Hi all,
Back in 1978 I was 17 years old and working at a small record company in London called Stiff Records as a book-keeper / ocasional roadie. It was the era of punk rock and the airwaves were full of it, and the company I worked for was pumping that stuff out full steam. I was from a small town in England called Salisbury, and as a teenager I was of course allured by anything in the limelight, so that's how I ended up at Stiff. Anyway, brought up on folk music, Neil Young and Joni Mitchel, the punk stuff really didn't do it for me, so when I happened to hear Charlie Gillet play Sultans of Swing on the radio it was kind of a shock, someone was playing real music!
So on miserable winters night of Tues March 14th 1978 after work I headed down to the Marquee club on Wardour St. A suprisingly small and dingy beer-stained place as I remember. An even bigger suprise was that there was no-one there apart from me and probably 3 people standing around with pint in hand. Was anyone playing that night? Soon enough Mark and his brother and the other band members took the tiny stage, donned their guitars, Mark with his small red Strat, and played like they were playing Shea stadium. I stood literally 3 feet in front of Mark and could have reached out and plucked the strings as he played "Sultans of Swing" in what felt like my own private concert, and pretty much was. "Comin' in out of the rain to hear the Jazz go down..."
I've never been to another Dire Straits concert, have never met Mark Knopfler, and probably never will. I don't think anything could compare to that night. I remember mouthing "thank you" at the end of the song. He probably thought I was a nut but smiled back anyway. He's obviously a nice guy, but more than that he's a real artist, he's in love with that guitar. He cares about every note, every hammer-on and pull-off and bend and vibrato. He truly wants to make it cry and sing, and has done so, and has inspired so many others like myself to try to care half as much. Ever since then, every time I've heard that singing guitar, on the radio, or in the soundtrack of "Local Hero", I've thought of that night, and feel extremely lucky to have walked in out of the rain to hear the Jazz go down. Thank you Mark, as a small tribute to your inspiration I recorded one of your tunes, I hope you don't mind. Love, Paul Mogg.
