Wilde theatre, Bracknell, 27th March 2011

Well hello blog readers, it is 3.30 in the morning and I'm writing this from the cab of an AA van while the man loads up betsy 3. The clutch / gearbox finally gave way at the services when we stopped to change over drivers! She was due to see the mechanic tomorrow morning to get her through the MOT but now not sure if she ever drive us again! At least she got us an hour and a half from home. Still it's gonna be a lot later to bed than planned! Last week the other van had to relayed home as the breaks were dodgy. Typical that it would happen to us the very next week I suppose it was good that it happened after the 2 shows and not this morning!

The time of Betsy 3's demise.

The gearstick in question with Chris phoning AA!

Jeffs final sleep in the Betsy.

Eyore, gently weeping at the loss of Betsy 3.

Paul looking altogether too happy in back of AA van.

Back to the show : It was great, a nice full crowd.

Spoke to Tim Bastock, here's a pic of him. - well there will be soon.. oops!

Random fact, a shot of lime at the theatre bar was 61p?? Why was it that expensive and why the extra 1p?

Can't believe it was June 2009 that we last played here! The time goes so fast.
Lovely day and the venue has an arts centre in a nice building next to it, in the middle of a park. Chris and I took a stroll and I took some pics!

Finally the following morning heres Betsy 3 being stripped of al her wares before going to the scrap yard! It's genuinely sad, after all the hard work she's put in.

What will Betsy 4 be like?

The Artrix, Bromsgrove, Sat 26th March 2011

Well here I am sat in the dressing room at Bromsgrove, blogging as we speak! I can hear the drums booming out from downstairs which might mean sound check has started.

When we arrived their youth theatre were on stage, doing oom pah pah from oliver, I instantly felt my teacher mode coming on and wanted to go and shake the young things into giving it a bit of oomph!

The dressing room all to myself where I have been blogging!

The view of a football field out of the window!

Steve on his guitar.

The Artrix Venue

Andy setting up the sound gear!

This chap is one of the in house crew, he's called Tom...I made him smile for the pic!

Chris and Pete going over Fat old sun, which I think is back in the set tonight.

Here's Jeffs buff bins again, Bromsgrove 2010 was my first ever blog

and I mentioned his brand new kit!

Here's the new pig I bought for Chris yesterday, his first show tonight, think he might be a bit nervous! His name shall be Sergeant Pigster. The last 'pink' pig got stolen or misplaced we're not sure, he hasn't turned up since!

The Foyer of Artrix

Me and my mac are now sat on stage after having sound checked my vocals, modern technology hey!!

Hope there's a good crowd tonight, I shall update later.

*****

The show is finished I'm back in the dressing room and as promised an update. Good show, an appreciative crowd. I recognised a young chap in the foyer before the show started and he and his dad came to stoke on trent only 6 weeks ago.

So here's their picture!

Paul (dad), Will and Sophie

We also had two very enthusiastic boys who came out and said can I have your picture to Steve, so I said can I have your picture, so here they are also, the Hake Family, with two boys John and Chris!

Gary and Anna were at show again too, and as Pete on bass said, they must have been to more gigs than him!! I am super dooper tired now, can't wait to get to Hotel!

Ciao!

The Grove, Dunstable, Saturday 19th March

Delayed Blog.....again with the excuses I know....but I have been mega busy this week! Just about fitted in the gig! I even worked teaching kids the following day for 12 hours after having 3 hours sleep! I am officially exhausted!

Here's whats went on at Dunstable my fine blog followers.

On the drive up I noticed that the wicker man is not standing alone any more... for all of you from up North or East I guess you won't know the wicker man in somerset (next to the M5)! Here he be!

Well they seem to be building lots of huge factories/offices / big buildings and now he kinda stuck amongst loads of work things - tractors, diggers etc.... poor wicker man!

M25 pics

Some sort of accident in the distance! check out the smoke cloud!

The give Peas a chance sign! - google it!

Backstage at Dunstable, they obviously must have used this sign in a show....hmmm what was the name of that show with the dance school....hmm oh dear..... only kidding...

Chris sliding on a rolling thing - this was the moment he realised that it would be bad if he broke his legs and quickly got off!

Dressing room, Mrs Loar will hate me for this 'mid eating' snap. That picture on the wall is new i'm sure! I will have to go back to 2010 Dunstable blog and see.

The kitcheny part of the green room, with Harriet and Fredi, think Chris is checking microwavable instructions for his chicken ding as he calls them (things that go ding in microwave)

Sound Check (hence the smokey pic - lots of haze on stage!)

Fredi looks dead in this. It's a strange pic I just had to put it up on here.

Show was good, Fredi was on Great gig this evening, and even did it with a cough. There's something about the adrenalin that seems to get you through it, I've sung it with all sorts of throat ailments.

After the show, we met up with Glenn our manager and Ross our regular sax player who was watching Harriet tonight as they live near by. He originally couldn't make the show, hence Harriet was dep'ping but then a change of plans and he came to watch. There were some drunk or just very noisy people who were talking a lot through the show. I have to say I feel quite sorry for those who want to be able to focus and listen to the music. Why people would want to pay good money to talk their way through a show is beyond me, and well in a theatre situation - a bit disrepectful don't you think? Go watch a pub floyd band! Rant over......

Here's Gary from Gary and Anna fame, and their daughter who doesn't seem that impressed! They are talking to Pete our bass player.

It was paparazzi time for Harriet!

Me and the lovely Harriet, gosh i'm tinsy winsy!

Oooh it's a bit of a close up but hey ho! This chap was called Danny England and he made me take this pic!

Gravesend, Aylesbury & Edinburgh, 3-5th March 2011

Well unfortunately I am not at these shows, however I shall be at all the rest this year (hopefully). I have been kept updated as to the goings on and even received a few pics. I heard that the shows have been well attended and some of the best atmospheres to date, which is wonderful seeing as I'm not there!!! Currently they are playing to the Scots in Edinburgh, it's 10.20pm so I reckon it must be Comfortably Numb time.

I have asked Chris to write a blog, i'll see what he comes up with.

I am currently very busy producing shows with my Theatre School but hope to be back to full blogging soon!

If you went to see the shows this week, I hope you enjoyed them, if so tell all your friends, leave a guestbook message and hope to see you again soon!

Byeeee

Chris hasn't written the blog for these shows and he's probably forgotten the details by now!!

He did however tell me that some clever person who had clearly read my blog, asked him 'do you have any cd's? followed by a wink and a 'haaaaa'