The End of the Tour, and an Era

And so the 'No Passports Required' Tour finally came to an end, as a spectacular October sunset sneaked down over a fabulous party barn tucked away under the folds of Butser Hi - [GET ON WITH IT!- Ed]


Sorry. Anyway, not only was it the end of our 2011 Tour (if you ignore the planned New Year Evening Bash), it was also Tessa's last appearance with the Old Gits while she goes off across the Atlantic to The American Repository of Music Art and Culture. Hold on, that's TARMAC - that's can't be right. Anyway, even if the occasion therefore could have been slightly melancholy, we didn't show it. In fact, it was one of our best nights technically, what with Todd having melted Paypal with all his Ebaying for new speakers, mixing desks and anal cases. We now have a fully fledged plug in drummer, too. Next thing you know it'll be wireless microphones and pinkie finger tapping.

It was a very jolly birthday party, and the small but appreciative crowd seemed to like us, and we had a good time, which is what counts.

A Thursday rehearsal

We had a very productive get-together on Thursday, although, thanks to the Return of Global Warming (c. University of East Anglia, Climate Bollocks Dept) it was bloomin hot in Shed 3b. By the time all seven of us got shut in there with double-glazed doors and windows, it's gooey armpits all round. Still, with only a couple of days until our next gig, and a long time since the last one, a bit of a refresher was needed.

We also had a lively discussion of Classic Tracks of the 1980s. I particularly enjoyed Dave's carefully considered opinion of this , which went something like this: "If I ever hear that effing song on someone's effing car radio, I'll smash my way into their effing car, rip the effing stereo out and shove it so far up their effing a - " You get the point.

Perhaps this boppy little disco remix would be more pleasing.

A trip to the studio

Three-sevenths of the TLOGS visited the West Meon MegaSudios Inc., and after an evening, came up with this

Tessa on biblical form.

No rehearsal monday

We didn't get together on Monday - Todd too busy inspecting potato planting kit in Shropshire, and the rest of us too lazy to put anything together. It was probably for the best, because the huge pianist and the stand-by bassist are still sulking about
this

A little light rehearsal

A small get-together last night - Ian givin' it laaarge in Manchester, Tessa recovering from givin' it laaaarge at Bestival (although she turned up towards the end of the evening) and John givin' it reaaaly laaarge at, ahem, the Alresford Show Organisers' Committee Meeting. So Todd, Dan, Dave and Charlie were left to enjoy an evening of 'Why Don't We Try?'s.

If memory serves me well, we tried: The B-52s, the Toy Dolls, the Beatles, Mike Oldfield, Hendrix, Dylan (yuk), Tom Jones, Roxette, Haart/Bonnemassa, Chas'n'Dave, Stereophonics, some Stones....

Not sure we did a single one of our established set. News of a gig at Alresford Rugby Club in June (chickenwire moment?) and there's talk of a New year gig in West Meon.

Bookings

There's a certain amount of chaos going on in the booking department. The end of this year's 'No Passports Required' Tour seems to have been severely culled, but there has been a flurry of enquiries and bookings for next June. Nice to be so popular so far in advance.

And here's a lovely summer evening view.

TLOGS fame

Our fame is spreading. True, it's just one of the TLOGS. And we don't get a name check. And he's not talking about music. But, hey, it's a start. But is it really what Dave said? There's something effing missing.....