Prior to going to on tour Bob took me to Track Records office in Old Compton Street to meet the peop

He was Keith Moon s PA and sidekick, as well as author of the soon to be republished Full Moon. Mark Raison of Monkey Picks chats to Dougal Butler new york cheap rental car about the man, mod and the reissue of the classic book.
Peter Dougal Butler had the daunting job title of Keith Moon s Personal Assistant. Dougal s account, first published in the UK in 1981 as Moon The Loon, lovingly new york cheap rental car catalogues ten years of crazy escapades, often in bawdy detail.
new york cheap rental car It is one of the funniest books you'll ever read and an appropriately hilarious tribute new york cheap rental car to his former employer. Long out of print, it now sees the light again thanks to a new edition published on the 7th July as Full Moon by Faber Finds, available as a proper book and an e-book. An audio version follows on the 1st August. I shared a cup of tea, a chinwag, and plenty of laughs with its very genial author.
I m – excuse the pun – over the moon about it. Word for word that is how Keith sounded, those were his antics. I m really pleased new york cheap rental car with it even though it s now thirty years later. It s coming out exactly as it was, no changes, and Keith's old friend new york cheap rental car Karl Howman has done a brilliant job reading the entire book for the audio version for Talking Books.
Either the Blue Moon in Hayes or a big gig they did at the Southall Community Centre.  I was wearing my Ivy League suit and BlueBeat hat and I remember them doing Heatwave and Barbara Ann so it was 1964 or maybe early 1965. I used to go and see them all the time. They were my favourite band, I was a mod and I spent all my money on clothes.
I remember buying this suede coat from Petticoat Lane, beautiful, in mustard yellow, full length, had the Levi s with the little new york cheap rental car turn-ups, Hush Puppies, Fred Perry shirts, crew cut. I remember coming down the stairs at home checking myself out in the full length mirror thinking I was the dog s bollocks. My dad looks at me and this yellow coat and says: Have you seen the f***ing state of you, going out like that?
I used to go on my mate s scooter to all the places: the Ricky Tick, the Blue Moon, the Marquee, and the 100 Club. We d meet at the Queen s Head in Uxbridge and everyone would go to Burton s Dancehall around the corner on a Saturday night before getting the tube into town to the Flamingo. Then we d jump on the milk train to get back at five o clock in the morning.
I never had my own scooter as my parents said I d kill myself. Me and my mates clubbed new york cheap rental car together to buy an early 1950s Rover, running new york cheap rental car boards, the lot, for £17 to go down to Brighton. I was still at school and not old enough to have a licence but my parents were away so we put it in their garage and cleaned it all up. Eight of us drove it down to Brighton, no licence, no tax, all done up to the nines in all our mod gear. There were thousands of mods around and we nicked the tax disc from this two-seater Messerschmitt car there and put it on ours. Slept in the car, and of course all the riots and stuff started happened and three of my mates were arrested, so we panicked and left it down there and caught the train home. Never saw it again.
Oh yeah.  Obviously the press build things up but it was all running along Brighton front with the rockers and that. It was horrible down on the beach. When you get older you wonder why you did it, what was the cause, did it but it was an of the moment thing.
Mod connections through Bob Pridden, who is still the Who s road manager.  Although I was born in Southall I grew up mainly in Hayes but didn't like Hayes so ventured a bit further out and knew Bob when he was a mod and had a scooter new york cheap rental car and we went to see The Who together. Bob said he d got a job with the band starting with a two week tour of Scotland. I was on 5 pound a week and Bob said he d give me 15 quid a week to help him. I thought I d won the lottery. I went home and told me mum, all proud as punch. Ah, you don t know what you re doing, you'll new york cheap rental car be into drugs. I thought you said you d be doing an apprenticeship to do central heating . But it was only for two weeks so I did it and they asked me to stay.
Prior to going to on tour Bob took me to Track Records new york cheap rental car office in Old Compton Street to meet the people there. Unbeknown to me Keith and John walked in. Keith was wearing this second hand fur coat and introduced himself and John. You know when you re attracted new york cheap rental car to someone, and know you re going to get along, have a laugh and have some fun. It was just instant with Keith and John. To cut a long story short I left the office and they left too. Me and Bob stopped at some traffic lights in St. John s Wood and they pull up by the side of us on the right hand side. I ve got the window down and Keith shouting Alright mate! Welcome! and chucks a bloody great smoke bomb through the window. We were stuck at the lights with our car filling up with blue smoke, couldn t see nothing, just laughing our heads off. So that was my inauguration.
I worked with John as his PA first for a while, which was great, a fabulous guy. I didn't fall out with John at all but I got a call from Keith to be his PA. I think the guy who was then working for Keith was trying to be Keith, if you understand what I mean. I got a phone call about eleven o clock at night at my parent s house. I ve had a word with John and I want you to work for me. I was like er, er, er, what am I getting myself into here? I took it and Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp came up to me after and said: We trust you with Keith but if you ever want any time off, for a holiday or some sort of rest, let us know and we ll pay for it. This was great of them, although I never took up their offer.
No, I d just take it as it came. You never knew what corner he d turn so you just had to be on your toes. It was instant decisions about what to do. Luckily 90% of time it worked and I got him out of situations. I was never a fighter, just had to use a bit of tact. Some of these guys we met had bodyguards when they went out, but Keith just had me: ten stone of f*** all, which was a challenge but we managed to wheedle our way out of most things. Me and Keith had our arguments but he was great. I never told him what he could or couldn t do because it wasn t my bag but I kept my eye on him and he was great fun. If he wanted to do something he'd do it. Sometimes I d hold his coat and say go for it. What you learnt was what was going on in his mind and tried to be a step or two ahead but he was very unpredictable.
new york cheap rental car No, he didn t have any limits, and I think that was with his drugs sometimes. They were legal drynamil new york cheap rental car and mandrax but Keith would take handfuls instead of two or three a day. So those mixed with the alcohol would mean he didn t know when to stop. He was trying to make people laugh and be Mr Funny, he wanted people to love him and enjoy him, but he would go so far. Like a train ride you couldn t stop.
I'd have to say to him: Look Keith, we've got to be up at seven o clock in the morning – not that we ever got up then –for a photo shoot or recording, come on, we've got to go to get him home. Keith would do anything for a laugh. Most guys when they re single will always meet up with the boys on a Friday night in the pub, and there's always one of them that you hope is going to be there because they are a character, have a great sense of humour and will come out with jokes, and make you laugh. And Keith was one of those characters. He was a joy to be around, most of the time, although he could also be a right pain in the arse.
No I don t think so. I knew he was trying to get off the booze and drugs just before he died and I d put him into AA over in LA, and over here, but any drug addict or alcoholic will tell you that you can get all the help from your family and friends but the only person that can do it is that person themself . You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
No, none. I suppose if he d been into football or golf or cricket or whatever he would ve had a routine of some sort but he wasn t interested in anything, nothing at all. He never even practised the drums. The only time he practised was when the band was rehearsing for tours. He never had a drum kit at home or in the garage. He wasn t into keeping fit like Roger was. He just loved eating and drinking at home. His beach house in LA, next door to Steve McQueen, had a beautiful lounge but he never spend any time in there. He d be in his bedroom watching TV and that was that.
What was horrible about LA was he attracted the wrong type of people: all the drug people, all the wannabes. It would drive me insane. They d come in with big bags of coke [demonstrates the size of a pound of sugar] and I d go Whooah, let me have that.   They d say it was for Keith and I d tell them I d sort it. I'd go into the khazi, shut the door, and pour it down the pan. Later I d mix up sugar and salt and line them up. I d be drinking my Heineken and thinking You bunch of w**kers.
Oh, fantastic. Especially on That ll Be The Day we had some great times, brilliant fun. David Puttnam asked who we d cast in Stardust and as Keith loved I Dream Of Jeannie with Larry Hagman, Puttnam agreed to cast Larry. From the day we met, Keith and Larry got on famously. I have to say he is one of the nicest people I ve ever met in my life. There are no qualms about him, he s just fabulous, a lovely new york cheap rental car man who we spent a lot of time with. I did try to get Keith into the movies but he would never have made a movie star because you d have to be regimented and he d blow it every time. On Yellowbeard, which Graham Chapman of Monty Python wrote, he went for a screen test. Graham said Well done Keith but as soon as Keith drove off the director came over and it was No way Jose.
Yes, they used to bring it on set during Tommy and when there was a break in filming they d put it on the table with a glass of brandy on its back and pass between each other. He was great Ollie. We first met him before starting Tommy when Keith said to the film people he needed a helicopter.
Yes, I d like a helicopter now please, fr