an OT but apropos story.
Back in the glorious days before I got into Scientology I was in a motorcycle gang in my home town.
An acquaintance of mine (Brian something or other) was a local music and concert producer and he had set up a concert for a fairly unknown band (when the contract was signed) called Queen to play a concert in the Town Hall. Between the time the contract was signed and the actual concert (December 1973 IIRC) Queen's single "Seven Seas Of Rhye" had come out, they had been on Top of The Pops - a british TV show - and suddenly they were in the top 10 on the charts and the concert sold out.
Brian had a moment of panic - Peterborough (my home town) is a fairly tough industrial town where fighting almost qualifies as local entertainment. He was very concerned that there would be large fights between various skinhead factions or skinheads picking on the local dopeheads. I should sort of emphasize that this was way before skinheads became the poster boys for racist thugs, back then they were just thugs.
So his solution was to emulate the idiots of Altamont and ask the local motorcycle crew, us, to provide the security on the theory that no-on in their right mind would take a swing at us. Which was true but didn't take into account how unruly we were.
Oh well.
The great day dawns, it's a Friday evening. The Town Hall is a big building with the performance taking place in an inside hall. there are bars scattered around and after getting in through the main door, it's the old "stamp on the hand" show at the entrance to the perfomrance hall.
The Iron Horsemen are posted at the doors to the performance hall, the main entrance and by each of the bars. Now, at first, it seems like the idea is working well. No-one pisses off our guys knowing full well they would end up in the hospital. For the first part of the evening everyone is well behaved.
But as the evening draws on and we in the Horsemen find out that the barmen are as wary of us as everyone else and thus really willing to give us free drinks, gradually our guys get drunker and drunker. Now this may be a bit of a surprise to people but guys who join motorcycle gangs are not, as a general rule, the type of people who are over endowed with self restraint and discipline. So the small amounts of trouble that break out are, in the main, being caused by us...
At the time I was the sergeant at arms of the Horsemen so I was wandering around checking on the guys, getting free drinks and having a pretty good time. I rolled up at the performance hall entrance and was talking to Lanky Mic (still my best friend to this day) and Big Dave when up rolls this little git, dark curlyish hair and surrounded by about 10 hangers on. Big Dave sez "Hand!" - meaning everyone was to show the stamp on the hand. The little git didn't have one.
He opens his mouth to speak. "I'm wiff de band" he says - and I have to say he does have some very impressive buck teeth.
"Feck off" sez I in a witty response.
We go back and forth a couple of times and Big Dave (6 foot 5 inches and 300 pounds of meaness and not much intellect) gets a little agitated and starts winding up like he's gonna start pounding on this little twit. So I tell him that he had better "'op off before he gets a good kicking" and some of the people around him start telling him that "really, they will, they're fuckin nuts". So he backs away saying "You'll see, I'm wiv de band".
Ten minutes later he is back with Brian in tow and Brian says - "Yeah, he's the singer". Little twit says from behind Brian "see? I told you". At which point Lanky steps forward to club him. Fortunately Brian knew lanky and me pretty well and Mic was hesitant to hit him.
So Freddy Mercury and Brian sort of sidled around us and into the hall.
I do love the band's music I have to say. But there's my one claim to Queen celebrity fame..