Exclusive Interview with Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream) Part 5
Richard looked a bit irritated at me, grinned his trademark smirk and said that I should sleep it over and should come to his house in Notting Hill tomorrow morning for breakfast. During this conversation Monika, my wife, already had paid the bill behind our back including Richard's dinner. When she came back, she looked into Richard's eyes and said that in order to keep Virgin healthy and to avoid the problem that TD would be in his debt we have paid for the dinner instead. Richard was stunned and vexed, the situation was obviously very akward for him.
Monika and myself knew that we bid on a very high risk because we wanted to sign the deal - we had to, but the feeling of being suppressed by the business made us so upset that we thought we better play the risk card. We then tried to order a cab back into town. After 15 minutes the waiter apologised and said there is absolutely no chance to get any transport at 11 pm in this part of town. Minutes later - superflously - it started to rain. Three people were standing on a sidewalk in a Jim Jarmusch type of movie set, waiting for redemption.
Suddenly, about 100 yards away, a cab, obviously a free one, crossed the road we were standing on. All of us started waving and screaming like people stranded on an island spotting a helicopter after weeks of hunger. The cab passed by - shit! Then Richard turned around to me, just squeezed a pack of paperwork into my arms and ran in the opposite direction to the street where we had spotted the cab. I realized that he wanted to make a short cut and stop the cab somewhere on a junction road. But it seemed to be absolutely unrealistic. From a distance he screamed: "See you later" and disappeared in the continuously intensifying London rain.
The paperwork he handed over to me was not - as usual - protected by envelopes or a file. No, all the pages were a loose-leaf-collection, no paper clips or staples. So I had nothing to stop me get behind the secrets. I didn't want to read them, but the rain started to ruin the quality of the paper and so I had to cover it somehow and by doing it I couldn't believe my own eyes.
To my surprise, I realized that he gave me the contract conversations and lawyer comments on the Mike Oldfield deal and some other obviously secret business notes regarding other upcoming deals and money transfers. So we asked ourselves if he’s just crazy or naive, upside down or blessed by something he himself maybe knew nothing about. Maybe it's just his native original character believing to do the right thing in the right moment...
"Look", I said to Monika, "that man is crazy but therefore he's not the opposite to the world we're living in." I continued: "When he really grabs the cab and stops it right here in front of us, I will sign - after some careful negotiations - the two contracts. He's different, the same way we are." Exactly about six minutes later - both of us were completely wet, a cab stopped by and a grinning Richard Branson jumped out of the car, opened the door for Monika - totally wet and completely breathless himself - and just said: "What a glorious night, isn't it?"
Next day I signed both contracts and the rest is history.
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