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Posted by Martin on October 26, 2009, 12:10 pm, in reply to "More crying"
Thanks Sandman for spotting this fabulous clip of the Donster - which I have not seen for (gasp) 31 years!!! This is the first time I have seen any clips on YouTube from that show.
If you want the info . . .
It is from 'Don McLean and Friends' which was recorded at BBC Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham, UK on the 17th December 1978 and broadcast on 26th December. There was a repeat about two months later.
It featured Don with a lot of material from the current album 'Chain Lightning', such as It's just the sun, Genesis, Crying, etc as well as the hits (naturally).
Guests on the show were Elkie Brooks who sang 'Don't Cry out Loud' and 'Lilac Wine' . . . and The Jordanaires making their first visit to the UK since Elvis had passed the previous year.
As well as singing a medley of Elvis hits in the middle of the show (without Don), they also sang backing vocals on some of Don's songs . . . including Crying.
Sadly t'was before I had a video recorder (got one 1980) so have not seen it since, but I played the audio tape constantly, which was recorded by dangling a mic in front of the TV speaker. Gosh hasn't technology changed.
Of course I know the date of the show because I travelled over from Belfast to see it being recorded. Still have a handful of souvenir tickets somewhere.
The warmup man was geeing up the crowd and asking where people had travelled from and a lady called Ricky Ainsworth (from Berkshire) who had invited me over and offered me the tickets, yelled out, he's from Belfast. Whereupon the man said "well if he leaves, we all leave".
This was just four years after the Birmingham Pub bombings when 21 people were killed and 182 injured. The implication was that all irish men were bombers.
By the way, Ricky Ainsworth ran the Don McLean Appreciation Society right through the 1970s and used to send out photocopied newsletters etc. Light years before websites, hey. Then one day another name from the past, Dave New, arrived and said he was taking over and after that the fan club folded. He wasn't a terribly nice person I gather, though as he was covered with tattoos depicting Don's album covers, the music press often featured photos of him with captions like 'The man with Don McLean on his back'.
I 'tink' I should shut up now . . . 
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