June 11, 2018

In 1975, Deep Purple received $11,000 in advance to do a concert in Jakarta in a venue seating 7,000.

"After checking into Sahid Jaya Hotel, the band was told they would be performing for two nights at Senayan Stadium for 75,000 people per show. After the first concert, the band’s manager Rob Cooksey and bodyguard Patsy Collins met with [the Indonesian promoter] and tried to negotiate a fairer deal. The meeting ended in an altercation. Later, Collins allegedly got into a fight over a prostitute and fell down a lift shaft at the hotel. He survived and crawled outside, but died a few hours later. Police responded by arresting Deep Purple’s singer and bassist Glenn Hughes, as well as Cooksey and the other bodyguard, Paddy ‘the Plank’. Hughes was allowed out at gunpoint the next night for the second concert. Authorities declared Collins’ death an accident. Then Cooksey and Paddy had to pay US$2,000 each to get their passports back. The band was driven to the airport, where their plane had a flat tire. They had to pay US$10,000 to use a special jack and torque wrench, and their roadies had to change the tire."

That's only #3 on "Top 10 Concert Fails In Indonesia." I'm reading Indonesia Expat this morning because I have been fighting spam that contains the words "Jakarta" and "chloroform," and a Google search got me to the article at Indonesia Expat. The headline is "Delving into the Dark Web." Excerpt:
[T]here are dozens of Indonesian sites selling date-rape drugs. A typical spiel goes like, “Rohypnol pills have very powerful properties and can be used to drug a woman targeted for rape or for other crimes, but our intention in selling this sleeping pill is not for that purpose, but to make it easier for you to sleep.”

Another site offers chloroform, stating it “can be used for rape” and causes memory loss in the victim. A similar site, offering 250 ml bottles of chloroform for Rp.450,000, states “this anaesthetic is often misused by criminals who want to rob, kidnap or rape a target by first anesthetizing them”.

Police and the Ministry of Communication and Informatics are not blocking these sites or arresting their operators, so there’s no need for the culprits to use the dark web.

29 comments:

Oso Negro said...

Clearly this post needs a “know your pussy” tag as well. Men of the world should be able to steer clear of altercations with foreign prostitutes.

Dave Begley said...

Obama lived in Indonesia for years. Maybe his mom was at the concert. Barack learned hjs respect for the Rule of Law in that shithole country.

ga6 said...

Can we say shithole country now?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

So you mean to say that you're not getting a commission on the date-rape drugs we've been buying from the links in your comments section? I mean, I've tried going through the Amazon portal, but they don't have the good stuff.

Big Mike said...

Can we say shithole country now?

Not in front of a Democrat senator!

Ann Althouse said...

Why isn't Google catching this spam? It's been around for a long time.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Why isn't Google catching this spam? It's been around for a long time.

Too busy deplatforming conservatives and items deemed taboo by the Social Justice Psychos.

Charlie Eklund said...

Customs official: “Anything to declare?”

Deep Purple: “Don’t go to Indonesia!”

Wince said...

Paddy "the Plank" Callaghan and Patsy Collins were part of the original group of colourful Brits who did that work in the bygone era when touring was more of a promotional party rather than the way bands made their primary income.

Here's a group picture of Paddy next to his brother Jim (far left) along with Patsy Collins (second from right) on the 1974 Osmond Brothers British Tour.

Brothers Jim and Paddy eventually had a falling out.

Jim ended up was with the Stones for a long time (also Dylan and some others in the 1980s when the Stones were off the road).

Paddy was with Elvis Costello for decades before he died. Put it this way: Paddy loved his adult beverages.

For years these guys were off-stage ring masters for the rock and roll circus that came through town.

Robert Cook said...

I saw Deep Purple in concert in 1974 or 1975. They were terrible. So where their opening band, ZZ Top.

It's not that either band performed badly. I'm sure their fans loved them. I just found both bands to be terribly dreary and monotonous.

Michael K said...

Indonesia has been well known for hanging tourists, especially illegal tourists, with drugs in their possession.

Wince said...

Go back to the beginning of that 1974 Deep Purple "In Concert" video Althouse links to @0:20.

The announcer is a less gravelly Don Imus.

gilbar said...

Well, at least their 'intention' was good

chickelit said...

Deep Purple hit the skids after singer Ian Gillian left them in 1973. They never recovered. Like Robert Cook, I was disappointed seeing them in 1974.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Purple privilege

AZ Bob said...

I never heard this story. Scary. Does this mean trouble?

buwaya said...

Reminds me of when Marcos had the Beatles beaten up in 1966.
Look it up.

Sounded like a typical Imelda screw-up, down to the kind of thugs she always had in her service.

We were living in Spain at the time, heard about it much later.

Mountain Maven said...

Majorty country of the Religion Of Peace,™

Comanche Voter said...

My own experience with Jakarta and Indonesia dates from 1976. Officialdom there was incredibly corrupt; the corruption extended down to the local clerk level. I mean to do legitimate business there and obtain an administrative permit you needed to "dash" the lowliest clerk ten bucks or so. I mean these guys made Tijuana cops with their request for mordida look like plaster saints.

donald said...

Don’t get me started on Tijuana cops...

Bricap said...

I saw the best version of the band in 1985 when they reunited briefly. I remember it being a great show, with Blackmore and Lord trading chops the whole evening. Alas, this reunion lasted 2 albums, iirc, and the second of the two wasn't very memorable. But I can't imagine this group without Gillan or Blackmore. It would need to be called something else then.

Howard said...

Deep Purple caused half the 12-yo boys in my class to play the bass guitar. Da da da, da da do da, da da da, do da It's a wonder more parents didn't pull a Spade-Bourdain

richard mcenroe said...

We must learn to respect their exotic foreign ways, which are doubtless much more profound and sophisticated than our own.

mockturtle said...

I have been fighting spam that contains the words "Jakarta" and "chloroform,"

Hmm. That in conjunction with the Ashley Madison stuff might be cause for concern for Meade.

Jon Ericson said...

You are evil, mockturtle. /s

Jim at said...

I can appreciate Deep Purple, though I much prefer Blackmore's work in Rainbow.

gadfly said...

Terrible noise, terrible music, terrible singing. "Deep Purple", the band not the song, must have gotten their name from frequent bruising at the hands of their offended audiences.

Fortunately for me, I listened to them for the first time while in full control of the "off" button

Darkisland said...

Shit,

I have to go to Malaysia in a couple months. Different country, I know, but still the same part oc the world.

John Henry

Lost My Cookies said...

I saw an interview once where Richie Blackmore said he used to turn his amp up to the max and point it at Ian Gillan, although he called him "the singer we had then", in the hope that he would go deaf.