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There Must Be A Better Way
Bannister, Freddy |
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Bath Books
2003
ISBN: 0-95455-490-6
332 pp, paperback, 23,5 x 15,5 cm
English |
2nd enhanced edition. Part 2 (Chapters 31-57) is the same as 1st
edition. Added is Part 1 (Chapters 1-30) about The Pavilion Bath
concerts 1963-1970, The Bath Festivals 1969-1970 and some concert
tours until December 1972. Chapter 30:
(...)
It was just as the band finished their last number and Frank
was actually in the process of removing his guitar that I noticed a
man running towards the stage from the central aisle in the stalls.
Standing helpless, in stunned amazement, I watched as he cleared the
orchestra pit and in a single, effortless, bound landed on stage.
Without a moment's hesitation, he spun around in a graceful
pirouette, which put him in an ideal position to hit Frank in the
small of his back with the flat open palms of his hands. The effect
was devastating. Frank was lifted off his feet, flying like some
huge, ungainly bird straight into the orchestra pit. Continuing his
pirouettes, the assailant leapt once more across the orchestra pit
and disappeared into the audience. Not waiting to see anything else
I shot down the back stairs straight onto file stage.
Herb [1] was already there peering apprehensively into the pit. Frank
was lying on the concrete floor unconscious, his neck bent at an
ominous angle. There was no sign of the much-promised mattresses.
(...)
Frank was taken to the Royal Free Hospital, which in 1971 was still
situated in the Holloway Road. It was housed in a decrepit Victorian
building, which did nothing to raise the expectations of the medical
care available inside. When we arrived we went straight to the
emergency department only to find, as it was Friday evening, the
staff were rushed off their feet – in fact it was just like Bedlam.
Leaving Wendy, Suzie [2] and myself in the waiting room, Herb went to
find Frank.
(...)
I could see from Herb's face, when he returned
some time later, that he was angry. It appeared that the doctor
attending Frank was supercilious and patronising, in a way that
only the English at their worst can be and hadn't been exactly
helpful. Herb asked me to speak to him as he thought there might
be a little more rapport between two Englishmen. There wasn't. The
doctor was just as rude to me. Even so, he did unbend sufficiently
to tell me that so far they had discovered that Frank's injuries
comprised a crushed larynx, a fractured rib, a fractured leg, a
paralysed arm and head injuries and although they were short of
beds they would keep him in overnight for observation. Wow, I
thought, the man's a saint. The following morning Herb arranged for
Frank to be transferred to The London Clinic!
(...)
1. Herb – Herb Cohen, Zappa's manager,
2. Wendy – Freddy Bannister's wife, Suzie –
Herb Cohen's wife
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