ADVENTURES ON THE VIRTUAL JUKEBOX
Conversations with Dotun Adebayo, Jonathan Wingate, Catherine Hayes and the BBC R5 Live audience.
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF
THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHRISTINE BOTT
(The conspiracy to flood the world with LSD)
To say the events of the last two years have exceeded all my expectations is becoming a tad cliché in my life.
Since 2022, without any intention to, my foot seems to have been stuck on a metaphorical accelerator pedal, swerving me from pillar to post with choices presented to me that I can only equate with Indiana Jones and the The Last Crusade, when Indie is presented with many cups and chalices as he needs to identify the ‘true grail’ in order to save his beloved father’s life.
My version of ‘the cups’ have been various production companies, independent producers, psychedelic biographers, all of whom I’m needing to discern as to how well they will represent my friend, Christine Bott’s counter cultural story, and those who shared her ideals and visions who were maturing in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
So far, the one dependable trustworthy and consistent media outlet, as far as I am concerned, has been our own UK jewel in the crown -The BBC.
As some reader’s of my blog will already know, The BBC made a fantastic podcast called Acid Dream. This has meant my friend’s story has had excellent exposure, more than I could have ever hoped for as a result of the considered treatment by a BBC producer called James Robinson, and the writer Tim Price.
During the pandemic I became an avid listener to R5 Live’s excellent Night Watchman, Dotun Adebayo. Apart from the fantastic Virtual Juke box and The World Football phone in, Dotun asks questions to his listeners that provoke, potentially divide, but also include all voices that are respectful and able to not swear on air!
In 2020 I started to call in to the program and subsequently began a dialogue with Dotun about writing- especially as he was in the process of writing his ‘noirmoir’- Effries and was incredibly generous in seeking people’s thoughts on his project.
I had also begun a dialogue with Jonathan Wingate– one of the ‘choir masters’ who rides shotgun on the Virtual Jukebox. Jonathan became incredibly important to me as he engaged fully with the story I was seeking to share of Christine’s life and he was alongside me as I was contacted by the main chemist, Richard Kemp, the man behind the production of LSD, and who invited me to his home in Spain in order for him to tell me his story. He broke his 45-year silence. This story I published in 2023 in ‘After Julie: The Kemp Tapes’.
Jonathan offered to interview me about the books and my experiences, and so far we have engaged in three conversations, two of which are available on my YouTube channel.
Then, on February 27th 2024 , I receive an email from Dotun inviting me to join him and Jonathan on The Virtual Jukebox to talk of all things counter culture and 1960’s through the lens of my book: The Untold Story of Christine Bott. This was to be at 1:00am on the morning of leap year day, 29th February 2024. Given this is such a rare and abstract day, it seemed to be serendipity to attempt to dive in, live on air, in a media I have no true experience of.
What follows are eight clips of that experience. Although the programme will be available on Sounds until April 1st 2024, I appreciate many will not have the time to listen back, so I am writing this blog so I don’t lose the experience into the mists of time.
Clip One
Here you get the general vibe of the program. Dotun introduces the theme, he introduces Jonathan as his wing master, and then offers me a rather elevated status as a curator of the sixties…
Clip 2
The conversation continues into the revolutionary attitude to sex- or was it so revolutionary? Followed by Clip 3 The unifying effect of The Beatles
Clip 4
A fantastic contribution from a member of Dotun’s nightclub : Annie.
Clip 5
Considerations over Bob Dylan and the atmosphere of protest. How do we as humans progress?
Clip 6
The potential appropriation of the American Blues by the UK rock and Roll scene- or was it a musical liberation for everyone? Yet the person involved in the ideas behind fuelling the UK musicians with LSD, ended up imprisoned in the most secure and severe wing in Durham Jail.
Clip 7
The ‘Be Here Now’ moment.
Clip 8
A fond farewell.
For me, this was an incredibly generous invitation from Dotun to engage with the Virtual Jukebox. Having Jonathan there, who I knew to be an experienced voice on the music and attitudes of that era, was a true treat. We all ( apart from Mr Wingate) made errors – a few dates wrong, a misnaming of a book, a person, I’m sure listeners will be correcting things as they listen- the perils of live broadcasting. However the Sixties (and seventies), I hope may start to be more recognisable to those of us still alive who lived through it, and not just representing a bunch of stoned losers as so often is how popular culture wishes to mythologise this vibrant era.
What I feel came over loud and clear was how much impact this counter cultural revolution had on the UK population. Generally characterized as being layabout hippies, the callers shared their experiences, and evidently, it was not only a rarefied ‘Swinging London’ experience. I recall as a young hitch hiker, if you visited a town or a city anywhere in the UK, especially in the summer months, if you wanted to find the Hippies, go to the park, and sure enough there would be a small gathering of the young, with their beads, bells, flowers and bare feet, all ‘hanging out’, discussing their latest favourite band, more likely than not, strumming guitars, and generally seeking ways to be peaceful. We surely need this now.
The songs put forward this evening were: (apart from every single record made by The Beatles, The Kinks, The Mamas and the Papas, Family, The Incredible String Band, Bowie, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Chicken Shack, Blodwyn Pig, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Zappa, Country Jo and the Fish, Steppenwolf, The Monkeys, The Zombies, Love, etc etc )
The children of the Revolution :T Rex
Nature Boy : Nat King Cole
Wild Thing : The Troggs
The times they are a changing : Bob Dylan
The House of the Rising Sun : The Animals
Whiter Shade of Pale : Procol Harum
Pinball Wizard: The Who
I hunger for your love: Van Morrison
White Rabbit : Jefferson Airplane
Everlasting Love: Love Affair
Satisfaction : The Rolling Stones
Albatross: Fleetwood Mac
Listen to me : The Hollies
My Way: Sinatra
All along the watch tower : Jimi Hendrix
Ghost in my House: R Dean Taylor
Being Human Being 