Phil Easton

    Not an international name but certainly, in these parts around Liverpool, a major influence when it came to radio rock shows in the mid to late 70's.

    Phil managed to outdo many of the big boys with famed first interviews with people like Coverdale who virtually launched Whitesnake in this neck of the woods when Purple management had dropped him from their books after Mark IV.

    A fan of Glenn and supporter of our efforts to bring him to this City last year on his current baby City Talk, Phil was a rock.

    He died suddenly last night aged 59 and will be sadly missed.

    Yeah, you're right Keith.
    I never heard of this fine gentleman.

    But then, you never heard of the DJ's around here who had their
    "early years" rock & roll radio shows and hosted informative interviews
    with people who were nobody (read that more politely as: unknown)
    on their way to becoming somebody (read that as: too-famous
    to do an interview with a radio DJ).

    So many superstars owe their early publicity, and encouragement to these guys;
    they provided a link between the music and the fans.

    I'm glad that you paid tribute to one of them.


    :rose:
    *

    Grace, yes exactly! Everyone has their fave DJ's in their locality. Many of these people were and (still were until this Sunday) at the top of their game. They simply decided to stay local due to family commitments.

    It's true about DC and Whitesnake. I know we see DC as an ultra confident guy but he was really down in the dumps and feeling like yesterday's news back in 77. He recently cited his appearance at Liverpool University's Battle of the Bands sponsored by Phil Easton's radio station and headlined by Cheap Trick as a turning point in his career.

    Thank you for putting my tribute into context.

    I've never heard of this chap either, but the music radio world needs more people like him. One less good guy in the world, sadly.

    Quote from Keith Thompson


    I know we see DC as an ultra confident guy
    but he was really down in the dumps and feeling
    like yesterday's news back in 77.



    You mean that a world famous rock star like 'ole Dave,
    (at certain moments in his life) can actually be a normal person?
    With worries, doubts, maybe even have to deal with an actual tragedy?
    Oh, what a surprise.

    To tell you the truth, Keith, I've always been kind of amazed that
    the DP MK 3 line-up was able to survive (more or less) after California Jam.
    Here were a bunch of "kids" with a screaming audience of a hundred thousand people.
    How do you follow-up an experience like that, with a normal life?

    Thank God that our boy went home, and Mom and Dad Hughes told him to clean up his room,
    and do the dishes. And as far as I know, we GHCPs treat Glenn (off stage at least)
    as if he's a pal from school, or from the old neighborhood. Plus, we like to complain a lot. :)
    I think we're doing Glenn a big favor, treating him as if he were "Joe Normal." :rolleyes:
    And have you noticed in the recent "tweets" how impressed "Mac Hughes" is...........
    As far as that pooch is concerned, he never heard of "The Voice of Rock."

    In an off-topic thread......kinda' ~

    While we're waiting for Glenn's book to come out, try to get a copy of two books written by
    Peter Guralnick:
    #1. Last Train to Memphis (1994)
    #2. Careless Love (1999)

    The first one covers Elvis from birth - to entering the US Army.
    The second covers the rest of his life, with his sad "take the money and run" attitude.

    *Colonel Tom didn't visit Elvis in Germany, because he couldn't get a passport,
    because he had jumped ship as a Dutch citizen, so he was an illegal US immigrant.

    *At the height of the Depression, Vernon Presley wrote out a check for $35.00
    that bounced, and he ended up spending two years in jail because of it.

    * If Elvis wanted 10 pills, the members of "the Memphis Mafia" would give him 100 pills,
    proving what "good friends" they were to him. He was lucky to make it to 42.

    *Once Gladys Presley died, nobody ever said "NO" to Elvis.

    Sadly, we all know the ending of the children's fairy tale of "The Golden Goose."


    *

    Grace,

    Your thought provoking post made me think about the fragility of the soul in what is let's face it a very artificial landscape.

    I guess for anyone has played in front of thousands of adoring fans, the pressure to keep spirits high becomes even greater when the music stops and the roadies have packed all the vans. Yes it's something I'd love to have done and I am sure, as we will find out from Glenn (and no doubt David in the future) it must have felt fantastic at times.

    I will certainly check out those books. One of my faves of that genre was by Gary Herman called Rock n Roll Babylon. It's got all the anecdotes in there and a picture of Tommy Bolin in a kimono circa Private Eyes holding a joke turd with the caption 'Tommy Bolin plus turd equals herione addiction.' Unkind but poignant nonetheless.

    As far as we as fans, and our Phil Easton was just one of us, were concerned, these guys were superhuman. "Yeah get on that stage and strut your stuff guys." I guess we are still asking them to do it now with all these Mark 3 rumours. Who knows? The thing is that now it can be their decision and not some two bit shit with a bagful of Cuban or some shiny shod scheister. That's the difference. If they don't, we still have them around and that's fine with me.

    The Voice of Rock aint leaving this building any time soon.

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