Latest News from Piet's pen

Greetings and salutations to all. Can't believe it's June again, was still going to plan the year ahead. Ah well.

So far it has been a wonderful year and we have been to some interesting places, like Naboomspruit and Bela Bela and Stellenbosch and Gordons Bay and Mocambique and The Radium and Bloemfontein and Splashy Fen and Jeffreys Bay and Melkbosstrand and Simonstown and of course to Charlene McKenzie's home for the broken hearted.

To all the people at Strab, our sincere thanks once again for taking us to Ponto Malongane for the 5th year running.

We are working on a new album and hope to be in the studio by September. The working title is "Highway 13". 13 black. Friday 13th. The 13th warrior. I have had the privilege this year of working with some wonderful musicians. Neill Solomon and Dan Chiorboli have been my friends for more than thirty years and it has always been memorable when we get together. Since last year we have been doing the "Radium Sessions" on a regular basis and are also busy doing an album, based on our gigs at the Radium. Andy Darlington is the man behind the whole shebang. It appears that the honourable Andrew Darlington will be taking over the managemant of Jack Hammer in the immediate future as well.

I have also worked with our brothers Tidal Waves this year and look forward to some great collaborations and good vibrations in the next few months. Rock steady Jacob and Sam and Charles and Jaco!

Mr. Boet Faber, a longtime associate and friend put together a few nice Blues evenings at Oppiplaas, in Waverley, Pretoria recently. It was huge fun jamming with old friends Jan Maloney, Andre Buckle and Eric Birckenstock again. We hope to do some more shows in the summer, as the gig is open air.

And then there are the "Johnny Cash Tribute" shows that are still going on. This was really wonderful, working with a whole new crew of musicians and singers. Thank you for the invitation, Drikus and Claire and Gerhard and Robin and Charlene and everyone else involved! There are still 2 shows to go at Steak and Ale and hopefully we can take this show elsewhere.

Brian Currin deserves a special thank you as usual. Most of our old material is now available on the internet, specifically at Rhythm Online. The rest will follow shortly. And for keeping the website updated, and for being such a gentleman in the company of hooligans. I am of course referring to our excursion to Mocambique.

On a more personal level there seems to be a bug going around because both Duke and Johnathan are going to be proud fathers in the near future!! Bean and I are now left to our own devices after gigs. But we are lucky, we have Moon Lee, to keep us company.

Thanks to everyone for coming to the shows, we hope to have a new album for you soon!

Lots of love, Piet.

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