NEWS

For further information on all featured contact ; derekwadeson@gmail.com

GIG GUIDE. now has it's own section on wwww.mungomania.com

JULY LATEST - Lots of videos added to the Media section of the website on MJTV including Nail That Snail. The Ray Dorset biography Mungo Jerry & Me has a revised publication date of 15th November.

As you will be aware from the gig guide on www.mungomania.com and for european fans www.mungojerry.de The King of the Groove and the band are travelling and jetting off at regular intervals and playing festivals and intimate venues alike, Ray is very keen to get down to his roots and play the songs from his heart and not just oldies revisited type gigs. The UK band currently has John Cook on keyboards as Toby Hounsham is unable to travel due to a recent eye operation. Ray loves the piano/organ styles of both John & Toby and is planning to use both together a la Bootpower in the future.

In Europe Ray has either just played or is about to play gigs with Christoph Steinbach - boogie woogie piano and Heini Altbart - drums. Some gigs will be big band style and I believe a couple of gig snippets are available on YouTube.

The August edition of The Word magazine has a two page interview with Ray and an unseen original band photo, available from WH Smith UK and direct from www.thewordmagazine.co.uk . The Sunday Telegraph is due to have a Mungo Jerry interview in a colour supplement very shortly.

Check out the In The Summertime celebration videos here on MJTV media section. The Mungo Jerry v Bluestone Ft Skidadee video has received over 18,000 hits in a week. More versions of ITS are being issued in Germany and Asda in the UK and the New York lottery in the USA are both using the song currently for adverts.

You Tube currently has lots of Mungo Jerry videos, we have just added a couple Rock Me Mama from the forthcoming DVD Live at the Budapest Blues Festival Jamboree and Have a Whiff On Me Live at the Processed Pea from June.

Check out www.bbc.co.uk for radio interviews with Ray on the Dave Cash and Alex Dyke shows. A commercial radio station interview also took place with DJ Geoff Dorsett and was broadcast by Express FM and Pennine 235 among others. I have an mp3 download of Geoff's interview if you want a copy. Please request to derekwadeson@gmail.com

New albums Cool Jesus, Revellations (was Candy Dreams ) Katmandu (the jam rehearsals) and Emperor New Clothes (needs more mixing) are ready to go. Emperor includes some extended jams of songs old and new including the popular Wiggle and a Waggle.

Ray has been asked to perform 30 dates in Austria next year with a stage story of RocknBlues to students.

CONFIRMATION; Ray Dorset appeared on The One Show BBC TV on Friday 16th July and not Monday 12th July as first reported. For those of you who missed it and also the appearance on the ITV show Loose Women they will appear in the Video section of the website shortly.

COMING SOON - MUNGO JERRY BLUES FESTIVAL DVD Track Listing - Let's Roll Baby / Rock Me Mama / With a Girl Like You / Going Down Slow / Why I Sing The Blues / Dust Blues / Lady Rose / No More Woman Blues / I Had a Bird / In The Summertime / Baby Jump

Mungo and Me, the new Ray Dorset biography is going to print in mid-June with a publication date of July. It will be stocked in the Mungo Jerry shop and having read a draft copy it's full of interesting facts and stories that have never been used before.

AVAILABLE from the 22nd June in the Mungo Jerry shop only is a new CD of the Mungo Jerry Guitar Duo Live, Ray Dorset & Alan Johnson. What a gig, what an atmosphere. A limited amount are available with the Mungo Jerry hits as bonus tracks. Order now £8 plus postage

Great gigs performed recently as both the skiffle line-up and the main UK band. The Processed Pea was recorded on the Tuesday evening with the intention of releasing a CD and DVD of the highlights. Almost ready to release is a DVD of the Mungo Jerry UK band performance at the Jimi Hendrix Blues Festival in Budapest 27th November 2009.

Processed Pea (The Light Dragoon) Etton, Nr Beverley. The annual Mungo Jerry skiffle gig will now be over two nights due to demand and 40th In The Summertime celebrations. The dates are Tuesday 1st June & Wednesday 2nd June. For full information on limited ticket availability and accommodation please visit www.mungomania.com where full details are available. Joining Ray on stage this year will be original double bass player Mike Cole and on washboard from the Dog House Skiffle Band Gary Pullen.

PORTSMOUTH FOOTBALL CLUB SONG. Ray Dorset alongside his old pal Phil Swan has made available via the Mungo Jerry shop the song "We're On Our Way" it's celebrates Portsmouth's achievement in once again reaching the semi-finals of the F.A. Cup. Due to Portsmouth going into administration earlier this season all profits from the song are being donated to the fans "Keep Portsmouth alive" fund. Any Mungo fans who are also fans of football may well want to invest in keeping going one of the British games more traditional teams.

ROLAND DUNNE I am sad to report that our old friend Roland sadly passed away recently, he will be be greatly missed by us all and especially by Ray who used Roland as a sounding board for many of the blues based projects he was involved in, Roland's knowledge in authentic blues was second to none. Our thoughts go out to Roland's family.

Check out www.mungomania.com for a full gig list update, lots have just been added to celebrate 40 years of In The Summertime. A few fans have asked about the January gig in Monaco that featured ex 70's keyboard player Johnny Cook, Ray tells me that it was if John had never been away and had to get used to 3 hour gigs again. JJ has provided Alan Taylor at MungoMania with a small camcorder recorded piece from the gig, check out www.mungomania.com to view.

Best Wishes to a Mighty Man, Joe Rush suffered a stroke on Christmas Eve, but we are glad to report that the ex-Mungo percussion man is now back on his feet and has even given up his cigs! Now that I must see. Get well soon Joe from all your Mungo Jerry friends and family.

The 40 Year Celebration of In The Summertime, we are looking at a couple of venues that are showing an interest in holding gigs with fans of the King of the Groove in mind. We are mindful of the fact that fans traveling from all corners of Europe would prefer a weekend to make travel and work commitments easier. For UK based fans the first of the Celebration gigs will take place at the Processed Pea on Tuesday 1st June (see Gig Confirmation below). Tuesday now sold out, extra gig at the Pea the following night, Wednesday 2nd June

MJTV, please check out the video section of the site, over 20 videos now ready to view. plenty more have also been added to the Mungo Jerry youtube page courtesy of Marc Viscel.

MJFM, the radio section of the site is still under construction, please be patient while we put together a format that works while you browse the site at the same time.

NEWS XMAS 2009

Ray Dorset and all involved with The King of the Groove would like to wish everybody a Rockin' Good Christmas and hope you Boogie on into the New Year which will celebrate 40 years of "In the Summertime".

Just around the corner in 2010 are the release of Cool Jesus CD (about time!), The Emperor's New Clothes CD (ready to be mixed at last!) and a brand new up to date book on Ray Dorset & Mungo Jerry (planned for a June release). Ray has also been busy working on amongst other things a Mungo Jerry MP3 player, a King of the Groove stomp box and a Mungo Jerry No Bullshit DIY Guitar.

This brand new Mungo Jerry King of the Groove website will be constantly changing and adding new material over the next few weeks, please be patient while new items like the Mungo Jerry Radio Station are added.

ADDITIONS TO THE SHOP: Two new items have been added to the Mungo Jerry shop, one is in CD section of a live gig from the USA in 1970, it was the last gig of Mike Cole as a member of Mungo and is excellent quality considering it has just surfaced. In the DVD section the Ragna Rock Festival has just got an official release by Universal, with fantastic packaging and a bonus booklet and 2CD set of the following years festival it is a must for collectors.

Hi everybody who is interested and prepared to help with a long ongoing and expensive investigation. It came to my notice some time ago that a certain amount of my master recordings were being licensed out for compilations around the world without my prior knowledge or consent, to third parties by persons or firms that had no right to do so. Furthermore not I or any of my companies have received payment or statements in lieu of this activity. This situation has been reported to the relevant authorities and it would be very helpful for my case if anybody out there has purchased or has access to any of these items would inform me of the title of the compilation, if it is a multi-artist compilation or a Mungo Jerry compilation.

If possible when and where it was purchased (approx year and outlet if known ), what label it is on and a scan of the insert. This also applies to tracks from the album "A Case For the Blues", that I recorded with Peter Green, Vincent Crane and Jeff Whittaker. I particular I am seeking information on tracks that have been licensed out by the following companies which happened to be companies owned and controlled by the Cohen family, Eliot and Joanne and the names of which, but not limited to, are as follows. Sound and Vision Management Ltd, OVC Media Ltd, AMI Media Ltd, Waveeffect Ltd, Associated Music Ltd,

It would also be of interest to me to have the same information regarding, but not limited to the following artists; Les McKeown / Bay City Rollers, John Du Cann, Atomic Rooster, The Attack, Derek Dallenger, Kelly Marie, Bruce and Bongo, Jesse Green, Peter Green, The Troggs, Geordie feat Brian Johnson.

Please contact Ray Dorset email; raymonddorset@aol.com

ALAN CLAYSON

One of the highlights - if not the highlight of a professionally erratic twelve months was a run of theatre dates as opening act for (and on keyboards with) Mungo Jerry. This was traceable to late spring when Ray Dorset, the group's mainstay, figurehead, and eminence grise - and a friend of many years standing - rang me with the proposition from an airport sur le continent. 'Do you want to think about it?', he asked. No, I didn't.
My experience of consecutive engagements at venues with tiered seating, usherettes and backstage mirrors bordered by light bulbs has been limited. The last time was probably in Holland as one of Dave Berry's Cruisers in the late 1980s. Nevertheless, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, I reacted to each 'five minutes, Mr. Clayson!' rap on the dressing room door like a sprinter to a starting pistol. My mind clicking into performance mode was almost audible as, in the wake of a build-up by Ray-as-interlocutor; I slapped a high-five with him, and walked the same tightrope as I have for decades before every type and size of audience.
An abiding memory of the first stop in the wilds of Middlesex, however, is of freezing corridors; a harrowing sound check that left us with just one vocal microphone, and a presentation that, owing to some by-law or other, had to be condensed into two hours and done with by 10 p.m. Yet the next night - at Milton Keynes's plush Stables - owned by British jazz behemoths Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine - was all but faultless. There were non-ironic yells for 'more!' when I finished, and an ear-stinging standing ovation after Mungo Jerry quit the boards after a ferocious 'Nutbush City Limits' closed a set in which the most low-down blues had hit as intrinsically hard as 'In The Summertime', 'Lady Rose' and all the other raggedly carefree sing-along’s that caused a different Dorset-penned smash to run through my head each consecutive day.
In this hybrid of an updated Dust Bowl jug band and my own astonishing pre-Argonauts Billy and the Conquerors, the exhilaration of the impromptu was prized more than anything as boring as technical precision by a retinue of two drummers, two bass players (electric and upright), a guitarist and, if you count me, two keyboard players, all under the metaphorical baton of the gifted Dorset, lead singer, guitarist, mouth-organist, kazoo-blower and maintainer of a bedrock pulse via foot-stomping on a customised percussion appliance.
As saturnine, lean and charismatic as in his pop icon prime, he 'read' the crowd with unerring accuracy and rewound time by generating the sweaty, invigorating intensity that had lifted Mungo off the runway in 1970 when, as a last-minute attraction at a huge Bank Holiday weekend spectacular in the Midlands, they'd held their own against the likes of Traffic, Family, Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath and The Grateful Dead. Nearly forty years on, as enchanting in its way was Ray's willingness to natter with fans, pose for photographs and sign merchandise from both the lip of the stage during the intermission and afterwards in the foyer.
The rest of the troupe were most amiable - talented too. It turned out, for example, that Phil, the sound engineer, had composed an anthem for Portsmouth football club - while tour manager James Dorset is guiding Newrising, a Guildford trio who, on the evidence of a new album, Awake From Slumber, are true masters of what his press package describes as 'acoustic groove'.
At the Stables, a certain Paul Hancox, sometime sticksman with manifold Brumbeat ensembles, The Mindbenders and a mid-1970s Mungo, joined in on a few numbers behind the kit of an amazing gentleman called Bruce Brand, who I've known and admired since 1986 when, in his Chatham attic, he and Wreckless Eric were teasing out what I hoped would become my second LP by aiming at the home-made passion of the eponymous album by their Len Bright Combo. By then, Bruce was a battle-hardened veteran of a Medway Towns scene that was as self-contained after its fashion as Merseybeat. It has since spread like bubonic plague and become clotted in such cultural hubs as the Dirty Water and the nearby Toerag studio with its anachronistic valve apparatus and compressors based on those of Joe Meek. Groups are queuing up to book sessions there. Its console boffin, Liam Watson was once in Bruce's present outfit, The Masonics, with whom many 'garage' entities of similarly agreeably retrogressive bent might be genealogically connected if Pete Frame gets round to devising a Rock Family Tree of same.
As he had on the preceding evenings, Bruce, wavering between anxiety and fraternal pride, watched me from the wings when the trek wound down on a showery Friday at the art-deco Tivoli in Wimbourne Minster - which was attended most significantly by my old mate Stuart Booth, commissioning editor of Call Up The Groups! and, in 1995, Beat Merchants - and Sandy Newman from Marmalade. He considered my antics beneath the proscenium 'bizarre', though, despite (or because of) more uncalculated errors than usual, I went down even better than I had in Milton Keynes. Indeed, the entire week-long episode left me so raring to go that I wanted the tour with Mungo to go on forever.

NAKED IN GUILDFORD

A repeat of the successful Mr Kyps & France shows of the Naked From the Heart line-up took place in the Boiler Rooms, Guildford, Surrey. A Mungo Jerry trio gig with no set lists, no rehearsals and no bullshit.

Material ranged from Baby Let’s Play House from the 1st Mungo Jerry album that Mr Bassman Mike Cole played on to Take Me Back from the Army LP that Mike didn’t but should of. Ray threw in for good measure the hits plus plenty of songs from the excellent Naked. A relatively young looking crowd (well young enough to be the sons & daughters of the Mungo crew assembled) witnessed, enjoyed and boogied all the way home to the crowd pleaser and stage master that the showman Ray Dorset is.

Behind Ray on the drum stool and playing assorted percussion was Bruce ‘Bash’ Brand, a fan and now an official band member who sure does blow a good jug. The gig was promoted by Ray’s son James, who did what most organisers have over the years failed to do and get the beat master off stage before the dawn breaks. It was also nice to meet up with some old and new friends alike and share some stories and jokes with Roland Dunne, Barry Upton, Gerry Helders and co. It was a shame that Paul King could not make it, but it seems we are getting nearer to the gig of all gigs when at least three of the original Mungo’s take to the stage and belt out those old favourites. Add Mr Bash Brand to the mix and it could be one hell of a treat, see you there. Derek