This will not interest much but I want to confess it. In other times, when musical journalists agreed, we used to discuss the profession. It could happen seeing artists abroad and, before the hatersIt is urgent to point out that they were not necessarily luxury excursions: after a concert say in Paris, they gave us a chosped snack (I remember it for the fury of the fellow àngel Casas, recognized Sibarita).
In those meetings, common in the dead times of airports, occasionally we reviewed the races of foreign colleagues. Like Jon Landau (New York, 77 years old), who commented on a concert from a New Jersey singer in hyperbolic terms – “I saw the future of rock and roll and her name is Bruce Springsteen” – and ended up becoming his producer, manager and guru. Abandoning, of course, its functions of rock critic. He did well, just like Julián Ruiz who also reinvented himself as a producer and resigned to comment on the national scene.
There were other sobering stories, sometimes with sour moral final. The trajectory of the British Andy Kershaw (Lancashire, 65 years old) seemed to confirm our optimistic hope that you can-be-what-any-ser. He slipped into the industry thanks to his concert programmer position at the University of Leeds, which led to a job like road manager Billy Bragg. Left the electric guitar singer -songwriter when they offered to present The Old Grey Whistle Testthe very prestigious television program. For its self -confidence, in 1985 the transmission of the massive beneficial concert Live Aid co -pilined. That same year, he landed on Radio 1 of the BBC, surely signed as a possible replacement for the divinized but problematic John Peel. Very jealous of his status, Peel considered him a hostile presence.
In truth, they competed in different leagues. Peel worked as the independent rock champion, while Kershaw, more openly arrogant, bet on root sounds and world music. He hated, of course, that label but was its most diffuser in the United Kingdom. It flew to many countries, both in Africa and in the Caribbean (with special love by Haiti) or the north -in -law Korea. Your communicative capacity made it easier for you to star in documentaries, both audio and video. An proven ability to move through hot areas of the planet raised the aristocracy of journalism: war correspondent. At the same time, he exercised as a festivals as a Glastonbury.
He was at the top of his various trades. He traveled where he wanted (very frequently, the displacements of his pocket was paid) and could choose between powerful platforms to narrate his adventures in written press, radio, TV. And then, zas, the debacle.
Boarding Juliette, father of Sonny and Dolly, Andy anxious an idyllic family between mission and mission. But his lifestyle facilitated some promiscuity and his partner got fed up. She moved to the island of Man and Kershaw did not assimilate the break. He raped a restraining order several times, trying to connect with his children, and ended in jail. Everything, amplified by the sensationalist press: from here, it is difficult to imagine the dimensions of the popularity of the British broadcasters.
The fall had repercussions: it disappeared from the stations and the headwaters of Drumbrón. So, we concluded sorry in our gatherings, Andy Kershaw was not an enviable model either.