A few old photos from a gig in London around 1965. Music track is from Snakefinger's Vestal Virgins, Live at the Vic, June 1986. Photos of Philip, Martin Stone, Steve Royal, Dave Whitten, Colin Hansford.
I miss the old rascal. I remember him killing himself to figure out how to play and sing this tune-the Isley's Climbing the Ladder. This must be from the "Live in Chicago" cassette-I have one laying around somewhere!
I saw Snakefinger with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers- about four times. The last time was in 1983 when they reformed for a "one off" gig at Dingwalls. They were always fun to see and he was always a bit crazy. I remember they did some kids tv show and he was sending out his wishes to "All those people out in TV Land"- over the top!
A friend of mine was a local distributor of Snake Finger discs and I had a chance to hang out with Snake (Phil) at a party in ~1982. We'd all seen him with The Residents a short time before. I certainly enjoyed his musicianship, but as a party celebrity he was prettily narrowly focused...he wanted hash. I think that worked out for him, and, as I remember... the rest of the evening was memorable.
I had such a lot of fun hanging out with Phil in SF in the early 80s. He was such an original on so many levels, in so many dimensions. Thank you for the post and for the memories.
WOW-he's just a baby in these pics! Thanks for sharing-I feel like a know the man, I enjoy his work so much. :)
creatornat 5 months ago
shared a house with him in little venice london w9 . one could not find a more gracious personable human being
ephraimben 11 months ago
The man was pretty damn creative with the guitar
xoxgodofgodsgodxx 2 years ago
what song is this?
weinerbongo 3 years ago
I miss the old rascal. I remember him killing himself to figure out how to play and sing this tune-the Isley's Climbing the Ladder. This must be from the "Live in Chicago" cassette-I have one laying around somewhere!
dickdeluxe 3 years ago
I saw Snakefinger with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers- about four times. The last time was in 1983 when they reformed for a "one off" gig at Dingwalls. They were always fun to see and he was always a bit crazy. I remember they did some kids tv show and he was sending out his wishes to "All those people out in TV Land"- over the top!
NickRatnieks 3 years ago
Hanx for sharing! Never seen these pics ever before.
meettheresidents 4 years ago
works for me !!
humboldtmyche 4 years ago
A friend of mine was a local distributor of Snake Finger discs and I had a chance to hang out with Snake (Phil) at a party in ~1982. We'd all seen him with The Residents a short time before. I certainly enjoyed his musicianship, but as a party celebrity he was prettily narrowly focused...he wanted hash. I think that worked out for him, and, as I remember... the rest of the evening was memorable.
vexedweasel 4 years ago
I had such a lot of fun hanging out with Phil in SF in the early 80s. He was such an original on so many levels, in so many dimensions. Thank you for the post and for the memories.
ClueSign 4 years ago 2