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June 2002 |
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Saturday 1st June 2002 No Photo's for this one, but it was an enjoyable gig, playing at the R.A.O.B on North Hill, Plymouth. I managed to convince a friend of mine to tag along for a night out his feedback to us was basically, "Great Music, Great entertainment value, and an extremely friendly atmosphere all round". Baring in mind that he had sunk about fifteen gin and bitter lemons by this point I think it was a good report, everyone seemed to enjoy it, even with the few mistakes made by the band. What went wrong?:- Well what can I say, there is always those niggley little bits that mostly go unnoticed but come back to bug you when you least expect it to. Firstly due to a relatively small stage we only managed to get the drums and keyboards on to it and the rest had to stand on the dance floor, thus greatly reducing the amount of floor available for dancing, (You can see where this is going can't you), however can I point out that due to impeccable vigilance by our aspiring audience none of our equipment or players were knocked over, but rather we found that due to the closeness of the dancing crowd we got the worst case of feedback (Original meaning) that you could ever put your eardrums through. Needless to say we managed to sort the problem and went on to a grand finish at eleven o'clock, however as was quickly pointed out our contract states that we should play until half eleven, so with the band half de-rigged we set about doing the last half hour, no keyboards, half a drum kit and only two mic's, it was the best finish we have ever performed, playing right through until a quarter to twelve and earning our fee ten times over. What went right?:- Our usual bass player was having a weekend off to go to a school reunion, (we explained that at his age they would be better off holding it in a funeral parlour just in case), however his stand in one RAY DELAMARE, was more than adequate proving that it is possible to play at least five songs without one mistake, in fact due to the fact that he had only the one practice with the band before setting out on this venture, I would say that, sorry Jerry, but I think he managed to break your record, (see jerry's page if you don't know what record I am referring to). |
Sunday 2nd June 2002
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First a brief explanation of
the photos. No.2, The band line up complete with beer and press on smiles. No.3, Hazels new hair, when we first saw the new colour we thought that bill had re-married someone half his age, then we realised that no-one half his age would have him so it must be hazel. No.4, A quick snap of john, a bit too dark and mysterious for his own page, (the photo not john), so I put it here. |
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What went wrong?:- Not a lot for this section this time, an almost catastrophic error on bills part when he forgot to set up his roll toms, however this was noticed and quickly rectified before we started. The only other error came during Marks saxophone solo, during his usual poser attempt at walking around with his radio mic shoved down the bell of the sax, John accidentally (or so he claims) kicked the receiver box and turned it off, thus cutting out the effect of the sax mic, but the worst part of all was at the mid performance break when the rest of the band complained that the sax was too quiet. What went right?:- well just about everything else, the crowd enjoyed it baring in mind that half of them had been down the club since the mornings England - Sweden game and were still on a relative high. But all in all a good all round gig. In finishing our greatest thanx must go to Ray, you came, you saw, you played up to our expectations and more. No gig next week, see you all in two.
Saturday 15th June 2002 Eng-err-land Eng-err-land Eng-err-land 3 - 0 An absolutely fantastic gig, not only due to the above score, but also due to our professional presentation of our skills, (if I can brag like this on a web page I should find a job in politics), but in all honesty the gig went well, only a few problems, there seem to be less each week, which is good. What went wrong:- First half went more or less without incident apart from Mark forgetting how to play keyboards for one piece, (some might say he never knew in the first place), but I don't think anyone noticed. In the second half we were feeling so brave that we decided to try some new pieces, including a sax solo from Mark, (Madness - one step beyond), "I must admit while walking around playing the piece I got the feeling that people were asking "what the heck is he doing"":-Mark. but after finishing the round of applause said it all. the only other error was from John, once again pulling out the power lead to Mark's radio mic just as he was about to use it, however this time it was noticed before Mark went walkies. What went right:- I reiterate 3 - 0, 3 - 0, 3 - 0, 3 - 0, apart from that everyone enjoyed listening, dancing, and tapping their feet to our soirée of musical genius. lots of fast pieces in the latter half of the evening, (Mark hardly had time to put his sax down and ended up with a bottom lip the size of Nebraska), winding up a great evening with our new finale song New York New York, good ole blue eyes. Kings Tamerton next week, see you there.
Saturday 22nd June 2002Well what can we say, its a stark contrast to last weeks gig, unfortunately due to the footie score, people didn't really feel like going out, or at least that's the excuse we got. I also heard on the grape vine that there was a party going on upstairs to us and they had commandeered most of the punters, and also there was a coach trip for the old and bold, so maybe we can be excused for not filling the venue, although Mark is still trying to do that single handedly with his music equipment. What went wrong:- Well for once John managed to steer clear of the radio mic, not that there was a lot of opportunity for Marc to get out and about, apart from the usual Tequila walkabout the furthest he got was to the front of the stage. Although the punters, I call them that 'cos they were not eager enough to be called an audience, showed their appreciation with their rapturous applause (all fifteen of them) they simply refused to get up and dance, and I don't think we could even have changed that with a shoe horn and cattle prod. What went right:- our thanx go to Hannah (Marc's girlfriend) and her friends, even if we had to drag them up they got up and had a dance to a few of the more lively ones, including a requested line dance, a little faster than they were used to I think but a good effort none the less, also thanx must go to the few that got up to dance to nearly every song, these being in the form of three little girls and there, I presume, mother, a little younger than our usual audience but they enjoyed it. All this combined with our eleven o'clock deadline for finishing, QUOTE "you cant play past eleven its against our licence" UNQUOTE, and Hazels insistence that the last song be dedicated to old blue eyes (or green eyes as we play it) New York, New York, made for a moderate gig in front of a very undersized informal audience. Roll on next week when we play at the Embassy Social Club in Milehouse, at least we can look forward to the fan club from the local Mencap, (I think he likes you John!). See Yawl next week.
Saturday 29th June 2002Well here we are at the last gig of June, and what a way to finish, We managed to fill the evening with everything from guest singers (shouters) to old friends reunion. What went wrong:- The gig started off with about five people in the club, most of whom were planning on leaving for a night on the town (quick lock all the doors we need an audience!). However things soon livened up when we started playing, (never underestimate the power of live performance), our usual Embassy crowd was there in the form of Chris and friends thoroughly enjoying themselves in their attempt to commandeer the dance floor. Then!!!! Mark, in an attempt to up his popularity, donned a trilby and sun glasses for his Madness tribute "One step beyond", this was just asking for trouble, firstly, with sun glasses and a darkened room you can imagine the problem with sight, this accompanied with his need to roam amongst his fans led to banging into three or four tables and completely forgetting how to play the said piece of music, this problem being reflected in the band itself with Jerry forgetting his part and John being near incapable of playing his part due to laughter. Next fault, "INTRODUCING DARREN", a local lad intent on overnight stardom asked, very politely, if he could sing a song, and after explaining that once we had heard him we wouldn't let him go, we let him sing....BIG MISTAKE!!!!! The music started, "Dire Straits - Walk Of Life", the singing started (or rather the shouting), to put it succinctly he would probably have been better set for Iron Maiden. What went right:- As the evening wore on more and more people entered the establishment and less and less left. Then all of a sudden a familiar figure strode boldly toward the line, a friend from Saltash Working Men's Club, or rather not from there as he explained that they have just barred him for twenty five years for stripping off on stage at our last gig there, "That sort of thing isn't allowed in a working men's club", so it seems that he has a new home at the Embassy, see you there next time. After the vocal destruction by Darren we went on to finish the gig in all our glory with the dance floor packed with the few favourites "Hey Baby - DJ OTIS" and "Mustang Sally - Commitments", and finishing off with old blue eyes. Everyone who stayed enjoyed the gig and we left with grins on our faces. Good news to our fans, we have put some money aside for the purpose of making a recording, hopefully the first of many, but this means that we may have cd's and tapes for sale at future gigs:- prices to be decided as and when we get there. Next week is the first gig of July that means that these write-ups are to be archived, but you can still access them if you wish to by using the archive link that will appear on this page next time. Twin gigs next week, Civil Service on Saturday and Country and Western on Sunday, (Note that C&W is now based at the Hyde Park Social Club not the RAOB). |
See Yawl next time
