I remember he was finally cleaned up and
turned again. Dezo Connor was doing a jazz special on his TV show. When was this?
Back in 95. Shep was there and Ben and myself and Ronnie and we were just two
new starts in the jazz industry alongside these two icons of jazz. I remember
meeting Shep in the dressing room and speaking to him and he asked me if I
drunk any herbal tea before and he asked me if I had any on me which was a
strange question because you can't exactly picture Shep Baker and herbal
tea. It just doesn't go together. Well he seemed in good form. He was a bit
spaced out but he was clean and he'd been touring Europe for the last two
years. I was talking to Shep, Ben and Ronnie in Shep's dressing room and then
Ben. He left. He left to go and get a nap before he was on. Yeah well I always have
a nap or a rest before any live show or gig and that keeps me focused. I just put
my walkman on, you know, I can put earphones on and just listen to the
wailed song and the music of the South Pacific to just really relax me. I put
the kettle on. I was making everyone a cup of tea. I asked if anyone wanted any
sugar. Shep said, he said, Simon I've got my own bag of sugar and he pulled out
this little bag and he tried to sprinkle some of it in his tea. He tried to
sprinkle some of it in but it all went in the cup. Not sure if he meant to put all
the sugar in his tea but he drank it anyway. Shep Baker. Oh god yeah I remember
him. Oh man. I remember I went down to the dressing room. I was gonna tell him
when they were all gonna be called and Ben, Ben he was gonna be called first
but Shep, Shep was just, he was there man. Yeah well Marty came in and woke me up
and told me that I had 20 minutes before Dez went on to do his intro you
know with the terrible jokes to the geriatric audience before I came on the
show and I just said thanks Marty and put my walkman back on to relax. Oh yeah
yeah I went into Shep's dressing room and bloody hell. He was so mellow
beforehand but as soon as he downed his cup of tea he went off like an Apollo
spaceship. He picked up the bin and started trashing the dressing room with
it. He just went off his nut. Oh yeah I told him to stop but he just turned
around and you know that voice. Air Force!
I told Marty I didn't have a clue what he was on and me and Simon left me to it.
I went back to our dressing rooms but I never saw him again that night. Next thing
I know he's trying to strangle me. Got his hands around my throat before I could
even call security. I just can't remember a thing. Marty said you tried to
strangle him. Well maybe I was getting flashbacks to that Alex Harvey back in
Ireland thing. Anyway there was a knock at the door and it was Dez
coming to wish me good luck before the show. I said thanks mate you know and put
my earphones back on. Yeah well you know Dez he would come down to the
dressing room every time before the show. You know they wish everybody good
luck before they went on and this one time I'm there on the floor and Shep's
trying to kill me and I look up and I see Dez his face in the doorway and you
know like that perma-ten thing that he had it gone man it's just like ghost
white. He rushes over and he grabs Shep by the throat and drags him off me. Now
not a lot of people know this but Dez before he came into the business he was
like a boxer and he'd been a bouncer before that as well and he lays into
Shep and just puts him spark out on the floor and I'm thinking Dezo can't it? Oh
my god. No no that was Paul Daniels. We carried on with the show as if nothing
had happened. Shep he never appeared on the show. Security they took him off to
the police station. Well I don't remember a damn thing then I woke up in rehab
watching the magic roundabout again.
you
