MY STAR status (tongue in cheek) was confirmed last week when I was interviewed by my good friend Martin Lewes, of Radio Cumbria. Martin is doing a series of interviews on unexpected or unusual jobs or experiences people have had. He had heard me mention that I had toured with a folk rock band and so I fitted in to the genre. It was Monday morning when the radio man came to call. The interview went out on the Thursday, uncut so I’m told. I, unfortunately, forgot to listen. In the 1980s I lived in Hertfordshire and trained to be a youth and community worker. At the end of my intense full time college course the government moved the goalposts and the role of youth clubs changed from social education to sports based. Not my bag, I was the kid who forged a note every week to get out of PE. I wasn’t sure what to do next when I found that a friend was recording an album at a studio near the college. He had pulled together a band of outstanding musicians all of whom like himself had been members of well-known bands. It was decided that the band should take their music on the road and somehow I was roped in. Now the first thing you need to be aware of is that the guys were in their forties and so it was more about comfort than sex, drugs, and smashing up hotel rooms. The almost non-existent budget wouldn’t have stretched to hotels anyway. Mind you, some of the B&Bs we stayed at may well have benefited from a bit of smashing up. The tour bus was borrowed, the cost of everything was begged or deferred and never mind the glamour. I drove the bus, booked gigs and sold the merchandise, and did my best to see the band was paid. Not an easy task when one promoter left the theatre with the takings while the band was playing an encore. The thieving so and so is still on the run. I’ll not disclose my financial loss but the bits and pieces left behind by the band fall extremely short. But all in all the enjoyment was priceless.