Old Firm
Rod had a good weekend after battling the horrendous weather in Scotland he saw Celtic beat Rangers 2-0 in the big derby match
He got in the mood in The Dirty Duchess in Glasgow and later celebrated the win in The American Bar at Gleneagles luxurious five-star resort in Perthshire…And even got this week’s Wolfies whisky shot!
Talking to Simon Jordan on talkSPORT on Tuesday Rod admitted that he “missed” Rangers fans during the Old Firm derby
The Old Firm derby has been played without away fans for several seasons now, However, with no away fans at the games, the atmosphere suffers from only the home side being heard, whether that is at Ibrox or Celtic Park, something Rod has called to change.
“I missed having Rangers fans. I missed the banter between the two sets of fans,” Rod said live on talkSPORT
When Simon said that the game ‘lacked quality’Rod soon shut down those claims saying “I disagree with you, Simon. I thought the game had a lot of quality. Celtic played all the football. Rangers were playing more of a long ball – maybe it’s because I had a couple of drinks before kick-off, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
New Years Eve
Rod and Jools Holland performed four numbers on the BBC Two show Hootananny and Rod also performed on The CNN New York Ball Drop and completely confused the British press who couldn’t work out if Rod was in London or New York…Some of their readers worked it out though when they worked out Hootananny was recorded on December 13th…Mmmmm
On Hootananny Rod and Jools performed four songs from the new album Swing Fever, Them There Eyes, Ain’t Misbehavin, Almost Like Being In Love and Night Train
And also joined in the cast rendition of Enjoy Yourself the final number
Spider Stacy from the Pogues bumped into Rod backstage and commented “So The Mary Wallopers invited me to appear on Hootenanny with them. It was an utterly cathartic experience, coming right after Shane’s funeral. On the way back to the green room I came face to face with one of the icons of my youth. I introduced myself and he just went ‘oh mate come here’ and gave me a massive hug”
On The New York ball drop Rod and the band had pre-recorded a great version of Some Guys Have All The Luck while performing the last set of Vegas dates in November
It Takes Two was also recorded but was cut for time on most U.S broadcasts but New Zealand fans got to see it!
Meanwhile back in Gleneagles Rod and his family enjoyed a real Scottish New Years Yve
After Rod had visited The William Wallace Monument in Stirling
Rod captioned the kilt photo “A dedication to my wonderful Scottish father”
After his stay Rod said: “I’ve been lucky enough to stay in some of the top hotels in the world and the service at Gleneagles is second to none.
“The staff do a terrific job at a very hectic time of the year and deserve every penny. It’s Scottish hospitality at its very best.”
He then left the staff a £10,000 tip and later joked : “I advised the boys and girls at Gleneagles to invest the money wisely – stick the lot on Scotland to win the Euros.”
Before leaving Rod bumped into Gemma Baillie who took this great photo of Rod with her mum Jane and son Shaun, and also our main photo
Gemma told SMILER “Rod was so lovely to us and so was his wife Penny – mum is a huge fan and it was such a huge moment for her”
This week’s Rod Art
For our first Rod art this year we feature Anelise Bean a 19 years old up and coming graphic artist from Roseville California just outside of Sacramento who did this digital Rod art for her grandma SMILER member Donna Stackhouse
To see more work by Anelise go to https://www.instagram.com/little.buggy?hl=en
Ain’t Misbehavin
Ain’t Misbehavin is the second release from Swing Fever The track is co-written by Fats Waller.
Jools explained, “Fats is another example of somebody who delivers a popular song, and you can’t quite work out what he’s done. It’s treated so lightly, but it’s so clever.”
This follows the album’s first release – “Almost Like Being In Love” which was written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and made famous by Frank Sinatra & Nat King Cole.
And Finally..
2024 looks set to be a another vintage year with Swing Fever out in February, More official Faces releases and plenty coming from Wolfie’s Whisky ..No dry January in the SMILER office ..Oh and we have issue 103 of your favourite magazine coming very soon!!
Haste ye back, we loue you dearly,
Call again you’re welcome here.
May your days be free from sorrow,
And your friends be ever near.
May the paths o’er which you wander,
Be to you a joy each day.
Haste ye back we loue you dearly,
Haste ye back on friendship’s way.
See you next week..