ROGER & FRANS PAGES

 

Friday 12th June we travelled all the way to Letchworth, to The Plinston Hall (which used to be Letchworth Grammar Schools school hall when I was a kid) to see our friend John Coghlan playing in his band John Coghlan's Quo.  Before the gig we met up with John and Gilly in the bar at the hotel we were staying and had dinner with them and their assorted cousins and offspring.  Small World moment when I discovered that I had been at school with one of Gilly's cousins. Plinston is a nice gig, owned and run by the local Council - with a very good sound system provided by a couple of guys from Milton Keynes (Mike Crawte PA Hire).  The audience was quite small, I counted just over a hundred, but apparently at least fifteen had "their names on the door".  We had actually bought tickets - a rare move for us. John and his band were excellent - camping it up enough to be an obvious Quo tribute band - but not enough to get over pretentious about it.  Their performance was polished, and the strutting and bouncing was obvious parody of Ricky Rocket and Rossi. although the two vocalists didn't have quite the same vocal projection that we're used to from the likes of Jackie Lynton or Ray Phillips. They played two sets, one 45 minute act followed by a one hour stint.  A small audience (less than 100) but mainly comprising dedicated Quo fans who swung their hair, bopped and generally had a really good time.  Good entertainment, I'd like to see them again.

 

We drove to The Three Lions ("Scratchers") at Godalming on Sunday 7th June to see So Long Angel playing.  This is the first time we've seen them all since my birthday party. We met up with Greg Terry-Short as we entered the pub - he had brought his youngest son to see and hear a dose of real live music, but sadly couldn't stay for the whole gig. It was good to catch up with Fran McGillivray and Mike Burke again, they appear to be very well and excited by their recent trips to California and to Ireland. they also seem to be reasonably well booked for the summer as a duo.   It was also good to talk with Roland Kemp and Roger Nunn again.  Roger and Roland were on great form - and Roland sang lead vocal on a couple of songs. The audience at Scratchers were small, but appreciative, and got two encores for their cheering.  As well as the set that we're getting used to as we follow this band, they also played a string of fifties Rock'n'Roll numbers, including the lovely version of I Aint Nothing But A Hound Dog which they had performed at my birthday party. The sound quality was good - Fran had a new microphone and bass amp, and I'm not sure that I'd seen before the neat little mixer which Mike was playing with.  Mike was strongly on form with his guitar work - he really is very versatile, playing many styles, and all extremely well.

Fran McGillivray

 

Campbell ; Pattenden ; Coghlan ; Lynton ; Windus The gig

Saturday May 30th we visited The Seacourt Bridge Inn at Botley near Oxford. It is run by Shelley Earl - daughter of the infamous Colin Earl (lightning Keyboards and a dashing smile).  We were there to see a reunion of John Coghlan (Status Quo, Diesel) and Jackie Lynton (Savoy Brown Blues Band, Diesel) as Diesel #2 - a band they formed and performed together in many years ago.  Lead guitars were Ian Campbell (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Nashville Teens, Thin Lizzy dep) and Mike Windus (Ace session guitarist) with Colin Pattenden (Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Mungo Jerry, Nashville Teens, Englebert Humperdink, Leapy Lea) on bass guitar.  Colin was a late stand in for Nigel Taylor who was with the first tentative iteration of Diesel #2 when we were trying to get it together in June last year; unfortunately tonight Nigel had a horrible abscess and raging toothache. The pub was packed for the gig - John is a local and Jack has historically had a good following in Oxford - besides, Shelley had done lots of publicity.  The band had not rehearsed - although as we sat in the garden before the gig, Jack had run through a couple of possible medley mixes which required key changes, but in the end he got so stuck into the Rock'n'Roll feel from the audience that he didn't do the melodic stuff he had intended - sticking to fairly catholic Rockin R&B. Colin and John are both rock steady power houses - which gave a great solid foundation to the music.  Mike's preferred guitar style is very "Chuck Berry-esque" which is always good when they band are rocking; while Ian's fantastic dexterity (he does incredibly rapid fretting - more like mandolin playing than guitar playing - but extremely effective) drew some spontaneous rounds of applause - all coupled with Jack's powerful voice and excellent timing made this a night to remember. Among the audience were some other ageing rock names - and Jack invited Keith Allen (Marty Wilde's Wildcats) and George Calvert (Alexis Korner Band, Jonah Louis, Mungo Jerry, Mike Kooper's Machine Gun Co, Edwin Starr Band and just about every other band except Gerry and The Pacemakers!) (private joke -sorry) to stand in for himself and Colin P to perform Slow Down.  It was an excellent evening ending with Jack's Status Quo medley - which always blows the audience away - even more so when John Coghlan is on the drums.    After the gig the band agreed that "Diesel #2" had worked well and that we should now settle down and develop it as a real "go to market concept" !

 

Tuesday 26th May I had a surprise (and very welcome) invitation from an old friend to join him at The Royal Albert Hall - where he produced front row stalls tickets to see Eric Clapton in Concert !  What a lovely friend! Thank you Rick.  An amazing concert - Eric Clapton is clearly a consummate professional guitarist. I last saw Clapton in the sixties, performing live with Cream - and before that I saw him several times with The Yardbirds.  Tonight he had collected a brilliant band with an awesome heritage.  On second lead guitar was Andy Fairweather Low - originally of Amen Corner.  Willie Weeks on bass guitar is a session musician who has played with just about everybody from The Stones to Bowie. Chris Stainton of Joe Cockers Grease Band was on piano - his solo's displayed a deep loving of jazz. The organ and synthesizer were played by Tim Carmon - who is another well known session musician; a big guy who plays with his soul as well as his fingers.  On drums was Steve Gadd - who as a child star sat in (aged eleven) with Dizzie Gillespie! Steve's heritage includes drumming for Paul Simon, Joe Cocker and many others.  There were two great backing vocalists named Sharon White and Michelle John - both brilliant performers in their own rights. Towards the end of the set Eric invited a guest guitarist, Doyle Bramhall, onto stage. An excellent guitarist who Steve-The-Stalker informs me used to play regularly with The Clapton Band.

Fairweather Low; Clapton and Doyle Bramhall. Picture by Richard Pettengell

 

Mandy as Kylie Teens as themselves

On Saturday May 23rd we were at The Knaphill Working Men's Club, behind The Crown Pub in Knaphill - an outlier of Woking. We were there to see the cabaret - and The Nashville Teens were top of the bill. First on was a lady named Mandy Reilly - she was performing under the stage name of Klassic Kylie.  Mandy had a tremendous voice - far too good to be wasted on a little one-girl cabaret show like this - but she did OK. The audience were wooden (and very sober) and were also all pretty old - after all they'd come to see The Teens. She did a great job despite having a fairly uncommunicative audience. Then came Ian Richards, a comedian.  Very entertaining, but we didn't spot many original jokes - and while his patter was exceedingly well honed and professional, you couldn't help spotting that his heart wasn't really in it.  His little PA system was manned by his daughter, who had just left school. She's going to do media studies at college - I hope that having to watch her Dad's performance doesn't put her off ! On the whole I think that the evening would have been significantly better if the comic had gone on first to get the crowd into the mood.  I'd also like to see Amanda Reilly perform as herself. She has a great voice - the samples on her website are great - go try them at http://www.amandareilly.co.uk Finally The Teens made it onto stage. It was one of the most reactive audiences we've seen for years - they were on the dance floor from two bars into the first number - and they clearly really enjoyed the show.  Everyone was on form and lapping up the audience vibes - Ray's voice was fantastic. He's been worrying about a sore throat all week, but on Saturday night there was no sign of it.   The show went on till midnight, culminating in Tobacco Road and Born To Be Wild.  A terrific evening It took until half past one to strike the stage (and to find all the bits and pieces left by other performers, the return of which will be a little project for the coming week.).  A very enjoyable evening - and we got paid for it !

 

Saturday 16th May found us in Ealing at a pub called The Princess Royal - right next to Brentford Football Ground. We were there to see The Jackie Lynton Band playing.  Unfortunately it was to a very small audience, although some were avid fans who had come because they remembered Jack from twenty years ago when this was a regular haunt - and "The Hedgehog Song" was in vogue. Jack was on good form for singing, but is still in a lot of pain recovering from his recent accident (he fell down stairs and buggered both knees). One fascinating point in the performance was when Jack suddenly introduced a new song into an established medley, much to the amusement of the band who tried valiantly to keep up and finish together in approximately the right place.  .  The acoustics in the pub weren't great, but they weren't the worst I've heard and the band were tight - with both Mike Windus and Chris Bryant sparkling with some amazingly dextrous guitar work.   The band performed two great sets and evidently enjoyed the whole evening.

Lynton band  16th May 2009

 

La Bamba

On the evening of Saturday 9th May we stopped by The Flowing Spring to see Les Hombres - a combination of Keith Allen on vocals, harmonica and rhythm guitar; Ian Campbell on lead guitar and George Leslie Calvert on bass guitar.   We didn't see any adverts for this gig, we were just lucky that we'd seen George and Ian at a gig a few days before, and they mentioned it in passing.  Great to see Keith Allen again - I hadn't had a chance before to thank him for his really great performance at my birthday gig. And, although they didn't know it, they were also accompanied for much of the second half  by Simon Baker (sometimes their drummer in other combinations) who was playing a exotic percussion mechanism consisting of a wine glass and knife.  As a special treat - which they did know about - they were also accompanied on La Bamba by a friend of Keith's named (I think) Alison -  who knew the words in the right language! All in all a fun evening although the acoustics were pretty dire in the pub as you will be able to tell from the strange film on the left.

 

Thursday 7th May found us at a convention of Blues & Boogie in The Cellar Bar - a weekly extravaganza with our mate Monica Boogaloo convenes in The Maltings at Farnham.  This particular event was a performance by The King Earl Boogie Band.  It was great to catch up with each of the band members and then to enjoy a brilliant performance. I'm sure they get better every time I see them. Having failed to video their performance at my birthday celebration, I managed to video nearly all of this event, and have since loaded it onto You Tube  (Look for the account of WickedUncleRoger).   The audience were extremely appreciative and the band were extremely tight.  Ian played his usual excellent solo on Drifter Blues - but then eclipsed it with a really stunning piece of work in Who Do You Love.  The band have previously used this number to showcase John Coghlan's incredible drumming skills - but tonight it also worked to show the brilliant guitar work of both Ian Campbell and Dave Peabody as well as some decent piano thumping from Colin Earl.   I also managed to video This Little Light of Mine - an instrumental featuring Colin's pianoforte skills, and one of my favourite numbers in their current set. As well as the musical entertainment, I also enjoyed plotting with the band - making arrangements with Colin for the British R&B Festival in August and sorting the next Diesel gig with John.

KEBB at The Maltings

 

Gordon, Colin, Greg and Chris

Friday 1st May we drove all the way to Northchapel to visit The Half Moon Pub, where The BluesBlasters were playing.  We arrived to find the band plus Neil Hill in the pub, and nobody else!    Where was the audience?  Eventually the pub started to fill up and it was averagely crowded by 9:30 with people enjoying the music. The band is led by Chris Bryant - very excited because he'd just received a pile of money for allowing his shop (Bryant's Guitars, junction of Charing Cross Road and Denmark Street in London) to be used for filming a Harry Potter movie - let's hope his shop name gets a bit of "placement".  It was great to see Gordon Sellars (second lead guitar) and Greg Terry-Short (drums) again and to watch Colin Pattenden (bass guitar) eating his tea on a nearby table !  He did eventually join us. They were great - not only are they exceedingly good musicians, but they have a great laugh with each other and with the audience, making their performance (I hesitate to call it "an act", because that might imply rehearsal - which they clearly don't do!) absolutely fabulous.  I managed to video quite a lot of the first set, but the drunken dancing of some of the locals - entertaining though it was - made the second half unfilmable. Towards the end  there were some exciting moments with wrong keys and forgotten words, and the end descended into a great laugh when Greg managed to tear the skin on his bass drum and simultaneously his drum rig gave way and tilted his large Tom to an almost unplayable angle.  Despite all this, they sailed through on a wave of entertainment and the audience loved every moment ! The band are still looking for a new name - I think after tonight's performance they might consider something like The Excellent Shambles ?  Great entertainment though - certainly an excellent evening.

 

Saturday 28th March  was heavy day for gigs - after The Tempest we drove over to the Pyrford Social Club to see an evening performance by The Jackie Lynton Band.   It was good to see them again after their appearance at my birthday party the week before.  Jack tried out a new song in his repertoire (actually an old song, It Hurts me Too) which was quite tasty.   The gig was a private party and was scheduled to go on till after midnight, so Fran and I left at the interval around half past ten and made for home.

 

Saturday 28th March  we attended an afternoon performance of William Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Richmond Theatre.  This was another part of the package of theatre tickets Fran bought me for Christmas - a great present, it spreads right across the year. This was a special production by The Baxter Theatre Centre, a South African group who are touring in association with The Royal Shakespeare Company. The show was amazing - with some awesome acting from John Kani as Caliban; Antony Sher as Prospero; Tinarie Van Wyk Loots as Miranda; and a fantastic rendering of Ariel by Atandwa Kani.  The show was fresh, with actors using original script - but with western clothing from the nineteenth century and the spirits dressed in almost voodoo looking outfits - with a great display of African masks and ethnic looking puppets - all delivered with a huge amount of enjoyment.   Tinarie portrayed Miranda as almost feral - with a lot of scratching and some ape-like movements ; Caliban was almost a hero - looking a lot like an abused Nelson Mandela.  Ariel was brilliantly portrayed and you could almost believe that he really was invisible.  I think that this is one of Shakespeare's most amazing plays working so many messages on so many levels.  The great final question is whether the story is taking place in reality? or in Prospero's head? or in our heads?

Caliban, Prospero and Miranda

After the show we found a small Persian restaurant in Richmond and were fortunate enough to sit on the table next to the musical director (Neo Muyanga) and two of his friends. It would have been rude to interrupt or try to join in,  but we couldn't help overhearing their conversation which was fascinating.  While I think of the story as a classic planned revenge that suddenly turns to the power of forgiveness - the group we were overhearing clearly saw the main thrust of the story was that Caliban got his island back.  Clearly both those messages are in the play, but their relative importance depends on the life experiences of the observer.

 

Streaming Videos: Ian Campbell Band - No Particular Place To Go   So Long Angel - Freedom   Jackie Lynton Band - Matchbox   Nashville Teens - Tobacco Road

Saturday 21st March 2009 was the date of a private party at The Hare Hill Social Club to celebrate my 60th birthday. The RogFest !  The line up reflected my personal taste in music and many good friends - and was inflicted on 160 guests whether they like 60's Old School R&B or not.  Sadly the video cameras overheated and crashed and although most of the footage was saved - none remains of The King Earl Boogie Band - so they are unfortunately not represented on the left of this page. As Ray Phillips announced - this was "Rogers Indulgence; his five favourite bands" and I was proud and pleased that so many good musicians who are my friends agreed to play for a pittance - and that so many of my other friends - one hundred and sixty of them - turned up to help me celebrate.  I tried to calculate how many records had been sold by bands which the musicians present performed on.  With The Nashville Teens, Manfred Mann's Earth band, Hermans Hermits and Mungo Jerry alone the sales exceed one hundred million records.  The input of other musicians must add at least another two hundred and fifty thousand, if not significantly more.  A special night with special entertainment. First up was The Ian Campbell Band comprising Ian Campbell himself - one of my favourite guitarists. Ian has played with Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Levee Camp Moan and The Nashville Teens, he has depped with such great bands as Thin Lizzy. If they liked him he must be good!   Fronting the band with vocals, harmonica and rhythm guitar was Keith Allen. (Keith started his musical career as drummer with Marty Wilde's Wild Cats) ; Simon Spratley of The Nashville Teens and Cheques in the Post played keyboards ; George Lesley Calvert, bass guitar (Alexis Korner, Mike Coopers Machine Gun Co, Jona Louis, Mungo Jerry, and King Earl Boogie Band); while Simon Baker (Pred8tür) played the drums.   They were brilliant - starting a few minutes late and playing to a hall which was initially quite empty, but over one hundred by the time they were half way through. They were followed by So Long Angel.  This is a fantastic band which I only encountered a couple of years ago - but which I think is brilliant.  It is fronted with vocals from bass guitarist (and sometimes flautist) Fran McGillivray. Her partner Mike Burke plays lead Guitar and second vocals; James Britton played the drums - I had not met James before this evening, so I am extremely grateful for him turning out - he is a tidy drummer and was so tight you wouldn't know he was a dep.  Roland Kemp played the keyboards - a lovely sound, reminiscent of Brian Auger.   Their music is a fusion of blues and jazz - very beautifully presented and with a lot of their own compositions as well as some refreshing interpretations of really classic standards.  I was with Jackie Lynton while Angel were playing a song called Freedom - one of Fran & Mikes own compositions and one of my favourites.  "I don't know this one" he said, "Who wrote this?" When I told him he gave her the highest accolade he ever could.  "It's F**king good" he said. We had a longer break at 9pm - for birthday cake - after the watershed The Jackie Lynton Band unleashed their talent on the audience.  Jack started his career as a solo singer in the sixties (Teddy Bears Picnic, Over the Rainbow), then became vocalist with The Savoy Brown Blues Band (Jack The Toad). A prolific song writer, Jack teemed up with Rick Parfitt to pen some of Status Quo's best known numbers. He worked with Quo's ex-drummer, John Coghlan, in Diesel before forming his own band.   Backing Jack tonight are two lead guitars, both of them exceedingly good musicians: Chris Bryant (owner of Bryant's Guitar Emporium, Denmark Street, London) and Mike Windus (fabulous session musician and Cryin' Out Loud).  Jack's power house comprises Greg Terry-Short on percussion and Colin Pattenden (Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Leapy Lee, Englebert Humperdink, The Tekneeks) on bass.  Jack is a consummate entertainer - with a no-holds barred affinity for the "F" word.  He also gratuitously slags off his band (and me) - but we all love it.  We were almost an hour behind plan by the time  The King Earl Boogie Band got on stage. This band traces it's roots back to the original Mungo Jerry, but has developed and grown to feature an amazing assembly of talent.  Colin Earl (Mungo Jerry & Foghat) is a founder member (the other being Paul King, who sadly couldn't make it to the party) and plays the electric piano.   Ian Campbell on Lead Guitar has already been introduced above (Ian Campbell Band).  Dave Peabody (solo blues artist, three times acoustic blues guitarist of the year) provides vocals and second lead guitar while George Leslie Calvert (already introduced in the Ian Campbell Band above) plays bass guitar and provides some of the vocals.  Last but not least is the drummer, who is John Coghlan (Status Quo, John Coghlan's Quo, Diesel,) .  An amazing line-up.  Dave Peabody - clearly impressed by Jack Lynton's lead started with some "F" words, but quickly lapsed back into his cultured self and led the band through a great set - which included my favourite Drifter Blues. We were running a full hour behind schedule by now and at midnight  The Nashville Teens took to the stage and - after a brief interlude where half the women in the audience formed a choir - backed by The Teens - to sing a geriatric version of My Favourite Things - they rocked me and the remaining guests into the early hours of my seventh decade,  Not a tribute band – this is the real thing – a genuine surviving hard driving R&B band Tobacco Road, Google Eye,  This Little Bird. The original vocalist, Ray Phillips, is one of the best R&B vocalists in the Country and still leads the band.   Colin Pattenden bass guitar (his heritage already described above in The Jackie Lynton Band)   ;  Adrian Metcalf (drums) ; Ken Osborne (lead guitar) ; and Simon Spratley (keyboards). The band were terrific - and had most of the audience dancing for a whole hour till they finished at 1am - an  hour later than scheduled - but with an audience of still over a hundred who had stayed through to the finale -  Tobacco Road. The overall sound system was provided by Colin Pattenden and built by him and me in the seven hours preceding the party - and disassembled by us in the three hours following the party - a long day.   While Colin was on stage with Jackie Lynton the sound desk was manned by George Leslie Calvert ; while he was on stage with The Nashville Teens the desk was manned by Karl Green (Hermans Hermits) A final thought - most of the musicians in the room were painfully aware that this day - March 21st 2009 - was the first anniversary of the death of Grahame White - a great friend of many of us there and a World class guitarist (he was on American Pie with Don McLean). I think we all knew that he was there in spirit.   I did pay a small amount to cover expenses to all the musicians who performed, and several of them refused payment, asking me instead to contribute the money to my favourite charity - which is The Thames Valley Hospice.  TVH is £115 richer because of these big hearted musicians. It was the best party I could have wished for. Most of the video of it is now loaded to You Tube with some of the links to the left of this report.  Thanks to all my friends for sending me happily into my seventh decade on this planet.

 

Saturday 15th March took us to Whitstable in Kent to see The Nashville Teens playing at Whitstable Rugby Football Club. It was a private party for Alan Williams who was celebrating a "big0" birthday (an even bigger "big 0" than I celebrate next week!) We weren't able to access the premises until a couple of hours before the party because it was full of very large rugby players drinking jugs of beer and cheering at a rugby match on the huge TV screen; so we were all surprised at how smoothly the operation went when we eventually did access the place. We were also awed by the wonderful sound quality Colin P coaxed out of his equipment.  It was as near perfect as any of us could remember.  The band did two sets with a forty five minute break in the middle and they were really tight. The sound quality, both out front and in the foldback, was terrific, and I'm sure that helped spur them into further excellence.  It was a small venue with about ninety people in the audience who all thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  We folded at midnight, but it took Colin and I a couple of hours to strike the stage and stow the equipment, it was gone 2am when we got back to our hotel.

Ken, Ray, Spud, Colin, Simon The Nashville Teens

 

Fran and Mike

Sunday 8th March we trekked all the way to North Hertfordshire to see Fran McGillivray and Mike Burke playing at the Hitchin Folk Club.  This was a happy occasion for several reasons.  Back in the sixties I was a regular member at the Hitchin Folk Club so there was an element of nostalgia; Fran and I first saw Fran and Mike playing in Hitchin (In St Mary's church as it happens) ; and several old friends from the area turned up to support the evening. Fran and Mike were great - they performed for about 45 minutes doing some traditional stuff and some of their own music. I was particularly impressed by a song I'd not heard before about children leaving home which probably struck a poignant note with many of the people in the audience - who all looked fairly mature. They were supporting Johnny Dickinson who is a fantastic guitar player (like Davy Graham but clean) and also has a sweet voice. It was also good to catch up with Keiron Jones again - whose wife, Maureen, still runs the club forty odd years after I used to be a regular there.

 

Saturday 28th February An auspicious occasion. The Bluesblasters - were playing at The Half Moon pub in Northchapel. This wonderful bands, legends in their own pub, is a motley arrangement of talent which somehow plays fantastic music. The most striking things about the band (apart from the sheer volume) are the way they are perpetually laughing at each other and yet at the same time playing amazingly good music. There is no doubt that they are great talents having either been members of, or having played session roles with, many famous bands.  The common denominator is that all of them have played - or still do play - with the great Jackie Lynton.   They are Gordon Sellars (lead2) ; Colin Pattenden (bass) ; Greg Terry-Short (percussion); and Chris Bryant (lead1).  They all perform vocals, sometimes very harmoniously.   The pub is Chris's local, so there is no standing on ceremony and the guys don't mind laughing about in a way that may not be pc in Carnegie Hall. The excuse for the event was the landlords birthday, but there was also a raffle in aid of the local village school swimming pool. I think we raised about £150.   An extremely enjoyable night in good company with good music. The Bluesblasters have appeared two or three times before and the relationship is obviously getting serious because this time they had actually rehearsed some of it!  Before the gig there was a lot of discussion about whether they should choose a "better name".  Among the ideas were The Leg Ends ; FourCandles ,  (or is it Fork Handles?) and The Four Skins.  In the end common sense almost prevailed and they retained The Bluesblasters.  Hooray.

 

Sunday 15th February - We drove to The Richmond Theatre to see Fascinating Aida making a welcome comeback.   This amazing female trio is led by Dillie Keane, a comedienne of some repute from Grumpy Old Women.  The other members of the trio are Adele Anderson and Liza Pullman. who really do have amazing operatic voices and when they sing it is so beautiful. The comedy is in the lyrics and the delivery - which plays on the juxtaposition of lovely ladies with melodic voices singing such lines as "our vaginas have been tightened so they grip like hell, and we've the benefit of hymens up our arses as well".  They write and perform their own contemporary, entertaining and mostly downright rude songs - although there are some bittersweet tear jerking songs as well.  They did a farewell tour a couple of years ago, but they clearly didn't really mean it and despite this being their twenty sixth year, tonight's performance was billed as their twenty-fifth anniversary tour. While a few of their songs were old favourites, we were pleased to find that the majority were new and contemporary - with targets including bankers (with the inevitable rhyme) and the quasi-religious nature of all encompassing stores like Tesco's - which includes the line "Jesus saves, but Tesco saves you more".   Brilliant - can't wait for their next comeback tour.

 

Saturday 7th February - What an awful dilemma !  We had The Nashville Teens,  The Jackie Lynton Band and Dave's Not Here (alias Karl Green's Hermans Hermits) all playing within half a dozen miles of each other - but all at the same time.  We chose to see The Nashville Teens who were playing at Peter Barnard's sixtieth birthday party. The party was great, about eighty guests sitting down to dinner, with a disco run by  Steve Kemp.  Peter's party was great and Steve's disco caught the imagination of the guests - who kept the dance floor full.   While hanging in the bar (rather than the party) we also had a laugh with The England Ladies Rugby Team - who were staying at the hotel. Surprisingly they didn't seem to be very excited by having won their first six Nations Match that very afternoon (they beat Italy 69-13 with 11 tries!) - and they all went off to bed early!  I suppose they are in serious training.  As soon as they had gone it was easy to herd the band onto stage and we had an hour of great rock - still with a crowded dance floor.  A great evening.

The Teens at Peter's gig

 

Ray doesn't often grin like this

Wednesday 28th January  I drove Ray Phillips, vocalist and founder member of The Nashville Teens over to BBC Three Counties Radio studio at Guildford for a live interview with Roger "Twiggy" Day, who was actually broadcasting from a long way away in Kent.  We met a few of the staff, who were all about to leave, and we were grateful that John and Jan and John's guide dog, stayed behind to make sure we were OK.  Wesley, Ray's son, was with us and we all settled down with lots of notes and some blank paper and a pen to write prompts on - none of which we needed in the end.  Eventually Phil Harrison - Twiggy's producer came through on the headphones, cued us in and the interview went ahead surprisingly easily. The only vaguely negative bit was the playing of Put A Spell On You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. which Twiggy announced as one of Ray's favourites. Unfortunately he played SJH's original version - which is not the one which Ray particularly likes; but the thought was there. Overall it was a great experience, a lot of fun, and a good excuse for a beer afterwards.

 

Wednesday 21st January I took my Mother to London for a day at the art galleries and to the theatre.  As a Christmas present I had bought her tickets to see Minkus's ballet La Bayadère at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.  I had never seen this ballet before, and although the music was totally un-memorable - that didn't matter because the spectacle and the ballet itself were the most amazing that I have ever seen. Three hours of brilliance from the Royal Ballet company. Having very recently been disparaging about the thinness of plot of some ballets (see Copellia below) - I conclude that this one is actually more complex than it needs to be, but that doesn't matter because the dancing is great.  Nikiya is the Bayadère (temple dancer) in an 1890s image of what India might be like. She falls in love with a soldier named Solor, who in turn is wooed by Gamzatti, the Rajah's daughter.  The whole thing complicated because The high priest at the temple also has the hots for Nikiya.  At the end of the first set Gamzatti changes the odds in their love triangle by murdering Nikiya with a bite from a handily placed snake; leaving poor Nikiya to dance through the following two sets as a ghost !  Act two sees Solor getting high on opium (surely no longer politically correct !) and dancing with Nikiya in his "vision".  In scenes very reminiscent of Swan Lake, the stage is filled with twenty four or more dancers in tutu's doing everything a good ballet dancer should do; and in unison ! A magnificent spectacle.  The third act is set inside the temple - and features a very vigorous and athletic dance by a solid gold idol.  The wedding of Solor and Gamzatti ensues - interrupted by ghostly Nikiya - and in the end Solor spurns Gamzatti and follows Nikiya to Nirvana, where they presumably live (or not) happily ever after. This is a ballet I shall definitely want to see again. It was spectacular.

La Bayadère dances for the High Priest

 

Skeleton Crew (video still)

Saturday 17th January 2009 there was a private party at The White Hart pub in Addlestone. It was a gig to celebrate a very significant birthday of Ray Phillips - founder member and vocalist with The Nashville Teens.  Sadly I had to arrive late and leave fairly early because Fran wasn't well. Paradoxically Ray didn't have The Teens playing at his party ! Instead he started with Paul Kings Skeleton Crew which featured Paul King, Colin Pattenden and Chris Bryant.  I got a couple of video's of this band and they are now on You Tube (look for WickedUncleRoger).  I missed the high points of the evening though. Apparently not only did Ray perform another duet with his daughter Vanessa - but with a line up including Pete Agate (one time lead guitar of The Teens) and Adrian - Spud - Metcalf (current Teens drummer) - Ray sang Tobacco Road as a duet with his son Wesley !  I really regret missing this, I have heard Wes singing bits and pieces of songs at sound checks, but never seen him perform publicly before - he has a great voice.

 

Saturday 17th January 2009   I took Liz Earl to see The Russian Classical Ballet Theatre matinee performance of Delibes' Coppelia at the Richmond Theatre.  Liz came at the last minute because Fran was struck down with flu - and she was a good choice because she is an ex dancer and is head of dance in the local County school structure - so she could tell me which bits were great and which bits were merely good.  It was a magnificent production of a classical ballet.  Not many ballet's have particularly deep plots, but this one is shallower than most and seems to consists mainly of: Set one : Oh look, a village square - let's do some dancing Set two ; inside the toymakers house - lets do some dancing with the toys and the nasty toymaker Set three: Oh my, back in the village square - lets do some more dancing However - the dancing is very very good with lots of point work and some amazing moves from the male lead dancer.  The costumes were also striking, and the men-in-tights very well packaged - if you know what I mean. The whole thing was very enjoyable and the professional dancers earned lots of well deserved applause.

Swanilda and Frantz

 

McGillivray and Burke - with Nunn in the background

Sunday 4th January 2009 I visited Scratchers again, this time by myself, to see So Long Angel playing. It was good to catch up with Mike Burke and Fran McGillivray again - and to chat with Roger Nunn and Roland Kemp.  The pub was fairly quiet, but the audience was very appreciative. Mike has cured the hum on his amplifier and his guitar playing was great - but he was drinking lemsip because he was suffering a cold. Luckily it didn't affect this playing or make any noticeable difference to his singing.  Fran's deep honey voice was mesmerising and had the audience entranced. Although she sounds quite different,  when I close my eyes her approach to songs makes me think of the blues/jazz combo of Linda Hoyle and Karl Jenkins.   Roger was obviously having a good time on drums because he couldn't stop smiling, and Roland's keyboards continued to evoke images of Jimmy Smith and John Mayall.   Sadly I could only stay for the first set because I had errands to run before the night set in - but what I saw was brilliant, and I'm already looking forward to the next gigs in Eastbourne and Devon.