Tag Archives: festivals

05-01-2015 – The Life Cycle Of The Breville Toasted Sandwich Maker

..And a Happy New Year to all our readers!

This morning, driving in to work, I was rather perturbed to see that – even though it’s still some 353 days until Christmas – some people have got their decorations up already!

Still, we hope you all had a lovely time eating and drinking to excess; plus whatever else takes your fancy, of course.

We certainly enjoyed the break, we even managed to squeeze in a few gigs – including a jolly evening in the Portcullis in Fishponds just after Christmas; where, because Lou had texted me earlier complaining of a chest infection and warning that she wasn’t sure her voice would last the night, as a precaution I took along our emergency spare band – the erratically mighty Polar Bear Cheese Pirates From Outer Space. In the event, Lou’s voice held out fine, but since Dem’s folks had turned out to see us, we put the kids on as well anyway. (I have finally arrived at the conclusion that the real reason folks are so fond of their grandchildren is because they know that they are putting their parents through exactly the same trauma and exasperation as the parents put the grandparents through years before. Which I am sure is the only reason why my offspring seemed to get louder applause than AUF did…). READ MORE

15-12-2014 – Firemen

Yo ho-ho-homeys (see what I did there?)

Well, it appears to be the gig-cancelling season – not only was last Saturday’s planned outing to the Ferndale Club in sunny Swindon called off due to some double-booking high jinks at their end, but also this coming Friday’s bash at the Reckless Engineer in Bristol is also abandoned thanks to some fairly spectacular ineptitude on their part. Still, there are some gigs surviving…

…Last Friday, for example; when we went all the way down to sunny Wincanton in deepest darkest Zummerzet – hadn’t realised quite how far away it was until I got there (eh??) whereupon I immediately sent a warning text back to Lou to be sure to leave in good time, to make sure she had a full tank of petrol and ample food supplies with her, and Not To Stray From The Path or talk to any naughty goblins on the way. As it turned out, I was later told that Wincanton is in fact twinned with Ankh-Morpork – so I wasn’t too far wrong. READ MORE

08-12-2014 – BakerLou

Ahoy there shipmates!

Right, I really have completely run out of time for writing this one, so fasten your safety belts and switch on your spell checkers, here we go….

Friday night down at Charlie’s Bar in Westbury – a new one for us, so just to give that professional impression, we got there late (taking a 4-mile short cut through the narrow lanes near Lou’s house, within 200 yards of the exit into proper roads again, we find a broken down van with a breakdown truck blocking the road; nowhere to turn around, and I don’t fancy my chances reversing round twisty lanes in the dark for 4 miles, so we wait… and wait…). READ MORE

01-12-2014 – Dragon

Blessings be upon you, my children

Our sermon this week is taken from the Third Book of Ramblings, Chapter Three, Verse Two Hundred and Seventy Four…

Yea, And It Came To Pass That the Tribe Of Angel Up Front Were Wandering In The Wilderness For Many Years, Until The Good Lord (Martin) Saw Them, And Took Pity On Them, And Yea, He Did Lead Them Unto A Place Of Sanctuary, Which Was An Inn In The Land Of Marlborough, Known In Those Parts As The Green Dragon, And…

….you know what? It’s a real pain in the ass capitalising every word, I think I’ll give this theme a miss for now… Sorry to anybody that was starting to doze off already. READ MORE

24-11-2014 – Seventies Porn Film Soundtrack Special

Hey there mighty people of the 7th something or other awesome thing

Well, another rawk’n’roll packed weekend, and now I’m totally knackered out again. In the words of Danny Glover,”I’m gettin’ too old for this shit…”

Except that I don’t want to. I’m sure one day I’ll collapse back into a rocking chair and play slow delta blues until I eventually topple over, but right now I’ll stick with burning the candle at both ends whilst maintaining a tenuous grip on the bit in the middle. READ MORE

17-11-2014 – You broke me – Also Eden Plug

Hey gang!

This’ll probably be a short one again, I’m afraid – not too much to report from the world of rawk’n’roll, however plenty of activity on the domestic front – including, this weekend, a series of unforeseen room rearrangement / rebuilding episodes that didn’t finish until rather late on Sunday – meaning that I ended up missing the rather fabulous Also Eden’s progfest gig down at the Louisiana last night, dammit.

So, sorry about that Rich, I did me best to get there, but Dem was taking a dim view of my suggestion that “the kids can just sleep on the floor tonight, can’t they?”; her objection, that there was in fact no floor space left, so they’d actually have to sleep standing up, did, I suppose, have some merit. READ MORE

10-11-2014 – Guitar!

Yo homeys!

Right then, it’s late and I’m tired, so sorry, no bedtime story tonight; instead I’ll just go with the basic “weekend report and upcoming gigs” schtick, if that’s okay with you guys.

On Saturday we had an absolutely fantastic time, playing at our pal Adam’s 21st birthday bash, shared with the wonderful Anne who – er – probably isn’t 21 anymore, to be fair. But she is a fantastic lady (to be honest, anybody who phones me up to ask how the “sexiest guitar player in Gloucestershire is doing” is going to be in my good books anyway – even if it is only ‘cos they know that Lou lives in Keynsham…). READ MORE

03-11-2014 – Cabbage

Hello again

Sorry folks, but due to pressure of time this week’s blog will be the “ordinary boring” rambling, instead of the fantasy epic version. But, don’t worry, abnormal service will be resumed as soon as possible…

This week’s travelogue from the North East reports that Lincolnshire consists of an awful lot of cabbage fields, and just about bugger-all else. I had a nice time, though, and got back in time to make it for Friday’s Halloween gig up at the Old Neighbourhood Inn up in the hills near Stroud. READ MORE

26-10-2014 – Wig & Vomit

Hello again children

If you’re all sitting comfortably, then we’ll resume our tale…

As our brave band of musos rode down the leafy byways of Wiltshire towards their Prestbury Sports Bar gig, the fair Princess Louisa enquired of brave Sir Alan about the previous evening’s adventures.

“So”, she asked, “How went your lovely daughter’s gig in Swindon last night?”

“A fairly quite night, all things considered”, mused the gallant Sir Alan, “We encountered three bare backsides, two fights, one accidental concussion, and three vomiting
on the floor”. “But”, he added, “we did also meet there with the Wise Woman of Pighill; the promotress Statey, who was not only completely sober, but even bought me a drink; but alas, she had to leave before the audience really got into their stride”. READ MORE

20-10-2014 – A Fairytale Part 2

Hello again, children, and welcome back to our rock’n’roll fairytale…

If you remember, we left our intrepid band on the road to the King’s Wood, heading for their début gig at the Jolly Cobbler…

As they rounded a corner, all were astonished to see at the side of the road, (by overwhelming demand, I might add), an enormous bathtub of lime jelly, containing not one, but twenty four flaxen-haired and beautiful lithe young women dressed in identical cheerleader outfits, which clung tightly to their pert curvaceous forms, each dripping with sweet green gelatinous slime. READ MORE