1974 was the year of the Streak. Ray Stevens was No1 with a song called The Streak and
policemen found an unusual place to hang their helmets at football matches!
Hobo was sold in shops like Virgin Records, I Am Boutique, The Soul Hole and so forth but a lot of leg work was done by Treversing Trev (as guitarist Chris Jones dubbed me as a skit on Wandering John!) selling Hobo around the town centre pubs - the Dive Bar, Golden Cross, Jaguar etc and the Lanch. In 74 Hobo used the office of the Sunshine Music Agency in Gulson Rd (blog to come) and Craig Ward of Sunshine ran a disco in Nuneaton called Becketts. We were keen to get more news and interaction for Hobo from the outlying towns like Bedworth and Nuneaton, and Warwick and Craig invited us along (which meant we'd get in free!) probably in the hope that Becketts would get some publicity in Hobo. Fair enough!
Myself and (I think Arthur Brown and others associated with Hobo) went along to sell Hobo, make contacts and maybe get a Nuneaton correspondant for Hobo. We met a guy called Brian (in a group called Alice) who became a correspondant for a short while and gave us a good low down on Nuneaton and a band called Rudi Tycoske (this was long before Two Tone so don't get too excited about the Rudi angle!). They were a Genesis/ Yes styled outfit - which (more of in the band directory to come) and another band called Highway Man.
We were doing well for sales and contacts at Becketts when all hell broke out and people were leaping towards the windows and doors. Hobo reporters were called upon to witness and report on this 'disturbance'! Yes you've guessed - it was not one but five streakers outside the pub. We did do an article but I couldn't take the issue too seriously and, as is my won't, broke into a bit of surrealism towards the end, which our cartoonist - John Alderson, illustrated with his usual wit and skill! The article appeared in the unpublished issue No 4 (unissued because the printer reduced the layouts to unreadable proportions and we had to bin all but a few file copies and start again with another printer, by which time the article was old news.) So this is like the offical Bootleg version of Hobo with all the out takes included!! A bit silly but here it is!
"The International Idiot, who one of Nuneaton's frist streakers, was the only one of five who didn't chicken out at a well known disco in Nuneaton. Described by the Nuneaton Tribune as a "LEWD NUDE NUT" he adopted a suitable attire!
Certain HOBO reporters were on the spot to witness another 'streak out' , outside Nuneaton's Dugdale pub. This however was a very half-hearted streak as most of them kept their pants on whilst sprinting around the town centre, narrowly missing the arrival of the Sherrifs, who were hot on their trail - but not quite hot enough!!
Hey - wot's this?..
Christ! My typewriters stripping off I do believe -
Hell - wo wo wo - wot goes on? (Hairy knees abound, followed by the stench of sweaty socks) Yes it's true, he's all keyed up and ready to go. I do believe my typewriter' gonna streak and your friendly neighbourhood Hobo reporter is once again on the spot for yet another exclusive...The world's first streaking typewriter. This sort of thing hasn't happened to me since my pen contracted Meandering Knibs and started sending secret love letters through my own letters, getting me into all kinds predicaments!
Yes there he goes, down the cobblestones, and Yes, the old fountain pens are looking well and turely shocked and the ball point pens are egging them on, jumping up and down, shouting and jeering at this hero, pin up IBM, whilst the dainty felt tip pens are hiding their eyes, pretending to be embarrassed. Yet I do believe - yes I'm pretty sure - some of them, yes some of them are peeping through their hands! Yes I can plainly see now, one of them is peeking. Yes the felt pen in the red dress is actually peeping at my streaking typewriter......"
OH AND CHECK OUT NEW UPDATE TO WANDERING JOHN ARTICLE
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