303

303 was the combination of my first bike lock, an ancient piece of kit that probably would have opened anyway with a bit of force, but there it is. You never forget these things. It came with my very first grown up pushbike which gave me the freedom to explore. 

whenever the number 303 came up anywhere i would remember my padlock. i still do.

Skip forward to my rebelious teenage years, (1983 to be precise ) an i find myself hitch-hiking along this road to find out where my girlfriend had got to. Its a main trunk road in the south of England, linking London and the start of the heavenly counties of Devon and Cornwall. Any london surfers will know this road well. Its that number again.

The A303 goes right past a place called Stonehenge, which was the site of a free festival. I found my girlfriend, i found my friends and made some more friends. - lifetime friends as it turns out.

 You could say i discovered a sub-culture and dived in head first. So did many other people, the following year saw over a quarter million people roughing it in  the fields  for a free party. That particular time is worthy of another post so i`ll try and stick to the thread.

there is a slight chance you dont know what Stonehenge is, and - if you live in the uk and have never been - shame on you.

These parties worried the government , so they were stopped in 1985 by use of violence and sheer manpower. it would be many years before anyone other than paying tourists would be allowed anywhere near what i still see as " our stones ". 

This spirit could not be quashed so the free-party continued elsewhere, and grew.

and grew. i myself organised many a party in the 80`s, but had to stop when the numbers got out of hand. i moved into the clubs in the 90`s, but that`s another story.

by 1988, everyone wanted one of these.

the Roland Tb303

this little silver box, unwanted by musicians when it was released in 1981, produces noises which touch your very soul. This is no exaggeration as anyone who has heard one of these through a p.a. will tell you. these now change hands for incredible amounts of money.

Again, this is worthy of another post, which i think is best left to other people. Please check out this blog ( my friend wayne anthony i think ? ) - < click here > for an eye-opening history.

so there we have it.

303 and me.

Thanks for reading.