Rex Rheni

We have just got back from a week on the beautiful Dutch Riverways aboard the Rex Rheni and had an ABSOLUTE ball ! Four shows in five nights which were a mix of talks by yours truly about the history of our music and instruments and songs from the decades from 1920's to the 1950's. Sold a stack load of CD's and ate and drank very well. The sun didn't stop shining and the crew of the ship were VERY VERY accommodating - they couldn't do enough.
Naturally I have a lot of photos and videos. The ship had 25 crew and around 100 guests.
On the second night we all went into the little town of Enkhausen where we were moored to try and find some nightlife - we chose the Non-Irish pub which was one of only two places still open - being only a small town.
A lovely young dutch barmaid joined us on the razzle - dancing gave way to silliness and I ended up sucking a glass of spilt wine from my t-shirt on the way back to the boat.
You might be able to make out Martin and Erica doing some "break dancing" together:



We spent our last day in the lovely city of Amsterdam - and partied into the early morning after our final performance.
Up at 6.30am Sunday morning (ouch!) for a drive back to the UK via the euro tunnel and on to a private 21st Birthday party in a lovely Oxford Hotel.
Now recovering..........

Stretch Limo.....

Well, it seemed a sensible thing to do at the time - sold up in Surrey - left accountancy - Sep 2002 and so I cashed in my endowment on my mortgage and bought a really solid investment- a stretch limo! So I entered the world of the Lincoln Towncar - ten a penny in the US but stretched and sent to the UK to service the hen parties and stag nights. I wanted one to go to my gigs in - so I bought one. It wasn't long before I recruited a budding driver in the shape of Richie Christmas - who I met at Blase wine bar in Walton where I played for six years on a wednesday.
I bought him a genuine cap in New York and here he is holding the door open for me when we took the trip down to Cannes to the annual music industry conference known as MIDEM. It was a long way to go in a limo and we turned a few heads at customs at Dover ....


I had the limo sign written "Red Stripe" and we had such a great time - in a small town on the way down we were going down a very narrow street and it was getting narrower and narrower but little Christmas( my driver) wasn't freaked out at all - he just kept driving - no problem - he is now driving HGV's on the continent - he was born to drive.
Many a night he took me to gigs and got me home in one piece sometimes with a bit of a detour depending on who was on board.....



And I made a lot of friends too - when we were down in Cannes , one night we took a couple of girls to Monaco for the evening and I recently bumped into one of them in Limassol - it is good to keep in touch


We used to run competitions to the Red Stripe Mailing list and the winners would come to a gig in the limo with Red and champagne on ice - here are a couple of lucky winners.....



Then there was the "limo bitches" as they liked to be called - we had quite a few nights out drinking more champagne - in fact buying the limo was to create my love of champagne. It really is a nice way to travel - DVD , stereo, champagne on ice and kind lighting - I used to arrive at my gigs not wanting to get out !!!



There are a thousand and one stories I just can't reveal publicly but do you know what - after a couple of years it became a bit boring ! Being driven around in a stretch limo became boring !
So it had to go and I lost a packet on it but it was worth EVERY PENNY and I thoroughly recommend it - - live for the moment !
Goodnight Zebedee....

Tommy McCardle's Birthday Party

Most of the people using the internet right now won't remember "Brookside" the innovative Channel 4 soap of the eighties - let alone the villain of the piece Tommy McCardle. He was brilliantly acted and put the fear of God into you believe me. So when I attended a New Year's Day soiree at a mayfair neighbour's flat this year, I saw the face of McCardle and indeed spoke to him but wasn't able to place him - perhaps the twenty five years which have passed blurred my memory somewhat.
It was only when being invited to a birthday party last night at one of Soho's famous private drinking clubs that I googled Malcolm Tierney and discovered that he indeed in a previous life had been Tommy M. He is doing very well at 71 years of age and still full of acting spirit.
Tommy McCardle's Birthday Party - only in Soho !! It would make a great song title

Seven Seas Club Limassol Cyprus

We all got on the very early morning flight from the lovely new Terminal 5 at Heathrow bound for Larnaca. We had a TON of luggage and on arrival the rather miserable check in girl wasn't having any of it - even though we had a special "letter" giving us extra baggage allowance. Never mind - we got through after payment of a small bribe to BA. The guys tucked into the free booze on board and on arrival in Larnaca we got in a minbus and went straight to this BEAUTIFUL club which has just been built http://www.7seaslive.com. We were all knackered as you can imagine after a 4.00am start but that is rock'n'roll! The first night went off a treat - we were up on the bar dancing - Martin with his tenor, Erica with her baritone and me with my "strap on" and the bar staff were chucking shots of tequila at us . When we got back to the villa - I just had to jump into the (non-heated) swimming pool - 10 degrees - pretty cold but very refreshing. This became a bit of a ritual although only Erica and me did it at night (jumped in the pool that is.....) We were looked after VERY well by our Cypriot hosts - a substantial drinks rider each night, villa with pool and the use of a BMW 520i. Eddy the entertainments manager was the perfect host and really looked after us. Let's hope we will return one day. I took a little video just before we left the island of the club and stage below. There is loads more photos and vids to follow - our entire show on the Saturday night was recorded using an HD camera.....

Dutch Riverway Cruise

We are really looking forward to this "holiday" - playing on a beautiful River Cruiser travelling from Amsterdam for five days. In association with SAGA holidays , we will be playing a different show each night including all our favourites as well as our own new tunes !!!
All details on how to book are in the page I have scanned in
It leaves on 28 April 2009
Book now to avoid disappointment !!!

Our first Wedding of 2009

We all trundled out beyond Guildford in Surrey last Saturday night just as the storm started, to play at a Wedding Reception at Loseley Park in the Tithe Barn - a lovely venue for sure!
We had been recommended by the lady who did the flowers because she had loved our show at her 40th birthday party some months ago.
We were superbly looked after with a great meal and accompanying wine. The evening went off very smoothly - we got the ipod from the best man and put the dance music on around 7.00pm. It also had the first dance on it which was "Chasing Cars".
Our first set kicked off at around 9.00pm and we rocked - everyone was in good spirit by that time and the dance floor remained packed throughout!
After a short break we played our second set with all our off stage antics - Erica (baritone) was great and got up on one of our bass bins during her solo in Tequila whilst Martin and I were rocking out on the dance floor - him on Tenor and me with my Keytar!
The bride and groom loved it and sent an email the next day which was great:

"Dear Neil Just a quick note to say thank you to you and the band for making our reception so special and memorable. Everyone commented on what a fantastic band you were and how great the set was. Your genuine enthusiasm and love of what you do really comes through and we'll definitely recommend you to as many people as we can! The great reception topped on a brilliant day.
Thanks again.
Alex & Amy"

Makes it worthwhile!



WARNING

I must point out that in no way am I suggesting that "licking an electric piano" is a safe pasttime - under no circumstances should it be tried by an amateur - I have had several years experience and am able to carry it off without injury either to my tongue or the tongues of those nearby.............

Tokyo 2004

Not much happening in cold dark London so I pulled out some old footage of a gig I did in a small club in Tokyo in April of 2004. I had a ball for ten days - mixing with the locals and playing all over the city.

The clip is an excerpt from Good Golly Miss Molly which I was hammering out on a gorgeous Yamaha grand - every club had a beautiful piano for obvious reasons.
I also stayed one night in a capsule hotel after seeing Palin do it on TV. You leave your shoes in a locker in reception and then get a gown - leaving all your clothes in another locker on the floor of your capsule. Then you have to find your capsule ! After a few drinks that ain't that easy - I was on the upper row but managed ok.
Very cheap and small but enough room for a TV at the foot of the bed on a small ledge. I have some video footage of the entire experience and maybe I should put it up sometime.
The trip inspired a song on my last CD "Tokyo Blues Guitar" and also inspired me to record a version of "Red Stripe Boogie" in Japanese! I got some boys from the local jive band "Ban Ban Bazar" to help me translate it after a gig one night and wrote it down phonetically - it worked very well.
I have a mind to do some promotion in Tokyo on the back of the track but for now I am concentrating on the UK market.
Enough for now. Enjoy the video.