tag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:/blogs/latest-news?p=1Latest News2024-02-13T10:03:45+00:00Kevin O'Reganfalsetag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/73505242024-02-13T10:03:45+00:002024-03-05T16:43:22+00:00Kevin's latest book: Meteor<p>I am absolutely delighted that my publisher, Core Books, has brought forward the publication of my new book, <strong>Meteor</strong>, to 5th March 2024. <strong>Meteor</strong> is the sequel to New Swan Stone and sees Lizzie Barnes, a young female pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary, take some VIPs to RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire for a top secret mission in March 1943. </p><p>Can her careful observation and deduction help Robbie McBane find out who is leaking information to the Germans and who killed the young airman Sinclair? It's another real page-turner with twists and turns, clues in the text and some lightness. </p><p>Here's the clever thing though. The publication date on 5th March is the exact date, 81 years later, on which he action of the book starts! </p><p>Sshh. Don't tell everyone but the book is already available on Amazon at a special introductory price.</p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/161017/62e9e70e7f7351208a90e33b4d4e68e54445e6d0/original/meteor-post-1.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/72595682023-08-19T14:27:05+01:002024-01-27T12:54:58+00:00New Swan Stone<p>I'm delighted to announce that my next novel will be published on Amazon on 1st October 2023. Called <strong>New Swan Stone</strong>, it is the story of Lizzie Barnes, a young female pilot (yes there were female pilots) with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) who delivers a Wellington bomber to RAF Silverstone in February 1943 and discovers the body of a civilian girl. Lizzie's careful observation and intuition help the young Sergeant Robbie McBane from the RAF Police Special Investigation Branch to discover the murderer though her own past leads her to jump to conclusions.<br><br><strong>New Swan Stone</strong> is available to pre-order now on Amazon as an e-book or a paperback at special pre-order prices: the e-book is just £2.49p and the paperback £8.99p. Just type New Swan Stone by Kevin O'Regan into the Amazon search box and it will appear or click this link:</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=New+Swan+Stone+by+Kevin+O%27Regan&crid=37P5IH7UNVUE2&sprefix=new+swan+stone+by+kevin+o%27regan%2Caps%2C95&ref=nb_sb_noss">https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=New+Swan+Stone+by+Kevin+O%27Regan&crid=37P5IH7UNVUE2&sprefix=new+swan+stone+by+kevin+o%27regan%2Caps%2C95&ref=nb_sb_noss</a></p><p> </p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/161017/2207ac5ec5d259a8b3d16dcd0afc086df4803612/original/nss-ebook-cover.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/70954712022-11-04T14:40:31+00:002023-12-10T18:01:20+00:00The Dresden Tango is published<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/161017/3151212902938b07157ab02ceaecd2cd8a29cd45/original/dreesden-tango-front-cover-kindle.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />I'm delighted to announce the publication of my historical novel, The Dresden Tango. You can read about it on the Writing page and of course on Amazon where it is available as an e-book, paperback or hard cover here:</p>
<p>https://www.amazon.co.uk/DRESDEN-TANGO-redemption-after-suffering-ebook/dp/B0BL54GSJ3/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=</p>
<p> </p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/66099312021-04-21T11:36:47+01:002023-12-10T19:05:36+00:002021 The phoenix rises<p>Huge thanks to all those who joined me on my Facebook Live concerts in March. The Comic songs for Relief concert had 700 views and may get some more so thank you to all those who tuned in. I've got one more to do on 5th May for Great Knight Folk Club. If you ask to join the group, someone will approve you and you'll be able to join us. It will be at the slightly later time than the previous ones: the support act starts at 8.00 pm and I should start at 8.30 pm. I'll play for about an hour.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I am starting to get enquiries about real live gigs as organisers start sorting dates. Please keep an eye on the gigs page to see if I/ we are performing near you.</p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/65392622021-02-04T10:55:54+00:002024-02-14T12:48:22+00:00Trilogy for Young Adults<p><span class="font_large">Kevin has just completed his trilogy for Young Adults called the <strong>Famous McKinley Worksheets</strong>. Kevin has always wanted to write fiction and indeed wrote his first book when he was about ten! This was an unashamed copy of the Biggles books; fortunately, the manuscript has not survived!</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Go to the <strong>Writing </strong>page to find out more.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large">Kevin is currently seeking an agent to represent the trilogy to publishers.</span></p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/58426382019-07-31T12:42:48+01:002023-12-15T10:28:39+00:00Kevin stampedes Calgary<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/161017/6e10464f12f77e43b750f8651683c6031b72b53d/original/calgary-stampede-g-719.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Kevin played a solo gig at Calgary Stampede in July 2019. Billed as "the greatest outdoor show on earth", Calgary Stampede attracted 1.37 million visitors over the ten days of the show this year - over 100,000 per day. needless to say, they were not all watching when Kevin played but...</p>
<p>There may be a video of one song to add in a bit but, in the meantime, here's a photo.</p>
<p> </p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/52099092018-04-30T19:29:12+01:002023-12-10T17:03:55+00:00Irish Night with the KORB and dancers<p>This is what you've been waiting for I know. On 17th March we did a gig at Croughton Village Hall which was filmed by Paul Duffy and his associates. Paul recently sent me the four songs that were edited from the three cameras. This is Every Dog Will Have Its Day with our lovely dancers Jess and Nicola. You can get lots more videos of The KORB performing live on You Tube. Put kevinoregansings into the search box and then click on it to go to the profile. Look out for Wester Skeam, Angels Sometimes Fall and The Dresden Tango too which were all filmed at Croughton and edited.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="WBUy4vXmXtQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/WBUy4vXmXtQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WBUy4vXmXtQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/49899082017-12-22T17:54:33+00:002023-12-10T16:40:36+00:00Chris plays sax with The KORB<p>One of the highlights of our year was playing at the wedding of our good friends Chris and Jill Arthur in his wedding. September. Unknown to Jill, Chris started to learn the saxophone and asked me if he could play on one song at his own wedding. He practised and practised when Jill was out of the house, had sax lessons and came over to rehearse with me a few times. The he did it! he played sax on Play All Night. And here's the video to prove it. Only troyble is that he can't stand this song any more!<iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="lHfpoLNNjW4" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/lHfpoLNNjW4/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lHfpoLNNjW4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/49224012017-11-07T10:45:51+00:002022-05-21T12:30:07+01:00Mini tour to Scotland<p>Wonderful trip north of the border for 3 gigs at Benderloch (nr Oban) on the West Coast, Dunblane FC and Dunfermline FC. The hills were stunning in their aurumn colour and the people were so lovely, welcoming and appreciative. definitely want to return in the future. Hopefully I'll have a video to add soon. In the meantime, here's a pic from the gig at Benderloch. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/161017/f23057693d47504a8c7765decd47100532c1fb25/original/benderloch-1017-b.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/45781322017-02-06T10:26:34+00:002023-12-10T19:49:18+00:00Katie at NewburyRather belatedly, we have some footage on You Tube of Katie Smith dancing with us at Newbury Waterways Festival in July 2016. We now have another dancer working with us as well, the lovely Jessica Hutton. You can catch us with both of them on 15th March at Banbury FC and on 17th March at The Albion Brewerey Bar in Northampton doing our Irish Night. Check the Gigs page for the details.<iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="HNC6psdm6w8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/HNC6psdm6w8/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HNC6psdm6w8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/41469462016-04-21T10:50:30+01:002024-03-05T16:43:22+00:00Pete Zorn RIPI am so sad to hear of the death of Pete Zorn, one of the finest musicians playing on the folk circuit. He played for many years with Barbara Dickson, Richard Thompson and latterly Steeleye Span as well of course as other combinations and bands. I had the enormous privilege of working with Pete when he played on my two albums and subsequently played with the band live when we did the album launch gig in September 2010. He was an extremely talented and versatile musician, playing sax (3 types), flute, piccolo, mandolin, guitar, bass and occasional percussion as far as I know. In the short time I spent with him, I learnt a massive amount. Play on Pete through eternity. You can hear Pete's brilliant sax playing on the Store page: listen to Your Aching Heart from the Never Look Back album and Crystals of Ice from the Mean Little River album. There is also a beautiful bit of sax at the end of the Mean Little River track on the same album.<div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/161017/007b26e4fecc17e6af149dcdd29b64a94774f45d/small/3331005.jpg?0" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">Pete playing mandolin at the album launch gig in September 2010</p></div>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/39521342015-12-06T12:27:43+00:002024-01-27T12:54:58+00:00Songwriting SuccessThe results of the UK Songwriting Contest 2015 have just been announced and I am delighted to say that my song, 'A tune I'd never heard before' was one of only 15 finalists in the Folk and Acoustic category. The Contest attracts thousands of entries each year from across the World so this is a tremendous boost and re-assures me that I can write songs! You can hear the song on the site-wide player below and you can download it from the Music page. The song was written just after the London bombings in 2005 when everything looked depressing. I was singing at a folk club and a young girl got up and played violin beautifully and I though that is the power of music: it restores your faith and lifts your soul.<br><br>I entered two other songs in the contest. 'Doing DIY' reached the semi-finals in the Open Category and 'The fragrance of your perfume' was highly commended in the Love Songs category. <br><br>It was really difficult deciding which songs to enter as I have so many and I think I have lots that are as good. Perhaps I'll have to enter a couple next year too!<br> Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/37990322015-08-01T17:54:27+01:002023-12-10T19:08:11+00:00UK Songwriting Contest successReally pleased to announce that the three songs I entered in the UK Songwriting Contest 2015 have had success. The comic song 'Doing DIY' which was entered in the Open Category has been selected as a semi-finalist in the competition as has 'A tune I'd never heard before' entered in the Folk/ Acoustic category. The Fragrance of your Perfume (Love Songs category) is pending a decision on whether to be specially commended.<br><br>This is a fantastic achievement and I am hopeful that I will have more success as the competition progresses. The UK Songwriting Contest is open to anyone in the World and attracts thousands of entries every year. It is organised and supported by several music industry bodies and is judged by very impressive people from the business. You can find out more here: http://www.songwritingcontest.co.uk/ .<br><br>So here's a link to the You Tube video of Doing DIY performed by Holler n Duck. Please share it with all your friends - why should they miss out on a good laugh? <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Q2ZhWtWEcwQ" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/Q2ZhWtWEcwQ/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q2ZhWtWEcwQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/36696512015-04-21T19:45:40+01:002023-12-10T17:39:27+00:00New web-siteWell after a bit of hassle, the domain name has now been pointed at our new site so we are up and running. Huge thanks to Mike for sorting this all out for me and for managing the former site for several years. Still some things to sort out but we are nearly there just in time for our Summer season which kicks off soon with three gigs for The Kevins and three gigs for The KORB in May. Check the gigs page to see if we are playing near you.Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/35914612015-03-11T16:03:41+00:002024-03-03T09:44:02+00:00House concertsStill a relatively new phenomenon in the UK, the house concert (lounge concert, parlour concert, sofa session) is gaining ground. Those who have attended one know that they allow for a much more intimate performance where the audience feels much more connected with the performer. The Kevins are happy to perform at house concerts and if you want to explore this option, do please get in touch.Kevin O'Regantag:kevinoregan.co.uk,2005:Post/35146372015-02-08T16:17:10+00:002023-12-10T16:47:30+00:00A taste of The Kevin O'Regan Band - enjoy.<iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="cb5eQEryzgY" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/cb5eQEryzgY/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cb5eQEryzgY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>Kevin O'Regan