August 2010
Only three weeks to go until our Glastonbury gig!
The band is raring to go, and we have a feeling that you'll love our selection of songs. Not only will there be classic numbers but also a chance to hear rarely performed Moody Blues songs run by Mike Pinder and Ray Thomas. Yes, we'll be doing ‘Thinking is the Best Way to Travel’; yes, we'll be doing ‘Eternity Road’; we’ll even be playing..(ed: that’s enough for now!) Anyway, tickets and further details are available from Beckets Inn 42 High Street Glastonbury or Jeremy Debarbara at geminijezz@googlemail.com
Now, talking of Ray Thomas… Blue Onyx are delighted to learn that Ray Thomas and his wife Lee (together with some friends) are coming to our Leatherhead theatre gig on Saturday December 4th! (WWW.THE-THEATRE.ORG or 01372 365141) Naturally, the band members were overjoyed at the thought that Ray will be there in person to see and hear our tribute to the magnificent Moody Blues (although it did take us a while to calm down when we first heard the news!).
Again, talking of Ray Thomas… have you heard that Ray will be releasing a special boxed set of his two solo LPs ‘ From Mighty Oaks’ and ‘ Hopes, Wishes and Dreams’. There are more details about this and all that Ray Thomas is up to on his excellent brand new website www.raythomas.me
That's all for now - we're off to practise tabla and to find a swordmandel!
Yours Bluonically
Steve Hutchinson
June 2010
LiveLounge lived – next stop, Glastonbury!
Blue Onyx had their first outing with their new line-up at BrooklandsFM’s LiveLounge event last week on Bank Holiday Monday at the start of our ‘tour’ with electrifying folk-rockers Kindred Spirit. In spite of the quick set-up time, very small stage and a one minute(!) sound check, people at the event were very complimentary about our performance. Representatives from Leatherhead theatre came along to see how Kindred Spirit and Blue Onyx worked and described it as “great” so I guess we did something right that night! Thanks to those of you who came along – it’s encouraging to see fans of the band returning for more!
So what’s this about Glastonbury? Are we replacing the sorely missed U2? Unfortunately, no – we’ll be playing at Glastonbury Town Hall on Saturday 4th September as we showcase a sizeable chunk of the amazing Moody Blues Album ‘To Our Children’s Children’s Children’, perform the second half of ‘In Search of the Lost Chord’ and play a number of old favourites, including a few masterpieces from former members Pinder and Thomas – venue & ticket details to follow shortly.
April 2010
Monday, May 31st - 6pm (doors open 5.30pm)
Held in Radio Brookland's FM Live Lounge concert hall (1st floor, Weybridge library, Church St.Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 8DE), which holds around 150 people. The whole thing will be broadcast live over the internet and live video streaming via U Stream! The radio presenters will also chat a little to the performers between numbers - so it will be an interesting and unusual concert to watch live! We'll be doing about a dozen classic tracks including Simple Game, Question and of course Nights in White Satin!
Saturday, September 11th
hosted by Marlow FM radio station, they're hoping to launch in September but until then, Marlow FM can be listened to online http://www.marlowfm.co.uk/. - the exact time is still to be finalised. This is an excellent late summer festival venue so well worth a visit.
Saturday, December 4th
Leatherhead theatre - an exciting larger venue (500 seater) that offfers excellent sound and lights that will enable Blue Onyx to showcase some great Moody Blues songs - all the band's best-loved tunes plus one or two tracks that not even the Moodies have played live! Find out more from the web site.
BOX OFFICE: 01372 365141
WWW.THE-THEATRE.ORG
January 2010
New Year – New Onyx!
Happy New Year from everyone in Blue Onyx!
2010 promises to be even more exciting for us than 2009. Though we were sorry to lose our drummer Mark (personal commitments), we are delighted to welcome onboard Charlie Wade. Charlie is a stalwart of the swinging sixties and enjoyed chart success with his band ‘The Symbols’ as well as also working with ‘Tinkerbell’s Fairydust’ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkerbells_Fairydust – where he teamed up with brother and bass player Ged. And now Blue Onyx are fortunate enough to have them both! We’re already rehearsing and looking forward to the new season and some great concerts!
Breaking News – Blue Onyx and Kindred Spirit to play joint gigs! Following our very successful joint venture at Central Studio Basingstoke, we’re planning a number of concerts throughout Southern England during 2010 with folk-rockers Kindred Spirit.
For those of you who’ve not heard them, Kindred Spirit are an electrifying folk/rock band who deliver amazing instrumental virtuosity and some great original songs. Catch their latest Album ‘Metamorphosis’ on the website www.elainesamuels.co.uk.
So watch this space – more details to come shortly.
September 2009
Blue Onyx to open Marlow Festival!
Can’t get to Weyfest next Saturday (5th September) to see us? No problem – come along to Marlow Festival where Blue Onyx will be performing the mid-day opening set, including all time Moodies classics such as “Ride My SeeSaw”, “Legend of a Mind” and, of course, “Nights in White Satin”!
Our 40 minute set will also include, not one, but two Mike Pinder compositions – “Melancholy Man” and “So Deep Within You”. So, if you like the Moody Blues, you’ll love the set we’re unleashing upon the public!
See you there
Blue Onyx Bassist in Fairydust up!!
Ged Wade, bass player for Blue Onyx, is currently enjoying a resurgence of interest in his 60s group “Tinderbells Fairydust”, with a three-page spread in the forthcoming Record Collector and the re-release of their 1969 self-titled album. Their song “2010” reached No.2 in the Japanese charts and the band are intricately woven into the history of pop in the 1960s.
May 2009
Well, the secret’s out – Blue Onyx are booked to play at WeyFest on Saturday 5th September 2009 (http://www.weyfest.co.uk/). It sounds like a great festival to be involved with, what with Jethro Tull headlining the same evening!
We’re very excited to be playing there – we’ll be on the Old Kiln stage along with our good friends Kindred Spirit (www.elainesamuels.co.uk) with whom we shared a memorable night last year at Central Studio Basingstoke. Not sure of all the details yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we have them.
We’re also very pleased with our new DVD which our friend Alex Skidmore has produced for us – should be a good one to show prospective agents. We’ll be posting it up asap so watch this space!