That’s Julian Lennon by the way… 😉

On his Facebook page Lennon Jr. writes:

I had the pleasure of going to see Glenn Hughes play tonight in Islington. I can say, without a doubt, he is one of the best singers/songwriter/performers I have ever seen. His range is Mind blowing! And his talent knows no bounds… If he’s playing in your neighbourhood, I urge you to go see him play LIVE, whether with Black Country Communion, or as a solo artist.

Just Amazing… Initially the show explodes with Rock tunes, the likes of which have been missing from our airwaves for many years now, but then Glenn also opens up & shows us his abilities as a Funk/Jazz/Soul/Blues performer. Outstanding…

A GREAT night out! – Looks like we might try a little writing together too… 😉

It would be interesting to see what the said “little writing together” comes to…

The first exhibition of Roger Glover’s art Paintings and Pictures 1964 – 2010 will open in Köln (Cologne), Germany, later this month and will run through the end of January.

Between and during his travels all over the world, from time to time RG has felt the need to take up a brush, pencil, pen or camera, purely for his own enjoyment. Apart from the realist paintings he has a keen interest in abstraction, looking for subjects that appear to be unconscious in their design. In his photography also, he takes pleasure in finding accidental images with a particular fascination for the effects of time and decay on various surfaces. This is his Found Art. There are also some samples from a future project called March of the Corridors.

All works, except for the painting (high quality prints) are presented in the original. The limited edition, signed works can be purchased. The sale proceeds will go to charitable and social institutions which do not have a large lobby and have been selected by Roger himself:

• Cancer Initiative-Cologne
• Gulliver Homeless Initiative
• Children’s Hospice Cologne

The opening event will be held at 19:00 on Friday, October 22 with the artist himself in attendance. Other events during the exhibition:

• Friday, December 3: Krysmah — Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake u.v.m. – Acoustic cover songs, 7 € admission
• Tuesday, December 12: Gerd Schinkel, “rooted in the life” – on roots music, 5 € admission
• Sunday, December 23: Manfred Stoffer photography — Deep Purple Live On Stage and Backstage, 5 € admission
• Friday, January 28: Stargazer — Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake cover band, 9 € admission
• Sunday, January 30: Didi Zill, Deep Purple’s long time photographer, 7 € admission
• Monday, January 31: Peter Rüchel, “The Maker” from the Rockpalast, will read from his book + own experiences, 5 € admission

All events start at 19:30. All admission prices will be mostly donated to the charitable projects selected by Roger Glover.

Location:
K-8 Gallery
Ursulastr. 2, 50668, Köln (Cologne)
Telephone: 0221-7024660
Opening times: Mon-Thu 08-17, Fri 08-13, special events up to 22:00.

Thanks to Ralf Schmidt for the info

The third installment of Glenn Hughes’ UK tour diary, complete with a shopping trip, laundry instructions and a singing lesson:

Also, please note the venue change for Dublin gig on October 10: it has been moved to The Academy 2.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

The second part of the Glenn Hughes UK tour diary 2010 has appeared on Youtube:

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Caramba reports that the ad hoc band Who Cares will be going to the studio next Wednesday, October 6, to record a song called Out of my Mind for the benefit of the music school in Gyumri, Armenia. This is the project Big Ian spoke about before. The band, as it stands now, is comprised of Ian Gillan, Tony Iommi, Nicko McBrain and Jon Lord. No word on who will take the bass duties.

As the Glenn Hughes Band have started an extensive tour of the UK, which will take them to every nook and cranny of the country, they have posted part 1 of the tour diary. We hope parts 2, 3, and so on will follow. Enjoy!

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

A publishing company called Rufus Stone Limited Editions that appears to specialise in, well, very expensive limited edition rock books has announced two new relevant releases:

Whitesnake – The Definitive Biography

This unique coffee table sized indepth book traces the history of the band from humble beginnings playing Rafters in Manchester in front of 500 people to their current position as one of Classic Rock’s most successful stadium acts. Written by Simon Robinson, John Tucker and Nigel Young, The Definitive Biography celebrates the success of Whitesnake with the full story, comprehensive discographies and an extensive gig list together with hundreds of rare and many unseen colour pictures, and memorabilia from across the band’s career.

This huge volume, available in two strictly limited edition versions, including a 250 copy HARDKASE edition, is a must for all fans of the band and will become a true collector’s item in years to come. The standard edition (just 750 copies) costs £175.00 each and the HARDKASE edition (250 copies) costs £225 each plus p+p

Ronnie James Dio – A Photographic Memoir

Renowned music photographer PG Brunelli traveled the world with Ronnie from 1983, photographing him onstage, backstage, at home and in the recording studio. This special, large format hardback book takes the best of PG’s photography and weaves a memoir of Ronnie’s life starting onstage at Donington Monsters of Rock in 1983. Together with unique written contributions from Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, Doug Aldrich and many of his peers, colleagues and fellow professionals. This book has been compiled with the knowledge and approval of Ronnies wife, Wendy.

Available in two limited edition versions, starting at just £40 (plus p+p) Ronnie James Dio – A Photographic Memoir is released at the end of November 2010. To secure your standard or HARDKASE version (£150 plus p+p) early ordering is essential. £10 from the sale of the standard version and £30 from the sale of the HARDKASE edition will be donated to the Stand Up and Shout Cancer fund.

Thanks to Mark Smith for the info.

On Saturday, September 25th, Rock City Berlin will air a one hour long Glenn Hughes special. Glenn will talk extensively about Black Country Communion. Some other topics will include: Glenn’s voice, his difficult times in the 80’s and the late great Ronnie James Dio.

Note: The presentation of the show is in German, but Glenn is not overdubbed. The quotes are from an interview Glenn had with Jens Fritze at the NH Hotel in Berlin on July 8.

• ROCK CITY Berlin Radio Show
• Date: September 25 (Saturday)
• Time: 4-5 pm CEST (16:00-17:00)
• Link with Livestream: http://www.myspace.com/rock_city_berlin

Thanks to Jens Fritze for the info.

Who Killed John Henry?!

Arriving rather early to scope the venue we were rather alarmed to find some vans outside a building that can only be described as an industrial unit, near the door to Pentonville prison. Hardly the nicest area around, we took our chances and left!
However coming back at the advertised time of 7pm we found a group of people standing on the other side of the road, next to an older building that we hadn’t noticed before, and before long we were ushered through a courtyard to a small 2 up 2 down type of building. Upstairs is the bar, and downstairs is the venue. If it’s too loud you can watch the show on the tv upstairs! (I’ll cope!)
There’s a real sense of anticipation in the air, considering the majority of the audience are regular journalists, the rest of the audience (120 – 150) being made up from competition winners and such like.

The room for the show is approximately 50% stage, and 50% standing area, and come 8 o’clock it was great to note that there was no one taking the tv route, everyone was crammed in that room to witness the begining of the BCC story live.

A few minutes later than planned they stroll out and after a moments warm up launch into Black Country. The sound levels are spot on, everything loud and clear for certainly the heaviest song of the night. There’s a palpable sense of relief at the end, and the rest of the show builds momentum perfectly. You realise that literally other than during the recording sessions this is a band that are merely hours into their career. Each song played is still a learning experience for the band as new areas of solo come out.

By the time we get to Medusa the band is in full flow. On the record I wasn’t sure we needed another version of Medusa, being rather fond of the original personally. I’ll eat my words now and say simply it was epic. Perhaps it was the heat, the size of the room, that you could feel the music rather than just hear it, always a bonus in such a small venue!

Throughout the night everyone is on top form, Glenn’s voice is great as per usual, but controlled. Joe Bonamassa’s guitar always spot on, Jason Bonhams thumping drum style, and Derek Sherinian’s great Hammond swirls. The latter finally coming to the fore in the soon to be epic Sista Jane which finished the show, ending with more than a nod and a wink to ‘Won’t get fooled again’ and barely an hour after it started it was all over.

Upstairs later there was a playback of the show on tv screens all over, and everyone seemed genuinely excited about the show, and the future!

BCC will be touring early next year, dates are being put together currently, and more music will be recorded before that tour.

Yes it’s being hyped, especially in the UK by Planet Rock radio, who broadcast the show shortly after it had finished. But live, in the flesh, just sometimes the hype is worth it!

At 9 pm UK time tonight, Black Country Communion hits a stage in Europe for the first time. And just as you thought nothing would ever happen again on The Highway Star’s Twitter feed, we have armed a fearless reporter with the login details and put him on a train to the secret venue in London. Let’s hope mobile reception works in this top secret location and stayed tuned to our Twitter page for details as they happen live.