Rob Russell Davies: My World 2010 #5

 Rob Russell Davies: My World 2010 #5:

WELCOME!

Hi from me once again and welcome to another edition of my newsletter. This one’s coming from South Africa where the temperatures are steadily rising, while I hear news that they’re rapidly falling back in the UK. Hopefully for all our sakes, it doesn’t get too cold there or too hot here!

A few people have asked where my home from home is in South Africa. Well, most of my time is spent in a little mining town called Stilfontein (Still Fountain) in the North West Province which is close to the city of Klerksdorp and is quite near to the university city of Pochestroom. All in all we’re about a 2 hours drive from Johannesburg.

Sunsets can be quite spectacular around here, and I walked down to the end of our road the other day, where you have a clear view towards Klerksdorp, and took a few snaps. Here’s my favourite:

 Stilfontein Tree at Sunset

NEWS

I’ve recently put together some slide show movies which can be seen on YouTube and other websites. Watching the dramatic Chilean Miner’s rescue, I suddenly realised that I was sitting on the perfect tribute song for the miners and their rescuers: ‘Gumboots: The Miner’s Song.’ It tells the story of a South African miner trapped in one of the deepest mines on Earth praying to hear the sound of his rescuers gumboots. For those of you wondering what gumboots are – they’re the same as Wellington boots.

So although my Miner’s Song has a South African twist, it still tells an international story – that of miners trapped underground and their eventual rescue, which seemed to be very relevant to what was going on in Chile. I rushed to the computer and began digging up pictures of the rescue, synched them up to the song, and uploaded the video onto YouTube as quickly as possible. The timing was right, the events were unfolding on TV screens all over the world, and for once, there was a happy ending. Within the first 48 hours the video had a few hundred views and then settled down to clock up a fair number every day. Obviously it’s lost some momentum as the story has faded from the headlines, but is still doing well and has recently gone well over 1050 views.

That helped me to begin figuring out how to use the Windows Movie Maker program, and within a few days I decided to have a go at linking pictures to a few of my other songs. Next, I took some of my favourite Cape Town and Cape Peninsula pictures from a recent holiday and blended them in with a piano piece called ‘Downstream’ from my Pianoscapes album. This ones got a laid back and peaceful feel to it, and I think the piano melody and Cape scenery go well together.

In the week leading up to Armistice day and Remembrance Sunday I started working on another video idea which I’ve had in my mind for some time. The Tipperary Song tells the story of a WW1 soldier blinded in the fields of Flanders. An Irish Nurse helps him through this terrible time and always keeps his spirits up by singing the famous ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ song. They lose contact after she is sent back to help on the front line, but at the end of the war, the soldier, believing that she is actually from Tipperary, makes his way to the little Irish Town to see if he can find her.

The Tipperary Song: A Tribute for Armistice Day and Remembrance Day

This story, obviously suitable for Armistice day and Remembrance Sunday, really lends itself to pictures and so I got to work finding hundreds of different photos from that era to fit the plot of the song. It took a couple of days hard work, and was more difficult to put together than the previous videos in that I was actually trying to tell the story in pictures. But I think the whole thing has worked out well, and hopefully you’ll like it too!

It’s had over 380 views on YouTube already, and I’ve also linked it to a few Armistice day / Remembrance day Facebook pages where it’s getting a lot of plays.

Links to all 3 videos below and if you’re signed up to YouTube you can also add your own comments – hopefully nice ones!

Chilean Miners: A Tribute Song. Gumboots (The Miner’s Song)

The Cape of Good Hope: Featuring DOWNSTREAM from Pianoscapes

Armistice Day / Remembrance Day Tribute: The Tipperary Song

(All links open in a new window)

As I’m away, there are no live gigs for me or the Duelling Pianos in November, but December’s gig sheet for Leeds and the surrounding area is included at the end of this newsletter.

HORRORS ON ARRIVAL

I don’t like to paint too bleak a picture of the club and pub circuit in the North of England. After all, many times you arrive to find a cracking club, helpful people running it and appreciative audiences. A lot of it, of course is also down to the act’s own attitude, professionalism and talent… and the people in charge usually recognise a job well done and treat you accordingly. But, every now and again a few things do go wrong, and quite often, it’s when you first arrive, or during the first hour or so, that you have to deal with the problems.

 

So with my tongue wedged firmly in cheek, and a little nudge and wink of the eye… these are:

The 10 things to look out for when arriving at Clubs and Pubs in the UK.

 1: The Impossible to Find!

You’d be surprised how skilfully some clubs are hidden away. Recent inventions like Sat Navs have improved things, but even then, I sometimes still get hopelessly lost. (As many of you will probably know… Sat Navs are far from being a perfect science!)

One memory that springs to mind is when a duo I was in got lost in Hull. We searched for over an hour for a pub, all the time getting more and more confused. Eventually giving up any hope of making it on time, we stopped at the nearest pub to ask directions for the main motorway back home… only to find that it was the pub we were supposed to be playing in! (We started playing over an hour late, but the landlord was happy enough by the end of the night to still pay us our full wage!)

2: The loader!

Some architects really should be shot! You can’t image where some venues put their stages and expect the acts to get to them. Stairs can be a nightmare especially those steep slippery outside fire escape ones you sometimes have to negotiate. I’ve heard a few nasty tales though the grapevine of people falling down them – closely followed by their own heavy equipment.

We played a club in Hartlepool once where you pulled the van up next to a brick wall, loaded over the wall, went down a grubby passage into a tiny service lift (not big enough to fit human beings – well maybe dwarfs), met your gear upstairs, walked with it across a massive back stage area to finally set it up. A full marathon – took us hours!

I did another solo job once when I arrived to find what looked like a rickety version of those golf cars ready to transport my gear over a rough dirt track down to a riverside cafe type venue. The thing looked positively dangerous and I simply got back in my car and went home!

3. The Double-Booking!

You turn up to find another act already there. Or worse… and something that happened to me once… you arrive, set all your gear up, sound check… and then another act turns up and you’re informed that it’s their gig. So you have to take it all down, reload it back in the van, and go home with nothing in your pocket!

4: The Noise Limiter!

Usually some neighbour with a grudge has put in noise complaints against the venue, and the environmental health department has come in and installed one of these devices, or insisted that the club installs one.

 A noise limiter – this one for example, goes from green to red the louder you get, and once all the lights are lit for a few seconds it switches off all the on-stage plugs.

The first problem with noise limiters is that you end up watching the lights all night, rather than worrying about your act or the audience. Secondly, if you do trip the power it’s a nightmare having to race across the stage to turn down the volumes on your speakers to avoid a potentially disastrous power surge through them when the power suddenly comes back on. Then once the electric’s restored, you have to line up all your tracks again, reset the keyboard’s sounds, turn the speakers volumes back up and keeping a smile on your dial, try to make light of something that really should have you tearing your hair out.

I’ve seen some acts completely destroyed by these machines, many of which don’t seem to work on loudness at all, but seem to react more to certain unpredictable frequencies.

5: The Absent Concert Secretary!

The ‘Con Sec’ is the man or woman who tells you what times to go on, how long each set should be and how many sets you should do. He/she also introduces you on-stage, brings you off the stage and sometimes also works the club’s lights – if he/she is not propping up the bar at the time! In a sense, the Con Sec is your boss for the evening. But often this person simply fails to appear and you’re left wondering what to do, and who to approach instead. Even more annoying is when they turn up late, then tell you that you were supposed to be on-stage quarter of an hour before… usually implying that it’s your fault!

6: The Grumpy Early-Arriver!

  A miserable faced (usually) elderly ‘git/gitess’ who makes sure he/she arrives an hour before anyone else, sits right next to a speaker and then complains that it’s too loud when you make the first tentative ‘one, two’s’ into the microphone. 

Out of interest, you sometimes get the opposite – the ‘deaf moaner’ who sits right at the back of the club, and complains that he/she can’t hear anything .

If you get both of these in one night… you want to yell at them:

 ’Why don’t you two swop places!’

7. The Dicey Change Room!

Change rooms come in all shapes and sizes, and, of course, some are lovingly and caringly maintained. But there are also the adapted broom cupboards, stinky toilets, dingy and cold cellars, and those curtains shabbily hung at the back or sides of the stages. If the change room has a sink in it, you’re never really sure what you might find lurking in it – I had a recent one that would have kept David Attenborough happy for months!

Also, change rooms often seem to double as the clubs storage rooms… so it’s you, scores of stacked chairs, broken tables, horrible smelling cleaning equipment, old bingo machines, filing cabinets and a spider called Albert!

Yesterday the Gents – Tomorrow’s gateway to stardom!

Graffiti on the change room mirrors and walls can sometimes lighten the mood, and a few recent ones I’ve come across include:

‘This way to the lions!’

‘Why, Oh Lord… why me?!’

8. The Chair Booker!

 This has happened to me a few times. You arrive, set up, and there’s not a single person in the club. So you find the nearest seat and get comfortable. In walks a man/woman who stands right next to you glaring pointedly. You guessed it… they want that seat… no other will do! Some don’t even bother to glare, they walk straight up and ask you to move. Sad stuff.

9. The Drunks

 

 Self explanatory really. You arrive to find rude and self-important drunks who’ve obviously been drinking in the club all day. They’re usually very loud, and are quickly identified by the questions they slur out:

‘Are you any good’?

‘What sort of music do you play?’

‘Is it Karaoke?’

 ’Do you do any Elvis?’

 Then there’s… ‘Do you play any ……(insert any band/singer here you’ve never heard of!)

If you’re cornered and forced to reply with a ‘no’… they then follow up with…

‘Why not?’

(Well think about it… They’re asking you to play something you’ve never even heard before, and asking you why you haven’t heard it. We’re in madness territory here!)

The funny thing about ‘the drunks’ is that after bugging you for over an hour while you set up, you often find that as soon as you begin the show… they’ve disappeared!(???)

10. The Expert!

These are the know-alls who tell you where to put your speakers, what and what not to play, how great an act they could have been (if only they had time for it) and how good or bad last weeks act was. They often have a favourite song which they present to you as the ‘club’s favourite’. For example, I nearly had a riot in a club a year or so back when an ‘expert’ advised me:

‘For #$!#s sake, don’t do Penny Arcade in here, they hate it… lad’

So I (very stupidly) made a joke about not doing it, only to find half the club wanting me to play it immediately, with the other half booing loudly at any mention of Roy Orbison’s classic(!) I soon realised that this was deeply divided club at war with itself…. with ‘Penny Arcade’ seeming to be the front line of contention!

Even telling them I knew the guy that wrote it, didn’t help!

Sammy King’s autobiography – a local guy who wrote that famous song

You can often get combinations of some of the above although I’m yet to encounter a club that I… (deep breath…)…

…Struggled to find, with a stage on the 10th floor, a noise limiter on the wall and an overflowing toilet for a change room. Drunks hassling me on the way in, and a pensioner next to a speaker moaning that it was too loud, another telling me what and whatnot to play whilst a further one asking me to shift seats. Nobody turning up to tell me when to play until after an hour when I’m informed that. .. (wait-for-it) I’m double booked!

CLUB COLLAPSES

I did a club a few months ago and one lady was telling me how a few years ago the entire roof of the concert room caved in. No lintel reinforcement on the windows. One woman had been sat in the club but hearing strange noises got out… a few others were just coming in and ran out. Here’s the best part… the act turned up and as casual as you like were told ‘don’t worry about that… we’ll put you on in the lounge’.

THE FUNNY FARM BITS

A few funnies that have been tickling my ribs in recent weeks.

First off, some Paraprosdokian sentences e-mailed from Tim the Taxi. What are they? Apparently they’re a figure of speech that uses an unexpected and amusing ending to a series or phrase:

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

Evening news is where they begin with ‘Good evening’, and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don’t need it.

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

Next, a few quick funnies doing the rounds:

Man to his Psychiatrist

‘Well my main weakness would be my issues with reality, telling what’s real from what’s not.’

 ’…And your strengths?’

‘I’m Batman.’

Marriage is like a deck of cards. In the beginning all you need is 2 hearts and a diamond. By the end you’ll wish you had a club and a spade!

And lastly, for those who have kids!

Children. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said!

Advice for the day: Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home one day!

And finally: If you have a lot of tension. If you get a headache. Do what it says on the Aspirin bottle:

‘Take two Aspirin, and keep away from children!!!’

That’s all for now folks,

All the best

Rob.

My Website

MySpace Page

Facebook Page

Tipperary Song of Peace: MySpace Page

December 2010 Gigsheet: (Just clubs/Pubs in or near Leeds)

 Rob Russell Solo: Thursday 9: Eastdene Social, Doncaster Rd, Rotherham, S65 2DA

Rob Russell Solo: Friday 10: Meanwood Conservative Club, 568 Meanwood Rd, Leeds, LS6 4AZ

Duelling Pianos: Saturday 11: Idle WMC, 23 High Street, Idle Bradford, BD10 8NB

Rob Russell Solo: Sunday 12: Pellon Social Pellon Social Club , Moor End Rd, Halifax, HX2 0HF

Rob Russell Solo: Wednesday 15: Morley WMC, Fountain Street, Morley, LS27 9EH

Duelling Pianos: Saturday 18: Stamford Club, Cleethorpes Rd. Grimsby

Rob Russell Solo: Sunday 19: Jubilee Social, Melville Place, Leeds LS6 2LZ

Rob Russell Solo: Friday 24: Wetherby District WMC, Sandbeck Way, Wetherby, LS22 7DN

Rob Russell Solo: Sunday 26: Hunslet Carr Sports and Social, Moor Road, Hunslet, Leeds, LS10 2JJ

Rob Russell Solo: Wednesday 29: Clarence WMC, 87 – 93 Clarence Street, YO31 7EL

Rob Russell Solo: Thursday 30: Southey Social Club, 170 Southey Green Road, Sheffield, S5 7QQ

Rob Russell Solo: Friday 31: Little Horton Cycling Club, 142a New Cross Street, Bradford, BD5 8BS

 

Rob Russell Davies: My World 2010 #4

 

WELCOME AND NEWS

Hi once again and welcome to another edition of my newsletter. Travel has been on the cards in August and you can read about some of our exploits below. September is quieter, and I’m taking the opportunity to catch up on some new tracks for ‘Rob Russell’ solo and ‘The Duelling Pianos’ shows. Craig (my Duelling Pianos partner) came up with the idea to do a ‘Pet Shop Boys Medley’ which I’ve just finished arranging, programming and mixing. Great fun and let’s hope it gets the crowds on the dance floor.

I’m also finding time to get on with some newsletter writing, and to do some admin work for my production tracks… music produced primarily for TV, radio and corporate functions. The South African based company I was writing for have recently done a publishing deal with a major international company with a head office in London, and everything’s currently in the process of being transferred to the UK. Great news, as this will soon lead to a world wide exposure for my tracks. More news on this soon.

With great sadness I have to announce the passing away of Paul Coates. Paul was the much-loved President and Concert Secretary of Ackroyd Street Working Men’s Club, where he did a fantastic job booking the acts, bringing them on and off stage and organising many Charity Concerts and Presentation nights. He was also step-dad to Johanne who’s Craig’s (my Duelling Pianos partner) girlfriend. Paul will be greatly missed by all his family, club and his many friends.

There are quite a few solo gigs in the Leeds and West Yorks area coming up soon and a couple of Duelling Pianos gigs as well. Please check them out at the end of this newsletter.

TALES OF 2 CITIES: EDINBURGH.

August turned out to be a month of travel, with excursions for the good lady and myself to 2 famous and lively cities. I’ve always wanted to experience the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, and this year we bit the financial bullet and booked a couple of nights in Scotland’s Capital.

As someone who firmly believes in the advantages of preplanning and organisation, I thought I’d be a clever sod and download and print the entire Fringe Programme, to mull over before we went… maybe even pick out and pre-book a few shows.

The best-laid plans of mice and men etc., as I soon realised what a time-consuming and expensive idea that would be. The programme turned out to be 346 pages long… more like a book! And that in itself is the problem, or should I say challenge of the Edinburgh Fringe… there’s simply so much to do that you don’t know where to start!

Can you believe that this years festival saw nearly 2 million visitors to the city; 2,453 different theatre companies registered to perform; there were 259 official venues and an estimated 21,148 different performers. And these are just the official figures… I’m not even sure if some of the street and impromptu performers even registered!(?)

So we ended up just pre-booking one comedy show and simply wandered around following our instincts and checking out the lie-of-the-land. Probably not such a bad idea for a first visit. You soon realise that there’s a lot of free talent on show, and you can spend all day just walking up and down the famous Royal Mile seeing music, magic, comedy, speciality acts and some shows that are very hard to categorise. I was impressed with some of the ‘living statues’ who are brilliantly made-up and presented. We particularly loved a comedy music trio called ‘The Martians’ who do a very unusual ‘Yellow Submarine’. Someone’s put it on YouTube so please check it out:

The Martians: Yellow Submarine on YouTube

(opens in a new window)

The one on the right’s got the strangest Chipmunk-like voice… We’re still not sure if he always sounds like that, or just puts it on for the show??? 

This lady’s got a whole new way of doing Puppet shows. Stare at her long enough and you start to forget that there’s a real person behind the Puppets. Very clever!

Edinburgh has so many old, grand and strange buildings. We found one comedy venue after a pamphlet was slapped in our hands by a well know actor from the TV program ‘Casualty’.

‘Please come and see my show… it’s free’ he added, and how could we resist.

The venue – ‘The Laughing Horse @ Espionage’ turned out to be on 5 different levels with the top floor at ground level, and the other floors underground. All floors had a bar and medium to small ‘cabaret rooms’ with intriguing names like ‘Kasbar’, ‘Pravda’, ‘Mata Hari’ and the ‘Lizard Lounge’ . All the venues were running continuous comedy shows, each about an hour long, and most featuring at least 3 comedians. So you could just wander up and down the stairs, pop from room to room, and watch different shows all day long if you liked! Everything free… Except the drinks, of course!

The Banshee Labyrinth

Well named and another venue with lots of underground levels. We even found an unused pole-dancing club in the basement. I managed to pull Rose off before the club signed her up!

Wandering down this underground tunnel in the Banshee Labyrinth we suddenly heard voices and laughter from behind this ominous looking gate. Sure enough, a show was going on inside. It was probably a torture chamber in the old days… Now it’s a makeshift theatre!

Our pre-booked show for the first night was ‘Jeremy Lion Goes Green’. I first spotted Jeremy on You-tube, and he certainly tickled a few of my funny bones. Presenting himself as a ‘children’s entertainer’ he finds any excuse to drink and misbehave whilst attempting all sorts of fairy tales and kids stories. His ‘…Goes Green’ show turned out to be his booze-sodden take on the world’s environmental meltdown. The sheer amount of liquid he put away in his finale… ‘10 Green Bottles’ was staggering, and we weren’t at all sure which drinks were real and which were props! I’m sure he had a good head-start on all the other comedians at the bar later!

It’s all a joke of course and you wouldn’t let this guy anywhere near your kids! Great fun, I loved it, although I’m not sure what the wife, daughter and her husband made of it! Type in ‘Jeremy Lion’ into YouTube if you like, and make up your own mind.

 

Jeremy Lion on top of the world… with co-star, keyboard player and general dog’s body, Hilary Cox under it!

Whilst in Edinburgh we also found time to visit the castle – although an hour or so of rain put a bit of a damper on that, as well as the massive queues to get in. We had some nice meals in pubs and restaurants, all reasonably priced, although the drinks were a bit on the expensive side. The locals were friendly and helpful and even the multitude of people handing out leaflets do it in a nice and cheerful way. Only one barmaid managed to get up the wife’s nose, and I only remember that because she was the unpleasant exception to the rule!

Great use of lighting… many of the grand old buildings look spectacular at night.

TALES OF 2 CITIES: AMSTERDAM AND ‘THE PRINCESS’

At the end of August, Rose and I were invited aboard the good ship ‘Princess of Norway’ – a cruise ferry sailing from Newcastle to Amsterdam and back. The invitation came from cruise director and entertainment’s manager John Morgan, who used to work with me as a Duelling Piano player back in Jumpin Jaks days. John and I would often share car lifts on the long journeys to and from Jaks venues around the UK. Many a long night was spent debating our favourite movies TV shows, while travelling home from places like Coventry, Nottingham, Dumfries and Glasgow.

John’s been on various ships in the past, most of them being long-haul cruises around the world. So this overnight ferry-style ship is a bit different for him, and presents a few new and different challenges. He explained to us that his main job is to put together and host different shows every evening in the ships main entertainment venue – the Columbus Club. As much as is possible, each show is tailored to the general ages and tastes of those expected onboard.

On our 2 nights aboard we enjoyed 4 different themed cabaret shows with a 6 member singing and dancing group performing songs from West End Musicals, The Blues Brothers, Abba and Moulin Rouge. An excellent 5 piece band did 4 sets playing jazz to pop and rock standards. John himself acted as compere, singer, quiz master and even (drum roll…) bingo caller!

 

John Morgan belting out a few tunes on his Wednesday night singing spot.

We were very impressed with the job he’s doing. In a sense I was seeing his talent for the first time as I always found it difficult to gauge the abilities of my fellow piano players during Jumpin Jaks days. Fun as it was, you had people up on the pianos, all around you, lots of shouting, punters constantly barging into you and, of course, the sound systems often left a bit to be desired… or the people operating them did! Then, the keyboards themselves were often knackered with missing and/or broken notes, and occasionally some highly ‘suspect’ leads were plugged into them. To add to the confusion, the odd ‘strap’ with karaoke pretensions would now and again try to join in with you!

So although I’ve worked with John quite a few times, I can honestly say that I’ve never really seen or heard what he’s really capable of. And… when I think about it, that statement probably applies to most of the other Jaks piano players I worked with as well.

With apologies for the boat cliché, you could say that John acts as an anchor to the Columbus Club’s evening entertainment. He is the friendly face that introduces each act and links the show effortlessly from one performance to the next. I thought his voice was sounding better than ever in his solo singing spot, enjoyed the way he did the pop quiz without even having the answers on paper to refer to, and he got over 25 minutes out of one single bingo game while still keeping it fun and entertaining. A big personality, very professional and top class entertainment!

Rob and John, saying our goodbyes in the carpark. Just after a demonstation of the power a high visibility jacket can bring when negotiating crowds, queues and car parks!

During our day in the Netherlands, a free bus took us from the short distance from Ijmuiden harbour to the centre of Amsterdam and picked us up again a few hours later. We had time for a quick cruise down the canals, a bite to eat and a Cappuccino in one of the many ‘koffiehuizen’ and Rose even ran amuck in a sweet shop for a while. (Koffiehuizen, by the way, are the ones you go in to drink coffee – not the ones you go into to float back out of!) The free bus even supplied a tour guide on the way in who did an excellent job keeping us informed, and I loved it when he pointed out this cycle garage in the centre of the city. I took the camera for a closer look later.

Bike Quandary… Now where did I park it??? Apparently there are about a million bicycles in Amsterdam and something like 30,000 of them end up in the canals every year!

Once again, thanks for the trip John and wishing you all the best on the ‘Princess’.

LAST BITS

I think we’ve had some of these wonderful Church Bulletins before, but here’s a few more! Well done to all those Church ladies with typewriters. These bloopers all appeared in Church bulletins or were announced in Church services:

 

Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

Don’t let worry kill you off – let the Church help.

Miss Charlene Mason sang ‘I will not pass this way again,’ giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the Church hall… Music will follow.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is Hell?’
Come early and listen to our choir practice.

The Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church.. Please use the large double doors at the side entrance.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

The Associate Minister unveiled the Church’s new campaign slogan last Sunday: ‘I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours.’

And on that note, I’m off! I hope you’ve enjoyed this instalment of My World, thanks for reading and catch you again soon.

Rob.

Rob’s Website

Rob on MySpace

Rob on Facebook

The Tipperary Song of Peace MySpace Page

 Rob Russell Solo and The Duelling Pianos: Datesheet

(West Yorks and Surrounding area gigs only)

Saturday 18 Sept: Rob Russell Solo: Tong Liberal Club, Wakefield Road, Tong, Bradford BD4 9RJ

Sunday 19 Sept: Rob Russell Solo: St. Josephs Catholic Club, Hunslet District Centre, Whitfield Avenue, Hunslet Rd, Leeds LS10 2QE

Saturday 25 Sept: Rob Russell Solo: Kings Cross WMC, Warley Rd, Kings Cross, Halifax HX1 3SU

Sunday 26 Sept: Rob Russell Solo: Ackroyd Street WMC, School Street, Morley, Leeds LS27 8BW

Saturday 2 Oct: Duelling Pianos: Hawthorne Social, Goodison Boulevard,Cantley, Doncaster DN4 6BT

Sunday 3 Oct: Rob Russell Solo: Wakefield City Club,Brunswick Street, Wakefield, WF1 4PW

Friday 8 Oct: Rob Russell Solo: West Bradford Bowling Club, Prospect Place, Duckworth Lane, Bradford, BD9 5EY

Saturday 9 Oct: Rob Russell Solo: Churwell WMC, Diamond House, Old Road, Churwell, Morley, Leeds LS27 7RR

Sunday 10 Oct: Rob Russell Solo: Bramley Band WMC, Snowden Lawn, off Town Street, Bramley, Leeds LS13 2BJ

Sunday 17 Oct: Rob Russell Solo: Harehills WMC, 34 Cowper Road, Harehills, Leeds, LS9 7AP

November 1: Rob Russell Solo: The Commercial Pub, Commercial Street, Morley, Leeds, LS27 8AG

November 6: Duelling Pianos: Millbridge WMC, Bennett St, off Huddersfield Road, Liversedge, WF15 7ER

Rob Russell Davies: My World 2010 #3

Rob Russell Davies: My World #3 2010

http://robrusmusic.com

WELCOME AND NEWS

Hi everyone and welcome to another instalment of My World. As UK friends know, the weather’s played ball for the last few weeks with some good hot summer weather. Then, as always, the MET office got excited, predicting heat waves etc and, of course, we’ve immediately returned to showers, grey skies and that sort of not-quite-sure-what-to-wear weather we’re quite used to over here. But overall it’s been the best summer so far in a few years, and work-wise has not been too bad either.

July and August are quite busy for my solo shows with a few Duelling Pianos gigs filling in the gaps. Below are some upcoming gigs local or near to Leeds. Please pop in and say hi if you can.

Duelling Pianos: Fri. 23 July – Barrow WMC, George Street,Worsbro Bridge, Barnsley, S70 5EX

Rob Solo: Sat. 31 July – Belgrade Social, Claremount Road, Claremount, Halifax HW3 6AW

Duelling Pianos: Fri 6 Aug – Royston Midland WMC, 35 Alfred Street, Royston, Barnsley, S71 4DP

Rob Solo: Sat. 7 Aug. – Queenswood Social, 77 Queenswood Drive, Leeds, LS6 3HT

Rob Solo: Sun. 8 Aug. (Afternoon) – Belle Isle WMC, Belle Isle Road, Leeds, LS10 3PE

Rob Solo: Sun. Evening 8 Aug. (Evening) – Bramley Social Club, Moorside House, Broad Lane, Leeds, LS13 2HF

Rob Solo: Sat. 14 Aug. (Afternoon from 2pm) – Pellon Social Club, Moor End Road, Halifax, HX2 0HF

Rob Solo: Fri 20 Aug – Hove Edge Bowling and WMC, Halifax Road, Brighouse, HD6 2QJ

News from Tipperary is that the 2010 Peace Festival took place in June this year rather than the usual last week in April. The late Senator Edward Kennedy and his sister Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith were the recipients of the peace prize with the award being received by Jean and Victoria Kennedy (Ted’s wife). Due to previous commitments, they couldn’t get to Ireland in April, and hence it was agreed to move the festival to mid-June. 

 

The late Senator Ted Kennedy with his sister Jean Kennedy Smith.

The winner of the song of peace award this year was Dave Murphy from Cork / Ireland with his song ‘Love Is All We Need’. To see Dave perform the song live at the competition, please check out this YouTube link:

Dave Murphy – Love Is All We Need on YouTube

(opens in a new window)

(Typing in ‘Tipperary Song of Peace’ in the ‘find’ section will also find at least one other video from this year’s song contest)

There’s more info and pictures of this year’s contest on the MySpace page:

Tipperary Song of Peace on MySpace

(opens in a new window)

A WORLD CUP DEBRIEFING

Well, so far it’s been quite a festival of sport for us armchair enthusiasts here in the UK. We’ve stopped talking about the football … just too disappointing to mention. Andy Murray was doing well until he met a rather fired-up Nadal in the semi’s and things are still going well in F1 for the British lads. The big one as I write is the Open Golf with it’s unbelievable result… just as you think the South Africans have done their bit organising a successful Football World Cup – along comes a new Golf champion in Louis Oosthuizen who goes and blows the world’s best away!

I thought that the World Cup was a big success for the South African organisers. There were a few transport hiccups, including a bit of a mess getting fans back to their hotels at the opening game, and a slightly bigger mess at the new Durban airport for the semi-final. (Not enough parking space? – maybe they should install meters!) But on the plus side the stadia looked great with capacity to near-capacity crowds and there seemed to be no trouble between the fans with an almost party-like atmosphere at most of the matches. Many people commented on the friendly and helpful welcome they received from the SA people, the weather was generally kind, and most importantly… the beer never ran out!

Hopefully most fans didn’t come across signs like these!

 

… or roads like this one!

If anything, this World Cup might be remembered for some rather dull games, a poor standard of play from some of the teams, the early exits from some of the favourites like Italy and England, some grumpy Frenchmen as well as the usual diving and play acting from some of the world’s most famous players. You can almost blow some of these guys off their feet, roll them over 6 or 7 times and have them writhing on the ground in agony! But you can’t blame the organisers for that!

The vuvuzelas drove a few armchair fans to near distraction and at one stage the BBC was even offering an alternate audio to the games with their attempt to filter out this ‘swarm of bees’. One overseas newscaster was sent home after he reported that some of the fans had been spotted blowing a zulufella. (Only kidding, and thanks for that one Georg!). I even saw a schoolgirl here in Leeds, blowing one on her way home the other day! (A vuvuzela of course… and yes, I have already put in a letter of complaint to her head teacher).

 Japanese fans having a go at the Vuvuzela!

Fifa boss Sepp Blatter gave South Africa 9 out of 10 for their running of the tournament. Thanks for that, and in return I’d like to offer him 1 out of 10 for his refusal to use technology in football. Surely it’s time to start having video playbacks on goal line decisions, debatable penalties, diving and some red card decisions. I’d also love to see the Rugby idea of ‘citing’ players. Referees could then re-look at incidents after the game. It might stop some of the blatant cheating which I personally feel is starting to ruin this great game.

Video replays could help with goal line decisions, or failing that, we could just redraw the lines.

It’s a shame that home team South Africa didn’t get past the first round, but other than a bit of a poor game against Uruguay, I didn’t think they did too bad. At least they helped a spoilt brat French side onto an early plane home. Most fans this side of the pond were dismayed at the England’s showing, but in true British fashion, it’s led to some cracking jokes:

The England team went to visit an orphanage in South Africa this morning:

“It is so good to put a smile on the faces of people with no hope, constant struggling and facing the impossible” …said Sipho Umboto aged 6.

Oxo are introducing a new white Oxo cube with a red cross in support of the England team. It’s called the Laughing Stock.

What do you call an Englishman in the knockout stages of the World Cup? A referee.

Fabio Capello was wheeling his shopping trolley across the supermarket car park when he noticed an old lady struggling with her shopping bags. He stopped and asked,

“Can you manage dear?”

To which the old lady replied,

“Sod off. You got yourself into this mess, now don’t ask me to sort it out!”

Osama Bin laden has just appeared in a new T.V. message proving he is still alive. He said,

‘The English football team were s*** again’.

British Intelligence have dismissed it, saying it could have been recorded at any time in the last 44 years.

So what actually went wrong for England at this world cup? Well, in a nutshell, I think it was all down to the language barrier. After all, Fabio is very Italian and his English isn’t great! This, of course, is born out but most of Fabio’s press interviews, where he usually manages to state the bleeding obvious in a rather convoluted way. So, with my tongue stuck firmly in my cheek, and with the help of some old and new jokes, here’s a press interview I dreamed up which might have happened just after the Germany match: 

Interviewer:

Fabio, did you believe you could win today?

Fabio:

If I didn’t believe we could win, there would be no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day!

Interviewer:

Was it a hard match for the team?

Fabio:

Yes, Germany are a very difficult team to play… and at times, it felt like they had 11 international Players out there.”

Interviewer:

Overall, were you happy with the match?

Fabio:

I’m as happy as I can be… although I have been happier.

Interviewer:

Did you think the team played to the best of their ability today?

Fabio:

I thought the team were top-class although the outfield players were well below par. The goalkeeper also struggled a few times to keep the ball out of the net.

Interviewer:

Did you feel that the disallowed goal affected the teams performance?

Fabio:

The score should have been 2 – 2 at half time, but the fact that Germany went on to score 2 more goals certainly affected the outcome.

Interviewer:

Will you now leave the job Fabio.

Fabio:

No I’m here for the rest of my life, and hopefully some time after that as well!

Interviewer:

Do you see a future for this current crop of English players?

Fabio:

Yes, I can definitely see the carrot at the end of the tunnel.

With the World Cup final between Spain and Holland in mind, how about this one a friend of mine posted on Facebook the other day:

‘I went to a plush restaurant with a lovely girl and at the end of the meal she asked if I wanted to go Dutch. Bemused by the vagaries of women I raked my studs down her chest, kicked her legs out from behind her, harangued the maitre d’ before bursting into tears and leaving.’

 Football, Karate, Kick Boxing… it all adds to the excitment!

CLUB TOMORROW

I got a call from Brisbane, Australia yesterday from friend and WIZARD guitarist Paul Clifford. We caught up with the news, chatted about the old times and no less than an hour and a half later finally said our goodbyes, leaving me with a head full of 70s and 80s memories. Today I woke up with an idea… why not write a few lines about some of the old clubs we used to work in. The one that sprung to mind this morning was one I worked at twice, with 2 different bands in the mid 70s.

In terms of size, the biggest venue that FLAGSHIP and WIZARD ever worked in must have been Club Tomorrow in Salisbury, Rhodesia. It was easily capable of holding over 1000 people, and if my memory serves me correctly, at times even reached 1200. Of course, the city of Salisbury is now Harare, and Rhodesia is Zimbabwe. Situated right in the middle of town, you went down a few stairs and were soon lost in a massive area well equipped with a decent sized stage, large dance floor, plush red carpets, hundreds of tables and chairs, a private bar, waiter service and a well organised kitchen area.

The club was well-know for it’s food, and during weekdays many local businessmen popped in to sample the big and varied menu. The owner at the time, Arthur Lubbe generously allowed the resident bands to have anything free off that menu and we used to particularly love the steak rolls… you really did get a huge steak in an even bigger roll!

When you look at how a certain Mr. Mugabe has destroyed the Zimbabwean Dollar, it’s amazing to think that I used to spend about 10 Rhodesian dollars a night on beer and even had change for one of those famous 3 wheel taxis home to the (in)famous band house. Yes, a five bedroom house was provided for the band, and let’s put it this way… perhaps it’s a good thing that those walls couldn’t speak!

 

The New Zim Dollar!

 ”OK just about enough for a loaf of bread here… better start saving for the milk!”

 

Back then, the bands were paid in Rhodesian dollars, but half our salary could be converted into Rands and sent home to South Africa. At the time, the Ian Smith government allowed night-clubs a yearly allowance of Rands – which, of course, helped ensure that SA bands still crossed the border. In my case, I had bought most of my keyboards on HP and was sending the money home to my folks to pay them off. Of course, if you spent all your money in Rhodesian Dollars you wouldn’t have any Rands left to send back to good ‘ol SA. Club owner, Mr. Lubbe, knew that and if he could induce us to overspend in Salisbury it was a bonus for him, as he then got to keep that Rand allowance for himself!

I used to love going into his office and asking for a sub. With a great big smile on his face, we would then play this game where he literally threw Rhodesian dollars at me, sometimes even offering more than my month’s wage! I can, however, report that I never weakened, and always got my half salary back to South Africa in Rands… I really had no choice, not wanting to saddle my parents with my keyboard bills! Our drummer in WIZARD, Norman, wasn’t always as resilient and often left the office with his hands stuffed with dollars and a resigned grin, shortly followed by Mr. Lubbe sporting a triumphant look on his face!

Unlike some of the club owners we worked for in those years, Mr. Lubbe was a good employer, always treating us with fairness, respect and good humour. And we certainly tested his patience a few times. I remember propping our well inebriated and only semiconscious bass player up against his amp one evening after he’d been out on the ‘sauce’ the whole day, and simply hoping that Mr. Lubbe wouldn’t notice. He did, and severe words were spoken the next day!

The mid 70s were a strange time to be in a city like Salisbury. Playing to a club heaving with over 1000 people most nights, lot’s of beautiful girls, cheap beer and an almost cult following made you almost forget that there was a war going on out there. Now and again we would get a sharp reminder, when a note would be handed to the stage directing soldiers to report immediately to their regiments / barracks. When these ‘orders’ were handed over, we could end the song we were playing but then had to read it out before starting the next number. Next, we’d watch as scores of young guys headed for the exits, always wondering when, or if, we’d see them again. Many a time I’d bump into some guy and say something like…

‘Haven’t seen you for a while. What’cha been up to’.

The simple answer was usually along the lines of,

‘I’ve been away’… and you quickly learnt to accept this explanation without further comment.

During one of our very popular Saturday afternoon sessions, we were suddenly stopped mid-song and told to immediately evacuate the building. At first, the word was that there was a bomb in the club – a threat that everyone took seriously as there had been a recent and deadly explosion in a large chain store just down the road. It eventually turned out, however, that a suspect package had been found in a post-box just across the road.

So, for over an hour 1000 plus revellers stood on the Salisbury pavements waiting for the experts to take care of the situation, and hoping to get back in the club to continue with their drinking and dancing. Looking down the road, I eventually located the offending post-box, and to my horror realised that my little mini was parked right next to it. I approached an oldish guy in a kind of ‘semi-uniform’ carrying an even older looking rifle and asked him if there was any chance of moving my car… or… (better idea maybe), having someone move it for me. But I think he’d seen far too many ‘Dad’s Army’ sitcoms and basically swore at me while pointing the relic gun in a threatening manner.

It all worked out OK in the end. The post-box was blown up in a controlled explosion, without us ever finding out if there was in fact a bomb in it. The punters returned to their dancing and drinking and my little car escaped any further injury. If I’d have know the problems that bloody car would give me in future years, I think I would have parked a little closer to that post-box… if not in it! (I could write a book about that *#*!#%* car!)

 

 

 Another Postal Stike?

 

 

 

 Looking back, it’s quite ironic that in a white dominated pre-independence nightclub, the most popular song we ever performed was Wild Cherry’s ‘Play That Funky Music’ with it’s famous lyric:

‘Play that funky music white boy, play that funky music right’.

This was during my first stint at Club Tomorrow with FLAGSHIP, a band that went on to break all club records at the time with a repetoire mainly Black American in style. Think Tavares, Earth, Wind and Fire, Lou Rawls, the O’Jays and Stevie Wonder for starters.

When we played ‘Funky Music’ we used to have a little game we liked to play. We’d start the number at the beginning of the set when the dance floor was clear, close our eyes, count to 30 and then open them. Then you had to guess the number of people already dancing. This was a virtually impossible task as the area in front of the stage would soon be tightly packed with gyrating bodies, and was further complicated by the fact that some were forced to dance on the carpets, around the tables and chairs with a few even hidden behind the pillars.

 

On Stage at ‘Clubbies’

FLAGSHIP managed to record a version of ‘Play That Funky Music’ in a local studio, and the idea was to release a single with ‘Funky Music’ on the B side and our cover of ‘Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel’ on the A side. Then to our bemusement we found out that Rhodesian radio stations had banned ‘Heaven’. Why? Well, we were told that the words were blasphemous…

‘Heaven must be missin’ an angel,

Missin’ one angel child,

‘Cause you’re here with me right now’

I mean, come on… how silly can you get!

So we flipped the order around making ‘Funky Music’ the A-side and were back in South Africa before the single was mixed and mastered. Eventually we got sent a copy of the final product which was… well… simply awful. Very disappointing. Someone at the studio must have felt that the band was ‘too tight’ and destroyed the heart and soul of the recording with liberal lashings of reverb that any karaoke singer would be proud of. I couldn’t tell you if the record went on to make any sort of dent on the local charts – we lost interest after that.

Flagship at Club Tomorrow.

Front: (L to R) Gary Ellis, Richard Pickett, Maurice Fry and Rob (Russell) Davies.

Back: Jason the doorman, Arthur Lubbe and the resident barman.

WIZARD was more of a chart orientated band with touches of cabaret and comedy during our Club Tomorrow days. I still hear songs like The Real Thing’s ‘You To Me Are Everything’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Don’t Stop’ and think back to that time. I remember spending a long rehearsal learning and polishing ‘Don’t Stop’ one morning, only for me to launch into the piano introduction that night in the wrong key! That caused one of Wizard’s best ‘new number cockups’ ever, especially when half the band followed me in my chosen key, and the other half opted for the original key! (Our best cockup of all time, however, must be the first attempt at the theme from ‘Star Wars,’ as presented to an unsuspecting audience at Marjories in Bulawayo – maybe one for a future newsletter).

 

Not a great pic I know! The Wizard line-up at Clubbies. Actually taken a few months after at Ports O’ Call in Durban.

Back: Paul Clifford, Norman Donald and Glen Ashford

Front: Rob Milne and Rob Davies

It’s very difficult to sum up the 6 months of my life spent working at Club Tomorrow. Keep in mind that I was just a 17/18 year old lunatic playing in my first professional bands away from the safety of my folks home in Durban / South Africa. A few other memories spring to mind, all of them slightly dulled by Rhodesian beer, an unreliable memory and the passing years:

Walking into the club for the first time as showband WOLF were doing their final night, and realising that there were only women sitting at the 6 or so tables to the left of the stage.

Having my 18th birthday party in the band house in Salisbury. FLAGSHIP drummer Richard Pickett and guitarist Maurice Fry advised me to invite only women… the theory being that if you invite say 30 women, you’d probably get at least 20 guys tagging along. So we got… at least 30 women (probably more) and one other guy… an American friend and musician who just happened to be staying with us in the house. Interesting.

Having to take huge supplies of drum sticks, guitar strings and all the little bits and pieces that were very hard to find in Rhodesia. Of course, these days everything’s hard to find!

Seeming to be the only guys in the whole of Salisbury with long hair. There was a South African rock band playing down the road displaying some 70s hair… but just about all of the remaining male population were in the forces! Made us easy to spot walking down the road!

That *&#**!* mini breaking down in the military convey on our way back to South Africa, just a few miles from the Rhodesian border with Mozambique. ‘Don’t worry’ said the military escort as 2 soldiers crawled warily into the bush and one manned the huge machine gun on the back of the jeep while radioing through to base for backup. Me ducking down low in the passenger seat and staring nervously into the bush while my mechanically minded dad calmly sorted things out under the car’s bonnet!

If anyone comes across these Club Tomorrow anecdotes, or remembers ‘Clubbies’ from the 70s, and has a story to tell, please drop me a line with your memories – the website email address is below.

LAST BITS

I received an e-mail from a friend the other day claiming to be about a recent art contest for paper statue entries run by the Hirshorn Modern Art Gallery in Washington DC. The rule, apparently, was that every artist could use only one sheet of paper to make a sculpture. But having a look at the gallery’s website, I couldn’t find anything about this competition and started smelling a rat.

With a little further research I soon discovered that the paper sculptures in fact belonged to Danish artist Peter Callesen. I can’t for the life of me work out why some people want to start e-mails crediting the wrong people and institutions for a talented individuals work. (You may remember when I featured the ‘Incredible Music Machine’ in an earlier newsletter). Here are some of Peter Callesen’s sculptures and I urge you to have a look at his website to check out his rather special art.

Peter Callesen Website

(opens in a new window)

 

 

These paper sculptures are all done with a piece of A4 paper.

Well that’s it for this newsletter. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and look forward to chatting again soon.

Bye for now,

Rob.

Please take time to visit:

My Website

MySpace Page

Facebook Page　　

My World 2010 #2

WELCOME AND NEWS

Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of My World. Rose and I are now back in the UK, luckily suffering no volcanic disruption on the return journey. We left a rapidly cooling South Africa and were hoping for a warmer UK… but so far, Leeds isn’t playing ball and the barbecue’s not been able to make an appearance yet!

There are a few Leeds and surrounding area gigs for me solo and a ‘Duelling Pianos’ one coming up in May and June:

Monday May 17: Rob Russell solo: Coronation Club, Castleford Road, Normanton WF6 1QY

Sunday May 23: Rob Russell Solo: Burley Sports Bar, Burley Road, Leeds LS4 2ET

Wednesday May 26: Rob Russell Solo: Morley Working Men’s Club, Fountain Street, Morley, Leeds, LS27 9EH

Saturday May 29: Rob Russell Solo: Kippax Central Club, Gibson Lane, Leeds, LS25 7BA

Monday May 31 Afternoon (from 12.30): Rob Russell Solo: Seacroft WMC, Ironwood View, Leeds, LS14 6EW

Monday June 7: Rob Russell Solo: The Commercial, Commercial Street, Morley (Monday Night Club, starts just after 6PM) LS27 8AG

Saturday June 12: Rob Russell Solo: Seacroft Green Social, 242 Brooklands Ave, Leeds, LS14 6NW

Sunday June 13: Rob Russell Solo: Cross Church Street WMC, Victoria Ave, Morley, Leeds, LS27 9DX

Saturday June 19: The Duelling Pianos: Beeston Hill Social, 130 Beeston Road, Leeds, LS11 8BB

Saturday June 26: Rob Russell Solo: Wetherby District Social, Sandbeck Way, Wetherby, LS22 7DN

(If you need to know where ‘Rob Russell’ or the ‘Duelling Pianos’ are playing in the rest of the country – please just send me an email at rob@robrusmusic.com)

Lots of people are still reading this newsletter on Myspace with the total views now exceeding 3040. I’ve also added the blog to the well known WordPress site, and it looks particularly nice on the black background. Don’t forget that you can also read it on my Website. Here are all the links:

http://robrusselldavies.wordpress.com/

http://www.myspace.com/robrusselldavies

http://www.robrusmusic.com/news.html

(all links will open in a new window)

 THE WORLD CUP BUILD-UP

As everyone knows, the football world cup is just over a month away and it’s been very interesting to watch the gradual build-up whilst in South Africa. A few statistics, figures and comments I’ve heard seem to paint a bit of a negative picture. About half a million oversees fans were originally planned for, and now it seems that figure has been downgraded to about 200 thousand. Ticket sales within SA seem to be quite strong, especially for the cheaper seats. I have a feeling that many matches could be played in front of mainly South African crowds with just a scattering of oversees fans. The main thing, I suppose, is that the grounds are full and I did hear on the news a few days back that all tickets for Cape Town and Durban are already sold, with a full house expected for the opening match (SA vs. Mexico) and the final.

By the way, the Mexicans have just released the names of their squad for the opening match.

In goal: San Francisco

Full Backs: Costa Brava and Hopelez

Left and Right Backs: Juan Andonly and Manuel Gearbox

Midfield: Don Criformi-Argentina, Skrewdigalz, Luis Canon, Speedy Gonzalez and Caramba Strikers: Sombrero and Chihuahua Jose.

No shortage of Vuvuzelas at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo Airport. Apparently these things can individually reach volumes of well over 110 dBA and there were a few rumours about that FIFA might even ban them on safety grounds. Keeping in mind that these things only play one note… very loudly… and endlessly… and I’d be tempted to ban them on mental health grounds. But let’s not be cynical… they’re very much part of the atmosphere at South African games, and I’m sure (um… well… hopeful) that oversees fans will grow to love ‘em! By the way… don’t forget your mining helmets either – very much part of the SA ethnic look!

Driving around Johannesburg a few weeks ago, I’m not too convinced that the road works will be finished… there’s hardly a stretch that isn’t dug up in one way or another. The new Jo’burg Gautrain system still seems to be a bit of a mystery to many locals, and just how much of it will be working in time for the tournament remains to be seen. From what I’ve heard and read, it appears that one route may be operating – carrying passengers from Jhb. airport to the suburb of Sandton. Municipal workers could also have picked a better time to go on strike, and they don’t do themselves any favours or win any public support by then chucking rubbish all over cities main streets in protest. (A way of claiming overtime when they eventually get back to work?)

On the positive side, I believe the stadia are just about ready and my friends in Durban tell me that the Moses Mabhida stadium looks great. I’ve seen a few pictures of the Johannesburg and Cape Town stadia and they too look pretty spectacular! SA have, of course, already proven in the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 2003 Cricket World Cup that they can run big tournaments very successfully.

A funicular carries visitors from the north side of the stadium to a viewing platform at the top of the arch, offering a view over city and ocean. The south side features a 550-step adventure walk. On 24th February 2010 the worlds largest swing opened at the stadium. The swing allows clients to jump off the 4th ladder rung and fall toward the pitch before being swung out in a 220 meter arc over the pitch. (Any player who misses a penalty has to jump without the rope!)

Some South Africans have the opinion that the country is going a little over-the-top with the tournament. An example I found close to our Stilfontein home is that the small airport at Potchestroom is having it’s runway lengthened, it’s control tower put back into operation and it’s disaster and fire equipment upgraded. Why?… because Spain have put in a request to use it for all charter movements during the world cup. Let’s hope the benefits of all this work stretch beyond the tournament.

A quick tip for any fans coming over. Don’t forget that SA can get very cold in the winter, especially inland in the highveldt areas which include Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchestroom and England’s first port-o-call Rustenberg. There can also be big swings between very cold nights with minus temperatures and warm days – sometimes getting up to the high 20s centigrade. So along with your miner’s hats, vuvuzelas, face paint and football kits… don’t forget a few coats and jumpers!

Many people are concerned about South Africa’s high crime-rate and my advice here would be to stay with your group and please don’t wander, or drive around alone, especially at night in the big cities. The government have, of course, assured us that security will be on high alert…

 CLARENS, GOLDEN GATE AND A BIG PUSSY CAT

We took in some different places and did some interesting and varied things in South Africa through April. A few weeks ago we spent 5 days in the little village of Clarens in the Free State Province. This was a first visit for us and I must say that the place lived up to, and even exceeded expectations. The town only has a few streets, but is packed with restaurants, bars, art galleries, curio shops and b & b’s, amongst many other intriguing things. You certainly won’t go hungry or thirsty here! We were told by some of the locals that franchise and large corporation establishments are discouraged from the town centre, and this was reflected in the very individual and charming character of the local businesses.

A clothes shop in Clarens with quite a famous pram parked outside. The owner came out to tell us that this was the pram used in a past SASOL advert. Here’s the ad on YouTube:

Sasol Ad.

(It’s in Afrikaans, but I’m sure you’ll get the jist!)

This shop selling all sorts of African musical instruments must have had a bit of a problem with unruly kids!

 

 So you’ve given up gardening and wondering what to do with your old spades. No problem… turn them into a chair!

 These were on display at a curio shop in Clarens.

 We met a friendly lady bar manager one night, who told us that she came to Clarens for a holiday 16 years ago, and has never left!

 

 

Clarens also has a reputation for being safe, and it’s great to wander about at night visiting the restaurants and pubs without having to worry about crime! On the Saturday night we saw a great three piece band in one of the pubs. Well… they started out as a 3 piece, but half way through the gig seemed to lose a member and turn into a 2 piece. I’m not really sure what happened to the other guy, but it’s the first time I’ve had a few and seen less rather than double! In spite of this trio to duo transformation, they still managed to get the crowd going, and by the end of the night many of them were singing and dancing up on the tables.

I’ve never seen so many shooters drunk in one session. For one round alone, we watched the barman line up 20 shooter glasses and top them up from a variety of different bottles. All in all, the round came to over R530 (about £50) and the buyer paid with his credit card. A few minutes later another guy, credit card at hand, appeared and ordered the same round again! And so it went on…!

A short drive from Clarens is the beautiful Golden Gate area of the Free State. Some of the eroded sandstone cliffs, caves and outcrops here have to be seen to be believed. Wildlife in the area include mongooses, eland, zebra and many species of birds. Numerous palaeontology finds have been made in the area including dinosaur eggs and skeletons.

We took 2 different drives through the Golden Gate park. The first was on a typically African sunny day where you can see for miles and all the cliffs, hills and mountains in the distance were clearly visible. But perhaps the second drive was more interesting. It was one of those days that alternates between thunderstorms and sunny skies. On a few occasions we even had what we at school used to call a ‘monkey’s wedding’ which is when it rains while the sun’s still shining. At one stage we had a clear sunny sky on one side of the road, with thunderclouds over at the other, and the cliffs looked quite spectacular in such unusual and contrasting lighting.

 

The Sentinel Rock.

Dark stormy skies ahead, and the eerie feeling of ‘the road to nowhere?’

Another treat awaited us when we got back home to Stilfontein. Good friends Gideon and Angie who own a farm in the area, invited us around for a very special visit. Their land is situated right next door to a farm which breeds and sells lions, as well as a other wild animals, and you might have seen the rather gruesome pictures of the lions eating a horse in my October 2009 newsletter. One of the lionesses had recently given birth, and with a bit of sweet-talking Gideon had persuaded his neighbour to bring a 6 week old cub over for a visit. Wow, what an experience… Unforgettable!

 

He seemed quite relaxed although a bit nervous of our company, and was a bit disorientated after the short car ride from next door.

I was amazed at how soft his fur felt, almost like a fluffy child’s toy. One thing’s for sure though… I won’t be cuddling him in a few months time!

 

 

 

LAST BITS

An old Durban friend of mine; Shaun Potts, put this on Facebook the other day, and I’m still giggling over it:

 

Mahatma Gandhi seldom wore shoes so had huge calluses on his feet. He also ate very little which made him rather frail. All this plus his odd diet which gave him rather bad breath. Therefore he must have been…….

(cue a drum roll…)

a super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

 

Some good ones from Tim:

I’m in trouble at McDonalds after a very large girl served me food yesterday lunch time. She said, ‘sorry about the wait ‘

I said ‘ don’t worry, you’ll lose it eventually ‘

 

Paddy is walking down the road eating a bag of doughnuts, Murphy meets him & says…

‘ if I can guess how many doughnuts you have in the bag, can I have one’?

Paddy says, ‘ if you can guess how many doughnuts are in there, you can have both of them’!!

So Murphy says ‘Four!’

And finally, this apparently true one from the USA courts of law! If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman. He was being cross-examined by a defence attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the police officer’s credibility…

Q: ‘Officer — did you see my client fleeing the scene?’

A: ‘No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away.’

Q: ‘Officer — who provided this description?’

A: ‘The officer who responded to the scene..’

Q: ‘A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?’

A: ‘Yes, sir. With my life.’

Q: ‘With your life? Let me ask you this then officer.. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?’

A: ‘Yes sir, we do!’

Q: ‘And do you have a locker in the room?’

A: ‘Yes sir, I do.’

Q: ‘And do you have a lock on your locker?’

A: ‘Yes sir.’

Q: ‘Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?’

A: ‘You see, sir — we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room.’

Thanks for reading, and catch up with you soon.

Rob.

My World 2010 #1

*The Newsletter of Songwriter and Musician, Rob Russell Davies*

 

www.robrusmusic.com

 

Hi and welcome to my first newsletter of 2010. You’ll notice a few changes of format to the newsletters from now on starting with a change of name. ‘Keeping Up With Rob’ kind of reflected the original idea behind the newsletters… to pass on all the latest news about my music. But call it an active mind (friends), a wandering mind (acquaintances) or maybe even a scatty mind (enemies!), but I’m sure that regular readers will see that the newsletters have gradually taken on a more general, chatty and magazine-like flavour.

 

I’ve also decided not to restrict or commit myself to one a month. You know how it is… some months I’ve just got so much on, and I find writing this a bit of a task. Then other months, with more time on my hands, I feel like there’s too much to say for one newsletter. So with that in mind, I’m going to try and be a little more flexible with publishing times, although I will try to bring out no less than 12 newsletters a year.

 

I hope you like the new logo at the top of the page, which is the same picture and piano idea used on the cover of my ‘Pianoscapes’ album. The main picture is by UK photographer Graeme Purdy and he describes it as an African sunrise on the Masai Mara, Kenya. I must confess to having a soft spot for pictures of sunrises and sunsets. Here’s one of my own taken at Blouberg Beach, Cape Town.

 

 

Blouberg Beach, Cape Town Feb/March 2008

 

THE DUELLING PIANOS AT KEEPING IT LIVE 2010

 

At the end of January, Craig and I took a few days out to travel to Blackpool for the ‘Keeping It Live’ auditions. Keeping it Live is a showcase of British talent which featured more than 140 acts over a 4 day period performing at the Horseshoe Bar / Pleasure Beach to agents, bookers and managers from all over the UK and overseas. So quite a nerve-racking experience, although once we got on-stage, I quite enjoyed it.

 

A few people, including Duelling Pianos partner Craig, often accuse me of being a worrier! But it’s not the usual stuff like performing, stage-nerves, or forgetting parts that worries me… I panic about technicalities! For example, at Keeping It Live, I soon realised that we were the only act needing to set up and plug in 2 keyboards, mics and stands at the front of the stage… And we would have to do that in the short time it took the compere to introduce us. I started to fear that if the stage manager over-rushed setting us up, and if the compere didn’t say enough, we could find ourselves up there with something not working… and this is the kind of thing that puts the fear of God into me! As it happened, stage manager Pete did a great job and compere Steve Walls quickly sussed out the situation and broke into a number when he realised that we were a bit rushed. The only real technical hitch we had was after we’d done our bit. Returning to our allotted change room, we found we were locked out because some idiot (probably me) had pulled the door closed with the lock on!

 

 

 All credit must go to the team behind Keeping It Live for pulling off such a great idea. Think about it… 18 acts on in one 3 hour session, including solos, duos, bands, comedians and all sorts of speciality acts. 2 sessions in each day, over 140 acts in the week, and most of it all running to time. A full front and backstage team, lighting engineers, a video crew using 3 or 4 cameras, an official photographer and a registration team sorting out who does what, where and when! On top of this, an absolutely brilliant 4 piece backing band… I was thrilled at the way they backed us, and it made a lot of hard work arranging and writing out our parts well worthwhile! Also, in spite of being under some pressure I noticed that everyone did their best to be polite, professional and keep a smile on their faces. Well done guys!

 

I thought the overall standard of entertainment was very good, with some acts being quite brilliant. From our point of view, let’s hope that it leads to some work for the Duelling Pianos. The venue was pretty full during our Tuesday afternoon session, and completely packed-out for the evening session and there seemed to be lots of agents etc. in, although whether they were there to sell or buy remains to be seen. Some great side-shows were going on too, including a stall selling some very snazzy looking stage clothes, and a cartoonist going round randomly drawing peoples pictures. One look at Craig and he homed in immediately! (I’ll get him to scan the pic for a future newsletter).

 

Here’s some links to our show in Blackpool including the 3 numbers we did and the interview.

 

Duelling Pianos: Keeping It Live, Blackpool 2010,  Part 1.

Sweet Soul Music / The Greatest Love Of All

 

Duelling Pianos: Keeping It Live, Blackpool 2010, Part 2.

The Duelling Banjos (Pianos) and the interview.

 

If you’re signed up to YouTube… don’t forget to leave a nice and friendly comment!

 

(all links will open in a new window)

 

OTHER NEWS

 

In the last few months I’ve been arranging and programming new ideas for the Duelling Pianos and for my solo acts. So if you’re in our area, please let us assault your eyes and ears with our new Ratpack, Blues Brothers and Elton John medleys as well as lots of new stuff from the charts old and new. Duelling Pianos fans… look out for a guest appearance of a truly gorgeous-looking buxom lass from Bradford… Miss Kiki Flea joining up with a rather shabby looking Elton!

 

I’ve recently received news from South Africa that a short arrangement I did of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ has been used by Game Stores over the Christmas period. So at least I didn’t add all those jingly bell sounds to the hard drive for nothing!

 

Thank you to everyone on MySpace reading this newsletter on my blog space. It still seems to be growing and as I write has had over 2400 views, with plus/minus 60 readers every week. Don’t forget that the newsletter is also published on my website where you can sign up to have it emailed directly to you. I’m going to publish the newsletter on other blogs on the web, and any suggestions for sites would be great!

 

My Myspace Page

 

My Website

 

THE PLACE OF RESTORATION TRUST

 

Towards the end of March, Rose and I are off to the Clyde Valley in Scotland to help good friends George and Monica MacDonald with the entertainment at their annual Spring Charity event. This year it’s a Cheese and Wine party at the ‘Flowers of Scotland’ Garden Centre in the valley. The event will raise much needed funds for ‘The Place of Restoration Trust’ which is a shelter in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa for babies and children abandoned, abused or affected by the terrible HIV/AIDS epidemic in that part of the world.

 

Organisers George and Monica have been friends with Rose and myself for many years, and in fact George was our minister when we got married in Durban, South Africa nearly 10 years ago. I won’t, however, hold that against him. Since moving to Scotland to serve simultaneously in 2 churches in the Hamilton area, and now at Bonnybridge in the Falkirk area, George and Monica have run a garden party every year for the children’s home. The Manse at Quarter near Hamilton was ideal… having a huge outdoor area with plenty of space for 3 marquees, a stage, food, entertainment and fun for the local folk and dignitaries. Now that they’ve moved to a smaller Manse in Bonnybridge, the Garden party initially seemed a bit of a problem but ‘The Flowers of Scotland Garden Centre’ soon stepped in to kindly help keep the idea going, and this year’s party will be held in and around their coffee shop.

 

Since 2004 the garden party has raised over £17,300 with £5000 being raised at last year’s event alone. This is in addition to other fund-raising events that are run throughout the year. Monica sent me a newsletter brought out by the ‘Place of Restoration’ home, and one set of facts featured on the front page jumped out at me… it reads…

 

The Reality of Aids in South Africa…

 

Just Statistics?

 

In 2004 – 300 000 orphans

In 2006 – 600,000 orphans

In 2008 – 2.7 million orphans

By 2013 – 5 million orphans

 

In sub-Saharan Africa the estimated number of orphans is 50 million. More that 1000 people die of AIDS related illnesses in South Africa every day.

 

So far money raised for the home has gone towards buying educational equipment, building on to the existing buildings, adding air conditioning, buying medical equipment, an electricity generator, washing machines, a soft play area, and therapy and counselling for the children amongst other things. If you’d like to contribute or read a little more on the ‘Place of Restoration’ Children’s home, which is based in Gayridge near Margate, then please have a look at their website:

 

http://www.gcf.org.za

 

 

Children at the Place of Restoration home.

 

LAST BITS

 

Here’s a few questions posted by prospective visitors on an Australian Tourism Website. The website officials have a great sense of humour, but I’m not sure they’d get away with some of their replies in some of the more ‘politically correct’ parts of the world!

 

 

 

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK).

A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

 

Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? ( USA )

A: Depends how much you’ve been drinking.

 

Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney – can I follow the railroad tracks? ( Sweden)

A: Sure, it’s only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

 

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns , Townsville and Hervey Bay? ( UK)

A: What did your last slave die of?

 

Q: Which direction is North in Australia ? (USA )

A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions.

 
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia ? (USA )

A: A-Fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent South of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not… oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked!

 

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys’ Choir schedule? ( USA )

A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is… oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked!

 

Finally, here’s a new take on what to draw on dirty cars. I’m sure we’ve all seen the usual jokes like ‘wash me’ and ‘also comes in white’, but here’s a guy who’s turned mucky cars into an art form. Texan Scott Wade removes portions of the dirt on car windows to come up with the most amazing drawings.

 

The famous dogs playing cards painting on the back of your old mini?

 

Old Albert would logically advise you to clean the window so you can see whose tailgating you!

 

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are gonna love this free bit of advertising for their new ‘Alice in Wonderland’ movie. Maybe not in 3D… but nearly in C-thru!

 

To see more dirty car art and find out more, please visit Scott’s website:

 

http://www.dirtycarart.com

 

Thanks for reading, and catch you again soon.

Rob.

 

http://www.robrusmusic.com

 

(Be a friend on mySpace)

http://www.myspace.com/robrusselldavies

 

Be a friend on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/robrusselldavies

 

Please check out the Tipperary Song of Peace MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/tipperarysongofpeace