Dear Santa again...

A Paler's wish for 2001

In 1999 Beverly Peyton left a message in the Procol Harum maillist, outlining her Procol Harum-related wishes for Christmas and the year 2000. Many Palers followed in her footsteps, and quite a bit of it apparently came true !

We're not soliciting fans' wishlists this year … since Beverly's latest message to Santa (November 2000) is so entirely comprehensive …

Dear Santa,

First things first.....thank you SO very much for listening to all the Palers' wishes last year and bringing Procol Harum to play in Guildford this past September for the Millennium. I wished you could have been there to have heard them, but I suspect you've obtained a recent copy of One More Time and have a fairly good idea as to why we all love them so much. Hmmm ... come to think of it, I bet you arranged that release, huh?

Anyway, what was also nice was how you arranged for all of us to be together at a convention so that the fans who were musically inclined (and very talented I might add) were able to perform for the rest of us. I especially loved how you arranged for Gary and Franky to be there so that the fans could mingle and get to meet them personally and make them feel extra special by letting them hear what a great influence the band has been all these years. And how can I leave out you producing Dave Ball for us?!? Gawd was that fun seeing and hearing him perform too! It was truly a shining event! You do good work Santa! ;-)

But once again, it would have been even nicer if you and the Mrs could have been there which leaves me no alternative than to simply ask if you could arrange all that again for the year 2001 and maybe this time you can join us? You know I don't normally ask for much and as BJ used to say, "no one's music can touch Procol Harum's" which leads me to my second wish.

There's a place in Cleveland, Ohio called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It seems they've had a slight oversight. Ya see, me and a lot of the other Palers keep writing to them about inducting Procol Harum into the Hall for posterity. It's really important to us that the band be recognised for their brilliant contribution to music, but they haven't heard our pleas as of yet. Could ya stop there after you arrange our next convention and have a talk with them? I'd really appreciate that. In the meantime, I'll keep writing to them and see if I can't get the other Palers to do the same.

Ya know Santa, a lot of the Palers couldn't make it to Guildford and I felt really bad about that. I mean we had such a good time. And getting to meet everyone was an incredible highlight. No wonder you found it an easy task. Everyone who loves Procol Harum should be able to experience a weekend like that in their lives. Maybe you can see to it that more of them will be able to go whenever and wherever that might be? Least I forget to thank you for making it possible for us to have that wonderful recording of the Palers' Band. I bet no other fanbase has ever done that. Did I mention you do good work?

In closing Santa, I love you.

Please watch over my friends at BtP, I love them too.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Beverly

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