Jim Beckwith meets Genesis!
Sent to Paperlate, October 2 1997

Date: Thu, 02 Oct 1997 23:13:11 -0700
From: Jim Beckwith
Subject: How I met Genesis (very long but worthwhile)

Me in front of the house at The Farm. We didn't go in, but were told that this is where the session musicians, techs, etc. stay during recording. The house dates from about the 16th century, according to Tony S.

Hello to all!
I wanted to make a point of relaying the story of a Genesis radio contest winner to all on Paperlate. A little background on myself: I'm 26 years old, been a Genesis fan since Abacab came out, and am a more devoted fan than anyone I've ever met (outside this list, of course). I've been a subscriber to Paperlate for around 2 years now, but mostly I just lurk - I'm usually 7 or 8 digests behind.

The story started shortly after Congo hit the airwaves. I was apparently one of the fortunate few to hear that local radio station WXRT was to have a Genesis giveaway weekend in mid-August. The prize was to be a weeklong trip for two to London, with some vague connection to the band. I resolved to listen to the station all weekend long,

Various freaks from the trip hanging with the band and each other at the community center.

which turned out to be a bit of a problem (very busy going to the Fish concert, etc.). Fortunately, my wife had the station on at work, and heard the details on the contest. I would have to go to a local chain clothing store to obtain the official entry form, get one, and mail it to the station. I immediately headed off to the store (the nearest one was about 30 mins. away) and, after determining that I was way too young to actually shop there, proceeded to procure about ten entry blanks. I went home, filled them out, and mailed them off, pervaded by feelings of good karma that I hoped weren't entirely my imagination.

Mike on "In the Glow of the Night".

About a week later, a mysterious voice appeared on my voice mail. It was an intern from WXRT, who said she was calling to tell me I had won! I called her back, gave her the information she needed, and the process was underway! Meanwhile, I played back the voice mail to all my jealous coworkers :-). There was one moment of panic when she mentioned that the trip was to take place Sept. 21-25. My wife and I were due to return from our honeymoon cruise on the 21st, so if we were scheduled for an early flight to London, we would have been screwed. Fortunately, nothing had been booked yet, so they were able to work with our schedule. Boy, were we pumped!

Needless to say, the 21st was a long travel day. Up early to disembark the cruise ship, 3 hour flight back to Chicago, 7 hour layover at O'Hare

Tony and his elaborate keyboard setup. Is the bike his? I didn't ask.

(where we had to juggle luggage and pick up our London itinerary), and 8-hour flight to London had us arriving at 11:00 am local time on Monday at Heathrow! We were exhausted, but we were able to see some sights before collapsing at our hotel (quite a nice hotel, too, I might add). The itinerary was somewhat vague, but said Tuesday would consist of a special viewing of a Genesis tour rehearsal!

Tuesday was a beautiful day. As instructed, we met with the rest of our group in the lobby at 9:30. I had expected maybe 60-80 total people involved, figuring there would be winners from all over the country. Cindy, our tour guide, soon revealed that we were an intimate group of

Ray is so intense in singing - he moves faster than the camera.

17 people! No other Paperlaters (as near as I could figure), there were 2 girls from L.A., a couple from San Jose, a couple from Cleveland, a couple from Detroit, a couple from Montreal (huge G fans who had never heard of The Musical Box!), and three freaky guys from NYC, as well as a few others. Most were casual fans at best - one couple even opted not to go with us. The weird guys from New York were carrying large duffle bags - more on this later.

We boarded a bus, where we learned we would be heading out to Chiddingfold, about a 1 1/2 hour drive. The tour took us through some pleasant rolling countryside around London, before entering the picturesque winding roads of Surrey. My excitement was growing with each passing minute! The bus rolled to a stop at the local pub (a

Ray confuses our camera again. Maybe he's an alien - can't actually be photographed? Mike and Ant Drennan in the background. This is the way they will actually stand on the tour.

charming place, by the way) in Chiddingfold, where we were told the band's manager would be meeting us. I didn't put two and two together as far as who that would be, until I saw Tony Smith dart in! We re-boarded the bus, which followed Tony's vehicle a few blocks to the local community center.

We all got off the bus, where Tony S. awaited us in front of the building. While we were waiting, I said "You must be Tony Smith." He seemed surprised to be recognized, so I told him I knew him from the pictures of the band. Addressing the group, he announced that we would now be seeing Genesis rehearse (we could hear a vague musical throb emanating from the building), and he cautioned us that what we'd be

The thrill of my life - meeting one of my musical idols. My wife joked afterwards that she's never seen me smile so naturally for any photos before these!

hearing would be very different from an actual concert, since the band members were hooked up to monitors only. We then proceeded inside.

... pause ...

Please take a moment here to close your eyes and visualize how you would feel, knowing you were walking into a building to rub elbows with your musical idols, and hear them perform for you and a very small, select group of others. As Genesis fans, I know you'll understand.

... pause ...

We walked in to the strains of Domino. Our path took us right through the center of the band's setup, to a five-foot-wide stretch of floor running all the way along the "stage", where we were to stand and drink it all in. I almost wish I could quote some poetry to describe how it felt to walk in and see Mike, Ray, Tony, Nir, and Ant Drennan pause in

Nir's drum setup, with Tony in the right foreground.

the midst of doing what they do best to acknowledge us with glances and nods as we came in. Electric! Tony S. took groups of 5 or so at a time into the mixing board room, where we heard how it will actually sound in concert. Otherwise, we just hung out and listened as the boys played Domino in its entirety.

Light applause for the band as the song ended. They immediately stopped, removed all earplugs and dropped what they were doing, and came over to our group to chat with us! I REPEAT: GENESIS CAME OVER TO TALK TO US. Wow! I really don't remember much of what I said to the guys - I was floating. I did ask Ray if they had to change the key of a lot of the Phil pieces to fit his voice, and he said yes. I mentioned to each of them that I was a Paperlater, which they each acknowledged as if

My other musical idol. I didn't realize he was such a slight man.

they had heard of Paperlate, but it wasn't of much consequence to them (about what I expected). I told Tony that the consensus here on Paperlate seems to be that Nir is far the better of the two drummers, probably because he sounds more like Phil. Tony said they like him very much, too, for that reason. I then asked him when they were going to make Nir a full member of the group, a question he predictably evaded. I told Nir the same thing - it's been very easy for us to tell which tracks he drums on, and that Paperlaters seem to prefer him. He seemed pleased, and wanted to know more, but the band started arranging themselves to play again as we were talking. I have no idea what I said

I particularly enjoyed the close-up view of Tony's renowned cross-handed technique on The Lamb.

to Mike :-) and I wasn't able to talk to Mr. Drennan :-(. Oh, and the duffle bags of the NYC guys? Filled with Genesis memorabilia to be autographed - not very classy, I thought.

The band then launched into The Lamb, followed by No Son of Mine and (are you ready) the 7/8 instrumental from Firth of Fifth! Some observations: Mike is unquestionably the leader of the band now - he directs the other musicians from a central point on the stage. Ant Drennan is going to be a wonderful addition - he played some really good improvised solos where Daryl just played stylized versions of the studio solos. And the answer to the oft-asked "What's Ray gonna do during the

Nir Z - doesn't look much like Phil does he? Finger over lens courtesy of my wife (she was, of course, reprimanded appropriately).

long instrumental pieces?" - he sat on the corner of the drum riser and drank coffee :-P. I don't know if these choices of pieces were indicative of what will be played in concert - I got the impression they were still trying to figure out a setlist. (I do think that No Son is an automatic.)

After these tunes, we exited out into the bright sunlight, after the most tumultuous round of applause that 17 people can muster. (I left my sunglasses on a chair - we'll probably see Tony wearing them during the tour.) We got on the bus, fully expecting to head home, only to notice that we were going the wrong way, and still following Tony S.'s car. Must be going to THE FARM! Sure enough, next stop was on a road really too narrow to accommodate a bus (we managed somehow...) at a small gateway. We all trooped in as Tony gave us some history (the house on

Ray was very personable - seemed genuinely curious about us, and tolerated our often silly questions and comments.

the property is mostly for techs and session players and was probably built in the 16th century). The actual studio building was awash in framed concert posters, gold records, and other memorabilia. Tony led us through the actual studio, explaining some technical stuff which I didn't really catch. It was enough just to be in the place where all those wonderful recordings were made.

We took some photos of our tour group, and then left, satisfied. My wife made fun of me relentlessly for the rest of the day about the seemingly permanent smile etched on my face!

At The Farm, Tony S. gave us a complete, if rather haphazard, tour. Here he explains the chart used by the band to show how far into the recording process each song has gone.

I have wonderful memories, photos, and video of this day, but sadly, no autographs. Didn't have the foresight to buy anything the day before to be autographed. This gave me more of an opportunity, though, to watch the rest of our group interact with Genesis. The most peculiar comment came from one of the NYC freaks, who said to Tony Banks "I like your music pretty well, but I reckon Pink Floyd is a little better." I'm not a violent person, but I was sorely tempted to find a razor blade for his Achilles tendon at that point. Tony chose to make light of it, though, joking with a tech about it.

I guess with any random group like that, there's gonna be a few real losers. Like the guy who thought it a good idea to take flash photos from 3 feet away of each band member as they were playing. Like the two women who (we were sure) managed to swipe a little something from The Farm, where supervision of the group was loose. Like the woman who accosted Tony S. on our way out to try and line up some free concert tickets. A little more class was in order, people - we were guests!

Overall, it was a fabulous trip, though the rest of it was overshadowed by the dreamlike Genesis encounter. I just thought you all would like to know that sometimes Paperlaters win things too!

Jim Beckwith

Thanks, Jim! Thanks for letting me publish your story on The Path. This must have have been a dream coming through - a dream most Paperlaters and Genesis fans never will get realized.
Thomas

[ Here are four more pictures from the Farm...]