[Ron Sale]

There was an enquiry from 'Blue Monkey' about the van that was used by 'The High Society' from London. Well I would never guess that anyone would remember it but if it helps anyone else recollect those great times in Cuxhaven in 65 -here is the story!
We had a van which was painted a bright yellow colour in England, an Austin. It took us many miles along the roads to where we played with such bands as 'The Pretty Things', Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames, and 'Nashville Teens' (Tobacco Road fame). Soon we had fans writing in lipstick, pen, or even scratching their names and messages all over the van. Blue Monkey remembers seeing our van in Cuxhaven. Wherever we went in Germany it was the centre of attraction and amusement. Eventually some German fans decided it was a good idea to do the same and wrote messages on it! Maybe some were rude ones!
The yellow van broke down twice -once in Flensburg (where it was repaired by the father of a girl Bob our drummer was 'friendly' with) and the second time near Dortmund it finally came to an end. We had to trade-in our wonderfull yellow Austin for a newer VW. This VW served us well and finally took us back to the UK. But we missed our van as it was a good friend to us and gave us publicity!
If anyone else remembers seeing our van -maybe in Cuxhaven or Hamburg or Flensburg please let me know!
Thanks

Ron

[Ralf Froehlich]

Great living story, Ron! Everybody who remembers the 60s knows, that many of the british Bands, which we german boys (sure the girls too!) admired, drove these kind of "painted" vans. The real Beat-world came to our little town and showed us, what professional Rock-music meant.
I do hope, readers of our Forum will give you their remembrances as well!
Cheers
Ralf

[Blauer Affe]

Ja, Ron, genau. Es war der gelbe Austin den ich meinte. Mein Name ist da auch irgendwo drauf. Kannst Du mal nachsehen?

Er stand eines Tages unweit der Magnet-Bar. Gerade in dem Augenblick als meine Freunde und ich uns auf der Karosse verewigt hatten, kamt ihr um die Ecke. Wir hatten uns schon auf eine wüste Keilerei eingestellt. Das Gegenteil war der Fall. Wir kamen ins Gespräch und da ihr erst kurz in der Stadt ward und euer Gastspiel erst am nächsten Tag begann, machte wir einen kleinen Rundgang in der Stadt. Zum Schluss landeten wir noch im »Schwäbischen Hof« eine Kneipe dessen schlechter Ruf kaum zu überbieten war. Das konntet ihr natürlich nicht wissen und uns hat es Spaß gemacht. Das Bier war billig, die Musikbox gut bestückt und laut.

Der gelbe Austin hat euch in Cuxhaven zu etwas Besonderem gemacht – zu etwas Unvergessenem. Für mich jedenfalls. Und noch etwas : ein Engländer der nicht nur gut deutsch sprach, sondern es auch gerne sprach war damals außergewöhnlich. Ich war beeindruckt. Das habe ich Bob (so hieß er ja wohl) nie vergessen. Auf diesem Weg meine herzlichsten Grüße an ihn. Ich habe ein Menge Gruppen und Bands erlebt, deren Namen ich längst vergessen habe. Euch nicht.

Blauer Affe

[Sirpriess]

Hi Boys, der Schwäbische Hof,,Wirtin hieß damals glaube ich Alma Bockhoff, war schon einer der der härteren Mutproben. Hatte auch den Nickname "Almas Weinstuben". Bier trank man am besten aus der Flasche. Die dort "verkehrenden Damen" hatte gleich nebenan in einem sehr flachen Haus, "Fischerkate??" ihr Domizil. Glücklich wer andere Möglichkeiten hatte. War schon was für "Feinschmecker"und ausgehungerte Fischdampferbesatzungen!
Später hat Henry Garber "Codename Nutten Henry" den Laden übernommen. Was da los war, weiß ich allerdings nicht so genau. Wird ja alles leicht übertrieben. Der Schwäbische Hof hatte es aber in sich.

Sirpriess

[Ron Sale]

Dear Blue Monkey
Thankyou for your reply which I found interesting and amusing. I wish we used a camera in those early days!
I remember we used to go to a bar in the main street. The reason for this is that they had a reasonable juke box with some good records on it. Each time we had a beer there we played Eddie Cochran's '20 Flight Rock' which we enjoyed.
One night after playing our gig in the Magnet Bar we had met 3 American soldiers from the base at Bremerhaven. We went to that bar on the main street for a few beers. While we were talking and listening to the music one of them said that they were impressed by our standard of english language (typical American naivity), Yes they thought we were German!! Imagine their embarassement when we told them we were British and spoke better english than they did! I wonder if Blue Monkey recalls any interesting people at the Magnet Bar? Mostly they were fishermen who had a weekend in which to spend lots of money on beer! We also had a black American soldier who used to bring us american cigarettes and gum from the base. We had cheap cigarettes in 200 packs and he made a little profit from the transaction. One evening he asked if he could sing a blues song with us on stage. Imagine our delight in playing a blues song and hearing it sung in the right accent! He enjoyed it and we did too.
Coming out of the Magnet Bar door and turning left we used to find a schnell imbiss not far around the corner. I wonder if anyone remembers this place?
Unfortunately I have lost contact with Bob our drummer who spoke good German. I am desperately trying to contact all our old band members to give them some recent news regarding this excellent website.
Blue Monkey keep sharing your memories with us please.
Cheers

Ron

[Sirpriess]

The "Schnellimbiss" Called "Oskars". Everybody in this time knows it. He make the best Currywurst in town. "Eine Curry -brat-" was his speak!

Sirpriess

[Ralf Froehlich]

Excuse me, Sirpriess, but "Oskar" was situated turning right when you left the "Magnet-Bar"! Ron said: turning left!
Ralf

[Ron Sale]

Pardon me for joining in the conversation once more. I seem to remember this particular place, turning left from the front door, was not one that seemed to be open during the day. It was not a usual cafe-type place but more like one where the front was opened up and then we walked into it several metres to see the serving counter set back into the building. It seemed more like a temporary place, more like a garage, or arcade entrance, is how we would describe it in England.
One night after playing at the Magnet Bar and some Icelandic fishermen were in town, we saw an interesting fight in this schnell imbiss. One large local man who obviously had lots to drink thought he would pick on this weedy-looking Icelandic fellow who wore spectacles. A bad mistake! One thing the guy should have realised that if the Icelandic was a fisherman he would be tougher than he looked! Anyway they had a good few minutes punching each other and rolling over the floor. After they got it out of their system they decided it was a draw, and shook hands the best of friends!
Anyhow we always enjoyed the food from this place.
Cheers
Ron

[Ralf Froehlich]

Absolut fantastic Ron, what kind of remembrances you can recall!!!
But now I have to apologize to Erwin! It must have been Oskar`s place (close to Studio 200) like you describe it and it was right hand side when you left the "Magnet-building". The Schnell-Imbiss opened late and did the service almost the whole night through. It was a meeting place for so many different kinds of people.
We all felt very sorry when Oskar had to close and died. He was a man of a special kind of humour.
Ralf

[Ron Sale]

OK Ralf maybe my memory has let me down about turning left or right. There may have been a shorter route by turning right that we did not know about. Anyhow we all seem to agree on the look of the place and his curry bratwursts and pomme frites were terrific!
By the way does anyone remember the name of the bar that 3 of us used to sleep at? Again, turning right out of the Magnet Bar and down the road for about 75metres on the other side of the street. It was a more modern place and had a juke box. We slept in bedrooms up on the first floor of this bar and heard the bass sound of the juke box through the floor. One of the most popular hit tunes of that period was Mr Tambourine Man by The Byrds, and the bass sound of this record used to shake the room a bit. But being a bass player myself -I loved it!

Cheers
Ron

[Ralf Froehlich]

As you told me in your magnificent interview (NO DETAILS HERE!!!), it must have been in the street Neue Reihe. I don`t know the name of the bar. Perhaps anyboby else can remember.
Ralf

[Ron Sale]

Ralf

If the bar was new it would have been built in the early 60s. If this is true I think the bar is still there, although no longer a bar of course. Lesley (my wife) and I located what we thought was the correct building. It is now closed and is advertised to be sold. However there are many structural faults with it and we could see lots of cracks in the brickwork. Clearly it is unsafe as a building now. I rather hope it was the noise from the juke box that caused all the bricks to crack, especially the bass!

Ron