18/07/2017
THE SEVEN CORFU BLUES ROCK FESTIVAL 2017
It was the weekend that was and one hell of a music festival that left me shattered. But a couple of days of exhaustion was a smallish price to pay for the music and light show that was so big that astronauts on the space station reported a UFO close encounter and the villagers woke up in Albania !! The atmosphere of an event like this doesn't build without people and you people out there that attended made the atmosphere electrifying so I would like to thank you for coming to support our event and some of you travelled quiet some distance. First there is an idea, but before anything can happen you need permission - in our country, bureaucracy puts the handbrake on so many ideas. Fortunately we are not in just any part of Greece and we have a Vice Mayor for Culture who's a real cool guy Spiros Kaloudis ( who also is the master of Tsipero brewing ) and he said the magic word - yes!! and the rest is history. Folks, your awareness of our little bash of course could not have happened without one particular person, our beautiful and very special Samar Nahas for her tireless months of work and support, putting the social media in place, designing countless updated banners, setting up all the online ticketing and building the incredible website, for putting up with the pressure so calmly and a whole lot else. Andreas Trifonas - I have never seen anyone in the business work as hard as you, you're an inspiration and your team at 'Seven' are simply the best. Thank for taking on this project and supporting it throughout culminating in a spectacular show that everybody is talking about. Spiros Kaloudis and all at Corfu Beer, thank you so much for your generous sponsorship and support by providing us, not only with sponsored beer but the festival grounds and all the facilities at Corfu Beer. Thank you thank you thank you Spiros Lissaris and Eva Avrampou and all at MaCocotte, your contribution was so much more than wonderful food. Scott Winstanley Thank you sir and thank you to your team for your fantastic support not only with Corfu Property Security, but for your input and ideas all those months ago. Ian Porthouse Thankyou for being such a rock in handling all the running around that I simply could not have coped with on top of everything else and for your incredible support and enthusiasm. On the night we were all astounded by our 6 bands Dr Feelgood Steve Walwyn (sorry I dont have the guys on Facebook yet to tag) eternally grateful to you all for travelling from the UK again in the midst of a tight tour schedule and rocking the house so magnificently - please tell Robert, that he's the greatest front man ever, but the knickers were thrown at me!! , Elias Zaikos and Blues Wire, I so wish we could have had more time with you, your were simply exquisite!! I so hope you are ok now Mr Bass Supremo - Sotirios Zisis. Never the Bride - Catherine and Nikki, you girls are seriously out there and astounded us all as we knew you would, watching you on the net is great but being in the room is a whole new level. Black Strat Band - Fabulous performance is an understatement - Thank you so much Nikos Sellas and Kostas Soueref for taking time out of your busy schedules to rehearse and perform with Never the Bride. Chris and Angela Jones I love you - not only our special guests performing beautifully on the show and allowing the use of your music room and abusing your mini bar, especially the GIn, but also for your special friendship and support. Nikos Tsop and the gang in Deep in the Top - you travelled from Sophia in Bulgaria that morning and showed us the power of youthful energy - Thanks for making me feel old !! Roy Kendle words are not enough my oldest (not eldest) friend on the island, I'm your biggest fan. An opening act has to set a damn good benchmark so thank you my friend for putting a band together that delivered with a lovely bunch of people Maria Goros Dave Good (don't leave us Dave) and John Hall. Thank you to all of our sponsors, your support was priceless - Dimitris Krokidis at Corfu Wall - you are fantastic !!, Elina and the crew at Corfu Land, amazing support, Yanni at Village Cafe in Arillas - Thank you my friend for your support and help, Kostas Gitsis , this is the second year you have sponsored us and the twentieth year you have been my friend. Love you man. Thank you Dick Mulder for your amazing support and photographic mastery - you should make a career out of this. Thankyou all you page owners for putting up with our bombardment of posts but without you, no-one knows anything. As you can see the list could go on forever so to all our sponsors and supporters and everyone in the local community including Litsa Goudeli and Dimitri at Brouklis Taverna and Alex Christou and the gang at Green Corfu, Nikos at Nikoletta Cafe thank you all for your very special local support and sponsorship. On Sunday 16th I was a complete wreck, emotionally, mentally and physically. I drove the band to the airport at 8:30 am, then came back to Arillas to face a sea of litter, 400 scattered chairs and over a ton of steel fencing and barriers to dismantle, so I decided that was a good time to go and have a coffee at the Village Cafe courtesy of Yanni and the master caffeine creator Stathis. I got chatting to two complete strangers who were not even at the festival. They offered to help but I refused as they were on holiday. I was not long into clearing up when these to strangers turned up and firmly told me that they were going to help and they would not tale no for an answer. I may have collapsed if it wasn't for them, I was that exhausted. Their names are Dom Pinson and Svetlana Kim - you are humanity XX. On that note I shall sign off, so until next time folks have a great year ###
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