Just a quick update here, have to go over for Mother's Day bizniz in a sec. Had a LONG day yesterday trying to get home from Newcastle, I'll do a full on write up later, but to be honest I'm tired of explaining it to people! To cut a long story short, my flight to Amsterdam en route to Trondheim in Norway was cancelled, and the next flight to Dam too, AND Hayeley's flight back down from Newcastle to Heathrow was cancelled too, so I had to get a train back down from Newcastle, get across London and then back to Maidenhead - bit of a mission too, and sad, knowing I'd be disappointing the fans in Norway that were expecting me - hopefully I can get up there quickly to make up for it...
Other than the trvel nightmares the weekend has been OK. I flew up to Newcastle with Hayley on Thursday, a day before the gig, and we got a hire car and went to visit my Grandma in Blyth. We didn't really have enough time up there, but managed to go and visit St. Mary's lighthouse (above) and then Blyth Beach the day after. All the relatives came over on Thursday and poor Grandma was run off her feet making sure we all had great piles of food and wine! Such a Legend is Gran B. Respect!
Had an amuzing situation in the hotel the following day (the Menzies on Silverlink in Newcastle FYI) - basically, they just hadn't cleaned the toilet and there was a HUGE shit-stain in it. I mentioned it to the manager dude, who was probably only about 20, on our way out to go eat and nothing had been done 2 hours later when we came back. Admittedly I'd joked with him that I didn't want to get the cleaner in trouble, or make her angry at us for complaining and thus seeking revenge with out toothbrushes etc - so he decided that meant we didn't want anything done. But man - if I'd been the manager, I'd have had it sorted as soon as he saw us out the front door. Hardcore. That was a BIG poo stain too. A saved up, eaten a lot of veggies kind of stain. Anyway....
The gig was ACE! I mean ACE! It was for Turbulence at a venue called digital and was totally rammed by the time I got on. Ed Rush was also on the bill but didn't make it cos his flight from LHR had been cancelled (which was the plane that would have taken Hayley back in the morning) so I got to play much longer, did more than 2 hours in the end, which was so cool - finally getting to play a decent length set, at a headline time, to a rammed club in the UK, and not have to submit to lame clownsteppery and a gagillion MCs - was really a treat to be able to properly expose the crowd to my sound in an ideal situation like that with a decent system and everything sorted out. They better get me back!
Saw a couple mega John B fans in the front, total man-make-up and John B style outfits - girlfriends in face-paint - all sorts! Didn't get any photos which is a shame. Quality though! My cousin Greg came up from Blyth too with his mates and there was also a gang from Durham who we'd met when I played there in November. They better get me back soon too! ;-)
Some photos are up at
www.newcastlebeats.com so have a look - I think I actually look healthy in these ones...
Blyth Beach. Possibly the coldest and windiest place on Planet Earth. But still one of my favourite places ;-)
Grandma B making her legendary chips!
Grandma's front room:
