A talk with Peter Hammill

This is probably a bit of a strange post. The fact that David Bowie died reminded me that he was a big fan of Peter Hammill, and that in turn reminded me that I had a very long talk with Peter Hammill some 25 years ago when I was around 20 and he around 40. I still had my hair then (black, very long) and was a very attractive woman. I also was still heterosexual back then; I turned lesbian after a dramatic incident which I don't wish to speak about.

Peter Hammill gave a concert at a very small venue in Worringen, a suburb of Cologne. It was called "Grevenbroicher Hof" and fitted 200 people at maximum, if at all. The concert was originally scheduled for early afternoon (around 2 or 3 PM; it took place on a Saturday or Sunday) but was rescheduled to the evening on short notice, which I did not know about. So I was there way too early. Since I was there by public transport (bus) I decided to stay and ordered something to drink. Then Peter Hammill came out and drank something too, and I decided to talk to him, but not in a "You Peter Hammill, me fan" way, just in a simple person to person way.

After we had talked for a while he suggested we should go for a walk, and I agreed. We walked northeast along the Alte Neusser Landstraße, a country road which stretched to the northeast in an almost straight line from that venue for a few kilometers. We talked about all kinds of things, but none of them directly Peter Hammill related. Indirectly yes; we talked about topics that interested both him and me, like mathematics, physics, Zen Buddhism, even music (but not music that he was directly involved in). There was some underlying sexual tension as well, but neither of us tried to make a pass at the other. He behaved like a perfect gentleman; he never touched me at all.

After a few kilometers we crossed the road and started walking back, still talking. When we arrived back at the venue he gave me a warm friendly hug which was not sexually related at all; it was just a friendly gesture.

Believe it or not, I had almost forgotten about this. This is because I do not think of this as "how awesome - I had a long talk with Peter Hammill" but rather as "I had a long interesting talk with someone who incidentally was Peter Hammill".


Edited by BaldFriede - January 12 2016 at 07:50

Hi,

One of the reasons why I am not "star struck", or behave like a "fan" of a band, or some kind of success someone may have or need, is simple ... my own house, had a lot of famous literary folks come and go, and we met a few of them, and I still think of some of them as more interesting than most rock bands, and progressive bands, and poo poo bands!

However, there are folks, that I treat on the same level as many of those writers, and I have, over the years defended a lot of their work as such. Peter Hammill, to me, is no different than a TS Elliott or many other poets of our time. Would I talk to him, differently than I talk to you, or me in the mirror? NOPE.

We're all people in the end, and we just see different things, and sometimes fight for different ideals that we think are more important, but I don't ... people are more inmportant than ideals, and this includes such concepts as "God". Without "people", there is no "God".

There are many, and I say MANY, special moments, and for me, not all of them have come from some of the big name folks ... some of which were downright jerks and totally screwed up specially when it comes (no kidding!) to even saying hello to young kids! ... nice impression jerk! But the ones worth remembering? .... yeah ... wonderful ... totally good folks ... and their art shows it!

Having hung out with Peter away from the hussle & bustle of "professional gig life," I can say that I'm not surprised that he was a gentleman. He's one of those guys who is truly a genius (and that word is waaaay overused but not in this case) yet is very relaxed, funny, warm, heartfelt, and great to be around. Very cool dude.