Post by sleepwalker24 on Sept 20, 2011 19:01:31 GMT -5
I hope nobody minds me starting my own thread about my visit to Konk - I just wasn't sure where else I could post this!
So, me and my friend Pete drove Lola down to Konk on Monday to pick up the Kinks speaker I won on eBay. We arrived at the studio at 1pm, went up to the door and rang the buzzer. I heard a voice say 'Won't be a minute!', and this American guy opened the door and asked us what we wanted. I said we'd come to pick up the speaker and he let us in. He was carrying an open box which he put down on the floor, he told is it was all stuff that needed selling. I managed to take a look inside and it was full of Kinks Cds (I spotted their first album and Kinda Kinks) and some 'God Save The Kinks' tshirts. He told us to wait whilst he had a look in the lounge for the speaker. We were still stood just inside the door and decided to be a bit cheeky and climb the very small flight of stairs ;D The guy came back and said he wasn't sure exactly which speaker was ours and asked us to come into the lounge and show him. We followed him into the lounge, it was pretty big and full of Kinks touring equipment. We finally located our speaker and I explained that I was a big Kinks fan and asked if we could take a few photos of the lounge. The guy said he supposed it would be ok so we had a walk around the lounge and took a few photo's. There was also a kitchen area attached to the lounge so we took a couple of photo's of the kitchen too. Here are the photo's we took in the lounge and kitchen area -
(There was also a pool table in the lounge, which you can't see in the photos)
The guy wasn't exactly rude but it was obvious that he was quite busy and didn't really want us hanging around too long. I wanted to ask more questions then I did but he seemed to be getting a bit impatient We did ask about Ray and I couldn't believe it when he said that Ray had been at Konk that very morning, at 11am! I was quite gutted when I realised that I might have met him, had we arrived 2 hours earlier He told us that Ray had gone to Devon to do a song writing course (I presume he meant to teach one.) He was really casual about it, like seeing Ray was just a usual occurence for him. I asked if Ray was still selling Konk (the For Sale sign is still up ) and he told us that their had been a lot of interest and that Ray had recieved some good offers, but not quite good enough. He also told us that Ray wanted all the Kinks touring equipment out of Konk in the next 2 weeks.
I then asked if we could have a little tour as we'd driven a long way and really wanted to look around. I told him that I'd stood outside Konk a couple of times but had never had an excuse to get in. He said something like 'Oh, we often get fans hanging around outside'. He seemed to be getting more impatient and told us he was very busy but supposed we could have a quick look in the Neve Room! He led us in and hovered in the doorway whilst we took a few photos. It was so much smaller then I expected and I was so excited to be in there, even if it was only for a few minutes! The guy told us again that he was busy and asked us not to be long. He watched us the entire time so we didn't dare touch anything - I really wanted to sit in one of the chairs but thought I better not! I mentioned the State of Confusion video being shot in there and the guy made a brief comment about the To The Bone album. Here are a couple of photos that we got of the Neve Room -
(We did get 2 more photo's but unfortunately they're pretty blurry, probably because we felt so rushed )
Just outside the door to the Neve Room I spotted this so Pete took a quick photo -
I did spot an office on our way back to the lounge and there was a lady in there, but I only had a quick glance and couldn't see much. We walked back into the lounge to get the speaker and the guy said it would be easier to take it out the back door. The speaker is really big so Pete helped him carry it to the back door. The back door was in another small kitchen area and I managed to get this photo -
Lola was parked out front so Pete went off to drive her round to the back door whilst I stood and waited with the American guy (please excuse me for repeatedly saying 'the guy' but I don't know his name, I should've asked : I noticed a big skip outside the back door and he told me they were clearing stuff out - he seemed to read my mind and told me that nothing to do with the Kinks had gone in the skip, but that I was welcome to take whatever I wanted. I got these 2 boxes as souvenirs -
The guy recognised Lola and said he'd seen her advertised on eBay. He was really nonchalant and to be honest he didn't seem that interested (except to ask how much we paid for her.) He seemed more interested by my Kinks Picture Book boxset, which was on the dashboard, he seemed a bit suprised by the fact that it's a promo copy. Try as we might we couldn't get the speaker into the boot or the back seats Eventually we got it onto the back seats, but only after taking it out of the flightcase. It then became evident that the flightcase was not going to fit in the boot. We realised that we'd have to leave it at Konk We were told that we'd have to get it couriered or find another way to pick it up soon as Ray wanted these things out (still not sure what I'm going to do yet ) We followed him back to the back door and before he went back in Pete asked if we could leave a letter for Ray (I wrote Ray a letter on Sunday night, I asked him to write back if he wasn't too busy, he probably won't but you never know!) He said he'd put it with Ray's post and make sure he got it - I hope he meant it and that Ray will get it!
We also took these photo's before we set off home -
And here is the speaker, home safe and sound in my living room!
Here's a close up of the Kinks logo on the speaker -
So, me and my friend Pete drove Lola down to Konk on Monday to pick up the Kinks speaker I won on eBay. We arrived at the studio at 1pm, went up to the door and rang the buzzer. I heard a voice say 'Won't be a minute!', and this American guy opened the door and asked us what we wanted. I said we'd come to pick up the speaker and he let us in. He was carrying an open box which he put down on the floor, he told is it was all stuff that needed selling. I managed to take a look inside and it was full of Kinks Cds (I spotted their first album and Kinda Kinks) and some 'God Save The Kinks' tshirts. He told us to wait whilst he had a look in the lounge for the speaker. We were still stood just inside the door and decided to be a bit cheeky and climb the very small flight of stairs ;D The guy came back and said he wasn't sure exactly which speaker was ours and asked us to come into the lounge and show him. We followed him into the lounge, it was pretty big and full of Kinks touring equipment. We finally located our speaker and I explained that I was a big Kinks fan and asked if we could take a few photos of the lounge. The guy said he supposed it would be ok so we had a walk around the lounge and took a few photo's. There was also a kitchen area attached to the lounge so we took a couple of photo's of the kitchen too. Here are the photo's we took in the lounge and kitchen area -
(There was also a pool table in the lounge, which you can't see in the photos)
The guy wasn't exactly rude but it was obvious that he was quite busy and didn't really want us hanging around too long. I wanted to ask more questions then I did but he seemed to be getting a bit impatient We did ask about Ray and I couldn't believe it when he said that Ray had been at Konk that very morning, at 11am! I was quite gutted when I realised that I might have met him, had we arrived 2 hours earlier He told us that Ray had gone to Devon to do a song writing course (I presume he meant to teach one.) He was really casual about it, like seeing Ray was just a usual occurence for him. I asked if Ray was still selling Konk (the For Sale sign is still up ) and he told us that their had been a lot of interest and that Ray had recieved some good offers, but not quite good enough. He also told us that Ray wanted all the Kinks touring equipment out of Konk in the next 2 weeks.
I then asked if we could have a little tour as we'd driven a long way and really wanted to look around. I told him that I'd stood outside Konk a couple of times but had never had an excuse to get in. He said something like 'Oh, we often get fans hanging around outside'. He seemed to be getting more impatient and told us he was very busy but supposed we could have a quick look in the Neve Room! He led us in and hovered in the doorway whilst we took a few photos. It was so much smaller then I expected and I was so excited to be in there, even if it was only for a few minutes! The guy told us again that he was busy and asked us not to be long. He watched us the entire time so we didn't dare touch anything - I really wanted to sit in one of the chairs but thought I better not! I mentioned the State of Confusion video being shot in there and the guy made a brief comment about the To The Bone album. Here are a couple of photos that we got of the Neve Room -
(We did get 2 more photo's but unfortunately they're pretty blurry, probably because we felt so rushed )
Just outside the door to the Neve Room I spotted this so Pete took a quick photo -
I did spot an office on our way back to the lounge and there was a lady in there, but I only had a quick glance and couldn't see much. We walked back into the lounge to get the speaker and the guy said it would be easier to take it out the back door. The speaker is really big so Pete helped him carry it to the back door. The back door was in another small kitchen area and I managed to get this photo -
Lola was parked out front so Pete went off to drive her round to the back door whilst I stood and waited with the American guy (please excuse me for repeatedly saying 'the guy' but I don't know his name, I should've asked : I noticed a big skip outside the back door and he told me they were clearing stuff out - he seemed to read my mind and told me that nothing to do with the Kinks had gone in the skip, but that I was welcome to take whatever I wanted. I got these 2 boxes as souvenirs -
The guy recognised Lola and said he'd seen her advertised on eBay. He was really nonchalant and to be honest he didn't seem that interested (except to ask how much we paid for her.) He seemed more interested by my Kinks Picture Book boxset, which was on the dashboard, he seemed a bit suprised by the fact that it's a promo copy. Try as we might we couldn't get the speaker into the boot or the back seats Eventually we got it onto the back seats, but only after taking it out of the flightcase. It then became evident that the flightcase was not going to fit in the boot. We realised that we'd have to leave it at Konk We were told that we'd have to get it couriered or find another way to pick it up soon as Ray wanted these things out (still not sure what I'm going to do yet ) We followed him back to the back door and before he went back in Pete asked if we could leave a letter for Ray (I wrote Ray a letter on Sunday night, I asked him to write back if he wasn't too busy, he probably won't but you never know!) He said he'd put it with Ray's post and make sure he got it - I hope he meant it and that Ray will get it!
We also took these photo's before we set off home -
And here is the speaker, home safe and sound in my living room!
Here's a close up of the Kinks logo on the speaker -