AndyBlog

Can you see what it is yet?

Jason, dear Jason, lovely Jason gave me a lovely smashing and wonderful thing the other day.

My very own personal Stylophone.

Happily these musical classics, made famous by Rolf Harris, have been resurrected by some kind soul, and now anyone with a thoughtful and generous friend can have one.

It has not one, but three exciting sounds, as well as an MP3 player input, so we can play along with our favourite tunes. All of that, and the original fantastic vibrato function. It's a curious meeting of old and new technology.

I'm made up.

Ever since I sat excitedly in my great-grandfather's front room and watched him unwrap his original Stylophone, back in whatever year it was when I was so very young, I have wanted one. I even had the grace and sensitivity to ask him if I could have his when he died - which I figured had to be pretty soon because was was totally old.

He was a kind, tired old man, and I think he had learned the wisdom of agreement no matter what, and so he nodded and patted my head, thus making me a happy little fellow.

Well, you can just imagine my joy on hearing of his death. I can never be sure whether I actually punched the air when I received the news of his recent demise, but I was certainly overjoyed. It was glee that sadly turned to abject despair, when it became apparent that no-one either knew or cared where the Stylophone was. For some reason completely beyond me, they seemed to think there were other matters of great import. Baffling.

And so it was that I never got my Stylophone. Till now.

Thank you Jason - I consider it a bonus that it was not necessary for you to die and leave me yours.

Building a shack...

So...I got a new shack...and a new mixer.

All is well. Sort of.

Portrait photographer...in training.

I guess, these sort of opportunities should be capitalised upon when in a band and whilst aspiring to take pictures of people. I shall try again in due course, making the most of the long waits between setting up and actually playing.

As for the gig - it was a strange one. I do believe the crowd enjoyed our playing, but few were in the mood to dance, or so it seemed. That said, if I were in the crowd at a gig like ours, I certainly would not be dancing, so I guess I should keep very quiet indeed. Let him who is without broth throw the first glasshouse - as the old saying goes.

Off out now, with the intention of spending a pleasant, although unexpected, evening in the company of Jason and Antonia - the lovely people who just live up the way, like.

That is all I will permit myself time to say now. Not one word about my foot. Oh no.

Gig Reviews to follow:

Gilbert O'Sullivan

&

Pink Martini

standby...standby...standby...standby...standby

Kate Rusby Concert

Click to hear "Wild Mountain Thyme"
Sung by Kate and the band as their last song.

We had a great time at the Tyne Theatre in the west-end of Newcastle last night, listening to the folk-based vocal stylings of one Kate Rusby.

Due to my mistake, Liz and myself went first to the Theatre Royal, before realising that Jac and Meg were not there, and so we were almost certainly at the wrong venue. A short walk and an even shorter car ride later, we arrived at the right place.

Kate performed simply, honestly and to a very high standard. Her co-musicians were all gifted stars in their won right, and the concert was thoroughly enjoyable all the way through.

I like her gentle girl-ish banter and her total lack of airs and graces. She is a Barnsley lass, and proud of it - accentuating the accent in her singing, if anything.

All in all, it was a performance good enough to convince a non-folk fan to buy her music and for the already converted it was delicious meat and drink. They didn't let us take photographs of her on stage, though. So, all I can offer you is a photo of the stage itself.

Best I can do.

The radio show last week...

No two ways about it, the radio show last week was close to a disaster.

I had been playing tracks all evening pre-show with no problems, but the minute I started to broadcast for real, the uplink started skipping.

That was to be just the start of it. Later in the show I came close to a complete giggling fit whilst reading out stories people had written. I actually wondered whether it was time to pack up and give in.

Well, here I am gearing up for tonight's show, so I clearly have decided to give it another go. I wouldn't want to give you all such an easy let-off anyway.

If you haven't listened to my muddled and slight off-beat radio programme before, you can easily join in with a copy of iTunes, Real Player or WinAMP. You'll also need a sound-card in your computer and either a pair of headphones or some speakers.

Then just go to: http://www.adlib.co.uk and click where it indicates you should click. You might want to bookmark the programme for later use - or you might want to forget all about it and pretend that it never happened.

It's OK. I understand. I really do.

Steely Dan

Steely Dan, looking pretty tonight.

It was a long drive down to Birmingham to see this legendary band - and an even longer one back up after the gig. I'm tired, exhausted and pretty much knackered - yet still I might utter "Do it again".

It was indeed time out of mind. We were transported to long ago places when life was very different. Music does that in a way that so little else can, certainly for me - and trust me, this isn't just pretzel logic.

The support band did some of their dirty work for them, and they were good, too - although 30 mins was about all I wanted to hear of them. They performed entirely instrumentally and in a trio format. The music was pure jazz and the instrumentation was Hammond, Drums and Guitar. Nice to listen to, but too much would necessitate even a Haitian divorce. The organist was the driving force, and he was very accomplished, although his skill did not extend to passing on his name in any way that I was able to hear.

"The Dan", as they seemed to be internally known, performed very well indeed, despite the slightly muddy acoustic ever-present in the NIA Academy.

The bass was never more than indistinct, despite playing of the highest quality. The set centered on older music, by enlarge, but with a repertoire so huge there's no telling what we might hear.

My personal favourites were FM and Babylon Sisters. All in all, a wonderful experience, and a pleasant car full to share the night with. We only nearly got killed to death once, thankfully.

Today will be black Friday, I predict.

The gig tonight

Loads of people here - let's hope that all the under-rehearsed stuff goes OK. Wish me luck...or something.

The Water is Wide

I can only apologise for the out of tune playing. I don't think Jason had tuned his guitar properly.
I'm also sorry that I'm so fat, this will be corrected shortly.

Soul Doubted

Paul Hooper, erstwhile member of The Fortunes, joined us in the Black Pearl for our band's rather public rehearsal.
The performance has seemed to go well enough, and there were a good crowd listening.
Nice.