« December 2008 | Main | February 2009 »
Tix ain't available yet, but that hasn't stopped the Amersham Rock 'n' Roll Club going whole hog with its Return of The Rapiers night on 9 May 2009, posting a fair fusillade of pix and promo to lure punters to its Buckinghamshire address.
Can't say I disagree with the sentiment, as I, blush, concocted the lot. After all, it's my party and I'll hyperbole if I want to.
Rapiers friend Tony O'Keefe, drummer for Liverpool's "Maximum Merseybeat" purveyors The Shakers, had a percussive brush with fame over the holidays when he and his lads supported The Pete Best Band and another '60s act The Fourmost at a Merseycats Christmas party.
Says Tony, shown below alongside Beatle Best: "A cracking night of all-out Merseybeat and rock 'n' roll. We got plenty of plaudits from those who were there in the '60s for being 'exactly as it was at the Cavern'. Praise indeed."
CAVE DWELLERS: Founding Beatles drummer Pete Best with founding Shakers drummer Tony O'Keefe.
Right. I'm officially in the concert promotion biz this spring. For one night only—9 May 2009.
Hurrah, that's my birthday. To celebrate, I'm booking (surprise!) The Rapiers for, well, an all-Rapiers night at the Amersham Rock 'n' Roll Club, in Amersham, North London, way out on one of the termini of the Metropolitan Underground.
The cheery 250-seat club, which feted The Rapiers' 25th Anniversary celebrations last spring, has treble the usual slogans to entice you there:
Please come, please enjoy, please book. "Quality costs," as I'm wont to say, but expect tickets at only £10 or so from the ARNRC, with details on the venue's site in the next fortnight.
As a special FAB bonus, besides two all-out rockin' sets, I'm hoping The Rapiers double up on the rhythm front by engaging both Dave Lawes and Neil Ainsby to make appearances.
Going overseas for more 2009 dates, The Rapiers barnstorm the Wild Bunch Rock 'n' Roll Club 10th Anniversary Weekend on 23 May 2009 at Tivoli Amfi in Moss, Østfold, Norway. Other acts include Norwegian rockers Built for Speed and Twang Gang.
In high summer, they accompany Mike Berry to the Oilers Motorcycle Club Rockin' Rally on 25 July 2009 in Honkala, Aitoo, Finland. Details as they roar in.
Farewell, 2008. Good morning, 2009.
I begin the New Year by recalling a mid-November 2008 rendezvous with Dave Lawes and his ever-dashing wife Alex, who shanghaied her unsuspecting rhythm guitar-playing husband on a surprise London-to-San Francisco long-weekend mini-break.
To pull off the caper, it helps that Alex works (and occasionally flies) for a major UK-based carrier. Let's call it Trans Love Airways, to quote E. Burdon.
Yes, a Rapier inside the city limits of my hometown, a first.
Top of the to-do list for the couple, plus two of their friends, also in on the jetaway getaway: touring Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, site of the notorious former federal prison, which housed a gangland hot list during its 1934-1963 heyday. The Rock lures out-of-towners to its preserved cellblocks, especially US crime drama-crazed Brits. "Yes, I would love to see Alcatraz," says Colin Pryce-Jones whenever I try to entice him to San Francisco (sourdough bread, fog, cable cars climbing half way to the stars, hot-hot-hot Hunan Chinese cuisine and roly-poly hills just ain't attractions in his book).
After their Alcatraz outing, the Lawes and I met at the Daily Grill off San Francisco's Union Square for drinks and chat. Rants, raves and quotes I remember:
Fashion Sense and Sensibility: Erm, that's a 100% cotton shirt I'm wearing above with Alex and Dave, not dead-grotty spandex, in case you're wondering (or not).
Recent Comments