John Bishop
A relaxed ninety minutes in the company of John Bishop at Fairfield Halls, as he performed in south London as part of his lengthy current tour.
Joanovarc
I drove over to Stratford in the east of London this evening to catch the hard rock of Joanovarc at the Cart and Horses, renowned for being the pub venue where Iron Maiden started out. I know the area fairly well, having lived in Maryland Point and Forest Gate in the early 1980s.
Hadley Wood
A particularly enjoyable day in Hadley Wood thanks to the Lord’s Taverners. A select group of 15 from the charity played at the top class local golf club, including former England cricket captain Mike Gatting and international batter, coach and Strictly winner, Mark Ramprakash.
Photo gallery
A key part of the Waterloo Sunrise album project has been the illustrative work by the highly-respected Richmond-based photographer, Jonathan Stewart. The collection boasts 160 frames, all taken in either the Waterloo area, or during the recording sessions at producer Greg Fitzgerald’s studio in Canterbury, Kent.
Abba Arena
Julie and I had a very pleasant afternoon in Greenwich with old work colleagues Roger and Brenda Farley, which included lunch at the Trafalgar Arms overlooking the River Thames. Followed by an evening at the Abba Arena in Stratford for the virtual Voyage concert by the famous foursome.
The Beaten Path
I was kindly invited by Castle Art to this evening’s launch of the latest instalment of Bob Dylan’s ‘Beaten Path’ series of paintings. Exclusively available in the UK through the gallery, Dylan’s visual art depicts the American highways, city streets and back roads.
Music Moguls
Music entrepreneur Jay Mistry hosted the 20th anniversary of the Music Moguls’ lunch today in Holborn. Always a valuable opportunity to meet new and existing contacts within the industry.
Jersey
A relaxing weekend thanks to a short trip to Jersey with Julie and Ben. We stayed at the Radisson Blu on the harbour in St Helier, which turned out to be a superb hotel with attentive staff, stunning views from our room across the bay, and ideal facilities by the way of its fitness suite and a pool.
Promo video
Filmed in August by Greg Fitzgerald, the introductory promo video for Waterloo Sunrise is now available on YouTube. This features brief snatches of four of the songs from the album, which accompany my outline of the aims and ideas behind the project. The vinyl edition of the collection is currently in manufacture and news of its release will follow very soon. In the meantime, you can view the lyrics from all the songs on this site. Thanks for watching!
TUC Dinner
A rewarding twenty-four hours in Brighton courtesy of an invitation from the TUC Comms team to attend this year’s Congress and specifically the Monday night Dinner at the Grand Hotel, which brings together the current and former top brass of the organisation plus major names from the Labour Party.
Day at the races
A wonderful afternoon at Ascot as we celebrated Julie’s turning 60 at the Ascot racecourse. Dinner in the On5 restaurant was delightful and our thanks to all the staff who made the hours fly by. A further highlight of the day was the opportunity to visit the parade ring with former jockey Conor Shoemark and see a number of thoroughbreds at close quarters.
Snake Davis
An engaging evening in Stratford as highly-respected saxophonist Snake Davis played one of the opening gigs at the new jazz restaurant, Soul Mama. Snake and his four-piece line-up delivered a selection of classic British sax numbers, including Baker Street, plus Stateside standards such as Aretha’s Respect and PP Arnold’s I can’t stand the rain.
Snowsfields
I caught the train to London Bridge this morning for a few hours in my old stomping ground, with the principal aim of visiting the MU HQ at ‘Arthur’s Mission’ and to attend the London Regional AGM in the company of members and officials. It was certainly interesting to hear from Organiser Jamie Pullman and his colleagues Graham, Simeon and Helen, as to their wide-reaching and valuable work undertaken on behalf of employed and freelance musicians.
Networking
Jazz singer and business mentor Sarah Eyden hosted her first networking session this afternoon, at Brown’s, St Martin’s Lane. A valuable opportunity to meet aspiring musicians and small business entrepeneurs. My thanks to Sarah and everyone I met, especially David Brooks, perhaps best known for playing keyboards with Gary Numan.
Taverners’ lunch
I could be found at the Oval today, courtesy of a Taverners’ event in the India Room, to enjoy both the venue’s excellent hospitality and a County Championship match between Surrey and Lancashire.
Video shoot
I met with Greg Fitzgerald and Mark Batchelor at Waterloo today, as we prepared footage for a promo video for the new album. Locations included Roupell Street, Lower Marsh market, Leake Street, the steps at the Station, the garden of St John’s Church and the Southbank.
For Afghan women
I visited Pony Studios in Hackney this afternoon at the kind invitation of Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey to attend the recording of an anthem for the women of Afghanistan by UK based Hazara singer/songwriter, Elaha Soroor.
John Thirkell
A highly enjoyable day at John Thirkell’s studio in Buckinghamshire, as we collectively checked out both his superb contributions to the Waterloo Sunrise album and the collection as a whole.
Photo assets
A productive day in Richmond and Kingston as I dropped into photographer Jonathan Stewart’s office and Prinststore’s premises to collate and formally approve the gallery of images for the Waterloo Sunrise project.
