That sounds a bit back-handed! Come on... you are better than that!
It proves the point more-so from the perspective of those that didn't enjoy it for whatever reason. Choosing fall-guys etc. I've seen that behaviour before.
Quite often in a group with a leader who is deemed extremely talented but flawed in some departments, in this case the flaws wouldn't be
the ability to play the guitar or make the audience happy (which for a fan is the only important factor especially those who are also flawed in terms of lacking empathy or just being able to seperate the human from the music.) If the leader lacks tact or cannot deal with things fairly and patiently when the going gets tough (so if his personal life is in some turmoil which then boils over to the crew) then he will need allies. I cannot recall any situation ever where there has been someone who may be behaving badly who didn't have an ally, whether it be their partner, girlfriend/boyfriend or group of supporters/friends etc. Used to happen as far back to the school playground.
Franklin was admired by Knopfler, big time. Like he admired his trusty right-hand man Illsley and even Guy Fletcher. I bet his treatment to them would have been different than to others. Similar to if Jeff Porcaro had joined on tour. No way does he get the same treatment as CW. It happens actually quite often in the industry I work in. Certain people are valued a lot more than others. Or it could even be in vain to try not to look bad in front of female collegues etc. These people will never be crappy with them or certain collegues but would be pretty awful to others. I've seen this on countless occasions. It might not even be very bad face to face behaviour as such. Just ignoring certain people etc. It's a character flaw. I suppose these people in the industry I work in must have had some talent as they are earning more than triple than you are or have so much more power etc. Sometimes these people are like that because they are naturally absolute sh*ts or sometimes they cannot handle the heat or when things are out of their control. They might have their own insecurities and issues. The thing is the latter is what I genuinely believe happened to MK. Not the former. Even though that's me taking a kind view.
So i'm not sure why you are trying to belittle other posters comments, those that were also amongst the crew for best part of 14 months who would gain nothing from being unfairly biased or negative. In fact as a freelancer you want to be on everyones good books. But sadly it happens. It shouldn't have happened. It's happened to me but you try and move on. However what I wouldn't like is for others to try and re-write history especially when they were not even there. Not even close. You can say you are / were close to the artist's music/work spiritually but you are /were a million miles away from ever being close physically. That's a fact. Unless you lived near his studio
. I used to work for many years about 800 metres from MK's studio in Chiswick! Doesn't make me spiritually closer. I still love Telegraph Road though!
