Weather- or not?

It's been snowing here this week, to such an extent that I like many didn't make it to work on Monday and so had an unexpected day off. Fortunately an early morning phone call to American Tom meant that Pro Music was able to open with him rather than me at the helm, and he tells me it was quite a busy day under the circumstances; I stayed in doing all those little jobs that I'd meant to do for ages but hadn't got around to before- you know the ones... yeah ok, I mucked about on guitar for most of the day (well, I had to test my amplifier didn't I?!?) and watched as the world went completely mad. Surely with weather forecasting as accurate as it is these days- and joking aside, it is pretty accurate- there could have been some way of ensuring that the entire public transport system in London didn't grind to an almost total standstill and that every road that wasn't deemed 'major' didn't become a no-go area for anything other than 4x4's and tractors? And when I did venture out on Tuesday morning I discovered that (a) what used to be pavements were now sheet-ice-covered death traps littered with the bodies of those unfortunate enough to have tried to walk on them, and (b) previously rational human beings had become brain dead automatons unable to talk about anything other the weather and it's immeasurable effect it had suddenly started having on their lives. I recall some heavy snowfalls when we were kids but can't remember schools being closed as a result; then again I suppose health and safety legislation wasn't as complex and strict then? As I overhead someone in the cafe saying words to the effect of 'if I hear those politicians going on about global warning I'm gonna go around switching all the lights on' I realised that suddenly common sense was as a hard to find as, well, a white cat in a snowstorm- and talking of cats, did someone really stay off work because the snowflakes frightened their kitten?!?

Stuart the guitar repair man and myself wondered about all of this and more on our near-interminable journey to the theatre Thursday morning; last week we'd been obliged to carry out our duties during auditions for a bassist for the upcoming 'We Will Rock You' tour when the presence of show bass supremo Neil Murray and Queen drummer Roger Taylor turned at least one applicant into a nervous wreck. A more straightforward session yesterday (good!) after which we walked across to the excellent Wunjo Guitars in Denmark Street to check out a Gibson Les Paul Custom for one of Stu's friends- it looked all but identical to Bondy's one as discussed in the last posting 'though is possibly in slightly better condition. I was given the job of plugging it in and trying it out and very good it was too; Shirley phoned me while I was playing it resulting in a 'I'm-not-buying-a-guitar-honest' moment from your humble narrator, much to Stuart and shop owner Brian's amusement.

Arriving home I received a call from Chicago Blues Brothers show producer Pete to say that Mario ('Jake') has left the show with immediate effect; from what I can gather he's got too many commitments with his own band to be able to do our shows as well. He's being replaced in the short term by Pete himself- 'Mr. Showbiz' returns!

No gigs for me this weekend 'though I've got an 'Acts Less Ordinary' show at The Load Of Hay in Uxbridge on Sunday night; it's the first of the year and features father-and-daughter duo Amo (they're better than the description might suggest, honest!) whilst coming up on the 22nd it's the excellent Roy Hill which I'm really looking forward to- if we're not all snowed in of course...