SMOKE ON THE WATER Stories 4
As cannabis laws are relaxed in parts of North America businesses are quick to move in, and the name Smoke On The Water has been grabbed by a few shops and delivery services, including these two in California. There seem to be more! Investigate at your own risk…. SR
Remember the fuss about those yucky Cabbage Patch Dolls many years ago when supplied ran out? Bubble gum cards makers Topps in America took the piss with a set of Garbage Pail Kids cards, featuring images of the dolls all mangled up, and worse.
These days Topps has a dedicated collectors website and produces special editions of some cards and for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame covered some of the musicians in the Garbage Pail ‘style’, including this one of Deep Purple. To avoid any copyright issues they just split the name of the band onto two cards! The inferno is a kind of nod to the Smoke On The Water origin story back in 1971.
I can recall the glory gory days of the Sixties when Topps (or ABC as they were issued by in the UK) turned out proper bubble gum cards, some so gruesome parents tried to get them banned. These new ones are really badly done, aren’t very funny and quite who would want them at $10.00 is beyond me!
If you fancy being a bit more adventurous for your next curry night, here’s one which might be worth checking out at 27, Centre Point, Ajmer Road, DCM Bhrigu Nagar, Jaipur – The Deep Purple. Now at first you might think that was a coincidence, but when you see the large Smoke On The Water sign inside, and the mural of Ian Paice behind the stage (they’re licensed for live music too), you get the impression someone there is a fan, though it is a while since the band last played India.
I must admit in these days of fake everything I did wonder at first if the photos were doctored by someone with too much time on their hands, but having checked out their website it is all for real. My thanks to Tim Summers for pointing me this way.
https://the-deep-purple.business.site/
darker than blue 