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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Family archive

A weekend in the south coast sunshine as Julie, Ben, Lisa and I travelled down to Christchurch for my sister-in-law’s 60th birthday celebration at the local Sailing Club. A pleasure to join the gathering of the clan, included my brother Ken and his lovely wife, birthday girl Debz; my sister Janet and her husband of nearly fifty years, Frank; my niece Katherine, my nephew Steve, his wife Trish, and their daughter Beckie.

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Mercato, Mayfair

During a visit to the West End this afternoon I walked the length of Marylebone High Street, stopping off at several of the area’s independent boutique outlets. I heartily recommend this corner of the city, just yards away from the mainstream bustle of Oxford Street.

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Liverpool

A relaxing few days with Julie and Ben in Liverpool, always a great place to visit. We travelled up from Euston to Lime Street on Wednesday and checked into the Hilton City Centre before heading out to explore the legendary city.

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Mojo

Having absorbed a recent edition of MOJO and a David Bowie related feature, I felt driven to contribute my tuppeny-worth on the great man. So I was taken a little by surprise when I was advised at the UK event that I was the lead letter in their next issue. Thanks John!

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UK Music party

An invigorating night at the IET London, Savoy Place, WC2, courtesy of UK Music and their annual summer party. So many from the music industry and politics were on hand to network and hear speeches from UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl, UK Music Chair Tom Watson, Culture Minister Chris Bryant and award-winning songwriter Michelle Escoffery.

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QuizWar

A marvellous evening at the Phoenix Arts Club following an introduction to the captivating music business event that is Quizwar! Definitely for lovers of a madcap approach to testing your knowledge of pop, rock, and industry insider information. Let alone daring to meet the challenges of the lyric karaoke, Japanese horse racing, and wheel of fortune rounds.

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