NEWSLETTER 1st June 2006
John Otway
CT Groups & Incentives 39 Mount Pleasant
Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1PN
24 May 2006
Hi
Otway The Movie, Otway the World Tour, Otway the Huge Star - Well that's the plan at the moment. And this is a quick note to let you know how those plans are progressing.
How do you get to make a Movie? In my case it worked like this. There is a film company who specialise in filming primates. They make a program called 'Monkey Business' which turns out to be ITV's most successful export. This programme involves filming the extraordinary behavior of the inmates of an ape sanctuary for days and editing the footage into entertaining minutes of television. I met the director of this programme and explained what I did and what I was planning. He was most intrigued and said something like "With the animals I can make great television. With you I can make a great movie"
In 1978 I played to ten thousand people in the Market Square in my home town of Aylesbury. It was one of the momentus events of my career and filmed for ATV television. Well, this year there is going to be another similar event. As part of the movie we would like to mix the archive footage with contemporary material from the same location. By doing this we can very easily show that over nearly three decades my show has not improved at all. It would be lovely to show at the same time, that just as many people are prepared to watch it.
The itinerary for the world tour is almost complete. Sometimes it's difficult being your own boss, on Monday when I got confirmation of Sydney Opera House, the smaller room which I intended to play was unavailable, However, the big spectacular Opera House room was free Ð what was I to do? If I was another pop star's boss, I would have said "No, You can't," but I instinctively knew I wouldn't get fired if I said yes.
It's all looking fabulous, as well as the Opera House, the President of Tahiti is now aware we're coming, and the Mayor of NingBo (a city of seven million, just south of Shanghai, who have never never witnessed a western Rock and Roll band) is putting on a civic welcome. We've got a cool New York Club and the Dubai show is being hosted by OK Magazine!
The most asked questions I get about the tour are, "is it definitely happening?" Answer - a group of us have just put down a deposit on the jet of £120,000 so, yes it is happening and, "what if you don't get enough people to come?" Answer - we still go, but a group of us lose £120,000 (including my old mate Chris France who will have to sell his Bentley). You might have gathered from the answers that you are very welcome to join us on all, or an Ot-Leg part of the tour. And, imagine how delighted we would be to see you on the OT-AIR Jetliner.
We are just putting together a brochure with lovely colour pictures and full details of the trip so, please send back the form, ring or text "Al the drummer" to request one if you fancy doing the tour, a leg of the tour, know someone in Australia who would like to go to the Opera or you are just curious about what we're doing.
As things gear up to the big events of the year we've started to put things in place to make things easier for everyone. We've got our own representative at CT travel to answer all the Otway questions. We thought it was important to have someone any of you could call at any time who would be happy to answer any of these questions. When we interviewed for this exacting task the first question we asked was "what instrument do you play?" it took a whole day, but in the end someone came up with the right answer and got the job. You can contact "Al the Drummer" at CT travel 01892 673422 or alternatively I've given him my fanfone FanFone 07946 908 664 which he assured me he will keep on apart from the times he's in the bath or bed. if you want to e-mail him then it's aldrummer@cttgroup.co.uk
As well as the gigs coming up I'm doing a few lecture/social pub events which are free to go to. They are a mixture of warm ups for my Edinburgh show and a chance to get together for a drink and a chat with the film and travel people. If you are interested in what we're doing this year please turn up.
Athena Films are putting together a trailer for Otway the Movie which is looking wonderful - I thought it might be fun, if I put together a DVDR and, as well as the trailer, I could put on an Otway interview, a bit about the tour, a number from the about to be released Mad Bad and Dangerous DVD, a piece from the recent Otway Barrett Kingston gig and some Royal Albert Hall footage if I can find it etc.
Hope to see you soon, these are great times - just a little scary.
Love and/or best wishes
John Otway