Min – Hastings Beach Concert with John Martyn 1991

img285

jm 7

jm 9

photos © Eddie Hazell Estate . .

Andy Qunta….Worth repeating myself I think – a unique character & great musician. Great photo!

Mick Knights….I remember one hot summer’s day, when he walked into the back bar of the Nellie wearing only a very small pair of swimming trunks and that tatty shoulder bag, the fishermen soon removed said trunks and thru them into the middle of the Bourne, where the shoulder bag proved useful in retrieving them!!!!

John Wilde…. was in a sauna with Min, he stunk of garlic and sweat and cider, he brought a potato with him to cook on the furnace, naturaly he upset a few patrons. Bless him.

Mick O’Dowd….Wot a great character he was!

Pete Fairless….Very nice guy, always had time to chat with (what must have been) a bunch of annoying teenagers. He made such beautiful sounds come out of that convoluted piece of tubing, too!

Alan Esdaile….I can remember a time on Hastings Pier, when someone came running up and said Min’s cut himself and bleeding badly. Myself and Paul Casson went searching for him by following the trail of blood! Eventually found him in a deck chair outside the ballroom laughing and oblivious to all the fuss. We got an ambulance down and he was taken into casualty. I saw him a few days later and he couldn’t remember anything about it.

Mick Knights….Another thing was the number of badges he wore around the late seventies, I remember one particulary small one which you had to get really close to to read said, you are cordially invited to go screw yourself, which gave him a lot of pleasure when ever he caught some one with it.

Tony Court-holmes…. remember him skate boarding down london road st leonards late at night playing his sax scared the shit out of me

Phil Gill….To quote Steve D, “Min was a free spirit”.

Yvonne Cleland….I don’t think he knew how much he was loved.

Jeanette Jones….December 11th 1980 I’ve just given birth, a happy event for myself & my husband Steve. Min turned up at my bed side. Me: ‘Hi Min, nice to see you, but… what are you doing here? Min: Well, it’s complicated. One was early one was late, & they are both seriously angry! You seem nicer to visit! I still don’t know the truth of this but as everyone says he was a free spirit & it was a nice visit. Tee Hee! Hope sufficient time has passed (approx 33 years) for the two ladies & their children, whom they presumably shared to some extent with Min to see the humour in the ‘situation’ too:

Alan Esdaile….Actually it would be brilliant if we found out who they were and the story behind this.

Yvonne Cleland…..I know one of the mums. Both boys ended up friends. All’s well that…..

Jeanette Jones….Now that is a nice Christmas Story, thank you for sharing!

Bernard Jeffery….So many stories involving Min, when he played with the Hollywood Killers he used a lot of effects on his sax, never quite knew what was going to happen on stage but it was interesting and fun. Quite often he would take a ferret to our gigs in a shoulder bag and let it run around the dressing room.

Chris Baker…. loved Min. we played together a lot in his Studio in Croft Road. He made my wife’s wedding ring come to think of it! We worked together on electrifying our stuff. I had a Watkins CopyCat tape loop echo at the time and he added an extra playback head to get a double-delay and routed the second channel to a different amp. We had the sounds bouncing across the stage and back in wonderful ways. 🙂 He electrified his clarinet using his Mum’s hearing aid as a mike and then built his own Ring Modulator which he built himself a copper plannished box of electronics. He could work up a set of chords using the tape loop echo and press his big red button to hold the combined chord while playing over the top of it. He was a true wizard! Sadly missed! We played a number of gigs together, but you could never be sure that Min would turn up!

Jennie Tocock….. remember going to someone’s party in Uckfield. Min asked where the party was and I told him, and he said, “Oh, can I come too?” So I said yes, ok – so I collected him and we drove over to Uckfield . We were dancing and we suddenly realised that we were the only people dancing …. and everyone was staring in horror. I looked down at my feet and wondered what all the red stuff on the floor was …. and only then did I realise it was blood. We were dancing in bare feet on broken glass and we hadn’t even noticed. The next day my feet – and my head – were soooo sore and we had to drive back to Hastings – but it was a good party! I think!! He was a really lovely guy.

John Williams… He was our sax player when he turned up lol luvly man

Jake White… Min, I remember him, great guy, always smiling

Jenny Wood… I remember Min

Chris Fagg… …Minn wearing shoes ?…! Top human.

Sam Davies…What great pictures! It’s lovely and funny to read these comments, my dad was certainly a “free spirit”! Intrigued about these two kids from 1980 though… my half brother and I were both born in 1982 (me June, him August) which was a little awkward when we met properly aged 13. Stinking of garlic – yes, I remember this. I can certainly believe that he took a potato into a sauna to cook it, and why not? Chris, I still have that modified Watkins CopyCat – now I know what the additional head was for… very curious and clever!

Dave Nattress… Wonderful guy, even in little, old, quiet Bexhill where I lived, we knew of the legendary Min and I met him a few times over the years and saw him play when all sorts of craziness was going on all around, a lot of which of course he was the creator of! I seem to remember Jaffa, Geoff Peckham (an old Bexhillian), introducing me to this interesting person so many years ago. Is that right Jaffa, your memory is not so bad.

Paul Cullen… The wonderful Min,one the nicest, craziest people I have had the pleasure to have known. Still think and talk of him to this day. A real character.

2 thoughts on “Min – Hastings Beach Concert with John Martyn 1991”

  1. What great pictures! It’s lovely and funny to read these comments, my dad was certainly a “free spirit”! Intrigued about these two kids from 1980 though… my half brother and I were both born in 1982 (me June, him August) which was a little awkward when we met properly aged 13. Stinking of garlic – yes, I remember this. I can certainly believe that he took a potato into a sauna to cook it, and why not?

    Chris, I still have that modified Watkins CopyCat – now I know what the additional head was for… very curious and clever!

    Reply
  2. Wonderful guy, even in little, old, quiet Bexhill where I lived, we knew of the legendary Min and I met him a few times over the years and saw him play when all sorts of craziness was going on all around, a lot of which of course he was the creator of! I seem to remember Jaffa, Geoff Peckham (an old Bexhillian), introducing me to this interesting person so many years ago. Is that right Jaffa, your memory is not so bad.

    Reply

Leave a comment