Uriah Heep, Jon Hiseman's Colosseum and the Naked Drummer

A local radio station prompted an old friend to call today.
For some reason the station were reminiscing about the band Uriah Heep and a concert they performed back in 1971.
They asked anyone listening with memories of the event to get in touch.

Our friend, Pete Hilton, remembered the occasion well, as he was there, with Robin, playing in a band on the same bill.
The band was 'Spring', and they went on stage before Uriah Heep.

I was intrigued, so looked up Uriah Heep's site, you can see it here.
Sure enough, if you go to their gigs list, click 1971, then on August 29th the very concert is listed, Kendal Festival.

It was quite a night, as after 'Spring', Jon Hiseman later went on with 'Colosseum'.

Neither Robin nor Pete Hilton were able to recall much of events of the evening. Whether that was the passage of time, it was 37 years ago, or whether it was the excesses of the night, (it was after all a rock festival) I haven't yet established.

However, they did both remember being on the same bill as Uriah Heep on another occasion in which the drummer did the entire set naked.
I should add that Spring didn't follow suit...or should I say without suit or in birthday suits.....

An Evening with The Dakotas...

Last night we had a rare opportunity to catch up with some old friends.
The problem for musicians is that they tend to work, when most people are ready to relax, and enjoy the weekend.
Long periods of time away from home also make it difficult to see family and friends.

As is often the case for musicians, many of their friends are also musicians.
So trying to tally diaries and find an evening when all are available is pretty difficult.

However, last night we managed it.
Pete Hilton is one of Robin's oldest friends, they played together in a band called 'Spring', and collaborated on many other musical ventures.
Finally, yesterday, we manged to get together, and catch up with each other's news.
As you know, Robin is frequently away from home, and Pete also tours extensively with The Dakotas, so we had plenty to talk about.

It was also a chance for me to talk to Rose, a kindred spirit when it comes to understanding the life of a musician, and, of course, their wives.
This is an area I shall be talking about in more detail soon as I have had a number of e mails from various people around the world, asking not about musicians themselves, but about the life of a musician's wife.

It seems that I have inadvertantly got a following of people interested in my view of living with a musician.

So we enjoyed a lovely evening, had the chance to relax and talk, until finally, son number two put his rucksack of toys on his back, and asked, 'Is it was time to go home now?'
We stalled him a bit longer, but when he actually put himself in the car, and into his car seat, we felt we had better go!

I just hope that it won't be long before 'The Dakotas' have a night off and it coincides with Robin being at home...