I enjoyed a memorable lunch today with John Smith, former MU General Secretary and currently Chair of PPL and President of the International Federation of Musicians, at the oldest Indian restaurant in London, the superb Veeraswamy in Regent Street. Many heartfelt thanks to John and PPL as the invitation was an acknowledgement of my work with the leading collecting society during my tenure as an official with the MU.
Tag: News
Slinfold Country Club
A very pleasant few hours at Slinfold Golf and Country Club, Horsham, Sussex, in the company of my son Ben and members of the Hayes family. The Four Seasons society was established in 1994 by the late Fred Hayes and is marking its 30th anniversary with a series of quarterly events.
Cage construction
The impending start of the cricket season often generates a flurry of action at Beckenham Cricket Club and so Ben, Julie and I could be found in the sunshine at Foxgrove Road for the annual ‘Ground Force Day.’
Digital delivery
A landmark moment as I took delivery this evening of the signed-off digital file for All Over You from producer Greg Fitzgerald, which represents the last remastered track of my Birdcage album.
Bath visit
I drove to Bath yesterday to collect a large framed poster that Future, publishers of The Musician magazine for two decades, had kindly prepared as a gift to mark the years of my working with them.
Suzi Ronson
Suzi Fussey certainly enjoyed a fascinating journey in her 20s, from burgeoning hairdresser in Beckenham High Street to working with numerous legends of the rock world.
Kent session
A delightful afternoon with producer Greg Fitzgerald and mastering engineer Mike Thorne at the latter’s marvellous rural studio near Sittingbourne.
Surrey sojourn
A productive day in south west London as I drove over to Richmond and Kingston with a view to completing various designs in support of my forthcoming releases.
Reeling in the years
Steve at Printstore has kindly prepared a poster based on my records of gig-going and performing over the last five decades. This lists all the artists, venues, studios and events I have particularly enjoyed since 1968. There have been so many, however the memorable moments have certainly been included.
Final remastering
Another productive afternoon at Greg Fitzgerald’s studio in Canterbury, working on the remastering of my Birdcage album. This time to complete two tracks, namely The Golden Age of This Romance and Radio Play.
Anniversary mix
I drove down this morning to Greg Fitzgerald’s studio in Canterbury once more, principally to complete the mix of ‘Radio play’ now that we have Ralph and Steve’s marvellous drums and bass parts, plus Greg’s additions of backing vocals, keyboards and percussion.
St Paulinus
I drove through Crayford in north east Kent this morning, during a trip to Chatham, and took the opportunity to stop off at St Paulinus Church. This was formerly known as Crayford Parish Church and where my great-grandparents Sarah and Thomas Ames married on 16 July 1871.
West End sunshine
Having a few free hours and appreciating the bright start to a mid-February day, I caught the train into Charing Cross this morning.
Radio play
I visited Greg Fitzgerald’s studio in rural Kent once more this afternoon. We worked on ‘Radio play’ now that the legendary Ralph Salmins has kindly, and superbly, contributed drums. We also edited the original recording of ‘Cross of gold’ as the coda needed a little polishing.
Podcast interview
My interview with Martin Sutton of the Songwriting Academy is now online in which we discuss various areas of the business and offer advise to musicians, writers, producers and industry representatives.
Songwriting Academy
An enjoyable and informative meeting with long-term contact Martin Sutton this morning, as he updated me on the developments with his highly successful Songwriting Academy. Martin also outlined the new popular Community App and we put plans in place for a podcast recording next week.
Thomas Ames
Born in Strood, Kent, on 11 January 1872, Thomas Ames was the elder brother of my grandfather Herbert. He signed up with the Merchant Navy on his 18th birthday and initially worked aboard ships based at the local Chatham docks.
Bromley FC
My son Ben, his friend Austin and I could be found at Bromley FC’s Hayes Lane ground for the National League match versus Altrincham this evening. An absorbing game, in which the home team failed to take advantage of some early chances to take the lead and saw Altrincham leading 1-0 at half time.
Birdcage revisited
The plan to make my Birdcage album available as a download accompaniment to Waterloo Sunrise gathered pace today, as I motored down to Canterbury in driving rain to Greg Fitzgerald’s studio. We worked on Radio Play, which is the one track in need of revisiting from the original tapes. The legendary Ralph Salmins has kindly agreed to add his drum mastery to this in the coming days.
Ringside at Worthing
Julie’s cousin Mark is an amateur boxer and we drove down to Worthing this weekend to offer our support at the Coast to Coast Boxing Club’s ‘Twas The Fight Before Christmas’ event at The Charmandean Centre.
On the town
I met up with Mark Batchelor this afternoon in the Royal Opera House bar in Covent Garden, at the start of a relaxed night out in the West End. We first walked across the crowded piazza and along King Street and into New Row, stopping at the Castle Fine Art gallery and appreciating the Bob Dylan prints in the basement.
Duchess Theatre
An extremely fun evening as Julie, Ben and I enjoyed the rollicking fun that is The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre in Covent Garden. We had superb seats in the back row of the stalls and time flashed by as the cast of nine grappled with the series of dramatic disasters that befall them. Great stuff.
The Musician
The winter edition of The Musician magazine is being distributed to members of the Musicians’ Union this week. This issue is my last as editor and includes a two-page review of my career as an MU Official.
Pete Thoms
A very pleasant lunch with my former MU colleague Pete Thoms today at The Rose in London Bridge.
ENO letters
Officials from the MU joined members of the orchestra of English National Opera at the Coliseum this lunchtime, in delivering over 150 letters from musicians, audiences and public figures urging ENO management to reconsider proposals to axe 19 jobs in the orchestra, and make the orchestra and music staff part-time.
Masterclass
My son Ben has signed up for a series of cricket masterclasses at the Ames Levett Centre at the Kent County Ground in Canterbury for the next five Wednesday evenings. This involves a fairly lengthy round trip from Beckenham, but is fully worth the commitment.
Hilton, Liverpool
A day trip with my MU colleague Amy Grimes to Liverpool, specifically to visit the Hilton Hotel with a view to confirm its suitability as a future Delegate Conference venue. My thanks to sales manager Kerry Hughes for a comprehensive guide to the Hotel’s extensive facilities.
