It's just another day

I had a really good night out listening to Albert Lee & Hogans Heroes at the Castle in NW11. It was a mind bending gig. I have of course seen Albert Lee on TV and youtube, so I knew it was going to be good and it was.  It takes a lot to get me going but this gig was really great. Fantastic guitar playing, and a few surprises in the set list too, like ‘The world is waiting for the sunrise’, it couldn’t have been more varied and entertaining. Also the live sound is one of the best I have heard in any venue.

Diana Vicky & Albert Pic by Pete Mariosa
Diana Vicky & Albert Pic by Pete Mariosa
Albert Lee on stage Photo by Pete Mariosa
Albert Lee on stage Photo by Pete Mariosa

I was privileged to play there a week or so back with Elephant Shelf to a small but perfectly formed audience and prior to that I saw Georgie Fame, which was also a great gig. So thats the good stuff and it doesn’t get any better than that. Unfortunately the venue like many others is under pressure and is struggling to continue which is a great shame as its one of the really great places to listen to or play live music.  If you do see a gig advertised there its well worth the trip. They also offered me a job behind the bar 🙂 LOL. I don’t think I would be terribly good at it to be honest, (though there are a few people I know who’s personal fantasy is exactly that, bet lynch eat your heart out) and I might be tempted to drink the profits. They do Real Ales and good food to so that would have been OK.

Today has been mostly involved in working on some web stuff (which I find incredibly tedious these days to be honest) and  running through some stuff on the piano and violin and a bit of tidying up. I am also getting used to using a video camera after a gap of a few years as I intend to start including video as part of this blog too. The camera is a bit flaky at the moment but its starting to behave  so I might be able to start using it properly in a week or too with luck.

Winter draws on

Any Les Dawson fans out there? Well there’s a lot going on right now, and most of it is fairly positive for a change.

On  a personal  level things are a little bit more stable now, though there is still a lot to be done. I am amazed at the number of people that actually visit this blog and I wish I had some stunning insights that I could share with you all but unfortunately I don’t. It’s been fairly hectic on the gigs front with the Elephants Shelf  & the Delta Ladies mostly out London which is good but I am suffering from a little bit of motorway fatigue as I have seen quite a bit of the M4 and the M25 in the last couple of months (mostly at about 03:00 in the morning).
It’s refreshing to find so many really good venues providing live music with really enthusiastic audiences, and we seem to have found quite a few lately.

Back home again

Well we did our mini-tour of the south of France, and played possibly some of the best gigs ever. This may well lead to more work in the EU in the not to distant future so I shall need to bone up on my french a bit. It was great to meet so many different people, and being wined and dined before gigs was a mind blower.

windy day at canal du midi
windy day at canal du midi

We split the trip home in to two sections and stayed over night at Dijon, and had a really good meal in the Comedy Restaurant. Then up at 6:30 and off driving from the last leg back to Calais (360 miles) so a bit trashed by the time we checked in. Customs gave us the once over at Dover, surprise, surprise as we did have a lot of stuff in the car but we have been away for nearly 3 weeks.
Then back up to London….

Had quite a lot to do first day back, but I was really knackered on Friday. We were supposed to be playing a gig but arrived to find it had been canceled, which was not quite the welcome home it could have been.

OK so far

Having a good time so far. We have two more gigs then its time to go home. One tonight at the Cafe De La Paix which is just on the square here in Mazamet. Tonights gig is the joker in the pack as its not a place that normally has music, in fact its more like the French equivalent of a sports bar, and also has a very young crowd so goodness knows what they will think of it we hope. I think all the driving and stuff has caught up with me now as I am a bit knocked out. We has BBQ last night which went well but also meant much wine was consumed… Tommorows gig is a bit of a hippy joint http://www.myspace.com/antramis around here>> Lavalette, Midi-Pyrénées

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