Most people are happy with the photo just the way it is. If you are being kept up at night by Alan's gazing off stage right, here is a message sent by a friend in England and Alan's response.

Question:

But the cover - why are you looking to your left and everyone else is looking forward??? Like Paul McCartney on the black stripes of the zebra crossing on the cover of the Abbey Road album. Does this mean you are

a) dead (as rumoured re McCartney)
b) an alien
c) in need of a style consultant

Answer:

I like the Paul McCartney concept. Actually, I am neither dead nor an alien. Of all the people who see the photo, only about 1/2 of 1% comment on Alan looking to the side. What actually happened was this:

We took the photo outside the building that used to be Mr. Flood's Party (the bar we played at 20 years and more ago). Then, through the wonders of high tech, we were superimposed on a manipulated photo of the original Mr. Flood's. In any case, as the photographer was shooting, he suggested that we stop all just looking straight at the camera. It was just too posed. We were to just be loose, have our heads turned, gaze at various vanishing points, etc. So, assuming that all others were doing the same, I began looking elsewhere. Of all the photos taken that day, that was the best, the one to use, despite the fact that the camera caught only one person following orders. Nevertheless, we were superimposed on the old photo with my head turned, so that I, and by following my example, the viewer of the photo, would be urged to look at the words "Mr. Flood's" on the window.

That is the short and the long of it. I have put this blurb on the web site to forestall any other exaggerations about my premature demise, or extraterrestrial affiliations.

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