Dear Music lovers... We left the last chapter at November 2005 and bid farewell to the June Summer Special with the knowledge that any future second shows would not be in summer as there are more than enough summer shows across the country the nation is also taking annual summer holidays. In 2006 we had a new DJ namely Jim Killey. Jim had been in the music business as a DJ for many many years living in Manchester he was well placed playing in all of the popular clubs and he was able to bring along to Blackpool his happy band of followers which of course was ideal for swelling the ranks of guests at my shows. Jim was to be the Blackpool DJ and Host until December 2011 and was to provide his knowledgeable and laid back style of hosting. He was very good at turning my very brief request of an announcement into a logical and concise announcement which was comprehensively clear to the audience. At this point I should mention also mention another person namely Paul Barrett he had been my music agent back in the days of my pre Blackpool first band nights in 1990 at Rolls Royce Social Club in Mountsorrel Leicester. This was the beginning of a great friendship which still flourishes today Paul used to be Shakin Stevens Manager in his height of fame years. Paul has provided me with all of the bands that I have ever booked and still does to this day The Blackpool line up is always discussed with him and his input is invaluable and when we have discussed the pros and cons of each band in respect of the final line up he contacts the bands, sends off the contracts and that then sets up another Blackpool show - this is generally twenty months before the actual show. I could not have managed without Pauls highly professional help some 24 years now. Before we continue I have realised that in my haste I have forgotten too include a number of significant events that occurred in 1998 and 2005. My intention when I started the Blackpool shows was to try and attract guests from Scotland as traditionally Blackpool was their popular holiday home from the early years and of course I was the only Rock and Roll. show within range of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Consequently I placed advertisments in 1998 for the show in the Glasgow Herald newspaper resulting in my first bookings from Scotland with Jean and Peter Cranie and three friends all from Jeans Glasgow dancing class and over the years it was to grow to twenty guests. In 2005 Ray and Nicky Doull also from Glasgow came from their dancing class Rock Till U Drop and were to grow to the present day party total of forty plus and is now the largest party attending. Other party groups came and grew along the way from Yorkshire (Jolly Jivers Patrice and Kevin Baxter ) the North East party twenty plus (Lorna Moore) and the Nottingham party ( Mick Cope & John Street ) if I have overlooked naming other party groups and I probably have then I apologise as there are many regular smaller groups and couples of equal importance to the show and far to many to name. They all add up to making a large loyal sell out audience each year and are all very much appreciated. November 2006 continued within the period of the Illuminations and I wondered in respect to dates if the future shows would still enjoy this fabulous free light show as the Savoy was on the promenade in the heart of the Illuminations and was a spectacular sight. To find the answer I decided to speak to Mike Chadwick whom I had known for years he was a senior person in the Blackpool Tourist Infomation office and and had helped me advertise my events via the resources of his office since my first show in 1994. To calculate the start and finish of the lights a basic formula is used whereby the lights are switched on the Friday night following the August bank holiday and finish on the Sunday night after nine weeks which means they are generally on for 63 days - dead easy !!! so, I could now calculate for future shows if the lights would be on prior to printing my next years leaflets. From the formula above I calculated that for the next three years the shows would fall in the Illuminations period which was a bonus but all was to change in 2010 but not for a mathematical calculation. The line up for 2006 was The Kingcats, Crazy Jay and the Partytimers, Jive Romeros and Colin Paul and the Persuaders. The costs were £137 and £177 and was Jim Killeys first weekend as the DJ. Thursday night was just a Record Hop with Jim Killey and the numbers attending Thursday over recent years were starting to increase - Thursday night had always been an option night for the guests. This was to be Crazy Jay and the Partytimers last appearance as a band as they were splitting up to persue other avenues. Crazy Jay told me it was their last show just one hour before their performance, they chose my event because it would be a full house send off - and what a send off it turned out be - I will never forget it they were just superb !, it was a privlege and an honour that they chose the Savoy at Blackpool to do this. They were a great show band and sadly missed to this day. My grandson Jake had been playing drums at home ! for a number of years and had attended the Blackpool shows for a number of years as a regular guest with his parents and I jokingly said to him one day you may be on the stage at the Savoy - it was to be this year. During the afternoon when the Jive Romeros where setting up and doing their sound checks I asked Zak their lead guitarist if it would possible for my grandson Jake to play the drums with the band after they had set up and so he did it was a big moment for him and of course his parents and me. Zak then said he was so good that he could play a number with the band in their evening performance, Jake was nervously up for it and performed brilliantly playing Bona Sera - he had now played on the Blackpool stage! Happily the bookings for the next year 2007 which included the Illuminations were oversubscribed as early as December 2006 resulting in a large number of loyal guests and their friends with nowhere to go and they would understandably eventually book elsewhere. The bands that year were The Jets with Charlie Gracie, Linda Gail Lewis with Mark Keeley and Good Rockin Tonite and the Juke Box Eddies with Jim Killeys Record Hop on Thursday and the Thursday night numbers were still steadily growing.The Juke Box Eddies later went reform as Mike Byrne and the Sunrockers. This was to be the only time at Blackpool that two American artistes were to be on the same bill. The early over subscribing for 2007 suggested that a second show was now feasible but not in the very overcrowded events summer as these were to be winter event guests. It is quite easy and I am saying this with guarded modesty that after so many years promoting shows I find it quite easy for me to put another show together. Providing you have the venue, facilities, resources and skills to do it - selling it is the hard bit. I already had available large oversubscribed sales to hand, so here we go for another second show at the Savoy but it was to be second winter show just three weeks after the long running November show. A call to the Manager of the Savoy Hotel who happily agreed to a second show with me requesting that early December was my ideal choice for the new show and a meeting was arranged for the following week. Maureen and I attended the meeting armed with my costings and outline plans already prepared. It was to be a Christmas flavoured show and needed a suitable name to reflect this fact and distinguish it from another Rock & Roll weekend show at the Savoy. I requested the first weekend in December as a Christmas show credibly needed December in its date and to be before Christmas as I did not want it to fall in the twixmas period which is after Christmas. It was duly agreed the first weekend of December it was to be I was offered suitable room rates, special drinks prices and a Christmas menu with hotel decked out throughout in a seasonal theme and that was it - all I needed now was a title for the show. Sitting in the lounge with Maureen after the meeting pondering what to call the new show and having eliminated such awkward titles as, Rockin around the Christmas Tree, Blackpool Christmas Rock, Rockin Christmas and unsuitable others we had run out of ideas - Then came that Ureka moment - reception were playing Christmas music over the lounge speaker system and then suddenly on came Jingle Bell Rock thats it !! I said to Maureen why dont we call the new show Jingle Bell Rock. It was to us the perfect name for the show - it was short, succinct and said it all - Jingle Bell Rock it was to be and is probably the best title ever for a Christmas Rock and Roll show and everbody also knows the tune as it is a Christmas classic. This show title has now become part of Christmas Rock and Roll at Blackpool - how we still miss it - but who knows may be someday - guests still regularly ask me when will Jingle Bell Rock return ? We now had the hotel, the dates and a name all we needed now was the bands, leaflets and national advertising. All but the leaflets were just a telephone call away, even the leaflets were only a visit to the design studio of my long time printer Fineprint of Nottingham. The leaflet had to have a snowy scene for its header I wanted the Tower, plenty of sky, Trams and snow. The internet had no answers and Blackpool Tourism archive had no such picture until I remembered a few years prevoiusly we had been sent a Christmas card of Blackpool promenade that I had saved as you do. It was perfect it had it all and became the first Jingle Bell Rock leaflet header with a little digital maniplulation. A call to Maggie Sampford at Blue Suede news magazine who I had successfully been using from the early years and a years advertising in full page colour was duly established. Blue Suede News has been so very successful for me over the years and I still use it to this day it sells me many rooms. Next call was to my long standing music agent Paul Barrett and we discussed the line up, it was to be a five band and a guest artiste line up namely, Jive Romeros with Jean Vincent, Colin Paul and the Persuaders, Johnny and the Jailbirds, Blast Off and Rockin the Joint, this was to be Jean Vincents last appearance at Blackpool until 2012 during which time she underwent major surgery but boy did she return in style in 2012 at the last Jingle Bell Rock and she will be back in 2014. It may be of interest to some as to how I cost up each show I am fortunate to have an office at home which is also my Railway memorabelia room - my other passion in life! My offiice is equipped with desk top computer, printer, scanner, photocopier and address label printer all are needed to produce the show. I have devised a computer financial model in the spreadsheet Microsoft Windows programme Excel whereby all of the costs for each show are considered. These comprise, hotel rooms, hotel staff help, bands, band accomodation,, band refreshments, music production team, Compere and DJ, advertising, design and printing of leaflets, tickets and all manner of sundry items. It is important of course that I know well in advance the cost of the hotel rooms consequently I have a rolling five year contract with the hotel whereby I know the cost of the rooms for the next five years without this I could not do my long term selling costs. All of these are factored in on a accurate budgetry basis and form an event total cost price with a contingency cost for unseen incidentals to arrive at an event total cost. With the event cost now reliably calculated it is all then subjected to audience sizes of 100 through to 250 to reach a final marketable value for money competitive selling cost - get in wrong and I am trouble. The financial costing model is constructed twenty months before each show and the bands are booked also. Without doing this form of a costings exercise I would not be in control of the financial implications of an event until it all rears its head prior to the show and be too late to make any adjustments. We now reach 2008 this was to be a major turning point for both me and the Blackpool shows it came in the form of Glenn Darren and the Sandiagos. My grandson Jake had been playing drums at home ! for a number of years and had attended the Blackpool shows for a number of years as a regular guest with his parents and I jokingly said to him one day you may be on the stage at the Savoy. It was in 2008 that my family became more closely involved with the shows Simon my eldest son had been in recent years helping out where he could and Nigel my youngest son started to attend the shows both of them helped in many areas mainly during the evenings with the audience. There were now more people on board to help with the show which I duly welcomed as running two shows on my own were proving very difficult and stressfull but still very successfull. I will leave this chapter here and the next chapters will follow covering 2008 - 2013.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 08:43:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015