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(Banner by Sven Kramer)

Another month in the studio for Russ. Hopefully, we will hear the result in the new year.

There is some good news in this newsleBer. Keep reading!!

It is always good to hear from our readers. Please keep your emails coming....stories, quesIons, leBers, anything you have found which would be interesIng...as long as they are Russ related.

Sue

THIS MONTH Russ: "So, we’re well in to Autumn and the weather’s s5ll pre7y good. - I just don’t like the dark mornings and evenings….Oh well….It’ll soon be Spring…. For some years I kept a regular diary. One reason was the fact that my moods were changing frequently and I wanted to be able to look back to see how I felt about certain things and see if my opinions changed over

5me. I did keep the diaries up to date….I don’t know why, however, one strange, or inspired day I decided to throw most of them away - I didn’t throw them all away at the 5me, mainly because I kept them in different loca5ons and couldn’t find them…..Recently, I found the remaining diaries and I intend to spend some 5me looking at them, to see how my opinions have changed over the last thirty years….Recently, I’ve kept a log of my days, so I can let you know what I’m up to…although, it’s sparse and I intend to make it more detailed in future. October - I won’t bore you on the detail of the first seven days…I’ll just say I’ve recently wri7en a song which I found really inspiring…..mainly because I liked the 5tle, and 5tles, for me, are oJen the key to star5ng and then finishing a song. I won’t give you the 5tle, I’ll just say the whole of the days in October have been taken up wri5ng different versions of this 5tle - The first I called AA - There were parts I really liked and sec5ons that I thought didn’t work. Then, aJer playing around on the piano and geLng into another mood, I turned the new melody into a ballad and spent a complete day recording the song. Again, there were good bits and less good, however, I s5ll believe in the adage ‘’Life develops what it demands’’ and I took the best parts of AA and the ballad and spent 5th, 6th and 7th of October recording version 3. My good friend, Peter Ross, phoned to ask how the song was going and I told him the saga of the three different versions of the same lyric. Then I suggested he could come over to the studio and I would play him the new version….Peter liked what he heard and asked to hear the other versions. We discussed each one and both agreed, the best parts are really good and we could put the best of the three songs and make one….the problem being, they were all different tempos. Oh, well, I’m always up for a challenge….So, I spent the next four days puLng down a backing track, re-wri5ng some lyrics and recording a vocal…Now the song is finished and mixed and I’m happy…. In between living studio life I do like to go out to eat. We have some good restaurants in Ware. Along the High Street, there are fourteen restaurants in the space of three hundred yards….I tend go to same places - The Italian ‘Zeros’ and The Indian ‘Neelakash’ both are brilliant….My lovely daughter Karis had a birthday on the 18th October and we went to Zeros along with

Chris5an, his boys Archie and Lennie and Karis and Sam’s Emilio and Elodie….Great Night! - The weekends, for me, are oJen a puzzle…I love to watch my Grandchildren play football, the problem being, they all play for different sides…Chris5an's boys, Archie and Lennie, play for the same club but are in different age groups…Archie in under 11’s and and Lennie under 8’s. Then, Emilio plays on Sundays, so my weekends are, studio 6am - 9am - football from 10 onwards.

Booking agent Don McKay mailed to ask if I’d like to play some shows in 2017. I replied that I would and he said he would put some together….I look forward to that."

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH Russ: "There’s a book I read many years ago which made a big impression on me. It was wri7en by a Psychiatrist called M. Sco7 Peck. The book was called ‘The Road Less Travelled’ - it’s an Emo5on growth book and it contains 5ps on how each one of us can live happier, more upliJing lives…There’s an interes5ng chapter where Sco7 Peck suggests ‘Laziness’ is one of humani5es biggest problems….He says, something to the effect…that a Psychiatrist or Counsellor could tell a pa5ent how he/she could live a happier life by changing certain things in their life style, but they wouldn’t do it because, basically, they’re too lazy to change….Although their lives are miserable and unfufilled, it is familiar and consequently don’t need to expend energy on changing….It’s a strange premiss ‘My Life’s miserable but because I’m used to it, I won’t bother to change anything …Oh well….I can recommend the book... it’s a good read.

Have a great a great November……Same 5me next Month? Love, Russ"

VIDEO

I would guess most of you have never seen this before...I hadn't! A liBle treat! Recently put up on YouTube, The Russ Ballard Band on Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975 with Danger Zone. hBps://youtu.be/zzCLbE-3a3k

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Russ Ballard-OGWT "Danger Zone" from 4/4/75 youtu.be

QUESTIONS

With the CD coming out next year, will Russ be taking to the road again ? Hope so, saw Russ 3 Imes this year and he just got beBer each Ime.

Russ: " I hope to be touring around May 5me - that's the idea at the moment".

I've a quesIon.....did Argent play with Alice Cooper in Atlanta 23 March, 1973? I know Russ has said he threw away some old journals/diaries from the past...but didn't know if they ever played with Alice Cooper. Then did "GGR&RTY" hit before 1973, or aier?

Russ: "I don't remember playing with ALICE Cooper, Although, we were supposed to write together...it never happened. I wrote God Gave R&R To You in 1973 and I think it was released in '73..."

LETTERS "Hi Sue – great to see that [Adam Faith and The RouleBes] video again and to show it to my two granddaughters who had seen all the photos of Adam and RouleBes I have and now they understand what all the fuss was about! I remember Fred and also Adam’s driver. Carole and I spent many nights in Blackpool before the summer season shows leaning against Adam’s roller and channg to them before we went into the shows. I think it was 1964 when they did the season in Blackpool and Carole and I had booked Ickets for every night’s last performance for 2 weeks. When the manager found out he let us in for all the first performances for free. Fourteen shows - Bliss!" From Sandra

"I once spoBed The RouleBes' 'solo' album pictured somewhere on the Internet, and parts of these pics were those dedicated to each band member's profile... that's where I finally discovered Russ' eyes are blue! ;-)One thing I find absolutely coincidental but magic is the way Russ discovered Sandie Shaw, simply because Sandie used to be such a huge star here in Italy back in the late '60s... if you asked anyone who isn't younger than my age (I'm 43) about her, they'd soon say <<oh yes, the one who sang barefoot, she was so sexy!>> and if they also 'belong to the sixIes', they'd add <<ah, those were the days... we were far happier and hopeful back then... Italy was such a tourist

aBracIon and in summerIme you'd watch and enjoy all those blond girls from Germany or Sweden coming over...>> This is also part of my own story, simply because my mum is a Scot... she met daddy on her holiday here... And, again, everyIme you Russ speak of America I can't help remembering they were my childhood heroes, and you were the man who wrote most of their tunes, especially (of course) on the 'Your Move' album, I was mad about that one... dear Russ, those songs are so underrated... I can sIll feel shivers down my spine whenever my ears listen to 'She's a Runaway' or 'Honey', 'My Kinda Woman' or 'Don't Let Me Be Lonely'... aye, THOSE were THE DAYS as far as I'm concerned, I was 10 and deep through the magic of that age.Thank you, forever. ;-)" From Gianmaria

RECORDED BY RUSS A bit different this month but, at this Ime of year we have to have this. Play it LOUD! hBps://youtu.be/sMEI5PONsBA

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Russ Ballard - I'm A Scorpio youtu.be From Russ's At The Third Stroke album

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