AndyBlog

Good Turnout

That's it really... Just loads people here at the gig. :-)

Christmas Party #1

Here we are at Hexham cricket club getting ready to happy the people of Hexham. I'm not on the mood for this gig -but I think I'm going to enjoy it.

Music has a way of lifting my spirits lile nothing else can. I welcome that a lot. Plus it gives me a chance to post something here. Usually, little happens to me these days.

I don't rate my chances of making it to church in the morning...

Local beach...

I'm getting used to living near to a beach...

...but not one quite like this. This is the beach nearest to where I have been living for the last month. It's a deeply charming place - and normally very calm to swim in, or so I am told. Because of the weather system cutting in last night there were a few waves, of which I made good fare, I hope. Good enough, anyway.

There are many parts of Maryland that so could be England. This beach is not one of them. It is most definitely foreign, and delightfully so. Many of the beaches in Maryland are actually private, so getting to the coast - even if you live right near it - is not easy. If someone owns the house right next to the beach, that bit of beach is theirs, so you can see how whole stretches of beach become unreachable - whilst at the same time, the rich owners of the house get that much prized luxury of a private beach. Capitalism in full swing, one might say.

Anyway, I hope you like the picture.

Afternoon of Fun

An afternoon free and lots of dosh - what would you do?

Wansbeck Business Awards

The dizzying stripy dress which Wendy Gibson adorned her delicate frame with.
I couldn't resist a little Gibson-based art...

I was a late addition to the list of attenders to the WBA, but ended up having an interesting time. The highlight for me was actually meeting Wendy Gibson. She may not be an international A-list celebrity, but she is, none the less, someone who I have watched regularly on TV, and it is always fascinating to see what people look like in reality.

She is, of course, tiny. Like most TV people I have met, she is normally proportioned, but absolutely tiny. That said, she is a ball of graceful energy, and utterly professional. She discharged her duties superbly well and fully deserved whatever she was paid. Without her, the evening would have suffered greatly.

It was nice, also, to see the video clips I had been working so hard on projected onto a rather large screen. Good to see how well the quality stood up against such a severe test. Very gratifying.

The lady herself, from the front this time.

Black top, warm features and bushy eyebrows - and Joan looked OK too.

The hall looked fantastic really.

So, there it was. An enjoyable evening, even though I was filming and therefore officially working. I am sure the awards will return for a second year - bigger, brighter and better than this time. I wish them well.

In attending a function like this, I also realize that this is all about a world I hardly know how to exist in. I love my work and I love my friends. I don't have much of a feel for this corporate world. It's very foreign to who I am and how I live my life. I'm glad they're there, though - being corporate and suited and smashing in all sorts of sherried ways.

Happy Birthday Tristan!

Tristan is 21 years old today.

Happy Birthday Tristan.

It was great being at your party.

Great looking at the food.

The delicious food.

And not eating it.

(I have another party on Saturday)

It's OK, Dennis...

It's a Northern train, and it took me to Morpeth railway station.

...I took the train to Morpeth.

A friend of ours from Church is involved in the push to re-open the local railway lines in South-East Northumberland. He regularly takes the train to Morpeth - and now so do I. I look forward even more to be able to take the train to Blyth and Ashington in the future - and even the train manager on my Inter-City service seemed to know about what was going on.

It's all rather smashing, actually - re-opening train lines feels so positive. I believe there are even plans to take the trains back to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, now that really is exciting.

The car ride to Bristol - Descent

NBTS - Sunny and beautiful

Wetherby - Clouding over

Pontefract - hosing down

In fact - most of the rest of the journey just like this

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.

Dinner with the DWs

A superb night was enjoyed - so much so that I decided to do a photo album about it.

Click HERE to see the rest.