Thursday, July 12, 2001

12th July 2001

Had a bit of a vibe on Saturday. Watched the tennis for a while and
then went down to my kids school to do a three hour stint behind the
bar at the school's summer barbeque. It was hard serving alcohol and
having to avoid drinking it. I was going to be driving to a gig
later on so I had to abstain. I was being grilled by Mad Mrs Wilkins
and Mad Mrs Barry about the old days and generally having the piss
taken out of me but in good fun. Left the school about eight and
went into Kentish Town to see Fuse at the Bull and Gate. Fuse have
been in my studio and they are a bunch of young rocking kids. Yash
is the father of the guitar player and a dodgy car salesman but a
very nice man who greets me with "Hello Boooooyyyy"every time he
speaks to me. He cracks me up. Dino's band played well and were well
supported by all their school buddies who were all going on to a
barbeque at Yash's house after the gig. I stayed with a few people
at the gig and saw a bit of the next act and what value they were.
Totally fucking out of it's tree. They have this geeky looking
guitar player who looks like he should be in a chemistry lab. He was
playing his guitar with a metal pencil case and then a portable
keyboard and then with something else. He had his effects making
some mad noises as well, overall quite a vibe. They rocked on a
groove and then this guy walks through the crowd. He is about six
foot six but he is on his hands and knees and crawls to the stage.
He had on a tin army helmet and is wearing a kids silver anorak
which was well above his waist. Underneath the anorak was a nylon
old womans floral dressing gown. Under that was a yellow and black
tartan jacket. He is carrying a holdall which has all his words in.
The band kick off and then he pulls out a slip of paper and goes
right into one. Ranting these mad words and walking around the
audience. Totally nuts. Me and a guy called Noel, (Dino's guitar
teacher) go back to my house in the car and call a cab and drive
over to Yash's for the barbeque. I will now try and illustrate the
scene. The garden is quite narrow but very long. At the end of the
garden is a gate through to another bit of land which has a huge oak
tree towards the back. Yash has put lights up and some nice big
candles and people are supremely chilled. There are beers on ice and
sausages and chicken and all sorts of other vibey stuff. The weather
is just nice and even when a little cloudbust threatened to bum us
out it bottled it and stayed away from drowning us. We took shelter
under the big oak when it started spitting but luck was with us and
it stopped soon after. There were a few characters at the bash and I
will give you a quick run through. A guy called Ted who played the
human jukebox and played some top tunes on his acoustic. A
Yorkshireman called Steve who was a major vibe and to top it off a
young man named Tom who was rather the worse for wear but hugely
entertaining and armed with a bottle of absinthe. We all had a
little slug of it which gave us all a nice warm feeling. I
eventually called a cab and got in a 4.30 having had a top night out
and met some interesting new people.
I have also started to do some renovation on my studio this week. I
haven't got all keen on DIY but I have been forced to take a break
becuase my mixer has a fault and I had to take it in for a service
and a repair. So I thought I would use the time to put a new floor
in the studio because the carpet is looking a bit fucked and
eventually finish off my kitchen area which was left as soon as all
the gear was in the studio. Who wants to be putting up plasterboard
when you can be rocking. Stevie B had rented out his studio to Carl
Palmer this week who was making a huge noise with a couple of young
guns on bass and guitar. It was very loud and a nice change from
some of the bands that rehearse in there. Nigey Nige was green with
envy because he is a huge fan of ELP and especially Keith Emerson.
He has a signed photo of them on the wall of his house along with a
pair of Carl Palmer's drumsticks so I fished a bashed up pair out of
the bin to give him as a pressie. The surprise will be spoiled
because I know Nige reads this so I will post them off to you next
week mate. I have finally filled in the final form for Worldpay so I
should have my credit card thing up an the very near future and
there will be all sorts of goodies available. Until next time.......

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