Last USA News update: Monday 20 February 2K6. Last UK News update: Monday 20 February 2K6.

SCOTT'S ON THE RADIO...
You can listen to Scott reading a selection of feature stories, celebrity interviews, assorted pop-culture news items, and concert, album, film and DVD reviews from the pages of Rolling Stone magazine every Sunday from 8.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. on Noteworthy, a weekly programme distributed on The TIC Radio Network. The show can be accessed live online on TIC's website at http://www.ticnetwork.com, and in the near future his past shows will be made available for playback or download anytime. TIC programmes are also broadcast on the following Massachusetts radio stations: WVFB-AM 1530 (Middleboro), WBIM-FM 91.5 (Bridgewater), WDJM-FM 91.3 (Framingham), WUML-FM 91.5 (Lowell) and WRRS-FM 104.3 (Pittsfield).

                                  ...AND ONSTAGE!
Scott is currently spending his Thursday nights hanging and performing at the terrific blues jams held weekly from 9.30 p.m. to 12.30 a.m. at The Purple Eggplant Cafe, 400 Bedford St. (Route 18), Abington, Massachusetts (http://www.purpleeggplantcafe.com, Tel. (781) 871-7175.}. The jams are led by local blues legend Satch Romano and feature a remarkable rogues' gallery of guest performers on guitar, bass, blues harp. keyboards, drums and vocals, including several Bert's veterans. Admission is free and the welcome is always warm. When you see him, be sure to tell Scott that Scott sent you!

USA NEWS
Last update: Monday 20 February 2006.

MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2K6.
I have joined the cast of The Massasoit Radio Players, and will have the honour and great pleasure to participate in their annual Radio Classics Live programme, which will be broadcast live on WATD-FM 95.9 on Friday and Saturday nights, May 5-6, from the Buckley Performing Arts Center on the campus of Massasoit Community College, Brockton, Massachusetts, USA. Among the celebrity radio/TV actors confirmed for this year's event are Betsey Palmer (The Garry Moore Show, I've Got A Secret), Gale Storm (My Little Margie, Oh! Susanna), Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), Rosemary Rice (I Remember Mama), Arthur Anderson (Let's Pretend) and veteran Boston radio personalities Jordan Rich and Gil Santos. Tickets for the event will go on sale within the month. We'll post more information on Radio Classics Live right here as it's received.


SUNDAY 8 JANUARY 2K6:
I had a brilliant time last Thursday night performing for the first time at Satch Romano's weekly R&B jam night at The Purple Eggplant Cafe in Abington, Massachusetts (http://www.purpleeggplantcafe.com). The house band for the jam that night was led by the brilliant guitarist-vocalist "Uptown" Clay Brown. I played bass for two sets, accompanying some terrific musicians: Satch on blues harp, Clay Brown (guitar, saxophone and vocals), Pedro (guitar and vocals), Scott (a former member of the local Aerosmith tribute band Draw The Line) on guitar and vocals, Bruce McGrath (saxophone) and Dave Baker on drums. I also must mention two other superb players: Butch (bassist/vocalist in Clay's band), guest blues violinist (yes, you heard me!) Eric, guitarist-vocalist Billy Parsons, and guest drummer Peter Schwartz. I felt like the house cat I read about somewhere many years ago: "He walked in, decided he liked the place, and stayed." I hope this is the beginning of some beautiful friendships.
    

MONDAY 2 JANUARY 2K6:
During the closing weeks of 2005 I was a regular at the weekly, open-mike Brews Jams at Bert's Cove Restaurant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, but the jams finished at the end of the year because of the proprietors' decision to discontinue all live entertainment at Bert's. Jam-master Mike Landers hopes to re-launch the Brews Jams at a new Plymouth-area venue in the near future, and I'll post the news here when it happens.

Today is the 41st anniversary of the launch of my career as a bass guitarist. On 2 January 1965, following ten months of practise on acoustic guitar and drums in my cellar, I rented a used Kay bass from the long-gone Jack's Drum Shop in Boston. I was 13 years old. According to my diary, the first bass parts I started teaching myself on bass that night were off two Beatles records: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I'll Cry Instead." I strapped on that bass and I've never looked back. Actually, I look back all the time, but I've never stopped loving it...if my playing hasn't made the world a better place, it's certainly made it a louder place!


WEDNESDAY 7 DECEMBER 2K5:
As part of local commemorations of the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's murder, I'm scheduled to do a live, in-studio interview tomorrow (Thursday 8 December) between noon and 2.00 p.m. on The Liz Raven Show on WATD (95.9 FM) in Marshfield, Massachusetts. The station's broadcast range covers Boston and much of southeastern Massachusetts, and you also can access the station via live streaming audio on their website at http://www.959WATD.com.   An item about the interview, written by Enterprise staff writer Martha Raber, was published today (Wednesday) on page two ofThe Enterprise newspaper of Brockton, Massachusetts.

WEDNESDAY 7 0ECEMBER 2K5:
Many newspapers, radio and TV stations, and other media outlets around the world recently have been asking their readers and listeners to contribute accounts of their memories of where they were and how they reacted when they learned about John's assassination on Monday 8 December 1980. This anniversary feels like an appropriate occasion on which to publish my own memories of that dreadful event:
My wife, Ramona, and I were spending that Monday evening sitting at home reading, doing paperwork and watching the evening news on Boston station WBZ-TV Channel 4 (now known as CBS-4). At 11.20 p.m., immediately following the weather forecast, anchorman Jack Williams (who still anchors their 4.00 and 6.00 newscasts) came on and said, "Just before we go to sports...former Beatle John Lennon was shot and wounded this evening in Manhattan and has been rushed to the hospital." (This was 35-40 minutes after the shooting.)
I immediately phoned our housemate and fellow hardcore Beatles fan, Martha Raber, who was working the Monday-evening shift as a reporter for The Enterprise newspaper of Brockton. (She's still with the paper, and is now a senior copy editor.) I asked her to check the wire services for more news on the shooting. At 11.40 p.m., just under an hour after the shooting, Martha phoned us back to tell us that John had died.
At 11.50 p.m. that evening, half an hour after the first bulletin on WBZ-TV, I sat down and wrote the following entry on page 1,643 of my handwritten journal (which now runs to nearly 3,000 pages):
"This is the first five minutes of dwelling with the news that John Lennon is dead. Just like Kennedy, wasn't it? Three shots [actually five], the rush to the hospital, blood all over the operating room, his wife with him. Most likely shot by a 'deranged person,' a suspect already in custody. First, a bulletin from Jack Williams, 'just before we go to sports,' saying he'd been shot and wounded. I called Martha at The Enterprise newsroom, and she didn't know about it but called up the bulletins on her computer. She just called, ten minutes ago now, to tell me he was dead. At the end of the phone call the NBC Special Report broke on TV. Mona and I were just a-sittin' here, reading and sorting. Now here we are -- all my heroes, all my audience, all my friends -- completely boggled, suddenly having to grope for some explanation. And what's the use of trying, since right now it can feel only like something that never should have happened. Did he 'learn to swim' [as he had advised all of us]? Is he somewhere among all those droning tambouras and yellow cloudscapes now [a reference to a scene in The Beatles' 1968 feature filmYellow Submarine]? And what pictures come down off the wall now, if any? And -- Good Lord! -- for a few more minutes his body will still be warm."
Martha brought me home printouts of ten bulletins that had "moved" on the United Press International (UPI) wire service that night. The first, which had moved at 11.22 p.m., simply read: "Former Beatle John Lennon was shot at his Manhattan apartment Monday night, police said." The fourth bulletin, which had moved at 11.39, confirmed the worst: "Former Beatle John Lennon was shot to death in front of his Manhattan home Monday night, police said."  After I three-hole-punched the bulletin sheets and inserted them in my journal I closed the notebook and said to myself, with feelings of utter disbelief: "John's body is cold by now...the evening news shift is over...the decks are cleared for tomorrow's news...the bulletins are neatly filed in my notebook...the whole thing is already history. Is there really nothing left to do but go to bed?" 
Eight nights later, on Tuesday 16 December 1980, while on a visit to my grandparents at their home (where Ramona, Martha and I live now, and where I sit typing these lines), I sat down at my grandfather's desk and wrote this follow-up entry in my journal:
"''Nothing's gonna change my world.'  That's John's line [from The Beatles' 1969 song "Across The Universe"], and it's as close to a eulogy for him as I will get. I've gone a week without writing, because there's no way of knowing what ought to be said. I never realised just how much I loved him until he was gone. But people never die with me, and he will live in me just as he has for almost 17 years. I haven't come anywhere near unwrapping all the presents he left for me. There is much sadness in all of this. It's terrible for everyone who loved him. I always felt a part of The Beatles' family: something which nothing can undo. And he read the scrapbook I left in Liverpool for them [in 1964, at George Harrison's parents' home], and I like to think it made him laugh. And there was that incredible half-hour or so at Boston Garden [The Beatles' concert on 12 September 1964], during which John and the others were only a couple hundred feet away. I remember the blue suits, and I particularly remember that John's hair was the most beautiful brown. I remember also a little bit of hand jive he did at Paul that made him smile. That concert was a story in itself. So I brushed against him a little, at the very least; and if he did laugh at any of the jokes in the blue scrapbook, then I surely did accomplish my mission. But I ached to see him again, and to hug him -- me and all the rest of the world, I know. Now he's dead, cremated, rendered down to ashes and nitrates whose present whereabouts are not known. It's terrible, but it doesn't matter, because it cannot matter. The long train ride goes on. ... God bless all that is or was in and of John Lennon. He was The Beatles, and nothing ever gave me more joy. -- Snow is falling outside; all wears white for Christmastide. The folks' card basket is in the corner, filling up with unopened cards. There's one present, wrapped in red and green paper, on the folding table under the dining-room window. The [steam] radiator is whispering. The rooms are quiet. 'The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never mastered it [John 1:5].''"

WEDNESDAY 7 DECEMBER 2K5:
On Saturday night 3 December I had the honour and great pleasure of doing another guest spot with bassist/vocalist Ed Chaloux' superb classic-rock band The Shifters (see the entry from 30 November 2K5 below) at The Sports Fanatic dance club, located on Route 125 in Rochester, New Hampshire. I was accompanied onstage by guitarist-vocalist Lou Grondin and two members of my 1977-'78 band, The Imaginary Dance Band: guitarist-vocalist Kelly Hogan and drummer-vocalist Pete Bellissimo. We performed three songs: "Oh Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison), "Wild Night" (Van Morrison), from The IDB's old songlist, and "One Way Out" (The Allman Brothers Band). I hope to make it back up to Rochester on Saturday night 10 December, when The Shifters will be back at American Legion Post 7. Thank you, gentlemen!

FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2K5:
My favourite open-mike session in all of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA, is back in full swing at Bert's Cove Restaurant on Route 3A in Plymouth: the weekly Brews Jam hosted by a longtime friend of mine, the phenomenally dedicated Mike Landers of Nightlife Music Company. I was a regular at these Thursday-night sessions from 1998 until Bert's closed in 2003. I've been to a number of the revived Brews Jams since they resumed at Bert's earlier this fall, and tonight I came in from the wilderness and played bass-guitar accompaniment to the onstage performers for the first time in more than two years. (Just call me "the bass player who came in from the cold"!) The loyal "repertory company" of talented musos (Liverpool slang for "musicians") who have been appearing at the Brews Jam includes Andrew Botieri, the local band Fortune Panda, Ned Frye, Jim Harris, Dave Knox, Jim Kuttner, Mike Landers, Sherry Dale Malone, Chuck Ochs, Mike Resnick, Lloyd Rosenberg, Ralph Rotondo, Matt Whipple and Cajun Bob Wilson. The Brews Jam runs every Thursday evening from 8.00 p.m. to midnight in the Sky Box lounge, upstairs at Bert's, Admission is free, and all rock/pop/folk/blues musicians are welcome to sign up and take a turn onstage. A full backline (PA, amplifiers and drums) is provided; guitars and bass guitars are available, and an electric keyboard is available some nights. Bert's Cove Restaurant is located on the beach three miles south of Plymouth Rock (yes, the Plymouth Rock!) on Route 3A, just past the entrance to Plimoth Plantation. Please come join us and watch (or take your place among) a great family of fools!

THURSDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2K5:
From 1975 through 1978 my ex-band partner Dennis Roach and I logged thousands of miles of travel performing all over New England and in eastern New York State in The Imaginary Dance Band (IDB), a five-piece, hard-rock cover band. What a superb band it was, and what a time we had! Back on Friday 7 October I travelled up to the North Country for another happy reunion with two other alumni of the IDB: guitarist-vocalist Kelly Hogan and drummer-vocalist Pete Bellissimo. The lads performed that night at a dance party held at American Legion Post 7 in Rochester, New Hampshire at the invitation of bassist-vocalist Ed Chaloux, leader of The Shifters, along with his multitalented friend Lou Grondin on guitar, blues harp, flute, violin, saxophone and keyboard. Toward the end of the evening Ed invited me up onstage, and I led the group through three of my favourite numbers: "Great Balls Of Fire" (Jerry Lee Lewis), "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" (Robert Johnson) and "I Saw Her Standing There" (The Beatles). It was the third opportunity I've had recently to rehearse and perform with Pete and Kelly after nearly 27 years apart, and I look forward to more such opportunities in the months to come. I plan to catch their act once again this Saturday night, 3 December, at The Sports Fanatic in Rochester, New Hampshire.
You can check out Ed Chaloux' band website (currently under construction) at edchaloux.com.

MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2K5:
How sweet it is! My first published book, Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle (Outskirts Press, Colorado, USA), is available now, in stock or on order, in bookshops all over the world. It's also continuing to sell steadily via amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, bordersbookstores.com, kelkoo.dk, tracks.com, waldenbooks.com, and at various other online book-ordering services. Before the book went into print Outskirts Press informed me that Uncle Charlie's book had generated the second-greatest amount of advance interest of any in the company's history. Last month I learned that the book was selling in the top percentile of Outskirts Press's list of books on sale! For more information, please visit the publisher's webpage devoted to the book at outskirtspress.com/charlielennon. Our sincere thanks to the webmasters who have posted information on Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle on dozens of Lennon/Beatles-related websites around the world. Thanks and warmest regards also to the readers, reviewers and radio presenters who have contacted me via e-mail since the book's publication last May. One of the first print reviews of the book was published in England in the July 2005 issue of Record Collector Magazine. It was written by one of my longtime friends, author-presenter Spencer Leigh of BBC Radio Merseyside in Liverpool, England. Spencer is host of the long-running music and interview programme On The Beat, which airs Saturdays from 6.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. on FM95.8 in the North West of England. I have posted his review at the bottom of this page in the UK NEWS section, dated SUNDAY 21 AUGUST 2K5. One of the first online reviews of the book was posted by Shelley Germaux, a West Coast correspondent for Daytrippin' Magazine. You can read Shelley's review at daytrippin.com/reviewshtm#lennonbooks.

MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2K5:
Back in August I recorded my first American radio interview promoting Uncle Charlie's book, at the kind invitation of Archer of 99.5FM KQMT ("The Mountain") in Denver, Colorado, USA. Archer, also known as Archer On The Mount, is a transplanted New Englander and a highly knowledgeable music fan who has interviewed four of The Beatles in the course of his radio career. He hosts the station's Breakfast With The Beatles show, which airs Sundays from 9.00 a.m. to noon on 99.5FM in the Denver/Boulder area. Archer and I had an excellent chin-wag (as they say in the UK); you can listen to our phone interview at BeatlesBreakfast.com/highlights. I also recommend a visit to the KQMT website at 995themountain.com and Archer's fact-filled webpages BeatlesBreakfast.com and TheBeatlesPages.com....more dedicated Beatle People "gettin' it done"!)

MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2K5:
I'm now well into my second year as a presenter and book narrator for The Massachusetts Reading Network. Our programmes are broadcast via radio and satellite to a core audience of about 20,000 listeners around the state. The shows originate from The Talking Information Center (TIC) in Marshfield, Massachusetts, USA, which also houses the popular South Shore pop-music station 95.9FM WATD. Currently I host the weekly, one-hour TIC programme Noteworthy, in which I read a selection of feature stories, news items, and album and concert reviews from the pages of the leading music magazines Rolling Stone and Spin. Between August and October of this year TIC broadcast in its entirety my 48-episode recording of the 937-page book My Life, by Bill Clinton (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). At present I'm in the midst of my second book recording: the 440-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestseller Guns, Germs & Steel, by Jared Diamond (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.), which will run to about 25 one-hour episodes for broadcast in December or January. TIC Network programmes are broadcast 24 hours a day. You can find us on the following Massachusetts radio stations: WVFB-AM 1530 (Middleboro), WBIM-FM 91.5 (Bridgewater), WDJM-FM 91.3 (Framingham), WUML-FM 91.5 (Lowell) and WRRS-FM 104.3 (Pittsfield). Also, by visiting our website at ticnetwork.com you can listen to our broadcast via live streaming audio and get access to our huge MP3 programme archive. You can hear me host Noteworthy Sundays at 8.00 p.m., and you're always welcome to have a listen to my reading of Bill Clinton's My Life, along with the many other recorded books and assorted shows waiting for you to access and download for free at ticnetwork.com.

SUNDAY 21 AUGUST 2K5:
On 11 August I enjoyed a reunion with my longtime friend Peter Tork, formerly of The Monkees. Peter was doing a guest appearance on Cape Cod with his friend, blues guitarist Jeff Pitchell. Peter grew up in Connecticut, USA; he recently relocated to the East Coast after making his home in northern California for many years. In addition to his frequent guest performances with Jeff and with guitarist James Lee Stanley, Peter tours regularly with his superb, four-piece blues band, Shoe Suede Blues. I highly recommend the band's debut album, Saved By The Blues. Details of Peter's upcoming shows can be found on his official website at petertork.com.

________________________________


UK NEWS
Last update: Monday 20 February 2006.

MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2K6:
The Scott Wheeler Band UK Summer Tour 2006 is scheduled to run from Wednesday 23 August through Bank Holiday Monday 28 August. The tour will run concurrently with Cavern City Tours' International Beatle Week festivities in The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool. Beatle Week, England's enormously successful answer to America's Mardi Gras, annually draws nearly half a million music fans to the city from all over the world. The tour will mark Scott's 28th visit to Europe since 1964 and his 16th Liverpool Beatles convention since 1989. We will post the show dates for the tour as we confirm them between now and August; you'll be able to read them in the UK News column below and on the "Upcoming Shows" page on this website.

Cavern City Tours has announced the tentative roster of celebrity guests set to headline at Beatle Week 2006. The lineup includes Donovan, original Beatles drummer Pete Best, The Searchers, Joey Molland of Badfinger, Terry Sylvester of The Hollies, Tony Sheridan, John Lennon's original Quarrymen, and local heroes The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Merseybeats and The Bootleg Beatles. Festival events will include an auction of Beatles memorabilia to benefit Paul McCartney's alma mater, The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts; an all-day Beatles convention at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel; and the city's 16th annual Mathew Street Festival, an all-day, city-wide, free musicfest featuring more than 100 acts from all over the world. Keep checking this column for updates and additional Beatle Week news. You can also keep posted by visiting Cavern City Tours' website at cavern-liverpool.co.uk.

MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2K6:
Bill Harry wrote to me on 31 January regarding his recent travels: "The trip to New York was very enjoyable. First time we've been since 1969. Apart from the 1964 concert at Carnegie Hall, we met lots of people in the after show party - May Pang, Tony Bramwell, etc. Then on Saturday we had a meal in Chinatown. We also took a bus tour of New York and did some shopping at Bloomingdales! Then I was off to Cannes, in the south of France, to promote Mersey Beat at the Midem Festival."


FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2K5:
I'm pleased and proud to report that our longtime friend Jean Catharell, a co-founder of Liverpool Beatlescene Fan Club, has been invited to be one of the VIP guest speakers at a Liverpool civic ceremony to be held on Thursday 8 December to mark the 25th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon. The ceremony is being co-hosted by Liverpool City Council and The Liverpool Capital Of Culture Committee. It's scheduled to be held in historic St. Nicholas Church at Liverpool Pier Head, the oldest building on the Liverpool waterfront. It will be a closed service, with invited guests only. Many dignitaries have been invited, including The Lord Mayor Of Liverpool. Jean writes: "I am honoured that I have been asked to speak at this event, and I am so pleased that the City is behind such a celebration of John's life. Not before time." You can check out Jean's outstanding Liverpool Beatlescene website at liverpoolbeatlescene.com. Among the other VIPs invited to speak at the Pier Head event is another good friend of ours, author and Beatles/Merseybeat expert Bill Harry, who also is scheduled to "hop the pond" to New York in January to speak at ceremonies honouring John at Carnegie Hall.

WEDNESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2K5:
I encourage all you cool cats in the UK North West who are within driving distance of Merseyside to make the scene at three weekly charity shows that regularly showcase both up-and-coming musicians and a "heroes' gallery" of master musicians from the first Merseybeat Era of the '60s, including "some of my beast friends." Guest singers and musicians are always welcome at these events. Admission to each one is one pound sterling, and it's worth every farthing of it!

MERSEYCATS CHILDREN'S CHARITY
holds open-mike nights Wednesdays from nine to midnight in
Aintree Royal British Legion Club, Old Roan, Aintree, Liverpool
(next to Old Roan railway station and The Old Roan public house).
For enquiries and more information, visit merseycats.co.uk.

CHESHIRE CATS CHILDREN'S CHARITY
holds open-mike nights Wednesdays from nine to midnight in
The 27 Club, Manor Road, Liscard, Wallasey, Cheshire
(just across the River Mersey from Liverpool).

SOUNDS OF THE SIXTIES MUSICIANS' & CHILDREN'S CHARITY
holds open-mike nights Wednesdays from nine to midnight in
Huyton Park Conservative Club, The Park, Huyton, Liverpool,
and also holds open-mike nights Sundays from 8.00-11.00 p.m. in
The Cavern Club, 10, Mathew Street, Liverpool 2.
For more information, visit kingsizetaylor.com and artydrummer.bravehost.com.

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2K5:
A beloved friend of ours has fallen seriously ill and is in hospital in Liverpool: Chris Evans, the brother of my UK tour manager, Les Evans, and guitarist with Geoff Nugent's Undertakers. He's been a charter member of The Scott Wheeler Band on every one of my UK tours since 2000. Chris recently suffered the amputation of a leg, and he developed an infection during his convalescence. Our thoughts and prayers are with Chris, his wife, Margaret, and the rest of his family. His loved ones on Merseyside plan to present a benefit band performance for him, The Chris Evans Appeal Show, on Thursday evening 8 December at The Dockers Club, Edinburgh Park, Townsend Lane, Liverpool. The scheduled lineup of performers includes The Cy Tucker Band, Geoff Nugent's Undertakers, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, Joan O'Neill (the mother of Mel C. [Melanie Chisholm] of The Spice Girls), Arty "Rock On Wheels" Davies' band BAD, The Barroom Boys and The Tempos, plus special guests and a raffle. Admission will be one pound. Tickets are available from Eddie at The Dockers Club (Tel. 0151- 263 5267) and from Sounds Of The Sixties Musicians' Charity at their Wednesday-night open-mike shows in Huyton Park Conservative Club and at their Sunday-night shows in The Cavern Club, Mathew Street, Liverpool. For more information, please visit my friend Arty Davies' website at artydrummer.bravehost.com. Arty writes that another much-loved friend and band partner of mine is recovering from recent surgery as well:
Nicky Crouch, of the classic (and recently reunited) '60s band The Mojos, who did yeoman's duty for me at gigs all over Merseyside back in the '90s as a charter member of the UK lineup of The Scott Wheeler Band.

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2K5:
My friend and longtime hero Bill Harry, The Beatles' close friend and associate and the founder of the famous 1960s Merseyside music newspaper Mersey Beat, has posted a review of my book, Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle, on the Amazon webpage devoted to the book. You're welcome to access that interview by going to amazon.com/charlielennon/ and selecting "Read Review" near the bottom of the page.

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2K5:
Back in August 1993 Cavern City Tours, the founders of Liverpool's annual Beatle Week festivities, launched the first annual Mathew Street Music Festival: a city-wide, live-music streetfest held on Bank Holiday Monday (the last Monday in August, the UK's version of the USA's Labor Day). I performed in each of the first ten festivals (1993-2002) and marvelled at the way the crowds and the enthusiasm grew with every succeeding year. I've had to give the last three a miss, but I'll be back in the thick of it next summer. The Liverpool Echo newspaper reports that this year's Mathew Street Festival generated a record-breaking 32.25 million pounds sterling for Liverpool and drew a record crowd estimated at 370,000, including more than 59,000 overseas visitors from 31 countries. And that was in one day, mind you!

SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2K5:
The Scott Wheeler UK 2005 Summer Tour began on a high note on Wednesday night 24 August with my annual guest performance for Cheshire Cats Children's Charity in The 27 Club, Liscard, Wallasey, across the River Mersey from Liverpool. I had warm reunions with a number of my longtime friends and playing partners from past UK tours, including Richie Prescott, Derek Smith, and Don Woods, three veteran Merseyside performers from the days when The Beatles and Merseybeat music ruled the world. I was also delighted to see my old friend Mike Rudzinski, former singer-bassist with the classic '60s group Johnny Kidd & The Pirates. (Their immortal hit song "Shakin' All Over" was covered in the USA by The Guess Who (Chad Allen & The Impressions) in 1965 and by The Who on their 1969 album Live At Leeds.)  On Thursday 25 August, at the invitation of Cavern City Tours, The Scott Wheeler Band -- yours truly on bass and vocals, Paul Galvin and Chris Evans on guitars, Joe Barrow on blues harp and Bobby Stafford on drums -- played two shows on the front stage of The Cavern Club that were wonderfully well received. We received an equally warm welcome on Friday night 26 August at our first performance in The Roby Club, in the northeastern Liverpool suburb of Roby. But I regret to report that the tour came to a premature end that weekend when I took the risk of criticising three of the lads in my backup band for the mistakes they consistently had been making onstage at our shows; all three of them reacted on the spot by refusing to play on the rest of the tour. As a result I had to cancel one scheduled show at JJ Merriwethers in Wavertree, two shows on the concert stage in The Cavern Club, and two Bank Holiday Monday shows in The Cavern Pub in Mathew Street which would have featured my good friend John Duff Lowe of John Lennon's original Quarrymen on keyboard. It was a terribly sad way to end the tour -- what could be worse for a dedicated Merseybeat muso than to cancel bookings in The Cavern Club? But I'll be back on Merseyside next August with a new band lineup, so: "Up, let us go forward!"

SUNDAY 21 AUGUST 2K5:
When my friends in Liverpool meet up with each other they often use the greeting "All right." It's spoken sometimes as a statement, other times as a question, and it's the kind of statement that doesn't actually require an answer; it's similar in spirit to the greeting that my fellow Bostonians and I often use: "Howyadoin'." If the person being spoken to is a female the greeter might say "All right, la," which I assume is a contraction of "All right, lass." If the person being addressed is a male, the greeter might say "All right, lar," in which case "lar" presumably is a variation of "lad." Why am I telling you all this? No reason except to share with the rest of you a sample of the subtle beauties of Liverpudlian slang (known as scouse). So there you are...I'll share a few more of these scouse gems with you in times to come. Now let's turn to the news...all right, la?

I'm absolutely "made up" (both pleased and satisfied) to report that my first book, Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle, was published in May by Outskirts Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA. The book is 432 pages long, with 585 photos. The entire book was designed and produced by myself and my wife, Ramona. For details on the contents of Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle, you're welcome to visit the Outskirts Press dedicated website on the book at outskirtspress.com/charlielennon.) Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle is available on amazon.com and in Barnes & Noble Bookstores (barnesandnoble.com), and in the weeks and months to come it will be working its way into additional bookstore chains and online book vendors all over the world. It's also available for purchase from a number of other online book vendors; just do a web search for "Charlie Lennon" and you'll find them. I'll post the names of additional vendors here as I learn about them. My thanks to the webmasters of the Beatles/John Lennon fan websites the world over who have posted information about the book on their sites.

Several people closely connected to The Beatles contributed to my book. The foreword was written by Bill Harry, John Lennon's former schoolmate and the founder of the legendary Liverpool music newspaper from the '60s, Mersey Beat. One of the book's tributes to Uncle Charlie was written by my late friend Alistair Taylor, The Beatles' former assistant and former manager of the group's company, Apple Corps Ltd. Two of the tributes were contributed by Liverpool promoter Sam Leach, The Beatles' longtime friend, and by Beatles authority Spencer Leigh of BBC Radio Merseyside. My friend Mark Lewisohn, the world's foremost authority on The Beatles, said of the book: "What an extraordinary tome...mind-boggling." (After a 41-year hiatus Bill Harry is preparing to re-launch Mersey Beat as a monthly music newspaper! For details, and for information on Bill's other current activities, visit his websites: triumph.pc.com/mersey-beat/ and rockandpopshop.com).

The Scott Wheeler UK 2005 Summer Tour is scheduled to run from Wednesday 24 August through Monday 29 August. Details of all shows that have been confirmed can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of this news page and selecting the "Upcoming Shows" link. My tour will run concurrently with Cavern City Tours' International Beatle Week festivities in The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool. Beatle Week, England's enormously successful answer to America's Mardi Gras, annually draws nearly half a million music fans to the city from all over the world. The tour will mark my 27th visit to Europe since 1964 and my 15th Liverpool Beatles convention since 1989. (For details on Beatle Week, including information on programme listings, VIP guests, performers and availability of hotel rooms, visit Cavern City Tours' official website at cavern-liverpool.co.uk.) Once again I will be supported at my live shows by top Liverpool rockabilly band Nashville, who have backed me up brilliantly on each of my past nine UK tours. Guest performers will include Joe Barrow on blues harp and two members of John Lennon's reunited, pre-Beatles skiffle group, The Quarrymen: Len Garry on vocals and John Duff Lowe on keyboard and vocals. There is also a possibility that the full lineup of The Quarrymen -- Len, Duff, drummer Colin Hanton and guitarist-vocalist Rod Davies -- will be playing some live shows on Merseyside during Beatle Week. Even if Duff Lowe's name is unfamiliar to you, you may well be familiar with some of his early recorded work: Back in 1958 Duff and Colin played piano and drums behind John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison on the band's first two studio recordings, "That'll Be The Day" and "In Spite Of All The Danger." Those two recordings are the first two music cuts on Disc 1 of The Beatles' Anthology series, released in 1995. (For details on The Quarrymen's future appearances and on the group's activities since reuniting in 1997, visit their official website at originalquarrymen.co.uk.)   My tour is scheduled to include four shows in the rebuilt Cavern Club: two on the front stage, under the brick arches, where I've played six times; and two on the club's large concert stage, where I first performed in 1992 with Beatle Pete Best's brother Roag and where Paul McCartney played his triumphant "coming home" concert in 1999. (Pete and Roag Best are currently touring the USA with The Pete Best Band. For details on their past and present activities, visit their official websites at petebest.com and casbahcoffeeclub.com.)

I've just updated the "Links" page on this website, which includes the website addresses given here plus a number of others of interest to my fans and to Beatles fans.

Here is the review of my book, Charlie Lennon: Uncle To A Beatle, that my friend Spencer Leigh of BBC Radio Merseyside published in the July 2005 issue of the UK magazine Record Collector . Charlie's book includes a profile of Spencer, with photos, and a reprinting of Spencer's May 2002 obituary for Charlie from the UK newspaper The Independent, which I reproduced with Spencer's and the paper's kind permission.