Seen in the press

First signs of top-notch publicity for the upcoming tour - in the mighty 'Church and Village', newsletter for the Benefice of Upper Itchen and its constituent parishes.

Pure Talent

Should the time ever come when we seek an act to support us on tour, we need look no further than here.

Sightings of ex-band members (temporarily or otherwise!)

John was lucky enough to spend some time with this delightfully sophisticated young lady in New York recently. Can't be the same scruffy boho type who used to sing for us, can it? Meanwhile, I had to look carefully at the drummer in this, who seemed awfully familiar. Maybe it was just the hat.

Here is the long edit of Black betty, with manic middle section beginning at 2.00 minutes in.

The gig that nearly was....and might be again soon

So there we were enjoying a swift couple in the Tichborne Arms, when our host pointed out that he was still short of a band for his April 'Live Music Night'. Well, at once (or as soon I got out of Tichborne, and therefore had mobile phone reception), I put the suggestion to Todd, and thence to the rest of the band. It was, so, so close.....we were nearly all there. It would be unfair to name the one who couldn't make it, but drummers are sooo hard to find at short notice. Patrick the Publican was, of course, disappointed, but pointed out that he's still not got a band for his May 'Live Music Night'. Might we, he asked, be available for that one - Friday 25th May? (I think we must have made an impression the other day!) Well, are we?

The Post of Chief Negotiator - the votes are in!

Once again, it's time for the difficult task of choosing the Chief Negotiator for the Tour - someone to ensure that we get the best possble fee from our bookings. We need someone who is an almost indefinable mix of knicker-elastic-loosening charm and iron-eyed haggler. All the ballot papers* are back and counted, and I'm pleased to announce the result:

John F 98%
Tinky Winky 1%
Prof Brian Bloody All Over The BBC Cox 1%

*It would appear that some ballot papers failed to reach their intended destination, but it's too late to change anything.

Farewell to Steve the Builder

Steve the Builder moved out today - a great loss if only because he lived closest to Shed 3b and has never complained once! A good man.

But here's another June gig

Rumour has it that we're booked for a home gig at the Thomas Lord on June 1st.
Is that June officially full?

Gig cancellation

The nice man who had pencilled us in for the gig in Winchester if the Devizes gig were to be cancelled (which it was) has just texted to say 'thanks, but no thanks'. His wife has organised something/someone else. I did suggest that he came to the Tichborne Arms to see what we were like, so either he did, and didn't like what he saw, or he didn't, and therefore missed how good we were. I hope that that's all clear!

Urgent message from Charlie about anaesthetic

Frrrrzz wooooooozyhsiiclsio ,ksdo cmdosuo somxc bum!!!!

Return to Cheriton

It is great to be able to report that the nice people at the Flowerpots in Cheriton have asked us back to play at this year's Beer Festival. We know that we had a fantastic time last year see here but, even so, it's encouraging to know that we did well enough to be asked back. An early harvest and Screwfix shutting down for the August bank holiday would help.

No rehearsal on Monday

We won't be gathering on Monday - we all appear to have something else to do. Charlie, for instance, will be still woozy after enduring this little job. Not that anyone would notice the difference. The surgeon has promised that he will be playing his huge organ without any pain ever again. We'll see.