Main Site | Blog Home

<< DECEMBER | FEBRUARY >>

J A N U A R Y   2 0 0 5 

Monday 10th January 05                                                                                                                                   

Nothing actually going on today, but a bit of web re-vamping which required me to put this page in!  So if you have read this page before the next activity.....sorry to disappoint you.   Hope you had a great Christmas holiday and new year.

Wednesday 12th January 05                                                                                                                            

Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate

So.....  it's back to "work" today after the Christmas break, and everybody seemed to be looking forward to it.  The threesome travelling from Liverpool made a bit of a cock up sign reading wise, which meant we were a bit late for the sound check which we had scheduled to be a bit earlier than usual. Crawling through the rush hour traffic in Leeds, Roy observed..."I like travelling through towns looking at the industry.......  I'd hate to be involved in it though!". which now gives us the explanation as to why Roy is a drummer and not a welder.
The Harrogate Theatre is conveniently situated next to one of our favourite chippies in the country, the name escapes me, and I forgot to look, but it really is first class.  At the sound check, we had some problems with a buzzing coming from Eddies side of the stage.  All his guitars were affected and it was taking us an age to track down the problem.  At first we suspected a faulty earth, but Ade pointed out that Eddie would have got an electric shock from the mic. if his amp was not properly grounded.  Dirk countered with the observation that Eddie probably wouldn't have noticed if he had got an electric shock anyway.  We all seemed to find this cruelty amusing.  With the doors due to open in 10 minutes, it was now becoming clear that the grail of the fish 'n' chip shop was going to pass us by.  I legged over for a bag of chips (no time for the fish), and shared the odd one with the band.  Meanwhile, the electrical problem had been lessened, but not completely sorted.....   so we blamed the theatre electrics and decided to get on with it.  As we were getting changed, John marched through the dressing rooms with a huge carrier bag full of delights from the chippy.  The smell was wonderful, if extremely teasing, as this fare was heading for the gullets of Spectrum and we.....  could only imagine what that fish might taste like.
It was always intended that we would perform the "'64" show at Harrogate, and so, all the publicity that was sent out was relevant to that show. However, the theatre mislaid the 64 posters and had to be refurnished with the 65 batch, so apologies to anyone who turned up expecting to see the Shea Stadium set.
The first half of the show went pretty smoothly, but Dirk and Rick nearly lost it a few times over a couple of private jokes and the smell of fish on the mic. Methinks Dirk had snaffled some Spectrum cod and kept mum.
As the second half opened, the fish smell was replaced with cough sweets.  Michelle was aborted after 2 bars of the first verse as Dirk complained that someone was out of tune.  Roy joked with the audience that he was playing in the wrong key, Rick argued that he was simply playing with the wrong group.
With the job done and dusted, Dirk set off for a slap up nosh at the Chinese over the road.  The rest of us set off home with Eddie screaming for food.   Only place open was, unbelievably, a Chinese take away on the A61.  Whilst waiting for the food, we decided in true "High Fidelity" fashion that Kate Beckinsale was the current 'top' movie babe, but had to agree with Jonathon Ross that most of her movies are shit, even though she's good in them.  Perhaps she should get a better agent!  The man wouldn't let us scoff the chow mein in the shop, so out in the cold it was.  We laughed at the contrast....   Dirk in a really nice restaurant....  and us three eating a take-way perched on a litter bin outside a "late shop" (where there was a bit more light).

For blog readers only, here is a Real Player file of If I Fell, recorded at Harrogate tonight.
Click the link just once, the file should play within a few seconds.  Audio quality is compromised with the compression used for these files.  You will need Real Player on your computer to play them. Download it for free HERE!

And a word from Dennis:-
Hello Amigos,

Across the street, at the back of the Harrogate Theatre, is Graveley's Fish Seafood Restaurant, 10 Cheltenham Parade, Tel:  01423-507093.  Phone ahead next visit?  Pretty good most times - and very handy to the Theatre.  But for really superior Fish & Chips, search out Dougie's at 66 King Edwards Drive, Tel:  01423-530942.  (Take-away only)  It's a bit tucked-away in High Harrogate, but remains an award-winning first choice. 
Thanks for a great night out, by the way.  Mrs B and I caught the show from the front row, directly in front of Eddie.  Damn shame about the mic. crackle in the second half, but you coped very well with it.  Very pro.  As for audience response levels, well...Harrogate is a bit of a stuffed-shirt town.  They seldom let their hair down.  Liverpool is much, much better! 

Dennis

Wednesday 19th January 05                                                                                                                            

Every year, the band gets together for a few days to drink tea, take the piss out of each other, and bicker about what songs should be included in the new show.  This year was no exception, and yesterday (18th) saw the first installment of the preparations for "65 - Live".
Of course, we had a good starting point this year as the first dozen songs of the first half of our show were already picked for us by the fabs in their dressing room, just prior (if Macca is to be believed!), to their performance on 15th August 1965.  The performance was, of course, the now legendary Shea Stadium concert in New York, and we will re-create the whole concert including the two songs that were left off the documentary film, She's A Woman and Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby.  The rest of the first half of the show will be made up from material plucked from Help! and Rubber Soul, but that's as much as I'm saying at the moment.
Also heard today that the show in Pershore on 19 March has already sold out, and that tickets for Wimbledon are moving along nicely.

Saturday 22nd January 05                                                                                                                                

Hilton Leeds City, Leeds

I can't explain why, but Leeds is a city that we have not visited that much over the years.

This was what we call a "corporate", a name given to a gig where we are playing for a private company party, staff 'do', or awards ceremony.  Tonight's engagement was a bit of all three.

Quotes from the dressing room:

"but that's not what we do.....is it?"
"Of course we are all prostitutes.....it's just a matter of how far you open your legs."
"we'll be down as fast as possible..... will take us about 10 minutes"
"Is this MY wig?"
"I took one whiff at it......   and I knew it was yours"
"He never let me borrow it.....  he said I'd stretch it too much"
"Eddie.....c'mon"

Apart from the times, mainly during the first half of the set, that the dance floor was full, the audience was, at best apathetic to our performance. Yes.... tumbleweed aplenty this evening.
We'd rehearsed the beginning and ending of Dizzy Miss Lizzy, but clearly, we forgot to rehearse how long it took to get between the two points.  I don't recall the group looking at each other on stage before, all saying with their eyes..."how many verses has this got?"

"I knew.....the minute we walked in the room"
"I think it's best not to say anything"
"I got her......  picking her nose"
"One just sat in front of the stage sending texts"
"They thought it was great!"

Over the years....Leeds is not a city that we have visited......  much!

Friday 28th January 05                                                                                                                                      

Corn Exchange, Newbury

Arrive at any motorway services these days, and you have to run the gauntlet of people trying to sell you something.  First it's the RAC, and then immediately after entering the automatic doors you are pounced on by one or two young ladies trying to get you to take on a credit card.  Today's lady at Knutsford, latched on to Eddie and tried to offer him £100 worth of vouchers for a Spa if he signed up.  When it was explained to him that it was actually a health spa and not his local convenience store, Eddie marched off into the shop in disgust.  Our lady quickly turned her attention to Roy and Rick, but she was going nowhere with her sales pitch, in spite of her persistence.  The exchange was looking like it would get ugly when Roy politely requested..."Would you kindly stop prodding me in the chest with your pen"
There was more outrage when Dirk arrived.  It appears that Knutsford services have increased their car parking charges from £6 to £12.  Dirk wouldn't pay the fee, and we all agreed with him, so we set off to find somewhere off the motorway to leave his car.  So much for encouragement to be green and reduce emissions by car sharing.  The bastards penalise you every which way you turn.
We arrived early at Newbury, because we wanted to run through the songs for the '65 show.  Things were running a little behind, as the theatre were not expecting us so early and had not finished rigging the lights. There was still time though to run through most of the new songs and work out what more work was needed on them.
This 7.45 start show was a sell out, and for some reason this narrator was feeling, at least apprehensive and at most, downright nervous about it for some reason.  It's a peculiar thing, the old nerves, they hit you when you least expect them and there is no particular logic behind it.  Matters were not helped by the fact that we could see the audience a bit more than usual.
The show went very well, and I think the band had "a good one" in spite of what we considered to be a slightly 'reserved' audience reaction.  By the second half, the audience had certainly moved up a gear and things became more enjoyable on stage.  The only slight concern now was the distance from the stage to the dressing rooms. Two heavy doors, a corridor, two flights of stairs (slippery too!), a door with a combination lock, a snake pit, and the rope bridge.  All of these should have been negotiable for Eddie's quick change, but I have to confess that I took no chances with him forgetting the combination lock number, and shoved a wedge under the door.
After the show, the ridiculously long hike in search of a chippy proved fruitless, and we had to settle for the kebab shop, which although tasty and seemingly nourishing, always seems to leave THAT smell everywhere.  A shower methinks!!

Sunday 30th January 05                                                                                                                                    

Received some bad news this morning.  A guy called Mick, who has come to several of our shows in the south, and was a regular at Beatle Week, died on Thursday from a brain hemorrhage. Mick was a great friend of Tony Skeggs and we always used to have a drink and a laugh with him after the show.  Our hearts go out to his family.

TOP
© Fab Productions 2005