Sincere apologies for the months of May and June being put together, especially as May has come and gone, but May was a very difficult time and subsequently I had little time to do anything apart from deal with family matters, which are still ongoing but thankfully all under control.
In May I did manage to record some music in preparation for the Starmus Festival and also prepare some music for some future concerts in Russia and also for the Journey concerts.
The St Georges Arts Festival in Beckenham was really lovely although I still find it both sad and astonishing that David Bowie’s iconic house where so much of Hunky Dory was put together has been demolished. What a great museum that would have made.
I loved doing the Jeremy Vine show.......you can’t beat live television and Jeremy is a past master at presenting live.
I also managed a Piano Odyssey show in Stafford. Lovely theatre and lovely people, as it was at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds.
There was also the sad occasion of my wife Rachel’s father’s funeral, which was a real celebration of his life. I shall miss him for many reasons and will always rue the fact that I rarely managed to beat him at golf!
A real happy occasion was the wedding of my daughter Jemma to Alex, who is the dream son-in-law............and I’m not just saying that because his dad is an ex top flight professional footballer !!!........
So onto June.................
I have already performed a Piano Odyssey concert at the Anvil in Basingstoke. Another lovely theatre with lovely people and always a joy to play there.
On Saturday 8th I am at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft which is a theatre I opened in 1988 if I recall after its refurbishment and have been going there regularly ever since both to perform and also to see other shows.
On the 12th I fly to Russia for meetings as regards further concerts later in the year with an orchestra and choir.
I will be spending a few days with Erik Jordan programming the new keyboard rig for the Journey shows in readiness for the rehearsals. The concerts are looming ever closer and so it will soon become the main priority after everything else races by.
On the 22nd I am once again performing at the piano at the Marylebone festival but this time with a choir and also I will be grilled by the wonderful Sue Perkins so it will be totally irreverent and I would imagine......quite funny!!! Details are on the Marylebone Festival website. The whole festival is a wonderful charity affair and well worth supporting.
The day after on the 23rd, I fly to Zurich for a concert the next day as part of the Starmus Festival where I will be playing with Brian May and Hans Zimmer....should be amazing. The event is to celebrate 50 years since man first stepped on the moon and many of the astronauts who did this will be in attendance...now how cool is that!!!
The next GORR will indeed be early and will concentrate every much on Journey and how all the pieces of the jigsaw will be finally put together.
Cheers, Rick