TIME FOR THE AUTUMN PUB MINI-TOUR!!

At last - the time has arrived when we can get back into the sweaty, noisy, smoky arenas that we love! Our next 3 gigs take us to pubs far and wide...well maybe not that far and wide, but you catch my drift! More of that, in a minute, but first, a brief catch-up on happenings since the last post (isn't that something they play on Remembrance Sunday?).

When we last wrote, we were just about to play our 3rd appearance at the Time Out Group Ball and, like the last 2, it did not fail to disappoint. There is a really good atmosphere at these events, because of the way everyone joins in, jumps around, and just generally has fun! Once again, the Patron of the Charity, Annabel Tiffin, was in fine form and both she and her husband John hit the dancefloor for "Teenage Kicks", even though (she said!) she had to be up early for a 10K run in the morning! The high spot, as ever, was Peter's rendition of "Johnny B Goode" which, this year, took pride of place at the start of the second set (as his taxi was coming early!) - here is a picture of him preparing himself for the big event!

Well done Peter - you were brilliant, as ever!

Our next gig was last Saturday - a private party at the Brewery; however, before that, we had a little bit of social business to take care of! As regular readers will know, as well as playing gigs and rehearsing together, we love each other so much, that we even meet up for the occasional meal! Ostensibly, this is to plan future songs, and suchlike, but it's fair to say that it's really just an excuse for a piss up! So, Friday evening saw us pitch up at Chrissie's (all except Dave who, although NOT on holiday, had to attend his daughter's 18th birthday party!), and be royally fed and watered - a veritable feast! Once we were sated, there were the usual photos to be taken - but this time with a difference. See if you can identify who is who from these little gems!:

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the downright daft, if you ask me!

Anyway, Saturday came around and, despite headaches and trepidation that there might actually be TWO parties booked in for the same night, everything went off really well - a good crowd, who were up for a good time - can't ask for more than that!

Which brings me to our Autumn Pub Mini-Tou! This Friday (30th September) sees us warm up at The White Lion in Disley - a popular venue for us, because there's always a really appreciative crowd - even when there's not many of them! Last year, we helped to celebrate the landlord's birthday - not that he can remember it! I'm still resisting the urge to print a copy of the photo of him in his offensive t-shirt!

The following Saturday (8 October) has us making our debut (2 years later than originally planned!) at The Millstone in Water's Green, Macclesfield. Now this has to be a good night, after being so long in the planning, so put the date in your diaries now, and get down there - not just to support us, but also the new landpeople (Ken & Donna) who are trying to establish it as another fine Macclesfield music venue.

Our mini-tour draws breath after the 3rd gig at The Old Ship Inn on Beech Lane, Macclesfield on Saturday 29 October. It seems like years since we played there, and it will be really good to feel the warmth of a log fire or three again!

That's probably enough to be going on with for now, so we look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it at some, or all of the mini-tour gigs - may even be a couple of new songs to tease (or torture) you with!!

SINGING IN THE RAIN??

So that was Summer was it???

I really hope those of you that got away did manage to get some sun on your backs - as for the rest of us, well just take a peek at the last line of our last post, and tell me that it wasn't Nostradamus-esque in its perspicacity (look that one up!)!! Supposed to be good for the plants, but the number of bloody caterpillars that were chewing on my brassicas after a weekend away gives the lie to that as well! Some of our number have been to exotic climes, e.g. Hugh travelled the full length of the Western US (although even he got rained on in the Grand Canyon!), and Matt went all French and sophisticated (yes, really!) in Paris and the Dordogne! Andy had a holiday in his bathroom, and even smashed his head on something sharp, while Paul & Chrissie just chilled (literally!) - especially at the Bellowhead concert at Gawsworth Hall! Dave, on the other hand, is still on holiday!

Anyways up, enough of that; it's time to get back on the road again, and turn our thoughts to things musical. If you check out the gig list on the right, you will see that, true to our word, we have managed to negotiate a number of public gigs in the next few weeks and, believe me, it will be great to get back amongst the muck and bullets (not to mention the sweat prompted by the 2 fires of The Ship!). You'll see that we kick off our Autumn/Winter term at the Time Out Group Ball this Saturday - this has become an annual event for us, and it's great fun (and does a bit to help the charity); if you care to peruse the blogs from previous years you will get a flavour of how things go, so we're really looking forward to the same on Saturday.

Our first pub gig is at the end of this month (29th), back at The White Lion in Disley, then we pitch up at The Millstone in Macclesfield on Saturday 8 October. You may remember that this has not been our favourite pub, since aprevious landlord told us to bugger off in September 2009 because we hadn't given him any posters - a stance that led to us taking every opportunity to bad mouth him subsequently! However, forgive and forget is what I say so, with the advent of Ken & Donna, we have agreed to give it a go, and we hope that there is a decent turn out to help them in their quest to add another good music venue to the ones that Macclesfield already has. The end of October sees us back at The Old Ship on Beech Lane, and then, towards the end of November, we trek into the wilds of Whiteley Green for a Friday night at The Windmill - we already know there are quite a few people planning to make an evening of this, so why not join in?

So, all of a sudden, it's famine to feast! We had a bit of a practice last week, to get rid of some rust; we're doing the same tonight, and we're hoping that a couple more new songs will surface by the time the pub gigs come round - Hugh has even been persuaded to try "Tainted Love"!!

The Facebook page will also be springing back into life, so check out Dazed and Confused Massive to read gig details, see some photos/vids (courtesy of Paparazzi Pete) and leave comments (only nice ones please!).

Toodle pip!