The wonderful Paul Charles at the Book Festival

Helena suddenly remembered early this evening that she’d got tickets for one of the Stroud Book Festival events. She’d originally shown me the three day festival handbook and asked me which one I might like to go to as she’d been offered special tickets. I perused the many writers and she agreed that this music related session would be a good choice. Neither of us had heard of Paul Charles, author of ‘Adventures in Wonderland’, so other than the booklet’s promotional blurb we went into the unknown.

It was being held in the George Room, one of the Subscription Rooms’ smaller spaces, and some of the only seats left when we arrived were in the front row, which we’d hoped to avoid. We’d only just sat down when Hugh P., a key coordinator of the scheduling of the Subscription Rooms’ live events, started to introduce the guest writer, Paul Charles, and the man who would be interviewing him, Peter Van Hooke.

I’d just got my little camera out only to find the battery was dead. Quickly swapping batteries I managed to grab a picture of each of them before they started the event proper. I was so close to them I didn’t want to take pictures during the event. I only managed about two frames of each of them which luckily were just about blippable.

Paul turns out to be a hugely likeable and very talented ‘star’ from behind the scenes of the music business, as is his friend Peter. Paul is exactly my age and his early experiences of live music matched with many of mine. Hearing a US import copy of ‘Astral Weeks’, months before it was released in England, changed our listening lives. It then turned out we’d both been at some of the same gigs back in the 1960s and 1970s that were hugely significant to both of us, particularly at London’s Marquee Club. He became a very renowned agent and manager of musicians and bands which he continues to  be to this day. I also ended up working on the fringes of the music video business and in a couple of record companies, so I knew what that world can be like.

Peter was the drummer in Van Morrison’s bands for more than ten years, and then produced many artists, as well as being a session musician. They’ve stayed friends for more than forty years. Paul still is an agent for Tom Waits, Christy Moore, Nick Lowe and Ronnie Spector. One of his first signing was Buzzcocks.

During the talk and reminiscences they both looked directly at me as I was right in front of them and it seemed like they were talking directly to me. I had to buy the book, and shook their hands and thanked them. I haven’t started reading it but will do soon. It will be pleasure, I’m sure.

I should add that Paul is also a prolific novelist.


From his publisher, Hot Press', website:
Irishman Paul Charles is one of the leading music agents on the planet. Over the past 40 years, he has worked with some of the biggest names in music, at different times managing the careers of Van Morrison, Ray Davies of The Kinks, Gerry Rafferty, The Waterboys and Dexys Midnight Runners, and launching Tanita Tikaram – the teenage star whose debut album sold almost 5 million copies – into the world.

In addition, he has been agent and confidante along the way to The Kinks, Robert Plant, Tom Waits, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Don McLean, Lonnie Donegan, Rory Gallagher, Marianne Faithfull, John Prine, Carly Simon, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Christy Moore, Taj Mahal, Buzzcocks, The Undertones, Hothouse Flowers, The Blue Nile, Shakespears Sister, Ronnie Spector – and dozens more of modern music’s brightest stars.
In his role with the Asgard agency, he has also promoted shows featuring many of the leading artists in the world, including The Police, U2, Van Morrison, Dire Straits, Carole King, Meatloaf, David Gilmour, BB King, Emmylou Harris and John Lee Hooker.