Good grief, Charlie Brown…
That was an exciting week and no mistake!
For one thing, I had a birthday in the middle of it – for the curious amongst you, I can reveal that my age is now officially “not dead yet”.
And I was particularly delighted to be sent a large and luxurious custom birthday card from my favourite Pighillians, featuring a stunning Triumph Bonneville with a fetching blonde lady (actually somewhat reminiscent of my dear Dem in her younger years) astride it, and – this had to be pointed out to me – a rather handsome chap lurking in the background.
Excellent work, chaps! Although – look at the sinuous curves of those exhaust pipes, the gleam of the gearbox cover…God, I miss my old Triumph now…
The jollity continued on Friday at the Packhorse – as expected, this was a huge fun night, especially for me – we had a surprise visit from some lovely folks from Wales, some of my oldest friends that I haven’t seen in ages. “We thought we’d come and see you as a birthday present”, they said.
Well, that was about the best present I could have wished for, although my mate Carol did get me into trouble when we were all chatting at half-time.
“When you play that solo in ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’”, she says, “You should wear a Brian May wig”.
I agree that this would indeed be a brilliant thing to do.
“We’ll have to get one, then”, announces Emma.
“Oh, well, we already have one”, I tell her, “I just never thought of that before”.
Em’s lovely countenance darkens with anger.
“Do you mean to tell me”, she says sternly, “That you have a Brian May wig but you didn’t think to put it on..?”
The face-slapping commences.
“You wicked, <<slap>> wicked, <<slap>> wicked, <<slap>>boy!”
I am suitably chastised, but not for long. An unusually drunk gentleman chooses this moment to fall over one of the monitors, launching an entire pint over my pedals. Some frantic mopping up reveals that there is no lasting damage, except a snapped jack socket on the monitor, which we can live without for the rest of the night.
During the second set, we reveal our new secret weapon – what we have dubbed the “plankocasters”, stage props recently acquired for the amusement of the populace…
Although there’s always one who takes things that little bit too far….
Obviously, as serious and sober artistes, we find this kind of over-the-top behaviour utterly deplorable.
If only audiences would sit quietly at their tables throughout the set, with perhaps the occasional smattering of polite applause in between songs to show their appreciation of our artistic endeavours following any particularly complex and emotive passages, I am sure the world would be a better place.
After a restful Saturday, including a small amount of monitor repair, we were good to go for Sunday evening’s jaunt to the Crown in Stapleton. As befits a Sunday, this was a rather more subdued affair, which was probably just as well.
Coming up – a rare jaunt to posh Cheltenham to flirt with the upper classes…
Saturday 26th – Albion House Club, Cheltenham
They’re rather good fun in here, and were very patient with us that time when we set off their fire alarm with our smoke machine…
Well, that just about wraps it up for this week, we’ll let y’all know how we got on….
Square on
A