Gary Brooker, with Douglas Adams

The Artist in Profile

Gary Brooker will be interviewed by Douglas Adams at 8.30 pm on 7 December 1999 in Cinema One, Barbican Centre; film clips of Procol Harum in concert will be shown; there will a public question-and-answer session at the end.

We learn (6 December) that Gary has ordered a piano to be there, so he will be performing after all!

Booking is now (21 October 1999) open. All seats are 7 pounds 50 (capacity about 260 seats); there's a 50 pence charge for telephone booking. The Box Office telephone number is (0)171 638 8891 and they take all credit cards.

Sadly there has been no progress at all in the quest for another Procol Harum orchestral recital at London's Barbican Theatre.

But, in recognition of the fact that the recording of the 1996 concert is far and away the most frequently-requested item in the British Recorded Performance Society archive, held at the Barbican Library, Gary Brooker has been invited to be the subject of one of the celebrity interviews – normally devoted to artists from the 'serious' repertoire – in the 1999 season of The Artist in Profile.

This will take place in one of the many small auditoria in the Barbican centre, and Gary will be interviewed by celebrity-fan-in-chief, Douglas Adams. Gary will not sing or play, but various film-clips of him on stage with different bands will be shown.

The event is (scheduled to take place in March 1999) now scheduled for 7 December 1999. It's likely that the sponsor, Guardian Royal Exchange, will dispose of many of the seats for the event, but we hope to bring you details of how to book for the remainder – if possible – as soon as they become known.

Ok, it's not a musical event: but it's a very high-profile and prestigious gig nonetheless. Congratulations to Gary, and let's hope that this exposure adds to the likelihood, if likelihood there be, of a future excursion from Procol Harum proper.