Ginger Geezer: The Life of Vivian Stanshall by Lucian Randall & Chris Welch

Author:Lucian Randall & Chris Welch
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780007387243
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2010-05-26T23:00:00+00:00

11

The Fur-tongued Horror of a Kiss

Boat Life

Vivian Stanshall enjoyed making an impact on the lives of others. He invariably assumed the dominant role, shouting, laughing and commanding attention. He was the Ginger Geezer, in your face, the sharp-witted thinker dominating a conversation, or the combative thinker bellowing his opinions and making loud demands. Men, women and turtles swam in his personal fish tank, to provide amusement and diversion. He was unpredictable, spontaneous and sometimes unbearably selfish. He also needed affection, understanding and love. All that was lost with the breakdown of his marriage to Monica. He was left to manage his addictions and panic attacks alone.

‘I don’t think he could handle the weight of knowing what was happening, of being alive and conscious and being more than just flesh and bone,’ says Rupert. Vivian had passing relationships, but underneath it all he felt horribly isolated. At this low point in 1977, Pamela Longfellow came into his life. She was a stunning young woman, dark-haired and half Native American, her background prompting her, with Vivian’s encouragement from one of his dreams, to take the name Ki. Her ‘exotic’ aspect was a major attraction for Vivian, who was similarly intrigued by Monica’s German-Jewish background. Beyond the looks lay a formidable creative talent and a sharp mind. Unlike Monica, who was also extremely intelligent, but far from aggressive, Ki relished challenging Vivian with her intellect. He could be jealous of her achievements in writing and they fed off one another’s creativity, both finding talent to be an incredible turnon. Their sexual attraction was just as powerful.

Ki became convinced that he needed a space in which to create and conceived the idea of a floating-theatre venture. She found a suitable vessel called the Thekla in Sunderland, organised its renovation and the ship’s voyage to Bristol, where the crew spent months refitting amid financial hardship. By the mid-1980s, she was able to hand over to Vivian a venue in which he staged the ambitious musical Stinkfoot. Ki concentrated her own creativity later on and apart from her work with Vivian, she went on to become a successful novelist in her own right. Even when it became clear to her that she could not live with Vivian, she never gave up on him.

Ki – then Pamela – Longfellow first arrived in England from the States in 1969. She came with a daughter, Sydney Longfellow, born in June 1963. Ki’s 1969 sojourn in England was relatively brief. ‘I blasted in and blasted out and came back in ‘72,’ she says. ‘I was living in Hampstead with Richard Thompson and the manager of Fairport Convention, Robin Gee, and Linda Peters, who became Linda Thompson.’ Gee was Fairport Convention’s tour manager. He met her while she was doing a book-keeping job for rock promoter Bill Graham in New York and came back with her. Soon after, Ki and Robin had a short-lived marriage.

In 1977, Vivian’s friend Philippa Clare brought him together with Ki. ‘Vivian was in a morose mood and he rang up and said, “I want some dynamic, hard-edged American woman,”’ says Philippa.

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