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.
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
