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.
Tag: News
Special Award
A proud moment last night as Ben received a special presentation from the Mayor of Croydon. 15 cadets from across the Borough and the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and St Johns’ Ambulance, had been selected for the Greater London Cadet/Young People Awards.
Ben Nevis, Camden
I travelled into town today for lunch at St Pancras with one of my oldest friends, Chris Lawson. I have known Chris since we met at our first day at North London Poly in Holloway Road in September 1977. Having not seen him for some years, it was a pleasure to hear of his respected work in photography and training horses, plus to remind ourselves of our previous adventures sharing flats in the 1970s and 80s!
Test pressings
An important development in the production of my Waterloo Sunrise album today – the vinyl test pressings arrived from Key Production! A pristine five copies for our careful checking on a range of turntables and set ups. Thanks again to Ed and the team at Tileyard for their timely delivery.
Wickham victory
With the Beckenham CC 4th XI not having a match this weekend, Ben was chosen to play with the 5th XI today at Wickham Park. Captained with verve by Peter Lee, this is always an enjoyable experience, although this particular side have had a difficult start to the season in terms of results.
Rome
Julie, Ben and I flew out to Rome from Gatwick last Saturday, 25th May, for a city break to mark my 65th birthday. We stayed for five nights at The Building Hotel in Via Montebello, which proved an ideal base for visiting the numerous world famous landmarks the eternal city has to offer.
Turning 18
A special moment as our son Ben turns 18. It’s been a long but rewarding journey from Princess Royal, Farnborough, in May 2006 to being an upstanding six foot two corporal in the cadets, student in Public Services at Bromley College, a bowler for Beckenham Cricket Club and a caring and thoughtful young man.
Key Production
I visited the Tileyard office of Key Production (London) Ltd in Kings Cross today and met Account Manager Ed Cawthorne, who was extremely helpful and informative as we discussed arrangements for the creation of the vinyl run of Waterloo Sunrise. My thanks to Ed and everyone in the supportive Key Production team.
Solo in Noho
A superb day in town. Firstly, I met the wonderful Debbie Rogerson, music supervisor at the BBC, for a coffee in Great Titchfield Street. A couple of hours passed in a flash as we exchanged stories of music, musicians and the media.
Veeraswamy
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 MU official.
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.
