It’s Christmas in July for Tuesday Rostrum

FOR Tuesday Rostrum, July is traditionally a break from the ‘heavy stuff’, the stimulating, usually serious talks that are served up with the delicious meal at the monthly lunch meetings.

Instead members celebrate ‘Christmas in July’ by inviting top-class entertainers to provide light lunchtime entertainment for them. This July, the guest artist is singer, guitarist and wandering troubadour Craig Jack Lewis Coe who has wandered across continents as a professional musician, singing and playing rhythm guitar for various bands for the last 17 years. He is now back in South Africa and going solo, entertaining South Coast audiences four or five times a week.

Craig launched his career as a professional musician as the singer in a South African rock band, ‘4 Wheel Drive’, between 1995 and 1997. He was then the resident musician at Salt Rock Hotel in Ballito for a year before heading for Europe in 1998. For three years, he had great fun as the singer and guitarist for a three-piece outfit, ‘Persona non Grata’, in Holland, performing at a pirate-themed restaurant four times a week. It was at this stage of his career that he was introduced to the concept of performing with no drummer and using semi-acoustic guitars.

His next big career move was to join the acclaimed band, ‘Three Blind Mice’ as a singer and guitarist. Based in Groningen, Holland, the band travelled extensively, performing in Spain, Turkey, Portugal, the UK, the USA, Germany, France and Austria. Three Blind Mice was the house band for ‘Orange Partner Camps’, regular meetings of decision makers from the major internet and telecommunications companies.

At the same time, Craig was the singer and composer for ‘Dean’, a six-piece rock and alternate band that recorded only original material. After making an album of 15 songs, Craig had to leave the band as the live performances with ‘Three Blind Mice’ were taking up too much time and the other musicians had no desire to go professional, preferring to continue as hobbyists.

Having played rhythm guitar for a hardworking band in Europe for eight years, Craig prefers the musical integrity of a live performance now that he is working as a solo entertainer. For this reason, he uses no computer or backing tracks. He has a repertoire of about 250 songs and does his best to do requests for members of his audiences. When he is not singing he does a little stand-up comedy, regaling his audiences with hilarious stories about his years in the entertainment industry.

Join Craig and Tuesday Rostrum for a light-hearted lunch at Mbango on Tuesday, July 8, at 12.15pm. Guests are welcome. To book, contact Denise Millar at 039 3172600. Lunch and entertainment is R115 for members and R190 for guests.