Here is the Autumn'09 (October) news update, direct from RAY DORSET who passed on his answers before leaving for the Salmon Days Festival in Seattle.

HOW DID WEYFEST GO? Great, we were on Saturday night after JETHRO TULL, IAN ANDERSON came onstage to wish me a good show, earlier I had just reminded him that I auditioned for his band after the departure of MICK ABRAHAMS and that I was onstage directly before him about two years previously at an open air show in Calw, Germany that took place outside the house of the birthplace of one of my favourite authors, HERMAN HESSE. YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN ASKED BACK FOR NEXT YEAR? COLIN WEBB called me to say a big thanks for our show, it was great as we went on directly after JETHRO TULL and I was wondering if the audience would stay with us, they did, we went down absolutely great and played about fifteen minutes of encores. ANY OTHER THINGS LINED UP FOR NEXT YEAR? I want to do some forty years of 'IN THE SUMMERTIME' gigs, something will be planned for the Processed Pea, I will do the LA NAMM show in January, and I have gigs already booked with CHRISTOPH STEINBACH and HEINI ALBART. IS GUILFEST STILL ON? I have not confirmed anything as yet for Guilfest, could be that my son James will be booking one of the stages there again for 2010. YOU RECENTLY HELPED CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF THE PROCESSED PEA FOLK CLUB, HOW WAS THAT? Always good to play at the Pea, and this time it was again different as MIKE COLE and GARRY PULLEN joined me onstage, not much room to move but good fun, as usual, no sound check, no rehearsals and no set list, just how I like it. The groove and the vibe are all that matters to me. I WAS THERE AS YOU KNOW, AND REALLY LIKED THE SOUND YOU CREATED WITH MIKE COLE ON BASS AND GARRY PULLEN OF THE DOG HOUSE SKIFFLE GROUP ON WASHBOARD, IS THAT A LINE-UP THAT MAY MAKE A RE-APPEARANCE, AN ALBUM WOULD BE GOOD ALONG THE LINES OF ‘NO FRILLS’? I never thought about it, but it would be a good idea if I could find the right material for the project. I will give it some thought. I have a lot of recording projects to undertake and this one would also be good for the catalogue. WASN’T IT GREAT TO SEE RAY CLEGG AGAIN? Yes, it has been a very long time, about twenty seven years, although we have spoken briefly on the phone. We have a lot to speak about. IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYONE IS ASKING ME WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE ‘COOL JESUS’ ALBUM? The album is ready now but I have not finalised the distribution, it will be released first in Germany, I have a meeting in Berlin in November regarding this, many people have suggested that 'GOING UP THE RIVER' should be released as a single for promotion. DO YOU HAVE ANY DEFINITE PLANS FOR THE THREE UK THEATRE GIGS IN THE AUTUMN? ALAN CLAYSON will join me onstage with the UK band, he will also do a spot to open the show and I will introduce him, BRUCE BRAND and MIKE COLE will also play with the band. I will do some of the hits, blues stuff, stuff from 'NAKED FROM THE HEART' and maybe 'HA-HA THIS-A-WAY' and the PROSPECTS T.V theme. YOU’VE BEEN RECORDING RECENTLY HAVEN’T YOU? I have been recording in Vienna with HEINI, we put down eleven titles, this will be the 'EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES' album, some songs I have recorded before but in a different way. I’m hoping to get the album completed by the middle of November. Some of the tracks will have a brass section and gospel choir. All the songs are very long, lots of jamming going on, should be very good. I SEE THAT THE ON-LINE SHOP IS SELLING A COUPLE OF NEW ITEMS, A LIVE RECORDING OF A GIG ON THE U.S.A TOUR IN 1970, AND A DVD OF THE RAGNAROCK FESTIVAL IN 1973? The USA CD was not for sale at the moment, they were meant to be given to yourself, Derek and others interested in the MUNGO stuff, I never got the chance to speak to Derek about it, I will give him a call now that he is back from holiday. The RAGNAROCK package is really good, it is only available from Norway at the moment, it went to No 1 in the sales chart there. It could be that I do some gigs with this line up in Australia, Bob (DAISLEY), John (COOK), Tim (REEVES) and myself have been speaking about it. NEXT YEAR SEES THE CHANCE TO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF MUNGO JERRY, IS ANYTHING PLANNED YET? I’m working on a few things, could be that I do a tour of small theatres; the three that I’m doing this year are a tryout. WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING? The legal battle with the Cohens goes on and takes up a lot of time and effort, there are now more people involved and it looks as though that a very large media project will develop from it. I am also building catalogue for the new companies and it is a lot of fun. I have recorded a couple of tracks on my own and more will be done to make an album, the title will be MUNGOMATIC. I am also planning to do more guest spots, the UK band album, and HEINI asked me to record an album of swing/blues/jazz with many standard covers as he has invited me to do a tour of jazz clubs in Austria. The gigs that I did with him recently were a great success. STEVE PHIPPS contacted me about doing a book too, this will cover my complete involvement with the music business celebrating forty years of 'IN THE SUMMERTIME'. Steve’s latest book has had very good reviews; it is about the footballer, PAUL GASCOIGNE. Funny enough, Steve’s father worked at Timex in Feltham, I don’t know if we met, I was working in the research lab there. LONNIE DONEGAN JNR joined me onstage at MIKE COLE'S Goolglies Jazz Club and also at Weyfest; I’m planning to do some recording with him too. He is being looked after by my old mate ROLAND DUNNE. I want to thank everybody for the help and info that they have given me in relation to the Cohen investigation. I’m also expecting to finally have a jam with PAUL KING, he did not make it to Weyfest due to circumstances beyond his control, I’m pretty confident that it will happen before too long. I’m doing a solo gig at the Farnham Maltings as Friends of Weyfest, I have already asked Mike and Bruce, so I will ask Paul too. The gig is on Dec. 18th 2009. JOHN HORNHAVER has taken a lot of footage at the 'COOL JESUS' line-up gig in Barsinghausen, he did an excellent job videoing the Esbjerg gigs, could be that we can get a DVD out of it, there is also a lot of unseen footage of the MUNGO JERRY BLUESBAND to sort out, we have all of the stuff from the Canal 21 show too. Marc has been busy in the U.S making more great MUNGO JERRY videos and I have had a good meeting with DAVE CASH about a planned project together. I have also been approached to do a version of 'IN THE SUMMERTIME', for the forty years, with two world famous U/S hip-hop artists, more about that another time if it comes together.