Whew!!!! It's not that I don't want to write this...but the last few days have been a whirlwind! Before I even approach the subject of music a few other bits...I've had the AA out twice to sort the car, youngest son Ieuan (5) has been ill, I had a freezer break down and lost all its contents, replaced it thanks to eBay (involving picking it up in Bognor), 2 trips to the dump with said broken freezer, old armchair and sacks of rotting meat...

...You getting the idea...? I know...we all have weeks like that! My saving grace was the weekend I just enjoyed...5 music events in 48 hours - whoop!

Lewis, Ieuan and I left Portsmouth on Friday afternoon and drove up the A3 listening to Jim Painton's 2 CDs (see my last posting...). Both Ieuan and Lewis gained new favourite songs in the process - Ieuan asked for 4 replays for 'The Girls From High School' while Lewis joined me as a BIG fan of 'Last Night I Saw Lennon'. We paid our respects to Jim from afar then...it was his funeral over in New Jersey last Friday...

Then we paid our respects to Lucy by listening to the song she inspired - if you hadn't seen the news, Lucy Vodden (the former nursery-mate of Julian Lennon who was painted 'in the sky with diamonds') died last week too.

The first concert was in Orpington...a fund-raiser for the local Rotary Club in a large, very full Crofton Hall. Most of the concert was performed by the "Force 10 Big Band". I have listened to big bands a fair bit (mainly Glenn Miller) but had never seen one play live before. This outfit was well-drilled and very competent with a very good male vocalist and 2 extraordinarily good saxophonists! I am far from a big fan of the saxophone and I have gone on record in the past to say so - but these 2 guys could probably convert me...a couple of their solos gave me the same 'tingle of wonder' I feel when Wakeman solos in 'Starship Trooper' or Dunnery in 'You'll Never Go To Heaven' - they are special, rare moments!

I sat at a nice Technics electric piano and made my contributions to the 'Songs From the Shows' evening performing, amongst others, 'Maria' (West Side Story), Edelweiss (Sound of Music - that one accompanied by my son Lewis on guitar!), and 'Love Changes Everything' (Aspects of Love). It all seemed to go down OK and several members of the audience informed me they thought my bits were the best bits...I'll take any praise :)

On Saturday evening I performed a 90 minute 'one man cabaret' for my cousin Andrea's church in St Mary Cray. A nice fish and chip supper washed down with a good old 'Army Cup of Tea' went down well and I entertained with songs, piano solos, poems and stand-up comedy! I extemporised a nice new solo based on Hoagy Carmichael's 'Stardust' and remarked on both that piece and my Beatles Medley that good music will always pass the test of time!

I even managed to grab a mid-cabaret cuppa while Lewis took over the entertainment performing Edelweiss by himself this time and following it with an impeccable rendition of Paul McCartney's 'Blackbird' - he never inherited those long fingers from me (and that's my excuse for not ever having been able to play guitar parts like that!!!) Well done, Looby...a true chip off this old block!

On Sunday morning we had a short drive across London to Camberwell where Portsmouth Citadel Salvation Army Band were the guests for two very high profile services at the William Booth College. The rest of the band (including my eldest son, Morgan) had left at some unearthly hour to arrive by 9.30. The band played pre-service music as the congregation and assorted dignitaries (including the General himself!) took their seats and played well during the service - a beautiful arrangement called 'A Gift of Love'. The acoustic of the hall, while a little 'boomy' for the spoken word, was ideal for transmitting 'The Portsmouth Sound'...this band has a special sound of its own, almost magically passed from generation to generation and it has been my privilege to have played with them now for over a quarter of a century (and 23 years as principal euphonium).

After lunch a pre-meeting concert included 'Prelude on Finlandia', Evelyn Glennie's beautiful 'A Little Prayer', 'Hymns of Praise' and 'To Regions Fair' (at quick-march tempo!) In the service the Gullidge march - 'The Fount' was very well-received. It is quite a thrill for me to realise that there are some 20 others in the band now who are younger than me - including 10 teenagers! The band is certainly playing better right now than at any time since 1987 and I'm sure PCB has a bright future ahead of it (as well as almost 130 years of history behind)!

So...having been a player/performer at four events it was finally time to sit back and enjoy someone else...

Francis (Frank) Dunnery explained the concept behind his House Concerts as his way of falling back in love with performing music. Having fronted 'It Bites' from 1984 until he left in 1990 and then launched a successful Stateside solo career he tells us he had 'been there and done it all'...Letterman, stadiums, drugs, alcoholism...the rock and roll life. But he reached the point where he'd had enough...so much so he withdrew to Vermont to train horses!

It was at this point that he wondered what it would be like to play small, intimate concerts in friends'/fans' front rooms! A notice on his website generated 3000 expressions of interest...and Sunday night's 'House Concert' was held in Geoff Banks's kitchen in Surbiton. About 32 people I counted crammed into the kitchen (complete with oven cooking spicy vegetable cous-cous for the after-show barbecue), some on chairs, some on floor cushions and others standing. Frank was nearer to me than I am now to my PC monitor - even closer than my first House Concert experience in Southampton a couple of years ago. Tonight was the 'It Bites and Ego' concert, Frank taking the opportunity to expound some of his philosophical views between the songs (he is studying philosophy and is also a confirmed devotee of astrology*).

His renewed interest in larger-scale concerts is about to be rubber-stamped with a band he calls 'The New Progressives' and a tour/album follow later this month. He has revisited many old It Bites songs for this tour and we heard very different acoustic versions of some of them in Geoff's kitchen on Sunday. With the added bonus of Frank's driver/merchandise seller being the lovely Dorrie Jackson - and hence she was able to lend us her gorgeous backing vocals - Frank sang us an almost unrecognisable 'Kiss Like Judas', 'Yellow Christian', 'Whole New World', the unreleased 'Holiday', 'Sister Sarah' and 'Underneath Your Pillow' as well as 'Back in NYC' from 'Lamb Lies Down' and finishing with 'Still Too Young To Remember'. We all sang along, Lewis and I adding harmony vocals, of course (Frank certainly noticed and appreciated this - actually taking hold of my arm and grinning appreciativelyat the end of one song ...wow!)

Afterwards, a 'meet and greet' where we were all treated as old friends and I learned the identity of the lady opposite me who I had noticed had sang every word of every song all evening - it was Frank's sister Fay - and she was very friendly and encouraging especially to Lewis, the budding guitarist! What a lovely evening and, yes, very much a surreal feeling to have been so very close to someone whose music has brought me so much joy and inspiration for so long!

The epilogue...back to Sidcup to pick up Ieuan and once more round the M25 and down theA3...arriving home well after 1am on Monday morning - It Bites music on shuffle keeping us awake and still singing on the journey, of course!

He shall have music wherever he goes!


*as I said to Lewis on the way home..."fantastic musician, great songs, lovely guy...mad as a fish!"