The Brian Jones Museum Inauguration, 26th October 2007.

Prior to July 2007, the Wheatsheaf Inn, a local pub tucked away in the suburbs of Cheltenham was relatively unknown to those outside of the Cotswolds. Alongside the pub the original skittle alley, a throwback to the 1940’s and 50’s has for a long time been known locally as The Venue, offering regular folk and jazz nights, quiz nights, birthday, wedding parties and a diverse range of musical entertainment for the local community.

However, learning of the history of this capacious annex to the main building, and the particular relevance to Brian Jones’ formative years in music, the Venue seemed an ideal place for fan club members to get-together when in Cheltenham. After meeting up at the cemetery over the years, to remember Brian on the anniversaries of his birth and death it had become custom to go on to a local pub in Prestbury for a meal, a drink and to catch up with each other’s news. But now, with this direct link to Brian’s early career it seemed more appropriate that we organise a get-together at the Venue.

And so it was, on the 1st July 2007 a live gig was organised and enjoyed by all who came along. It was such a success and with everybody agreeing that it should be done again, talks over the following few days included the possibility of a permanent home for the Brian Jones Fan Club in Cheltenham. As you might read elsewhere on this website, in the late 50’s and early 60’s the Wheatsheaf’s skittle alley became known locally as Club 66 and thrived as a jazz club with, as well as local bands, a lot of the UK’s more popular jazz ensembles of the period making special appearances. It’s known that as a teenager, Brian Jones organised many of the gigs, sat on the door collecting fees, signing membership cards and sometimes even managing to get himself on stage!

Some may ask why Club 66 when it was only 1958? Apparently the landlord of the time learned of the significance of Route 66 in America and ahead of his time, being of the old school, thought of the name to attract the youngsters from the more well known Rotunda, 38 Priory Street and the Coffee Bar haunts in the centre of town. It certainly worked and for a period Club 66 became the ‘hip’ place to be, and Brian was there at the start, organising things and learning his trade. This was an apprenticeship that was far more exhilarating for the youngster rather than the future planned by his parents.

In the week following the July 1st gig we started making plans for organising this permanent tribute to Brian with landlord Maurice Dominey taking the lead by completely redecorating the Venue. The soon-to-be exhibition was painted a warm purple shade with the stage area moodily surrounded in black. A new carpet was fitted throughout and with the dance area left with its tiled finish the stage, reputed to have been there since 1958, was repaired and recovered. ‘Club 66 at the Venue’ was agreed by all to be the name for the tribute to Brian Jones and, being in the form of a living museum and exhibition could be enjoyed by all who attended future gigs, whether associated with the fan club or not.

Items donated to the fan club over the years now had a home to be displayed for all to see and the centre piece, the iconic replica Teardrop guitar looked stunning in its purpose built display cabinet. Donated by guitar makers Hutchins of Brighton, number 001 of 250 will be on permanent display and if you’d like to own your own limited edition replica Teardrop, designed manufactured to Brian’s own specification, then please follow this link.

Alongside the Teardrop hangs a framed and matted Brian Jones autograph and photograph. The photo, taken from the original negative and donated by Swedish fan club members Ove Tingvall and Olle Wiman, is of Brian playing his VOX in Sweden in 1965. The accompanying original signature, kindly donated by US fan club member Mike Cirelli is also used as a facsimile on the replica Teardrop, both on the chrome scratch plate and headstock.

Amongst the other exhibits an original painting of Jim Morrison gifted by artist Ben Riley. Why The Doors’ lead singer you might ask? Well, not only is it an illustration of Ben’s talent but alongside the painting hangs a plaque explaining in detail the significance of the ‘27 club’; icons of the music world who have passed away, some under suspicious circumstances at the age of 27. Morbid yes, but factually intriguing....

Mounted on the opposite wall is a group display of three early Stones photographs taken backstage at the Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow on the 13th January 1964. These shots, again taken from the original negatives were donated by Paul Wane at Tracks, the UK’s largest pop memorabilia outlet. And on entering the exhibition, an example of Gered Mankowitz iconic ‘Between The Buttons’ photo-shoot greets visitors in the form of an anniversary poster, signed and donated by Gered to the fan club. This wall also has two signed and dedicated photographs, one from PJ Proby and the other from Bonnie Tyler wishing Pat Andrews and the fan club success with their venture. It’s hoped to gradually fill this wall with other autographs and messages as the museum/exhibition develops.

A life size cut-out of Brian, authorised by Gered Mankowitz also stands at the entrance and it was cute to see people having their photographs taken ‘with’ Brian. 12” desk-top versions are available amongst the merchandise which includes CD’s and DVD’s and ephemera unique to the BJFC.

To tell the public of the existence of the Museum an Inauguration was planned for August 26th, not a lot of time but many people worked extremely hard to achieve this date. Being the only available weekend date before Christmas we did have a few problems organising everything at such short notice but the Inauguration night went fantastically well. And all the messages of support we’ve had since said just what a great night it was.

Helping with publicity was the news that Brian’s first ever electric guitar was returning to Cheltenham. Taking over as centrepiece of the museum, this valuable and historic instrument has been loaned to us for a year by its owner Robert Wilson. Robert, who lives in Italy made the trip to the UK specially to present the Harmony to Pat Andrews and it’s with grateful thanks that we all applaud his generosity.

The two live bands gave their time for free and we thank them both for being so charitable to our cause. The support band Circus were incredible for kids so young (keep that name in mind, they’re going be big in the coming 12 months or so), and Egypt, well their experience and expertise, all being ex-Groundhogs members and having played with a lot of the greats really brought the house down. As well as their own set, Eric Chipulina did two great Robert Johnson solos, ‘Stop Breaking Down’ and ‘Me And The Devil’; and Howling Wolf’s ‘Shake For Me’ by the whole band was, well just great. The whole night was filmed which in time, when we receive the tapes will make a great DVD for the fan club members and visitors to the museum.

Mat Treiber did, ‘It’s All Over Now’, ‘Walking The Dog’ and ‘Little Red Rooster’ and any Stones or Brian fan would have been proud of him, his guitar work and slide were fantastic. Dick Hattrell and John Keen gave talks on the Brian they knew which, especially John’s monologue were both well received, and an update on the research into Brian’s suspicious death was given. Pat Townshend performed ‘Spirit of Brian Jones’ and ‘What Fame Can Do’ with the backing of Egypt and when he brought the star of the night out, the Harmony Stratotone, it was incredible to hear the comments from all the people who held it (and strummed it) and had their photographs taken with this, Brian’s actual guitar. One person commented: “It’s such a privilege to hold this piece of history, Brian would have been so proud to have seen all this happen” and another, strumming it acoustically was heard to say nostalgically: “Never in a lifetime would I ever thought I’d be playing Brian Jones’ guitar; get the chance and you might see one in Hard Rock but tonight I’ve got his first one in my hands – it really is a dream come true!”.

The music continued until well after midnight and everybody agreed what a great night it had been. We’ve already started planning the next get-together for the first weekend in March, we’re hoping to organise a two day gig along similar lines as February 2005 and reported in AfterMath # 7. All details will appear on the website soon.

We’ve had some more offers of exhibits and will continue to mount displays as the weeks and months go by. However, we have a lot of wall space to fill and we need other interesting items. Do you have something you’d like to loan us? Maybe something with a personal story behind it that you’d like to share with the rest of the BJ and 60’s Stones community. Please support this venture. It’s not only a tribute to Brian in his home town but also a tribute to the incredible band he formed. Our aim, knowing the resistance to anything Brian from some quarters in Cheltenham is to get the message out that this man wasn’t just the general public’s image of Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll often portrayed, he was in fact a complex character with a multitude of talents, one of which was to establish probably the greatest phenomena in popular music.

The Brian Jones Museum and Exhibition is now a reality. We’ve inaugurated it, we’re here to stay. Pat Andrews and the BJFC have achieved something rarely seen outside corporate organisations, a permanent independent tribute to a true musical icon.