Freddie Mercury by Peter Freestone Read Free Book Online Page B

an outbreak of friendship. Early in the afternoon of the 22nd in Philadelphia, there was a knock on the door of Freddie’s hotel suite. I went and opened the door and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Thor Arnold standing there.
    He came in and told Freddie that he wasn’t going to let things go just like that. Freddie was stunned because it must have been one of the first times that not only had someone taken it upon themselves to arrive at one of his shows under their own steam but that Thor had also done some research and had discovered where Freddie was staying. The surprise element as much as anything else really won Freddie over. Thor stayed for the show but then had to go straight back to New York.
    Thus started what was to be one of the most enduring friendships I have known Freddie to have enjoyed and one which lasted until the end of his life. Thor introduced Freddie to three other friends of his in Manhattan, Lee Nolan, Joe Scardilli and John Murphy and more often than not it was always a crowd of six of us who went out whenever we were in New York. Freddie affectionately used to call the four Manhattan men, ‘my New York daughters’.
    It was ‘The New York Daughters’ who were with him in a suite at the Berkshire Place Hotel in 1981 when Freddie’s monarchist tendencies surfaced on the occasion of the wedding of Diana Spencer to Charles, Prince of Wales. He insisted everyone stay up, got room service to provide us with a sumptuous breakfast so that we could toast the bride and groom as they walked out of St Paul’s. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he had tears in his eyes – other than those of laughter due to a multitude of comments being passed about anything from ‘the’ dress to how dreadful other people’s outfits were. I remember it was generally agreed by everyone that the reason why all the royal family disappeared into the vestry was so that they could ‘do’ lines of cocaine in private. After all, they all came out smiling and chatting to each other in a very animated fashion. More cause for falling on the floor, laughing. I don’t know what Charles and Diana’s wedding reception was like, if it was half as good as our celebration of their marriage, they’d have been more than happy.
    August 23: Baltimore, Maryland

             
24: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

             
25: Day Off

             
26: Providence, Rhode Island

             
27: Portland, Maine
     
    All the above gigs were played from our New York base at the Waldorf Astoria Towers.
    August 28: Day Off (Travel Day)

             
29: Montreal, Quebec

             
30: Toronto

             
31-September 9 (Probably spent in NewYork)
     
    Since Tony Bastin’s departure, there had been no permanent man in Freddie’s life and as Freddie had new friends to play with he decided to stay in New York. Whereas other married rock men who may have been fathers too might have wanted to return to London and their families for a while, Freddie while on tour was on tour and had little contact with London except the occasional cat-call. There was nothing at that point that tied him to going back to England.
    September   10: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

                     
11: Day Off (Travel)

                     
12: Kansas City, Kansas

                     
13: Omaha, Nebraska

                     
14: Minneapolis, Minnesota

                     
15: Day Off (Travel)

                     
16: Ames, Iowa

                     
17: St. Louis, Missouri

                     
18: Day Off (Travel)

                     
19: Chicago, Illinois

                     
20: Detroit, Michigan

                     
21: