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Thread: A conversation with Peter Hammill

  1. #1

    A conversation with Peter Hammill

    This is probably a bit of a strange post. 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 stretches 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. I had not looked at my watch, but from the distance we walked and the tempo we walked in it must have taken somewhere between 2 and 3 hours or even longer.

    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".

  2. #2
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
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    Interesting story. Hammill is obviously a very intelligent and educated man, but it does seem funny to me that mathematics and physics would be topics to come up in a casual conversation!

  3. #3
    Well, mathematics and physics are topics we both were interested in, and I mentioned my interests very early in our conversation. And the conversation may have been due to a chance meeting, but it was anything but casual. We really tackled some big questions. It was a conversation on a very high intellectual level.

  4. #4
    A great read! Thanks!

    I always perceived him as a most sensible mind with his personal act 'together' (give or take the intellectual slant), so the gentlemanner doesn't surprise me at all. He pretty much touches upon such issues in this interview as well:

    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  5. #5
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    The story rings true. In fact I met him at a bar in Verviers Belguim in 1980 when I was 20! He was on his way to the rest room having left the theatre and I spotted my hero and stupidly exclaimed "Peter Hammill! Freeze!" which he did to my surprise. Too make a long story short he was very generous and warm and we had a very nice chat before and after the show. He even played Man-Erg during his set at my request as my head was spinning from having imbibed too may Orval Trappist Ales. Cheers!

  6. #6
    This was posted 3 weeks ago?

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by philsunset View Post
    This was posted 3 weeks ago?
    6 hours ago. Unless we've seriously entered some hyperspacial dimension.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    6 hours ago. Unless we've seriously entered some hyperspacial dimension.
    Look on page 3 of Music and Arts to see a very similar thread called A Talk with Peter Hamill

  9. #9
    I had posted it under the name of my wife by accident; I thought I was still logged in. Since it can't be deleted anymore I posted it again under my name.

  10. #10
    Strange that it would be reposted. Not enough responses?

  11. #11
    I just wanted it posted under my name.

  12. #12
    In honor of your *honorable* conversation with Peter Hammill, here is a rare live performance of A Ritual Mask from the first WOMAD festival 1982.
    Backing Hammill are this one-off band of: L. Shankar - electric violin; Larry Fast - keys; (David Rhodes - 2nd guitar?); & Stewart Copeland - drums

    Very interesting extended 'jam' version with a violin solo from Shankar.


    https://soundcloud.com/syncopatico/p...ask-womad-1982

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by syncopatico View Post
    In honor of your *honorable* conversation with Peter Hammill, here is a rare live performance of A Ritual Mask from the first WOMAD festival 1982.
    Backing Hammill are this one-off band of: L. Shankar - electric violin; Larry Fast - keys; (David Rhodes - 2nd guitar?); & Stewart Copeland - drums

    Very interesting extended 'jam' version with a violin solo from Shankar.


    https://soundcloud.com/syncopatico/p...ask-womad-1982
    If by "honorable" you mean to indicate the story is not true you are very much mistaken.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by BaldFriede View Post
    If by "honorable" you mean to indicate the story is not true you are very much mistaken.
    I mean "honorable" in that Mr. Hammill didn't accost you. jeez....

  15. #15
    Sorry for misinterpreting you. What you said made me think of "and Brutus is an honourable man". That's what comes from reading too much Shakespeare.

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