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Jolly Ol’ (Back in) England (Part 4… Bristol)


…and the wheels keep on turning…

My fourth stop on this tour was the port city of Bristol, where I had actually spent a whole 20 hours last June when Bon Jovi had performed here on their tour.  This visit, unfortunately, didn’t last much longer than that one.

That is always the case when you’re following some crazy band around the world. You end up seeing the train station (or airport), the hotel, the venue and whatever sights may be on the way to/from any of those three destinations.  Luckily, I ended up with a very friendly taxi driver from the train station who gave me a brief history of the region and any “places of interest” we passed while en route to the hotel.

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Jolly Ol’ (Not) England (Part 3… Cardiff)


…and continuing on our journey…

I learned a number of things on this trip – of both personal and practical nature. For example, how to cross the street without dying (thank goodness for the “look right” and “look left” directions painted on the curb.) And, that Cardiff is in Wales and Wales is not England.

So, off I went on the train to Wales. After missing my connection in Westbury — three trains and one shuttle bus later — I arrived in the waterfront city of Caerdydd (that would be Cardiff in Welsh *wink*) I had completely lucked out with hotel accommodations and was staying for two nights at the absolutely gorgeous St. David Hotel and Spa (thank you Asbury Jukes for touring during the off-season!) Surprisingly, the weather was quite nice, encouraging me to just sit on my balcony for a while with a glass of wine and one of my biggest obsessions, the UK edition of Vogue magazine. *smile*

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Jolly Ol’ England (Part 2… Southampton)

Day two of this trip brings us to Southampton, only a short bus ride from London. (oh, c’mon … you knew I had to work a bus ride in there somewhere, right? LOL)

After not nearly enough sleep the night before and still feeling a bit jet-lagged, Sandy and I decided to forgo the whole queueing thing and just enjoy a nice, quiet meal (I love tapas!) at a cafe near our hotel.

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Jolly Ol’ England (Part 1… London)

Greetings from the UK! What a whirlwind couple of days it has been so far!

After a suprisingly enjoyable ”crossing” (row to myself, upgraded with extra leg room, unlimited wine and some very nice salmon. Thank you, Virgin Atlantic.) I landed at Heathrow at the crack of dawn Friday morning ready to see the Jukes rock London.

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Forces of Nature Tour 2011 (Part 2)

So, day two of our sojourn brought us to Freeport, Maine.

Ahh, Maine. Love that state. Spent a summer there as a fellow at the Bowdoin Music Festival. All I remember is blowing out my knee playing basketball on the second day of the festival (a viola player landed on me … there MUST be a joke there somewhere. LOL) Oh, and LOBSTER! I remember lobster. Lots of lobster.

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Forces of Nature Tour 2011 (Part 1)

It felt like quite a while since I had seen the Jukes … and in reality, I guess it was … as the last time was way back in early July at the Stone Pony. Even though we had all just experienced the super-rare earthquake in the Northeast … and Hurricane Irene had her sights set on pounding the area, Tasha and I decided to take to the road for this slew of shows. *currently humming Riders on the Storm*

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No Flames, But A Whole Lot of Heat

“…and when the cow kicked it over
She winked her eye and said
There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight…”

That FOLK(ish) song is about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Dang, I wonder what Old Lady Leary would have said about the old town Friday night. She never heard the Jukes!

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Barbs and Bonds @ BB Kings

Well, it was another energetic evening at BB Kings on Saturday. Never a dull moment when Gary US Bonds joins Southside on stage. An absolute riot – the two of them trading irreverent insults like an old married couple – all the while belting out some great tunes. As always, there were fabulous covers and standout performances … Chris’s truly kick-a** solo on Fever, Eddie’s sax on Renee, a beautiful accordion solo by Kazee to close out Princess of Little Italy…

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Outside The Box, Inside The Pony

So, how did YOU spend your Wednesday night?

Me? Well, after bolting from the office at the stroke of 5:00, I jumped on the train down to Asbury Park to simply catch the opening show of Outside the Box’s summer residency. What I ended up with, however, was the privilege of experiencing one of those great nights at the legendary Stone Pony.

I have often felt bummed that I missed out on Asbury Park during its glory days (ahh, Bruce’s “Glory Days”…a shout-out to SS on that one. LOL) There is something about the mix of music, boardwalk and beach that just resonates with me. And, due to the storm that had blown through, there was hardly anyone on the beach. Perfect…just the way I like it.

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