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The authorities in Munich, Germany, have taken imprints of various entertainers and athletes who have performed at The Olympiahalle. When this venue was built at the start of the seventies, Deep Purple were the first band to play there (January 21, 1973). When Deep Purple played there the last time (February 18, 2006), Deep Purple stuck their hands into the wet concrete. See the picture.
Thanks to DPAS and The Aviator for the information.
Vigier Guitars has released the Excess Roger Glover signature bass. The bass features an Excess alder body with a maple top, phosphorescent dots on the fingerboard (available in rosewood or maple), phosphorescent contours around the knobs and a brand new three-band EQ electronic designed by Glockenklang amplifiers. See the photo.
Thanks to Vigier Guitars for the information.
As many of you already know (thanks for the emails), Sir Malcom Arnold died last Saturday at the age of 84. He had a long and distinguished career, but he is best known to Deep Purple fans as the main champion of Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group And Orchestra in 1969, conducting the Royal Philharmonic at the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall. He was also involved with Jon’s followup classical work, the Gemini Suite.
You can read more details about his life at:
Steve Morse mention a possible Dixie Dregs / Steve Morse Band tour in USA in January 2007. In his latest letter he says:
“I just talked to our Deep Purple manager, Bruce Payne, and also my manager, Frank Solomon. DP is doing lots of gigs this fall, and we’re looking at doing the Dregs/SMB tour for a little while in January stateside. I really don’t know for sure if that’s possible with all the scheduling commitments from the other guys, but that’s the very latest in the possibilities.”
Read his full letter here.
Thanks to Steve Morse for the information.
When Ian Gillan were in San Francisco earlier in the week, he answered a few questions from Don Sanchez at ABC7/KGO-TV/DT. Here are a few bits:
About Ian’s source of inspiration.
“My grandpa was an opera singer, my uncle a jazz pianist. I was a boy soprano in the chuch choir and all.”
About doing Jesus Christ the film Jesus Christ Superstar.
“It was no contest. Be a film star or be in deep purple? It was a no brainer.”
Read and watch the full interview here.
Thanks to ABC7/KGO-TV/DT for the information.
Ian Gillan took some time off from his North America tour and answerd a few questions from Mike Ross at Edmonton Sun. Here is a few bits:
About that Luciano Pavarotti nearly sang “Smoke On The Water” on Gillan’s Inn.
“I sang Nessum Dorma a couple of times on his charity thing, so he owed me for that” “But he’s not well these days”
“My manager phoned up and said, ‘you’ve been singing now for what? Four hundred years or so? I think it’s probably time you put out an anniversary record.’ I thought he was talking about doing a compilation and I started burning some CDs and toying with it, but it was hopeless. It didn’t work at all. The production values were all different and it sounded like a mishmash. So we did it live.”
Read the full interview here.
Thanks to Edmonton Sun for the information.
I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere – not that I am present anywhere on Deep Purple related ‘net communities anymore – but Drew Thompson’s releases of Purple stuff seems to be readily available via iTunes – at least my local, Norwegian version, but I guess this is global.
The original 12-CD box “The Soundboard Series” originally published in 2001 seems to be available in full, alas as separate 2CD albums, each priced at twice the normal album price.
Drew, are you reading this? Price them as one normal album a piece, and I might be buying one or two.
Normal setlist for the normal gigs seems to have been a la (Mk 7 lineup: Gillan-Glover-Lord-Morse-Paice):
1. Woman from Tokyo
2. Ted the Mechanic
3. Mary Long
4. Lazy
5. No one came
6. Black night
7. Sometimes I feel like screaming
8. Fools
9. Perfect Strangers
10. Hey Cisco
11. When a blind man cries
12. Smoke on the water
13. Speed king
14. Hush
15. Highway star
and the two last gigs were from the Concerto tour, complete with Ronnie James Dio and a Japanese philharmonic orchestra.
Titles available via my iTunes are:
– Australian Tour 2001 – Melbourne
– Australian Tour 2001 – Newcastle
– Australian Tour 2001 – Wollongong
– Live in Hong Kong
– Live in Tokyo 3/24
– Live in Tokyo 3/25
Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy (Concerto-gig) is also available, as is the “Well Dressed Guitar”-single.
Now, can anyone please recommend me which of these gigs to buy, if I’m only getting one?
And Drew, drop them to single album price, and you’ll see sales rice dramatically.
Ian Gillan took some time off from his North America tour and answerd a few questions from Darryl Sterdan at Winnipeg Sun. Here is a few bits:
About endless touring:
“Every now and again I have my arm twisted to take some time off. But a week or 10 days is about all I can endure before I’m no good to anyone.”
About Blackmore:
“In the early days he was great. I used to room with him. He had a great sense of humour. We were buddies. But later in life, he became something of what is commonly called a control freak. I would put it closer to megalomania, to be honest. He’s a difficult guy. But he’s gone now. We hope he’s happy, but the divorce is final and all the clouds have blown away now.”
Read the full interview here.
Thanks to Winnipeg Sun for the information.
On saturday 26th august Don Airey will be appearring on the U.K. digital radio station Planet Rock on the show “my planet rocks” with Nicky Horne. The show airs at 7.00pm U.K. time (6.00pm GMT).
Thanks to Paul Bush for the information
Ian Gillan spoked to Reuters yesterday. He told them that he had already lined up a publisher for his upcoming novel, which is a political thriller titled “Wessex“. Gillan said, “This is my one and only novel. This really is a labour of love. It’s the only idea I have ever had for a book which has inspired me to write it.” Gillan also said he expected the book would be controversial. “A lot of wrong things have become the law and this affects people very deeply.” “This book is based on my own philosophies.”
Gillan also said during the interview that he has signed a deal last week with a British company to remaster and re-release the five solo albums that he produced during the 1970s and 1980s. This should happen later this year.
Thanks to Yahoo UK News for the information.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
