Marvin & Farrar in Birmingham (20. August 1974)

[UlrichS]

The Dolce Vita and The Cavendish were both Bailey's night clubs in Birmingham. The acts were on the bill for a week at a time and would 'double' the two clubs. The top of the bill would be at The Cavendish at Yardley at 10pm, appearing at the Dolce Vita in Birmingham city centre at midnight. I did the entire Bailey circuit a dozen or more times, including clubs in Newcastle, Sunderland, South Shields, Stockton, Billingham, Sheffield, Barnsley, Blackburn, Liverpool, Leicester, Watford as well as the two in Birmingham. There may have been others but if there are more, they escape me for now.
Marvin and Farrar didn't play Batley, but they did play Wakefield Theatre Club. At Batley Variety Club it was MWF with Olivia Newton John at a different time. I know because I was there.

Hi Dave,
Many thanks for your info, that clears up all my questions.
Best wishes,
Ulrich

PS. A picture of this line-up on stage (might have been at the La Dolce Vita):

1974 Mo Foster - John Farrar - Andrew Steele - Pat Carroll - Hank Marvin.jpg

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[StuartD]

Hank and John never did Batley Variety Club with Pat.

They did their first ever cabaret slot with Pat at Wakefield Theatre Club. Alan Jones was on Bass, it was his first gig and Bobby Worth was on Drums

Regards

Stuart

[Fenderman]

Where's Bruce? By 1974 he was back with the band.
Perhaps he was on holiday at the time!

[drakula63]

Where's Bruce? By 1974 he was back with the band.
Perhaps he was on holiday at the time!

For some reason, he rejoined the Shadows but not MWF, so THEY continued as Marvin and Farrar. Maybe it was something to do with them just having released the album 'Hank Marvin and John Farrar'...?

[JimN]

I have now heard a copy of this tape, and Hank says (just before they play Wonderful Land) that they're very happy to be at La Dolce Vita, which ties up with Robbo's post above.

S'funny because I can remember the compere in Liverpool introducing them in the same way, with Hank's name as a throwaway and all the emphasis being on John's name.

"So here they are... give them a big round of applause... Hank Marvin... and.... John Farrar!!".

[Iain Purdon]

Where's Bruce? By 1974 he was back with the band.
Perhaps he was on holiday at the time!

I think the answer is that they were not operating as "a band" at that time. They were individually involved in projects. either on their own or with others. To promote a Marvin/Farrar LP, who better than HBM and JF. Bruce wasn't a key player in that. Likewise when Hank did solo stuff, he went out with other musicians.