Gordon Smith, Jim Mercer and I did a gig at the Freston Road housing co-op, which brought back memories of the declaration of the Independent Republic of Frestonia. back in the day….shades of the movie “Passport To Pimlico”. The gig was in the garden of the co-op and there was a very good African band on earlier. I hadn’t sung since I lost my voice for about a month, so I wasn’t sure how it would go, but things turned out fine and I really enjoyed the gig and the whole evening. Jon T-Bone Taylor turned up too so he’s doing okay again after his illness. Continue reading →

Nothing to be blue about at present except for the lack of gigs. True, I have got a private party gig on a riverboat in September. Hope the water’s not too cold, especially as Gigs and I have just come back from warmer climes in Mallorca. Not quite Thailand but a much shorter journey. Well not that short as we had to get to Gatwick at some god-forsaken hour of the morning to get an Easyjet flight and we had the same problem on the way back. However the actual holiday was greatly enjoyable…and greatly needed. Continue reading →

A week or so ago I went for an early drink at “Ain’t nothing but…” in Kingly Street and ended up staying the whole evening. I met a Geordie there, Gordon Lees, and we talked about other Geordie acquaintances such as Paul Lamb, Gordon Smith and Johnny Whitehill.  He put me in touch with Johnny, who is now singing as well as playing guitar and is keeping busy. There was pretty good band playing there and a couple of them started the evening off early with a harp and guitar duo, which is why I stayed initially. I had a brief word with the harp player. Phil Hughes. The band is known as “11 foot sack” I believe and is well worth a listen. Continue reading →

I visited The Blues Kitchen in Camden recently to hear Big Joe Louis and his band. They sounded great and seem to have worked up a new introductory routine. There was a good crowd and, apart from the fact that the pub doesn’t sell bitter, I enjoyed the night out. It was part of a week long festival and it is good to see plenty of people enjoying live blues. I was beginning to become a bit cynical about the current music scene, well perhaps not cynical so much as dispirited, so it was good to be reassured that all is not lost in London. I asked about getting a gig there and was given an email address, to which I responded the next day. So far the only response to my approach has been an email advertising a Rolling Stones memorial night. I always thought you had to be dead for a memorial night to be justified. Perhaps it was a tribute night instead. Still, I’m really bad about responding to emails myself so I live in hope. Continue reading →

I managed to turn up late for Ron Skinner’s funeral and also had to go out before the ceremony finished as I wasn’t feeling too good. I managed to recover quite easily after going to the Catford Ram for the post-ceremony get-together, which was well attended. Tributes were paid By Mel Wright and Wolfie Witcher from the blues side of his life. Continue reading →

I just heard from Mel Wright that Ron Skinner, the original Shakey Vick Big City Blues Band bass player and vocalist has died. He was awaiting treatment for cancer but was too weak to receive any therapy. Ron was always a keen bluesman rather than a rock bluesman and it’s ironic that the recently released “Live at 100 Club” album includes him on it, with an amalgam of a couple of his old bands which we called The Blueshawks for that occasion.. Continue reading →

Met Mel Wright for a drink at the Blue Boar just behind the 100 Club the other day and took delivery of the live recording Cd’s “!00 Club Boogie.” I guess I’ll have to put it on the recordings page and perhaps in the pictures section too. As it was recorded about twenty years ago I used an older picture of me on the cover. I’ve used it before on the “Night After Night” album and it reminds me of when my hair had more colour and less grey. We will officially launch it on April 9^th.
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We won’t be doing the gig at the Inn on the Green this month as things are up in the air at the moment as I mentioned earlier. It’s one of those things that happen to musicians at any time so I should be resigned to it by now, but I have to say the whole music scene is depressing right now, as far as I’m concerned. Nobody supports live music in small venues the way they used to. Continue reading →

Mel Wright and I, with the sterling assistance of Tony Ellis, have finalised the artwork for the forthcoming cd: Shakey Vick & The Blueshawks “100 Club Boogie”, the live recording we did at the 100 Club, twenty years ago. I’ve said this quite a few times before, but it should be out soon. Continue reading →

Yesterday I met up again with drummer Mel Wright, (who also penned the “Les Enfants Terrible” piece on this site), to discuss the finalisation of the artwork for the forthcoming album. The one recorded live at 100 Club twenty years ago and which I’ve been rabbiting on about for some time now, and is unsurprisingly titled 100 Club Boogie. We had a pretty good meeting although it only took two pints each. It was at the Blue Post pub, just around the corner from the club. Continue reading →

A while back I came across a forum on the subject of “The Real Deal” with regard to the blues. It was the usual disagreement on whether white people could call themselves “the real deal” if they played blues. Naturally there were the usual collection of bigots, the misinformed, or people plainly not using their basic intelligence on the subject. This applied to both sides of the argument. I almost questioned myself on whether I regarded myself as the real deal, but decided that it didn’t really matter that much. Continue reading →

Our gig last month at the Inn on the Green was noticeable by the absence of our regular drummer, Dino Coccia, who as it turned out, was still in Ireland, completely unaware that the gig was on. The confusion may have lain in the unusual occurrence of five Sundays in that particular month. In fact it was quite an unusual month in other ways as there were also five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays in the month, which hasn’t happened for over a hundred years, I’m informed. However, we soldiered on without a drummer. I’ll make sure Dino get’s enough warning about the November gig which is on the 21^st. Continue reading →