Dexter has been writing steadily in American industry magazines since early 2000. "I wrote an article early on called 'Is there Life After Rock'n'Roll Touring?'" says Dexter. "After touring, going out into the real world with rock'n'roll attitude was a huge shock. I need freakin' therapy now and I've discovered that I'm not the only one."
McNeny and Dexter met on Ozzy Osbourne's 'Diary of a Madman' Tour in 1981-82. McNeny was the tour manager, as he had been for the BeeGees and Eric Clapton, and Dexter was Ozzy's lighting designer, having finished a two-year stint with Rick James. The pair remained in contact, even through remarkable career changes and locations.
In January of this year, McNeny rang Dexter and asked if he would be interested in developing a cable TV pilot, that would feature road tales, but told first hand, interview style, by touring road crew. "In retrospect, it seems like we were developing the idea the whole time and didn't realize it," says Dexter. "We would ask each other 'have you heard from Rob' or 'what's happened to'?"
"The character and personalities of people that tour are unique," says McNeny. "We want to capture the accounts of some of the earlier tours before some of these guys can't remember what happened."
Dexter adds: "For those who lived out of suitcases, it was not in their interest as part of their work to openly display their craft for public or industry notoriety. Consequently, diaries and photos are scarce - it's only memory. We want to get them documented, manage an archive and convert the data into various media - it will be interesting, historical and entertaining."
Roadcases proclaims that its mission will be as a self-appointed and voluntary conduit for road stories: "The way to really make it grow and ensure that the stories include every aspect of our production history, from inception (let's say from 1968), to today, is to log on to www.roadcases.org, register your name, forward the link to someone you know in the business and ask them to register on the site too," says Dexter. "This is a worldwide endeavour."
(Lee Baldock)
