The line-up for the birthday bash on Saturday 30th September will be  Alan Vincent on guitar, Steve Taylor on keyboards, Brian Diprose on bass and Mel Wright on drums with yours truly on vocals and harmonica. There are also a few guests coming along to augment the chaos, so it should be a fun night as long as some upstart doesn’t play Happy Birthday. The band start at eight and of course it’s free entry and open to all.

The gig is at The Maxilla Social Club, 2 Maxilla Walk, London W10 6NQ. A number 7 Bus will drop you in St Mark’s Road or a number 295 or 316 stops in Bramley Road just up from Latimer Road Station, which is, of course, closed, as are all the stations between Hammersmith and Baker Street that weekend, thank you London Underground.

The gig at THe Spice of LIfe for tales From The woods event for the Ray Dexter cancer organisation produced a gret line-up of musicians and the house band were cooking Jon T-Bone Taylor and I did our bit to get things underway and the evening a great occasion. Long may such gigs continue.

My next band gig will be at St Harmonica’s Blues Club which has a great reputation of putting on the blues.The Band is Alan Vincent, guitar, Steve Taylor Bass, Mel Wright Drums and myself. It’s good to have Mel back on board after his first course of treatment, and I am certainly looking forward to it. I’ve had some really bad asthma going on but it seems to have eased up again for now. Can’t wait

The new years eve gig at the Union, which was a last minute dep for Eddie Gee’s band, started as a trio, but became a quartet on the night and when George sat in on sax for a few numbers, a quintet. It went down really well and made a fitting end to the old year because, despite the loss of so many influential musicians worldwide, the music goes on.

The Union is now closed for a while for refurbishing but is a contender for Camra pub of the year competition. Let’s hope it wins. The problem now is where to go until it opens.. It’s obviously not the only pub I use but it is handy because it’s close to home. The obvious replacement would appear to be the Squirrel but as they no longer have ales, having sealed off the old bitter taps, and have given up on music, there is little incentive. I guess the alternatives are The Metropolitan or Angie’s as they are both close by. I still use the Castle and Finch’s on the Bello of course, but they are further afield. I was in Finch’s just the other day and surprise ,surprise, it’s that time of year again. The barman warned me that the price had gone up/ I informed him that I was used to that and when I first started drinking there in 1963, the prices were much lower, though not that cheap at the time, either.

One of the gigs I did at the Squirrel was for the then manager Laura George and her father Ian had been visiting and really liked the band. As a result, Laura decided to give him a surprise Party for his sixtieth birthday and booked the band. This was at the Six Bells in St Albans, an old haunt of mine back in the late fifties. The band were myself, Alan Vincent, Steve Taylor and Mel Wright and it was really enjoyable and Laura did her dad proud with a great turnout of Ian’s friends and family. Now, back to the present, I have no gigs and life is much as usual. To rub salt into the wound, Mel Wright reminded me that we first started playing together fifty years ago. Is someone trying to tell me something?

On New years Eve Eddy and the Wild Dice were supposed to be doing the gig at The Union Tavern but he has had a change of heart and will do a gig in his home town of Bristol, instead. He asked me to step in for him with a couple of his band who as it happens work with me too, so not really a problem. The other musicians are Jon T-bone Taylor on guitar and Neil Littman on drums. There may even be the odd guest so it could be a nice last minute arrangement.

I will be playing a gig in February with the full band at The Six Bells, St Albans, one of my really old haunts during my late teens. It will be a 60th birthday party gig for the father of Laura George who used to manage the Squirrel when I first started playing there. I might even get to meet up with some of my family who live in the area. The best of luck to everyone in the new year.

A while back I joined a great group of blues people at the Henry Gray benefit night at The Bull’s Head Barnes. It went off with a real swing and raised over £400 for Henry. All the musicians taking part, Errol Linton, Tim Penn, Dom Pipkin, Tim Richards, Diz Watson, Petar Zikovic, Adam Blake, Richard Rhoden, Andy Lafone, Franca Shaw, Pete Miles, Tony Uter and Jon T-bone Taylor made the night go exceedingly well.

T-bone handled the introductions for each performer and all the guys enjoyed it, so much so that they want to do it again, but the lack of a suitable venue with a decent piano is making that more and more unlikely which is a shame. However, all credit to the performers and the back-up helpers and to promoter Pete Feenstra for putting it on.

Given how infrequently I get to write this blog, or to answer anything at all, perhaps this is the time to wish everyone a happy |Christmas and a successful New Year. That does not mean lots of hangovers…

The birthday bash went reasonably soberly and I would like to thank all the sitters-in, Brian, Eddy, George, Richard, Bonny, Carmen and Miss Honeybee. You all helped to make the evening a success and give me a warm celebration of yet another passing year. I want also to thank the band, who as usual sailed through the evening with finesse.. I bet they’ve never had that description of themselves before, but there has to be a first time. Thanks again to everyone. The staff at the Union Tavern were their usual friendly selves and I appreciate all the extra effort they had to make to organise the room.

I shall be at the Henry Gray benefit gig at the Bull’s Head Barnes on November 7th. Henry lost everything in the recent Mississippi Floods so there is a great opportunity to help him out. I had the privilege of working with him when he was over here so it’s good to be able to give something back. There will be plenty of other musicians doing their bit so it looks as though the evening will be a great success. The Bull’s Head has a website with all the details and prices so I urge anyone who enjoys the blues to support this worthwhile cause. See you there.

That time has come around again when I can do the annual birthday bash with the band. The Union Tavern is a great little pub with craft beers from local breweries and a well-used canalside terrace. The band will be Alan Vincent and Jon t-bone Taylor on guitars, Steve Taylor on Bass and Neil Littman on drums. Afew guests are intending to come along too so it should be birthday business as usual. My only problem is getting my gear there as I got rid of my car a while ago. Fortunately the place is just around the corner.