Christine Cas at her Belsize Park home with grandson Alex, aged four
Published: 25 April, 2014
by ALICE HUTTON
by ALICE HUTTON
THE “original 1960s rock chick” who brought Jimi Hendrix to Klooks Kleek nightclub in West Hampstead for a famous jam session has called for a blue plaque to be erected on the Railway pub to preserve its musical heritage.
As an 18-year-old bookings agent in “Swinging London”, and the girlfriend of singer John Mayall, Christine Cas came into contact with some of the biggest names in rock ’n’ roll on a daily basis.
Dropping acid with Hendrix, making friends with Eric Clapton and blues musician Alexis Korner, with her long blonde hair, sparkling personality and “dolly bird” good looks, many famous names fell for “Chrissie”.
Now a 66-year-old grandmother, who has lived in Belsize Park for nearly 40 years, she came forward after reading the New Journal’s article last week on the proposed conversion of the former West End Lane venue into offices.
It was in March 1967 that Christine, then 20, was asked by Mayall to pick up their friend Hendrix and take him to the tiny room above the Railway pub, then called the Railway Hotel, because there was a “rumour that Freddie King (the influential American blues artist) might play.”
Christine Cas as a hippy in the 1970s
King never showed, but Hendrix’s surprise gig with Mayall went down in history.
She said: “Kleeks was packed that evening. It was a tiny place. He (Hendrix) was shy – not on stage, but off stage he was just like you and me. At the end of the night I had to phone for a minicab to take us back to Egdware Road (where he was staying with manager Chaz Chandler).”
JOHN MAYALL AT GONZO
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