Trevor Charles Howell

Not until this afternoon did I learn the name of the man who blighted my life forever in December 1971.

My final year at Sheffield. Working pretty hard, I seem to remember. My bedroom at the top of Mrs Heinlein's house on Botanical Road freezing cold (ice inside the windows, some mornings). Looking forward to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention towards the end of term.

The one and only time I had a ticket to see the maestro - composer, bandleader, dazzling guitarist - Frank Zappa. In Sheffield City Hall, venue for some magic events over the past 2 years: John Mayall, Pink Floyd, Quintessence, Pink Fairies, Edgar Broughton Band, Curved Air...

So the scene was set for a really special night.

Until 10 December ...when Trevor Charles Howell climbed onto the stage at the Rainbow Theatre, London, and pushed FZ off the stage into the orchestra pit, a drop of some 12 feet.

The news that Frank had broken his leg and that the tour was abandoned quickly spread around the country. Gutted!

(I now know that Frank sustained not just a badly broken leg which kept him in a wheelchair for the best part of a year and left  him with lifelong mobility and back problems, but also concussion, a broken rib, and a crushed larynx.)

Howell apparently got 12 months. A suitable punishment, I guess. I hope he went on to live a fulfilled life and didn't cause any more trouble..

To add insult to injury when I told a (much younger) FZ fan this story in 2004 he said "Have you still got the ticket - it must be worth a ton!" Well no! In 1971 why would I not have gone to the ticket office for a refund ...with just a meagre student grant to live on?

This incident is curiously similar to 1978 when C and I were at a Tubes concert in De Montfort Hall, Leicester. Midway through the gig the singer, Fee Waybill picked up a chain saw, started it up, and began chasing various band members around the stage in a wild and manic fashion, whilst revving it up. But in his frenzy he didn't notice the edge of the stage and tumbled off! 

We didn't know if it was part of the show until he didn't reappear and we eventually found he had broken a leg. Lucky he didn't saw it off!