Tea for one

Well it's been a while since we've had a caption competition in these hallowed pages but I think it's time for one now, as a new cafe called The Wonky Teapot has opened in Uxbridge. This in itself might not normally be cause for any particular excitement but it's been attracting quite a bit of attention locally - as the accompanying photograph shows the shop sign is, er, interesting... so see if you can come up with a suitable caption for the picture. Come on, you know that you want to - actually that's not a bad caption in itself is it?!

Anyway it's Sunday afternoon, and I was expecting to be playing with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook today - however we were told this week that a new landlord is arriving soon and all live music has been cancelled, apparently never to return. Bah! It seems strange to me that having built up a successful venue Sally the landlady is being moved to another pub (which apparently will also not be having bands) and being replaced by someone who won't be carrying her good work on. Hmm... I don't think that I'll never understand the grown-up world... but it was a good gig for the band last night at The Wishing Well in Watford, and the one on Thursday at The Sunningdale Lounge in Sunningdale was also fun despite there not being too many people there - I hadn't played with the band since New Year's Eve so I spent a bit of time that afternoon revising the material, and given the amount of 'how does this song go again?' moments I was very glad that I did.

On Friday night myself and fellow Buicks guitarman Pete went to see The Yardbirds at The 100 Club. Advertised as 'the last show with the current line-up' it featured original members Jim McCarty on drums and Tony 'Top' Topham on guitar alongside three younger newer members, and was a terrific show from start to finish. Topham may have been overshadowed in history by Clapton Beck and Page but here he showed himself to be no slouch on both rhythm and lead guitar (although I must mention Ben King who played some fabulous stuff on the other side of the stage) while McCarty was as reliable as ever behind the kit. Pete and myself had debated whether we would go to this gig or to Tropic At Ruislip to see Hats Off To Led Zeppelin - we eventually concluded that it was better to watch the current line-up of one of the bands that started it all (especially given the Zeppelin connection) and I'm certainly glad that we went where we went although it'll be good to catch the Led Zep boys at some point in the future.

And in the immediate future Big Al and Co visit Staines and Hayes this week, and I really must visit The Wonky Teapot. Well, you've got to hand it to them haven't you - after all they've made quite a splash... tea hee...

The shapes of things to come?

I was saddened to hear of the death of Clive Dunn this week - if you're my age you remember 'Dad's Army' very well, with catchphrases like 'don't panic!' and 'you stupid boy!' being part of your growing up. Well, they were in our house!

The light pours out of me

Although I didn't have any gigs last weekend I did attend the open mic night at The Swan in Iver on Sunday evening, and very enjoyable it was too. I ended up playing in the house band (John the organiser asked me if I'd do it, and I'm just a boy who can't say no...) where I found myself joining Tony on bass and Bob on drums to accompany, well, anyone who wanted a backing band. A chap asked if he could sing 'Feelings' by Morris Albert - not an easy song as it's got more than a few tricky chords (which I looked up on the Internet with my phone - what did we used to do in the old days eh?) but we managed to stumble through it. Big Al Reed was as excellent as ever (I'm not just saying that because he gives me gigs, he really was good) as was Les Payne, and after years of not going to jam nights I now seem to have found myself to be a regular at this one. Mind you, I did have another reason for going along this time...
For a while now we've been stocking some musical instruments and accessories at Balcony Shirts; these days we've not got many guitars (as they weren't really selling - sad but true)  but the accessories side of things is doing well. We get them from the John Hornby Skewes (JHS) distribution company - to this end Dave the rep visits us regularly, and on his last visit we got talking about my then-upcoming gigs with Ruts DC in Birmingham and York. By then end of our conversation the subject had come around to the possibility of an endorsement deal for me with Vintage and Fret King Guitars. I've been using a Vintage Lemon Drop for some time (that's what got us onto the subject) and have tried and liked some Fret King instruments, so it all got quite interesting quite quickly... to cut a long story short (for once!) Sunday was an opportunity for me to play a Fret King Yardbird on Sunday evening which Dave had provided for me to try; it's based on the guitar that Jeff Beck used when he was playing in The Yardbirds and while I don't own it (yet!) it's certainly a very impressive instrument. I've always had a bit of an aversion to maple necks (I generally prefer rosewood fingerboards, but it's a subject that doesn't have an simple answer as this clip shows...) but this felt and sounded great - we'll see what happens next but you just might see me looking out from an advert in the pages of the guitar magazines sometime in the not-too-distant future!

In the meantime The Rikardo Brothers played at The Bedford Arms in Chenies last night, at Paul and Cathy's wedding reception. We'd not played since way back in February (they - Alan on vocals and Pete on guitar - have played without me when I've been gigging elsewhere) when it was the day after a night that saw me indulge in what could politely be described as projectile vomiting (urgh!) and although I'll be honest and say that my fragile condition that day means that I hardly remember playing we must have done something right as we were booked to play this show as a result of our performance that afternoon. Judging by the condition of some of the guests by the time we arrived at 7 o'clock festivities had clearly been in full swing for a number of hours (I'll leave you to think about that for a moment..!) and by the time our first set started there were more than a few people who looked unlikely to last the rest of the evening. We'd had a rehearsal on Wednesday evening and I for one was glad that we did as I'd all but forgotten some of the material, but despite the old dubious moment the show went well and was rapturously received by all concerned. Cathy started our second set by singing 'Little White Bull' accompanied by Pete (I hadn't got a clue how it goes, but the fact that Pete managed to busk along is a measure of just how good a player he is...) while Alan completely forgot the words to 'Mustang Sally' and ended up singing 'In The Midnight Hour' instead! Overall however we enjoyed ourselves to such an extent that we've all resolved to make an effort to get more gigs for the group and even are looking to do some recording. Excellent! 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a Yardbird guitar to play - that sound must be on there somewhere...

Celluloid heroes

With the cancellation of Thursday's Cool Britannia show at The Beck Theatre in Hayes (it was the nearest one to me, shame that one had to go) I took the opportunity to catch a very interesting looking show at The 100 Club. Billed as 'Scabies and James play ''Damned Damned Damned''' it not surprisingly featured founder members of The Damned Rat Scabies and Brian James playing the band's first album and other material from around that time. The audience was something of a punk-spotter's paradise, with T.V Smith deep in conversation with Rat Scabies, Tony James looking as though he wanted to be recognised, members of The Members (if you see what I mean) talking to all and sundry and Gaye Advert and Brian James both having their photos taken with what seemed like half the audience. Anticipation was high as showtime came around, and as 'Neat Neat Neat' roared out from the stage it seemed as though a good if rather noisy show was in prospect. Vocalist Texas Terri and a bassist who's name I sadly didn't catch (he was very good though) gave it everything, and Scabies and James sounded terrific. The Damned are all too often dismissed as 'cartoon punks' but in my not-so-humble opinion they've released some brilliant records, and their first album remains one of the all-time great punk albums and indeed one of the most influential albums ever. From lesser-known tracks to the inevitable encore of 'New Rose' this performance did nothing to lessen that legacy. Great stuff.


Friday should have seen a Cool Britannia gig at The Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage (it's a nice theatre, shame that one had to go) which left your humble narrator with something of a dilemma. The Upper Cut had a gig at The Admiral Nelson in Twickenham, which as I thought I was busy I had asked Pete to do in my place - however I had become available, so what happens now? I know musicians who would have for want of a better term 'taken the gig back' but I found the thought of that to be uncomfortable to say the least. On the other hand as it's 'my' gig it could be argued that I should play it. See what I mean - tricky isn't it? As it happens it was Pete who came up with the solution by suggesting that we both do the show. With no rehearsal possible we managed a few minutes discussion just before we started - I did a few numbers on my own then he joined in for the rest of the evening. As you might expect there was the odd mad moment here and there but overall I thought it worked very well. Audience requests included 'Whiskey In The Jar' and 'Bargain' (obviously we played neither) and a chap who had something of a resemblance to Michael Jackson seemed intent on talking to Terry throughout most our second set, despite the fact that he was singing for much of it. He seemed happy enough which I guess is the main thing?


Cool Britannia were due to be in Croydon on Saturday night (The Fairfield Halls! Shame... ) so I decided to go up to The 12 Bar Club to see T.V. Smith - it'd be nice to see him play rather than to be standing next to him while he's doing it! Balcony Shirts was suitably busy despite the rain and I wasn't feeling too good when I got home - when I woke up at nearly 8 o'clock I realised that I wasn't going to the gig. Bah! Oh well, time to revise some songs for the next evening's performance at The Millfield Theatre in Edmonton where a Cool Britannia gig had managed to survive the maelstrom of cancellations and postponements. It was a good show overall although personally didn't think I played very well; in my defence your honour the chronically out-of-tune solo at the start of the show was due to what seemed to be one of those annoying little flies that you get at this time of year zipping across my field of view and then landing on my hand as I went to play. And my chronically out-of-tune backing vocals in the next song were due to me having a coughing fit just prior to singing which I fear was caused by the same fly - urgh! That aside I feel it was the best show that we've done so far - if only we had a few more...


Yesterday evening I journeyed across town to The Queen Elizabeth Hall on The South Bank for a night of music entitled 'London On Film'. Hosted by noted film critic Mark Kermode and featuring The BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Robert Ziegler it may not seem to be the most obvious evening for me to find myself at, but the news that Pete Townshend and Jeff Beck would be joining the orchestra meant that I had to attend. 
It had been ages since I last saw an orchestral concert, and I'd all but forgotten what an extraordinary experience it is to be in a room with so many musical instruments. Amazing. Something as familiar as 'The James Bond Theme' suddenly becomes a living, breathing art form before your very eyes. Well, I think it does anyway. Over-emotional? Maybe - but one of the reasons that I like music so much is that even after all the years of watching and listening, and all the fantastic shows that I've been lucky enough to be part of (both as a performer and as an audience member) it still has the ability to catch you out when you least expect it.
During the interval I realised that there were rather more Who t-shirts in the audience than I had at first thought - I hadn't for one minute thought that I'd be the only fan there, but there certainly weren't as many in the foyer earlier. (Ok ok, I can hear you - 'they've taken their jumpers off you silly old fool'...) There was definitely an air of mounting excitement as the evening progressed, and as Kermode introduced the final selection of the evening electric guitars appeared on stage the intensity level leapt. Townshend and Beck emerged from the side of the stage and the polite, reverential applause of the rest of the evening gave way to the hoots and hollers of a rock concert audience, to the obvious disquiet of the more regular patrons on the venue. Mobile phones captured the Kermode / Townshend interview for prosperity, before PT announced the two pieces to be played - 'Quadrophenia' ('in a sense, the overture') and 'Love Reign O'er Me'. For the first the rockers sat slightly awkwardly in front of small amplifiers (a Vox for Beck and I think a Lazy J for Townshend) with their guitar on their laps, listening intently, waiting for the opening piano chords of the second tune... suddenly Beck's playing the melody as only he can play a melody as Townshend impatiently fiddles with his amplifier before joining in with the descending lines in the chorus. The Who t-shirts are leaning forward, willing the music to get louder as the orchestra turns the synthesizer lines of the original recording into the string sounds that I for one had always imagined them to be. It sounds incredible as it builds and builds and builds, and we realise that we'll all remember these few minutes for ever. Then, suddenly, it's all over - the last chord prompts a few flourishes from Townshend and hysteria from the Who t-shirts. The audience - all of them - goes crazy. An extraordinary, magnificent performance.


And it's all on YouTube already!

Killing in the name of...

No gigs with the guitar yet this year for your humble narrator, so it's time to do some watching rather than playing - which reminds me, my old mate and ex - Sounds scribe Andy Peart is involved in putting on a show next week in Kentish Town. Details are here, or at least as far as I know they are - I called him the other night to check I had all the information only to be told that he was watching the football on T.V. and so wouldn't come to the phone; let's hope there's nothing good on telly next Friday eh?

There wasn't a guitar in sight (for once!) on Monday night when the long-suffering Shirley and myself went to see 'The 39 Steps' at The Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. Based (rather loosely in places!) on the book by John Buchan it features 4 actors playing over 100 parts (I didn't count them but that's what it says on the poster!) and was brilliant, one of the best things I've seen in ages. It's very funny, very clever, and I won't say too much more as it'll ruin it for you if you're going to see it - suffice to say that if you're thinking of going along then you're unlikely to be disappointed. Excellent!

Lots and lots of guitars (which redresses the balance nicely!) last night at The Hammersmith Apollo for A Concert For Killing Cancer, a benefit show in aid of Photodynamic Therapy (P.D.T.). The first half of a roaringly good evening saw acoustic performances from Richard Ashcroft, Roger Daltery and Bryan Adams - Ashcroft solo, Daltery with a band that included Simon Townshend, Jody Linscott and Danny Thompson, and Adams solo with a bit of help from a member of the audience who had recently benefited from P.D.T. - while the second half saw sets from Jeff Beck and Debbie Harry (backed by The Who minus Daltrey and Townshend) before The Who took over. Highlights were many and varied - no one played badly although Ms. Harry's songs could have been better rehearsed - and The Who's C.S.I. - tastic 3 songs had a lot more energy about them than last year's Albert Hall show. Jeff Beck was as astonishing as ever (a strong version of 'A Day In The Life' and a version of 'I'm A Man' with Daltrey were particularly good) and the last-song-of-the-evening jam on 'Join Together' was a good way to end things, as this clip shows. A fine evening, at the end of which it was announced that the show raised 'between 160 and 180 thousand pounds' which will go towards funding research and treatment - good news of course, but that's a fraction of the money that's going to be wasted on this year's Royal wedding, money that we as taxpayers will be liable for. Am I the only person that thinks that's wrong? No, I thought not. So what shall 'we' do about it? What can 'we' do about it? Answers on a postcard please, usual address...