I must say it's a nice feeling to be finished gigging this early in December. I've had a great time this year. It was great playing all over Europe as usual, even getting back to places we hadn't played in awhile, and also getting over to the US for the first time. I hope I'll be able to travel to a few new countries in 2010 as well.
We finished up in Verviers in Belgium last weekend, in the Spirit of '66. It's a real music club. People really come there to listen to the music and you can feel that. I think that brings out the best in the performer. Prior to Verviers we had the pleasure of playing the Blues-sur-Seine festival in France. That was also a wonderful experience. If you can read French you can check out a short review here (you'll need to scroll down as the review covers all the bands that played there). You might notice a rather full stage in the last photograph on that site, so let me explain how that came about.There was a group of young children singing the blues before our show (and they were great) and I invited them all up on stage for our last song. I noticed a few anxious looking mothers in the hall while they were on stage but everything went fine, they all had a great time and were safely reunited with their parents when we finished the show.
While there I had the pleasure of bumping into a guy called Tony D, a fine blues guitarist from Canada. I hadn't seen him in years. He was there with a band called "Monkey Junk". (Check out some of Steve Marriner's stuff too while you're on YouTube).
Being of Italian heritage Tony was well up on the latest soccer news and we had the 'experience' of watching France 'beat' Ireland to qualify for the World Cup. What can I say (other than that the French people seemed as disappointed and upset as we were). They are good enough footballers and don't need to 'win' in that fashion. Pity!!
Prior to that, I had the pleasure of playing in Cambrinus in Horst, Holland. That was an acoustic gig with Danny and again like the Spirit of '66 this is also a club where people come to listen to the music. That was a very enjoyable show to play. Prior to that again, we played in Uden , Holland for the 1st blues festival organised by the Razzoo club. They had a great line up of bands, all blues-based but all slightly different in style. That made for a very enjoyable evening of music. I hope they have many successful festivals in the future. They're definitely off to a good start.
...and I think that's about it since I last spoke to you all. It's time to get my newsletter out now before the month is through and then get some Christmas shopping done. Take it easy everyone, have a great holiday season and I'll talk to you again in the New Year!!
