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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:01 pm
by Aidan
I was also aware of the strory abour reading out his adress with a very annoyed Dave Gilmour sitting in the wings.
I was there (Cambridge Corn Exchange, some time in the mid 80s); it was more than 'waiting in the wings' - Dave G came out on stage and shouted at Dan, and had the TVPs cut from every other show on that tour. (At the time I was living on St Margarets Square; the volume of stalkers and weirdos outside Syd B's house didn't seem to go up as a result of it.)

thats me...

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:50 pm
by dontaskforsunshine
<---- ... is there more to say...

you wanna know some more, check out


www.dontaskforsunshine.de
or
www.myspace.com/heija777



well... that's me.

Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 1:13 pm
by Miguel
Hola,

I am Miguel from Barcelona.
I discovered the Television Personalities during the early eighties. My elder brother had borrowed a Rough Trade compilation LP including "I know where Syd Barret lives". I was a Barrett fan an I liked a lot that song. Years passed and in august 1989 I visited the UK. I found "Chocolat art" in a shop (it included "I know...") and I bought it. I think it is not the best way to start with... but it was my first TVP's album... After a couple of years, the Fire reissues arrived... Television Personalities palyed in Barcelona... etc... etc... etc...
A couple of years ago we released a TVP's tribute EP...

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 9:03 am
by godstar
hello!

i first became aware of dan and the tvps around 1980/81, because i used to visit the groovy cellar which was at the planets nightclub in piccadilly. this was the focal point of the neo-psychedelic revival, and was run by clive solomon who managed mood six. it was all quite a happening and the scene even had it's own clothes stores. the regal (in kensington market and newburgh st) and sweet charity (kensington market).

i think i got their first two albums solely because of the 60's iconic images on the album artwork! does anyone remember the sounds music magazine psychedelic chart? there was always tvps and times songs listed on the this. i've no idea who compiled it, maybe everitt true? he used to support the tvps a lot in his guise 'the legend!'

the first gigs i saw are all bit of a blur, but one that i remember well was in 1982 at a club dan was running called 'strawberry fields'. this was in oxford street and is now home to the metro club. whilst the band were playing there were people on stage doing action painting and assorted members of the audience on stage playing makeshift instruments like biscuit tins. sugercubes were handed out, but alas they weren't the 'electric' variety.

around this time a good friend of mine recorded a demo with his band 'the tangerine experience' which dan released on his 'art for all' compilation album. the track is 'only the sky children know'. i still have a copy of the demo somewhere which included another song called 'the witch and the devil'.

i don't think there was ever an average tvps gig, they were either the best band in the world, or just awful. one gig they played at the covent garden rock garden was horrendous. i think it was the loudest gig i've ever heard, but what made it bad was that the guitars were out of tune.

another memorable gig i saw was, i think, in the basement of the coalhole pub on the strand. i remember it because the tvps had just returned from a tour of germany where they had supported nico on a few of the shows. he played a song called 'where are all the chelsea girls', which was about nico.

my favourite gig of theirs was one of their many farewell shows. i think it was in 1986 at the fulham greyhound. up until that point, i'd never heard them play my favourite song of theirs 'smashing time', but during this gig captain sensible from the damned got up on stage with them for the encore and they played it. my day in heaven!

in about 1987 a band i was playing in at the time played at a club called the living room which was above the enterprise pub in camden, and was run by dan and his girlfriend emily. i mention this because about five years later i ended up playing in emilys band 'the hangmans beautiful daughters'. i joined after they had released their records with dan, but played with them for about a year and did many shows with them supporting the tvps. jeffrey who drummed with the tvps used to also drum with the hangmans.
claus wrote:
I first came across the TVPs by chance in a record shop in Siegen (small provincial town somewhere in Germany), where me and a friend found this weird LP (aah...the good old days...and yes, I am THAT old!) which had a completely white cover on which somebody had written "Pigs X Rise" in big red letters. We looked at the record included and that said that the album was called "They could have been bigger than the Beatles" and the band were "The Television Personalities" (until this day I have got no clue, whether the writing on the cover was an act of vandalism or their on purpose...never seen an all white cover for that LP again either..if anybody can shed a light on this strange edition of the record, that would be great!)
my copy has the word 'rise' on it too. i remember when i got it at virgin records, there was a whole load of them each with different slogans. not sure if it was hand painted, but on my copy, the writing smudges! i had a look at the album a little while back and much to my amazement saw that dan must have used the album as a writing pad because there was writing indented on the cover which on closer inspection had dan's name at the end. i have a copy of the times first album 'pop goes art' and that also looks like the cover was hand stencilled on.

anyway, that's all, sorry for being longwinded!

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 3:23 pm
by Keg
godstar wrote:anyway, that's all, sorry for being longwinded!
Welcome aboard, godstar! Great stories. :D

Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 9:51 am
by Moog
I've been a fan since circa 1991. I first heard them on that Syd Barrett tribute album (Beyond the Wildwood) doing a quirky cover of “Apples and Oranges”. When I happened upon the fire reissue on vinyl of "And Don't the Kids..." I took a gamble. Thankfully, the owner of the local independent record store happened to be a huge TVP fan and enthused about this very first TVP purchase (he loved their albums except wasn’t keen on Privilege). After listening, I was hooked enough to start buying all the other reissues too. Never looked back. At first glance they appear as ‘wacky pop’, yet nobody quite writes songs as deceptively moving as Dan, I’m sure we all agree!

Dan seems to be like a fine wine, getting better with age! His ep / single releases in the 90s are just sublime. New album rather good too.

Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 7:12 pm
by martin
hi, my name is martin and i'm 30 yearsold. I'm from holland. I'm relatively new to the tvp's. My first contact was when I bought the 'part time punks' compilation disc in the late '90s. I was hooked immediatly. I prefer the last few albums over the first ones and I love the new one.

Re: Please introduce yourself here

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 11:05 pm
by Happy Pig
Keg wrote:If you are new to the forum and wish to say hello and tell us a bit about yourself and how you discovered Television Personalities, please do so here. Thank you very much.
First time I came across the Television Personalities was when “I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives” appeared in the Indie Chart in Sounds or NME. That must have been in early 1981, when I was still at school. I noticed it because I was a Syd Barrett fan but, I didn’t think anything further of it (certainly didn’t hear the record then) until two years later when I was at university. The date was Friday 22 April 1983. The occasion was a party, in the students’ union. Television Personalities topped the bill - turns out the union entertainments officer was Mark Flunder's brother.

I don’t think they went down particularly well with an audience of boozed up students but I was impressed, particularly when Dan went into full on psychedelic mode, turning his back to the audience and using lots of feedback. I thought it was great and of course they played I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives and then I made the connection that chart entry in the music press. I don’t know who was in the band at the time. I think it was a three piece and presumably Mark Flunder was still in the band.

Wasn't until a year later that I bought my first TVPs record. Came across The Painted Word while browsing in a record shop and remembering the gig from the previous year I decided it was worth hearing the album so I bought it. Oddlly enough I didn't like it that much at first but I stuck with it and eventually got hooked.

sounds psychedelic chart

Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:12 pm
by davem
I remember it well....I still have cut outs from it.
It was sent in from readers or record shops. A different source each week!

Dave M

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 6:14 pm
by dumdum
evening,my name is lili and i'm 18....i came across the television personalities by buying the painted word,because i liked the the song's names(bit of a hobby of mine when i'm not skint),in a record shop near where i live about a year ago,call it serendipitous if you want......i don't know enough about music or bands....i haven't even got a myspace account,but i really do love psychadelia,mod and pre-britpop erm...pop,and if anyone knows any bands or artists i might like i'd be really grateful to find out,cheers


wow...get me being all social and stuff

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:42 pm
by Keg
Hi lili. Welcome aboard :D
dumdum wrote:i really do love psychadelia, mod and pre-britpop erm... pop, and if anyone knows any bands or artists i might like i'd be really grateful to find out,cheers
You must have heard of the band Creation? An essential purchase, if you don't already have them.

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:37 pm
by dumdum
red with purple flashes!

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 10:34 pm
by hewittinspain
Hi Aiden. whereabouts did syd live on margarets square.Im a huge fan but didnt agree being one of the stalkers,taking photos etc as it was best to leave the guy alone.The diamond has passed away now o id like to actually see the exact house for my own peace of mind i guess.

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 6:56 pm
by theo
Hello im a mate of TexasBob>>>>And TVP's fan :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: hello all! :D

greetings theo

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:41 am
by Skylarking
greetings theo,welcome to the forum.Hope you find this place full of TVP'S Happiness.

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:05 pm
by Keg
Yes, welcome aboard theo :D
What other music do you listen to then? Maybe we should put together a short quiz for new signees.

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:43 pm
by Aidan
hewittinspain wrote:Hi Aiden. whereabouts did syd live on margarets square.Im a huge fan but didnt agree being one of the stalkers,taking photos etc as it was best to leave the guy alone.The diamond has passed away now o id like to actually see the exact house for my own peace of mind i guess.
Number 6 (One of the most ironic things about Dan getting fired as Dave Gilmour's support for giving out Syd's address to the Corn Exchange crowd is that he got it wrong and said #8)

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:32 pm
by simonm
My name is Simon and I am a TVPs fan.
It's still a fairly small world though, as there are few people I sort of know/knew on the forum, from gigs and fanzines etc in the 80s. Hi all!

I first heard of the TVPs because Joe Foster's brother went to my school and was boasting that his brother had been on John Peel - when Smashing Time came out.
I had heard them on Peel, but wasn't really hooked until a year or two later. I went to see them a lot from '82 onwards, they were almost my favourite band! I did a fanzine called Adventure In Bereznik between '84 and '89, which had the TVPs in several times...

I got to know Joe a bit after I met him at Rough Trade (he was playing a pre-release tape of the Painted Word LP), and used to hang out with the early Living Room crowd, but he left the band not long afterwards. He lived close to my mum, in Hendon, North London.

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:22 pm
by steve69
Hello, my name is Steve and I only own "And Don't The Kids Just Love It" though I do like it a great deal. I am here because of Keg (*waves at Keg*) who I have met in other (WeddingPresent) forums, who tells me that there is a rich catalogue of TVP stuff for me to discover...

So, hello!

I am a 38 year old Deputy Head teacher who lives in Wales, has four (soon to be 5) children and enjoys a ridiculously large range of music.

Who are you?? :D

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:30 pm
by Keg
Welcome Steve and welcome prat too. Two newbies in a week :D