Procol Harum news

December 2007: Two interesting iTunes items now available from Josh Phillips, Procol Harum's Hammond player: here and here

December 2007: No Stiletto Shoes (Gary Brooker, Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Graham Broad and Frank Mead): three Christmas concerts: booking page here

25 November: London's Marquee Club: extremely rare, unseen 60s Procol Harum footage / a blues set from Dave Ball's Ballbreakers: click here

3 & 4 October: the appeal hearing in the A Whiter Shade of Pale lawsuit was heard in front of three Appeal Court judges; they are not going to give their decision 'for some time' ... certain estimates suggest it could be Christmas before the verdict is revealed.

September: Gary Brooker in the studio with Jack Lancaster to record a piece for what he describes as 'a follow-up to Peter and the Wolf'. Gary will be singing Tyger Tyger (words by William Blake)

Gary Brooker Radio Interviews promoting the AWSoP re-release and Secrets of the Hive: Gary's Classic Gold interview is running in the Entertainment bulletin all this week (starting 30 July) which goes out at various times. Smooth FM London – Martin Collins show – goes out 6pm on Monday 6 August). Smooth FM London – Lynn Parsons show – goes out 11.15am every day the same week – quick 4 minute interview each day. The Mike Sweeney Capital Gold interview ran on Sunday 29 July; Gary's 'My Tunes' feature is running in September 2007: dates to be confirmed. Look out for interviews and reviews in September / October issues of Classic Rock, Rock N Reel, Uncut, Record Collector and Mojo's Special 1967 Issue.

16 July Paler Bill Blankenship writes from the USA: 'I emailed the BBC last month and asked if they could play a Procol Concert on their Live @ Midnight show in honour of the Fortieth Anniversary. They have responded: July 16th's Live @ Midnight will be Procol Harum at Golders Green Hippodrome 1977 on BBC 6: it can be accessed for a week after it's on. See you Friday!'

14 July Gary Brooker and Georgie Fame co-headline in a big-band gig at the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark: setlist here

9 June onwards Procol Harum's Ledreborg Castle Concerts from August 2006 will be broadcast on Danish Radio P4's Middagskoncerten starting 9 June 2007 and the following two Saturdays. There's enough material for further broadcasts after the summer holidays. The broadcasts are at 12.28-13.00 Danish time: to listen, visit www.dr.dk/p4/?oversigt# ; click on "P4 Netradio" just under the map of Denmark, top right of the website. It will be possible to listen to the programmes for seven days after the broadcasts, on DR internet radio: www.dr.dk/radio/?top then then click on 'P4' on the top of that site to get to next page where you choose "Middagskoncert" from the menu at the top of the site. This information comes from Hans Otto, compère at the concerts and presenter of the radio broadcast: he doesn't know the DVD release date yet but sends his greetings to all Palers all over the world. (thanks, Henrik)

Live Procol Harum concerts, among many other artists' recorded shows, are available for legal download at 'Wolfgang's Vault'. Read about the1968 Fillmore show here and about the 1973 Hollywood Bowl orchestral show here.

April: Union Square Music (trading as 'Salvo') have negotiated a deal to release all the Procol albums and Brooker solo works in the next couple of years. This will start with a 35-track 'best-of' entitled (by BtP) Secrets of the Hive, which will have all-new liner notes by Roland from BtP (based on fresh Brooker and Reid interviews) and Patrick Humphries. It contains one hitherto-unreleased live recording and is the first 'best-of' to include material from every phase of the band's career: as such it will surely satisfy the perennial demand at the band's gigs for something that represents all their work. The 2CD will be presented with 31-page booklet including some hitherto-unseen illustrations.

24 February, 12 noon: Copenhagen Cathedral: Jochen Busch, violin; Sven-Ingvardt Mikkelsen, organ (from Frederiksborg Slotskirke): a programme entitled Retro Rock featuring the music of Procol Harum, The Doors and Jethro Tull. Free admission (more info here)

14 February: Procol Harum on Deutschlandradio at 20:00 hrs European time: details here

Ledreborg broadcasts: February 2007: Henrik Gøttrup writes to BtP: "I've just had a mail from Hans Otto Bisgaard, the compère at the Ledreborg Concerts, and host of the radio programme that will broadcast the concerts in full. Originally the programmes were scheduled for January 2007, but will be postponed 'til February 2007. Hans Otto will keep me up-to-date of the exact dates and time, so when I get them I'll forward them to you. But I think you should make a note of this on BtP to steady the nerves of all non-Danish Palers, some of them having heard something in Danish DR-program Amadeus. The concerts haven't yet been broadcast in full."

Friday 17 November at 10pm: on BBC4 TV (Sky116, Freeview9): a half-hour version of the BBC Sight and Sound in Concert is being re-broadcast. For info, Radio Times describes it as 'a 1977 performance by the prog-rock band'!

June 2006: at last, a new double CD album of 42 Procol / Brooker / Fisher / Trower / Reid songs: Trace of a Feeling from The Palers' Project ... order it here.

June 2006: Gary Brooker's Band du Lac releases a DVD, One Night Only: review of the show here. Pre-order the DVD from Amazon UK by clicking this link. The show's line-up included Gary Brooker, Mike Rutherford, Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Henry Spinetti, Paul Carrack, Graham Broad, Frank Mead, Eric Clapton, Roger Taylor, Katie Melua, Ringo Starr, Chris Barber, the Drifters, Rory Bremner, Paul Young, and the Jones Gang. The DVD running list is said to include: Tequila / Over My Shoulder (featuring Paul Carrack) / Reconsider Baby (featuring Eric Clapton) / Lay Down Sally (featuring EC) / How Long (featuring PC) / Willie & The Hand Jive (featuring EC) / Crawling Up a Hill (featuring Katie Melua) / My Aphrodisiac Is You (featuring KM) / The Closest Thing to Crazy (featuring KM) / Lay My Burden Down (featuring Andy Fairweather-Low) / Say It's Not True (featuring Roger Taylor) / These Are the Days of Our Lives (featuring RT) / I Want to Break Free (featuring RT) / This World is Rich (featuring Gary Brooker) / Act Naturally (featuring Ringo Starr) / Photograph (featuring Ringo) / With a Little Help From My Friends (featuring Ringo) / A Whiter Shade of Pale (featuring GB) / Stormy Monday (featuring EC and Chris Barber) / Under the Boardwalk (featuring The Drifters) / Stand By Me (featuring The Drifters) / Cocaine (featuring EC) / I Can't Dance (Everyone!): Bonus features: interviews with the key performers in "The Road To Wintershall" feature. Running Time: 128 minutes

18 December 2005:
Gary Brooker has just decided to add a second night of music in Southend. This will not be another Paramounts gig (ie not a Shades Reunion Reunion!) but just Gary Brooker and Friends. The friends will be Dave Bronze, Mo Witham and Mick Brownlee. Support comes from OCEAN 7 and tickets are £15–00 ... book them from this link.

17 December 2005: a Shades Reunion concert at Club Riga, Southend-on-Sea, at which Gary Brooker will lead a Paramounts reunion of the original line-up: Gary Brooker, Robin Trower, Chris Copping, Mick Brownlee. The gig has been sold out a long time and BtP has now disposed of six extra tickets to people who applied to us for assistance. Order the DVD of this amazing gig here.

December 2005: regrettably, no Christmas Charity Concerts this year from No Stiletto Shoes, Gary Brooker's 'other' band. The musicians are not all available: Henry Spinetti is working with Katie Melua, Andy Fairweather Low guesting with Chris Barber on tour.

2 September: Matthew Fisher appears in Greece. As Carol Fisher explains, '... Maf is going to be the guest of honour at a party for a popular radio station in Thessalonika. It was exactly nine years ago this week when he played his only solo gig (ever) in the nearby city, Serres – that's what the mention of a 'reunion' was referring to. I have no idea if there'll be any pictures up on the radio station's website following the September 2nd party at Club Mylos, but it might be worth bookmarking the link and checking back on the page later.' Later Carol wrote to the Yahoo group for Procol Harum fans, 'The party at Club Mylos was a memorable evening. While a film shown on a screen over the stage showed a glimpse back in time to the days of broadcasting from a little apartment with tacky wallpaper, a few of the faces on the screen (a few decades older now) watched themselves as they talked, laughed, and had drinks with their friends. Maf sang three of his songs, Can't Stop Loving You Now, She Makes Me Feel, and Why'd I Have To Fall In Love With You. He was only supposed to sing the first two, but was coaxed into singing the third song after discovering (only after we got there) that it had been a big hit in the charts on the local radio.' (thanks for relaying this, Donna)

7.30 pm, Saturday 16 April : Gary Brooker's Tsunami Appeal concert in Surrey UK. BtP made an online-booking arrangement with the organisers so that Palers would benefit from a reserved block of seating, right at the front (99 people took up this offer). The general public, booking by 'phone, will be seated in the 1,000 unreserved seats on a first-come first-served basis

Sunday 6 February: Gary Brooker is a panellist on the Never Mind the Buzzcocks music comedy quiz: BBC2 9 pm. Gary is on Phil Jupitus's team – but which team wins? Studio photos are here. We understand GB was on excellent form. [Sorry we've had to sit on this info for a long while (contractual reasons) but it is now published in the Radio Times]. Non Brits, or non-fans of the show's occasionally facile, egocentric 'humour', can find out all about its origins by clicking here.

March / April: Procol Harum shows for this period are shown here. Remember – even if tickets go on sale for concerts not mentioned here, they're bought 'at own risk' until the shows are confirmed as contractual by PH management.

29 March: first official North American CD of Procol's Ninth (remastered, and including French Chrysalis single Adagio di Albinoni b/w Blue Danube, and a Brooker liner note about the recording of Adagio). The same day, Something Magic (remastered with the bonus track Backgammon) gets its first official North American CD release; the same day, Ain't Nothing to Get Excited About gets its official North American
release, 'remastered, and sounding much nicer': all thanks to Friday Music

1 March: first official North American release of One More Time, Procol's excellent live album from 1992, newly re-mastered and with song words included in the packaging. Owing to the length of the concert there are no bonuses, except the fine sound: thanks to Friday Music

January : Gary Brooker performed Holding On and A Salty Dog in Italy during a show that was televised. This is the tenth edition of the Epiphany concert (Concert for Peace). Naples Monday 3 January: 11.30 am press conference including Paul Young, Z Star, Linda, Bungaro, Mauro Pagani, Youssou n'Dour, Alfio Antico, Mouna Amari, Gary Brooker, Meg, Enzo Gragnaniello, Kjdio, Renato Serio, Giulia Parente, Franz Coriasco, father Giuseppe Reale. The concert took place on Tuesday, 4 January in the Church of Santa Maria La Nova in Napoli. The event (or presumably part of it) was shown on TV Rai Uno, on 6 January, between 9.35–10.30 am: just A Salty Dog ... watch it here. See also here (thanks, Giancarlo)

26 December: Boxing Day, 7pm UK time, Radio Caroline will be featuring a unique 60-minute interview with Gary Brooker. Gary tells the story of his career in music from way back in the Paramounts right up to the present day. The 60 minute interview also features a great soundtrack of Procol Harum favourites and music from Gary's solo career. Radio Caroline is available on the internet, on Sky Digital satellite for the UK (tuning) and Astra satellite for Europe (tuning) (thanks, Mark Stafford)

19 and 20 December: No Stiletto Shoes: Gary Brooker and the gang are to play Riga Music Bar in Southend on Sunday 19 December 2004 (completely sold out) and on Monday 20 December: tickets £15.00, on sale to fans either by telephone +44 8700 600 100 or by clicking on this booking link from 9 am on 18 October.

29 November: Keith Reid and Gary Brooker were interviewed together for an hour about the writing of AWSoP on Monday, at the Onanon nightclub in Piccadilly. This was done for the 1,000 No. Ones programme to be shown on television in the second week of February; of course, it will be edited down for the purpose.

7 October: Gary Brooker may be heard live on WRFG 89.3FM at 1.30 pm GMT today: listen online by hitting the WRFG link here

In a PS to a recent letter Gary Brooker cryptically alerts us to listen to BBC Radio 2 on 31 May between 4–5 pm UK time ...

28 May: Gary Brooker – legendarny wokalista – plays in Opole, Poland, by special request of Budka Suflera to celebrate their 30th anniversary. He will sing one of their numbers as guest vocalist, and join them as they perform A Whiter Shade of Pale. We understand that this will be the subject of a huge television broadcast. More details here.

Story-teller John Edgar tells us that on Sunday 23 May between 2 and 4 pm UK time he will be talking about his writing and performing career in an internet broadcast from www.thebridgewalsall.co.uk, and has been asked to include The Palers' Project and From Shadow to Shadow.

Tuesday 13 April: 9 pm (21.00 hrs Danish Summer Time) Procol will be aired on Danish Radio, P4, in a recording from Aalborg, November 2003. P4 is broadcast on the net as well: click here (then go to any link under 'Min region' and listen directly). In Norway (and probably the rest of the Nordic countries) you should also be able to receive it on satellite.

A few nice words about this old band still producing significant music is to be read here, and Scandinavians might enjoy Danmark Radio's essay (thanks, Niels-Erik)

4 January 2004: Gary Brooker and Friends headline the 'Last Fling' at Guildford Civic Hall (the venue for the first BtP convention). Though this event has been long in the pipeline, BtP was asked not to publicise it until after Gary's Christmas Charity events – which deserved our ticket-money more! – meanwhile the show has sold out entirely.

December: A little bird ('a little Swiss bird') advises us that Gary Brooker MBE and friends will play their Christmas Charity gigs on 19, 20 and 21 December, two near Guildford, the last in Southend. This is the weekend after the final Procol gig of the year, which is in London ... make a week of it and get some shopping done! Palers' Basecamp Hotel details are here

4 June: Gary Brooker MBE features in the Queen's Birthday Honours list: his comment is here

30 April: five minutes into the day: Procol Harum concert from Hamburg to be broadcast on the internet [details here]

29 April: Mick Ronson tribute concert is scheduled as headlining item on 22.00-24.00 Dream Ticket show in the UK on 6 radio. This is presumably a rare case of solo Brooker broadcast on UK radio (thanks, Sam)

April: on Easter Monday, 21 April, two radio shows will broadcast very recent Procol gigs [details here]

April 19: Eighth Procol Harum marathon from uclaradio.com : Guest DJ No 6 at uclaradio.com broadcast his 250-minute Procol Harum Tribute Show: it featured a good number of songs from The Well's on Fire, 30 of the 40 songs on The Palers' Project's Lost in the Looking-Glass, Geoff Who 2002, the Brooker tribute to John Lee Hooker and more. DJ number 6 was ably abetted by Al 'One-Eye' Edelist and also joined by Jeremy Gilien; they were also joined, in a sense, by Roland from BtP, on the transAtlantic telephone.

March: Gary Brooker recorded the Jools Holland show in February, and it was transmitted (BBC Radio 2) on 3 March from 9 pm – 10 pm. Listen to Jools's musical trailer here. After playing A Salty Dog from 1969, they discussed Gary's musical origins, and played Goodbye Hawaii with GB's father Harry Brooker on Hawaiian guitar; as well as Peace in the Valley by the Gary Brooker Ensemble they also played Shadow Boxed, The Blink of an Eye, and So Far Behind from The Well's on Fire

February 22, BBC Radio 2: Bob Harris radio show: The Well's on Fire should be featured, we understand ... try the webcam ... [apparently this didn't happen ... but we passed the information on in good faith]

February 24, BBC Radio 2: Simon Mayo Album Chartshow (7 pm): Gary Brooker will be talking about the new Procol album ... [apparently this didn't happen until 3 March, but we passed the information on in good faith]

Saturday 21 December 2002: Gary Brooker will be assembling No Stiletto Shoes, his R'n'B band, for one night only to play The Riga Music Bar in his home town of Southend. Places are limited to 160, and tickets are priced at £12.50. They are available only online from www.rigamusicbar.co.uk .

Friday 29 November: No Stiletto Shoes (feat. Gary Brooker, Henry Spinetti, David Bronze, Eric Clapton, Andy Fairweather Low) are House Band at the Royal Albert Hall for George Harrison's Memorial Concert, one year since the Quiet One's death: our articles about this concert are indexed here.

Reminder: Edmonton and Broken Barricades were re-issued in August on Repertoire CD: order from here.
Also all Procol's 'A' and 'B' sides (including Albinoni and Blue Danube) on one triple CD: order from here

17 October around 18:30 Central European Time: Swedish TV (SVT TV2) shows an interview with Gary Brooker, made in August this year, lasting about 6-7 minutes. They also played A Whiter Shade of Pale. The program was called GoKväll, ('Good Evening') and was a kind of talk-show (thanks, Bengt)

October: Have you got a Procol Harum anecdote to contribute to a forthcoming book? If so, please see here

October: Gary Brooker and Diane Rolph send a State of the Union address to 'Beyond the Pale': essential reading!

14 August: Norwegian radio station NRK 1 announces on their website that Procol Harum will be featured as part of their Friday night concert programme P1 Scenen. This will be a re-run of the recording made when Procol Harum played in Hell in September 2001, though each re-run will, due to limited time, omit one song from each set.

You can listen via the Internet, if you are not able to listen to Norwegian radio through air or satellite: see grey box below for details. Transmission dates are 13 and 27 September at 22.05 Norwegian time (which is GMT+1). The same station will also transmit a Highlights from Hell Blues Festival 2001 at the same time on Friday 30 August: could be a Procol Harum song here as well.

August 2002: Repertoire Records issue four Procoloid titles: (order online here and here) Broken Barricades (REP 4980) has three bonus tracks: Broken Barricades (single edit), Power Failure (single edit) and Simple Sister (mono version); Live in Edmonton (REP 4981) contains the live version of Luskus Delph as its bonus track; Liquorice John Death (REP 4982) is re-issued without extra tracks; and the 3CD set of Singles A&B contains all fifty-six 45s Procol Harum ever released, irrespective of the original label: all digitally remastered, including rarities such as Adagio and The Blue Danube

June 2002: Seventh Procol Harum marathon from uclaradio.com : Saturday 15 June 9am to 12 am California time. New interviews with Matt Pegg and Mark Brzezicki; rare Procol Harum music and spin-offs, music from the Whalers' CD; live tracks from the Palers' Band ...

May : release of Procol Harum – Live (DVD) : 150 minutes of Procol Harum from Classic Pictures, filmed onstage in December 2001 and also in rehearsal: superb sound and pictures, rare songs, interviews ... even an appearance from Keith Reid.

5 April at 8.30 pm: Gary Brooker appears on the Dutch TV Channel 2 show, Het Gevoel Van 1969, singing A Salty Dog.

Saturday 30 March : Sixth Procol Harum marathon from uclaradio.com, from 9am California time for several hours! Featuring Guest DJs Number 6 and Al 'One-Eye' Edelist, the show will feature and eclectic mix from members of Procol Harum past and present including works by Harrison, Royer, Knights, Grabham, Whitehorn, BJ, Ball, Solley, Copping, Fisher, Brooker, Pegg, Brzezicki, and others ...

Wednesday 27 March at 3.45, as #3 in the BBC radio series Repeat Till Fade, Gary Brooker is interviewed about A Whiter Shade of Pale. Further details available in Radio Times (thanks Dumpy!)

March: the recording of Procol Harum at Hell will be aired on P1 on the evenings of 1 March and 15 March, from 22.05 to 23.00 Central European Time. Each programme will be shared between Procol Harum and a Tony Ashton tribute (also from Hell, in which both Geoff Whitehorn and Henry Spinetti were among the guests).

March: Metro Records releases a new double compilation of Procol material from 1967 -1970: Classic Tracks & Rarities – an Anthology Metro CD 502. Nothing that we didn't know, but a lot of music on one disc at a low price: like their last offering, a good present for someone who doesn't know the band well: order it from Amazon UK here or from Amazon.com here. And the March issue of ICE in the USA is saying that (page 24) that 9 April will see the re-release of Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Informal word has it that this will include Luskus Delph as a bonus track; and that the April release-date no longer stands. More news when we have it.

February : The 2001 Warsaw concert will broadcast on 3 Programme of Polish Radio on Saturday 16 February at 19:00 hours Polish time (FM 98,8 MHz). This is good news for all fans who can listen to Trojka (the popular name of this radio station). You can also listen to this program on the Internet: see following panel to find out how. (thanks, Mirek)

February : the fifth Procol UCLA radio marathon will be broadcast on Saturday 23 February from 9am to about 1 pm, California time: tune in at www.uclaradio.com to hear several hours of Procol material, including rarities; a brand-new interview with Keith Reid; a first public airing of some Matthew Fisher rarities; a selection of numbers from the Palers' Band in Kristiansand; and BtP's Jens will also be interviewed by telephone.

January : the fourth Procol UCLA radio marathon will be broadcast on Saturday 19 January from 9am to noon, California time: tune in at www.uclaradio.com to hear several hours of Procol material, including rarities; and a selection of numbers from the Palers' Band in Manchester. Guest in the studio will be Palers' vocalist, Allen 'One-Eye' Edelist, to talk about BtP conventions (and Procol Concerts!) that he has been to.

December 30: Procol Harum on Danish TV.
The following message was sent to BtP:

December 22: the third Procol UCLA radio marathon of the year will be broadcast on Saturday 22 December from 9am to 1pm California time: tune in at www.uclaradio.com to hear the new Geoff Whitehorn interview, and to win a copy of Broken Barricades on CD: this will be awarded to the first person to mail in correct answers to the question, 'Name all the Palers' Band versions of Procol songs that have just been played, in the right order?' which should not be too difficult! The show also features a brief telephone conversation with Roland from 'Beyond the Pale'.

November 17: the second Procol UCLA radio marathon will be repeated live at 9AM Pacific Coast time, at www.uclaradio.com : technical problems last time prevented a lot of people from hearing it, but these are now fixed.

October 21: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) broadcasts its second Procol marathon , 10am to 1pm Pacific Coast time (California Time). Tune in at www.uclaradio.com. Quicktime (for Macs) and Windows Media (for PCs) audio stream downloads are available on the site. The last one was fantastic and included a revealing Gary Brooker interview; this one includes a telephone interview with Matther Fisher

September 23: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) broadcasts its first Procol radio marathon , 10am to 4pm Pacific
Coast time (California Time). Tune in at www.uclaradio.com. Quicktime (for Macs) and Windows Media (for PCs) audio stream downloads are available on the site. "If we get positive feedback from this first show we'll do more" they tell us!

September 17: Gary Brooker and friends played Holding On at the memorial service for the life of Douglas Adams at the Church of St Martin in the Fields in London. A brief excerpt of the webcast, and some screenshots, may be found here.

September: No News From The Western Frontier, sung by Gary Brooker, is included on the official double CD compilation Beyond the Skies, vol. 3 (Shift Records) issued in September 2000

1 May: Gary Brooker records an interview about his recollections on London's famous Marquee Club; this was for Sir Bob Geldof's company, and many famous celebs have recorded bits. The two-part series airs on BBC Radio 2 on June 30 and July 7.

21 January: Fans of Dave Ball should note that he will be playing with the re-formed Bedlam at the Underworld, World's End Pub, Camden Town, London, on Sunday afternoon 21 January. Doors open 2:30 pm, close around 6:00. Cost, a mere 6 pounds.

6pm January 8, UK's Channel 4: the '100 Greatest Hit Singles'. Gratifyingly this programme places AWSoP in the top twenty, whereas most of its fellows are songs of the last ten years or so.

December 27 Procol Harum wins a poll in the Norwegian radio programme "Herreavdelingen" for the best single ever. Collecting 22% of the votes for A Whiter Shade of Pale, while Beatles Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane comes in at no 2 with 14%

December 13: Gary Brooker recorded for the annual Hootenanny, hosted by BBC2's Jools Holland. We gather that Gary had an excellent time and that he performed AWSoP at the piano and Ray Charles's I've Got News For You at the Hamond with Jools Holland's Big Band (big horn section and some strings). Lionel Richie (a big fan of GB's) and Ruby Turner are among the other guests. The programme goes out New Year's Eve and then again on New Year's Day (thanks, Diane). [See the hopeless messTV Times made of writing 'Procol Harum']

November: Rock photographer, Baron Wolman (who photographed for Rolling Stone, Bill Graham, a.o.) has a show on at Gallery 270 in Westwood, New Jersey. It comprises pictures from his book, Classic Rock & Other Rollers: Procol is photographed in Sausalito, California circa 1968 on page 16. A print of Wolman's PH photo will cost you $450 for a black and white 8 x 10. (thanks, Carol)

6 November
Gary Brooker in the Psychedelic News: 'The start of the next millennium happens from Jan 1st next year ... so, in fact I'll get on with my second promise. I'm sure that we should play in America at the start of the next millennium, we will be there.' Visitthis page to subscribe!

November: No Stiletto Shoes to play Club Riga, 10 and 11 November. Lineup: Gary Brooker, Andy Fairweather Lowe, Henry Spinetti, Dave Bronze, Nick Pentelow More details at the Club Riga website.

Saturday 6 May: UK audiences will have a chance to see The Rhythm Kings guesting on Jools Holland's Later on BBC2

Saturday 22 April (9 pm, ITV) UK audiences will have a chance to see The Rhythm Kings guesting on Brian Conley's show (recording on 21 April). We understand that this is likely to be a vocal spotlight for Gary Brooker,singing Hole in the Wall, though this is not confirmed. Conley has asked for the words and music, so it looks like it might be a duet ... apparently he often joins in with his guests ...

Sunday 9 April: Ebay closes its auction of a sealed copy of Procol Harum with poster ('original first pressing, beautiful! No cuts, holes. Hard to find one of these'): "The last two bids were over US $160 in the last 10 seconds of the auction. This must be a new world record for a normal production release of a Procol Harum LP," writes Tony Allen. "It demonstrates that interest in Procol Harum is currently very high."

Saturday 8 April at 20.15 (8.15 pm): The Rhythm Kings are scheduled to guest at RTL TV Germany's Millionaer Gesucht- Die Skl Show. This information is not to be found in the papers , but is confirmed on videotext. (thanks, Hermann) In the event they appeared without GB

6 March: 45 minutes'-worth of Brooker music and a new interview will be broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Rock et Cetera at 10.05 p.m. (mid-European time)

February: Gary Brooker will not join the next Ringo tour: see http://www.best.com/~abbeyrd/fabnews.htm (this brings up 2 frames; scroll down the one on the left and click on 'Ringo to tour US this year'. The most recent update regarding this story is 16 February) Thanks, Marvin

12 November New Procol Harum concert CD released on Strange Fruit; special price and release date for visitors to this website.

Saturday 23 October at 10.04 am (mid-European time): after the news on Deutschlandfunk (frequencies over ASTRA-satellite or Longwave khz 177, or short wave kHz 6005 or medium wave kHz 900) Gary Brooker on the show Klassik, Pop et cetera in his own words. He presents himself and music, which has influenced his style (three songs from himself: orchestral version of Conquistador and Salty dog). This show has been produced by Dr Steffen Graefe

Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings: UK Tour dates 1999 : Gary Brooker busy on the road, not with Procol Harum ... watch BtP for reviews

Pioneer Entertainment will be releasing Procol Harum – Best of Musikladen (as if the second part were really necessary) on DVD: see www.pioneer-ent.com/pea/weekup511.htm. In addition to the 1971 show (aka BeatClub, aka Pilgrim's Progress), it will also contain Grand Hotel and Drunk Again from a 1974 appearance. The 'street date' for this is 27 July 1999. (thanks, Marvin)

'Keith Reid's handwritten words of A Whiter Shade of Pale are for sale in the UK's 'Hits under the Hammer' auction on March 22nd. I picked up a prospectus in Virgin. I don't think they are the original working lyrics, but they do include the missing third verse ... Reserve price is 400 GBP (thanks, Julien)

Gary Brooker plays on 1999 solo début by the King Crimson veteran Ian MacDonald, alongside Michael Giles, Steve Hackett and Peter Frampton: CD is Driver's Eyes: 517092 UPC 766485170927; scheduled release date 25 March 1999; review here

Marvin Chassman relates that some of the Musikladen shows are coming out on DVD, including a 'Best Of ...' that includes Simple Sister, presumably from Procol Harum's Christmas 1971 show. He e-mailed the publishers, Pioneer, to ask if they would release all the Procol Harum material in their archive: doubtless many Palers will wish to do exactly the same.

Gary will be starring in Ringo Starr's Fifth All-Starr band. Tours will include USA and South Africa: more details here.

Brooker (& Spinetti) completists may order the Colin John CD Live in the Spirit by reading this page

The following was reported to BtP Wednesday 18 November: a Japanese TV company has been making a film about Gary for screening on Japanese TV on 21 December. They went to Paris to film him with Bill Wyman and are filming him fishing and pubbing Thursday, and at a meeting about his charity work and Guildford Civic on Friday.

November:
Fresh back from the Rhythm Kings tour (many reviews indexed here), Bill Wyman, Gary and co. will play on UK television on 2 November 1998. The band has to be at the ITV studios at 6.30 am (autograph-hunters please note!) and will broadcast a song sometime during the GMTV show, which ends at 9.25 am: set your video-recorder accordingly.

We don't know what song it will be, but BtP understands that Beverley Skeete will be singing it. If the studio shenanigans go on after 8 am they will have to happen without Georgie Fame, as he is leaving for his holiday at that time! We understand that GF and Gary have been 'playing a lot of jazz together' lately.

October:
New Procol Harum re-release (with eight bonus-tracks including a previously-unavailable song) from Westside Records.

New album, Anyway the Wind Blows, from Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, featuring Gary Brooker on two tracks: Spooky, the US #3 hit by the Classics IV (early 1968); and the old blues classic Mojo Boogie (by JB Lenoir). Gary plays piano on the former, organ on the latter. Read all about it here. (thanks, Frans)

Check here for the set-list for the '98 All-Starr Band: it contains only 3 PH songs (compared with 4 the last tour): Whisky Train, Conquistador and AWSoP. Otherwise, the song list is very similar to the last one. I guess the list was decided upon before the results of our top-10 song voting were tabulated ... (thanks, Marvin)

Ringo has one date confirmed for London on Friday 21 August 1998 at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Tickets are 25 pounds each and are on sale now at the Empire box-office. The Empire is a comparatively small club compared to the Odeon at Hammersmith where Ringo did his last London concert. It was once owned by the BBC, and the Wogan TV show was broadcast from there. MPL used it to host their Buddy Holly Week show in 1996. That year, Paul got up on stage and sang with the Crickets, Carl Perkins and Bobby Vee. Tickets can be purchased from Ticketmaster and SBE.

This information was found on this Beatles website and reported to 'BtP' by Marvin Chassman. BtP subsequently learnt that this is the band's only scheduled UK gig, and that Gary will definitely be playing with Ringo. Shepherds Bush Empire confirm that it will be 21 August and not 28 August as advertised on the Beatles website.

August 6 – 9: Skanderborg Festival featuring Gary with the Ringo All Starr Band. At the 'Smukfest' website (it means 'most beautiful festival') the artist-information page is in English.

July 1998: imminent new CD from Brooker / Wilson / Trower / Copping: full story here

Here you will find an indication that Ringo all-Starr video is to be released on July 28 by MPI. 120-minutes-or-so in length, it includes Gary Brooker performing The Devil Came From Kansas and (surprise?) A Whiter Shade of Pale. (thanks, Jim)

Marvin Chassman adds that this concert will also be issued in DVD, for those of you who have a DVD player, or are looking for an excuse to buy one. A couple of online stores list it on their sites: www.dvdempire.com has it for $14.95 plus S/H; www.kencranes.com (or kencrane.com) lists it for $15.98 plus S/H.

May – Alan Semok reports another imminent Robin Trower gig: 'May 1st (the night after his gig at Tramps in New York City), he'll be playing 35 miles from NYC at Club Bene in Sayreville, New Jersey. It's a cosy venue, seats perhaps 350 or 400 and generally has very good sound (I've seen quite a few great shows there over the last 15 years)'. (Thanks, Alan) Review here

Larry Eskridge reports: Robin Trower is scheduled to play the House of Blues in Chicago on Friday evening, 8 May. Tickets are $25 each.

April 30 – Robin Trower plays Tramps (the club in NYC where Springsteen filmed his Murder, Inc. video, 51 W 21st Street off 6th Ave). Opening act is Bobby Radcliffe:

March – Gary Brooker broadcasts on Dutch TV with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. Seven tracks were recorded in Holland the night before the Rhythm Kings played Amsterdam: Gary plays the piano on the four cuts that were broadcast but the vocals are shared between Georgie Fame and Bill Wyman

February? – Gary Brooker performs No More Fear of Flying with a Dutch studio band on a Netherlands TV show entitled The Feeling of '78

January 24 – checking that the Brooker / Reid guestbook entry from 23rd January was genuine, we were able to ask directly for confirmation of Gary's apparent hint that a new PH album was planned for 1998. Sadly the rumour was categorically quashed. 'You can say, "Sources close to the poet denied it" ...' were the exact words used.

January 10 – Gary Brooker implies in Dutch TV interview that Procol Harum will record a new album in 1998

December 16 – Messages about a new Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band tour, with same line-up as last tour. And an expected video release from the last tour. Will Gary Brooker be on this tour also? – Thanks to Marvin Chassman for supplying this link!

December 8 – Mojo's readers vote A Whiter Shade of Pale No 38 in their Best Single Ever Poll

October 27 – Whaling Stories newsletter adds fuel to persistent rumour that Brooker, Bruce and Frampton will record together in 1998 (see also end of Telegraph article)

August 8 – Huge fiesta of confusingly-similar PH re-issues: some information

January – The Gary Brooker Ensemble releases a CD, Within Our House: details here

Procol Harum

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