(part three)

****An excerpt from The simpletones Chronicles****

     Four fresh Newcastles materialize. 

 “We decided we might as well stay the night on the top of the hill – it was Summer Solstice and there were others with the same idea. We socialized a little with some of the hippies who had made the trek from the fairground. We figured how to zip our sleeping bags together.” 

 Ted: “What trek?”

 “Oh, it was called the Glastonbury Faire but it was at a farm a two hour hike away, near a village called Pilton. Anyway, we shared my cigarettes with a guy who was definitely not dressed for camping, long blonde hair, flamboyant cape –“

 Ted: “All capes are flamboyant.”

 “ – with sequins. I recognized him as the man from Bristol.”

 Adam: “Wait a minute. Were his eyes different colours?”

 “Yes but hang on. He was really nice, you know, as the British can be, excellent conversationalist. He filled us in with the history of the region. When I told him of my youth in Newport, he told me the proper name for the town was Caerleon and it was the seat of King Arthur’s Court. He pointed to the city on the horizon, you could almost see it. Really interesting guy and when I broke out the hashish, we became the best of friends. Turns out we were sitting just a rock’s throw from Arthur’s tomb – nothing but a stone rectangle in the ground now. We talked and talked and he asked if he could join us under the blanket we’d made ‘cause it was cooling after the sunset.”

 Adam: “Sounds like a move.”

 “I didn’t think so. We were all enjoying the stoned innocence of the moment.”

 Adam: “Okay, go on.”

 “We looked up at the stars and he told us something I’ll never forget, though everyone takes it for granted nowadays, that we are all made of stardust. For billions of years, Earth has been showered with atoms and molecules from across the universe and, when life arose here, these cosmic particles were incorporated – literally – into everything we know, animate and inanimate. It was a mind-blowing revelation to me. He said he had to get to the fairground the next day, he and his friend Mick were scheduled to sing some songs he’d written. Eventually, we slept.”

 Adam: “You’re saying you shared a sleeping bag with David Bowie?”

 “Well, a guy named David Jones. Bowie was his stage name – did you know he picked it to distinguish himself from the singer for the Monkees?”

 George: “Was he trying to move in on your girlfriend?”

 “Hmm. I slept between them.”

 Adam: “So he was moving in on you.”

 “His head was on my shoulder at one point.”

 George, Adam, Ted: “You slept with David Bowie.”

 “Well, not that way. Anyway, when I woke up they were both gone. Her backpack, his guitar case, the big chunk of hash, my pack of smokes all gone.” 

 George nearly whispers “David Bowie stole your girlfriend.”

 “And your hash.” Ted adds.

 “You really are a clueless innocent, aren’t you?” Adam mashes his Dunhill into the ashtray.

 “Guilty as charged. That’s the most likely scenario. I went to the festival anyway – figured they’d be there, I could give her her sleeping bag.”

 “And get your hash back.” Ted adds.

 “Got offered rides from a milkman and all sorts of hippies but I only wanted to walk.  I walked for two hours – not nearly as many people there as I expected. Hardly Woodstock. Big pyramid for the stage. Neither of them were there. I asked around but no one had seen him – everybody seemed to know who he was though, turns out he had a hit song on the charts the year before.”

 “Space Oddity.”

 “Yeah. Silly song. I saw Terry Reid perform, always liked him and he was quite good. Gong was interesting. Hawkwind was astonishing that night. I fell asleep on the ground right there after their set. Like I said, not a lot of people. ”

 “Did you ever see them after?”

 “Well, yeah. Early the next morning. He sang a few songs at sunrise and she played harmonica for a couple of them. She wasn’t half bad. Spent most of her time swirldancing around the stage. He was wearing her psychedelic hat. Anyway, after the set, I just stood up and walked back the way I came. I figured confronting them was just going to be a hassle. Easy come, easy go. What real claim did I have? Just my cigarettes. When I got to Glastonbury, I climbed back up the tor and left her sleeping bag right where we had spent the night together. Man, was I ever sad. Heart broken and I’d only been in England three days. ”

 Adam: “Jesus! What a story! Is it true?”

 George: “What about John Lennon?”

 “I still haven’t met him.

 Ted: “He’s dead.”

 “Yeah, bummer. Never saw Connie again, but I did see the kickoff of Bowie’s Isolar tour in ’76 – that was a pretty slick show – the band was incredible. I remember a marvellous sax solo and how the girl I was sitting next to loathed me – blind date. Huge mismatch with the girl, god she despised me, not very good seats, still a very good show.”

 Ted: “Okay, you win. What other shows’ve you seen?”

 “Grateful Dead on Hallowe’en later that year was pretty special.”

 George: “That calls for another round.”

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