Well I'm sure we all enjoyed our lovely 2 week break which caused major distractions, upset sleeping patterns, has thrown any sense of organisation out the window and now has suddenly caught up on all of us! My apologies for the delay...let us now back track the numerous events that have been going on in my life recently. Where to start though, where to start...
PLEASE NOTE ; The following events may not have occurred in the order they appear. 2 weeks of holidays can really leave you disorientated and makes it difficult to think backwards and keep things in chronological order!
So my holidays started in the traditional fashion of a wild night out (networking?!) followed by a party in residences. I was woken the next day by a friend to ensure I didn't miss my train home to discover I couldn't walk properly, not due to still being drunk (well maybe partially) but having injured myself the previous evening...somehow. Anyway the journey home was an interesting one trying to drag a case and carry a large bag whilst limping.
The first week was not a very productive one at all. A lot of time catching up with friends, some which I hadn't seen in a long time! I did however get my networking assignment done for Creative Industries class. I can happily say to Ronnie that I certainly do a lot of networking (going to a pub counts right?) so the assignment was no problem. It wasn't until the 14th when the fun really began as my band, More From Jim, had a gig in Dumfries at the DGone sports and leisure complex where they frequently host entertainment events. It was a strange one for us as it was a youth event, featuring 6 bands including ourselves, which sure enough meant NO DRINK (you'll be starting to think by now does he actually do anything other than bloody drink?!). On arriving we noticed the sound guy was a local boy whom we'd had 'difficulties' with before but thankfully things went much smoother this time, although our manager did have to go tell him twice during our set, and I quote, to "STOP F*****G AROUND!". We played a 40 minute set mixed with originals and covers and the place erupted into a sea of dancing, skanking madnesssssss!!! A fantastic response from the crowd, a lot of faces we see regularly at our shows and also a lot of new faces to entertain. All in all a great night was had by all! ...the gig was merely the beginning of the night for us though...
This show was quickly followed up on the 16th when we returned to local bar The Shed, Annan to play to the usual crowd of drunken loonatics, which actually disappointed us that night. It's not often we have our full 7-piece line-up on show, two gigs in 3 days with all of us, but when we do we play our hearts out. We played hard, tried our usual crowd interaction, a couple of jokes here and there, we jump around, even threw in a few new songs but everything we seemed to try that night went down like a lead balloon! The crowd just weren't with us but we played and got paid so who's complaining? Overall a quite disappointing night from my point of view but hey these things happen.
Fast forward now to the 22nd (nothing interesting happened between the 17th and the 22nd...honest) where I was back in my local, The Blue Bell, the best pub around, with my dear friend Sarah (a member of staff there) where we entertained a rather small audience with our guitar duo, One Night Stand. Sarah used to be a student of mine and never thought she'd ever gig but that all changed sometime ago now. In case you were wondering too Sarah is a lot older than I (I'm not even going to guess how old it would be wrong of me!) and the gigging originally started as a one-off show, hence the name One Night Stand, but we continue even now to do a few shows here and there, playing a wide range of music, a lot of which is older than I am! Due to the nice weather that day I believe many people had been out all day and couldn't function properly to spend the evening out enjoying our music. It was a nice relaxing night really, a couple of friends were down from Perth whom I did not expect to see so that was a nice surprise too. Overall a great, relaxed night with maybe one or two pints too!
This next night the fun continued as One Night Stand headed on out to a pub at Hoddam, a large caravan park just a few miles away where we had played last Easter weekend too. Unfortunately the owner had forgotten to put up the posters advertising that there would be live music...silly Don! Not to worry though Sarah and I came prepared and by chance had a couple of posters in our cases so promptly went and stuck them up at the main gate and over the beer notice board. Needless to say the crowd was rather small for our first set, small but not quiet! Our own little fan club decided to join us that night (i've always wanted groupies, haha!) so it sounded like there were 30 people there! Thankfully as time went on people started to drift in and the place really picked up and we even achieved one or two sing along with the whole pub joining in which was really pleasing. The after party was also very enjoyable although I was someone out of place being the only male (YES, groupies!). The haggis and tattie scone rolls were particularly appreciated!
...heard enough yet?!? Well the fun doesn't end there...
The following day (we're on Sunday now) I was expected to return to Perth but things didn't quite go as planned. After More From Jim having already turned down a gig for this day due to unavailability of certain players another opportunity arose for me back at the wondrous Blue Bell. Having only went to watch the football, enjoy the BBQ and sneak in a few more pints of Guinness before returning to Perth I was 'coaxed' into playing one or two songs. Then things escalated as the pints kept appearing (and disappearing), One Night Stand once again took the stage and played through a few numbers, more ex-students of mine appeared and insisted I play along with them so I did ( I think there were 3 different students all wanting to play songs) and as time went on I simply didn't bother leaving...it was far to nice a day to be going anywhere but the Blue Bell, that and I maybe just couldn't resist free Guinness...come on I'm a student, we are bought cheaply! Haha!
So...this week I have the BIG Highlight of the Holidays! :
My BIG highlight has got to be...oh I don't know! It was all so good. I think it has to go to being in The Waverley (yes that's a pub!), after the DGone show, where they have a real pinball machine, it was awesome! Also on that same night I couldn't believe my eyes. A few folks I know were playing a darts game and to finish my friend Beanman needed a double seven. He jokingly said to our friend Emma to try and so she did and hit it first time! The look on his face (and hers) was priceless. Definitely the highlight of the holidays!
Well people I'm gonna wrap this one up, but wait...there's more! I'll be posting a second Blog to cover the past weeks events too seeing as this only covers the holidays. Wow events in order, and who says drink is bad for you? It's the other days of the holidays I'm confused about, the days I wasn't drinking! Thanks for reading. Hope I haven't bored you to death. I'm just about to add some pictures to this to make it look a bit more colourful and less boring. Cheers : )
SSSSSSSHHHHHH-TING!!!
Keith Lemon...what a funny guy! BANG TIDY!
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