Sophia Foster on stage  is all about glitz and glamour and visual extravaganza.

But there is a lot more to this lady than just a dynamic voice that goes with a colour spectacular.

After years, nay decades, in South African showbiz, she is eminently qualified to give an opinion on matters affecting the entertainment industry.

Those who know her can vouch for that straight-no-chaser advice that can be accompanied by an ascerbic tongue . . . or it can be mellow, comforting words to the  young female singers she has taken to mentoring.

She started in the Sixties and has many stories to tell about herself and her fellow entertainers (some of which has had to be sanitised or omitted because this blog is just a hobby and can’t afford legal action). Click on the link below to read about Sophia’s story.

https://warrenludskimusicscene.wordpress.com/interviews-3/sophia-foster-the-lady-is-a-vamp/

Where was I? Aaah yes, I was at the Big Daddy reunion gig. That was two weeks ago. So why am I writing about it only now?

Well, truth to tell, the dog ate my computer (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). Couldn’t do much until I got back home.

I’m home now (after a long, slow journey back) and I’m happy to tell you that that Big Daddy gig was quite something else — and also have a quick think about “reunions” and where they fit in the greater scheme of things.

The Holy Cross Hall in Walmer Estate was packed to the rafters on that Friday night (two weeks ago) and everyone present loved that feel-good sensation as Bernie Lawrence, Noel Kistima, Wayne Smith and Clive Fester played the soundtrack of their early adulthood. Lawrence Paul Chetty filled in for an absent Trevor Parker and Daryl Andrews joined them for a guest spot.

They breezed through songs like Jimi Hendricks’s I’m A Man, Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love and Crossroads, Santana’s Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways, Stephen Stills and Al Kooper’s Season of the Witch . . . get my drift.  Throw in a good audio visual thingo with “psychedelic” lights bouncing off the wall a la Tubby Welby-Solomons in his heyday and it was like being in a time warp. It was good. Real good.

The gig was the culmination of an ambitious project that had to tie in with drummer Noel Kistima’s visit from Australia and the availability of fill-in pianist Lawrence-Paul Chetty who works overseas mainly.

The old Big Daddy guys also roped in a few guests in the form of singers Linda de Bruyn, Megan Herbert, and Lawrence Paul’s wife, Lara. For those who couldn’t cope (any longer) with driving rhythms of the Sixties and Seventies, the guest artists provided a nice alternative.

So where do we go from here with “reunion gigs”?

Pacific Express looked like making the nostalgia thing a regular occurrence when they got together for their first comeback gig back in December. Then they lost Zane Adams but still managed to follow it up with the Tietiesbaai event and the big gig at the Cape Town Jazz festival.

But it has gone all quiet in that neck of the woods. Could it be that we’ve seen the last of Express on stage?

Noel Kistima says there is a chance that Little Wing could have a “reunion” next year but they have to sound out a few guys – like Jimmy Engelbrecht!!

But what Noel would like to see is a reunion of Respect – Issy Ariefdien, Mel da Silva (bass) Ivor Wagner (organ) and Issy Mohammed (vocals). All but Issy Mohammed is easily contactable. No-one knows where he is.

Respect reunion? Back in ’68 they rocked the joint. Now that would be something!!!

Whilst we all love a little walk down memory lane to relive our youth and make those memories as real as possible . . . getting bands together for old times’ sake is a tough ask. Invariably the “re-united” band has a shelf life that amounts to a one-off gig.

In short, it’s nice if it happens . . . but don’t expect the second coming to be a long-term thing.

See ya at the next reunion gig!!!

Original Big Daddy members bassist Bernie Lawrence and drummer Noel Kistima.

The word’s been out for a few weeks now that Big Daddy – that very popular progressive group from the Seventies – could be having another reunion gig soon.

Well, it’s happening . . . this Friday night at the Holy Cross hall in Walmer Estate.

That’s the good news for Big Daddy fans (and there were many back in the day). The bad news is that if you don’t have a ticket already, you ain’t gonna see them. Pray that there’ll be another reunion gig some time down the track because a second gig with this line-up is probably out of the question.

Noel Kistima, who was the original drummer with Big Daddy, flies back home to Sydney next Wednesday.

The line-up for Friday is Kistima, Bernie Lawrence (bass), Lawrence Paul Chetty (piano), Clive Fester (guitar), Wayne Smith (guitar), and Earl Duveaux Johnson (percussion).

Rehearsing for the Big Daddy gig . . . from left, Clive Fester, Wayne Smith and Lawrence Paul Chetty.

Group spokesman Bernie Lawrence said the stars aligned for this gig.

“It was just fortunate that both Noel and Lawrence Paul were in town,” he said. “Lawrence Paul didn’t play with Big Daddy but he was available for a short time before he leaves to do lengthy stints on luxury liners.

“Noel may not be in town again for a while, and I don’t play much these days. I put this gig together at short notice.”

Bernie says he would like to get guitarist Issy Ariefdien, who is busy with a revitalized Pacific Express, to do a guest spot. Issy played with Bernie and Noel in Respect. For anyone who was around those years, Respect segued into Little Wing, which morphed into Big Daddy and ended up as Mahogany.   It would be impossible to name all the musos who played those groups but it would read like a “who’s who” of Cape Town band members.

Earl Duveaux Johnson, from the States. He will handling percussion as well on Friday night.UCT jazz academic Darryl Andrews has indicated that he may be available for a guest spot.

As Bernie recalls: “Sometimes Winston Mankunku, who also had a stint with us, would rock up with a friend and it would turn into a jam session. That’s just the way it was.”

For nostalgia buffs, Friday night’s fare will include songs by Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Chicago, Santana . . .

If you’re a Big Daddy fan, it doesn’t get any better than that does it? And below is a blast from the past.

One of the very early versions of Big Daddy. Standing at the back are Eric Neethling, Trevor Parker, Noel Kistima, Bernie Lawrence, Dougie Bam and Kevin Veenendal. In front are Darryl Andrews, Leslie Kleinsmith, and John Scholtz.

Hector Harrison, better known on stage in Cape Town in the Sixties and Seventies as comedian Jerry Hector and Jerry Lewis imitator, died last week, aged 74.

It hasn’t been a good few weeks for the entertainment scene in Cape Town – in quick succession we’ve lost singers Zane Adams and Walter Brown, and drummer Vic Higgins. Now comedian Jerry Hector has left us for that big stage in the sky.

The one-time funny man of stage shows in and around Cape Town was farewelled last Friday after battling cancer for a few months.

Not many of the younger generation will have heard of Jerry Hector but those whose vintage goes back to the Sixties and Seventies would have seen or known of his antics copying the popular slapstick film star of those times, Jerry Lewis.

So where did it all start for this District 6 boy, born Hector Harrison into a family of four boys and two girls in Van Der Leur Street in 1941?

Jerry Hector schooled at Holy Cross in District 6 but dropped out when he reached Std 7and showed no early inclination to be an entertainer.

“He got his introduction to entertainment through me,” his eldest brother, Ginger Harrison, said.

“I used to be the MC in the late Fifties at the Ambassadors club run by Dave Saunders, on Sir Lowry Road. It happened that the African Jazz and Variety show asked Dave if they could rehearse there.

“Dave was pretty shrewd. He said they could rehearse there if they allowed him to put on a show. He was looking to the future when he wanted to be a show promoter.

“Hector used to hang around the club as a 16-year-old and he often fooled around imitating Jerry Lewis who was big around that time with the movie Sailor Beware.

“Dave organised a sailor suit for him and away he went. That was his start in showbiz.”

Ginger said Jerry Hector never really sang. “He was basically a stand-up comedian.

“What many people didn’t know was that he was a top rock ‘n roll dancer and that he attended dance school and did ballet as a kid.

“The Ambassadors club was the ‘in’ spot for rock ‘n roll in those days and Hector entered a competition that took him to Port Elizabeth where he won the title as national champion.”

Jerry Hector with a young Taliep Peterson signing up for a talent contest in 1970. After Jerry Hector’s stage career went into decline he took on a number of jobs as a salesman and focussed his talents as a performer in the annual coon carnival.

“He performed as the drum major (voorloeper) in the Liberties, then with the Mississippis which was the troupe run by his friend Sakkie Small (Sakkie vannie Star), and finally the Liberties.

“Hector was so good as the voorloeper, he won the best voorloeper title for 19 years straight. They eventually gave him the trophy.”

Ginger said Hector  lived quietly in retirement. He took ill in November last year and was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He married twice and fathered four children in each marriage.

Three months ago things looked really great for Pacific Express. They had just had a reunion event, the feedback was good and suddenly more engagements came rolling in.

So good in fact that they had four high-profile gigs lined up in quick succession — a gig at The Castle, the Tietiesbaai jazz event, the P.P. Arnold Kafunta concert at His People last weekend and the Cape Town Jazz Festival at the end of the month.

But, sadly, it hasn’t been all good times. Singer Zane Adams died a few days before The Castle gig and the group has had to jump through hoops to find a new vocalist and to fill other short-term vacancies.

Guitarist Issy Ariefdien says it has been a trying few weeks, but they are optimistic about the future of a reborn Pacific Express.

“It was a shock to lose Zane, it was a hard blow and some of the guys are still feeling it,” he said.

“We had to cancel the Castle gig but we will honour every other commitment.

“At the moment our priority is to find a regular vocalist if we are going to continue as a group. We handled the Tietiesbaai gig with the help of Alistair Izobell and Vernon Castle.”

Glenn Robertson helped out at the P.P. Arnold show at His People’s Church in Goodwood last Saturday.

Bassist Greg Higgins, saxophonist Didier Richards, pianist Mark Goliath and drummer Deon Peterson joined Chris Schilder, Issy Ariefdien and Jack Momple for the Tietiesbaai event and filled in again at the P.P. Arnold show where Jack and Chris were unavailable due to prior commitments.

Issy says there will be minor changes over time but they will get through it — and they will be at the Cape Town Jazz Festival!

Overnight another former Pacific Express player, drummer Vic Higgins, passed away.

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One of the gentlest of souls I have ever had the pleasure of interviewing, singer Walter Brown, died in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Whilst Walter never achieved the great heights of some of his contemporaries of the Sixties, he nonetheless enjoyed great respect and high regard from all who knew him.

I first met Walter back in the late Sixties when I was writing entertainment stories for the now long-defunct Cape Post. I had seen him on the bill as a supporting act for a few local shows, mainly in the Elsies River area. He specialised in the slow, plaintive songs so popular at the time.

But he always aspired to more. He pitched up at the newspaper offices in District Six where I worked and introduced himself in way that has lived with me ever since.

Walter Brown . . . a gentleman to the core.

In stuttering voice (he had a nervous stammer but it never affected his singing), he opened the conversation thus: “Ek is Walter Brown, ek gaan famous wees.” I’m Walter Brown, I’m going to be famous).Strangely, it wasn’t said as a boast, rather with a touch of humility – spoken softly and with a fair dollop of uncertainty.

All he was after was a little bit of exposure in the same way that other artists of his time were getting from me.

Quite a few of the artists of that time had had a way of selling themselves that sometimes bordered on the distasteful. Walter was different. He wanted a bigger stage but flaunting himself wasn’t his style. His inexperience in dealing with people to achieve his goals held him back. I can only imagine how long he must have rehearsed that opening line in our first meeting.

Walter typified any one of the many struggling artists on the Cape Flats in those years. One story goes that he pitched up at a stage show where he was due to perform and borrowed someone else shoes before going on stage.

He had a few highlights in his career. He was there at the beginning when the Rockets – then comprising Robbie Jansen, Georgie Carelse, Carlo Barron and Molly Barron – were formed. He accompanied them on a tour to South Africa and was a hit with the Namibians. He did a few guest spots with some German entertainers who tried to lure him to stay there.

But Walter was a homeboy, he came back to Elsies River. I hadn’t heard of Walter for decades and I believe he turned his talents to gospel.

I’ll remember Bernie Brown, and one-time Rockets guitarists Claude and Frank Brown. But I’ll also remember softly spoken, courteous Walter Brown — with great fondness. Rest In Peace Walter.

A little bit of musical Cape Town (and South Africa) came to Canberra Australia last week. A crowded house of jazz-lovers soaked up the sounds of saxophonist Mark Ginsburg’s group, The South African Project.

Those in the audience with South African roots – and there were many of them – applauded with great fervour as Ginsburg and his group worked their way through Winston Mnkunku Ngozi’s Yakhal N’Komo, Khalil al Shahib’s (Chris Schilder) Skyride, Victor Ntoni’s composition (Hugh Masekela’s version), Nomali, Merton Barrow’s A Little Rock in Spain, and Abdullah Ibrahim’s Whoza Mtwana and The Wedding.

All those artists are legends in Cape Town’s jazz pantheon.

Group spokesman Ginsburg is originally from Camps Bay but now lives in Sydney and on the night he acknowledged his roots and the high regard he has for the artists whose music he had chosen.

The group’s repertoire was rounded off with Bheki Mseleku’s Vukani and Timelessness, Bruce Cassidy’s Fikele’s Delight, Bokani Dyer’s Fanfare, Fadheli Williams’ Malaika and Miriam Makeba/Alan Salinga’s Ntylo Ntylo.

Ginsburg isn’t the only one in the group who has links to Cape Town. Pianist Ryan Grogan is the son of well-known Cape Times cartoonist John Grogan and singer Judy Campbell is the daughter of Cape Town pianist the late Colin Campbell who featured a lot on the old SABC stations.

The South African Project has been around for about two years now. Let’s hope we can see and hear more of them in months to come.

Mark also released an album titled Generations (The Mark Ginsburg Band) about four years ago which is in part acknowledgement of his Jewish background.

The South African Project . . . a jazz group based in Sydney but wit its roots firmly in Cape Town. From left, saxophonist Mark Ginsburg, bassist Brendan Clark, jnr, Eamon Dilworth (trumpet), Judy Campbell (vocals), Dave Goodman (drums), and Ryan Grogan (piano). Ginsburg, Campbell and Grogan are all originally from Cape Town.

Whatever happened to “Bones”,  for more than a decade the “face” of the Rockets. Click on the Interviews With Artists tab above to find out.

Check out the interview with another Cape Town Music Legend.  Click on the link above.

I couldn’t make it to the Pacific Express reunion  on Saturday night but I have it on good authority that it was  a blast for all who were there.

And whose authority is that, you ask?

None  other than the group’s master-blaster guitarist Issy Ariefdien who teamed  up with  his old sidekicks Ebrahim Khalil Shihab, on piano, Jack Momple on drums and  singer Zayn Adams for the  first time in more than 30 years.

So what did Issy think of the get-together?

“It was mind-blowing,” he told me  on Sunday afternoon.  “I woke up so invigorated this morning, it was the best I’ve felt in a long time.

Veteran guitarist Issy Ariefdien doing what he does best this week.

“We had limited rehearsals during the week and Jack was only able to attend one, but it was as if we had not stopped playing those songs. We just clicked. The two guys we brought in (saxophonist Didier Richards and bassist Greg Higgins for Robbie Jansen and Paul Abrahams respectively) we had a to nurse a little, but that was to be expected.

“The moment we started up, the crowd came forward to the stage. It was phenomenal, it was such a buzz. There was a lot of hugging, and backslapping afterwards. At 71, I was the oldest of the original band, the others are not far behind me. To get that reception made us all feel pretty good.”

Issy was confident that there would be more gigs in the future.

“At a personal level, it was very fulfilling for me. Since I’ve come back from playing in the Middle East three years ago, I’ve only played one gig. This may just have kickstarted my drive again.”