Some events of 2007

In January Timo participated in the recording of Richard Hallebeek's and Antti Kotikoski's forthcoming Cd. Collaboration with Richard and Antti began already in 1998, and Timo performed together with them during three consecutive years. The first recordings for the above mentioned Cd Timo did already during fall 2005 and December 2006.

Pekka " Rekku " Rechardt´s solo Cd was released on Wednesday 14 March. Timo played keyboards for the album. " Rekku " is a guitarist of the legendary Finnish band called Wigwam. There was some discussion about throwing some gigs together, too, but that did not happen.

From May till the end of the year Timo played with a band titled Stadin Juhlaorkesteri. Other members of the band included: Maria Hänninen voc/gtr/perc, Ilkka "Luumu" Kaikkonen gtr/voc, Tomi Parkkonen drs, Heikki Keskinen sax, Petri Loikala bs and Mikko Heiskanen gtr/voc. The band played music by the following artists, among others: Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Allain Toussaint, Little Milton, Eagles… The band performed in the greater Helsinki area only.

In May and June Timo worked as the band leader and arranger for the international Blues Heritage Contest organized by compo10.com in association with the Lakeside Blues Festival. This year the contest was organized in honor of the 30th anniversary of Finland's biggest blues festival, the Lakeside Blues Festival, Järvenpää. The house band's line up was Timo Pratskin (keys) Jarmo Hynninen (guitar), Mikko Vuorela (bass), Topi Kurki (drums), Jenni Suvanto and Tynde Mäkäräinen (backing vocals). The 2007 finalists were Gerard Maunick (Australia), Troels Skovgaard (Denmark), Bubs McKeg (USA), Layla Zoe (Canada), Thorbjørn Risager (Denmark) and Bryn Jones (Finland). Layla Zoe from Canada won the contest. The general public's favorite was also announced at the finals. The public's favorite was Gérard Maunick from Australia. You can find photos of the competition through the following links: compo10.com/bluesheritage , www.myspace.com/compo10

At the end of the year Timo performed in Heavy Xmas show again; this show toured Finland the first time in 2006. The show consisted of music and songs by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, System Of Down, Sting and the Beatles, among others. Other members of the performing band included Lauri Porra on bass, Tuomas Wäinölä on guitar and Santeri Saksala on drums. The show featured Puntti Valtonen, Toni Wahlström, Juha Veijonen, Aarni Kivinen, Sari Ann Moilanen / Rinna Paatso and Outi Alanen, all first class actors / comedians in Finland.

During 2007 Timo threw a few gigs with the Dr.Helander & His Medicine Men (eg. at the IBBF festival, Imatra), Seppo Valjakka & Friends eg. Grand Blues Festival, Lahti), Kurt Tulikallio blues band, and Husband, too.