German city of Bonn is celebrating the 250th birthday of their son Ludwig van Beethoven in 2020. In the occasion, gallerist Peter Wierny has initiated a tribute project with national and international artists contributing objets d’art and memorabilia. Roger Glover has contributed a painting (see above). When Ian Paice played in Bonn last November, he made his own slightly cheeky drummer’s tribute to Ludwig:

The exhibition will open some time later this year.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

This is a rather unusual cover even by our standards. Child in Time performed on a church organ at the funeral of German actor and Deep Purple fan Jan Fedder, who succumbed to cancer on December 30, 2019, aged 64. To the wider audience outside Germany Jan might be known for his role of Petty Officer Pilgrim in 1981 miniseries and movie Das Boot.

Vocals: Jessy Martens
Organ: Manuel Gera

Jan was friends with Jon Lord. Here is Jon wishing him a happy birthday in 2005 and sending him tickets for his gig in Hamburg:

At the gig, Jon asked if Jan was in the audience and wished him a belated happy birthday.

Thanks to Nigel Young for the info.

A new book by Simon Robinson, called Fire In The Sky, is tentatively due to be published on March 28 via Easy on the Eye Books. The book tells the story of making Machine Head, and is a follow up to Wait for the Ricochet from the same author. (By the by, the latter is now in second print and back in stock.)

And while Simon is not exactly famous for meeting the deadlines (the book was originally announced in 2016, to be published in 2017), the result is always top notch. Just check out the previews: page 1, page 2 and flip-through the mock-up layout.

What: Simon Robinson and Stephen Clare Deep Purple: Fire in the Sky, The story of Machine Head and Smoke on the Water
When: March 28 June 28 December 28, 2020
Where: Easy on the Eyes Books (online store)
ISBN: 9780956143990

Thanks to our editor emeritus Benny Holmström for the info.

Glenn Hughes also was at the NAMM 2020, where he spoke to Eric Blair about Dead Daisies, Purple, Ronnie James Dio, staying in touch with DC, working with Tony Iommi, the late Neil Peart, and many other things.
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Steve Morse was a special guest of the Ernie Ball stand an the NAMM 2020 expo held last week. The Little Wing jam with Paul Gilbert was nothing short of spectacular.

Thanks to Jeff Burdick and Ernie Ball for the videos and to BraveWords for the heads up.

Welcome to the new installment of our semi-irregular trainspotting column. It’s been a while, eh?

Netflix soap opera The Crown is based on the real events from the life of the British royal family during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Season 3 episode 6 (wait for it) deals with the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales. Prior to the ceremony, he is sent to the University of Wales to learn the language and local customs, where he is put up in a dorm with other students. His next door neighbours are smoking some weed and playing some loud music, so he knocks on their door to turn it down. The music they are playing is Hallelujah by our own Deep Purple. As you all know, this was the first track recorded by the brand new Mark 2 lineup after recruiting Ian Gillan and Roger Glover from their band Episode 6.

The Expanse is an American sci-fi space opera taking place in the 24th century. In season 3 episode 7 there’s a space cowboy trying to break speed records to impress his girlfriend. She is impressed, but he gets killed in a very graphic manner by an alien force that apparently doesn’t like speed. The soundtrack to the race is a cover of Highway Star sung in a fictional Belter creole language.

The cover in its entirety also appears on the series soundtrack album:

And finally, German Schlager singer-songwriter Matthias Reim’s latest track is called Deep Purple und Led Zeppelin. The chorus doesn’t really need much translation:

Deep Purple und Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath und die frühen Queen
Oh-o, oh-o
Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Alice Cooper, Killer Rock
Uriah Heep und Status Quo
Journey, Kansas und The Who

Thanks to Gary Poronovich and Catrin Thul for the info.

Don Airey & Friends UK tour in February 2020 appears to have been cancelled. It was supposed to be a double bill with Brian Downey’s Alive and Dangerous, and the following appears on the latter’s website:

Shows Cancelled

January 17, 2020

ANNOUNCEMENT: The following dates have been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

All 6 UK dates are listed as cancelled, including the London gig without Brian Downey. At the time of this writing there is no acknowledgement of cancellations from Don’s camp. Promoters of the tour Eventim UK so far list only Hull on February 23 and Manchester on the 24th as cancelled, albeit we are being informed that people who booked tickets for Norwich on the 22nd and Exeter on the 27th are also receiving email notices of cancellation and refund.

To the best of our knowledge, Don is alive and well (as just witnessed by thousands of people on the two Uriah Heep gigs), so the cancellation may as well be due to something happening on Downey’s side.

Thanks to Jim Corrigan for the heads up.

Sadly, gone are the days when Roger graciously provided us with the studio updates on the progress of a new album. These days we have to resort to rumours and second hand info.

On November 2, 2019, Chameleon Studios Hamburg posted this picture to their Facebook feed:

The chap on the left is mixing engineer Eike Freese. So, the purpose of the visit could have been mixing the new album and/or finalizing vocal tracks. Or something else completely. Your guess is as good as mine.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Don Airey will be performing with Uriah Heep in place of Phil Lanzon on the two upcoming German gigs: January 14th in Würzburg and 15th in Frankfurt. Phil will not be able to perform due to family matters — he had lost his eldest son to cancer just before Christmas. Don graciously agreed to step up to save the gigs (which are a package deal with Nazareth and Wishbone Ash):

I’ve been friends with the fellows in Uriah Heep for many years. When I learned of the tragedy that befell my good friend Phil Lanzon, I was more than happy to stand in for him.

In other related news, Don’s band for the February 2020 UK tour will be: Simon McBride (guitar), Dave Marks (bass), Jon Finnigan (drums), and Mitchel Emms (vocals). Carl Sentance is conspicuously absent, due to having a full time job in Nazareth these days. He will return for the second leg on the continent in March. These March dates are billed as Colosseum II Remembered tour, performing music from Strange New Flesh, Electric Savage, Wardance, Variations, plus previously unreleased material.

See our calendar for further details.

Thanks to Nigel Young and Akemi Ono for the info.

Roger Glover remembers Nick Blagona, sound engineer extraordinaire, who died yesterday:

He was a lovely man, full of fun and wisdom, liked to enjoy himself, and a good listener. Had good ears. I am lucky and privileged to have had him in my life.

Read the complete post on RGs official site.