The BedRock Diary 2007
Wednesday 05 December 2007 Eddie Finally Grows BIG!!
It gives Bedrock great pride and pleasure to announce that they have finally completed raising Eddie and that he is now officially Grown Up! You see, Ed turned 50 in December so what better way could there be to close out a year. (No, it’s not true that one of the requirements to join Bedrock is that you must be, either, newly hatched or close to Death’s door…) Anyhow, it was an absolute joy to be able to land a surprise party on Eddie arranged by Bedrock wife, Solange. Eddie was so taken aback that he was speechless for a few seconds…one or two… Happy Birthday, Eddie, and may you have very many more such joyous occasions ahead of you. (Pity you burnt the braai meat but the beers were lekker!). Oh, yes ~ although we celebrated on the 5th, Ed’s birthday is actually on the 9th which leaves you plenty of time to plan what presents you’ll be buying him for his 51st! Sunday 07 October 2007 Tunes Are A-Playing Down In Dining Room Studios… Yes folks, we’ve been a little bit quiet for a while but we’ve definitely not been idle! Pete was up in Luderitz doing his thing at the German Carnival and was joined by his globetrotting saxophone playing son, Dan, for the gig. That was something a bit different and was enjoyed by all who were there.
Eddie and Solange, meanwhile, took themselves off on a well deserved leave break of about five weeks. Since their return they’ve wasted no time in trying to make the rest of us jealous with their stories, jolling all over the place, taking in shows far and wide and last, but not least, extending their Cape Town home. We’re all trying hard to crack an invite to a braai but so far not much is going on…we’ll just have to keep chipping away!! Heiko continues to be in demand, both as a multi-talented entertainer and a babe magnet! He’s been involved in all sorts of things, from gigging with Oranjemund’s other sensational rock outfit, SnoBlind, at the recent Oranjemund Rock Festival to competing – with mixed fortunes – in the town’s annual off-road championship. His race seems to have come to an end when he got locked inside his car and couldn’t get out to push it out of the trouble it was in. That’s certainly a new way of getting disqualified. And, lest we forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Heiko’s Dad, Wilfred, on recently celebrating his Big 50!!! Take it from a senior member of Bedrock, Wilfred ~ now you’ll see how life really rocks!
Meanwhile, whilst everyone else was out having fun, Pete was hard at work honing his songwriting skills. (All together now….”Aaaahhhh shame!”). Well, the effort was certainly worth it as Bedrock went into Dining Room Studios this weekend to start work on their next album. There’s certainly a touch of excitement in the air and it’s just great being back to working towards a particular goal. This album is, of course, seriously overdue with it being more than four years since the release of “So, Where’s The Party?”. Anyway, after the first weekend everyone’s pretty upbeat with the new material. Lots of good ideas have been flowing around and the songs are all taking shape strongly. The album promises to have something for everyone, from the heaviest type of rock to light, radio friendly, commercial material. Heiko’s voice is in good shape and will add something really new and different to the recorded Bedrock sound. If you think he sounds good “live” already, wait ‘til you hear him on disk! We certainly won’t be rushing the album but are aiming to have it “done and dusted” by the end of the year. It would have been great to finish it off earlier, however, it’s Pete’s turn to take leave so that will be causing a bit of a delay in proceedings. No matter, a mid-term break will probably do us all good and no doubt we’ll re-gather all recharged and refreshed. One thing’s for sure, there’ll be a few surprises on the new release so start saving your bucks!!!
Hopefully those of you living in southern Namibia are now tuning regularly in Windhoek’s Radio Kudu which is, after many years of waiting, now available on the air at Oranjemund and Rosh Pinah. Radio Kudu have always supported Bedrock wonderfully and they play tracks of ours on a daily basis. Even some close mates from the SnoBlind community mentioned that they’d awoken to the dulcet strains of Bedrock a few mornings ago!! There just couldn’t be too many better ways to start a day!! Kudu can be found on your radio dial at the following stops :
For those of you who live further afield, Radio Kudu can be access on-line at : What sets Radio Kudu apart from any other radio station is their appreciation of good music ~ not only Bedrock but their play list is full of, not only top hits across the ages, but also some of the more obscure tunes you are fond of but which may never have dominated the charts. Go you good thing! In the meanwhile, watch this space for regular updates on how things are progressing down in Dining Room Studios. Friday 03
August 2007 Saturday 30
June 2007 Friday 15
June 2007
Friday 27
April 2007
Friday 30 March 2007
Friday 26 January 2007 What a hard working band this is - the more mature its
"veterans" become, the more productive they're determined to be!! You see,
Bedrock are generally known to be fairly slow starters to the year.
Why this should have always been isn't exactly clear but the excesses of the
festive season might have played some part. Rather remarkably, in the 12
year history of the band, this is only the second time that we have ever
surfaced in January! The records rather embarrassingly reveal that
So, you'll no doubt take the point that is being made - Bedrock have been notoriously slow starters. 2007's resolution is to put that all behind us! We were determined to give our supporters something fresh to start the year with, so new material has been rehearsed since the first week of January. When it came to choosing a gig date, that also presented a bit of a conundrum. With Eddie being unavailable for the usual month-end date, things had to happen a week earlier. Shock, horror! Would anybody have money to pay the entry fee? Would anyone be back from leave yet? Would the community be ready to party again so soon (relatively speaking) after the New Year festivities? And there was only one answer to those question - YES! YES! YES! (Excuse the echo...) With Dave and Heiko launching personal initiatives,
Dave in his rather Needless to say it all added to the occasion and, fortunately, the town's Party Animals started to flow in thick and steady from early in the evening. The weather was warm and muggy and the best place to be was outside on the stoep with a nice, long, cold beverage and music provided by Bedrock. What more could anyone wish for? And so the evening steadily built to a climax, that of the third set where all the new material would be rolled out. First off was a welcome return to an old favourite of the band's, the Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star". This song had been a crowd pleaser for many years during Charles Piggott's tenure with the band. After he left it slipped from the play list as none of the remaining members were able to render a version as good as Charles'. Until now, that is - the song is easily within the range of Heiko's talent. Next up was a revamped version of the old Sam the Sham & The Pharoah's hit, "Wooly Bully". The band have really rocked this one up and with it's infectious chorus it wasn't long before everyone was singing - or shouting - along.
As per usual, the generous audience kept a steady flow of beer and pumpelmussen heading for the band. Heiko also went the whole hog in testing the theory that whisky is good for you if you have a sore throat. Not sure that the doctor said a litre of it but, either way, it seemed to have the desired effect!
The competition for the "Party Animal" award was also as stiff as ever but, by the end of the night a very clear winner had presented herself - Kellie. Bedrock followers will know from past experience that Kellie's a hard one to go up against when she (and JD) put those party shoes on! Well done, Kage! PS...don't drink it all at once! |
Well, it’s taken nigh on
thirteen years to get it right but Bedrock finally managed to play a
gig in that quaint little boulder town of Bedrock, home of none
other than the Flintstones! This is about as BIG as it can get for a
rock band (excuse the pun). Although the residents of Bedrock are
relatively few in number, they certainly rolled out the red carpet.
This included a courtesy Bedrock limousine for the band to get about
in – not quite a Toyota and a little bit slow and bumpy but, hey, it
was safe! With Heiko and Dave in the front bucket seats, and the
rest ensconced on the rear bench seat, an entertaining sightseeing
trip of the German Club was completed. It was a slow drive, mind
you, with Heiko and Dave producing low levels of “peddling” power to
provide forward momentum. Slow hand? More like Slow Foot – both of
them!
The venue for the bash was the German Club in the centre of Bedrock
dorp. This area is rich in wildlife and a wide variety of animals
and birds were seen. These included the extremely rare lesser sabre
toothed tiger and the tropical pterodactyl which was happy to perch
in a nearby tree, closely watching the band’s activities. This was a
very polite bird because, despite being niggled and taunted by
Solange, it absolutely refused to dump one on her head! After
setting up and completing a sound check, the band retired to the bar
to apply some medicinal lotions to the throats of those who were
suffering from a combination of colds and flu’s. This was going
quite well until Charles Rubble produced a container of stone age
pineapple mampoer. If there was ever going to be anything that would
effectively “clean the pipes”, this was it! One proppie each was
enough to send us all the way up to the hill to Schalk and Dalene
Flintstones cave. 
evident in Bedrock
town was that, being a stone age setting, time and events were going
to move very slowly (which suited the band because we’re pretty much
the same having so many old toppies in our ranks!). Be that as it
may, we took up our station in the rockery, surrounded by the sights
and sounds of Flintstone-ville. The first set came and went with
little to remark on, other than the fact that Heiko proved, yet
again, what a babe magnet he truly is. (Just go ask Bamm-Bamm Rubble
and his mates). Without any exaggeration, he definitely had no less
than half-a-dozen 4 – 7 year olds drooling at him as they sat at his
feet during the opening set! Okay, so the drooling might have had
something to do with their dummies, or the fact that some of them
were teething, but a drool is a drool, ou maat! He thought about
inviting them to contact him when they were 21 but then realized
that he’d be a 101 by then and would probably be deaf so it was
pointless!
sabre toothed tiger didn’t look like he was
going to boogie and the pterodactyl stayed in its tree. Heiko had
fun introducing Fred Flintstone to a new invention – cigarettes.
When Wilma say smoke coming out of Fred’s mouth, she thought that
the microwave had arrived but it didn’t last long as he dissolved in
a coughing fit.
dwellers in
attendance started to grow and, in the fullness of time, a couple of
cave women took to the dance floor. Indeed, a number of the village
folk looked resplendent in their “traditional dress”, well designed
to display the bodily attributes and wellness that comes from
consuming plenty of greens and low cholesterol dinosaur meat!
Anyway, never underestimate the power and charisma of the Wilma
Flintstone sisterhood because, pretty soon, the dance floor started
to actually get quite busy!
managed to go to sleep on the
job! There were signs that things were drifting this way earlier on
but one anticipated that a “second wind” would save the day. No
luck. Suddenly, at a band break, we were down to four. (Pete worked
this out because normally there’s a band member for every thumb and
finger on his left hand). Having concluded the number crunching that
went into calculate the band’s numbers, he finally realised that one
of their number was AWOL. With that, Bassman Pete set about on a
frantic search to locate Davey Mac. Horrible thoughts flooded his
mind of the ailing, delirious and fevered Davey having wandered off
into the stone age forest only to encounter herds of ferocious
Flintstone-belching dinosaurs, finally to perish in a fit of anguish
having been turned into a Jurassic Park brontosaurus cocktail snack.
With olives, dill and a touch of garlic. 
desk. More panic.
Had it been dropped at a great height from the claws of a giant
pterodactyl? Had his throat been surreptitiously rip from his body
by a renegade and rabid saber-toothed tiger? Had he been trodden
underfoot by a rampaging brontosaurus? Or had he fallen victim to
Bedrock town’s biggest threat and scourge, a good, old fashioned,
late night street mugging? Or had something more mundane happened –
had he choked on a plectrum at the sight of a guitar-o-saurus
winging overhead, or had he been strangled by the words of “Every
Breath He Used To Take?”. As Bassman gingerly stepped forward the
supine body of Davey Mac stirred, slowly opening a bloodshot,
clammy, sleep-congealed eye and raising an aching, mampoer-throbbing,
cranium off his temporary pillow in acknowledgement. Panic over.
Davey Mac was being his usual reticent self! Another crisis dealt
with.
Finally, a warm word of thanks to those folk who did come out and
enjoy the party. Your support, as always, is mightily appreciated
and we hope we see you back in due course. Then, to those hard
workers behind the scenes who made such a spectacular effort with
the logistics and décor – Charles, Mathania, “Hoender” and Elzet van
den Heever. Your energies are appreciated and thanks for the
outstanding hospitality. Finally to our Bedrock town hosts, Schalk
and Dalene – thanks, especially, not only for the quality
accommodation and catering, but also for increasing the size of your
garden to create space for Bedrock’s gig vehicles to park! Mooi man!
This
mid-winter, outdoors, gig was billed as a warm-up (literally!) to
the following day’s 2007 Tri-Nations rugby competition’s kick-off.
The gig itself was about two weeks late in coming, seeing as how we
postponed our planned month-end scene so that we could support an
alternative “do” at the local hockey club. It definitely paid off
because, although chilly, it definitely wasn’t as cold and foggy as
the hockey evening. Either way, despite the gig’s theme we had just
about everything else there but not too much evidence of rugby! 
people
around us age. “Ivory tinkler” Solange had a birthday on the 6 June
and “string plucker” Dave celebrated in May. In true Bedrock
tradition, we could not allow the dates to pass without comment and
bestowed a couple of magnificent gifts on the pair. Solange was
overwhelmed by a massive, family pack, of Smarties. Dave, on the
other hand, probably gobbles more jelly tots that the combined
consumption of every playschool in southern Africa. He loves jelly
tots because they don’t run around, scream, demand attention, cry or
break wind. He says that they are the best passengers he ever
carries in his jet. His present? Yes, you guessed it – a “me only”
pack of jelly tots! 
with Namibia will know that, in indigenous dialects, male persons of
older age than one’s self are referred to as “Tate” as an address of
respect. It’s the equivalent of “Sir” or “Mister” in English.
Anyway, Dave has now been uniquely anointed as “Toti” Mac due to his
passion for those spongy little things!
Soon
a whole lot of themes started to emerge. There was a hen party
which, apparently, is for a single girl who’s about to marry. If the
female is a “hen” on this occasion does that make the husband-to-be
“pecked”? The only difference is that the girl is a “hen” for just
one night whilst the lad will be “pecked” for the rest of his life!!
Anyway, “hen” fashions are always lots of fun, usually intended to
be so. And our “hen” was no different. Looking like a mobile display
for Glomail, our very sober and well behaved “hen” limited herself
to trying to be reasonably inconspicuous. One thing that was
evident, however, was that we were able to confirm that “hens” enjoy
rock ‘n roll. Anyhow, on behalf of the band, Best Wishes are
extended to Liesbert and that incredibly lucky man, Kempen, for
their future life together. As you know, if you’d like to cement
your relationship even further, maximizing the harmony that exists
between the two of you, don’t forget to spend lots of time at the “POH”!!
We even do honeymoons!!
opening chords a pair of ladies made their intentions of challenging
for the accolade quite obvious. This was the dynamic duo of Kat and
Arista. Arista had, maybe, the advantage of youthful energy but Kat
had the edge of experience. Throughout the evening they occupied
space on the dance floor, completely exhausting a succession of male
partners who thought they could take the pace! In the final analysis
a debutant Party Animal Award winner justifiably swept the trophy in
the person of Kat Kali. Well done, Kat – let’s see you back to
“defend” your title next time!
lucky
number. Once again, a Bedrock regular took the honours in the form
of Simone Binneman. And once she had her hands on the award Simone
wasted no time in showing how much she was going to enjoy the
contents! 
This
gig could probably be called the night of reconciliation. You see,
Bedrock has always been a very people-oriented band, full of the
warmth of the spirit of humanity and living out the merits of
brotherly (and sisterly) love. Within the band, Bassman Pete
extended the olive branch of peace to lead guitarist, Dave Mac,
unconditionally forgiving him the assaults he suffered at his hands
last time out. In fact, as part of the healing process, Dave allowed
Bassman to stamp all over his feet during this gig just so that he,
too, could share the suffering! Just to ensure that no hurt was
overlooked, Bassman also had a (cheap) shot at impaling his
colleague on the head of his guitar. This was foiled, however, as
the headstock wouldn’t find between Dave’s ribs - but it was fun
anyway!
Outside
the band, Solange’s magnanimity had to extend to a certain member of
the audience who had subjected her to a nightmare trip back from
Luderitz during the week. Our Solange is made of very firm stuff,
that’s for sure – and she needed to be. That experience was, of
course, compounded by the odd late night or two in Luderitz (she’s a
workaholic) so it’s a miracle she could even muster the strength to
make the gig. That was bad enough but when it transpired that the
offender was not only a Blue Bulls supporter, but was also to later
win the “Party Animal” accolade. All this took Solange’s forgiving
nature to depths she never knew were even there! Not even Eddie
would have gotten away with what Herman did! But, as I say, it’s all
in a night’s work for Bedrock…entertaining, healing, forgiving,
exonerating, accommodating…and so it goes on. Anyway, enough of this
rubbish, let’s get on with the real business…
forgotten once the band got into its stride. The turnout was
somewhat short in numbers on what we had experienced last month.
This was to be expected as it’s the height of the May holiday
season, with the frenzy of public holidays that follow one after the
other. Either way, there were more than enough folk to have an
excellent party and, hey, there were some new faces, as well as some
rarely seen ones, in attendance so the vibe was right where it
should have been.
the
“hyena lady”, Ingrid, and her partner. Ingrid has not been able to
attend a Bedrock gig for some time and was really feeling the
pressure. Having finally made it again, she certainly made the most
of it! Around her the Buchters, mostly former, gathered. Alex and
Karen were prominent in their high – and vocal – spirits!! They made
more noise than the band on many occasions! Then, sneaking around in
the shadows, that closet rock-head, Andrew C (not related to Mel C,
by the way!), added to the Luderitz vibe. AC even managed to drag
his Good Lady (no, her initials are not DC…are they?) along which
was something to celebrate in itself!
And
then there were a couple of young Scandinavian ladies, who are
visiting our town, getting down, too. Their presence certainly
energized some of the local bachelors, many of whom normally show
more interest in what’s in their glasses than what’s on the dance
floor! Not tonight, Jose! Suddenly all these usually low profile
Casanovas started to play their cards…and it must be admitted that,
in most cases, their “cards” skills were little dog-eared and tatty!
Don’t worry, boys, practice makes perfect – even if you’re not! And
you probably need to work at your courting techniques – Norwegian
chicks obviously do not see the offer of double brandy and coke, Red
Bull and “peppies”, or multiple shots of Stroh, as the ultimate
African come-on!! And the prospect of a ride on the back of your
quad to the quarry probably isn’t what they’ve always dreamt of! I
suppose you could all blame the language barrier…
Other
rarely seen supporters (mainly because it’s hard to see us from Cape
Town) were Pat ‘n Geoff. Good to see you along for the fun, guys,
and particularly commendable seeing as how the folks were already
“between the sheets”. This despite the fact that people considerably
older than them (read: Bassman Pete and Dave Mac) were still full of
energy, zest and party vibes way into the night! Well done, Geoff,
on winning the booze raffle and, more especially, sharing it with
the band members (and anyone else who’s gob was open) so willingly.
Nice to have thought of keeping back some for the folks…ag, what the
hell, they can afford their own…
photographic
duties for the night, doing a particularly fine job in the absence
of our regular “lens lady”. It can’t be easy getting down, drinking,
making a racket, posing for photographs and taking them yourself,
all at the same time! But our Anlo manages it! The skills and
dexterity of modern youth has to be admired! 
Another
highlight of the night was that of Dave and Heiko getting into a bit
of jazz, opening with a jazz chord…it was a terribly long tune and
was dedicated to Stevie Wonder. The lyrics went something like “I
jazz chord to say I love you…” Get it? Most of the audience didn’t
either but what the hell…
They
say that anything worth having is worth waiting for, and this event
certainly qualified for that! This was always going to be a HUGE
party as the Town would be saying farewell to two Party Animals of
note, folk, who over many years in the community, would always be
found at the leading edge of any celebration that was to be had. And
this particular party had been planned for a number of months and
had even been postponed from one date to the other. But, at the risk
of repeating ourselves, anything worth having is worth waiting for.
Besides, when you're going on pension what's the rush anyway? Old
farts never rush!
appear at the venue's door. And in they came - first
in a trickle, then a stream and, ultimately, a flood! Boy, were we
all taken aback. You see, we've been playing this venue (The Don)
for many a year and know what to expect in terms of attendance. At
this time of year there are certain other distractions, such as
school holidays, so it's normal for numbers to be a bit down on the
usual trend. Right? Wrong! Maybe there're less kids at school these
days, or people can't afford school holidays or, given the choice of
a family holiday or an evening with Bedrock, the latter prevailed.
Who will ever really know?
Okay, so this occasion
was really exceptional. Did we exceed 110? Oh, yes! In fact, how
about exceeding 150? It was absolutely crazy. By 23:00 entering the
bar was an impossibility as drinks were procured through the open
windows and friends established "chain gangs" between bar counter
and door, passing rounds along to the latest caller and payer!
probably to be expected that all this bonhomie
and high spirits would effect the band's members in some way,
manifesting itself in their behaviour. And so this proved to be the
case. Dave Mac decided that the best way to exhibit his glee would
be by assaulting the bass player every time he felt happy! The first
"attack" came in the form of a major foot-stomping of the bassist's
right foot in the frenzy of a Status Quo lead break! Amidst the
sound of crunching bones and tearing toe skin, the bassist manfully
struggled to maintain concentration as he hobbled around on the
spot. "Hobblin' All Over The World" had taken on a completely new
meaning!
Alarmed by the severity of the assault, our lead guitarist decided
to go one better a few short songs later when, in a fit of
unmitigated excitement, he thrust his guitar neck into the bassist's
unguarded chest. Have you ever tried to bend over double and hobble
at the same time? It is definitely something of a challenge! Of
course, it must be hastily added, there was no indication that these
assaults were premeditated or intended and, to be fair, Dave Mac
wasn't slow in administering copious quantities of those traditional
elixirs, Tafel and Pumpelmussen, to ease the pain away. The potions
were a little slow to act but perseverance had its reward because,
by 02:00, the pains and aches had been released!
reputation as a dancer of no mean standard, it was
his opportunity to make his debut as a singer. Slightly stressed, he
soon relaxed under the guiding hand of his more experience boet and,
with Bedrock's spirit soon overcoming him, he was soon bellowing
away like a seasoned campaigner! Well done, Dieter - Heiko may have
some competition amongst the family!
As the midnight hour came and went, the business end of the evening
started to approach. First, there was a Well & Truly Hampered!
fantastic hamper which was presented to the retirees, Gert and Steph,
as a gesture of appreciation from the band, the pub's management and
employees and the audience. Travel well with your hamper, guys - and
don't drink it all at once!
the
band's favoured month for getting going is March (1995,1997, 1999 & 2004) and
February (1998, 2001 & 2002). Nothing like slipping into a new year nice and
slowly, is there? In fact, the worse we've even done is July!
Positively slothlike! Let's not even go there...
interesting kilt worn sockless with big army-type boots and Heiko wearing
make-up. It's no rumour that Pete and Eddie initially looked at this lot
with no little amount of trepidation!! They both presented sights and
images that are hard to describe in words...
Matters
took a real twist when the cover of Just Jinger's current hit, "What He Means"
followed. This is quite an ambitious song but the band were happy to say
that they basically "nailed it" in their first public performance.
The rest of the set comprised Nickelback's "Photograph", Quo's "In The
Army Now", Free's "I'll Be Creepin" and "All Right Now", topped off with Weezer's chart topper, "Beverly Hills". This is also a raucous crowd
pleaser and, following on "All Right Now" silence was not the order of the
night! Then, just when they thought things couldn't get any better they
did - with a Bedrock original penned by Dave MacMillan called "My Girlfriend's A
Goofball". With it's catchy rifts and crazy lyrics people soon felt they'd
known it for years before they'd stopped dancing to it. 