As I had hoped, what a busy month January was, and I am really pleased that so many of the planned projects have started to take shape.

The Return to the Red Planet has been mastered and is ready for production. I am genuinely really pleased when I listen to it even though I am in desperate need of a hi-fi stack with CD player, cassette player and turntable with decent speakers as my systems are all in dire need of repair.

I finished all the sleeve notes (there are a lot) and the next stage is designing and producing a great cover. I have been told of the ideas for this and if they happen, then it'll be a great way of presenting the album.

We will be having a playback with a Q&A, but I'm not sure where yet, but possibly Decoy Studios where most of the recording was done if we can arrange that with them.

Random House/Penguin Books have, in their infinite wisdom, decided to do an in-depth biography and have commissioned Ian Gittens to put it all together and to this end have already been meeting up where I have been rambling away and answering numerous questions about my life that even I couldn't remember. Ian has ghost written for such luminaries as Billy Connolly, Cliff Richard and Carmine Appice and the book will be published in the Autumn and I am hoping to visit as many book fairs and book shops as possible as I did with the Grumpy Old Rockstar books as I love doing these events.

February sees a lot of continuing preparation for the remainder of the year and that starts in earnest on the first weekend of the month when son Oliver arrives to go through the set for the Wakeman and Son tour of America in March as well as catching up on all things family.

On Monday the 2nd I will be at Erik Jordan's Nursery Studio to record keyboard additions to two different tracks. I enjoy doing these one-off sessions for Cleopatra as there is no pressure involved in doing them.

Also, in the first week I will be meeting with the builder who put together the studio at my previous house with the help of Erik (Jordan) as work will begin in March on the new studio here.

Wednesday the 4th will be an interesting day as it will be my first visit to the hairdressers since the operation and it has been quite interesting how unevenly my hair has grown since it was shaved in areas for the brain surgery . The only solution to how it is now is to have a pretty serious trim all round so it can start to grow properly again !!!.... I will not be posting photos !!!

On Friday 6th I'm off to Bristol for the wonderful Slapstick Festival where I will be playing live (piano) to a Buster Keaton short silent movie called the Boat, that evening at The Beacon and the following morning at The Lantern Theatre presenting a load of comedy musical moments from throughout the years. Should be a hoot!!

On the 9th I head to London for a meeting with Brian "Deal a Day" Lane and also attending the American Embassy where my visa is being renewed. There's usually quite a wait there and so I must remember to take a book with me!

On the 13th, (yes Friday the 13th), I'm off to Pinewood Studios to do some filming for a documentary about the late great Keith Moon. Knowing a lot of what Keith got up to I suspect it's going to be a very long documentary… and very funny too!

Throughout the month I will also be doing more podcasts with Mark Jeeves. I love doing these and the questions that are sent to us are brilliant memory jerkers and talking of questions, I will be answering a lot that readers have sent into Uncut magazine in an interview with them… so I guess I'll learn a bit more about myself that I either didn't know or have forgotten.

On the 16th and 17th I'll be doing a load of interviews for America to talk about the Wakeman and Son tour and hopefully I won't bore the listeners too much.

On the 21st, Oliver and I have a warmup show, although it will be full on and far from a gentle warm up. This is in Devizes and sold out very quickly after it was announced. It'll be a lot of fun for sure… see you next month!

Cheers Rick

---

Previous Editions

September 2026
August 2026
July 2026
June 2026
May 2026
April 2026
March 2026
February 2026
January 2026
December 2025
November 2025
October 2025
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009