a grumpy Welcome ollowing the huge success ratty, testy, grouchy, querulous, peevish, of the BBC television series crotchety and liverish.” GRUMPY OLD MEN, Rick Rick says that to him, grumpy is was commissioned to write two just “moaning about life as it is in a Fbooks for Preface, part of the funny way”, but admits that it can make very large publishers, Random House. him all of the above definitions on a The books were called GRUMPY particularly bad grumpy day. OLD ROCKSTAR and FURTHER His humor is extremely self ADVENTURES OF A GRUMPY OLD deprecating and has made him a ROCKSTAR and were household name all over instant best sellers , and Britain, and as well as TV Various because of the books and dictionaries state and radio, is now highly the TV series, Rick suddenly that “grumpy sought after on the after became known as the means irritable, dinner circuit in England. ‘Grumpy Old Rockstar’. cross, bad- Tonight’s performance tempered, crabby Rick’s one man shows grumbling edgy, will include some of Rick’s featured him performing surly, petulant, own music, plus that of a variety of the music that cantankerous... YES, DAVID BOWIE, CAT he had been associated STEVENS and classical with over the years, on the composers too such as grand piano, plus hilarious anecdotal TCHAIKOVSKY and LISTZ. stories. Some of those stories are from He is really excited about bringing the ‘Grumpy’ books and others are this show to the USA and Canada and more than likely to appear in the next hopes that it won’t be the last time volume. before he semi-retires (yes he really is Various dictionaries state that going to) in 2022. grumpy means: “irritable, cross, bad- tempered, crabby grumbling edgy, surly, petulant, cantankerous, huffy, tetchy, www.rwcc.com PAGE 3 a grumpy history fter studying piano privately to take Rick’s career to a new level. for 12 years, Rick gained a He joined YES in August of 1971 and scholarship to the Royal has been in and out of that band on College of Music where quite a few occasions! One journalist ahe studied piano, clarinet likened the relationship to that of and orchestration. In March 2012 Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Prince Charles presented him with his in as much as they can’t live with each Fellowship of the RCM. He was also other but in the same breath, can’t made a Professor at the London College live without each other ! Rick told the of Music. journalist he didn’t disagree as long as As a much sought after session it was accepted that he was “Richard musician in the late sixties and early Burton”! seventies , he played on more than 2000 For the last five years he has been records including such hits as CAT touring the world with ARW to great STEVEN’s Morning Has Broken, DAVID acclaim, alongside his great friends , BOWIE’s Space Oddity and Life on guitarist Trevor Rabin and vocalist Jon Mars and worked with a real eclectic Anderson. mixture of other notable artistes such Both as a solo artist and with YES he as DONOVAN, CILLA BLACK, MARC has sold more than 50,000,000 albums, BOLAN, BLACK SABBATH, LOU although he says that only a clairvoyant REED, MARY HOPKIN, DANA, AL would be able to tell you where the STEWART , ELTON JOHN and JOHN royalties went! WILLIAMS. He has written two film scores In March 1970 he joined Strawbs for Ken Russell, (LISZTOMANIA and and his first album with them , ‘Just a CRIMES OF PASSION), two scores Collection of Antiques and Curios’, paved for HARRY PALMER films, starring the way for ‘Folk-Rock’ and reviews from Michael Caine, (Bullet to Beijing and their concert at The Queen Elizabeth Hall on July 11th of that year , did much Continues over... www.rwcc.com PAGE 5 Midnight in St. Petersburg), and the with symphony orchestras and choirs . award winning 1976 Winter Olympics In 2013 he performed 12 consecutive filmWHITE ROCK as well as GOLÉ, sell out one man shows at the HERO, A DAY AFTER THE FAIR and Edinburgh Festival, two horror films,CREEPSHOW 2 and In 2014 he performed his highly THE BURNING. acclaimed JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE He has also carved out quite a OF THE EARTH with a symphony television career in the UK, appearing orchestra , choir and band to more on every single programme of the than 30,000 in the UK and this show GRUMPY OLD MEN series, just under will continue to be performed for the 100 appearances on Countdown plus ensuing years around the world and numerous invites onto Never Mind The indeed 2 performances took place at the Buzzcocks, Have I got News For You Royal Festival Hall to celebrate Rick’s and had 6 years as a regular presenter 70th birthday in 2019. on Watchdog. On Radio 4 he can be In the last two years he has had two regularly heard on The News Quiz, top 10 albums, PIANO PORTRAITS and Just a Minute and It’s Your Round. He PIANO ODYSSEY and has recorded a also hosted the stand up show Live at new piano album especially for Xmas Jongleurs on television for five years entitled CHRISTMAS PORTRAITS . which was shown around the world . He has two current books available ...GRUMPY OLD ROCKSTAR and FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A GRUMPY OLD ROCKSTAR, both of which made the best sellers list. The third in the series is due for release in 2020. He still finds time each year to perform concerts around the world which can range from his extremely popular one man show to extravaganzas www.rwcc.com PAGE 7 remembering ‘gastank’ he year is 1982. Popular music has gone As an example, GasTank #1 kicks off with a through several tumultuous years, couple of pieces by Ashton and Wakeman, then an understatement for artists of the time. features friends RICK PARFITT from Status Quo, Classic and progressive rock musicians are reggae heroes THE CIMARONS, then legends Tat that moment reimagining themselves, ALVIN LEE and ERIC BURDON. Ashton brings their sound, and their stagecraft, in light of new a sense of humour, blues piano and gritty vocals to influences, and the tremendous impact of music his featured songs. Wakeman is, well, the man and videos via the juggernaut called MTV. Punk has musician we’ve come to know over so many years in come and mostly gone, but continues to influence the business – funny, disarming even, and as always a host of bands, all plying slightly different musical brilliant on the keys. territory, be it goth, ska, “new wave” dance or one of The house band includes long-time Wakeman any number of increasingly eclectic drummer Tony Fernandez with Chas musical styles. Cronk and Jerome Rimson on bass. In the face of these events, The show was The rest of the crew play their parts Rick Wakeman and Tony Ashton beloved by fans whether an original tune from their established a new television show of rock and catalog, or a suitable cover, such as called GasTank. Produced by Paul progressive when Eric Burdon introduces a long Knight with associate Ralph Tobert, music who had time Elvis Presley favorite. It’s intimate Directed by Gerry Mill and recorded the chance to and thoroughly enjoyable for any fan at Ewart Studios with a stage and see some well or interested viewer. a small studio audience, the show established rock Three cameramen, Richard aired in the UK on Channel 4 in ‘n’ roll heroes Dellow, Andy Watt, and Mike Hand 1982-1983. It featured Wakeman Bowman capture the action primarily and Ashton chatting to a host of from positions just in front of the musical artists as diverse as STEVE small stage, or on it, affording us an HACKETT (Genesis), IAN PAICE (Deep Purple), upfront view of fingers, frets, and performances. The ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW (Roger Waters sound by Mike Erander and enduring quality of the / Eric Clapton), JOHN ENTWISTLE (The Who), footage itself is exceptional. ERIC BURDON (The Animals), SUZI QUATRO, GASTANK has, as far as we are aware, never GODLEY AND CREME (10cc), but to name a few. been repeated or show in any markets outside of Then joining these musicians for a few live numbers. the UK. It was never available on home video in any The show was beloved by fans of rock and format and was only recently released on DVD and progressive music who had the chance to see some was enthusiastically snapped up by fans world-wide. well established rock ‘n’ roll heroes, along with a few overlooked artists of the era, playing classic and new The complete Gas Tank is now available from songs live in an intimate setting. www.rickwakemansmusicemporium.com PAGE 12 www.rwcc.com www.rwcc.com PAGE 13 www.animalsasia.org was introduced to Animals Asia by Peter Egan treatment, he now had terminal liver cancer and a few back in 2011 and ever since then I’ve been in awe of days later we lost our beloved bear. the work Jill Robinson and her team do. Towards the end, Cyril sought comfort in fresh I can’t think of a crueller form of animal and dried banana leaves and hessian sacks. He iabuse than bear bile farming. Moon bears are constructed a gorgeous nest and would gladly accept confined for years in tiny cages, offering no moment of as much substrate we could offer him. He stopped respite from excruciating pain, where they eventually eating everything but pumpkin and all things sweet.