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Product Sales - - see
SALES
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Winter 2005
Rob and Nigel have asked me to thank all
of you who have continued to support the web site and in particular
the sales page. After all, it's the sales which enable us to keep
the whole thing going! This year has been a bumper one for sales,
top seller being The Alternate Takes and Versions 'white label' CD.
(To the amazement of us all.) Many thanks to regular contributor
Dave Ashby for his original suggestion prompting this release.
A CD release which we haven't yet
mentioned on the site is the 2005 RPM Record Sampler, "How's About
That Then?" The CD has 15 tracks including Stavely Makepeace's
"Smokey Mountain Rhythm Revue" plus many others by various by
various artistes. There's no catalogue number as it's essentially a
promotional product but if any of you would like a copy, please send
us an e.mail and we'll try to arrange it.
Talking of "Smokey Mountain Rhythm
Revue", this track has been picking up lots of radio plays this
year. Even this week (first in November as I write this), it's been
featured on BBC's Coventry and Warwickshire Radio's "Sound Chamber"
show.
Still plenty of time to order CDs or
books for your friends Xmas stockings by the way.
In my January 2006 letter I hope to be
giving details of an exciting new sound Rob and Nigel have been
working on. With luck there'll be the most outrageously different CD
in the pipeline!
Happy Christmas to you all.
BB.
Autumn 2005
After much deliberation the boys have decided to release their version of "Bobbing up and down like this" as the autumn Lieutenant Pigeon release. As yet they haven't one hundred per cent decided what other titles to include on the CD so if you have any suggestions get them in quick!
It's been a fairly quiet summer so far
with domestic issues at the top of all of our agendas. I must
apologise for the web site temporarily going off line recently. That
fault has now been rectified and it shouldn't happen again. One on
going thing for 2005 has been the perseverance of local journalist
Pete Chambers in his quest to get new local streets and roads named
after bands from the Coventry area. It would be quaint to see "Lt
Pigeon Avenue" or "Stavely Makepeace St".
If you want to see Rob playing 'live'
he's on soon with his rock'n roll show in the Midlands again. Dates
and venues are Ashby Tavern Hinckley 12th Aug & Railway Hotel
Hinckley 10th Sept
And for those of you who have heard of
the "Crewe Open Day", (which will probably mean something to railway
enthusiasts but little to anyone else!), Nige is making a brief
appearance there between 12 noon and 2pm on Saturday September 10th.
He will be present on the Traction Magazine stand to meet people and
sign various bits and bobs. My advice to you is not to miss this
rare opportunity as he usually shies away from any public
appearances these days. (It must have been the railway connection
which tempted him out of hibernation!)
Anyway, keep on rockin' and a rollin'
and there'll be another newsletter along soon. Bill.
Summer 2005
Sorry there's been no newsletter for a
while, but let's put that right. Firstly, a few weeks ago we became
aware of a new version of Mouldy Old Dough. This time it's by a group
called Union Jackson and apparently it's doing quite well. A copy was
sent to us and the boys were impressed. In fact they like it so much
that they've offered a B side to Union Jackson which might help sell the
CD. The B side id the recently recorded, "Drowning in Music".
Another bit of action concerns Pigeon
fan Jarvis Cocker. He's been asked to compile a CD of his favourite
tracks and he wants to include either a Stavely Makepeace or a
Lieutenant Pigeon track. Any suggestions? By the way, I hope you all
heard him on Desert Island Discs? He included Mouldy Old Dough in
his choice of eight records!
There's been a lot of publicity in the
Coventry Evening Telegraph this year for Stavely Makepeace. Pop
writer Pete Chambers seems to have a soft spot for the band. On
April 12th he did a two page article on the history of SM complete
with pictures.
A lot of 'regular visitors' to our site
are sending in requests for particular copies of original masters to
be put on CD. This is not a problem. We can run off any track you
care to mention onto a CD but it will have to be priced at four
quid, (well £3.99). In fact you can have up to three titles of your
own choice on a white label for that price. Please send your orders
to our distributors though, (address on the SALES PAGE), oh, and
don't forget to make all cheques out to Makepeace Music.
Lastly, I have received countless
letters asking about the Lieutenant Pigeon 'live' gigs which are
being advertised in the press. The full story behind this appears
both in the book, (When Showbusiness is No Business), and elsewhere
on this site. However, just to clarify the points we've made before,
the band who go out 'on the road' as Lt Pigeon have nothing to do
with us. Rob and Nigel have given them their blessing and are
pleased that they are keeping the name alive but no, there are no
original band members in the line up. This ended when Steve Johnson
left them a few years ago. After this happened they asked Rob and
Nigel if they could continue using the name for 'live' gigs and the
boys consented. Perhaps any of you who see them playing might like
to write a review for us??
Keep your comments coming in, they are
most appreciated, and keep an eye on the site as there will be news
of a brand new CD soon!
All for now. Bill B.
All for now. Bill B.
Spring 2005
A very sad moment for us came at 04.45 0n
Friday 18th February when, at the age of 15 years 8 months and 3 days
our old faithful dog Merlyn died. She'd been with us since 1989 and will
live on in our e.mail address as well as in our hearts and on the sleeve
of every Stavely Makepeace RPM 280 CD. She was a real character and
will be sadly missed. Luckily Nige has lots of video of her over the
years, including some rare footage of her climbing a tree! (Yes, that's
not a mistake. She would do anything to retrieve a stick, including this
rare spectacle usually restricted to the feline species!) "Old grey
chops is dead, long live Grey Chops".On a more cheerful note, some of you have suggested that we issue a CD of "out takes" and unreleased versions of some of the Lt Pigeon and Stavely Makepeace songs. Keep an eye on the sales page as it's in the pipeline! BB.
2005
2005 has started of as hectic as 2004 ended. With all this fuss about
the 1,000th number one, just about everyone who has had one of the other
999 has attracted the attention of the media. Rob and Nigel are no
exception! Last week their local newspaper The Coventry Evening
Telegraph did a feature on the boys and on Friday Jan 21st they appeared
as guests on Liz Kershaws afternoon programme for BBC WM Radio. Liz
asked them, "If Elvis had the thousandth No. One, what number was
yours?"
Neither of the boys knew so a copy of the
Guinness Book was hurriedly produced and they discovered theirs had been
the 321st. Liz also showed interest in the 35 minute single Opus 400
plus the autobiography "When Show Business Is No Business". It was a
thoroughly enjoyable encounter with lots of good humour and comical
banter. Did anyone record it??
During the Christmas period Rob and Nigel
buried themselves in the studio again and came up with the very cynical
song "Drowning in Music". Whether or not they want it releasing yet they
haven't said.
A very happy 62nd birthday to Steve Tayton
who is now living in France. One of the early members of Stavely
Makepeace, Steve has developed into one of the world's leading exponents
of modern jazz. A true gentleman and a musical genius!
Speak to you all in the Spring. Bill