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!

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY!!

Yes, that's what it seems to be at the moment - lots of private parties, weddings etc., and not many "public" gigs, so we need to put that right (more of that later)!!

Since the last epistle, we have been quite busy, having played the ECH Midnight Walk, a birthday party and a wedding, and another wedding coming up on Friday this week! The Midnight Walk was a great experience and, although it was difficult to get everyone up and jumping around (they were about to walk 10km through the Macclesfield streets, after all!), the energy levels were high, and we got some really good comments. It was quite a sight to see 1000+ people lining up at the start, for such a good cause and, happily everybody returned safely!

We played Glenn Clarke's 60th birthday at the brewery - some of you may know Glenn as the big bear of a driving instructor that inhabits the higher reaches of Buxton Road! The party was a great night, with only 1 hiccup when a group of young lads (who were somewhat the worse for wear, for one reason or another) decided they would like to join the party! The assembled males in the room moved to the door to persuade them otherwise - including Glenn, who was all for throwing them in the River Bollin, but Dave S brought some sanity to the proceedings (he does live there after all), and offered them some inducement to leave (nudge nudge!)

The next week saw us up at the Mykita ballroom for Sue Nicholls' wedding to Tim and, once again, it was a fantastic night - even if we did have to ditch half the set because they wanted us out by 11:45 - at least we had an early night! Good to see some old faces that we'd not seen for some time as well - from AZ and elsewhere! Micky Jones and Annette turned up as well - for their second wedding that day! Not sure how they arrived - one minute they weren't there, the next minute they were - you might think it impossible for Micky to smuggle himself into anywhere, but he managed it that night!!

If you check the gig list, you will see that, in addition to 3 provisional gigs for 2012 already(!), we're starting to fill up the latter end of the year. Three gigs planned for December, including what promises to be a great night down in Hertfordshire! Some friends of Andy and his wife Claire are having a 40th birthday bash, and they've especially asked for us to play, so we're going to make a weekend of it - could be a very nice one, just before Christmas!

As mentioned above, we're also trying to get some pub gigs, because we're getting withdrawal symptoms! In addition to Porter's, to whom we offer our sincere apologies for the mix-up over appearing at the beginning of July, we have also been approached by a couple of other venues - including The Millstone at Water's Green!! You may remember (check the blog from September 2009!) that we had a run-in with a previous landlord, and the Milly has been off our Christmas card list since then! However, Ken & Donna are trying to re-kindle the music nights there, and have asked us to help them which, of course, we would be delighted to do. At the moment, it's looking like Saturday 1 October might be the date so, if you're celebrating anything then, why not join us? So, hopefully, after our August break, there will be a number of pub gigs to give folks the opportunity to join us for a right good knees up!

After Friday's gig, we'll be taking it easy during August, because of holidays etc.; if you are going away, have a great time, if not - enjoy the rain with those of us staying here!

A WALK IN THE DARK, 50 IS OBVIOUSLY THE NEW 20, AND OTHER STORIES!!

Well hello - how is everybody after all this time?

Apologies for the tardiness in updating this literary masterpiece, but I'm not really sure where the time is going at the moment; however, as I have a few minutes while the rain is threatening to drown us all, I thought I would bring you up to date with what has been happening and, perhaps more importantly, what is going to happen.

This Saturday (25th) will see us at Macclesfield Leisure Centre, providing the "warm up" entertainment for the hardy souls that will be undertaking the East Cheshire Hospice Midnight Walk - the latest news is that there are now more than 1000 people registered, so it should be a lot of fun!! We will be playing from around 10:00pm until just before the intrepid hordes leave at midnight, and we aim to send them out bouncing, believe me!

This event is the biggest fund raiser for the Hospice, which needs around £6000/day just to kepp going, and last year the Walk raised £25,000 and there were only 500 walkers, so we're hoping for a lot more this year. There is still time to register, and you can even do it on the night - check out the ECH website for more details. The walk takes a really easy route (of about 6 miles) around the streets of Macclesfield (via Gawsworth), and is more or less flat, so you won't be climbing over gates and stiles or negotiating cow pats or anything like that (you will need a torch, though, cos the sun won't be out)!! So why not have a great Saturday night out with the band, and then clear your heads with a stroll around town - the pubs might still be open when you get back!

So, that's the future - what about the past? First thing to report is that all the band holidaymakers (Dave, Hugh & Chrissie) have returned safe and sound, rested, bronzed, recuperated and broke! Yes, you're right, we do seem to have a lot of holidays in this band - however, there are no more planned until August!!

Last Saturday saw us in Tytherington for the joint 50th birthday party of Alison Unwin (one of our biggest supporters), and her husband Paul, and to say this was a "good do" is possibly the understatement of the year! Because of the inclement weather, Alison & Paul had been in a bit of a quandary about where to put us - in the garden? under the gazebo? in the shed? Anyway, we ended up in the conservatory with the doors open playing out into the garden where all the guests were (didn't matter if they got wet, obviously!). As luck would have it, the rain cleared around 8pm, and stayed away for the rest of the night (so much for Pete Robinson's weather forecasting skills - "it will rain on and off all night" he said!).

We started around 9pm and, by the time we finished the first set, there were 100+ people crowded in and starting to enjoy themselves; when we kicked off the second set - they just went mad! There is just no point in trying to explain it, cos there just ain't the words (see photo below as an example!)

However, Paparazzi Pete was on hand to capture the action, and you can see 3 of the videos he took if you click on the link above. There is also a video of "Teenage Kicks" taken by someone else, but I've not included this because I was nearly seasick watching it (Ali's video skills are in definite need of polishing!). We finished playing around 12:15am and left at around 1:00am, with the party in full swing - and it was a relief to see Paul & Alison still breathing when we went round on Sunday morning to collect the gear!! Paul's mother said she had spoken to someone who had been out walking the previous night about half a mile from the house, and they could hear every word and note of what we are playing - good feedback for us, I guess, but perhaps a little disturbing for the neighbours (good job most of Cheshire's police force were at the party!)!!

So that's all the news at the moment - a few private parties and weddings coming up over the next few weeks, but we're trying to fit in a couple of pub gigs - because we love them, although it might not be until September due to (more!) holidays!

"THERE'S NOTHING MORE JOYOUS THAN A BEER FESTIVAL AND DAZED & CONFUSED!!"

So here we are on the Monday after the Beer Fest - all deflated and wondering what to do with ourselves after the highs of the weekend! I'm not going to bore you with the all the details of how good everything was (especially us!), cos you've heard it all before, and it sounds a bit (a lot!) self-congratulatory (quite right too!). All I'll do is point you at the videos that Paparazzi Pete (and another, as yet unknown person!) has posted on YouTube (you can see them by just clicking on the link above this message), and the photos that are posted on the D&C Massive Facebook page - that way you can either re-live it for yourselves, or get a flavour for what you missed! If you're wondering about the title to this post, it's a quote from another of our longstanding supporters (Ian Gilliver), who said it to me when we wobbled into each other at the end of Friday night, just before he staggered off into the night! Just about sums it up really!
We've another gig on Thursday - at the Rugby Club again, would you believe?! It's in aid of the Beat Bowel Cancer campaign, and 2 lads are trying to raise sponsorship for their cross-channel escapade (in a bath or something!); if you have £20 to spare, I'm sure there are still a few tickets left, so why not come along and start NEXT weekend early?!

THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER - NOT A CHANCE!!

Half time whistle blew at around midnight - second half kicks off in about 3 hours time!

An absolutely BRILLIANT night last night - we seem to have been doing this forever, but without a doubt, yesterday's session was up there with the best; everything - the crowd, the sound balance, the "vibe", the numbers we played, seemed to come together so well - AND we got to finish with Delilah!!!

A couple of photos to give you an idea - including one of Paparrazzi Pete (Banks) who took them! Pete is now officially anointed as the D&C Official Photographer (see below!) and, as it was his birthday last night, he even got Happy Birthday sung to him by 1000 people!! Pete has promised some vids as well, so we look forward to them, and the set was recorded, so we'll see what that sounds like!

So, we move onto Chapter 2 tonight

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

Well - it's 6:00pm on Friday 6 May so, in an hour, the doors (or more accurately, the flaps!) will open on the 2011 Macclesfield Beer Festival!

All tickets for tonight are SOLD OUT so, if you haven't already got your ticket, you will be disappointed. However, I believe there still a few left for tomorrow night, so get your skates on.

In the meantime - LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!!