On July 6, 1972, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released the Trilogy album. The first song on the album is called “The Endless Enigma (Part 1)”. Looking back now, it’s strange, considering a Pink Floyd Enigma involving them would turn up 22 years later, and this one seems rather endless. Also, the album begins with a heartbeat, and so does Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, which was released the following year.
Later that month, my boss opened his own Life Insurance Agency. And I was the only employee, and business was slow. I was anxious to have Carl listen to the tape I had made of the Led Zeppelin show, but there were no ELP concerts in my area.
I never realized that when I was recording that June 6 Zeppelin show, I was committing a bit of a crime. I’m surprised we didn’t have an encounter with their manager, Peter Grant. I didn’t know about him then, but I read that he was heavy-handed regarding fan recordings. I never even considered profiting off it; I only wanted to play John Bonham’s drum solo to Carl. According to the UK’s Melody Maker magazine readers poll, Carl was voted number one drummer in 1972.
I learned that Emerson, Lake & Palmer, aka ELP, would be playing at the Mississippi River Festival on August 9 in Edwardsville, Illinois. I thought about how I could get a ride there.
A colleague of my boss mentioned he was going to Illinois on business. I asked if I could get a ride because I wanted to go to a concert in the area. He said it would be fine and he wouldn’t mind seeing the show. I knew I would be safe with him because he was older than my dad.
I was looking for another adventure because I broke up with my boyfriend. His friends didn’t like me because they wanted their party boy back to hang out with. But then, I liked musicians. And I also realized that Carl didn’t care for me either, even though it seemed he did initially. I was lonely and bored with my life then, but the excitement of watching a live rock concert and my favorite drummer play kept me going. After all, I was a fan
It was finally August 9th, and I was going to Illinois to see the concert. Luckily, when we arrived at the festival area, a Holiday Inn was nearby. They had an on-site restaurant, and we went there for lunch.
I knew there was a chance that the band was staying there. I wanted to remain incognito for a while to see if Carl had a girl with him.
I wore a long light blue and white gingham dress with red strawberry appliqués on wide shoulder straps crisscrossed in the back. I looked like a cute country girl with long, straight brown hair. It was not my usual British clothing style, but warm in August. The dress showed off the dark tan I had been working on all summer.
We walked into the restaurant, and I was wearing sunglasses. Near the back of the restaurant, I saw a long table with many people sitting at it. I knew right away that it was the band and entourage. Mr. Roth and I sat down at a table in the middle of the room, and I immediately put the menu up to my face to hide. It was funny. I thought I was invisible until I heard a familiar voice. And I put the menu down, and Carl was sitting across from me! I said, “How did you know it was me? He smiled and said, “I knew.” I was shocked to see him sitting there. I introduced him to Mr. Roth, and they began talking about Carl’s watch. Mr. Roth was a jeweler and was interested in it. I think it was an expensive travel watch that displayed the time in several countries.
After we ate lunch, I went to the outdoor pool area. I took my compact cassette recorder and several cassettes, including the recording of the Led Zeppelin concert. Carl came over and sat down next to me. I told him I was at the Led Zeppelin concert in June and recorded most of the show. I played the track of John Bonham’s drum solo to him, and of course, he was very impressed. I may have mentioned meeting the band.
I didn’t realize there were no audience sounds in the recording, which made it evident that I was backstage. I thought it was apparent that I went there specifically to record it for Carl, which I did. To me, musicians were like brothers in one musical family. If you love one, you can’t be taken very seriously by another.
While we were talking, Greg Lake approached us and said “Hi” to me, and I said “Hi” to him. He was wearing that famous brown velvet jacket with the bluebirds on it. I remember it because I was thinking, why is wearing a velvet jacket in August? Then Carl stood up, and they walked several feet away for a private conversation. I remember thinking, what does Greg want again, and why does he always bother us? Then Greg left, and Carl stood with his back to me as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. I was getting tired of trying to figure him out. Then he sat back down next to me. But after so many years, recalling small conversations is a challenge.
Later that evening, Mr. Roth drove to the concert and had backstage passes for us. The concert was fantastic. After the show, I stood outside the dressing room. I always knew my place. I saw Carl laughing with others with a big smile, but when he saw me looking at him, it was like someone had wiped the smile right from his face.
The next day, Mr. Roth went to his business meetings, and I caught a flight back to Detroit.
(Readers, now listen to the ELP song “Still…You Turn Me On,” written by Greg Lake from the album Brain Salad Surgery, released in the U.K. In November 1973 by Manticore Records)
These lyrics in particular:
You see, it really doesn’t matter
When you’re buried in disguise
By the dark glass on your eyes
Though your flesh has crystallized
When I first heard the song, I thought, well, I don’t turn Carl on, that’s for sure. It was strange, like I was replying to what I was hearing. The “dark glass on your eyes” made me wonder, but at that time, I figured the lyrics came from some magical place somewhere I’d never been. I never thought about or even dreamt that I could be part of a song.
(I’m trying to tell the story chronologically without jumping ahead, but I always wondered what Greg meant by “crystallized” flesh. I thought maybe it was about my skin being so brown from tanning. But, while writing this, I thought it could mean crystallized sugar, like in brown sugar, perhaps. Maybe Greg got the idea for the lyrics from the Rolling Stones song “Brown Sugar,” the number one Rolling Stones song in 1971).
ELP toured the UK for the remainder of 1972 and then toured more of Europe during 1973. It wouldn’t be until December 1973 that I would see Carl again. What he did to me was very sad. More about that at the end of this chapter
***
During the year 1973, I saw Pink Floyd play on these dates:
March 5 at Detroit Cobo Hall, March 11 at Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens, June 23 at Detroit Olympia Stadium, and June 24 at Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga, Ohio.
I was also at the Grande Ballroom Detroit when Pink Floyd opened for The Who in July 1968. That seems like an unbelievable lineup, but it’s true.
I was glad that my girlfriends’ taste in music was still the same as mine, but who didn’t like Pink Floyd in the ’70s? I can remember that there weren’t many female fans who were into the progressive rock scene as much as we were.
My girlfriends talked with the guys at the soundboard at several shows. There were Peter Watts, Alan Parsons, Arthur Max, and others, but I can’t recall how I first met Chris Adamson, who also worked for Pink Floyd. He seemed to like me. I recently discovered that he had worked for ELP. I remember chatting briefly with an ELP stage crew member in 1971, but I can’t recall if it was him. He asked if I had any marijuana joints, and I did. It sounds like him because I gave him weed when he was with Pink Floyd. I also found out that he worked on the Faces tour. He may have seen me around with all those bands and probably thought I was a real groupie looking for sex with rock stars. I was sort of, but with only one rock star, Carl Palmer. But it was 1973, and I was tired of waiting for him.
The first song on The Dark Side of the Moon album is “Speak to Me,” the first voice you hear after the heartbeat begins is the voice of Chris Adamson. He’s the guy who says:
I’ve been mad for fucking years, absolutely years,
been over the edge for yonks,
been working with bands so long, I think crikey
It’s strange how “Endless Enigma,” the first song on the Emerson Lake & Palmer album Trilogy, also begins with a heartbeat. And Chris worked for both bands.
A cool thing on tour was the black DSOTM t-shirts with the rainbow prism that the road crew wore, and only people associated with the band had them. I asked Chris for one, and he gave me a green DSOTM t-shirt. I said something like, “Yuck, what is this green? Don’t you have any black ones left?” I guess they didn’t. I stuck all my backstage passes on my car dashboard; perhaps he saw the ELP passes. Backstage passes had a sticky backing to stick on your clothes. They were like nylon material on the other side. I wish I had kept them; I didn’t know I’d be writing about it almost 50 years later.
After one of the Pink Floyd concerts, Chris wanted a ride to the hotel. He was carrying a briefcase, and before he got into the car, he looked side to side as if to see if anyone was around, and he got in. He banged the briefcase against my dashboard, and I said, “Hey, watch it; this is a new car.” Then he put the briefcase on his lap and held it firmly with his hands and arms. He seemed a bit nervous. He said nothing about what was inside, and I didn’t ask. Years later, I thought about it when I heard that bands got paid in cash from the ticket sales. In the ’70s, trusting a promoter to pay the band with a check wasn’t safe. So maybe there was money in that briefcase, a lot of money! I wouldn’t doubt it; my car was unknown to anyone associated with the band, and Chris was the most muscular guy on tour, and no one would mess with him to try to steal it. My green Ford Maverick economy car was inconspicuous and was perfect for the job to get away.
It’s funny and purely coincidental, but this little adventure reminds me of the lyrics in the Pink Floyd song “Money,” as in “Money get away,” “grab that cash with both hands,” and “new car caviar,” and Chris was also on the Pink Floyd “football team.”
I’m not sure at which concert in Detroit an accident occurred. It was during the explosion sound at the end of the song “On the Run,” like the explosion you hear on the DSOTM album.
In a feature article by Mark Cunningham from “Sound on Stage” magazine from March 1997, titled, Welcome to the Machine,” “The Story of Pink Floyd’s Live Sound, Part 1”, page 62, Alan Parsons discusses it.
”Parsons casts his mind back to an American tour date in Detroit when many of the system’s components were wiped out by pyrotechnics:”
”By mistake, the flashpots at the front of the stage had been filled twice with explosives. The result was a double-strength explosion, which ended up injuring several people in the front row of the audience. Unfortunately for us, it also destroyed about 60% of the horns and bins, so we had to struggle on for the rest of the show with less than half our PA rig. Of course, we had a gig the next night, and finding replacement gear was a major headache”.
I was afraid it might have been my fault for passing out marijuana. After that show, Chris gave me a job removing the duct tape from the electric cables taped on the floor and then winding up the cables. So, I guess I was a temporary roadie on the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon tour. And that was pretty cool.
I was doing a pretty good job winding up a cable by wrapping it around my hand and then going around my arm, and I just kept winding it up and going on and on until I was at the stage. I figured the band had already left because it was late, and no one was around me. So I went up on the stage. That felt weird. Once again, I looked around. I followed the cable to a microphone on a stand, one of the backup singer’s mics, and I took the microphone off it. I heard a noise when I knelt to put the coiled cable with the microphone. On my right, I saw David Gilmour kick his foot right through the bass drumhead! I thought, oh geez, here I am alone on the stage with Gilmour, and he seems madder than hell. I feared he’d see me and ask what I was doing onstage. But this was my one chance to say something to him, but what do I say to an angry musician? I reached into my pocket.” Do you want a joint”? I asked him while holding it up. Gilmour replied, “No”!
I thought, damn, that’s not a good reply. I never stopped to think that maybe it was my marijuana that caused someone to use double explosives in the first place. That’s why Gilmour was so angry. Some people sitting in the front row were injured, the PA system got wrecked, and they had to find a replacement for the next night’s show. I left the stage area as fast as I could.
I don’t remember anything else that night. All I knew was that I got a big “NO” from one of my heroes. Gilmour was everyone’s hero then, and he still is. It wasn’t just his incredible talent; that made me take notice. It was because he seemed a bit shy and a regular guy. Gilmour was an extremely handsome t-shirt and jeans sort of rock star. I always wished to be in the front row to pretend he was singing to me. But getting near the stage when the band played was challenging. It was primarily guys jammed in and packed against the stage. Getting in free didn’t mean I had a good seat upfront, that’s for sure, but it was very cool to hang out in front and backstage. Later in the story, I tell about the events I wished for and how they came true.
During the concerts, whenever David Gilmour would sing “Breathe (In the Air),” my girlfriend and I would sing it aloud. That song was and will forever be pure magic. I imagined my voice would fly high up to the stage, and Gilmour could hear me. That was another dream that would come true.
The music of Pink Floyd at those shows was incredible, of course. Music was and still is the soundtrack of my journey, and it even guides me when I’m writing now. It’s difficult to describe a masterpiece like The Dark Side of the Moon album, ranked the number one classic rock album of all time. Every listener gets a different experience from it, and the music can get you high.
On March 11, 1973, my girlfriends and I went to Toronto to see Pink Floyd. It wasn’t that far a drive from Detroit. They played at the Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens, and we stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel. I believe Chris told me in advance where they would be staying. Strangely I can’t recall the concert itself, probably because of what happened after the concert. It was one of my most awesome rock memories.
After the concert, we went to our hotel room with a street view. I happened to look out the window and saw a limo pull up. I knew right away that it was the band arriving. I thought I’d get a closer look, so I took the elevator down to the lobby.
Once I got down there, I didn’t see them. I went up to a counter that had items for sale, and I pretended that I wanted to buy something, but a lady came up and said they were closed. Then I turned around to leave, and about fifteen feet away, all of Pink Floyd were standing shoulder to shoulder as if they were getting their photos taken. Wow! That was an incredible sight.
I had to pass by them to get to the elevator. I knew I had to say something, but what do you say to Pink Floyd? Reaching where they were standing, they all looked at me, probably wondering what I would do and say while they were together. I glanced at them and said, “You guys were really great tonight,” then I almost ran to the elevator, got in, and breathed a sigh of relief, but I was still stunned. Then, the whole band got on the elevator. Immediately, I thought, I’m alone on an elevator with Pink Floyd! I stood to the side and stared at the floor.
Then Roger Waters said to me,” Where’s the party?” Then, looking back at the floor, I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled, “I don’t know.” Then, when the elevator stopped at my floor, the doors opened, and I got out, and so did the band. I thought, are they following me to my room? It was starting to get funny.
I think it was Roger’s idea to have some fun. I was a calm fan who cared about their privacy and didn’t bother them with pictures or autographs. I think they appreciated that. They probably saw me with my girlfriends backstage at some shows and thought we seemed harmless. Plus, I was friends with Chris Adamson.
When I got to our room, I opened the door, and the guys walked in behind me. My girlfriends got a bit freaked out but remained calm. I wanted to say,” Look who I found in the lobby.” Maybe I did. When they walked in and closed the door, I finally looked, but Gilmour wasn’t with them. He must have gotten off on another floor. Roger, Nick, and Rick were in the room with my girlfriends and me. I believe we introduced ourselves.
One of my girlfriends was a huge Roger Waters fan, and like him, she enjoyed the comedy of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the BBC television series. So she brought the book Monty Python’s Big Red Book with her on this trip. The book was sitting on the table, and Roger saw it and picked it up. He made himself comfortable on the bed, propping himself up with a pillow, and then he started to read to us, and we all gathered around. The book comprises reworked material from the first two series on the BBC. Roger held us captive with his humor while reading the funny stories. He started singing “The Lumberjack Song”. Then, we all joined in singing on the chorus while we laughed.
Then Roger read the sketch called “Spam,” and we all sang the choir lines:
“Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!”
Rick Wright was nearby, and he came up closer and started talking to me. He was so kind and soft-spoken. He was very sweet when complimenting a bracelet that I was wearing. It was a wide black plastic bracelet with many large fake diamonds. It was the style at the time. I told him that the diamonds weren’t real, and we laughed. I’ll never forget our chat. It was heartbreaking to read in 2008 that he had passed away.
After a while, the phone rang, and it was Chris calling for me, and I left the room to see him. I still wonder if he heard the band talking and laughing in the background. They left a while after I did. All the members of the band had girlfriends or wives, but the three members of the band were very kind to us, and it was a fun time. It’s always been a very fond memory for myself and my friends.
While I was in Chris’ room, Gilmour phoned. I knew it was him because Chris said his name. I knew Chris was a very busy guy with organizing the equipment, but he had many jobs.
He wanted me to go to New York City and meet him there. But when my girlfriend and I arrived in NY at the Navarro Hotel, there was a note from him saying he had to leave. I’m not sure if the concert was canceled. All I recall is that we didn’t go to the show, but my girlfriend Marg and I had a great time looking in the exclusive shops. I did manage to buy a snakeskin belt.
I finally found out where Chris Adamson has been employed for many years. I saw a photo of him on the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Facebook page. He’s been their tour production manager for over two decades and four decades with Fleetwood Mac. It was great to read that he has been enjoying his career. He was a hard worker, and for his work on the road, he received the industry’s highest honor, the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
I remember the Pink Floyd concert at Blossom Music Center, an outdoor amphitheater in Ohio, situated on several hundred acres of land. My girlfriend and I walked into the far General Admission grassy area, and the band was playing “Echoes.”
I haven’t forgotten the peaceful moments where, for me, the music became one with the land, and the sounds seemed to be echoing off the surrounding hills. There were sounds of wind coming from the music and nature. I could feel a cool breeze on my face. Even the song lyrics about the sun and sky seemed to speak about the open air and land where “everything was green.” And now my memories of it are “The echo of a distant time.”
***
Emerson Lake & Palmer played in Detroit on December 4th and 5th in 1973.
The first night my girlfriend was driving, and for some reason, we were very late getting to the concert. She was the same friend who was with me at the ELP dinner and rushed us out after we met Led Zeppelin. We arrived at Cobo Hall, and she said, “Well, the band is probably already playing now.” I said, “Stop the car.” I got out and went over to the backstage door and knocked. She couldn’t believe what I was doing. A guy came to the door, and I told him, “Tell Carl Denise is here.” Then when I was talking to her, she freaked out and saw Carl opened the door and he looked out. After that, he shut the door. I was wondering what he was up to, probably wanted to make sure I was the right Denise. After a few minutes, the roadie let us in, and he pointed to where Carl was.
He was standing in the concert hall in front of the stage to the side. I ran to him. I could have knocked him down the way I smashed right into him and hugged him and said, “Oh God, I missed you.” I forgot about where I was, who he was, and I acted on my feelings. We were, after all, standing right in front of the audience, but it was mostly dark.
I saw that he was looking at the stage with a smile. Then I looked at the stage, and there it was, the brand new custom-built, stainless steel drum set and the lights at the bottom of it were turned on, and they made it all sparkle. I bounced up and down like a kid on Christmas morning. I read about the drum set, and we talked about the hunting scenes and animals engraved on the shells. It was difficult to hear and talk with the loud pre-show PA music going. This was the tour for their fourth studio album called Brain Salad Surgery.
The concert was great, but Carl’s drum solo was the best part of it. During the solo, the drum platform revolved while he was playing the gongs. The gongs ended up in front, and there was a colorful dragon on them. The head was on one gong and the body on the other. When he played the gongs, they swayed, and it looked as though the dragon was moving. Then while the platform revolved back again, he rang the over-head ships bell holding onto the string with his teeth while he continued playing the gongs. He looked like a Martian landing on stage in a spaceship.
I always remembered how in 1972, he liked the hand-painted dragon on my red leather handbag. It caught his eye. I met him on April 23rd of 1971. St. George’s day is celebrated on April 23rd in England. According to legend, St. George was the soldier in the Roman army who killed a dragon and saved a princess. In an interview, Carl said he got the idea for the dragon from a vase that he saw.
When everyone was ready to leave after the show, I was standing by the door. Carl came up and took my hand, and we ran out the door into a limo.
It was a wild scene with fans all around taking photos. They were even photographing while we were in the back seat, and the cameras were flashing in the dark was blinding. I tried to hide so they couldn’t see me. I covered my face and shouted, “Hey, I’m no rockstar” Then, Carl said, “Neither am I,” and we both laughed. Then my girlfriend stuck her head in the limo and said she was leaving. I forgot that she drove, and I wouldn’t have a ride home that night. So I told Carl I had to go and I started to get up, and he put his hand on my arm to stop me from leaving. Then I knew he wanted me to spend the night with him.
I was shocked and somewhat afraid and said, ”Will you take care of me and not throw me out on the street?” He smiled and laughed again. I was thinking about the night when he wanted me to go home, and another time he wasn’t there when I woke up.
The first thing he said was, “who was that old man you were with.” I laughed and said, “that was my boss’s jeweler.” A year prior, Mr. Roth drove me to Illinois to see the band. He should have asked me that question the year before.
I told him that I drove to Montreal to see him, but when we got there, I looked in the newspaper to read that the show was canceled.
It was strange that Greg Lake sat in the front seat with the chauffeur. I thought is he listening in on our conversation and being nosey again? I believe each member had a limo because Keith rode in a different one.
When Carl and I arrived in his room, it was the first time we were alone together. I said, “You were really good tonight,” and he said, “thanks.” I still didn’t think he liked me much, but I was hopeful. He asked me, “Will you always follow me?” I thought he was making a joke because I was a pest for following him for three years. ”I’ll probably follow you forever,” I replied. Then he said, ”Promise?” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.
He was going through his things, and he put a pair of drum sticks on the bed next to me. I took them and started tapping on the bed. He seemed to get angry, and he grabbed them out of my hand, and it hurt my fingers. I guess he wanted me to ask if I could have them, but I didn’t. I wanted a drum lesson instead.
We got undressed, and I kept my underwear on, and so did he. I was still trying to be modest, and I wanted to keep talking to him. It wasn’t every day that I had him all to myself. We got into bed, and I got on top of him in a straddle position, and I held his hand. I wasn’t ready for sex yet because the conversation could end after sex. It seemed like an innocent move to me.
Still holding his hand, I said,” I remember when I first saw you, and I was twirling around under the chandelier on the dance floor.” He smiled and said that it was a glitter ball. There was a glitter ball on the dance floor closer to the stage but not above us. I always thought there was a chandelier because of the lights that shined down on the floor. I told him how I loved to watch him play from the fire escape steps on the side of the stage at the Eastown and how cool it was watching him from above. Then I read his palm and told him that his lifeline was very long. Then we put our palms together as if I were Juliet saying, ”Palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”
When I put my head on his chest, my long hair came down all around us, and I said, “my heart is beating so fast,” and he said, “what does mine say”? So I listened to it, and I looked at him and said, “wow, that’s really fast.” I asked him if he still kissed like a brick, so he kissed me, and I said, “that’s better.”
He slowly pushed me off him and put me in a position and tried penetrating me anally without a lubricant. I knew that wasn’t going to work. So I reached underneath and put it in where it should go, but he only lasted several seconds. It was as though I was the first woman he ever had sex with.
After that, I didn’t say a word, and I fell asleep and slept right through the night.
In the morning, when I woke up, he was there, but the first thing he said to me was, “You’re weird.” I thought, what the hell was that for? I got up to go to the bathroom, and I told him to piss off.
I guess all was forgiven later because he asked what I wanted for breakfast, and I said tea and an English muffin. He brought out a photo of his new villa on the island of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands of Spain. The home looked pretty, and there was a cute black dog in the photo, a Bouvier, I believe. But why was he showing me his new home? Was he trying to get my hopes up about something?
I wasn’t asked, but I could have spent the day with him because there was another concert that night. But I wanted to go home, change, and take a shower. When I was about to leave, he asked if I was coming back that night, and I said, “I guess so.” I just didn’t feel that he cared for me. I had to ask for a kiss, and he barely touched me all night. I phoned my girlfriend to pick me up, then I left. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Carl anymore.
The second night Saturday, December 5th, after the concert, I overheard one guy yell out, “We’re going to Carl’s for dinner, ” the name of the restaurant was Carl’s Chop House. It was one of Detroit’s premier restaurants, with a reputation for excellent food and service.
After the show, everyone was getting into limousines and cars. I couldn’t find Carl anywhere. I thought he was already in a limo, so my girlfriend and I got into one. When we arrived at the restaurant, I looked around, and he wasn’t there either.
We all sat down at a table, and after a while, Carl walked in and stood in the doorway looking around for us. It was funny. I think the other band members played a joke on him. He said something to them as he walked by, and they laughed.
There is a similar story that was told to ELP fans about Greg and Keith leaving a concert in Japan while Carl was still playing drums on stage. They left him there and went to the restaurant without him, and when he finally showed up, he said to them, “You bastards.” Maybe they meant to say that it happened in Detroit unless they did it to him twice.
During the dinner, there was plenty of wine going around, and Carl was filling my glass. He picked up two spoons and started tapping on the table.
Then I picked up two spoons and played the very end of the band’s song called “The Sheriff.” And I received a big round of applause from people at the table, and my girlfriend asked, “how did you do that”? I’m not sure how. I never played the spoons before. Then perhaps the applause was because they may have known what was about to happen to me.
When we arrived back at the hotel, I was still feeling the effects of all the wine I drank. We were in the hallway, and Carl walked passed me on his way to his room. I didn’t say anything, but after he went by me, he turned around and asked, “are you coming”? So I followed him, and we went into someone else’s room. He almost pushed me into the bathroom and then handed me a t-shirt and told me to “put this on, ” then he shut the door.
I stood there in the bathroom, looking at the Brain Salad Surgery tour t-shirt he handed me. It made me feel sick inside like I was nothing and that I meant nothing. At that time, I didn’t even know what the album title and artwork even meant.
(The album title and the cover art represents oral sex with a man. The illustration initially had the complete phallus, but when the artwork was presented to the record company, it was rejected as being pornographic. The group had a different artist airbrush it into a shaft of glowing light)
I didn’t want to put that t-shirt on; I was very confused and hurt. So I left the bathroom, threw the T-shirt on the floor, and sat down on the floor. My head was still spinning from the wine I had. Before I sat down, I saw a woman in the bed and another man in the room. I believe he was the president of Manticore records who gave the album its name. He and Carl were both wearing black bikini underwear. The woman in bed was wearing a Brain Salad Surgery t-shirt, and she was mostly under the sheets.
Carl knelt next down by me, and he took off my top and bra and put the t-shirt on me. Strangely, I still trusted him. He unzipped my pants, but I kept my underwear on, and I sat there. I didn’t know what was happening to me—what a creepy nightmare.
Then Carl got in bed and got on top of the fat groupie and was mimicking having sex. Then he told me to get in bed, and I wouldn’t. Then the woman and the other guy were telling me to get in bed. They wanted me to be on one side of Carl with the woman on the other side. They were all badgering me to get in. I went and sat on the edge of the bed, and then Carl grabbed my arm real quick, and the other guy had a camera in my face, ready to photograph the scene.
Immediately I pulled away and started crying loudly. Then I realized where I was and didn’t want those idiots to see me cry. I calmed myself down and got dressed fast. The fat groupie in bed said to me, “What did you think was gonna happen here?” I didn’t reply. And Carl never even said a word to me about any of it.
I left the room as fast as possible, and I called out to my girlfriend in Keith’s room. I hugged her and cried and told her what happened. Keith heard what I said, and he didn’t say anything. I just remember saying, “I’m never coming back.”
I couldn’t believe that Carl wouldn’t come out of that room or say anything to me. He offered nothing, he wouldn’t defend me, and he didn’t care. He cared about his friend, who was also his karate teacher, more than me.
Then I realized I left my new silver lamé scarf in that room. I didn’t want any part of me left in there. So I went back and knocked, and Carl’s friend opened the door, and I walked in and went over to get my scarf. Carl called out my name from the other bed. I didn’t look, but I said loudly, “Carl, you’re perverted” then I smiled, and I walked out the door. Not only was I taking my self-respect and my scarf, but I was taking Carl’s secrets with me that he didn’t want people to know. One of which is his small penis.
It seemed apparent that the previous night was only to gain my trust, so I’d fall for the fake sex photo op he planned. At the time, I didn’t know about the band’s Manticore film or that I was in the restaurant scene. It was shown in the U.K. on Dec 24th. It was evident that they wanted a photo of another woman and me both wearing Brain Salad Surgery t-shirts and in bed with Carl to add it to their film.
Going back for my scarf took courage. I was proud of myself for not falling for their plan to take photos, which would have shown me in a bad light and would have been slanderous. I wasn’t that type of person at all, but with all the wine I was given, I could have quickly fallen for it. I was so close to a disaster that it was frightening. Since the band was so famous, the photo could have been seen all over the world. My heart was broken badly. At the very least, I thought Carl was my friend. It was a very traumatic event. I kept the silver lamé scarf all these years; I’ll never have the heart to throw it away like Carl threw my heart away. But it’s really what happens years later that was much more cruel.
***
(In upcoming chapters, I will talk about the Publius Enigma and how some of my stories are involved and what clues were placed in The Division Bell lyrics and artwork. Also, the words Publius and Enigma were placed in the album artwork for the A Momentary Lapse of Reason mini disc reissue released in November 1994. The first song on the album is the instrumental “Signs of Life” with the following spoken words by Nick Mason:
When the child-like view of the world went, nothing replaced it…nothing replaced it…nothing replaced it…
I do not like being asked to…..I do not like being asked to… I do not like being asked to….
Other people replaced it
Someone who knows
In my previous story, I did not like being asked to get in bed over and over by three people. My child-like view of the world went, and other people replaced it, and someone knows. Did my friend Chris Adamson find out what happened to me? And did he tell his good friend David Gilmour?
Recently I saw a photo from the ’80s of Chris talking to Carl’s good friend Mark backstage at a concert. Earlier in my story, I wrote about when Carl introduced me to Mark and how later that night, Mark told me Carl was weird.
Many things in this chapter remind me of A Momentary Lapse of Reason lyrics and artwork—the upcoming chapters about the 1980s connect also. I remember thinking years ago that it didn’t matter how many different beds Carl switched to, I was never coming back.
The cover art for the album with all the beds and a man on the bed breaking a stick in half, like a broken drum stick perhaps, because of my “Promises Broken”? I’ll let the reader decide on this one. I thought about the connection in 1994, but wasn’t sure. Now I see even more similarities and it’s very unbelievable. I had a difficult time believing in The Division Bell in 1994, but there was no doubt I needed a ”Coming back to life” at that precise time.)
Recently I saw a YouTube interview of Gilmour talking about the AMLOR album cover. There are several out there. He said that he wanted a picture frame next to the bed with no photo in it. That’s fits the story as no photo was taken that night because I ran out of the room.
I was close to being framed by Palmer with a photo to make me look guilty of doing some weird sex acts. Who knows what rock magazine that photo would have been leaked to and shown in. It was all to give Palmer a much needed manly image and to show me in a false light as some sleazy groupie who no one would ever believe if I ever told the truth about him. But I ran out of the room on their horrible scheme.
On September 10, 2021, another video about the making of AMLOR cover art was posted on the official Pink Floyd YouTube channel. In it, the video director Storm Thorgerson said “trying to work out why the French maid was there”. There is a French maid shown in the artwork for the album. If he’s the art director, then he should know why. I believe the statement is a clue. The guy in the bed represents Palmer who had no need of a sexy French maid.
It seems that the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason is a part of The Division Bell, like parts one and two. Whenever I’d hear the song “One Slip”, it reminded me so much of that dreadful night.
In Chapter 11, I talk about the Publius Enigma clues put in the artwork for AMLOR. But when I wrote that chapter, I wasn’t sure that it was all connected, but now I’m pretty sure due to certain clues being given recently.
It had to have been Chris Adamson who found out what happened to me and told Gilmour about it. He knew a good friend of Palmer’s and he also worked for Emerson Lake & Palmer before he worked for Pink Floyd. He was also a good friend of Gilmour’s, probably still is.
The remixes & updated AMLOR will be released on 29 October 2021. Maybe there’ll be more clues in it.
Publius Enigma Solved 