Games That Weren't 64

It's not often you get the chance to meet all your childhood C64 heroes in one place, but BIT4 Brighton was special.. Not only did everyone you could imagine turned up, but Rob Hubbard and Ben Daglish were to perform live later in the evening in a full blown C64 concert. Sadly I couldn't make the night event, but I was lucky enough to make the superb day event and catch up with some of the big names... What was also great was the fact that I went along with my friend Vinny Mainolfi and my nephew Daniel Plews, which meant I could enjoy the event with other people I knew very well.....

Some surprises were seeing Simon Nicol and Russ Michaels, but there were plenty of goings on and overall it was a fantastic day.... The best moments came from Vinny's top timing, like going downstairs for a drink (When all the top c64 peeps piled down for refreshments at the same time) and finally getting the chance to see the rehearsals to make up for missing the concert itself. Luckily meaning we did see Ben and Rob perform live in a sense :)

A big thumbs up to the following I met and had the chance to chat to..... Vinny Mainolfi, Jason Mackenzie, Martin Galway, Fred Gray, Simon Nicol, Barry Leitch, Mat Cannon, Boz, Rob Hubbard, Gary Liddon, Paul Kubiszyn, Danny Tod, Andrew Fisher, Mat Allen, Wayne Wormsley, Allan Bairstow, Shaun Bebbington, Jason Page, Russ Michaels, Larsec, The Zzap64107 crew, Richard Joseph, Richard Leinfellner, Paul Chapman, Chris Abbott, Ben Daglish, Yodelking and probably loads others which my sieve-like mind has forgotten... I apologize if I have missed anyone (Shout me if I have!)

Many thanks to Chris Abbott, Skitz, Kenz, Boz and anyone else who was behind the whole event... it was fantastic, and I really hope there is another one to go to.... even if we may never see Rob perform again like this. Thanks also to Vinny Mainolfi for the great time, and making it such a laugh as it was... And finally to Mat Allen for selling me his SX-64, which now blurts out SID's in fully glory since its new SID chip has been installed :)

My classic quote of the day.... Rob Hubbard - "You wann'r know aboot Razmatazz??.... well I can tell yer it's fooking craap!" (In a heavy northern accent)

Sorry for the not so great images, blame the camera!.... or my lack of monies leading up to the event to buy a decent camera :)

Catching up with the X-mas Chortles maestro 'Jason "Kenz" Mackenzie', practicing 'Air C64' for the night's concert.... Hey, kinda looks like Kenz's old Binary Zone PD catalogue image from an old Commodore show.... just minus the boobs and everything else... :-)

The holy grail.... Martin Galway's original C128D which he composed all his C64 tunes on, along with his source disks on the left. The "Project:Galway CD" was actually recorded from this machine, so you can hear all of Martin's tunes as he intended people to hear them.... Go to http://www.c64audio.com to buy a copy!...

A big amount of respect also goes to Alistair "Boz" Bowness for his tireless work of recording Martin's songs from his C128 and getting his uncompiled tunes working once more. "Project: Galway" is fantastic, to which I listen as I type .... Congrats to all involved!

Vinny joins in with Ben for a Bombo vocal rehearsal.. These guys talked for ages, and it made for some great footage of them both. One thing that Vinny has the knack for, is being able to run a great conversation, and it shined throughout the day....

Is Simon Nicol trying to say that Ben Daglish needs a haircut?... A moment with the two lively personalities at the event. Simon was a true gentleman and very kind, and even put up with Vinny talking to him for almost an hour... ;-) .... Ben was very funny and really does seem to love taking part in these events, very enthusiastic!

"HEY!.. It's Martin Galway!!!!.... Quick, i'll get his legs and you get his arms and....... "........ Martin getting mobbed as soon as he graces the event, looking rather bemused and desperately wanting to drink his tea before it gets cold :-)

Martin kindly signing my copy of the excellent "Project:Galway CD", and leaving a silver finger mark... ooooh!... that's an extra £20 on the value in a future antique's auction ;-)

What really did happen to Streethawk?... Martin tells all, and later the poor guy puts up with my constant praising of his "Game Over" tune, and a story of why the Streethawk music was such a big thing to finally get launched... Sorry Martin :-)

"Who is this crazy man?", says Mat Cannon as I grill him about his past at Ocean and working with Jon Dunn. Again, a very kind and courteous guy, who was quite happy to have a chat and told me that he felt more of a "Fan" than a "Idol".... very modest :-)

I apologize for the poor image.... poor camera, poor images...:-(...... Anyhow, Starting from the top left.... Barry Leitch, Rob Hubbard, Reyn Ouwehand, Marcel Donné, Jason Page.

From bottom left.... Martin Galway, Ben Daglish, Markus Schneider, Mat Cannon and Fred Gray

Someone lets out a big fart and catches the attention of Rob and Fred, while Martin tries to pretend it never happened....... believe what you may.

Also in the picture is Andrew Fisher on the far right talking to Ben Daglish and doing his famous Mighty Brian cartoon impression from his Commodore Force heyday. Mat Allan also stalks Simon Nicol for his autograph on his famous Mega Apocalpse game.

Thanks to a moment of genius timing from Vinny (As always!)... we managed to get a glimpse of the concert in rehearsal.. We may have missed the big thing, but we still got to see a glimpse of Rob and Ben playing live!... Rob Hubbard is on the keys with the white hat, and Ben is over to the left (Though the photo is a little cloudy to see much.. sorry!).

More backstage action before getting kicked out... busy people these guys, and no wonder why with such a fantastic evening.

"How the hell did he manage to get samples running in the game alongside the music???"...... Mat Cannon introduces his wife to the wonders of "Mega Apolcalpse".

Allan Bairstow's cool Commodore Scene stand with the 4-player Bomb Mania game. Shaun Bebbington / Micro Mart is on the right, busy setting up his CBM Pet.

One of the amazing 64 set ups from Allan Bairstow, with Super CPU's, RamLink's, HD's and FD's all added.... I have never seen 3D move so fast..... Metal Dust is gonna rule when its finally complete i'm sure.

I think this was Shaun Bebbington's C128 set-up with all the enhancements you can get... Shaun runs the popular Retro column in Micro Mart..... The C128 is running 3D Pool by Firebird.... running rather smoothly until you turn the 20Mhz mode off.

Just before the end of the event, myself and my nephew were both playing Barbarian, when Richard Joseph and another guy walk past.... "That's my game!!... I wrote that!", shouted the guy in the blue shirt. It was none other than Richard Leinfellner, who kindly with Richard Joseph signed the review of Barbarian in my Zzap issue (What a fluke!) and were kind enough to have their picture taken with a complete stranger :-)

Richard Joseph I had also met downstairs, and signed my copy of Antiraid... and seemed very pleased to see someone had brought the game. Richard talked about releasing unseen footage of the video work for Cannon Fodder, to which I said..."People would love it!, go for it!" .... So one to look out for?..... :-)

And there you have it.... one of the best days of my life, and a chance to finally talk to other people who share the same passion for the C64. Back to reality as I came home, but the buzz still goes strong as the memories remain strong. If Chris does do another event, I can only but recommend you go... It is a fantastic day and meeting the guys who created what you grew up with is something special.... It was a pure privilage to meet everyone and something I would do again and again if I had the chance....

Frank.