Polar Bear

23-11-2015 – Polar Bears, Fights and Glowing Guitars

Hey folks

Helldammit, that was a fun weekend all round!

Friday night, and time for Lily’s gig up at the ol’ Clothears in Stroud; having forewarned the pub that in addition the usual acoustic-y stuff, we were bringing along the full strength of the tribe – the mighty Polar Bear Cheese Pirates From Outer Space – we arrived early and after almost an hour of careful planning, carrying, arranging, rearranging, and tripping over each other, we’d managed to get the entire band’s kit set up in the very snug space available. And a jolly night we had of it; although after over an hour of drumming way after his bedtime, poor Jimi had to curl up in a corner to snooze while we packed the rest of the kit up afterwards. Usually it’s Lily that does that.

Still, in true rock’n’roll style, he bounced out of bed again in the morning, demanding to be paid for the gig and wanting to know where his fried breakfast had gotten to… apparently, since we are planning to play a quick set the next night as well at the Angel Up Front gig, he is now “on tour”…

Saturday night, downtown – we were cruisin’ around – specifically, around the Swan in Thornbury High Street, for what promises to be a hugely entertaining evening, with our old pals John, Anne, & Adam, Dem’s folks, a bunch of Ben’s workmates, and even some lovely local pals we haven’t seen in almost forever turning up. The pub turns out to be quite a good size, we have plenty of room to set up in, and – most importantly – plenty of room to prance about in. After a small technical hitch (the aerial on my wireless has parted company from the transmitter), we’re all ready to go.

As usual, Jimi has brought along his huge stuffed polar bear George – official PBCPFOS mascot – to the gig; and as predicted, Rosa squeals with delight when she sees it, and spends most of the evening attached to it. She has to be gently persuaded to relinquish it when it’s time to start the gig.

And, off we go – the crowd is nice and lively, and – apart from a brief interlude when some of Ben’s workmates decide to have a quick fight – the place is very cheery. After the first set, we wheel up Lily and the boys, and blast through some more noisy stuff before Lil stops proceedings to announce that tomorrow is Jimi’s birthday, and gets the whole pub to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. Awww.

I am less pleased with her next announcement, when she publicly thanks “…Angel Up Front for the loan of their drum kit, their bass rig, and their guitarist. You can have him back now, we don’t want him any more…”.

Glowing guitar

The cheek of it. After all, am I not the one with the magical guitar, that is positively incandescent with talent, and the raw power of Rock flowing through it…?

Or is it just that Adam needs to clean the lens on his camera phone?

We finish up the set, and I get a whole two minutes off duty before it’s time to round up Ben & Rosa and start again; once again, much jumping around and jollity, and it’s gone midnight by the time we consider we’ve done enough damage.

So, Dem rounds up all the stray Polar Bear Cheese Whatnots in the place and takes them home, whilst the rest of us slowly set about packing up the kit, and a chat with the management, who profess themselves very pleased with the evening, and actually pay us extra, whilst promising to sort out some more dates for the near future. Luvverly!

The evening is made complete when I arrive home to find Lily’s boyfriend being rather poorly into a bucket; the result, it transpires, of chain-drinking cider whilst having been left unattended during the Polar Bears’ set.

“Well, that explains it”, we tell him; “Don’t drink cider”. “But I don’t like lager”, he wails unhappily. Well, that’s a start, I suppose.

We promise to teach him about grown-up beer when he’s feeling better.

Right then, coming up…

Friday 27th – Lily B a at the Barrington Arms, Shrivenham
I’m already in trouble for this one – it’s mine and Dem’s anniversary, you see, and yet I’ve taken a booking for an acoustic gig with Lil many miles away. On the plus side, we’re getting paid, the pub (as I recall) keeps excellent beer, and best of all. we won’t have to share any of the loot with Jimi.

Saturday 28th – Green Dragon, Marlborough
Nice little pub to play, we always enjoy this one, and they do tend to get a bit lively sometimes. And surely that’s no bad thing, is it? As long as they keep their trousers on, that’s just fine by us.

Right, that’s your lot for now, I’m off to see if I can repair my poor broken guitar wireless; if I can’t, then I may have to reconsider my previous hard-line stance on the non-existence of Santa Claus…

Square on
A

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