So - where did we leave off? Ah yes, it was early July, with a post entitled "It might as well rain until September!" - and, guess what?? Here I sit on 21 September (the Autumnal Equinox, I believe), and it's STILL pi**ing down! Now I know there have been a few days when the sun has poked its shiny little face out from behind the clouds (and some of us/you have, no doubt, seen a bit more on hols), but they have been precious few and far between - roll on Summer, I say (I believe it's scheduled for 23 & 24 November this year)!!
Anyway, notwithstanding that, a number of us have managed to squeeze in some R&R over the last couple of months (some of us more than others!), so we're back refreshed, and raring to plough a musical furrow through the months up until Christmas and beyond (more of that later)!
Since we last wrote, we've even done a couple of gigs; Dave Hasler's birthday party, back in July, was a monster of an event! For those who don't know Dave, he and his wife Jill, are stalwarts of the local CAMRA branch, so when you put that together with a party in a brewery, a guest list that comprises most of the CAMRA membership of Macclesfield (as well as Matt Rose from the mighty VirginMarys, sporting his D&C T-shirt!), and includes music played loud and long into the night, you can imagine the carnage that ensued! In fact, to see Dave still standing at the end of the evening/beginning of the morning was one of the most remarkable sights of this, or any other, year!
We returned to The Old Ship on Beech Lane, at the beginning of September and, despite the fact that the gig clashed with the Loominus festival of live music in Macclesfield (which, due to an oversight, they neglected to invite us to!), which had several of the pubs in Macc showcasing 3 or 4 bands each, we were delighted to see the venue almost as full as usual - I'm sure the fact that I posted OUR gig on the Loominus Facebook page had something to do with it!. It was also as hot as usual because, even though neither of the famous fires were lit (must be a first!), the normal furnace-like environment prevailed! No matter, a brilliant night was had, as ever, and we gave a first airing to "Gold on the Ceiling", which is an excellent (if little known) song by The Black Keys, and which is rapidly accelerating up our list of favourite songs! As a side note to this, it actually took a bit of time for me to find the song on YouTube, because Andy had told me it was called "Ghost on the Floor" - well, I suppose it was close (no, it wasn't really!)!
In anticipation of our future gigs, we also had a "board meeting", in the summer, to stir fry some ideas in the strategy wok with regard to new songs! We actually came up with a list of 19 tunes that we want to work on - inevitably some will die a death (for some it will be a long and lingering one, no doubt!) but we hope to be drip feeding some of them in over the next few weeks - starting tomorrow night!
On which note, let me bring you up to date with future plans; the gig list on the right hand side, should now be pretty much accurate (there have been some comings and goings of late), although there are a couple of "tbcs", which I don't envisage changing. As ever, there are a mix of private and public gigs, but if you fancy popping along to Bollington or Whiteley Green before Christmas, we would be as delighted as ever to see you!
Tomorrow evening sees us trekking out to the edge of Delamere Forest for the Annual Beer Festival, which is being held at Kingsley Cricket Club. I believe this is the second year for this event, and we don't really know what to expect - so what we are going to do is put our Macc Beer Fest "hats" on and just go for it! Pretty sure it will work, so if you fancy a balmy Autumn evening's entertainment, why not join us?!
So that pretty much brings us up to date - I will try not to leave it too long until the next time but, as Northern Spain beckons at the end of the month............
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