Last night I went to the Eel Pie Club in Twickenham where Bob Hall was joined by Top Topham for another evening of nostalgia. I define nostalgia as anyone who has been around as long as me and is still playing blues. Other people who say that nostalgia’s not what it used to be, are thereby proved wrong. Of course, they may have another definition, but I like to get personal about some things and however you define it, I’ve been around long enough to have picked up some nostalgia.
Yesterday I met Mel Wright, the Waydown drummer and original Shakey Vick Big-City Blues Band drummer to check out an old live recording which we did about 19 years ago at The 100 Club in Oxford Street. Actually I didn’t meet him directly.
I saw Chris yesterday and he is on the mend. His lungs have healed up and he is walking in the park each day and his strength is improving. We discussed the possibility of him returning to action and he is hopeful. It may be sooner rather than later. He has tried singing and it went well.
Last Monday’s gig at the King’s Head was noticeable for the absence of the drummer, Dino Coccia. We carried on without him and later found out that his car had broken down. The joys of the open road, once again. Incidentally, Dino will be away in the States from the 14th of April, the day after our Inn On The Green gig. He’s going to do some gigs with bassist Steve York, who is now living in Mexico. Afterwards, Dino will stay with friends in Los Angeles and returns on the morning of our May 5th gig which will be at the King’s Head. That’s as long as the plane doesn’t break down too.
As I expected, the Grand Junction gig was the last blues gig as the brewery are “cutting down on the music budget”. How this spokesperson (with such erudition) isn’t in politics, I’ll never know. “It ain’t working, sod off!” would have done the trick for me. There were a few more people there than for the last couple of weeks, but never enough to make it pay. However, I did almost enjoy the gig and we got paid once I’d produced the invoice like a rabbit out of a hat.
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I spoke to Chris a couple of days ago and he is progressing well. We’ll meet during the week.
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