Trev and Bo on the Music Scene 1973

TREV AND BO - ON THE SCENE!

This post is from the original Hobo site on Vox blogs c 2007

After publishing the first edition of Hobo in June 1973, we dropped off a copy of Hobo for the editor of Coventry Evening Telegraph's supplement ON THE SCENE -  and our articled appeared in this issu Saturday June 30th 1973 - after an interview by  CET Reporter Lynn Greenwood. I've written out as the print quality might not be so clear after all these years! The CET editor wrote to me after sending a petition of 500+ signatures in response to the article they published RU18 and in sending the first edition of HOBO.

TREV AND BO ON THE MUSIC SCENE

TREV and Bo didn't think much to the arts scene in Coventry - so they decided to try and liven things up.

And their efforts - an eight page music mag called HOBO - is out this week.

In their own words "It's an attempt at supplying the musicians and such likery of Coventry with a form of music paper intending to cover not only musicians but discos, poets and artists, etc."

At the moment it's free and is strictly a "non-bread-head, non-profit mag"

"We want to get people interested in helping us" said 22 year old Trev Teasdel. "the music scene in Coventry has never been brilliant although three or four years ago it wasn't too bad. But now there are lots groups wanting to do concerts and artists willing to do exhibitions, but there's nowhere to hold them."

Trev, of 16, Laneside, Willenhall Wood, Coventry, says the only place to go for music are pubs.

"And that just gives the drugs and pubs squads plenty of work," he said.

One of Bo's ideas (his real name is John Bargant) is to start an information service which offers help to anyone with a problem.

"I've called it Central Spot and at the moment people can only contact me at home," said 26 year old Bo, of 21, Lorenzo Close, Willenhall. "but we're trying to get premises and have been offered a room in Bardsley House so many nights a week"

"We want to be available to help young people who may have owhere to live or stay; they may have a drugs problem or they may just want to drop in for a chat and coffee."
At the moment the big problem is finance.

"We'd like to put on some sort of benefit to raise money for the mag." said Trev "but first we've got to find somewhere to hold it."
So if anyone has any ideas, please contact the two and try to help.

Lynn Greenwood.

Letter from Lynn Greenwood of Coventry Evening Telegraph

Notes

Bo left Hobo during the production of the second issue and became the Road manager of Khayyam - the

Jazz Rock group with Chris Jones on guitar and Steve Tayton on Sax. They were embarking on a European Tour.

He ran Rouguestar Promotions and Disco and was managing me as a singer songwriter at the time of starting HOBO. The magazine took over from the music for a while although I still played and wrote. The emphasis was on building an infra-structure for musicians through the work on Hobo. Bo had worked for Release as an adviser, hence his idea for Central Spot. However Central Spot hardly got off the ground before Bo went on his European tour with Khayyam. However through going to an executive meting of the Coventry Arts Umbrella, I met Henry West, who was both on the Umbrella Executive and the head of the Coventry Voluntary Service Council. He had just employed a Detached Youth Worker for the city centre area - Bob Rhodes (who later managed Midnight Circus / The Flys for a while). Bob needed contact with local youth to help in a similar way that Bo had intended and we needed facilities - a venue and place to organise alternative street theatre / films and music nights and printing facilities etc. It seemed a good trade-off. Bob got us the use of the Holyhead Youth Centre in 1974/5 and started an informal youth advisory service at the gigs. I was doing a Social Study course at Henley

College and it became my Social Work placement - which was good because it wouldn't conflict with what I considered to be my Real work - HOBO! So Bo's idea for an advisory centre came to fruition albeit without him, but stimulated by him talking about it to the press. Following on from the informal detached work at the Hobo Workshop, a drop in House for young people S.H.A.C.K. was established in 1975. I went to Canley College for some training to be an advisor. But more of the Hobo Workshop (the music and the advice work) in separate posts in a while. For now the magazine was the first base to establish.