Here we go (Home!)

Posted on by
Reply

Managed to get up in time to get the 7.40 am train from Liverpool home, dumped suitcase (which is till not unpacked) and set off for Gatwick to meet Marjan. Who arrived safely and more-or-less on time, hooray! (Karin of the big smile arrived on the same flight to see Liz, and the London shows: good!) After much exchange of news and many cups of tea, I am now preparing for a Quiet Night In (by playing Into The Harbour, LOUD).

Can’t wait, really, to see everyone who’s coming to the Astoria – not least to see the Jukes again… Now please excuse me, it’s hard to type when your head keeps hitting the keyboard…

Here we go (Liverpool, Pacific Road Arts)

Posted on by
Reply

Liverpool, when we arrived, was covered in very damp mist, but, nothing deterred, Deborah and I did a quick tour: the magnificent neo-Classical St George’s Hall, the Walker art Gallery (which had an exhibit of miniature famous artworks made out of Lego), the street that the cavern was in, and the Pier Head, where the Liver Birds watch over the waterfront and from where you get the Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey to Birkenhead.

However, once we’d crossed under the Mersey by the Metro, Birken head appeared to be shut. Eventually, we found a nice pub, The Dispensary, all tricked out with pharmacy furniture and, for some reason, teddy bears, with comfortable sofas and a very kind landlord who made us some food although they’d officially stopped serviing 4 hours earlier.

Continue reading →

Here we go (Bilston, Robin)

Posted on by
Reply

I’m a little bleary, due to being evacuated from the hotel in the middle of last night as some idiots had left their taps running and shorted the electricity. (We got back in, but sleep was more than somewhat disrupted).

But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Wolverhampton, when I arrived at 4pm, was extremely damp and not terribly inviting, but I managed a quick peek inside the art gallery, which had a nice little show of contemporary art as a change from the Victorians it usually goes in for. Met tonight’s Jukester contingent in a nice pub called the Old White Rose, where I hoped for a nice pub meal; but most of the menue was off, so ended up with what was basically your veggy burger and chips – ain’t it always the way?

The Robin 2 r’n'b club is another local institution – up some ricketty stairs to a black-painted room and sticky dancefloor – which has had a facelift: it’s still upstairs and stil basically black, but has a smart new bar, sanded wood stage and new carpet on the stage. Unfortunately this seems to have introduced some gremlins into the sound onstage, which caused some weirdness later on. But the sound was mostly fine out in the room, the crowd were enjoying themselves and, with mutual goodwill, the weirdness dissipated and we went away happy again.

Continue reading →

Here we go (Home!)

Posted on by
Reply

Left Swansea at 10 am on a train which crawled out of Wales and then got slower and slower as it went down through England to London.

After that, two tubes, a suburban train and a mile-long walk, uphill, lugging my case, till I finally reached home about 4. Did three loads of laundry, ate, wrote up blog, and collapsed.

But tomorrow is another show…

Here we go (Swansea, Patti Pavilion)

Posted on by
Reply

Left Newcastle 8 am, arrived in Swansea about 3 pm and promptly got lost in this maze of pedestrianised shopping streets. They had a German Market going on, with oompah bands and stalls selling sausage, which was even more disorienting – had to check I hadn’t turned up in Osnabruck early.

Finally got on track and found the hotel in time for a quick visit to Swansea’s art gallery – which, oddly, featured the same Esat Anglian landscape artists as the Norwich one. But they also had a rather good show of contemporary art.

After that, met up with everyone at the Cricketers pub – the usual suspects plus the famous Peter Owen and Murray Webster, whom I feel honoured to meet. And finally braved the icy night air to find and enter the icy Patti Pavilion. And almost the first words out of Southside’s mouth were: “Are you freezing you’re a**es off?”

The Patti Pavilion is an old barn of a dancehall right on the shore, and it is basically falling apart. (“I played on broken stages” all right – this one’s held together with gaffer tape and bounced alarmingly every time Muddy took a moonstep. It was only about half-full, and, on this freezing night, the heating had broken down!

Continue reading →

Here we go (Newcastle, Academy)

Posted on by
Reply

BY JEAN WATTS – November 19th 2005 – Met up before the show with Deborah, Dave, Mike, Mick, Norma and friends for an early dinner in a nice Italian (thanks, Deborah) where I not only got some nice food, for a change from railway sandwiches, but a chnace to listen to Mike Saunder’s great stories. What’s more, arriving a little early for the dinner, I’d popped into a handy record shop, next door, and within five minutes had acquired Delbert McClinton live, doing When Rita Leaves. Then run to the pub, fail to find anyone, so run back to the venue to shiver in the queue (yes, I’m still freezing! well, you know).

The Academy, I gather, tho’ it’s only just opened in that guise, is actually a venerable venue: one of those big old picture palaces that used to host the Beatles’ tours and such. Now they’ve taken out the seats and built a nice bar in tiers at the back, but it’s still vast with a high (and, once again, ornate) ceiling. But with such a good crowd of Jukesters in full cry and the Jukes similar, it felt quite cosy. It also provided some quite unJukian light show effects, though it was quite nice when we all got dappled with “snow” lights during IDWTGH. And the big stage really came into its own when all four horns came down for Party.

Continue reading →

Here we go (Newcastle, off)

Posted on by
Reply

BY JEAN WATTS – November 18th 2005 -

Actually, it’s really Saturday, as on getting to Newcastle yesterday evening I was in no fit state to do anything but collapse in my little room up in the eaves of the ornate Victorian Royal Station hotel – more wedding cake and chandelier decor; it seems to be a theme…

Anyway, couldn’t resist checking in to see who’s around, and my goodness, Klaus has been hard at work on this site ain’t he? It’s transformed, just like the Ferry – my head is spinning, and, since I can’t bookmark it on my computer from here, who knows if I’ll ever find my way here again… so here’s an update on what I’ve been up to just in case.

Yesterday morning Deborah and I visited the Lighthouse design and architecture museum in Glasgow; it’s in an old printing works, and you can climb about eight floors up a narrow spiral stair inside what was the water tower and come out on the roof for a great view of the city. Then we descended and got the train to Newcastle, where, as noted, I went straight to sleep.

Today, in the most beautiful, but frosty sunshine, I went all over the Castle Keep (dating from 1080, and being the New Castle for which the town is named. I suppose it WAS new in 1080…) then walked along the river to the new footbridge over the Tyne and visited the new art museum and concert hall on the far side of the river; walked back over the high level Tyne Bridge for some more stupendous views; visited the municipal art gallery and the old market hall and saw some other fine buildings, including a Victorian Music Hall where Charles Dickens once performed readings of his novels. So I’m well in the mood for the Jukes tonight; and I’d better go get ready, as I’m meeting Deborah, Dave and friends for a meal beforehand.

And anyway, guess what? – I’m still freezing my a** off.

Here we go (Glasgow, Renfrew Ferry)

Posted on by
Reply

BY JEAN WATTS 2005 – November 17th –

Did I mention that on the train to Glasgow I got lurched off balance, bashed my knee (which is now twice its normal size) and smashed my nose against the carriage door (thus exiting onto Glasgow Cebtral Station with blood dripping down my face, enabling me to mix effortlessly into the local population:-))?

Deborah and Dave cheered me up by finding a nice pub for a pre-show meal (thank you D & D) but at the show I have to admit I wimped out and sat in the balcony with Glasgow John – tho’ we weren’t sittting down long. We duly rattled our jewellery at the folks below, including Andy and his sister.

The dear old Ferry has been moved and done up like a kipper in a bow-tie. All blond wood, stainless steel, Arne Jacobsen chairs and a seafood restuarant upstairs. Plus the stage has migrated from the bow end where everyone faced it to the middle of one side, so people have to sill round the sides. This seems to have made the stage even smaller. so Joe had to sit back in a hole shadowed by the top deck: “If the boat sails, Joe’ll be left behind. He likes it that way.”

Continue reading →

Here we go (Blackpool, Grand Theater)

Posted on by
Reply

BY JEAN WATTS – November 17th, 2005 -

Got to Blackpool around 4 pm after an anxious journey as all my trains were late, but since they were all late I didn’t miss any connections.

Blackpool is a slightly brash seaside resort with trad Victorian roots (showing). But, as I took a quick walk along the shore, the last sunlight on the outgoing tide, with the distant sight of a ferris wheel in the descending mist, made it seem like it could be quite nostalgic for any Jersey guys in town.

Unfortunately, we missed the famous Illuminations – like Xmas lights, only weirder, that they string along the Promenade to lure fall visitors (but no need for them when da Jukes are in town).

Had my tea in Harry Ramsden’s famous fish ‘n’ chip shop – seemed like the thing to do – which was full of Northern Grannies and Grandads in cardigans and windcheaters. Then met Bradford John, Jackie and their friends in a pub called Scruffy Murphy’s, after a donkey called Scruffy, won by a former landlord called Murphy in a poker game and used to give legless customers a ride home.

Continue reading →

Here we go (Norwich, University)

Posted on by
Reply

BY JEAN WATTS – November 15th, 2005 –

First, I spent four hours on a slow train from Sheffield right into the far East of England – flat farming land broken up by ditches, little clumps of fluffy trees and church spires you can see for miles. It’s freezing and, contrary to the announcement, there’s nothing to eat or drink on the train – but the sun is shining and with Into The Harbour on the headphones it all seem pretty nice really.

Norwich, despite its association with Steve Coogan’s failed talk-show host character Alan Partridge is in fact a very pretty town, all elegant but unassuming Georgian buildings and street names like Upper Goat Lane and Rampant Horse Street. The venue, though, is outside of town in the Students’ Union of the University of East Anglia, a “new” (ie 60s-built) campus, thus a confusing maze of tower blocks, car parks and concrete bunkers – at least so it seems to a lost visitor in the dark.

After a number of those “I’m on my way”, “I’m IN the bar” phone calls, I manage to meet up with Steve (Aragornlor) and also an amazing couple called Julian and Danni, who travel around in a horse-drawn caravan: cool. Even cooler is that Julian has a tattoo of Southside (circa ’77) on his arm. (Later, he got taken by Sean to show it to the South, who was highly tickled, evidently: Steve has the photo).

Continue reading →