Quest for a Rock Shrine

By GeorgeHA | Monday, January 17, 2011, 19:27

I have to report a little disappointment

As a tourist hotspot, it has to said, it's something of a let-down

this evening, having made an exhausting trek to the Hove seafront in search of

a little piece of rock history (albeit recent).

There had been an intriguing report that

the speed camera on Kingsway that had been half-demolished by Nick Cave, in a

car accident in early December, had not only not been mended yet, but

had also become a ‘tourist hotspot’.

This I had to see. I’m a great devotee of these

sorts of things, and a regular visitor to the shrine to Marc Bolan in Barnes,

just off the road where he met his untimely end back in 1977. Unfortunately it

is also now a memorial to just about every member of T.Rex, a band that obviously wasn't destined to make old bones. Fans still come from all over the world to leave flowers

and touching messages to them all, and to the ‘Bopping Elf’ in particular.

Maybe Hove now had a similar place of

pilgrimage, I thought, and an investigation is called for. After crossing the road

rather too many times and following a number of slightly inaccurate directions,

I eventually came upon the damaged GATSO camera, still leaning drunkenly in the

middle of the highway. No sign of interesting inscriptions on it, however,

no messages, flowers, or anything at all that commemorated the event.

All very vexing, and I didn't linger, as there was a good

chance of getting killed by the traffic going in both directions as I peered

around. I did feel, though, if I had been wasted there and then it

would have added another dimension of morbid interest to the site, and a

shrine might then do a little more business.

Anyway, a trip to this ‘hotspot’ is

definitely not recommended. We have a genuine rock demigod in our midst – mean,

moody and very magnificent indeed – I’ve seen him in the Western Road Waitrose, so

I do know what I’m talking about – but this is not the place to do homage.

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Comments

Great news that you're working on Steve's biography – from those websites it sounds as if nobody is better qualified to write it. Please keep us informed of your progress and glad to discover yet another Hove author beavering away out there!

By GeorgeHA at 12:10 on 03/04/11
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The thing with the 'unfortunately' is that *some* people think Marc's Shrine should be for Marc and only Marc They claim that he could have done everything with "just session musicians". Sadly some Bolan fans are just that 'Bolan Fans' rather than appreciating that to get where he did, he needed the people with him including his widow June who worked for Pink Floyd's management before she met him and so was able to be a huge help on his road to success. She even drove him and Tookie around to gigs etc (when John Peel didn't that is). As for Took all I can say is " Oh Man. I am writing Steve Peregrin (no additional 'e') Took's Biography ATM". More on Took - http://tinyurl.com/6gpq4gv and more on TAG/Marc Bolan & my involvement here:- http://tinyurl.com/6dbkau2

By mercurymoon at 18:23 on 29/03/11
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The thing with the 'unfortunately' is that *some* people think Marc's Shrine should be for Marc and only Marc They claim that he could have done everything with "just session musicians". Sadly some Bolan fans are just that 'Bolan Fans' rather than appreciating that to get where he did, he needed the people with him including his widow June who worked for Pink Floyd's management before she met him and so was able to be a huge help on his road to success. She even drove him and Tookie around to gigs etc (when John Peel didn't that is). As for Took all I can say is " Oh Man. I am writing Steve Peregrin (no additional 'e') Took's Biography ATM". More on Took - http://tinyurl.com/6gpq4gv and more on TAG/Marc Bolan & my involvement here:- http://tinyurl.com/6dbkau2

By mercurymoon at 18:22 on 29/03/11
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You're right – I don't know how the word 'unfortunately' crept into that sentence. It was touching really that they're all remembered together. I was always interested in Marc's first partner, Steve Peregrine-Took, who did a lot more musically than people realised, one of my friends used to say. Another one who came to a sad end – I think he's got a memorial at the Shrine too, is that right?

PS I've looked at that sentence again and what I MEANT to say was that it was unfortunate that so many of Marc's band colleagues had died so young... badly put, I'm afraid!

By GeorgeHA at 17:47 on 29/03/11
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Hi. So what's wrong with the other late members of T-Rex getting a 'nod' at Marc's Shrine. Its clear to see that Marc is the main focal point as the plaques to the other band members are small and 'No man is an island' as they say - not even Marc. Interestingly I live not far from that Speed camera on the Kingsway in Hove and if you check you'll see that TAG who care for Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine in Barnes, London is based in Hove. Small world. Maybe see you at Marc's Shrine on the date of his Anniversary - 16th September which is when many fans visit. XX

By mercurymoon at 16:25 on 29/03/11
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