MUSICAL REFLECTIONS

My joining meeting in 1977 was conducted by two musicians Doug Genovia and Gillian Lubach. As I was leaving, Doug asked what sort of guitar I had. “Gibson Les Paul,” I replied. He said, “Right, you’re in!”

In early summer 1978 the One Earth Band was formed with whom I played guitar. The idea was to create a community band that would try to get a recording deal and publicise the New Age ethos through their music. To help achieve this John Barham, an arranger who had worked with Beatle George Harrison, was invited up from London. The Community spent around £2,500 on new musical equipment and paid for us to travel to Edinburgh to do some recordings. Unfortunately, the band split up soon after our return from Edinburgh.

In 1979 I helped organise the Electric Sharing, a rock music event in the Hall. We put together a band called Ted and The Take Outs and had some fun. I remember a few Core Group members sitting there watching to make sure it didn’t get out of control!

By 1980, most of the Community musicians I’d played with had left so I decided to make an album of my own music which I called Earthgrin. The title came to me after I had a vision of a devic being in a meditation in the audio control room in 1978. Brian Nobbs did the original artwork for the tape and the face he drew was strikingly similar to what I had observed.

Alvin Kramer