from Adrian Belew’s ‘elephant blog’

Anecdote #646 part 1

Uneasy Meetings with Gods part one. 

place: a Frank Zappa concert in Cologne, Germany 2/14/1978 – my first tour of europe ever and as a member the frank zappa band. although I wasn’t aware, this night brian eno is in the audience. next day eno calls david bowie knowing david is looking for a new guitarist.

Berlin, Germany 2/15/1978 the following night david comes to the show ostensibly to see me play. there is a break in the show where I normally leave the stage while frank plays an extended guitar solo. as I’m leaving I glance over to the monitor board. I’m shocked to see david bowie and iggy pop! I walk over, shaking david’s hand I say, “I’ve always loved your music”. “great”, he says, “how’d you like to join my band?!” “well, I’m playing with this guy right now…” I stammer, pointing to frank. “yes, I know, but your tour ends in two weeks and mine begins two weeks later.” we agree to meet back at the hotel after the show.

what followed was like something out of a spy film. david and his assistant coco tried to rendezvous with me without letting anyone in on our little “secret”. I suppose the idea was to avoid letting frank know I was being wooed away from his band. I was too dumb to notice. at one point, david, coco, and I stepped into the hotel elevator when no one was around. whispering, coco said, “we have a car out front. we’ll meet you there in ten minutes.”

david wanted to take me to one of his favorite restaurants to discuss my future. he had lived in berlin for several years. so his driver set off with the three of us in the back madly chatting about songs we’d play and places we’d go. we pulled up to a nice looking restaurant and walked in.

at the table right in front of us sat frank and some of the band!
the jig was up as they say.
can you imagine? how many restaurants are there in berlin?
so we invited ourselves to join them at their table.
feeling slightly uncomfortable david tried to engage frank in friendly discourse.
david said, “really enjoyed the show”.
frank shot back, “fuck you captain tom”.
“c’mon frank, we can be adults about this, can’t we?” david replied.
“fuck you captain tom.”

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