Dave's Blog

Hi, it's DAve (the wandering bard, itinerant photographer, husband, author and other interesting (well to me anyway) bits and pieces)! I am well aware that the posts on this page have been spasmodic to say the least, in fact they have been practically non-existent this year! That said, I have been busy with family stuff, photo work and also matters of the heart! But now I feel that the time is now right for me to give everyone a heads up about the latest book I am working on. The cover of which is illustrated here:- The content of this book is made up of snippets of conversations and other  moments from my experiences (over the last 25 or so years) during my work as an entertainment professional. ".... the Variety Club of Great Britain Awards at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Park Lane, London........I mentioned that I was Musical Director of The Spotlight Theater Company and thanked him for his signed compliment slip wishing us all the best for our forthcoming production of Godsp...

  All Star Celebrity Gala           VARIETY SHOW A long time ago I had the great pleasure of working on this show (as Executive Producer) alongside my friend Richard Hope-Hawkins. One of my earliest memories of the production was being invited (along with Alison) to attend a "Meet and Greet The Cast" event that Richard had organised at an hotel in the North Devon resort of Instow. The first member of the "cast" I met was the fantastic Jenny Hanley (tv presenter and radio host).  At this introduction her first words to me were  " you smell nice, I love a man who smells nice! " That "ice breaker" was the beginning of a friendship that still continues today and has been a filled with laughter all the way!  The friendship has led to discover mutual friends, several radio interviews between us and a fair number of alcohol infused telephone calls.  The event that took place in the Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple, was a great success and Jenny and ...

Wow!  How quickly has that last week gone?  The whole week seemed to be taken up with visiting the sick and infirm, helping Alison with her issues, work and attending to other personal matters.  I really did not have time to turn round and catch my breath. I had a call on Thursday from a friend (also a client) who was suffering with a back injury and during the call I did a silent Reiki treatment.  On Friday she called to say that she was feeling much better so I then offered to do a full healing treatment for her on Sunday when we visited her house which she welcomed. Unfortunately (my own fault) I did not advise her that before the treatment she should not consume any alcohol and when we arrived on Sunday she was walking round with a glass filled with a mix of wine and an energy drink.  I gave her an apology for not telling her and I advised that as a result of the alcohol I had to postpone the session to another date. She was fine about that and the rest of t...

The Story Continues… We are now coming more up-to-date – as I said at the end of the last part I had set up CauldronFM   The station was created to provide a resource for those who followed a Pagan path both nationally and internationally, and also to be the platform for music created by Pagan artists. The shows also contained articles and discussions that were of interest to a Pagan audience. The establishing of this service proved popular, and soon it had att racted enquiries from fellow Pagans with regard to them joining the station as presenters. One of the potential candidates was a lady from America who goes by the name of Raven Moonshadow. At the time she was co-presenting a podcast called Pagan Moonbeams which was a service designed to introduce young people to the Pagan tradition The podcast had been running for some time and Raven was seeking a new challenge.  I auditioned her (merely a formality) and she joined the team. Raven and I worked together and she is a hig...

So having completed our fact-finding mission Dave and I submitted our findings to the Council, but (to cut a long story short) the project was curtailed because Dave had accepted a promotion and that meant he had to move to another local authority. This effectively brought an end to the plans as far as we were concerned and I returned to working with music and musicians, and dreaming of someday having a radio presence. Eventually I moved to Devon  (where I still live) - a move that proved to be very worthwhile. I retrained and reskilled and became qualified as a life coach but I also set up an artist management business and predominantly began working with bands.  For one particular band I put together a major 6 week tour (something that they had never done before) and took them to have 3 tracks recorded in a professional studio (owned at the time by 10cc's touring keyboard player Steve)  During this tour I became acquainted with a number of local radio presenters that re...

Hi today is a crisp late summer day here in North Devon and I have been out and about – it feels like autumn is just around the corner. My car has now been serviced and MOT need and the bill will arrive with me soon. So today I feel that I want to give you just a little insight regarding some of the work I do…… One of my earliest productions (Musical Director) I am a therapist, life coach and musician on my own account  But professionally.... . For many years I have been involved in the entertainment industry – playing in bands, broadcasting, and for the past 20 years or so I have been a senior member of a team in a company that provides theatrical drapes and backdrops plus lighting effects to the World’s entertainment industry Working with this company has enabled me to experience places that I could only dream off as a child and meeting people that I have only been able to admire from afar. However I still remember the words that my Dad said to me when I was a teenager and I had ...

Hi and welcome to the third part of this series of insights into my life that was leading to:- how I became and still am a broadcaster (and more) It has been an interesting journey for me and filled with WoW moments all along the way. So when we left the story last time I promised a bit of a wow moment so here goes….. Dave Wycherley and I were tasked by Halton Borough Council to investigate how they could help the up-and-coming musicians of Widnes and Runcorn.  After some research we identified that around the county several local authorities had provided Rehearsal space (the old church/the citadel) but others had gone a stage further and had provided recording facilities. So we just had to go and investigate! The first place we went to was a “studio“ near Ormskirk – sadly this was a great example of how not to build a recording studio – it was basically a rehearsal space – and even that was definitely lacking. It was located in the heart of an industrial estate without any form of...

Hi and welcome to the second part of this insight into my life as a radio presenter.  Runcorn Town Hall (unknown photographer) When we left the story at the end of Part 1 we had reached the point where I had been approached by Dave Wycherly (Halton Borough Council's Arts Development Officer) with a view to me joining his team based at Runcorn Town Hall (pictured above).  Although this was a voluntary post it brought the strength of the team to the grand total of 2! Between us we were charged with the development of, and the raising awareness of, The Arts in the Borough of Halton.  This was by no means an easy task but it was one that we felt we could bring to justice! One of the first things that was accomplished was the addition of a live music tent at the up and coming Spike Island Festival.  This event was actually sited on Spike Island which was very close to a major chemical plant.  The event included all of the usual fair type attractions plus a superb ski...

Hi and welcome to the first part in a series of posts about my life as the presenter of radio shows and the twists and turns along the way...... I thought that this way I could provide a small insight into another aspect of my life  - that of "The Merlin" - presenter on  Cauldron FM (The Sound Of Magick)   and  Capstone Radio - the sound of the North Devon Coast I began my radio "career" over 20 years ago when I was invited to be a guest on a radio station that was broadcasting under a Restricted Service Licence (meaning it was allowed to broadcast on FM for 4 weeks.  It was designed to provide a community based broadcast. The one I joined was HaltonFM and it was broadcasting to Runcorn / Widnes and part way towards Warrington. The presenter of the show I was on was a man called Dave Pichilingi (a name that was destined to become quite well known).  He went on to be a significant player within the local community - becoming a senior member of the staff at P...