What a great weekend! Radio Newcastle was the first port of call for an interview with presenter, JULIA HANKIN who made the mistake of asking Ray to play a few songs live in the studio. Well you know what he is like - they couldn't get him off and before long, he had Julia and friends singing along to 'SAN FRANCISCO BAY BLUES', 'LADY ROSE' and 'FEELS LIKE I'M IN LOVE'.

On to the Record Fair on Saturday morning and with a bit of help from Mickey Rose (him again), we managed to put together a bit of a memorabilia stand, with records, CD's, books, t-shirts and fanzines all doing good business. I must say that Ray amazed me on this trip, not just musically but in the way he stood and chatted to fans, who seemed to come from just about everywhere, and signed their albums and pictures. He made himself available, basically all day and seemed to enjoy himself as much as everyone else. Ray had been flown up on the Friday morning and Mick and the rest of the band arrived during the record fair on Saturday afternoon. Of course, once there, they just had to set up and play and fixed up a spot right beside the MUNGO stand, which was situated at the entrance to the fair.

They played an 'unplugged' set, playing many of the old songs, 'HAVE A WHIFF ON ME', 'THAT OLD DUST STORM', 'LADY ROSE', 'TAKE THIS HAMMER' and a great version of LEADBELLY'S, 'AIN'T YOU GLAD'. The whole gig had a really good feel to it and to me it was the best MUNGO JERRY gig that I have seen in over twenty years. I only wished we had taped it. There was one wonderful moment when a young boy of about eight or nine, came and stood in front of Ray, who with Mick who was seated in front of the others. The young lad was loving every minute, clapping and wiggling along with the music, much to the amusement of us all there - brilliant!

On to the evening gig at the Archer pub and more of the same. Ray having the packed house in the palm of his hand right from the opening bars of, 'SOMEBODY STOLE MY WIFE'. 'DON'T YOU ROCK ME DADDY'O', 'PARTYTIME' and 'ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT' kept the place jumping and before long the joint was going absolutely crazy - apart from one of MUNGO JERRY'S legendary appearances at the Viking Club, Seahouses, I would have to say, the best that I have seen. During the interval, I was almost swamped on the MUNGO stall, with CD's selling as if they were going out of fashion.

The second half of the show was just the same and looked like getting out of hand at times. 'LADY ROSE' was played three times in total I think, with the Toon Army demanding it - Ray happy to oblige, as long as the bucket passed around in support of children's charity - THE SUNSHINE FUND - was kept well topped up. One guy, who shall remain nameless, placed a fiver in the bucket to hear, 'SUGAR IN THE BOWL' and despite being told by Ray that they would have played it anyway, didn't seem to mind too much. When it was all over, Ray left the stage to the strains of 'Mungo is a Geordie, Mungo is a Geordie', and just about made it back to the dressing room in one piece. ALAN CLAYSON, who was part of the weeks entertainment seemed quite astonished at the crowds reaction and asked the band if this was normal. He then seemed even more taken aback when they replied that in Sweden, it was even wilder! I just don't know where Ray gets the energy from, as he looked as though he could do it all again - it took me until Thursday to get over it!

It's fanzine time and once again, Alan has come up with the goods (and I thought no-one could replace me!), it looks like 'CANDY DREAMS' release is just around the corner, so when you get a chance to hear this new album, check out one of my recommended compilations at the same time and listen to past and present.

One of the compilations I recommend is on Marble Arch budget label, 'THE BEST OF MUNGO JERRY', a good track listing from the Dawn days. 'IN THE SUMMERTIME', 'I DON'T WANNA GO BACK TO SCHOOL', 'MY GIRL & ME', 'YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE IN THE ARMY', 'BRAND NEW CAR', 'GLAD I'M A ROCKER', 'WILD LOVE', 'BABY JUMP', 'SUMMER'S GONE', 'OPEN UP', 'NO GIRL REACTION', 'SAY GOODNIGHT', 'THE SUN IS SHINING'. A great compilation to catch up with the maxi-single B-sides.

I was really pleased to hear that Sky TV has recently shown the MUNGO concert from Granada television, first transmitted in 1970. Sadly, I missed it, but no doubt it will see a fan club release soon. After all, I have waited since 1970 to see it again and a couple more months will not do me any harm.

For those of you who may not have heard about the concert, it was filmed live in the studio as one of a series of concerts done back-to-back with happening groups of the time. MUNGO shared the bill with DEEP PURPLE. A few years ago, I was with HAL CARTER at Granada studios who were doing a tribute to the VERNON GIRLS. Hal at the time looked after them as well as MUNGO, he introduced me to JOHNNY HAMP, who was producing the VERNON GIRLS TV show. Johnny had also produced the back-to-back concerts as well. I spoke to him about the series and he remembered the concerts very well, I asked would they ever get released on video, or maybe even re-transmitted and Johnny said he would have to check in the vaults to see if they had been saved but the idea of releasing them seemed a good one.

A couple of years later, the DEEP PURPLE concert was released on video but not to my knowledge, any of the others, but it seems they were saved and Granada have used their Granada Plus channel on Sky to transmit them.

You see - I do have my uses!