when i was a kid

i was scouring all the music rags

looking for the next big thing

i read a small article on a band called television

in a mag called rock scene

it was written by patti smith

she wrote about this guy tom verlaines hands

how he was the kinda guy you’d wanna lose yer virginity to….

over the next few years there were tantalising references constantly

all of em saying how this band were incredible

johnny jewel a single (kinda strange but intriguing)

and bits and pieces until in 1977 the first album came out

of course it was called marquee moon

and verily it was all they said it would be

an incredible record

34 years later today

i got an email from some guys watching televisions current progress

co guitarist richard lloyd is out

and some other guy jimmy rip is in

theres a whole argument going down on youtube

richard lloyd weighing in slagging off tv

funny that people are interested in these ancient clashes

i met tv in 1988

he was opening for the church and peter murphy

he wanted to borrow my acoustic guitar

it was a black guild ..it got stolen n broke my heart

as soon as he played one note you could hear it was him

a totally unique approach dare i say virtuoso

pk sometimes has this effect like a total understanding

anyway tv was sposed to go on murphys bus

but within one second tv had some falling out with murph

and ended up on our bus for a whole tour

he started the night with a 30 minute set

alone with an acoustic he was kinda ordinary

he was very jokey in a bizarre way on and off stage

he was a total caffeine and nicotine man too

he was always wired tho he eschewed all other substances

television had been a huge influence on us all

we were all quite surprised n impressed to have tv with us

he treated me a bit like an annoying kid and i probably deserved it

i blabbed on to him all day about television ..why i liked them…

but he was bemused and sent me up a bit

we played monopoly for real money once on the bus

and tv bickered over the fuckin’ rules and argued the toss

eeerrr kil-bee lets see uh this triple double in jail rule

uh i think this is an uh english rule and uh i aint goin’ to jail..

how bizarre to be arguing monopoly rules with verlaine

somewhere in dakota or  wherever as we sped thru the night

as the tour progressed tv would come out each night and play with us

we did :you took and cortez the killer with 3 lead guitarists

3 of the very best you can get too

offstage however

tv was an incredible stingy miser arguing over every last cent literally

eerrr uh kil-bee uh you should pay an extra 75 cents for your share of the fries

this was one of the complaints on the you tube vids toms meanness

he was never very complimentary about richard lloyd either

lloyd didnt have anything to do with it if you listened to tv

he downplayed the guy right outta existence

it was unnecessary i thought to be so ungracious….

one day off in houston we went to this place

it was 1988 and you could record your vocal over a cassette backing

i sang my vocal over i left my heart in san francisco ( for DT)

tv got some old country n western track n giggled n whispered n muttered

he played it back to us convinced he’d found some new direction

one night  the phone rang in my room

eerr kil-bee eerr uh i’m down here in the bar with some divorcees

and i was ah wondrin’ if uh you could uh take one off my hands …

he was very charismatic and quite the ladies man

every night different women would seek him out backstage

strangely none seemed too bizarre for his taste

he had a little sweetie in every town

one morning we checked in some place early on the east coast

it was winter and snow lay on the ground

tv suggested a walk

and we hiked up this hill with a reservoir at the top

it was 630 in the morning and we interrupted something

cos suddenly about 10 big black guys were chasing us

baying for our blood

tv and i ran downhill into the woods

tv was like a thoroughbred horse leaping thru the trees

it was weird to be in such a pickle with a one time idol

anyway the stuff that happened onstage when he joined us was magic

he could coax a million sounds from a guitar trains and birds

and doppler effects and helicopters and guns ..anything..

but you could never see exactly how he did it …he was a true genius

we vaguely planned on recording together but his heart wasnt in it

we bickered over the financial details and that was it

i dont believe it would have worked out anyway

tv had some essential suspicious jokey sarcastic ny schtick

it was hard to get through it

he insulted lembo who was trying to manage him

and lembo couldnt see the financial gain

as opposed to the grief n pain that managing tv would bring

he was ungrateful in spades and just incredibly penny pinching

like a scrooge from brooklyn or something

it was an unnerving mixture

we drifted apart after the tour i never saw him again

marty played on on of  ‘is solo records

and the church did an insipid uninspired version of friction

funny seeing tv on that show in portugal just filmed lately

that same old cagey grin that same old tom cat jive

jesus what a character

ha ha