From UK to LA – A Petition

In 1968 we got up a petition to get the Byrds and Love to come to England. It started with a letter to Disc and Music Echo which they kindly published. We asked for 2 signatures for the petition and got some great letters which we pasted onto a long roll of paper and sent off to Los Angeles. The Love one actually came back marked unknown at this address. How much must that have cost?

We made a lot of friends across the country, and exchanged letters written as a joint stream of consciousness (passing the pen, man). The letters often used multicoloured paper and inks with pictures stuck onto them. I still have some hidden away. One has a strip of tiny faces across the top of the envelope: camo for the stamp. We all listened to John Peel and followed the same bands. Just in case they are out there:
Dougie from Glasgow
Much and Bund from Bristol
Chris from Wales
Wendy from Devon
Peter from Harrogate, studying with Stefan at Plymouth
Barry who worked at Heathrow
And many many others
We didn’t meet any of them (well, not knowingly), though I have tried to find them a few times on friends reunited. It was great to know that there was a crew of like-minded souls spread across the country. Recently it’s been a bit similar as we’ve met some great Love fans during Arthur Lee’s 2002-2005 comeback.