I don't normally approve of name-dropping, as I said to the Pope the last time we were hanging out. But sometimes you have to make exceptions. This is one of those times.
Last Sunday night I got to meet one of my long-time favourites, Ms Suzi Quatro. The setting was a back room at the Hippodrome Casino, a tower of tat near London's Leicester Square. The occasion was the latest in a series known as "An Audience With Hayley Palmer".
I must admit I wasn't previously familiar with Ms Palmer, who presents music chat shows on Sky and the likes, but she was very personable. The room only took 50 people which worked well for this sort of event as we all felt involved.
Some members of the audience were a little too involved. There was a slightly scary super-fan who claimed that she knew Suzi better than the friends who had accompanied Suzi to the event and an irritating pillock who seemed to think we were there to listen to him.
Others were keen to share their musical claims to fame such as being involved in an unspecified way in an album with Priscilla Presley, having attended a dinner that Nicky Chinn was at, playing the same kit as Nigel the drummer from Saxon, and the woman whose Nan had told Mickey Most off for putting his feet on the table. I thought about mentioning my pivotal role in bringing Tsonga Disco to the masses but didn't want to upstage them all.
One of the more admirable claims to fame was from someone who had recently helped record a charity Christmas single on behalf of the Care Workers Charity. This is where my enormous media influence comes in handy. Head to this link if you like to support a good cause.
Suzi herself was great fun. As you may have suspected she's not exactly backwards in coming forwards and as well as some anecdotes about her career we were treated to her thoughts about astrology, the nature of evil, the spirit world, poetry, Elvis, in-laws and Ryanair amongst other things. She also shared a cautionary tale about why you should never take five laxatives shortly before going on stage in a white jumpsuit.
Here are a couple of my favourite Suzi moments from this century. First is a stonking Goldfrapp cover from her 2011 album "In The Spotlight" on which she subtly points out the tune's resemblance to one of her own, while the second was written especially for the 4 CD boxset of the same name that came out in 2014.
"Strict Machine" - Suzi Quatro
"Girl From Detroit City" - Suzi Quatro
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