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  ::                                                              ::
  ::                     - WHAT'S RATTLIN'? -                     ::
  ::     The "Periodical" Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts     ::
  ::                         Issue # 204                          ::
  ::                  Sunday, October 12th, 2003                  ::
  ::                                                              ::
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

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Dear Rattlers,

I guess you could say I'm back on my feet again - this new issue comes to you just a month after the last one, and it also has the *right* number - last one should be been #202, as the old faithful will have noticed.

Anyway - I must thank not myself but the kind contributors for helping me get that issue out so soon. Tatsurou Ueda wrote a great review of SoftWorks's Japanese tour last summer, and Ken Egbert has just sent in another of his great reviews, about one of the great recent albums, In Cahoot's "All That", which has been widely acclaimed as the band's best in quite a few years, if not ever.

Another album I've been listening to quite a lot in recent weeks is John Greaves' magnificent new album "The Trouble With Happiness". This is a sort of sequel to "Songs", except not quite - in common is the acoustic instrumentation, in particular Sophia Domancich's piano playing. The differences being Vincent Courtois' cello, the only other instrument present, and John being the sole vocalist. This is probably his best performance ever as a singer. In fact only three songs are totally new (with John's lyrics as well as music), with a fourth being a poem by the late Georges Brassens, "Saturne", set to music by John. Three songs were already on "Songs" (two, strangely, under different titles), sung by other vocalists. The others are taken from John's back catalogue, and several can be called definitive versions of these songs : "How Beautiful You Are" is sublime, while these stripped down arrangements of "Deck Of The Moon" and "The World Tonight" are, I think, significant improvements on the original versions from "La Petite Bouteille De Linge". Great stuff.

I understand Caravan's new album "The Unauthorised Breakfast Item" is finally out, coinciding with the launch of the band's most extensive UK/European tour in many years. You'll find the dates at the end of this issue, along with many others. Of particular note is the 35th anniversary show in London on November 30th with special guests Jimmy Hastings and Camel's Colin Bass.

As expected, Robert Wyatt is all over the press at the moment, which is always nice. Reviews of "Cuckooland" and the archive collection "Solar Flares Burn For You" are of course welcome !!

See you soon !

Aymeric

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From: Tatsurou Ueda <pinot@cablenet.ne.jp>
Subject: Soft Works and Caravan live in Japan review
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 23:41:41 +0900

Hi Aymeric,

I am Tatsurou Ueda, a music fan in Japan. You may have heard the progressive rock band KENSO which I manage for international affairs. I also have acted as a liaison for Leonardo Pavkovic on PFM and Soft Works for their Japan tour, although my part was limited as merely being a middleman between Japanese promoters and him. Leonardo forwarded me the #202 issue of What's Rattling, which I read with great interest. Being a fan of Soft Machine and other Canterbury musicians for as long as quarter of a century I seem to want more and more of the music and related articles. Just as a contribution to your wonderful e-zine, allow me to send you a short review of Soft Works shows in Tokyo which I have posted to few mailing ists including Leonardo's softmachinelegacy.

Also a link to my review of 5/13/03 Caravan show, which I wrote for a music information website called Global Artist Network, is attached at the end of this message.

(Soft Works review after day one starts here)

Okay, it's true that the boys are in town. Hugh, Elton, John and Alan are led into Ebisu Garden hall by this one Leonardo Pavkovic all the way across the oceans. A little past 7pm the stage is lit with blue lights and the hall full of anxious fans take a deep breath as the moment draws near. The lights go dim and the band, the incredible four, walks on the stage. Each taking respective position they start making noise, noise that no other can make. It's time for Soft Works show! Elton on his sax, Hugh on the bass, John behind the set and Alan strapping himself up with the Steinberger. Repertoires from Abracadabra were played with great dexterity for the most of the first half of the show, before taking a short break, but just as expected, the first set had to be closed with a familiar tune: K-Licks(Calyx).

The band returns on stage after 20 minutes or so of intermission. This second set was something else. SM tunes were given new life: "Kings and Queens", "As If", and "Facelift" (which was given a bit of a facelift, as Elton remarked afterwards). John Marshall's solo was spectacular. He hasn't lost anything as far as the prowess in rhthmic prowess goes. He may have lost color on his hair but that's the least important for today's show. Hugh, Elton, Alan all sounded simply terrific. I must say I was so lucky to have had this opportunity to witness the amazing development of great materpieces right in front of my eyes.

Our own Leonardo was in the audience auditioning the acoustics of the concert hall, which I thought was exceptionally good. The sound engineer did a superb job, and the audience as a whole was very cooperative in making every sound audible. In fact, partly because of the seating condition where everyone had to sit straight for a little over 2 hours, since those chairs are rather snag fit and with a little legroom for most of them, and largely because of the social behaviour of the Japanese in general, the audience was very well behaved and the hall was as quiet as any classical concerts. Actually I was more awe-struck than being anything like excited or overjoyed, and I am sure I wasn't the only one just trying to overcome the incredible feeling of listening to the band make such fabulous music just right there. The band had played only once in Seattle, then this tour in Tokyo and Osaka, so they must have been under-rehearsed but the performance was quite smoking to say the least.

After the show I had the pleasure of meeting the band in person, thanks to our friend Leonardo. All are very fine people, and we had fun talking about things in our life, mostly about records and musicians, but also some information was exchanged with regards to where to go for good Sushi in NYC. Okay folks, that's it for today. There's another show tomorrow and another the day after, and I will post more as the event continues...

(Soft Works review after day three starts here) I still can't get over the excitment from the three-day show in Tokyo. The day one as I reviewed earlier, was an outstanding show, but it turned out that as the dates advanced it got progressively better.

The day one and two had same set: 1. Seven Formerly 2. Alphrazallan 3. Elsewhere 4. Baker's Treat 5. K-Licks <Intermission> 6. Kings and Queens 7. Willie's Knee 8. John Marshall solo 9. Abracadabra 10. Madame Vintage 11. As If 12. Face Lift <Encore> 13. First Trane

The day three didn't have "Elsewhere" and may be "Baker's Treat", and it was presented in one part without intermission.

The first half was about 50 min in total, the second being roughly 70 min. As the set list indicates, the first part concentrated on tunes from "Abracadabra" album. As far as the duration of the shows goes, the forst two days were about 2 hours excluding the intermission (20min), and the third day 1+3/4 hours.

The show started nonchalantly. The four members of the band walked on to stage and picked up the instrument and just started playing. Hugh on the bass began with the riff of "Seven Formerly", and was joined by others gradually. "Alphrazallan" is by Alan Holdsworth and was planned to be included in the US/European edition of "Abracadabra" but to my knowledge it didn't make it. A very fine tune, full of Holdsworthiness in very way. Of course it's "All Phrase Allan" (or is it Al Phrase Allan"?) "Elsewhere" featured beautiful chord sequences by Allan on his hollow body custom made Steinberger. At the climax of the tune, during Allan's solo part, the tune somehow reminded me of "Hazard Profile". Great performance it was. "Baker's Treat" was certainly a treat in the style of Fred Baker. Elton gave some really tasty touch on his sax and electric piano. "K-Lics" (Calyx) of course made everyone in the audience smile and cheer. A nice short piece before the intermission.

After a 20 minutes intermission the band without Allan Holdsworth returned to stage and as a trio started playing familiar riffs of "Kings and Queens" which was again greeted by lots of cheers from the audience.

"Willie's Knee" through "As If" were played as one long medley. "Willie's Knee", which Hugh Hopper commented was dedicated to the Irish drummer Liam (William) Genockey ('Ginocchio' is 'knee' in Italian... get it?), fugued into John Marshall drum solo wich definitely had the unique druming sound of John Marshall. The drum solo had more metal work on the day two than the day one, and even more on the day three, where John started unscrewing the top cymbal (the kind that goes on top of a large cymbal, fixed with the rim facing upward like a shallow bowl) during his solo and finally took it off and placed it on the floor tom, and holding it by one stick at the center hole, played it with another stick, making a very unique effect of tom and the cymbal sounding at the same time while the pressure from the holding stick tuned the tom in slow vibrato. That was quite amazing to see and hear, and I was really impressed by the on-going creativity of such a seasoned musician.

The drum solo led off "Abracadabra" in a seamless way. Played faster than on the CD, the tune was in fact extended to a great extent featuring solos. After sequencing into "Madame Vintage", without a pause the tune continued on to "As If" which of course was quite noticeable by the familiar bass riff. It turned out that Allan was unfamiliar with "As If", but quite amazingly it didn't show in the performance. After the day two he got to listen to the SM 5 on CD and the third day was a bliss.

It was wonderful to hear "Facelift" played live. Although relatively shortened, it had the essence of the tune, distinctive themes and the free form interplay. Also, Allan's guitar added new profile to the old song. In the meantime, the improvement of the band as the days progressed was most noticeable on this tune. Elton didn't quite get the opening theme but improvised on the first day, then on the second day he followed the music sheet, albeit with brief improvisation , but on the third day he did it perfectly.

To the cheering of 750 people in the audience for encore, the band returned for "First Trane". A great tune that opens the CD was performed to perfection to close the show. All in all, those were wonderful three days. Added to the wonderful performances, I had the pleasure of meeting the band before and after the show every day, thanks to our friend Leonardo. All of them are very nice people and quite friendly in their respective manners. Elton is a fun loving person and enjoys jokes. Hugh is a soft spoken person and always surrounded by visiting friends, John is a quiet person but gets engaged in conversation when it comes to music (of course). A little funny story he shared: he plays in John Surman Quartet which has three Johns out of four where addressing people by the first name gets rather confusing. Allan seemed to like to keep him to himself but once get acquainted he is a very nice person, gentle and amusing. I did ask him about the rumor about his beer brewing career. The bottom line is that it is only a rumor, but not entirely groundless: He worked at a brewery in his youth to help developping products and the owner wanted him to work for the company but Allan decided not to for financial reason - Beer brewing is a demanding job with less compensation compared to playing music. Later when he built his own studio he named it "Brewery". So the story goes : Allan worked for a beer company and learned the skills for brewing, and went on to building his own brewery. Notwithstanding the truth is that he continues to make music professionally and of course enjoys drinking beer. I had a pleasure of sharing a bottle of wine with him and smoked cigar with him. He's not a regular cigar smoker but when he's on tour and needs to relax, why not.

On Monday they moved on to Osaka for another fine performance wich Leonardo successfully got me grinding my teeth by telling me via e-mail how excellent the show went and that was the best show ever. The band gets better and better as the tour continues: now this is a progressive band!

(Caravan review) http://www.global-artist.net/lr0305caravan/caravan_e.htm
The text was written by me, and the photos were taken by my wife Yoko.

I hope you'd enjoy my little reviews !!

Best regards,
Tatsurou

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From: "Kenneth Egbert" <kenegbertjr@earthlink.net>
Subject: Review of In Cahoots' ALL THAT
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 17:07:03 -0400

Hello, Aymeric:

Another In Cahoots,  another review. Follows as logically as the snows do the summer.

Hello to all Rattlers in the interim!

IN CAHOOTS - All That (Cuneiform, CD - USA)

Having dispensed with a look back at the blues on their last recording, Phil Miller's In Cahoots (Mark Fletcher, drums; Pete Lemer, keys; Elton Dean, sax- ophones, saxello; Jim Dvorak, trumpet; Fred Baker, bass; and of course, Phil on guitar, guitarsynth and occasional 'gurning') continue on in a similar vein to what we heard on their equally fine 1996 recording PARALLEL.

OUT OF THE BLUE was something of a revelation because one of the last (if not the last) true Canterbury 'bands' sought for personal reasons to reconnect with a form which presaged rock and jazz, a motif in fact which actually fed both of them with their basic understrata, but which in Cahoots' own repertoire and in the current musical situation seems almost completely buried. At least from the  American standpoint!

In an interview I did with rock musician Kevin Coyne in 2001 he informed me that  such blues/rock evergreens as Ten Years After and John Mayall continue to tour Europe and sell CDs at a reasonably brisk pace. And In Cahoots responded to the  challenge like the well-oiled machine they are, letting Phil 'put the hammer down', so to speak, during those moments guest Doug Boyle wasn't already doing so. I don't know what you think, but I believe Miller deserved the Humility Award of the Year 2000 for handing over solo space to another guitarist when he usually tends to take so little himself; it's rather on the level of Hugh Hopper  allowing guest bassist Roy Babbington 'first ups' on Soft Machine FOURTH's  Hopper-penned suite "Virtually".

ALL THAT does sonically return us to the rarefied air of PARALLEL but with a subtle recombination of colors that allow blues stuctures to (as we used to see the late Charles Mingus do repeatedly) be upended, reimagined, extended and compressed in all sorts of entertaining ways. Now, if you must have Miller  recall the elfin tunesmithy of his Hatfield day, I invite you to testdrive ALL  THAT's delightful "Sleight of Hand", with its delicate Mike Ratledge-like undercurrent of electric guitar and electric piano latticework, over which Dvorak and Dean blow a lengthy serpent-like melody rife with turnarounds and foldbacks. You'll whistle this'un in the shower in between takes of "Calyx" and "Underdub", you will. I notice the horns are a bit further out front on this CD generally than I have seen in the past, but no matter as Dvorak has his usual gusto ready to spread about, and Dean wields the C-melody sax with as much authority as his trademark saxello and alto.

One reason for the more expansive air here may be new percussionist Mark Fletcher (formerly of the late Dizzy Gillespie's European touring band and stints with Kenny Wheeler, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, and James Moody) has a  less busy style than did Pip Pyle. Rather, Fletcher cuts up on the timekeeping as opposed to the expressive flourish, describing where the band is bar by bar by subdividing the beats in differing ways depending on the situation.  You'll hear him to greatest effect on the breezy uptempo Fred Baker vehicle "Upside," which has more than a little of a Brazilian feel but with a variable 'squeezed-time' effect that prevents this performance from having that overrehearsed "440HP DOHC samba" sound that the Pat Metheny Group so often essays.

The opening "Black Cat" nods more forcefully to what In Cahoots was up to on OUT OF THE BLUE, but Baker's unwillingness to land on an ostinato throughout keeps the band generally out of any real "groove," kicking  up a fine mist of nervous tension. Pete Lemer responds immediately on the nailhead e-piano, ripping out of the gate with a circuitous outrage, and after a truncated restatement of the head melody Miller gives out a far more straightforward, less 'radiating-away-from-the-central-chording in various directions' kind of statement than we've come to expect from him in the past. Miller may well be rethinking his entire approach toward soloing, and he's to be credited for that; it'll be diverting to see where he takes it from here. Composed sections drop in  and out like transistor gates, Baker blitzes and Dvorak waxes expansive in a Harry Beckett sort of way, Phil leads the band back into the theme, and (after Elton has his say) out!

Dean is in a bit less lyrical, more hard-edged mood on this date, and his tendency to get into repeating patterns in his solos (as we hear Coltrane do in the famous Impulse! version of "Out Of This World") may well signal his own understanding of blues, which if so has certainly moved on from that long-ago gig when a certain pianist borrowed his first name and never returned it.  Lemer's "Big Dick" has a Zappa-like humor and a swinging Miller-Dvorak-Dean unison theme, while Phil's "Out There" revisits a space adjacent to his 1991 solo recording DIGGING IN's "Bird's Eye View". "Inca" glues another pretzelly Miller melody to a deeply funky, in an inverted sort of fashion, beat. Beautiful e-piano miking and sound, while Dean's valedictory has him miked  almost exactly the way I've heard his saxello mixed into the soundboard on '71-'72 Soft Machine concerts. Nice touch, and yet another crystal-clear mix by "Brandy As In" Benj Lefevre and Phil Bagenall. A rousing rearrangement of SPLIT SECONDS' "Your Root 2" closes the  proceedings, everybody playing the  tempo faster than everybody else.

A word about 'gurning' - often I've noticed pics of Phil Miller on stage with a rather dissatisfied look as if he were thinking, "I'm not doing this particular solo quite right, am I? Best to fix it before somebody notices!". In an interview with Dave Stewart in 1996 he was kind enough to refer to this as "gurning", one of those Britishisms we dunderheaded Yanks will never fully comprehend, right up there with the Mons Angel and the dirty men's urinal in Waterloo Station. But the consistently unreproachable quality of all his efforts since his late 1960s days in Delivery show that his self-editing capacity remains razor-sharp. Kindly 'gurn' on, Mr. Miller, and congrats on another  winner. Oh, yes, drop in on http://www.philmiller-incahoots.co.uk sometime, and have a look around if you haven't yet.

K.E.
 
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From: Hideyuki Shima <sixnorth@m3.dion.ne.jp>
Subject: SIXNORTH
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 06:35:33 +0900

Hi,

Your site is great! It`s the best data base for Cantabury music.

I am the leader of the band called SIXNORTH.

I just hosted David Sinclair at our house when he came to Kyoto,Japan. He was in  Japan for the promosion of his new solo album "Full Circle".

I was also recording our new album that time and it include a track which is dedicated to Richard Sinclair by chance...Richard is a good friend of mine too. So I asked Dave to take the organ part of that song and he kindly did it for us. The song is called" Richard". It has a extracted part from Hatfield song.

The album will be distributed internationaly by MUSEA records from France. The title of the album is called "PRAYER".

So,could you please make a notes about it in your Calyx site if you have a page for those kind of topic? If you could do it, I really appreciate it.

SIXNORTH "PRAYER" MUSEA RECORDS (FGBG 4520 AR.)

I will ask the record company to send you when it`s released, otherwise I
would like to send you one.

Best regards,

Hideyuki Shima

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From: "Roger Farbey" <Roger@farbey.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: British press
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 09:41:50 +0100

Dear Aymeric

Just a few things to keep everyone up to date re: the British music press:
In June this year there was a really splendid feature in The Wire on Soft
Machine which also touched on other related bands like Nucleus and Keith
Tippett's Centipede. Then in August there was a great piece in Jazzwise on
Soft Machine and Softworks. Both features were what I would call
'substantial' in length with good photographs too. So a good year for Soft
exposure.

By the way, in doing some research at the British Library on the Melody Maker jazz polls I realised that it is 30 years ago this year that Soft Machine 'Six' was voted top British jazz LP (in 1973). Then in 1974 they were voted top British small jazz group - with John Marshall, Roy Babbington and Karl Jenkins taking top places in their respective musical categories too.

For more details check out the MM polls at the Unofficial Ian Carr and Nucleus Web Site:
http://www.geocities.com/icnucleus

ps, can't wait for the two new Hux releases you mentioned (Softs 2nd part and Ninesense)!

All the best
Roger (Farbey)

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From: "David Kipling" <David_Kipling@bcit.ca>
Subject: WR#203 -- thank you so much
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 13:22:52 -0700

What a joy to read WR#203 - a treasure chest of good writing and valuable info.  From out here in the boonies, an old guy says a big Thank You to all the contributors, and esp Aymeric in his glorious mission to keep this stuff alive!

David Kipling,
Gibsons Landing, BC
Canada

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From: Terry Collins <terryc@indosat.net.id>
Subject: From Indonesia
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 22:45:35 +0700

Hi Aymeric,

Well, you've certainly been busy, and it is a shame that more folks don't  send you stuff for What's Rattlin. But your efforts continue to be appreciated - even if the latest should  have been entitled WR#203.

Leonardo came to Jakarta for a short while just before going off to Japan  with Soft Works. He'll no doubt tell you if his time here was time well spent. Unfortunately we could only just get acquainted, but the sounds he  (re)introduced me to reinvigorated me. As I've commented before, it's rare to find even 'mainstream' Canterbury albums here. Hopefully the contacts he made will eventually result in some gigs.

Finally, I've recently discovered that a concert I went to - 8/9/1974, Robert Wyatt And Friends, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London - was released as a bootleg ~ Las Vegas Fandango (Penguin 1981 bootleg LP - Archives bootleg CD)

Would you know if there's any chance of it ever seeing the 'official' light  of day? Both Leonardo and myself would love to get hold of it; it was a very special gig, it being seemingly Robert's last live show. In those days any Canterbury gigs - Caravan, Hatfields, National Health etc. - were a family gathering, and I'm talking as much about the audience as the  musicians.  I'm sure it's the same now. I'd just like to relive a little of my youth, which is why, once again, I thank you for WR and your continued efforts to enable absent friends to live vicariously.

Cheers,
Terry
JAKARTA

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From: Jonny Greene <jonny@planetgong.co.uk>
Subject: GONG FAMILY NEWS : AUTUMNAL - OCTOBER '03  (PP)
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:46:11 +0100

The highlights of October are undoubtedly the Acidmothersgong gig at the Royal Festival Hall on the 21st and the arrival of the new System 7 CD 'Live Transmissions' which at present is exclusively available only through the GAS Kasbah.
 Acidmothesgong Tickets http://www.rfh.org.uk
 System 7 CD http://www.planetgong.co.uk/octave/cd/system7_live.shtml
 
DAEVID ALLEN & NIC STEPHZANZ - GIG

Sun 12 Oct - USA, San Francisco, Café Du Nord.
8 PM, tickets $12.00 in Advance, $14.00 on door. Daevid and Thereminist Nic Stephanz as Coven of One opening for Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots
 http://www.cafedunord.com/index.php
 
ACIDMOTHERSGONG - THE GIG
The one and only Gong gig in Europe this year is part of the Royal Festival Hall's 'Mind Your Head 3: Sacred Music Festival'. Acidmothersgong supported by Damo Suzuki of Can with the Switch Doctors who include Mike Howlett, plus special guests The Incredible String Band. Almost anything could happen - don't miss it.

Tickets are available from:- http://www.rfh.org.uk
 
Tue 21 Oct 2003 - London Royal Festival Hall
 
 ACIDMOTHERSGONG are:-
 Acid Mothers Temple's
 Kawabata Makoto - guitars
 Cotton Casino - synth & voices
 Yoshida Tatsuya - drums & voice
 Tsuyami Atshshi - bass & voice
 Higashi Hiroshi - synth & theremin
 
 Gong's
 Daevid Allen - guitars & voices
 Gilli Smyth - voices
 Didier Malherbe - wind instruments
 
 University of Errors'
 Josh Pollock - guitars & megaphonics
 
 DAMO SUZUKI with the SWITCH DOCTORS
 Damo Suzuki - (Can)
 Mike Howlett - bass (Gong, House of Thandoy)
 Steve Higgins - guitar (House of Thandoy, KarmaKanix, Thandoy...)
 Mark Jenkins - synthesisers
 Steve Cassidy - drums (Here & Now)
 
DIDIER MALHERBE - GIGS
http://www.didiermalherbe.com

 Tue 14 Oct - France, Paris, Satellit Café. - Hadouk Trio.
 44 rue de la Folie Méricourt, Paris 75011.
 Info 01 47 00 48 87. Metro: Oberkampf
 Sat 18 Oct - France, St Giron site Prat-Bonrepaux, Ariege - Hadouk Trio
 Sat 25 Oct - Netherlands, Rotterdam, Festival of Doelen - Hadouk Trio
 Sat 01 Nov - Morocco, Marrakech, The French Institute of Marrakech - Hadouk Trio
 Mon 04 Nov - Morocco, Casablanca, The French Institute of Casablanca - Hadouk Trio.
 Thr 13 Nov - France, Troyes, Espace de la Cité - DM Trio
 57 rue de la Cité, 10000 Troyes. 9pm.
 Sat 15 Nov - France, St Jean aux Bois (Near Compiegne), Les Naiades (60350 St Jean aux Bois) 9pm. 03 44 42 39 20 - DM Trio
 
KANGAROO MOON - UK TOUR
Huge Moonie UK and European tour this Autumn with two new members. Alongside Mark and Jerry there's Rick Cole on Drums (Matt can't make it this time) and Nick Marshall on bass (poor Maurice is unwell back in Oz).

 Sat 11 Oct - Glastonbury, Assembly Rooms http://www.assemblyrooms.org.uk
 Mon 13 Oct - London, Kentish Town, The Verge http://www.theverge.co.uk
 Wed 15 Oct - Southsea, The Fawcett Inn. 023 9282 1377
 Thu 16 Oct - Poole, Mr Kyps http://www.mrkyps.net
 Fri 17 Oct - Southampton, Talking Heads http://www.thetalkingheads.net
 Sat 18 Oct - Hitchin, Club 85 http://www.club-85.co.uk
 Sun 19 Oct - East Grinstead, Sharpthorne, Ravenswood Hotel 01342 718730
 Tue 21 Oct - Saffron Walden, Hempstead, The Bluebell http://www.thebluebellinn.co.uk
 Fri 24 Oct - Chester, Telfords Warehouse http://www.telfordswarehouse.com
 Sat 25 Oct - Leeds, Cabbage - West Indian Centre. Late night chill-out http://www.purusha.demon.co.uk
 Thu 30 Oct - Hebden Bridge, Trades Club. 01422 845265                                             http://www.tradesclub99.freeserve.co.uk
 Fri 31 Oct - Cockermouth, Kirkgate Centre. 01900 826 448                         http://www.thekirkgate.com
 Sun 2 Nov - Dumfries, The Venue. 01387 267894
 Tue 4 Nov - Leicester, The Musician http://www.themusicianpub.co.uk
 Wed 5 Nov - Hartlepool, Studio. 01429 424440 http://www.studiohartlepool.com
 Thu 6 Nov - Shrewsbury, Buttermarket http://www.jazzandroots.com
 Fri 7 Nov - Narberth, Queen's Hall http://www.span-arts.org.uk
 Sat 8 Nov - Cardiff, Toucan Club http://www.toucanclub.co.uk
 Sun 9 Nov - Worcester, Marrs Bar http://www.marrsbar.co.uk
 Tue 11 Nov - Brighton, Komedia tbc http://www.komedia.co.uk
 
KANGAROO MOON - EUROPEAN TOUR
Dates in Croatia and Italy still to be announced.

 Fri 14 Nov - Germany, Herrenwies, Turning Point tbc.
 Sat 15 Nov - Germany, Saulgau tbc .
 Tue 18 Nov - Germany, Gossenzugen tbc.
 ?? Nov - Switzerland, Thun, Cafe Mokka.
 Fri 28 Nov - Switzerland, Wetzikon, KKulti.
 Fri 05 Dec - Switzerland, Neuchatel, Case A Chocs tbc.
 Mon 08 Dec - Belgium, Ingelmunster, Café Fagot.

UK GIGS - THOM THE WORLD POET
Thom trotting round the Ununited Queendom this Octo. Catch him and be revitalised and inspired! Poetry (possibly the one remaining pure art?) like you never heard. Fill up those few free daze! Contact via 01274 223665

 Sat 11 Oct - Cheltenham, Town Hall, Voices Off by 9am
 Mon 13 Oct - Greenfield, Nr Oldham with Darren Poyzer
 Tue 14 Oct - Yorkshire Arts Circus all day Poetry Workshop
 Wed 15 Oct - Wakefield Schools
 Thr 16 Oct - Wakefield, Cathedral Acess Poets
 Fri 17 Oct - Glossop, Labour Club with Darren Poyzer
 Sat 18 Oct - Leeds, possible workshop
 Sun 19 Oct - Leeds gig 7-10pm
 20-24 Oct - Sheffield Festival with matt black
 Wed 22 Oct - Bradford, Love Apple
 Thr 23 Oct - Bradford, World Café
 24/27 Oct - Free!
 Fri 28 Oct - Sheffield, Bukowskis Piano Bar Buk Off
 Sat 29 Oct - Free!

* * * * *

GONG VIRGIN/EMI REISSUES

Today Friday 10th there was a meeting within EMI's legal department to 'finally' decide about going ahead with the planned Gong re-mastered re-issue series and the expanded 'Live Etc' boxset. As soon as I know the results I'll let you know. Fingers crossed.
 
RECORDING NEWS

Daevid and the University of Errors are presently recording an album of the famous '67 Soft Machine demos. Perhaps then they will be engergetically re-claimed from the night (how many times have those originals been re-packaged and sold to us?). Expect an "it lives!" result with the Errors transmitting a bolt of their own unique electricity to the temporal lobes of some familiar tracks - who better to do it?
 
Here & Now started work on their next studio album. Steffe, Keith Missile, Steve Cassidy and Joie of Eat Static spent last weekend in the Glastonbury Studios laying down the basis of 5 tracks. If all goes well they are hoping for a Spring release and maybe some live dates as well.

Gilli has just been in San Francisco finishing the Gong Matrices album under the aegis of well known producer Mark Pistel taking time off from his current big production of Spearhead with Michael Franti... very political, very anti-George Bush. Gong Matrices is composed of Gilli, Pierce McDowell (Bass), James Rotundi (Synth. & guitar), Aryeh Frankfurter (electric violin, Irish Harp, flute), and Stephan Junca (percussion) and did a magical gig at the Hush Hush Club during the recordings.,which flowed like honey.

Gilli and Pierce then went to New York and gigged in Woodstock and Troy, with N.Y. musicians John Agusa (flute) and Rich Goodhart (percussion and middle Eastern instruments)...gigs which were videoed in order to come out as a live Gong Matrices on DVD, shortly after the studio album.
 
And high in his Somerset eyrie Graham Hinton and I continue to rescue ancient Gong tapes before they turn into a clear spool of plastic and a small pile of red dust - some were that close. Hari hari David Id's Mum's garage for being the home to these tapes for 28 years.
 
Until the next time
 
Jonny x
 
  --
 8< :^) >
 
 G.A.S.
 PO Box 871
 Glastonbury
 Somerset
 BA9 6FE
 UK
 
 tel: +44 (0)1458 833 040 fax: +44 (0)1458 833 894
 
 email: info@planetgong.co.uk
 
 url: http://www.planetgong.co.uk

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*               FORTHCOMING CANTERBURY-RELATED CONCERTS                 *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

        [for more info : check out the 'Concerts' page of CALYX]
                    http://canterbury.free.fr

==> Kevin AYERS <========================================================

Nov 16 - LONDON, Astoria [Progeny Festival] / Nov 17 - LIVERPOOL, Cavern Club / Nov 18 - ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, Witchwood / Nov 19 - SHEFFIELD, Boardwalk / Nov 20 - SHREWSBURY, Buttermarket / Nov 23 - LONDON, Borderline / Nov 24 - BRIGHTON, Concorde 2

==> CARAVAN <============================================================

Oct 27 - WORCESTER, Marrs Bar / Oct 28 - WOLVERHAMPTON, Robin 2 / Nov 12 - LIVERPOOL, Cavern Club / Nov 13 - LEEDS, Irish Centre / Nov 15 - EDINBURGH, Liquid Rooms / Nov 16 - NEWCASTLE, Opera House / Nov 21 - MILTON KEYNES, The Stables / Nov 22 - LEICESTER, The Charlotte / Nov 23 - NORWICH, The Waterfront / Nov 27 - BRISTOL, The Fleece & Firkin / Nov 28 - SOUTHAMPTON, The Brook / Nov 30 - LONDON, Bloomsbury Theatre, London (35th Anniversary Show with guests Jimmy Hastings and Colin Bass)

Dec 12 - ZOETERMEER (Netherlands), De Borderij / Dec 13 - HELMOND (Netherlands), Plato / Dec 14 - VERVIERS (Belgium), Spirit Of '66

Line-up: Pye Hastings, Jan Schelhaas, Richard Coughlan,
         Geoff Richardson, Doug Boyle, Jim Leverton, Simon Bentall

More info/updates at http://www.caravan-info.co.uk

==> GONG & CO <==========================================================

Oct 21 - LONDON, Royal Festival Hall ( Mind Your Head 3:Sacred Music)

Acid Mothers Gong : Daevid Allen (vocals & glissando guitar), Gilli Smyth (space whisper), Didier Malherbe (sax & flute), Tatsuya Yoshida (drums & vocals), Hiroshi Higashi (synth & theremin), Cotton Casino (synth & vocals), Kawabata Makoto (guitar) & Josh Pollock (guitar)

More info/updates at http://www.planetgong.co.uk

==> John GREAVES <=======================================================

Nov 27 - PARIS (France), New Morning / Dec 06 - POITIERS (France), Maison des 3 Quartiers / Dec 13 - BELFORT (France), Le Granit (Nuit du Violoncelle)

with Sophia Domancich (piano) & Vincent Courtois (cello)

==> Hugh HOPPER <========================================================

Hugh will be playing in London on November 17th, with Japanese drummer Tatsuya Yoshida - exact line-up and venue to be announced...

==> IN CAHOOTS <=========================================================

Oct 23 - LONDON, Vortex Jazz Bar / Oct 31 - LITCHFIELD, Garrick Theatre / Nov 15 - LONDON, Astoria [Progeny Festival]

Line-up: Phil Miller, Elton Dean, Jim Dvorak, Peter Lemer, Fred Baker, Mark Fletcher

==> Didier MALHERBE <====================================================

Oct 14 - PARIS (France), Satellit Café / Oct 18 - St.GIRONS (09) (France), Site Prat-Bonrepaux / Oct 25 - ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), Festival de Doelen / Nov 01 - MARRAKESH (Morocco), Institut Français / Nov 04 - CASABLANCA (Morocco), Institut Français

HADOUK TRIO : Didier Malherbe, Loy Ehrlich, Steve Shehan

Nov 13 - TROYES (France), Espace de la Cité / Nov 15 - St.JEAN-AUX-BOIS [nr Compiègne] (France), Les Naïades

DM TRIO : Didier Malherbe, Patrice Meyer, Philippe Foch

More info/updates at http://www.didiermalherbe.com

==> Richard SINCLAIR <===================================================

Nov 15 - LONDON, Astoria [Progeny Festival] [RS duo with T.Travis]

==> SOFTWORKS <==========================================================

Mar 03-05 - MEXICALI, CA (USA/Mexico), Baja Prog 2004

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*                        AND OTHER GOOD GIGS...                         *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

==> CAMEL <==============================================================

Oct 12 - BARCELONA (Spain), Bikini / Oct 14 - PARIS (France), Elysée-Montmartre / Oct 19 - ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), Nighttown / Oct 20 - AMSTERDAM (Netherlands), Paradiso / Oct 21 - UTRECHT (Netherlands), Tivoli / Oct 22 - MAASTRICHT (Netherlands), Platte Zaol / Oct 23 - TILBURG (Netherlands), 013 / Oct 24 - RIJSSEN (Netherlands), Lucky / Oct 25 - VERVIERS (Belgium), Spirit Of '66 / Oct 28 - LONDON, Astoria

More info at http://www.camelproductions.com

==> Allan HOLDSWORTH <===================================================

Oct 15/16 - ROME (Italy), Big Mama / Oct 17 - GROTTAZZOLINA (AP) (Italy), Teatro Novelli / Oct 19 - WARSAW (Poland), Congress Hall / Oct 21 - PONDERANO (Italy), Babylonia / Oct 22 - MAROSTICA (VI) (Italy), Panic Jazz Club / Oct 23 - CORMONS (Italy), Teatro Comunale / Oct 25 - BRIG (Switzerland), Parreizentrum / Oct 27 - GORINCHEM (Netherlands), Peerescoop / Oct 28 - VERVIERS (Belgium), Spirit Of '66 / Oct 29 - ZOETERMEER (Holland), Boerderij / Oct 30/31 & Nov 01 - ATHENS (Greece), Athina Club

==> KING CRIMSON <=======================================================

Oct 27 - PHOENIX, AZ, Orpheum Theatre / Oct 28 - ANAHEIM, CA, House Of Blues / Oct 29/30 - W. HOLLYWOOD, CA, House Of Blues / Oct 31/Nov 01 - SAN DIEGO, CA, tba / Nov 02 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA, The Warfield / Nov 04 - SALT LAKE CITY, tba / Nov 05 - DENVER, CO, Fillmore / Nov 07 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Medina Centre/Quest Club / Nov 08/09 - CHICAGO, IL, Park West / Nov 11 - MONTREAL (Canada), Theatre St Denis / Nov 12 - BOSTON, MA, Avalon / Nov 13 or 14 - OAKDALE, CT, Oakdale Theatre / Nov 15 - NEW YORK CITY, NY, Beacon Theatre / Nov 16 - PHILADELPHIA, PA, Electric Factory / Nov 17 - WASHINGTON, DC, State Theatre / Nov 21/22 - MEXICO CITY (Mexico), Metropolitan Theatre

==> MAGMA <==============================================================

Oct 15 - NANCY (France), Nancy Jazz Pulsations (Magma + Offering double-bill) / Oct 17 - PARIS (France), La Cigale (JVC Jazz Festival) / Oct 18 - BOBIGNY [nr Paris] (France), Festival des Percussives Canal 93 / Oct 22 - MONTAUBAN (France), venue tbc / Oct 23 - BORDEAUX (France), Festival Musique de Nuit / Oct 24 - SAN SEBASTIAN (Spain), Jazz Festival / Oct 25 - TARBES (France), La Gespe / Oct 26 - BERGERAC (France), venue tbc / Nov 01 - QUIMPERLE (France), venue tbc

Line-up: Christian Vander, Stella Vander, Emmanuel Borghi, James McGaw,
         Frederic D'Oelsnitz, Philippe Bussonnet, Isabelle Feuillebois,
         Antoine Paganotti, Himiko Paganotti

==> Keith TIPPETT / MUJICIAN <===========================================

Oct 19 - VIENNA (Austria), Porgy & Bess / Oct 21 - ZAGREB (Croatia) / Dec 06 - COIMBRA (Portugal) / Feb 10 - CARDIFF University

==> TUNNELS <============================================================

Oct 14 - ANN ARBOR, MI, The Blind Pig / Oct 15 - DAYTON, OH, U. of Dayton / Oct 16 - CHICAGO, IL, Schuba's / Oct 17 - MILWAUKEE, WI, Vnuk's / Oct 19 - DES MOINES, IA, Jazzy Willy's / Oct 22 - INDIANAPOLIS, IN, Radio Radio / Oct 23 - LOUISVILLE, KY, Rudyard Kipling / Oct 24 - NASHVILLE, TN, Blue Sky Court / Oct 25 - ATLANTA, GA, Eyedrum / Oct 28 - BIRMINGHAM, AL, The Mill / Oct 29 - TAMPA, FL, New World Brewery / Oct 30/31 - FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Alligator Alley / Nov 01 - COLUMBIA, SC, The New Brookline / Nov 02 - WILMINGTON, NC, The Rusty Nail / Nov 04 - CHAPEL HILL, NC, Local 506 / Nov 05 - PITTSBURGH, PA, Quiet Storm / Nov 06 - COLUMBUS, OH, Lager house / Nov 08 - BALTIMORE, MD, Orion Sound Studios

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                          END OF ISSUE 204
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