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(from scrapbook 2, page 5)

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Francis Rossi says 'No' to wallet

JUST WHEN we imagined Status Quo were having a wonderful time in The States, Francis Rossi has to shatter all the illusions.

"Well you get up, pack the case you haven't really unpacked the day before, go to breakfast, look around the hotel which looks like every other hotel, get a plane to the next place and play. Drives you nuts."

The concert side however is going extremely well. They've been playing Standing Room Only (and that information didn't come from Rossi or their publicist), headlined occasionally and at long last seem to be cutting themselves a slice of the American cake.

"It's a steady thing" Rossi says modestly. "But it's beginning to creep up. . And some of the reviews have been ridiculous." (And that for a band who in Britain have had some pretty hard reviews in the past.)

Even so, Quo decided that after six weeks of touring they'd head home for a four-day break. A move which must have cost them a fair bundle of green ones.

"Well we're rich ain't we?" says tongue in cheek Rossi.

In Cleveland, Rossi had a cool 200 dollars nicked from his wallet. And on their last night in the States a policeman came up to him with a wallet in hand which he'd found in the empty cloakroom.

"I was just going to say, "no dunno whose it is' when I realised it was mine. But they didn't get any money that time. Didn't have any, you see, being as the 200 dollars had been taken previously."

The return British trip cost the band somewhere in the region of £3,000. Money, according to Rossi, well spent.

"Best country in the world this is. You know everyone says what a state it's in. Well I was watching the television in America the other day and they said if things go on the way they are they might declare New York City bankrupt before long. Can you imagine it happening in London?"

JULIE WEBB

Image caption: "Honest officer, it isn't mine."