The Black Pig

I got into this character pretty recently as a consequence of a rather good radio adaptation of 'The Brightonomnicon' on the splendid Radio 7 (any station which broadcasts Round the Horne regularly has to get my vote) and have subsequently been scooping up his ouevre from charity shops whenever they surface, which is relatively rare compared to his namesake Ian. Anyway, my most recent purchase has been'Nostrodamus ate my hamster' and blow me down, the musical entertainment booked for New Year's Eve by The Flying Swan pub turns out to be none other that my chum, the incomparable Johnny G! It's always good to have an excuse to chat with John so I emailed him and he confirmed that yes, in fact he only encountered the much-married Mr Rankin at a gig recently. So there y'go - we're not worthy.

Last nite on Radio 4's 'Chain Reaction' interview show, Alistair MacGowan did an impression of John Peel introducing a record by "Evesham band The Dancing Did". To be fair, his parents lived next door to (Did drummer) Chris Houghton's, but nonetheless it gave me a frisson.

http://www.andrewsonline.co.uk/buying-selling/property-details.aspx?ID=55570

Fifteen happy years at The Black Pig, but now it's time to move on. After six and a half years of seeing one another, Moby & I have got a bit bored with walking the mile-and-a-bit between our respective homes. So I'm going to sell and move in with her and then at some point down the line we'll sell hers and get somewhere altogether different. Our buying criteria will be a garden and walking distance to The Bell. We both like walking, so that leaves a lot of scope. Onwards and upwards.

Found out from Pete the soundman at The Bell the the gig Swamp Donkey played two Sundays ago was the highest grossing Sunday lunchtime since the start of the smoking ban. Remuneration at that august venue is by a small flat fee and then a collection from the punters via the 'jugs'. It's like winning a reality TV show...

Official Swamps guitarist Andy is on hols so we were joined by left-handed slide supremo Simon Grimes and had a brilliant time more-or-less making it up as we went along. The near-capacity crowd loved it and so did we. Nothing else on the horizon gig-wise, which is a bit of a shame. Have to do some hustling...

And what fun it was. Hot though, I bet there were a few burned people. Dave the boss of Swamp Donkey is a free spirit who doesn't much like planning things and so generally speaking we play without a set list but the Glastonbury stage management is so precise that he was forced into it, which couldn't have been an easy task as he'd been smoking a awful lot of bob. He'd also invited two mates to join us so there were seven people on stage rather than the usual five and consequently it took an age to soundcheck. In fact it was all so rushed that when the soundman failed to get  a signal from my uke through the d.i. box there wasn't time to sort it out so I ended up MIMING! Hilarious, miming at Glastonbury, I felt like a proper pop star and posed like a good'un, shades of Marc Bolan. The set seemed to be over in a flash and I made my way back to the Cider Bus in something of a daze once it was all over. And after some cider I pretty much stayed in a daze...excellent.

Flagcracker Morris performing in Chapman Court, Pershore. The mandolin player had a transmitter to his amp, no old-fashioned leads for these folkies nowadays. Actually, it was a bloody funny day out all round; we initially went into Evesham but could find nothing whatsoever going on. So after a couple of pints we caught the bus to Pershore where we found a lot more activity. All pretty shambolic really and I think they're going to have to do some sorting out if they want the event to be successful in future, but we had fun...

Robert Dormer, my father, 83 years of age today. Fair play to him!

These lovely girls are Kokococo (or possibly Cocokoko, forgotten which way round it goes), one is from Spain t'other from Argentina and they are terrifically entertaining with full-on circus skills and lots of screaming. Knockout. The whole Bedlam Fair weekend (which is the central weekend of the two week Bath Festival Fringe) is great value for money, which is more than I can say for the pub in the background which charges £4 a bottle for Weston's Organic. Utterly outrageous!

Photographed this week on Bank Holiday Monday - hurrah! There are big pike reputedly lurking hereabouts but hopefully the new family will survive complete. Swans are nice.

Upton on Severn has some quaint ideas on street names, but it is a lovely little town and the folk festival was top notch. The sun shone and there was plenty of cider about. Of course being utterly puerile, when I saw Minge Lane on the festival map I had to seek it out. Pathetic. New tent tones nicely with my antique car... 

...so Moby & I have bought this. it's a Khyam Freelander and it's ace! Tall enought to stand up in at the front, the sloping rear bit is a double-skinned 'bedroom' and the whole thing goes up pretty quickly (4 minutes is claimed, it took us 40 on the first attempt) and even more surprisingly comes down and packs away easily. Mind you, it was a cold night in Worcestershire on Saturday. First event of the year is to be the Upton-on-Severn Folk Festival staring on May 1st. Cider, morris dancing and when-I-met-a-lusty-young-maiden here we come!

George on didj & drum, Marick on flute & pedals and self on uke & pedals. Can't beat a bit of meandering space rock on a Sunday afternoon...

It's a monthly event in Bath, and at £10 a go must be one of the best value gigs in the area. Last Thursday we got two stand up comedians, one Geordie, one Canadian (how eclectic is that?) plus a theatre group who did a hilarious version of Billy Elliott crossed with The Full Monty, the Hot Potato Syncopators who play hugely amusing '20's & '30's songs on ukulele, tea-chest bass and musical saw and finally my latest employers Swamp Donkey, who are loose but lovable. The venue is Widcombe Social Club, a building which is so perfectly ugly '70's that it should be listed. A good time was had by all, and check out my butch leather uke strap.

There's no-one like Bill Smarme & the Bizness; expert musicianship and hilarious schtick, it is a pleasure and privilege to work with them. As The Red Hot Lovers Bill & I performed "I'm Too Sexy" and "YMCA" (hence the headdress) and the band did their bluegrass/rockabilly thing with gusto. The theatre was sold out both nights and a splendid time was had by all. Mind you, all this theatrical stuff is hard work; playing a normal gig is much more straightforward. Next week's event with the much more (ahem) loose Swamp Donkey will be pie in comparison.

Don (organ) is in his seventies, Austin (drums) is 80 and,er, me. We played the standards, 'Blueberry Hill', Georgia' etc.The venue is the Harington Club, a Bath gentlemen's club of which I've been a member for 7 or 8 years. It used to be men only until I started taking Moby there on a "try stopping me" basis, and it is now much more successful and nicer for allowing ladies in. I love the place and would probably stay in on NYE otherwise. Top evening.
 

Phew, what a marathon; on stage at 13.20 and finish after 15.30! Mind you, the boys spend quite a lot of time deciding which song to play next, thus giving me plenty of cider drinking time. Anyway, a good time was had by all, us and the surprisingly crowded pub. Moby took these characteristic photos and there are more if you'd like to pay us a visit on http://www.myspace.com/juggrass - I've just put this together.

Are Swamp Donkey, my latest musical associates the greatest-ever musical slackers? With only our second gig together approaching this Sunday, I was fairly relieved when a rehearsal was called for last night (Wednesday). Since the string bass player couldn't make it (no problem, Mike's the best musician in the band) I volunteered to host it at my place, bit of a squeeze with four players but ok. Except they never showed up! Vocalist Dave sent me a text at 22.45 saying he'd fallen asleep waiting to be picked up at 21.00. The rehearsal had been scheduled to start at 20.00. So on Sunday, for only the second time in my life (the first was as keyboardist for a Quo covers band when I was 16) I am to play a gig almost totally making it up as I go along. I love a challenge.

John Milton, great English poet. In this picture he looks a little like Barry Norman in a wig, but in the picture Cactus Suzie of the Bizness ripped out of the Independent 5-12-08 and gave me on Sunday, he looks frighteningly like me! But that didn't stop me from enjoying the gig immensely and being extremely gratified by being presented with their new cd 'The Man with Lucky Lips'. We're not worthy...

Hallowe'en at Bath Folk Club. Costume optional, but I decided to play 'Reynardine' from 'Liege & Lief', so the full-on goth look seemed a good idea. I look like Heath Ledger's grandad. To think Alice & R.Smith look like that pretty much all the time. Moby looks ace.