31 March 2010

March always seems such a long month, and this year it's been busier than ever. Having returned from the north west after two very enjoyable appearances at Anthony John Clarke songbook launch concerts we were raring to perform locally again, and were pleased to ferret out some venues new to us. We also got to see friends in concert, got back on our bikes (first time this year), played more table tennis, and carried on with design commissions. Phew!... we:

• Played a monthly care home spot - we've played this one so often we feel like part of the family
   
• Travelled to Bishop Auckland to play for the Evergreens, telling our story, explaining about our instruments and sound system, talking about songwriting inspirations and techniques
   
• Performed at singers nights in:
  • Monkey Folk Club, Whitley Bay
  • Marquis Of Granby, Sunniside
  • Pothouse Club, Hartlepool (temporarily in a school hall... kudos to the Young 'Uns for keeping the club going after things went awry at their previous venue)
  • Foresters Folk Club, Coatham Mundeville
  • Cramlington Folk Club
  • Barnard Castle Folk Club
     
• Saw Chris Kelly, Acoustica and Fools Gold at the Lamplight Centre, Stanley - good night, well organised and played
   
• Did a 30-minute spot at an evening of celebration for local charity MIND Active - shared the bill with Old English who used our Bose L1 system, a karaoke singer and an Elvis impersonator both of whom used backing tracks... an 'interesting' evening to say the least
   
• Travelled to Edinburgh to see Dana & Susan Robinson (from USA) - great night, added bonus of jiva being offered a support slot in May
   
• Played a support spot for Anthony John Clarke at Ingleby Greenhow (we plugged our Bose ToneMatch mixers into his system, and the sound was great) - a super night... we got back home at around 3:00 am (but, as the clocks went forward it was really 4:00 am!)
   
• Finalised the artwork design for Stewart Shackleton's CD (recorded in our Blue Room last month) and sent the master CD and artwork for professional replication and packaging
   
• designed a poster for Allan Taylor and also the tickets for Allan's 65th birthday celebration which will be in Wengen, Switzerland (yes, we'll be there!)
   
• designed a poster and flyer for Anthony John Clarke

In addition to all this we somehow found time to visit Val's son in Cambridge, have John Jeffrey around to mull over guitars and to set up a 'scene' on our Bose for John's support slot for the forthcoming jiva in concert at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre, carry on with a new website and presentation for a local firm, do some routine updates and maintenance on a few websites and MySpace profiles (including our own too), and some guitar re-stringing and battery changing too.

And, of course, new gigs are coming in with confirmations for later in the year and early 2011.

So, there you have it... full of busy as always. But we wouldn't have it any other way...

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