Dear all,
What a bloody marvellous weekend I’ve just had. Broadstairs has long been one of my favourite folk festivals but this was actually my first ever time there solo. I had a few gigs, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed but certainly topped by the set on the main stage on Saturday night where I nearly sold out of CD’s and generally had one of those gigs that seemed to go very well. I say that, there was one little issue. I was midway through a guitar song when a string broke which in itself was fairly annoying but I thought I had an ingenious solution. I carried on singing, got the audience to clap the beat and then put the banjo round my neck. I began to play banjo and of course…it was in the wrong tuning. So the chord sounded about as pleasant as putting a wet finger in a light socket but I then retuned and the audience seemed to enjoy the chaos. Oh and my guitar fell over when I put it on the stand too…
But apart from that…in two days I nearly sold out of CD’s, had some of the best gigs ever, got five potential gigs out of it, had great fish and chips, had a lovely time with my lady, saw lots of family, drank nice drink and had a paddle. Not bad for two days I’d say…
So also since my last blog I played at Joxers and the wonderful old homestead continues to be the best gig ever. Very happy that the new landlord seems to want to do all the right things, not least have lots of music on! So that was a lovely evening too. On the local theme, I also played a rare function gig for old chum Nick from the Railway in Norton Bridge for his 60th birthday which was another highly enjoyable day and many thanks to Ian for being roadie for the day to allow me to have a little drinky!
I’ve also been rehearsing with the Urban Folk Quartet and god it sounds great! Can’t wait for you all to hear it, I am extremely excited about it. We’ve been working on a really varied programme and we’re all buzzing from it. Lots of gigs planned for next year with UFQ as well as my solo tours and other collaborations. 2014 is looking good!
Now my rant of the week…what is this bloody ridiculous new fangled thing that pubs and cafes do where they serve food on a chopping board? Do you know what a chopping board is for? It is for bloody chopping. It is not for serving food on. That is what plates are for, indeed plates were invented specifically for the purpose of serving food on. Now apart from the ludicrous ponce factor of serving it on a chopping board which in truth is probably my main gripe, the other factor is it’s dashed inconvenient. A chopping board type thing is not terribly big so they serve less food on less space. I do not like that. But most of all, just don’t be a bloody idiot. Why serve on a chopping board for any reason other than ooh let’s be all weird and different and prove we’re prats?
That’s my view anyway…