Photos: Gary Williams

August - December 2004

I've been watching the England vs South Africa test match today in between bouts of doing my end of year accounts. One of these things is fun!
Have a great New Year. Thanks for checking in throughout this year. It's been a bit of an up and down one for me but on balance, I'm really enjoying my new location and the opportunities that now seem to be presenting themselves.


December 23rd 2004
Remember I wrote a couple of weeks ago (Nov 30th to be exact) that I had a surprise I couldn't reveal, ... well the surprise was an all expenses paid trip to
The Bahamas to play two songs at a wedding on the beach in Port Lucaya!

My travel plan was a bit Jules Verne-esque, seven separate flights, more than twenty four hours flying time, close to 12,000 miles and an eventful five days there and back.

On Friday 17th, I flew Prague-Paris, Paris-Atlanta, total flying time 11hrs +,
I had four hours sleep in an airport hotel, then on Saturday 18th it was Atlanta-Charlotte, Charlotte-Freeport (Bahamas). From -6° and snowing in Prague to 70° and sunny in Freeport.
The Paris-Atlanta flight was delayed two hours because of high cross winds (although only Air France seemed not to be taking off) adding to the already existing four hour delay between connections ... Charles De Gaulle airport is one of those buildings that probably looked great on a drawing board. In reality, it was hopelessly overcrowded and completely chaotic. Later on, my luggage didn't get loaded onto the plane at Charlotte so I had to go commando for a day and a half (a little too much information perhaps)!

The return journey was a lot more straightforward. Freeport-Atlanta, Atlanta-Brussels, Brussels-Prague about twelve hours flying, and thankfully entirely hassle free .I even enjoyed the in flight meal on the long haul trip. Thanks Delta.
Did loads of Xmas shopping in Atlanta. I came back to a chilly -6° in Prague and a gig the same night in U Maleho Glena.

The wedding itself was fantastic and was the whole experience truly memorable.
David and Cami congrats on your wedding, you are such lovely people and sooo in love.
I couldn't risk announcing the trip on my news page because it was a surprise for Cami, and she visits my website and reads the news page. She was dumbstruck when I emerged from a wooden beach hut singing "What a Wonderful World".

As I write this the jet lag is kicking in, just in time for my gig tonight, my trip back to England tomorrow and my Xmas Eve gig at One Paradise Road.
I took loads of photos and will at some point include them somewhere on the website.
Right I've got a mobile phone bill to pay, and some live carp to photograph. It's a Czech Xmas thing .. no not photographing carp .. eating carp.
People buy them shortly before Xmas and keep them in their bath tubs until Xmas Day!
Have a great Xmas wherever you are. I wish you Peace and send lots of love.

December 12th 2004
I had an amazing coincidence happen to me on Friday night. I was doing a gig for an ex-pat community out in Nebusice to the North East of Prague
I have an Israeli friend here Dani Berger who lives in Prague but works in Budapest during the week. Anyway, his 72 yr old Mum is visiting from Israel and we struck up a conversation when she came to my gig with Danis' wife.

Mum was born in Prague and survived the Nazis here - no mean feat for a Jew in the late 30s and early 40s - the conversation turned to me asking her where she was born.
"Prague" she said
"Yeah I know that, but where in Prague"
"Vinohrady" she said.
"I live in Vinohrady .. What street?"
"Italska" she replies
"I live in Italska .. What number?"
"18"
"Wow, I live at number 18"
"What floor of the building?" I asked.
"The second" she replied
"That's amazing.. I live on the second floor .. Left or right hand side of the landing?"
"Right"
"That's the flat I now rent!" I say.

The chances of that happening are almost incalculable. I've invited her over to see the place before she leaves. Too spooky.
She even remembered the floor tiles in the lobby and the etched art-deco glass on the doors.

December 10th 2004
Had a great time in England last week.
I went back to my hometown to celebrate my Dads' birthday.
Also last week, I had a meeting with Vera Martinova, a very well known folk and country star here. She wants to record two of my songs (Until I Hear It From You and I'm Not Waiting) for a forthcoming "Best Of" compilation to be released early next year.
Last night, she came to Red Hot and Blues with some of her band and the record company head .. there's talk of singles, touring and an album together.
Exciting stuff.

I have a manager here now who is organising gigs for me with an eye especially on the festival season in the summer.

Yesterday, I bagged a bargain guitar for 2000 crowns (about £45). It's a Seagull (daft name I know) Canadian 6 string acoustic. I found it in a junk shop in a pretty dreadful state, but after a cleanup and re-string it sounds great.
A bit Martin D28 ish for the guitar freaks.

Next week I have two dates at a venue in the Old Town part of Prague. The Marquis De Sade was reputedly a brothel in the days before the Velvet Revolution!
Dark and decadent, it still retains some of it's seedy appeal and serves some great Czech microbrews.

Oh .. one more bit of news, I'm at One Paradise Road in Richmond Surrey,
on Xmas Eve!

November 30th 2004
Right .... first off Happy Birthday to my Dad! He's 80 today.
Fabulous father,great guy,and a true friend .Thanks Dad, I love you.
Some of you who know me know that these past 18 months have been a challenge, and it's great to know that I have people like my Dad and Mum in my corner.
Had some visitors here last week Don and Myff from The Lion in Hampton Wick my London local.I had a great time showing them the sights and spending two days with them in my favourite haunts.
I've got a surprise I'm desperate to tell you about but I'm sworn to secrecy. All will be revealed soon. I can't even hint at it for fear of giving it away.
Gigs are going well, got a new sideline going www.therealpraguetour.wz.cz still waiting for work to pick up. Having a meeting today with one of the biggest Country/Folk stars here Vera Martinova with a view to collaborating. She wants a track of mine on a "Best Of" compilation.
Plus great news for me, I've got over my writers block and have started songwriting again.

November 16th 2004
I went to Pragues' Rock Cafe last night to see US blues fusion artist Popa Chubby. Big lad .. got to be close to 300 lbs. Fab guitar player with a good strong voice. The drummer was Steve Holley (Staines' own I believe) whose name you might recognise from his time in Wings with Macca. The material was for the most part strong and was drawn from many different styles Rock n Roll, Rap, Blues, and Rockabilly. Support came from local Czech/American rap/rock outfit "Cherry Hill" ... not my cup of tea I have to admit, so I don't really feel qualified to comment
on the material but performance was comprised of the usual posturing "ev'rybody in da house say yeah" MTV stuff.



November 12th 2004
Been busy putting together a gig here for Glenn Tilbrook. After pursuing one Theatre Director for three weeks .. and getting the "he's too busy " approach from underlings I eventually jettisoned him in favour of a much more approachable and enthusiastic person in the shape of Daniel Hrbek. The gig will be at Svandovo Divadlo in Smichov on March 5th 2005 - it's a great space with two options a seated space for 300 or a standing space for about 200. I hope to do the support if GT needs one.
As things progress I'll keep you posted.

Last Friday I played a cafe gig in Hradec Kralove a town about 100 kms east of Prague. It went very well after the initial panic of me nearly missing the train, due entirely to my cab being stuck in a Friday afternoon gridlock. It was good to get out of Prague for a night and I've been asked back to play at another venue there.

Went to watch the Sparta Prague vs Mlada Boleslav game on Monday with a friend Michal (a Boleslav boy). Despite being the better team for most of the game, Mlada, recently promoted from Div 2 ran out eventual winners 1-0.Good goal against the run of play.
It didn't help matters when the Sparta central defender was sent off leaving the team with 10 men for about 25 minutes of the second half.

Congrats to my nephew Tom, not only for passing his driving test today but also for getting an interview at Cambridge University in December. Go get 'em Tom.

October 29th 2004
Great gig with Tonny Blues Band in Teplice last Saturday. Teplice is a town about 60 miles north of Prague close to the German border .Brand new venue, absolutely packed, free bar and hearty meal for the musos. Three encores and a jolly good night all round. Maly Glen was also good last Wednesday - packed again. Another local venue, U Stari Pani sent their spies to check us out, and are close to offering us a gig there after months of knocking on their door and getting the run around.

October 18th 2004
Thursday night was a bit of a celeb fest at Red Hot and Blues. Not only was Karel Gott (the Czech Tom Jones and very much a favourite with the laydeez) in the house, but also, wrestler turned actor "The Rock" ("The" to his pals). He clapped everything I did, shook my hand as he left and pronounced the gig "rockin'" and "awesome" .. which I understand is American for rather good!
Sadly I didn't get Karels' take on the proceedings as I was in the loo when he left.
Still haven't bought my Gloria Gaynor tickets .. "Will I survive" .

October 12th 2004
My move is complete .. up and down a flight of 106 stairs 16 times laden with boxes and bits of furniture .. I say bits, they were mostly big and heavy so I'm excused gym for a couple of days. My new flat has a lift .. yippee .. and besides I'm on the 2nd floor so it's not really a hike. I'm in Vinohrady no more than 5 mins walk from Wencelas Square. The guy who helped me move was the same guy who drove us (The RT Band) to Usti nad Labem. Survived again this time too!

Working on two more venues. More of this later.
Getting colder here ..out came the fleece AND the jacket last night. Casual stroll to the pub. On the way I noticed a poster for Gloria Gaynor on ice here in November with some Russian ice dancer ..ye gods!!
"First I was afraid .. I felt petrified"

Went to watch The Czech Republic vs Romania last Saturday .. bit of a woeful game. For the first 30 mins of the match I forgot I was watching an International World Cup qualifier, and was instead at a Sunday league game ..the players staggering about after too much beer and too late a night. Things improved in the second half with the Romanian defence sharpening their body holding and shirt tugging skills against the superior Czechs.. who deservedly won in the end ..a penalty by the target man (6ft7ins) Koller who is even more lumbering than Emile Heskey. Beer 20kc for half a litre (about 40p) and half a roasted chicken for 70 kc
.I know how to live!

October 7th 2004
Got a new flat in a swanky part of town. I move in on Monday. So I'll be busy packing stuff this weekend.
Trawled around Prague for a week or more and finally settled on one today.
Gig at UMG last night really good. Met some lovely Irish Bluesfans ..in fact the room - yeah I know it's small - was almost half full of Irish people.

September 29th 2004
A week is a long time in the Prague music scene.
From having a 4 gig week to look forward to, I've returned to my more familiar
2/3 gigs because the moron who wanted to open up the Music Club in Ultramarin, decided after one night to renege on the deal and not have a club at all! WHAT!!
Ah well ever onwards.
The RT band played last night in Usti nad Labem (north of Prague towards the German border) at the Narodni Dum - a sort of civic arts centre. Masterful communist concrete brutalist architecture, but a surprisingly good sound and really friendly people too. Applauded all the songs, danced,offered us their daughters (I made that bit up!) and didn't throw food.

The journey there and back was a bit traumatic to say the least. We hired a van and driver to take us and the gear. The driver was a nice bloke who plays in a local band called Fatty Lumpkin .... the transport was a 10 maybe 15 yr old Isuzu Midi van held together with rubber bands and blu-tack the words "MOT failure" and "death trap" spring to mind. Tyres balder than a showgirls' bikini line.
Next time Rene .. pay the money and get something which we won't risk certain death or fatal injury in.
We have another out of town gig on Thursday at House Of Blues in Plzen. We're taking the safe route and driving ourselves in two cars.

My landlady (a completely bonkers 60yr old Czech woman living in Hanover) has asked me to vacate the flat I've been renting from her by the end of October. So I'm flat hunting. Wish me luck!

September 22nd 2004
Busy busy .. spent a long weekend in Budapest recently. Didn't like it as much as Prague .. it's considerably bigger and sprawls a lot more. Fun time though. The visit coincided with The 13th Annual Budapest Wine Festival. Just had to go. The Hungarians are producing some world class wines. I especially liked the sweet Tokays that I sampled. Travelled by train .. a seven hour journey via Slovakia but great too see the countryside that way. £66 for a first-class return ticket. That'll do nicely! Went to the "Old Mans Music Pub" for a meal and some live music. Goose Liver sublime, band iffy. I thought Czech was a tough language until I went to Hungary. The language sounds like Finnish (there is a distant link apparently) and looks like Turkish!! Worth a visit, despite the Stevie Ray Vaughan look- alike fronting the band.

My new "until now secret" gig starts this Friday. It's at a place called Ultramarin and is a downstairs room in a busy cafe/bar/restaurant in the centre of the city. I'm doing two gigs there, one solo . well almost I'm playing about half of the gig with the fabulous Petr Dvorsky on double bass. Then every Friday I'll be with Renes' band. Talking of which , RT, drummer Martin Sulc (Shultz) and I travelled to Plzen yesterday to do a radio interview there on Radio Sumava ahead of our gig at "House Of Blues" next week. Fairly typical rock and roll day, a 6 hour round trip to do a 20 minute interview. At least we checked out the venue as well.

Thanks to my recent houseguests Clara and Patrick. Glad you got home safely.

Congrats to the England cricket team and especially "Banger" Trescothick for stuffing the Aussies. Nice one guys. It's my Mums birthday on Saturday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM. Loads of love.

September 3rd 2004
Played a festival in Trebon in South Bohemia, with my friends Vlasta Redl and Slavek Janousek. Both of them fierce drinkers .. to make matters worse after the festival gig there was a jam in the local Brewery (oh dear) on my return to Prague the following day I went to bed and didn't get up until about 9pm. Hangovers!! Yeuch.

I've been playing host to friends over the last couple of weeks. Three mates from Dublin (including Dublin Porterhouse manager Dave Morrissey) wanted to stay out far too late .. in one case 8am, and drink too much. Lightweight that I am I managed 3am once. We had a fantastic time though swapping stories and gags and enjoying the sights of the city. Return visits are being planned as I write.

I'm off to Budapest for a weekend soon. I've heard so much about the city and I'm really looking forward to visiting it. I'm traveling there by train ..it takes nearly 8 hrs.
Then It's a pretty busy month ahead including two out of town gigs with Rene and the band. One at House of Blues in Plzen and the other in Usti nad Labem. I'm trying also to schedule a weekend of gigs in Kiev before it gets too cold there!


August 20th 2004
I've been running around like a loony since I left England.
In the last two days I've done what amounts to four gigs so I'm pretty tired. Two gigs on Wednesday including a festival in a rose garden in the street in Plzen, home of the best beer in the world. Then a 50 mile journey back driven by Wunderkind the Hammond Player (Ondra Pivec to his Mum and Dad) at speeds I didn't think a 10 year old Nissan estate was capable of, to do my regular Wednesday night gig singing with The Rene Trossman Blues Band.

Yesterday, got up at 8 (went to bed at 2:30) then caught the tram at 8:45am to go to rehearsal, returned at six had a bath and got myself together .. then did a 3 hr gig last night.

The gig was tremendous. My favourite venue, U Maleho Glena, (really small but so intimate) and a room full of people listening intently.
I did about half of it with a double bass player Taras Voloschuck and it worked superbly.
Even better, I've been offered a regular Monday night venue to do my singer/songwriter show. I've yet to meet anyone in Prague who does what I do, and this is a great chance for me, that I really want make work. It's hard to explain how rare such an opportunity is for someone like me in this town where the music scene in dominated by Jazz and Blues.


August 14th 2004
Crikey .. it's a month since I posted some news!
Which is not to say that there's been nothing going on, far from it. I've been to England twice .. the first time to do some gigs (1400 miles in 12 days) and see family and friends and the second time to attend my eldest nieces' wedding (Congrats Abi and Paul).

I've also had visits from three different sets of friends so I've been doing my
..."and on the left you can see the only cubist lamppost in the world" bit. Luckily, said cubist lamppost (dating from 1913 incidentally) is a matter of feet away from my favourite watering hole in that part of Prague, "U Pinkasu" . If you get the urge for a fab pint of Pilsner Urquell, this is the place. A step away from Wenceslas Square in a square called Jungmannova Namesti. Hungry? .. try the Nakladany Hermelin ~ a type of Brie cheese marinaded in chilli and sunflower oil and served with garlic onions and chillies. Absolutely Delicious!!

Gigging has been hectic too, we've had some really busy nights at U Maleho Glena with Renes' band - the venue isn't huge, so by the time there are seventy people in the place I'm virtually sitting on their laps singing.

I re-visited Cesky Krumlov too. A Unesco heritage site in the South West of the country a three and a half hour coach ride from Prague.
It's an amazing place. Almost like something out of the mind of Baron Munchausen. CK was featured recently in The Times travel section and a location for the blockbuster movie "Van Helsing". We had a great day and an overnight stay so I was able to catch up with a couple of Czech friends Michal and Alena who used to come and see the band years ago on Monday nights at Crosses Corner in Windsor.