Keith Moon: A Little More Magic, Please.
I missed Keith Moon’s birthday yesterday. Sorry. I never met
the man, but here’s a story as it was told to me by studio
guitarist/friend Dave Cohen, in 1969 or ’70.
Keith was playing on a BBC Orchestra recording (Keith Moon?!
Studio gig? BBC Ork? Yeah, right. OK, I said it was apocryphal)
when the conductor stopped the music in the middle of a rundown
and said, to the percussionist, “What can you do to give me a
little more magic?” As I heard it, Keith said, “Abracafuckin’ Dabra.”
Here’s another Brit percussionist story, I don’t remember if it was
about Keith or not, and again, hereay.
The BBC Orchestra (is there such a thing?) or some other British
recording association, was running down the charts for some legit
piece or another. At one point the music called for a GP, general
pause, an intense rest to inject extra drama into a piece with
sudden, unexpected silence.
But the percussionist somehow or other misread the chart, and,
when all the other musicians suddenly stopped playing, right in
the middle of the rest, hit the triangle, hard, like you would in
a marching band. rest.
The conductor stopped conducting, the musicians stopped playing,
and everyone just glowered at the percussionist.
He glowered back, and without missing a beat, said,
“Dinner is served.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
