It was the seventies. Max's Kansas City ... the Village Vanguard ... Studio 54 ... the famous Academy of Music ... The Factory - New York was buzzing. You could convince yourself that this was the centre of the universe, and you wouldn't be far off. I was so very fortunate to be studying at Parsons's School of Art, the centre of the fashion world. The colourful spectrum of self styled students, each one trying to be hipper than the next. As a Fine Arts student I didn't fit that category, the serious and intense type, trying to make sense of what it was all about. I seemed to find answers in the ambiguous lyrics of Genesis. In 1974 they were still a cult band in the States. Those who were in the know formed a special club, a form of elitism that I would now frown upon! Then, they provided a platform, a route to escape into a whimsical and magical world. It was my introduction to England. I loved it. All of it. The music, the arts, theatre and literature. The Pre-Raphaelites ... Ruskin ... Richard Dadd ... Lewis Carroll ... CS Lewis's The Lion, the Witch ... Great productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream ... The Tempest - they seemed to have it all ... Elgar ... The Incredible String Band ... Fairport Convention ... Peter Cook & Dudley Moore's legendary Good Evening.But most of all there was only one - GENESIS.
