(The Band In The Sand)

- Disturbing The Peace Since 1994! -

_____________________________

www.bedrockband.com
bedrock@bedrockband.com
PO Box 1225 Oranjemund Namibia

_____________________________

No 8/2002 21 December 2002

_____________________________

CONTENTS

1. Editorial

2. Stop Press

3. Some (More) Useless Facts About Bedrock

1. Editorial

Firstly, may we wish you all a peaceful, safe and enjoyable festive season and hope that 2003 brings all that you would wish for yourselves. Secondly, we would like to thank you all most profusely for the continued support we have enjoyed from you all out there. The band has a number of ideas sketched out for 2003 – including a few gigs further afield – so watch our website (as well as this newsletter) for news of “forthcoming attractions”.

No doubt many of you are wondering what’s happened to the release of CD “So, Where’s The Party?” which was originally intended to occur before year-end. Truth of the matter is that we revised the release date when we unanimously agreed to put quality ahead of expediency. We all believe that this was the right decision because, although we undoubtedly will have missed out on the Christmas sale period, we are satisfied that the end product will be that much better for it.

In terms of practicalities - and for all the wonderful achievements and capabilities of modern technology - it is not easy to “discuss” technical matters between a producer and manufacturer who sit in Johannesburg and Pretoria respectively, the band who sit in Oranjemund and, just for good measure, the graphic artists based in Cape Town. We are so determined to get this product as “right” as possible we have not taken anything as a given, or for granted.

The present status is that we are confident that the complete product will be available for release at the end of January, 2003, so you should have some early New Year cheer – just as you’ve broken, or become bored with, your Christmas presents!!

If you would like to place an advance order for our new CD, please drop us a line at:

Sandmaster@ananzi.co.za

We do not have a final cost for the CD but this will be kept as low as possible, hopefully in the region of R70.00 – R80.00 (retail).

2. STOP PRESS

“Rock ‘n Roll Man” Available As MP3 Download

Thanks to the wonderful support we have always enjoyed from the team at SA Rock Digest (www.cd.co.za), the opening track of our last CD is now available as a download at their affiliated website at www.samp3.com

As you will recall “Rock ‘n Roll Man” did well in the latter part of 2001 being placed in the SA Rock Digest’s Top Twenty of SA Music for three consecutive weeks, just failing to break into the Top Ten. As a precursor to the release of “So, Where’s The Party?”, we jumped at the suggestion that “Rock ‘n Roll Man” be made available as an mp3 so, please, get all your mates and family to go there and DOWNLOAD. And it’s for FREE!!

Finally, a mention of the passing of further music “worthies” from the local scene – Johannes Kerkorrel, John Mair (of Sweatband) and Brian Davidson (of Freedom’s Children). The Southern African musical landscape will be the poorer for their passing. Readers who would like to read more about the impact these musicians made on the local scene are advised to go to the SA Rock Digest site (www.cd.co.za).

BEDROCK Calendars Roll Out

BEDROCK’s calendar for 2003 has proved an instant success and there has been a mad rush for the 500 hard copies that were initially available. If you are living in Oranjemund and haven’t received yours yet, please ask a member of the band for one. Otherwise, they are available from the pub at Don Esteban.

For those of you who are more distant, we have prepared an electronic version of the same, so please pop along to

http://www.bedrockband.com/bedrock_calendar.zip

and download your own, unique BEDROCK calendar.

Congratulations!

We’re not usually into the habit of patting ourselves or close relations on the back but, occasionally, the achievements are auspicious enough to warrant a mention. On this occasion it’s congratulations to a couple of the band’s “affiliates” in Dan Shout (son of bassman, Pete) and Stuart (son of leadman, Kenny). Dan graduated from the SA College of Music at UCT last week with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance and Stuart has just been promoted in his field of sound engineering at the Grand West Casino complex. Stuart has been with Grand West for about two years and is a familiar face “behind the scenes” of many of the productions which have been staged there since opening.

For his part, Dan is presently appearing in “The Original 60’s Show” at the Theatre On The Bay at Camp’s Bay in Cape Town, although he will be absent from the New Year shows as he will be gigging in Gauteng over that period with “Golliwog”. He is also the resident saxophonist at the popular Cape Town club, The Fez, and may be caught there on the busier nights of the week from midnight onwards. Golliwog’s release, “Nasty”, is also now available on a recently released compilation of SA music entitled “Moment In Cape Town” so, if you’re into contemporary SA music sounds, grab your copy!

Well done guys – you’re doing us all proud!!

3. Some More (Useless) Facts About Bedrock

· Joining BEDROCK would seem to be a cure for bachelorhood! The band has, over the years, only had two bachelors in its ranks and both have succeeded in finding wives and settling down whilst gigging with the band. Who were they? Well the first was Charlie Piggott and, more recently, Mike Millad who will be “tying the knot” in March, 2003.

· BEDROCK have never played a New Year’s Eve gig – how’s that for putting the family first? No wonder the chicks are all keen to marry BEDROCK okes!

****************************************

----------------

BedRock - The Band in the Sand

http://www.bedrockband.com