Paul McGuinness U2 manager.
He was the first international rock star from Ireland and he set a great example for all the younger players to follow. I know we did.

Rory Gallagher.(A Quote)
When asked how he would like to be remembered, he replied in song and story, with a pint of Murphys, not in my hand, but in my stomach. What would be your dying words? There is an after life, isn’t there? .

Cork.
Rory lived in Mc,Curtain st. At the bottom of st. Patrick Hill in the city of Cork where his family had a pub. Rory loved it there. Here we had the ordinary fellow at home not the rock star he was in all parts of the rest of the world. That was his feeling, but to the community, while at home people would just stand and watch every move he made. There is no other word for it but hero worship in his adopted home town. Rory was born in Ballyshannon in Donegal in 1948, 47 years ago to the day he died. His mother Monica was so proud of him. Where ever he was in the world, Rory spoke to his mother every day. When he was 15 he left home and joined a show band. Later he was to leave to live in Belfast, forming a new band and so as not to leave a bad taste, called the band Taste. This was the band my good friend Gerry McAvoy was to join, another friend who was in Taste was Wilger Campbell, who played drums. He would later form his own band and play at the Bridge House, a three piece with Gary Fletcher on guitar and Dave Kelly being the front man when not working with Paul Jones in his Blues Band. Now some 25 years later , we come to bury Rory.

The hearse left O’Conners funeral parlour with Rory’s stratacast guitar laid alongside the coffin. Crowds of people lined the streets, traffic was at a standstill. Nobody cared, they were all in deep mourning and as the hearse pulled up at the church the rear door was opened so Donal could lift the strat away from the coffin. He handed it to Tom O’Driscoll, who had been with Rory for 18 years. As tom took the guitar his eyes met donal’s. It was the very same action as when Rory left the stage, always handing the Stratacast to Tom. The tears were never far away, then a strange thing happened. The very quiet, deep in sympathy crowd, began to cheer and applaud, a very rare occurrence at a funeral. This just showed us that this was not just a ordinary funeral. We had come to bury Rory Gallagher, our god of rock. Every one was pleased, Donal glanced at his wife, Cecelia and his children and at last there was a smile in his eyes, instead of the tears of the last week. Even the sun shone brighter at that moment. Was that the moment Rory was passing through the gates of heaven? We like to think so.

Donal Gallagher.
Its hard for me to find words that could show or give insight into my brother, a very sensitive person. He wanted to make music that was timeless, he has certainly left his

[TerryMurphy]

253 25.1.12

[TerryMurphy]

Cafe Racers become Dire Straits

[TerryMurphy]

Cafe Racers - Dire Straits.
The first time we heard of this band was from a school friend of my son Terry.
 Richard Thake and Terry had been in the same class in school at St. Bonaventure’s, Forest Gate
and became mates. As always, you leave school and go your own ways,
so Terry was surprised when his old friend came in the pub informing him that he was looking after some
mates who had just formed a band. So for the next few weeks I got Richard phoning every day and Terry
keeping on about his mate’s band.
At the time we had started auditioning bands on Sunday morning.
We were getting so many bands sending in demos and continually phoning,
 it was getting out of hand. We usually would put the new band on, as a support, before the main band.
This sometimes caused agro, sound checks, and room on the stage etc.

So I booked them in on the Sunday morning. We usually had four bands during the two hours we were open.
They played for a half hour, and were very good. Mark Knophler comes over
to see me and asked me what I thought. This was in the first year that I was at the bridge house
 and most of the bands were heavy rock. I was later to change this, as I have discussed,
with Iron Maiden. (read there articIe?) I said to Mark that the band was too bluesy and he knew the bands
That were playing at the Bridge were heavy. I understand he had been down to look at the
 venue a couple of times with Richard Thake and his brother who was also in the band. Mark said to me,
give us a chance, we will play some different music.  I could see he was ambitious.
He  told me he had a residency at the King’s Head in north London and they had built the night up.
So I gave him the next Tuesday. On the night Terry was to meet a lot more of his old school friends.
Richard had worked his socks off to get a crowd along.
I was hoping that the following the band had built up in Islington would come over to our pub.
No such luck. Although it was a nice night and I really liked their music,
there were not enough people there to make it pay. But I had heard enough to realise that it was the music
 that I preferred to heavy music.
So we can say that, although I don’t believe they played again for me, it was Dire Straits
that changed the Bridge House from a heavy metal joint to a Blues type pub. 
This was of course before the new wave of music started and before we started charging at the door.
When this happened I decided to have a different band on every night.
I figured that as the customers only had a certain amount of money to spend from their wages
 if you always had the same type of band, they could only come one or two nights.
 So by having different bands they would arrange to come to the Bridge,
 instead of travelling miles to see their choice of band. It was a good idea,
and it worked for a few years.
20 YEARS LATER 
I just finished a meeting with Richard Thake & Tony Ciniglio, the original bass player with both Cafe Racers
& Dire Straits. Tony told me the original line up was as follows: Dave Pask on vocals and guitar,
 Bobby Miller on drums, (soon to join Supertramp), Rob Mills was also involved .
Mark,and  his brother David on guitar and Tony on bass.
Dave and Mark had got together at Loughton College in Walthamstow.
Mark was living in Buckhurst Hill. An ad was placed in Melody Maker and the guys held
the auditions in Richard Thakes mum’s kitchen. Mark at one time actually slept on Richard’s
 living room floor.
 Dire Straits were on TV and Richard mentioned this to his mother. By this time ‘Sultans of Swing’
had made Dire Straits famous and very rich. His mum’s reply was, ‘oh he’s doing alright then.
That bit of carpet must be worth a few bob now. I best save it for a rainy day’.
This is East End humour at its best. The East End can claim that all the local guys,
mainly from Stratford E15, made Dire Straits the band they were to become.
Mark’s brother Dave and Tony C, were to leave less than two years later.