Jeffs Illness and The Palace, Mansfield Sunday 7th November 2010

Firstly before I commence my blog about Mansfield, I shall be filling you in on Jeff's illness that some of you may have read about on our news feed.

From what i've been told. Jeff was told to go straight from the doctors to the hospital and ambulance came for him and everything. When Jeff was in the hospital he emailed us all.

'I really thought I was going to be fine. Went to bed early to try and sleep it off but woke up really bad this morning. Actually really quite scared me, I'm used to having a tight chest but this was a whole new level. They're actually keeping me in overnight. (editor: which turned out to be 2 nights in fact!) Not happy about that. Blood oxygen level is very very low! So here I am in a ward with 3 old men, having just eaten a meal that made mcdonalds look like masterchef'. And there are no hot nurses!!!

Just a fat booth version of Jeff for funsies!

Patrick being Jeffs best pal of many many years went to see him in the Hospital and took the following pics. Patrick is used to all of this stuff as he's an ambulance driver in his spare time!!! If you don't like needles then don't scroll down but don't worry it's not a close up!!

Jeff said the nurse (or should I say Murse - male nurse!) was a trainee and it took many many attempts to take blood, he said he very nearly threw up on him. I have a 'thing' about blood being taken already and I will refuse to have a trainee after this story!!! In fact I feel a bit squeamish even writing this now!

This was the pic when he was feeling better!

He said that they have given him a different inhaler now, mentioned something about 'steroids?' and since he has not needed to use his puffer anywhere near as much. Lets hope he stays super healthy from now on!

ON TO MANSFIELD GIG

This one is a bit delayed, sorry folks, I need more encouragement from people who read it at gigs!! Mansfield was a long drive, they all seem to be long drives lately... It wasn't till we were about 3 hours into the journey I realised that Patrick was asleep on the back seat, I had no idea and had been talking away at the top of my voice to Fredi. He woke up and moaned about how loud we had been, oops he should have let me know he was there. He had done a night shift the night before and was having a 'few' hours sleep!!! There is no way I would be able to do all he did that day on only 3 hours of sleep. He's todays hero! When he was awake he gave us a some iphone tricks /tips, one of which was this handy trick of photographing whatever is on your screen at the time. We had no sat nav and were blindly following the other van (I refer to Steves blog! - sat nav from joke shop) so I was using my iphone as a navigational tool and updating everyone with the distance left to go in hours and minutes. I'm quite sad like that! Anyway here's a fairly useless picture of what was on my phone when we weren't far away!!

I didn't take many pictures today, but there was a great green room just off the stage and the staff were very friendly. I talked to a lovely young lady who worked there and she said it was like a big family at the Theatre, her dad worked there and there were even three generations in one case. The show went well, a good crowd. After the show we did our usual chatting to people I spoke to Suzanne about 'Great gig', I was telling her how I had learnt it, she was also having a go at it and was getting stuck in some sections.

Here's me and Suzanne and her friend Paul

I also had a quick blast with the video camera function on my phone. This is only posted on here because I did such a rubbish job of taking photos and this entry was looking a bit bare. The quality isn't great but it's of the merchandise selling at the end of the show, you can hear my annoying voice asking if you can zoom out on the phone and at the end you can see Steve talking to his granddaughter Olivia, Patch selling some t shirts, and some of our audience. It's on 18 secs long but it gives you flavour!

Journal Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, Fri 22nd Oct 2010

Steves blog went down a treat, he did a great job! His next one will be along soon enough.

Well back to Newcastle, this was a really really long way to go for one show. It took about 8 hours to get there, we saw the Angel of the North on the way, like a dufuss I forgot to put my memory card back into my camera, so had camera but no means of using it! Therefore will rely on google images to help me out today.. and the others iphones!

Angel of North... impressive!

It was a thoroughly grey day. Many of us had brought hats and scarves, reminding me yet again that winter and all things Christmassy is upon us!

A really quaint old theatre, the Journal Tyne.....

Heres is some info on the place.

This outstanding building (Grade I Listed) opened in 1867 and was designed by William B Parnell. It remains, substantially, today much as it was when it first opened.

The theatre later became the Stoll Picture Theatre in 1919 (window in stained glass bearing new name still intact) and showed films exclusively from a projection box constructed in the 2nd (of 3) balconies until closure in 1974.

When the screen was removed it was discovered that the final theatre set was still largely in place!

It was restored as a live theatre but suffered a disasterous fire in 1985 when the stage was burned out (auditorium largely undamaged).

The early Victorian stage machinery was painstakingly reconstructed and the theatre reopened.

One of the most beautiful auditoriums in the country, the Opera House is well worth a visit if you are in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Fredi instantly said, this place must be haunted when we walked in and it did have a feel about it.

We didn't have long to set up, so even I carried some boxes! Not our regular soundman Paul today so Patrick and Jeff between them were operating the sound effects and samples from the stage. It made for more nervous tension, before the off, and apparently the mini disc player which the sound effects were on, decided to stop working before the show until Chris very firmly 'told it' to work and quote from him 'I s*** you not', it started working straight away! Ross also said he was convinced while watching side stage that there was someone standing next to him, so spooky goings on?

Great enthusiastic crowd! I chatted to a couple of people afterwards, Alison or Amanda Simpson (sorry, I didn't write it down!) and her neighbour Jim Slater who were locals and had enjoyed the show from what I gathered.

After being on the go for 18 hours, I got the guys some food after the show and while they were eating they were told to get a move on loading out the gear by the staff. Oh for the days when we have roadies and we can just jump in a coach and go to the Hotel! It was a particularly hard slog today but spirits were very high on stage and we really enjoyed the show.

Not too far from the hotel, and we just crashed out straight away. Ross flew home early Saturday morning and we all met for breakfast (first time in forever we've sat around and had brekkie together!) Then the horrible horrible drive home in which we were stuck in tail backs so many times. Here is a pic Patch took of a awful looking crash, not even sure how appropriate it is to put on here, but I did see some kids and dad standing with the ambulance looking quite smiley so hopefully whoever was in it got out before it caught fire!!

Here's the funny message Jeff wrote on back on the other Van, it is referring to the two drivers.

Sunny Croquet & Ricardo Chubbs

We then caught the stop starty wave effect on way back through Bristol Jeffers was getting really irate.

Think it took well over 8 hours to get home, I am now writing this blog and my body still feels like i'm at sea!

Oh and at the Venue, we signed a book that all performers have been asked to sign, and Fredi was impressed with Russell Brands!

Cardiff, St Davids Hall, Sun 17th Oct 2010- Blog by Steve

Polly has asked us all if we would like to contribute to the blog so here is my attempt for what it’s worth.

St David’s Hall, Cardiff was the destination for this show and we left Torquay about 11am on a beautiful sunny October day. Travelling to gigs wouldn’t be the same without some sort of mishap and we got off to a fine start with Chris having to return home about 10 mins into the journey to retrieve his stage wear that he had left behind.

We eventually met at our regular fuel stop on the outskirts of Torquay and fuelled up and set off to pick Polly up from our meeting place at the bottom of Telegraph Hill

This is us flying down Telegraph Hill with the minibus in front.

and there’s the minibus at the bottom of the road after having picked up Polly.

“Have you got your sat nav set?” was the question.

“Of course I have says I.” Problem being I set it for the City Hall instead of St David’s Hall. Mishap number 2¸which proved to be the instigator of much amusement and abuse at my expense later in the day.
Jeff asked if I bought my sat nav from a joke shop....but he didn’t put it as politely as that.
Speaking of Jeff and following on from his renowned penchant for all things toiletry and nautical, I duly informed him that the “Council Gritter” had been well and truly stoked with the aid of a “Balti Bomber” and that the “Admiral” was expected in port at about 2.30pm Cardiff local time.....probably berth 2.

He likes to know these things and has even been known to acquire photographic evidence.

Anyway...on with the journey........

Here’s the fabulous Mrs L playing Farmville on her phone and our slightly portly Bass player Patches O’Hoolahan.

And there goes Jeff again....raggin the ass off the minibus at about 80mph.

Bless him.

It really was a beautiful day and here’s a nice shot of us going across the bridge

It was a bit tricky taking these photo’s while driving...especially while I was trying to drink my coffee and answer the phone all at the same time....but hey.......I managed. (cough, cough)

This is us lost in Cardiff.......

And this is us lost again...

Success....we eventually made it without the aid of the Kelloggs sat nav which may just have been set for Botswana...

The plaintiff cry of....”Yeah, but I got the co-ordinates off Google Earth” could just about be heard over the barrage of abuse.

Here’s a nice picture of Paul sporting some rather snappy head gear. I’m not sure what look he was trying to achieve but....

“You look like a tw*t” was one of the suggestions.

Obviously all in the best possible taste.

Here’s the Commander in Chief with a well earned mug of “Shut the f**k up”

Or tea as it is generally referred to.

And this is the delightful Fredi doing her “Waddup dawg.” thing that she does.

I haven’t got a clue either. I mean we are talking about a girl who fires up a sandwich maker just to keep her hands warm.

Here’s Fredi and Harriet waiting around to sound check.

This is Dave “Lofty” Lockhart doing the on stage monitor mix. Dave really looks after his gear and all his PA equipment was immaculate. He can actually hear from about 50 metres away if you tread on one of his mike leads. God bless ya Dave. As a matter of interest Dave tours frequently with the Blockheads.

Oh look....here’s Buffwad taking a break from playing “Angry Birds” on his phone. Go on Buff....show us yer war face

Being as I’m doing the blog this week I thought I might give you a peep at my gear...this is the point where the rest of the band yawn.

Here’s my set up. It’s Matchless all the way for me and I wouldn’t use anything else. Both these amps are 1996 Mark Sampson originals with only one owner.....me. It looks a bit over the top but one rig is used as a back up.

Next picture is my effects....

I also have a smaller board which I use for the Lap steels.

Anyway, enough of that. Here’s Freddie and Polly in deep conversation and showing much concern after just finding out that Jeff is suffering from haemorrhoids. We are having a whip round to see if we can raise some cash to get him a soft cushion or inflatable bottom ring to put on his drum seat. As a measure of his popularity it’s heart warming to know that we have so far raised 17p with only Glenn the manager remaining to chip in. We are hopeful that we will achieve at least 20p by this Friday.

Some shots of the girls about 15 mins before the show.

Here’s Harriet slumming it.....

Fredi drying her nails...

And Jeffrina.....spanking Angry Birds....again

Finally, a shot of the front of house mixing position. More of Loftys gear.

You can’t make Cappuccino on it so it’s pretty useless.

A quick shot of the stage...

And last but not least....yes....I wore my Homer Simpson socks...

Many thanks to all who come to see our shows. Come say hello afterwards. We are more than willing to chat.

See ya.

Steve

Salisbury Friday 15th October 2010

Trying to get this blog in quick as we're off to Cardiff tomorrow morning for another show, we're certainly getting around a bit at the mo!

It might be a quick one til I can fill in the blanks...

Firstly I need to share to the strange gig habits of Miss Fredi Wright to you all. She has taken to putting on the toasted sandwich maker to keep her WARM!!?? Here she is doing just that..

I Spot a Spier and the spot a Fredi competition is back.. (she's behind the lamp post btw)

Me and Fredster took a stroll around the lovely town.

Patch looking almost Angelic.

The venue

Jeff doing his teenager jeans impresssion. Never understood why they dont just fall down

Note the new sequencer on the left...

Paul doing his bingo calling, and i'm a teapot impression...

Mrs Loar must have been a ballet dancer!!! Check out the 'first' position feet!

I like how Ross isn't phased at all by Patch..

Working out the extra flute bits to Fat old sun.

After the show with Sabrina,who saw us at Christchurch too.. I'm shamelessly short in this picture! I also look like i'm drunkenly collapsing on Fredi..

Other stuff

*Patch's sister came to this show.

*We sold a lot of T shirts after the show hope you are all wearing them with pride!

Truro Hall for Cornwall

Hello my blog followers...

Truro, always a bit further away than I expect... being Devonians and it only being in Cornwall! My photography skills were somewhat under-par this time, most of the pics just seem a bit blurry!

I had to do my accounts in the dressing room, how interesting huh?

We used a company from Newquay for the lights, the operator guy was called Max I believe, but he was like a whisp of a ghost cos I didn't really have any recollection of seeing him... probably because of doing the accounts, not cos I'm a diva and ignore people or anything!! ..

I noticed during the show that there was a rogue mug still on Jeffs drum riser. How very rock and roll huh, a mug from an earlier cup of tea!! We have also had, over the months, a packet of digestive biscuits left on the front of the stage! ha ha! We like to leave them there incase the front row were peckish!

Here are a few from sound check.

The stage from our perspective!

Which brings me round nicely to mention how much I enjoy watching the crowd. It is like a little show in itself. I get long moments when not singing and use this to have a good look at what people are up to. The audience doesn't realise that we can see them quite well when the lights are right.., the head bobbing to the music, the occasional sniff, wipe of the nose, the usage of mobile phones to film, the theatre staff telling them to put their phones away... It's all quite entertaining...

Not sure what patch was going for here but its quite amusing all the same...

Again met some nice peeps after the show, a young boy was called Michael. He had some of our badges and stickers, bless him!

Memorable moment from this evening was the deathly silence after Chris said we were from Devon.. Oops, sorry Cornwall!! And I liked this subsequent comment on the guest book!!

Ken Gilbert from Bodmin | Saturday October 09, 2010. 13:37

Thanks guys, great show at Truro, just like Floyd in the seventies. Find somewhere better to live though!