Sometime television repair-man, Popular Electronics subscriber, and (alleged) designer of nothing boxes, artificial suns and DIY flying saucers, Alexis Mardas was a frequent visitor to Kenwood in 1967 and 1968. It was John who dubbed him "Magic", and he was clearly very fond of Alex for a while, showering him with gifts such as his Iso Revolta S4, a rather odd looking custom Vox guitar, and the talisman necklace. You could get the equivalent of about seven Isos for the talisman now - whowouldathunkit back then?
Hey Kenwood,
ReplyDeleteAdore your Blog dude!
Tell us more about Mr Y Mardas, and his many inventions? I think John being impressed by 'The Nothing Box' was amusing, especially if I imagine him selling the idea to John..?! lol
I believe Dunbar had strong words to say about "Magic Alex" :-/
I found this site too:
http://lifeofthebeatles.blogspot.com/2006/06/many-faces-of-magic-alex-mardas.html
Peace
Milky
:-D
Alex's inventions might become a reality?!...Who knows if there's a Mardas Gap in friendship he had with John, especially while in India, 'Sexy Sadie' explains John's feelings (I understand there's a piece of wood, that John inscribed too :-)the ideas superceeded these and I guess we'll never know what direction The Beatles would have gone if Alex hadn't of soured the atmosphere?
ReplyDelete..I can picture John staring at his Box in the Sunroom..!
One odd thing I learned from reading Maureen Cleave's famous article on John - she describes the following:
ReplyDelete"In the sitting room are eight little green boxes with winking red lights; he bought them as Christmas presents but never got round to giving them away. They wink for a year; one imagines him sitting there till next Christmas, surrounded by the little winking boxes."
I initially thought that these were Alex's "nothing boxes," but they clearly can't be, as John hadn't met Alex yet (early 1966). So it looks like John always had a thing for boxes that randomly flashed lights!
Yeah - I wonder why that was? :)
ReplyDelete