A very Merry Christmas to all our regular readers and
contributors. We will soon be in our tenth year of compiling this
web site and all its various pages. Let's hope we will more than
double that eventually.
2009 has been an eventful year. Rob and
Nigel started the year busier in the recording studio than ever
before and the results were clear to see on the Sales and Downloads
pages. Feedback on the Lt Pigeon album "Pigeon Legacy" has been
magnificent and on a personal note I do hope this album won't be
their last.
To our amazement both Stavely Makepeace
and Lieutenant Pigeon tracks have featured on national radio this
year. This is not bad for bands that started their lives in 1968 and
1971 respectively! Added to this we've had the odd bit of radio and
TV exposure with Chris Evans and of course Nige's inclusion on
Eggheads. In fact it didn't end there because Nigel was speaking on
the radio again on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin
wall. If you click on the icon below you will hear him speaking with
BBC Radio 5's Nicky Campbell-- albeit nothing to do with music.
PS I'm happy to say that
we have now obtained permission to include a link to the Nov 9th
interview.
To round off the year there has been the
excellent music exhibition at Coventry's Herbert Art Gallery and
Museum. This has attracted a record number of visitors for such an
event. Don't miss it, it closes in early January.
Let's hope all this activity and
interest in the groups continues into the new year.
A personal Happy Christmas to you all.
Bill Boswell.
Autumn 2009
Well at last BBC2 have broadcast the episode of
Eggheads featuring 'our Nige'. It was actually recorded last December
and finally got transmitted on September 17th. It can now be admitted
that Nigel's team came 2nd!
More broadcast news emanating from the BBC.
On August 25th, completely unbeknown to the boys, Lieutenant Pigeon were
the subject of Chris Evans' Radio 2 "Drivetime" programme in his Top
Tenuous Links feature. So many people 'phoned in apparantly that the
following day Chris decided he wanted one of the band 'live' on air. As
Rob was tied up at the time, Nige took the interview. At the time of
writing this newsletter I am in the throes of obtaining permission off
the BBC to put a transcript of the interview on our web site. Watch this
space!
More broadcast news. On September 5th Brian
Matthew featured the first Stavely Makepeace single, "I wanna love you
like a mad dog" on his Sounds of the 60s show.
Plenty of items for this newsletter.
Observers of the Downloads and Sales Page will know that several new
tracks are now available. We are hoping that some of the tracks from the
Pigeon Legacy album will be played on Chris Evans' show as we've managed
to win him over as a fan.
Finally, has anyone yet found this video on
you tube by Mr E.Trayne? If you have we'd like you to share any
information you may have about the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W35lY_nJc0
More soon, Bill.
PS I'm happy to say that
we have now obtained permission to include a link to the Aug 26th
interview.
Summer 2009
Don't want to start
off on a gloomy note
but the nights are
now drawing in! (An
example of 'half
empty' if ever I
heard I heard it!)
Anyway, on a much
brighter note
there's a new
Lieutenant Pigeon
album due out any
time now. Keep your
eyes on the sales
page as the boys
have produced a
stunning new album
called "Pigeon
Legacy". Some
great new tracks
and, as requested by
so many of you,
they've gone back to
the old original Lt
Pigeon style for
most of the tracks.
Another thing to
look forward to is
the music exhibition
to be held at the
Herbert Art Museum
in Coventry between
October and
Christmas. It covers
the Coventry music
scene for the second
half of the 20th
century and what's
gone on in the first
decade of the 21st
up to now. Needless
to say Rob and Nigel
have contributed
much of the groups'
memorabilia to put
on display. It's
well worth a trip to
the 'Three Spires
City' to see this
exhibition. Sorry
for those of you who
live far away from
the West Midlands
but it is pretty
central and there
are regular train
services from all
over the country to
Coventry.
Yes, I know. The
episode of Eggheads
showing Nigel's
attempts to outwit
the professionals
STILL hasn't been
shown. First it was
due to be screened
in March, then this
was put back to May,
now we understand it
might be as late as
mid September!
(Don't shoot the
messenger!)
Speak again soon.
Bill
Whitsun 2009This is a first. The
boys have made a
spoof video to
accompany the
Stavely Makepeace
rendition of
"Hangman Hangman".
By clicking on to
the link below you
can witness first
hand this emotional
country ballad they
have recorded... www.youtube.com
Great news.
Downloads of the
Lieutenant Pigeon
and Stavely
Makepeace tracks on
iTunes have gone
much better than
expected and for the
first time many
previously unheard
tracks are becoming
best sellers. If you
haven't yet seen the
enormous collection
of available tracks
just put a search in
on the iTunes site.
We've been amazed at
the response to our
announcement that
Nigel will
be appearing as part
of a team
challenging the
Eggheads quizzers on
BBC 2. It was
originally intended
to be broadcast in
March but that has
now been put back to
May. I will let you
have the exact date
if they give it to
me in time.
More soon. Bill.
NEW YEAR 2009
A very happy new year to
you all. Let's hope it
is a good one for all of
us. It has certainly
started off well for the
boys. Well over 100
Stavely Makepeace tracks
plus some others the
boys recorded under
different names over the
years will be available
on iTunes very soon.
This comes on the back
of a similar deal done
for the Lieutenant
Pigeon titles last year.
Don't worry, this will
not affect the downloads
on this site and I hope
to have over 100 on our
own Downloads page
before Easter.
Here's something rather
novel. Nigel was part of
a quiz team challenging
BBC2's Eggheads team in
December. I'm not
allowed to reveal
whether or not they won
but I can tell you the
programme will be
screened either in late
March or early April. I
will certainly put the
transmission date on
this site if the let me
know in time.
Finally on this rather
short news update,
congratulations to Gwen
George who was the first
to give us the correct
matrix number for Mouldy
Old Dough and therefore
win the two Lieutenant
Pigeon vinyl LPs in the
Christmas competition.