| Monday,
1st May
Today
is May Day or as they like to call it these
days, “Bank Holiday Monday”. I feel
this to be a slightly less romantic moniker
which conveys neither the rustic paganism nor
the socialist sense of struggle or purpose which
once imbued this holiday. In The United states
of America – where the worker gets very
few holidays – May Day was moved to September,
presumably in an attempt to distance it from
any kind of communist holiday, and they call
it “Labor Day” - even this is surely
better than “Bank Holiday Monday”.
Luckily John and his team of Morris men were
up at five a.m. dancing in the spring in the
pishing rain. I do not believe it was intentional
but by the time we woke up, it was a beautiful
sunny day, so here’s to the Morris men.
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|
We are off today –
quite right too, it’s May Day you know
– so I am taking Sean and Alasdair to
Derby but not before a wee
day trip to Buckfast
Abbey. The monks here make a tonic
wine, which has certain rampant popularity
in the west of Scotland to which everybody in
England seems to be oblivious. Taken for 'medicinal'
purposes, it's just the thing to revive an ailing
band on tour. A lovely drop from a lovely spot
- just the tonic we needed.
Once
in Derby we check into the magnificent International
Hotel – for we are ourselves both international
and magnificent – and then make our way
to the Dolphin; purportedly, Derby’s oldest
pub. After a few pints of Black sheep and a
pie, it is off to BBC Radio
Derby and an Interview with Mick Peat and
Lester Simpson. Post interview, we head off
to the Flower Pot around the corner –
another great boozer in which we once played
many years ago. We are now in the era where
public houses in England can, if they apply
for a license, stay open after eleven O’clock.
Tonight is our first experience of this and
it is with great pleasure that we close the
Flower Pot at 1 a.m. – luxury!
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| Tuesday,
2nd May
After a breakfast curry at Thai
Boran – you cannae walk past this - we
make the short journey to Buxton
and the Buxton Opera House. This is a beautifully
restored theatre in the spa town of Buxton,
itself a sight of some Victorian grandeur, and
our hotel – The old hall hotel –
is in keeping with this general feel. Mark and
all the Crew at the theatre are top class but
the real jewel in Buxton’s crown is the
George hotel bar across from the Opera House
and Hughie, its helmsman for the night. Hughie
is a Cornish man who provides us with fine beer
and another late closing. The George is a great
pub with diverse clientele – young and
old, bikers, folkies, workies, and pensioners.
A great session ensues with a few tunes from
Sean, a fiddle-playing Englishman who is working
to move to Pont ivy (Pondi) in Brittany, home
of bagad
pondi.
Wednesday,
3rd May
The Brewery arts centre in Kendal is a venue
in which we have played many times and tonight
is as always, superb. There is a new man –
Mike Chadwick - who has just started programming
the gigs here and after the concert he and the
techies takes us to Dickie Doodles for an old
timey, banjo, and bagpipe session with Bill
Lloyd. Once again we find ourselves in a vibrant
boozer full of live music, which is open until
two in the morning – how long can this
good fortune continue?
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Thursday,
4th May.
Without
the aid of any kind of hat, Rob and I drive past Ilkley
Moor en Route to Barton on Humber, which basks in
the shadow of the Humber Bridge, the one-time longest
suspension bridge in the world. Mark Keeble, with
whom big Rob shared a house thirty years ago in this
area, runs tonight’s concert. So for Rob, this
is a bit of a homecoming.
The
Carnival is a smallish venue but has seen many great
acts in the last few years; Dean
Owens , Albert
Lee, Adam
Bomb… I could go on.
Sean’s
missus comes from Barton so we are staying in her
mother’s hoose. After the show, Alasdair and
I enjoy a bottle of beer while watching the A-Team
back at the Ranch: Research my boy, Research. |
