Something about Sid

[mashrum]

I know this information is really not interesting that much, especially for people who are not from CZ, but I think that this is probably the only Vicious-related comment you haven't already heard and which I know..

I have read an interview with Ivan Martin Jirous, who is czech art-historian and poet, and he used to be the "manager" of the legendary Czech underground band The Plastic People of the Universe (if you're interested in them, there is something about them on wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plastic_People_of_the_Universe and there is also a link to their official site, which also works in English. The history of the group is quite interesting).
In 1976 some members of the Plastic People and their friends were put to jail, including Jirous. Jirous says in the interview, that Paul Wilson (a Canadian living in Prague, who used to work with the PPU in the early 70s and who was deported from Czechoslovakia in '76) met the Pistols somewhere probably in '77/'78 and asked them if they would give him any of their videos, so he could send it to the Plastic People who were in jail and this would've cheered them up. But Sid told him that they would not send any record to a Fascist group (how did he work out that PPU are fascist I don't know). So Wilson pulled away thinking that if the Pistols consider PPU to be Fascists he doesn't need to talk to them anymore.
Jirous also remembers that he got a signed record from Patti Smith, while he was in jail in '77, though he doesn't know how did she hear about him.

[Snoogans4Jay]

That is really interesting........I don't know anything about that band, but will look at the link when I have more time on here........I would like to know how Sid came up with that too....

[mashrum]

admin said:

That is really interesting........I don't know anything about that band, but will look at the link when I have more time on here........I would like to know how Sid came up with that too....

Maybe the reason for that comment is that Sid seems to not know any other adjectives at that time.. I don't why everyone was calling each other Fascist back then, do you remember that Capital Radio interview John did in 77 where Vance tells him that someone told him that McLaren was fascist?
Anyway, when you have the time you can read this article about the Plastic People www.furious.com/perfect/pulnoc.html - it is better than the wikipedia one, but it's longer as it tries to describe the social climate of the late 60s and the 70s in our country..There are also some informations about Allen Gingsberg's visit to Prague - I think he wrote some poem about it later..

I'm glad you liked it, you made me all happy today

[Joan D]

Mashrum,

I will look into the additional web page you mentioned & read more about the PPU. I noticed from a quick look at the wikipedia page that they played (or tried to anyway) in Ceské Budejovice. That caught my notice as that is one of the few places I've been to in the Czech Republic (when I traveled there for work). Beautiful city - and I know that has nothing to do with Sid - but it is a wonderful place to visit. Maybe Sid needed to go there & see for himself - he may not have responded with such a knee jerk reaction to the request.

Joan

[mashrum]

joand said:

Mashrum,

I will look into the additional web page you mentioned & read more about the PPU. I noticed from a quick look at the wikipedia page that they played (or tried to anyway) in Ceské Budejovice. That caught my notice as that is one of the few places I've been to in the Czech Republic (when I traveled there for work). Beautiful city - and I know that has nothing to do with Sid - but it is a wonderful place to visit. Maybe Sid needed to go there & see for himself - he may not have responded with such a knee jerk reaction to the request.

Joan

Hi Joan, I'm glad it interests you! Plastic's history is still a bit like a double-edged sword - it gets you interested but when you know the story you'll expect too much from their music which can make you disappointed ("This is it? This is what they suffered for?"). So if you by any chance come across some of their music, just forget about those persecution stories, they were just a bunch of hippies doing psychedelic music, not caring about the politics, just wanting to do their own thing

Funny thing about Sid's reaction is that you would expect him to have some sympathy with them, since the Pistols were complaining about being banned at the time, while the Plastics were also really banned (not allowed to record or to perform professionally = making money from their music), criticized by the media for being nihilistic junkies and finally arrested for disorderliness and vulgar lyrics. I think Sid was just living his ever-insulting Vicious persona, though this time it was kind of out of place...

Glad you liked Budìjovice, I've actually never been there, but I know all these South Bohemian cities are beautiful, there are lots of baroque sights. Did you visit any other town in CZ?

[Joan D]

Mashrum,

Unfortunately although I've been to the Czech Republic several times it has always been on business & I've had very little time to play tourist. I did get about a 1/2 day in Prague to sightsee once (that wasn't nearly enough). The rest of the time off work hours was spent trying to find places to eat around Ceské Budejovice or near the Temelin Nuclear Plant where I was visiting.

I have told Bob that we need to go back sometime for vacation. When I was there for work, we had a driver to take us around & help translate, which made things easier. I know very little Czech (basically dobry den & pivo - which I think is good morning & beer and zima/leto - winter/summer) Not to easy to get around the country on just that. Although I have say, you Czechs do have good beer - we have Pilsner Urquell in the frig here - I did learn something while over there.

Joan

[mashrum]

Ït's funny how people always learn 'pivo' as one of their first Czech words..Well with CZ being the country with highest beer consumption per capita it is not much of a surprise Our English Literature teacher, who comes from the US, told me that "nemám peníze" = I don't have any money was one of the first phrases he learned - it is very useful phrase, especially in Prague
I think it is really good to have someone to translate and to show you around, especially in Prague - the things are really overpriced there, it's good to have someone who knows Prague well with you to take you to the right restaurants (prices may be more than 50% cheaper) etc.
I actually live near Pilsen, and I go to school there, and there's a lot of 'patriotism' about the beer - nice to hear you drink Urquell!