Although I dye my hair black – except for my God-given grey streak - that’s for style reasons, not to disguise my advancing years. So in all conscience, I can maintain that nothing is sadder than a middle-aged groover clinging to his youth.
However, that doesn’t mean we crumblies shouldn’t rage, rage against the dying of the light. And if I had the energy, I’d definitely be down the Tabernacle in Powis Square on Saturday 17 October, to join the dance of death that is a gig by Gaz (son of John) Mayall and the Trojans, promoted by RoughlerTV and hosted by Piers (brother of Barnaby) Thompson.
Sometimes it seems like the last few decades haven’t happened. Yes, the old church hall may have been spruced up - and if there is any ganga being smoked, it will be on the street - but the Tabernacle has been a scene for ska since Colin Macinnes prowled the Front Line, living and researching Absolute Beginners.
As for Gaz, he’s been playing the stuff since the Seventies, Piers has been a fixture in this sub-culture for nearly as long, and Ray Roughler could probably remember the Sixties if he hadn’t been there.
For such an old lag of W11, Ray has adapted remarkably well to the modern world. Google ‘RoughlerTV’, and you’ll learn more than you’ll ever need to know about the man. But Gaz is altogether more rarefied, a sort of open secret among certain sets. For more than quarter of a century, he has held a Thursday-night club in Soho - starting in an alley basement before finding a new home at the St Moritz in Wardour Street – and remarkably, he has never tried to expand or change the concept.
Essentially, Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues is a neutral space for toffs, rockabillies and any other passing tribe to put aside their differences in a noisy drinking den. I remember seeing David Bowie and Mick Jagger there, when they were cooking up their ‘Dancing in the Street’ duet for Live Aid. Today, you’re as likely to catch Lords Lambton and Elliot, not to mention Lily Allen. Gaz inspires such tremendous loyalty that it passes down the generations. And thanks to him, the beat goes on.
