Old Grey Whistle Test at 40, Radio 2 – Steve plays acoustic on September 7th, including interview with Bob Harris
"Ritz"
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Greetings from Melbourne, Australia.
A few observations and notes:
I think they might all live to over a hundred down here, since they all say "no worries" or "no probs" to every request or need. They seem pretty laid back here.
The sun has been shining for me. They say it's unusual, in this their autumn. Yesterday and today: 25C (78F?). Sat and read form around the swimming pool on this, my one and only free day.
Busy schedule, I'm happy to say. Feel wanted, which is always a bonus when you visit a country, a place, a market-place for the first time after 39 years.
Joe Matera is looking after me and playing with me on Live sessions for radio.
Yesterday was Joe's birthday. He and I and Mrs Matera had Italian dinner (he's a Matera, it had to be Italian).
I sneaked a word with the maitre d' and got a little cake with ice-cream and a candle delivered in lieu of ordering dessert. The birthday boy was bemused, amused and happy. Good feelings all round.
Intro
I’m not normally a big fan-type person. I don’t even go to concerts. This all changed when I discovered Steve Harley.
I discovered him by accident a little over a year ago. I was on Facebook when a friend-of-a-friend posted a music video of Steve singing “Make Me Smile.” It was the one where he was wearing the brown bomber jacket with the fox collar. I like my friend’s taste in music usually, so I listened to it. This time, I liked it so much, I listened to it twice. Later, when I had some free time, I looked up Steve Harley on YouTube. I believe the first song I heard there was “Sebastian” from the old Live from London DVD. My mouth fell open. I thought, “WHY on EARTH have we never heard of this guy? He’s brilliant!!”
I spent weeks after that, approximately two hours every night, searching out every video I could possibly come up with. I felt like an archaeologist, unearthing treasure after treasure. I couldn’t believe the body of Steve’s work. There was so much of it, it was very varied, and there wasn’t a bad song in the entire repertoire. Then I came across an interview—I believe it was in Ireland—where after the interview, the interviewer asked Steve if he had a website and Steve answered that it was www.steveharley.com. I went there and registered, then held off for three days. I knew I had to say something because I was so moved by his music, performances and persona. Finally, I introduced myself and Steve sent me a free DVD!! He even wrote on the website when time passed and I hadn’t received it yet, asking me if it had arrived. Who does that? Who cares about his fans enough to write whether or not they had received a complete gift from them? Someone special with a big heart, that’s who. And the rest of my presence on the website is history.
tasteful-shortage
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