Galaxie 500 at The Subterania - 27th June 1990
The first of two posts documenting the profound effects of music on my life.
In this post I talk about one show 35 years ago that changed my career, and gave my life a direction it didn’t have until that moment. In a future post I’ll talk some more about Ken, who was at this show with me and who also happened to make a couple of the most beautiful albums.
Galaxie 500 return for an encore
So… at, I’d guess, about 22:30 on 27th June 1990 Galaxie 500 returned to the stage of The Subterania in west London, joined by Kramer, and played Ceremony, followed by Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste - and, although I didn’t realise it at the time, the course of my life took a turn… here’s how:
1989
I was working in the film stores at the BBC Film and Videotape Library - not a great job but the pay wasn’t too bad (with some overtime) and enabled me to get out and see gigs. I’d already been there five years (apart from 18 months or so as a film projectionist) so it was looking like I was stuck there. Then, Ken joined the BBC (and there’ll be more about Ken in another post in a few weeks time) and he knew music better than anyone I had encountered before, and music that I liked, and music I didn’t know but that he knew I would like. He also knew music journalists so occasionally tapes would arrive with new music to listen to. One of those tapes had Galaxie 500 on it. I was smitten.
Ken was also someone to go to gigs with, and we went to a lot of gigs! It was with Ken that I didn’t get to see Galaxie 500 supporting The Sundays in February 1990 and it was with Ken that I finally did get to see Galaxie 500, at The Subterania in June 1990.
22:30 - 27th June 1990
The Subterania was a club located underneath the Westway in west London. Most gigs around then were happening in North London or the West End so it was nice having a venue a little closer to home so we saw quite a few gigs there over the years (although I somehow managed to not see Galaxie 500’s first gig there the previous year).
To be honest I can’t really remember the specifics of Galaxie 500’s set, but, main set over, at approx 22:30 Galaxie 500 returned to the stage for an encore, they were joined by Kramer and played Ceremony, followed by Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste. I was mesmerised.
Update: That video is possibly the previous night in Manchester - it’s been shared on YouTube as both London and Manchester - but the audio matches an audio recording from Manchester I have that seems to have reliable provenance.
Galaxie 500 were supported by Teenage Fanclub who I was already a fan of… although this might have been the first time I saw them - I also saw them in December of that year in a show that was filmed for Snub - sharp-eyed viewers can see me in this chaos (although my eyes aren’t sharp enough any more!).
1994
I’d been messing around with the Internet from pretty early on and towards the end of 1994 I had acquired some free web space. But had no idea what to do with it? So I taught myself how to code for the web by building a Galaxie 500 fan web site, because I still remembered that feeling from four years before. I was now a webmaster!
I had now been working in the film stores for ten years… it was definitely looking like I was stuck there!
1995
I set up a mailing list for Galaxie 500 fans (more on that in a few weeks).
1999
In 1999 I applied to become one of the BBC Information & Archives (as the library was now called) first “media managers” - I was turned down for the job but thankfully Richard Wright, one of the interviewers appreciated that my knowledge of the Internet and the World Wide Web acquired over the five years of running A Head Full of Wishes might be useful, so he invented a job for me, and put me to work on a European digitisation project, I shared an office with the three people who had got those media manager jobs that I hadn’t.
Around that time the media managers were asked to help to develop a BBC-wide intranet site to assist people in using the Internet, and I&A’s internal tools, to do their research. Since I was the only person who had any experience developing for the web (because of Galaxie 500) I ended up doing quite a lot of the initial work on Research Central and at some point it became my full time job.
Research Central changed over the years, it became research.gateway, and then Research Gateway - the job changed, the site changed as people learned to use the web they needed less help and more tools - we gave them that.
2010
The powers that be decided that my skills (because of Galaxie 500) would be put to better use not as part of the Information & Archives but as part of the wider BBC intranet. Lots of people thought this was a good thing - but… taking me away from archives wasn’t good at all. Unfortunately in the ensuing years a variety of managers came and went and none of them had a clue what to do with us and how to best make use of us. I had a few months seconded into an Internet development team which was good, but most of the next three years were frustrating.
2013
After too many years of doing nothing and not getting anywhere I happened upon an advert for a job as the webmaster at The National Archives (TNA). I applied for, and got, the job because of, you know… Galaxie 500. I was back in an archive. Home. And I was now actually a “webmaster” according to my job title!
2020 to the present
I spent seven very happy years at TNA before COVID threw a spanner in the works, I still enjoyed my work and loved TNA, but working from home didn’t really suit me. Hazel and I then moved 300 miles away from my workplace so working remotely became the only option! I stuck it out for a few more years and then, when I arrived at the age of 60, I decided to retire - and suddenly AHFoW became my only job!
So, here we are - 35 years on from that gig at The Subterania that basically turned me onto the path that I’m still on. It’s been quite a ride!