Apologies for the late posting of the March GORR, but I was waiting on some news that I felt was worth waiting for and I hope that many of you will feel the same after reading through this epistle of current happenings.
One of the most asked questions I get is about the release on CD of the old A&M albums as the cost of the imports from places like Japan are extortionate.
For quite a few years now I have tried to license some of these albums back in order to try and get them released myself, but it’s not as easy to do as many people may think. Having said that, it did shed awareness up at Universal who own the A&M catalogue and three very senior players there worked tirelessly in order to circumnavigate all the red tape and to confirm to me yesterday (Friday the 7th), that all of the 8 A&M albums will be remastered and released in the UK and indeed worldwide, the first releases commencing this coming July.
Add this to the release of the new studio Journey in fabulous box set form in May, plus all the stuff coming out very soon on Esoteric, all that product having been remastered and repackaged and looking wonderful, plus more ideas in the pipeline for new recordings and also that which is available on Gonzo and President Records, there does seem that there’s going to be an awful lot of music available and hopefully will all be on sale in the new Wakeman’s Music Emporium on line shop as well, which is due to open in the next few weeks, certainly before the tour starts.
Whilst on the subject of the tour, final preparations are now being put in place and before we know it we’ll be in rehearsal.
Fancy a nice September break in Tenerife?........if you do, google STARMUS, which is a great festival held there every summer. Last year Brian May preformed there and this year I’ll be there with the English Rock Ensemble with our only band show of the year. The festival looks amazing. I think I’d probably go even if I wasn’t playing!
March is as busy as ever especially with the tour coming up, but there is time to squeeze in a few other bits and pieces.
I’ll be presenting the Classic Rock Magazine Show on Team Rock Radio on the 19th, 20th and 21st at 6 o'clock, sitting in for my great friend Nicky Horne. It’s going to be great fun for sure. (I must remember to be on my best behaviour and not to mention Nicky’s height, or indeed...lack of it)!
I’ve taken part in a Radio 4 Extra programme on the life of Viv Stanshall, where I was interviewed by Neil Innes. I think the producer may have to do a lot of editing as we both misbehaved from start to finish!
On the 23rd I fly to Naples to do a concert with two keyboards, son Adam playing the other one, where we will be joining Mario Fasciano performing stuff from the two albums we made together and also Adam and I doing a few duets.
For those of you who follow my silliness on twitter, then I can officially announce that I am two stone lighter than I was on January 1st, although the weight doesn’t always seem to go where you’d like it to, so although I am considerably smaller, I am also still considerably misshapen!
I had a quick peek at the April diary this morning and that month is going to race by. There’s the Jon Lord memorial concert at the Albert Hall, the Viv Stanshall birthday concert at the Bloomsbury theatre, my rehearsals and tour with Journey which spreads into May and then...............May 18th looms ever closer when I officially become an old age pensioner!!!
Now how terrifying is that!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers,
Rick