Table of Contents
I Strange Things Happen 1
1 A Letter to a Childhood Friend (2009) 3
2 Wardrobe (Late 1980s) 5
3 Lebanon (1957-67) 8
4 Music (1968) 15
5 Curved Air (1975) 28
6 Tagging London (1977) 34
7 Klark Kent (1978) 36
8 A Quick History of the Police (1976-78) 46
9 Police Rule (1979-84) 51
II Learning to be Normal 57
10 Congo (1984) 59
11 Horses (1987) 75
12 Opera: Holy Blood, Crescent Moon (1989) 90
13 Bake-Off in Fort Worth (1990) 103
14 Horse Opera (1992) 108
III Still not Normal 113
15 Oysterhead (April 2000) 115
16 Hall of Fame (March 2003) 131
17 La Notte Della Taranta (August 2003) 136
18 Incubus: The Hybrid (December 2004) 151
19 Dancing with the (Poll) stars (February 2004) 157
20 Scoring with Anjelica (March 2005) 161
21 For Flying with the Fly Foos (June 2005) 168
22 Gizmo (2005) 178
23 Judge Hard Place and the BBC (2006) 195
24 The Grateful Dad (2007) 208
25 Sundance (2005) 214
IV Abnormal Again 223
26 Lock up your Mothers: We're Back (February 2007) 225
27 Will this Fly? (2007) 231
28 Eberhard Sets us Free (1978) 234
29 A Mighty wind in the Magic Stingdom (May 2007) 237
30 The Disaster Gig (May 2007) 239
31 Angry in Edmonton (June 2007) 242
32 Conquering Heroes (June 2007) 245
33 Malibu Fey Choir (June 2007) 251
34 How Big is my Amp! (June 2007) 253
35 Aftershow Ritual (July 2007) 259
36 Tuba in Turin (October 2007) 263
37 Four Beers and the President (October 2007) 270
38 Raging Kumbaya (January 2008) 277
39 Slav on a Slab (June 2008) 282
40 Burning the Golden Goose (1984) 286
41 Singapore Showdown (February 2008) 288
42 Toast in the Machine (August 2008) 293
43 Elvis is Leaving the Building (August 2008) 302
Afterword: The Green Flag (2009) 309
Appendix A Who 313
Appendix B What 323
Acknowledgments 330