BLOG 87 1st November 2013

Oh blimey!! Where do I start. Late again….

September was full on. On the 15th sue and I went to Rio de Janeiro and did the whole tourist thing for five days and stayed at the Windsor Hotel on Copacabana Beach. It’s definitely worth a visit. I think the last time I was there was maybe twenty years when I was on a world tour with the violinist Vanessa-Mae. On the 29th Sep Sue flew out of Rio up to my sister Christine’s place in Norfolk Virginia for ten days and that same evening Ciaran Gribbin, the singer with INXS who I manage, flew in from Sydney Australia for two solo shows at the amazing Rock In Rio Music Festival. Other s on the bill were Jessie J, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Oakenfold, Matchbox Twenty etc etc and on the closing Sunday night the mighty Iron Maiden. I had been keeping in touch with Maidens manager Rod Smallwood while they were on the road in South America and we planned to meet up on the Saturday night before their Sunday show. Coincidentally they were staying in the hotel next to Ciaran and I so we went along and spent the night in their bar…. On the Sunday Ciaran and I flew off to LA where we spent the week meeting various film and music industry people. On the same flight out of Rio was Springsteen’s band and DJ Paul Oakenfold who’s house in LA we went to one evening. On our first night in town we had dinner with a great guy we know who’s the MD of the big media company Octagon. Lady Gaga was eating there and few other faces but importantly the food was so good Ciaran and I went back a few days later with our good friend the actor Ben Barnes (Narnia movies and also starred in ‘the film ‘Killing Bono’ that Ciaran wrote all the music for. We spent a bit of time with The Police guitarist Andy Summers which was very nice. We also had a few hours with Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid over at the house in Santa Monica he shares with the singer Ed Sheeran.
We met the legendary Don Was who produced the song Ciaran has written that Al Pacino sings in his new movie. Don is also the President of Blue Note Records. We had dinner in a great restaurant in Malibu Beach with Iron Maiden’s producer Jerry Shirley and we spent a few hours before we left LA at INXS bass player Garry Beers and his lovely family’s house. As you can see it was a mad week of back to back meetings with a lot of very interesting people. We left LA on the Saturday night, Ciaran home to Sydney and me to London. Phew! What a crazy two weeks. Oh yes and Ciarans very talented musician brother John Gribbin joined us for a couple of days while he was over from New York where he now lives…..

Since getting back from that trip the next final Quo Frantic Four tour has been announced and the tickets are selling like hot cakes and I’m really looking forward to getting the harmonica out of semi-retirement again and spending a month on the road with the band. I see too the 2013 Quo Re-Union tour video is in the top five throughout Europe. The Earbook is also a great package.

Our new Grandson Alfie is a joy and his brother Leo has really taken to him. Kirstie and Barney too are doing great. Happy days….

Have you all got your copy of the new, updated. paperback Quo coffee table book. If I say so myself it’s a great book and I’m very proud of it. Having Adrian Cross working with me on the design has been invaluable. We also did the Frantic Four tour merchandise and programme designs together earlier this year and are about to start work on the 2014 tour coming up.

Adrian has an exciting project coming up next month. It’s a Pop-Up shop in Bristol open for only ten days December 5th – 15th and will be selling high end limited edition British Rock and Roll memorabilia. He’s calling it ‘The Great British Rock n Roll Fair’ with plans for the second one in Liverpool in the Spring. Check this out and give him your support www.gbrrf.com

Check out this USA magazine with Quo on the front cover and excellent article starting on page 20 ...more

My book This Raging Storm is close to completion and my plan now is to have it out before the end of February in time for the 2014 Reunion Tour.

Did anyone see the Jimi Hendrix TV documentary just recently? It was directed by my good friend the hugely talented Bob Smeaton who was also responsible for The Beatles Anthology a few years back.

Also check out this album by The Western Sizzlers www.thewesternsizzlers.com with some excellent country rock songs including a cool version and video of Quo’s song ‘Break The Rules’ ...more Kevin Jennings is the man behind it all and he’s been a big Quo fan for maybe thirty years.

Another of my favourite outfits is Groove Armada. Okay maybe a bit too dance for some of you but as my son Jamie has been tour managing them for almost 15 years and they also sampled the Rossi/Young Quo song ‘April Spring Summer & Wednesdays’ in one of their cool songs of course I’ll always support them. Not only that Tom and Andy are very cool mates to have. Andy has his won album out now too and well worth a listen www.daysofmay.com/

Next month is the Christmas ‘Old Boys (and Girls) Lunch’ which is always great fun. (Noddy Holder has already emailed to say he’s going.) I’ll report all in my Xmas Blog.

Right that’s it for another month. Hope you all have fun on the Quo tour which is about to start. I’ll be taking in Brighton and maybe the O2.

Cheers for now
Bob xx