Band testimonial for the Bond event...

...we seem to have hit the mark...

‘Cornucopia were fantastic and really adding that “something extra” to our event. Aside from their great performance they were reliable and organised making them easy to work with in preparation for the event. I would highly recommend them for any private or corporate event and wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.’ – Francesca Pickard, BGC Partners

Look closely and you'll see that the silhouette on the right is Jaws...

NatWest Charity Ball

...introducing... Chris Barrie!

Well, Cornucopia rocked the house on Tuesday night at the NatWest ball. Firstly, I was asked to open the entire evening and introduce the host for the evening and guest speaker, Chris Barrie (better known as Rimmer from "Red Dwarf" and Gordon Brittas from "The Brittas Empire"). We played 2 jazz sets during the champagne reception and dinner, then did our dance set from 11pm till midnight. We had our gorgeous brass section, Karen Straw and Louise Hayn, and our star lead singer Damien Edwards, fresh from touring with "The Roy Orbison Story" (playing the title role, no less!), and the velvety voice of the beautiful Sarah Trigg. Lee Burnett, Rees Bridges, Jon Kensington and myself completed the line-up, and the dance floor was packed for our entire set, while people gambled at the casino to raise money for the Prince's Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, St Francis' Hospice and the Newspaper Education Trust. The dinner was amazing, and Chris Barrie was very entertaining. There was also a charity auction.

Joel Pott from Athlete

I was collecting my 9-year old son from a birthday party on Saturday and I ran into an old acquaintance - Joel Pott and I have rubbed shoulders over the years - we always have a brief chat whenever we see each other, which is not really very often. I've known Joel since he was about 15 - not that well, mind - Jonny (our bass man) knows them much better, having toured with them in the USA a few years back. In fact, I've known most of Athlete for a long time, but the last time I saw Joel was a couple of years back when Athlete played the Corn Exchange in Cambridge and we got backstage passes. It was really nice to chat on Saturday, and we spent longer than usual discussing the merits of songwriting, religion, love and other such topics. We've promised to meet up for a pint in the New Year, after the imminent arrival in his household has settled down a bit and he's allowed out again... perhaps another "Wires" will emerge, but hopefully under less scary circumstances...

Richard James Burgess...

...remember Landscape?

I've recently re-established a link with Richard Burgess, who produced, among others, Spandau Ballet in their early days, and who wrote and recorded the song "Einstein A Go Go". I knew Richard years ago when he lived in Camberwell, and he's now living in Washington DC. He originally coined the phrase "New Romantic" in the 80s. Anyway, I'm hoping to hook up with him next time I go over to the States - he's a great guy, and was quite influential on me.

ISES event a success

Function band were a hit

We played some jazz and some party stuff at the ISES event - the layout made it a little difficult to engage with any sort of audience, but apparently we went down very well and hopefully will get some work out of that one...