performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

Tonight I returned to a place that has always been very welcoming to me, and that I had neglected for far too long. It was very nice to get a warm reception. The set was:

1. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
2. Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In Love With You
3. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

performance - open mic, Brave New World, Surbiton

A little bit of a hiatus, following Amanda & Alan's wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of their big day, and will be looking to perform at more weddings in future, which will include setting up a wedding pianist website with special discounts for recommendations/word-of-mouth clients.

I got back into the 'groove' with two mini-sets at the Brave New World, normally they only give every performer one set of 3 songs but for some reason I was popular on the night. -)

Set 1:

1. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Reinhold Glière - Prelude Op. 43 No. 1
3. Rob Cass - Never Stopped Loving You

Set 2:

4. Jamie Gray - Fantasia
5. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
6. Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In Love With You

performance - Amanda and Alan's wedding: review

Venue: Holiday Inn, Surbiton

Date: Saturday, 3rd August

Showtime: 17:00

Around 180 guests gathered at the Holiday Inn in Surbiton for Amanda and Alan's wedding ceremony. There was a pretty opulent blue/lilac colour theme for the day. A last minute hitch meant that the new couple did not show up until nearly 6pm though! I was hired to play during the evening 3 course meal, and was informed I would be sharing a stage with David the DJ, who was kind enough to loan me some of his lighting rack for a bit more ambience. The set went down pretty well, although Amanda's mum said the volume was a little on the low side from the opposite corner of the room! I had prepared some business cards as Amanda had helpfully hinted there were 4-5 other brides in waiting at the ceremony. Afterwards I found they had made arrangements for me to have dinner 'on the house', which was very generous (and much needed after whipping up an appetite playing!)

The set was:

Marry You (Bruno Mars)
The Way You Look Tonight (Frank Sinatra)
L O V E (Nat King Cole)
Greatest Day (Take That)
Amazed (Lonestar)
Love Lifts Us Up (Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warnes)
Your Song (Elton John)
Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Dancing Queen (Abba)
A Moment Like This (Kelly Clarkson)
She's a Star (James)
Summer of '69 (Bryan Adams)
You Raise Me Up (Westlife)
Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)
What a Difference a Day Makes (Jamie Cullum)
The White Cliffs of Dover (Vera Lynn)
You've Got a Friend In Me (Randy Newman/Lyle Lovett)
A Whole New World (Alan Menken)
Ave Maria (trad)
Edelweiss (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)
Don't Stop Me Now (Queen)
Mr Brightside (The Killers)
Sit Down (James)
Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison)
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen)
Can't Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
Fields of Gold (Sting)
True Colours (Cyndi Lauper)
I Say A Little Prayer (Dusty Springfield)
Moon River (Henry Mancini)
Stand By Me (Ben E King)
Unchained Melody (Righteous Brothers)
All I Ask of You (Lloyd Webber)
Music of the Night (Lloyd Webber)
Prelude (Gliere)
Sonata in C, Op. 36 No. 3 (Clementi)
Gymnopedie I (Satie)
Le Onde (Einaudi)
Lied Ohne Worte (Mendelssohn)
Prelude 'Raindrop' Op. 28 No. 15 (Chopin)

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

The set was:

1. Jamie Gray - Fantasia (excerpts from Iridescence Fantasia)
2. Jamie Gray - Someone to Love
3. Queen - It's a Hard Life

Late notice I know, but if anyone's reading this, I'm playing a feature length set at The Rose Theatre tomorrow as part of the IYAF festival.

booking - Amanda & Alan's wedding

Super pleased and excited today to confirm that I have been booked to play at Amanda's wedding - a friend of my sister's from high school! The reception will be in Surbiton. More details to follow. The set should be broadly the same as for Nicola's wedding with some amendments. Also coming soon will be a new website promoting me as a wedding pianist; probable launch date is around the start of July. I am currently busy writing the text and getting one or more of Dan, Ben and Lee-Tze to help with graphics and layout.

download - Logic Detective

Dan Newman (the programming mastermind behind Goats and Tigers) has recently released another game called Logic Detective, which is available for PC and iPad. He has scored in excess of 35,000 downloads on the App Store - very impressive for a free game with premium puzzle pack buy-ins. Please support the continuing development of future games (and perhaps more collaborations with me!)

PC version

iPad version

Happy sleuthing!

performance - Nic & Jeremey's wedding: review

The day could be best summarised as a lot of fun with some hard work thrown in! The weather did its utmost to spoil things for my sister, but the photographer managed to get some snaps on the lawns of the relaxing Burford Bridge Hotel.

Probably the nicest moment came for me when ten of Nic's friends joined up to create a huge backing chorus during Bohemian Rhapsody! Total performance duration was around 2 1/4 hours over 3 spots, which were (1) arrival of guests, (2) after the wedding lunch/during the photoshoot, and (3) early evening whilst the buffet was being served.

Obviously biased as it's my sister, but I thought the day went exceptionally well and everyone had a nice time. Here's to playing at a few more weddings!

performance - Nic & Jeremey's wedding: set list

JEREMEY/NIC WEDDING MUSIC LIST

01.      The Closest Thing To Crazy

02.      (Getting Some) Fun Out of Life

03.      Love Lifts Us Up

04.      Your Song

05.      Dancing Queen

06.      She’s a Star

07.      Unintended

08.      Drive

09.      Sway

10.      Mercy

11.      Summer of ’69

12.      Heartbeats

13.      Gretchen Ross

14.      When I’m Sixty-Four

15.      Hands Down

16.      Bedshaped

17.      What a Difference a Day Makes

18.      The White Cliffs of Dover

19.      Hoppípolla

20.      Never Stopped Loving You

21.      Lose You

22.      Song for Guy

23.      Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

24.      Blackout

25.      Chasing Cars

26.      Clocks

27.      Brown Eyed Girl

28.      Don’t Stop Me Now

29.      Mr Brightside

30.      Sit Down

31.      Pretty Woman

32.      Crazy Little Thing Called Love

33.      Moondance

34.      Fields of Gold

35.      The Boys of Summer

36.      I Say a Little Prayer

37.      Moon River

38.      Arrivederci Roma

39.      Stand By Me

40.      Hallelujah

41.      Sometimes When We Touch

42.      Unchained Melody

43.      All I Ask of You

44.      Music of the Night

45.      Tifa’s Theme

46.      Eyes on Me

47.      Fireworks

48.      Scattered

49.      Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

50.      Beseechingly

51.      Fantasia

52.      Prelude (Gliére)

53.      Clair de Lune (Bergamasque Suite) (Debussy)

54.      Sonata in C, Op. 36 No. 3 (Clementi)

55.      Le Onde (Einaudi)

56.      Stella del Mattino (Einaudi)

57.      Gymnopedie I (Satie)

58.      Lied Ohne Worte (Mendelssohn)

59.      Prelude ‘Raindrop’, Op. 28 No. 15 (Chopin)

performance - open mic, The Melrose, Shepherds Bush

A chance to play at The Melrose - a venue that I had never been to before. I was tipped off about it being one of the few venues on the circuit with a house piano by the wonderful West London Music photographer Louie Green. This was a big boost as it would've been murder lugging a portable keyboard halfway across London. Unfortunately when I got there, I discovered it was somewhat out of tune, being situated immediately by the entrance and obviously being subject to considerable atmospheric fluctuations. Still, the quality of musicianship was very high throughout. Thanks to Michael Gill for hosting this night. The set was:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Beseechingly
3. Summer of '69
4. Fantasia

performance - open mic, Ram Jam, Kingston

Another warm-up night before Nic's wedding. Thanks to the ever youthful Maria Ahearn for hosting this night (and for joining me on the last song!) - the set was:

1. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes - Love Lifts Us Up
3. Elton John - Your Song
4. Muse - Unintended (feat. Maria Ahearn)

performance - open mic, Brave New World, Surbiton

The set was:

1. Michael Buble - Learnin' the Blues
2. The Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four
3. Jamie Gray - Fantasia
4. Vera Lynn - White Cliffs of Dover
5. Jamie Gray - Beseechingly
6. Queen - Too Much Love Will Kill You
7. Muse - Ruled By Secrecy
8. Elton John - Your Song

download - Goats and Tigers

Both the premium and free versions of Goats and Tigers are now exclusively available through the App Store! The premium version costs 69p.

Try our app with the free version - click here:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/goats-and-tigers-lite/id552800308?mt=8

For the premium version (priced at just 69p) click here:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/goats-and-tigers-full/id566383833?mt=8

Here's a basic breakdown of the difference between the two products:

FREE VERSION

> Undo last move not available
> Toggle original music on/off
> Play as goats only
> 2 difficulty modes: easy or normal
> Tigers must eat 5 goats
> Toggle vibration on/off

Below: Screenshot of the free version's menu

PREMIUM VERSION

> Undo last move available
> Toggle original music on/off
> Play as goats or tigers
> 3 difficulty modes: easy, normal or hard
> Tigers can eat 1, 3, 5 or 7 goats
> Toggle vibration on/off

Below: Screenshot of the premium version's menu

So from myself, Ben and Dan, please support our little team! And remember that of the 69p purchase price, 40% will go straight to Apple, so we actually only make about 12p each in the end! Thanks for reading and hope you'll have as much fun with this as we did.