Light entertainment roundup

Two of the biggest clubland attractions in the north have joined forces to present a touring show, designed with putting the “glam” back into glam rock.

The Gutter Band, originally modelled on disgraced rocker Gary Glitter’s old band, have reinvented themselves by removing the Glitter character and replacing him with an Elvis spoof and tributes to many of the biggest names on the seventies glam rock scene.

Joining them on the road are The Space Cadets, a leading comedy band who are already one of the biggest attractions in clubland.

* A working men’s club style venue in Leicester is emerging as a major cabaret venue, following a recent refurbishment which has brought new customers flocking through the doors.

Newfoundpool Non-Political Club now boasts a large upstairs concert room which stages cabaret several nights a week, while there is another cabaret room downstairs.

The club has instituted a children’s section, with occasional family entertainment, and there are now amenities which have turned part of the club into a friendly environment for the young.

The section also includes a dance school and the children now have their own membership cards. Club president Paul Thomas says the children “are very proud of [the cards] and get quite upset when they are lost”.

* A rash of recent deaths among agents in the Yorkshire region has shaken showbusiness. Four leading figures in clubland entertainment having died recently.

Mick Brassington of MJB Entertainments, better known as Michael France, was once lead singer of Stormer, managed by Ringo Starr, and had been Yorkshire Secretary of the Agents Association.

Mike Storey, based in Huddersfield, was one of the leading country music agents in Britain and had recently announced his retirement, with his assistant Christine Coupe running the agency.

Also departed is the long-established Yorkshire agent Alan Arrowsmith, following a lengthy battle against lung cancer. Mike Doolan, who worked in the office of Barnsley-based Graham Platts, was another lung cancer victim.

Present Yorkshire secretary Mark Davis, specialist in comedians and after-dinner speakers, said: “I was shocked and saddened to hear of the deaths of so many of our colleagues. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to their families and friends.”

* A young “discovery” musical act of 1965 has just celebrated 40 years in showbusiness. The Bobbi Jean Trio enjoyed an anniversary night in a Kingussie hotel, with guests and goodwill messages from all over the world.

Bobbi Jean was the stage name chosen by 16-year-old Balham born Charlotte Ann Sturgeon when she became resident vocalist at the Pigalle in London, where dance music was dispensed by the Combo d’Ecosse, four Scots boys from Kingussie. Bobbi and two of the lads – Alastair Maclean, who played piano, organ and harmonica, and Alastair Meade, guitarist – have been the Bobbi Jean Trio for years.

There was an intermediate time between combo and trio when Bobbi Jean and the Scots Boys – the third boy being drummer Rab Smillie – were on the books of George Elrick’s agency. It was then that they played seasons at Ayr Gaiety and Glasgow Pavilion. They also played seasons in South Africa and in the Far East during the Vietnam War.

Bobbi Jean and Alastair Maclean married in 1971. They moved back to Kingussie and, with a bassist, played for years at the old Aviemore Centre and the luxury Coylumbridge Hotel. Now they occupy a regular slot at the Hilton House Hotel in Dunkeld.

* It’s only the middle of January and ukelele and violin virtuoso Andy Eastwood again has one of the fullest datebooks in the business.

He tours with Ken Dodd in the Happiness Show in May and June, stars with Danny La Rue for an April season at the Grand, Wolverhampton, and does two nights in a special Variety Spectacular at the Winter Gardens, Margate on April 28 and 29, all of which cause him to take time out from another season of Duggie Chapman’s We’ll Meet Again, which had a successful spell at Blackpool in the summer of 2005.

* One of the surprise successes on the major touring circuit last year was Patrick (Paddy) McGuinness, known for his TV hit series with Peter Kay, Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere.

He begins another tour in February at the Monaco Ballroom, Wigan, graduating to the big time the following month at such venues as Glasgow Pavilion, Hull New, Liverpool Royal Court, a rare comedy gig at Shepherds Bush Empire and Blackpool’s mammoth Opera House.

* The Australian Bee Gees, comprising Michael Clift (Barry Gibb), Wayne Hasking (Maurice), David Scott (Robin), plus musicians Tony Richards and Mike Mitchell, launch a major UK tour in Manchester on March 12, concluding at Salisbury City Hall on April 15.

* Set for a spring tour is the Paris Can-Can Show, which will be visiting the Grand, Blackpool. A mixture of song, dance and circus, it features Tina Clay, Daniel Mathez and Reynald Vallero, Duban Nichol, Paul Ponce and Anne Hubert, with a line-up of Can-Can girls and boys.

* The Lady Boys of Bangkok return for a long summer tour. In addition to a festival date for six-weeks in The Meadows, Edinburgh, they will appear in Brighton, the Lowry Waterfront in Salford and Times Square, Newcastle. The new show is called Full Moon Party.

* Tony Denton is presenting a tour by The Osmonds (Wayne, Merrill, Jay and Jimmy), opening at Portsmouth on February 23.

They continue with a nationwide itinerary, finishing at the NIA Academy, Birmingham on March 17, with Hammersmith Apollo the night before.

* If you thought that the music of Ted Heath was gone forever, think again, because Chris Dean is launching a revival tour at the Queen Elizabeth Hall this coming Saturday. Once again Derek Boulton is again associated with the project, having just overseen the retirement concert of Don Lusher’s previous Heath Band.

Dean, one of our foremost trombonists, was a member of the reformed Heath band, led the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, and has also successfully led a big band under his own name.

* The winner of Joey Blower’s Pubstars contest, held at the Merrie England Showbar, Blackpool just before Christmas, was David Boucher from Hengoed, South Wales, voted for unanimously by a highly knowledgeable panel.