This week’s news and gossip

As Rod starts the next batch of live shows tonight in Vegas our main photo is a great live shot that was taken when Rod performed at The Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida earlier this month, Special thanks Neal Nachman and Full Access Magazine for these brilliant photos.

Starting the week in West Hollywood

Rod was in high spirits on Saturday evening after enjoying a family meal at Craig’s in West Hollywood. He left the restaurant and posed for selfies with a number of eager fans who waited outside before climbing into his car to sign album covers and photos.

Queen’s Funeral

Penny was one of the 15,000 police officers working the Queen’s funeral procession in London on Monday. Penny manned the barriers near Queen Victoria’s Memorial where she made sure the public remained safe during the procession and offered advice to them about exiting the Mall as part of her duties.

Outlining why she decided to work on the day of the funeral, she told the PA news agency: “I think it’s (the same reason) why every officer wanted to be here today, because we swore an oath to the Queen to serve in the office of constable.

“This is the biggest honour of all, to be able to serve today on Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral.

“We were in uniform by 0500 this morning and we don’t know what time we will be working until. We just want to make sure that all the crowds get home safely.

“Today has been quite a long shift, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

Jane Winkless and Joanne Blackshaw bumped into Penny while she was on duty and told SMILER ‘Penny is so lovely’

Lady Of The Realm

Rod’s daughter Kimberly is featured in the latest edition of Palm Beach Illustraited magazine

The magazine also has an article about Kimberley’s luxury lifestyle organizing and curating company The Realm .

This weeks Rod Art

This week I was going to feature what I thought was a great Rod painting by Whitney L Anderson ..

But Whitney who is based in Denver, Colorado told SMILER this week ‘It’s not a painting —it’s pure ✂️ hand-cutout collage made from recycled magazines😎🙌🏽

We told Whitney that we wished SMILER had known about her project and we could have given her a copy to include in the collage ..how cool would that have been!

Whitney explaines ‘RODvolution: A huge 4x6ft custom commission portrait for some clients who are huge British rock fans! These portraits usually take me 40-50 hours—not to mention the years it took to sharpen my collage skill sets. Before starting a portrait I study the photograph and somewhere in my brain I map out every texture, color, gradient, wrinkle, shadow depth, you name it. Then I start flipping through hundreds of pages of magazines and my brain, operating like high speed internet, knows every bit of visual info to extract from there to create the portrait. Made from thousands of hand-cutouts from recycled magazines‘

To see more of Whitney’s art go to https://www.instagram.com/whitneylanderson_art/?hl=en

Viva Espana

Martin Heidt checks out the Rod Stewart Tribute show By Rudders Stewart…

Rod Stewart Tribute, Cala Bona, Mallorca 09/18/2022

Sunset, sea, a nice spot in a bar and a cool drink. In Cala Bona – on the east coast of Mallorca – people are having a good time and enjoying their holiday. What is still missing? Good music.

But it’s not long in coming on this Saturday evening.

It is 8.30 p.m. when the first instrumental notes of HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY drift through the small harbour of the island community. Rudders Stewart has arrived for the sound check. His Rod Stewart tribute show is announced for 9.30 p.m., and the seats are already packed about an hour beforehand. The people are waiting for their “Rod Stewart”.

Young and old are in a good mood, enjoying the warm summer evening and waiting for the show to start. It starts right on time. And starts gently with DOWNTOWN TRAIN. SOME GUYS brought the first dance fans to the dance floor, and with I DON’T WANT TO TAKA BOUT IT the fans proved to be extraordinarily confident with the lyrics and sang along at the top of their voices. RHYTHM OF MY HEART, IT’S A HEARTACHE, THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST – Rud strings together Rod classics after Rod classics.

Wake up Cala Bona – I think I got something to sing to you! The party really gets going with Rod’s biggest hit. MAGGIE MAY gets almost everyone on the dance floor, the crowd goes wild, claps and sings. YOU WEAR IT WELL, THIS OLD HEART OF MINE, IT TAKES TWO make the dancing soles of the feet really glow. Then Rud gives the audience a little break to catch their breath and announces GRACE, “one of the most beautiful songs” that “I have ever heard and “which I always have in my programme”. If the party crowd is still relatively unsure of the lyrics to this track from the Blood Red Roses album, it really gets going with the next song. “We are sailing, we are sailing….” resounds from hundreds of throats through the harbour, out to sea. And everyone sings along. Everyone knows the world hit SAILING, from holidaying Englishmen and Scots, to the really partying birthday girls from Northampton, to the working Spaniards and reserved Germans.

With DA YA THINK I’M SEXY, Rud slowly turns onto the home straight and really steps on the gas. The dance floor is full, those who can’t find a place there are swaying on their chairs. BABY JANE and YOUNG TURKS get the last out of the dancers. Towards the end it gets a bit quieter. With HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY, THE KILLING OF GEORGIE and I WAS ONLY JOKING, the audience’s sing-along skills are once again in demand, and they don’t let the artist down. After that, the great Rod Stewart party evening in Cala Bona comes to an end. It could have gone on a little longer.

And finally..Viva Las Vegas

As we said earlier Rod kicks off his latest batch of Vegas dates tonight and here is a great story from David Taing from Osprey, Florida, who was invited on stage by Rod in 2018 at one of the Colosseum shows.

David told SMILER ‘I am a SMILER member and lifelong fan of Sir Roderick David Stewart. When I became a U. S. citizen, I chose the name David because it was Rod Stewart’s middle name. I even wrote a college paper at Tufts University on Rod Stewart’s song “Forever Young.”

Another SMILER member and friend of mine Madelyn Dwyer told me to tell my story.

It was a very memorable 45th birthday on Dec. 2, 2018. We had just visited the Grand Canyon West and Skywalk earlier that day. After winning an Auction Cause to help neglected and underprivileged children, I had two front row tickets to see Rod Stewart at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. Before the concert, my wife Marlene and I got to meet and greet Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart said to me, “That is a great looking tie, mate. I have an outfit that would look great with it.” Meeting and seeing my idol, I smiled from ear to ear. Speechless, I just remembered that I went back and shook his hand a second time.

During the acoustic section of Rod Stewart’s concert, I wrote the following on my prescription pad (see attached picture). After singing “You’re In My Heart,” Rod motion me to come on stage. I rolled my sparkling silver and black tie and held it in my hand with my prescription note. As I handed Rod Stewart my sparkling silver and black tie with prescription note, he told me to untie his silver and black shoes. I was surprised and very, very happy to get his silver and black shoes. Also during the show, Rod threw an autographed soccer ball to me. Both the autographed soccer ball and Rod Stewart’s silver and black shoes (size 9) are in a display case. The last person to wear Rod Stewart’s shoes was Rod Stewart. What a fantastic and memorable 45th birthday for me!

If anyone gets any pictures or stories from tonight or any of the following shows please send them to me at [email protected] for next weeks news and gossip

See you next week.