Well we got to the gig despite the snow and everything else. We arrived on the Friday nighty just in time to get food as it was thrown in with the accomodation, but it was only availble between 5pm & 7pm so waving our Butlins ration cards we dived in. Then as we were not plying we watched some of the bands, we caught some of Paul Jones with The Blues Band and also Ben Waters who is a very good Boogie Pianist. Then we went back to one of the smaller stages to watch The  Mick Rutherford Band who were very entertaining and  Micks legware was also quite exotic.

We had a couple of drinks and watched the Bare Bones Boogie Band who may well be playing at the Blues Room in St Albans in the not too distant future. We wandered around a bit and looked at the Blues Matters stand and had a cup of tea and went to bed.  We got up on Staurday too late for the Breakfast and determined that we would go in to Skegy and get something there. It was still very cold but not quite as bad as the night before so I nipped out and took a couple of pictures of the snow then we got in the van to drive in to town. Of course the van would not start and needed a call to the AA, the guy came out did some checks and as expected it turned out to be the battery which had gone from being aged and frail to expiring in the embrace of the North Sea chill.
So he got the van started and I followed him into town to get another battery which he fitted and then I went back to the camp.

We had been asked to take part in a Jam session to promote the bands show that evening but circumstances were against us. The rest of the band turned up in good spirits having had a reasonable journey.   We had a sound check at about05:30 which was done very well by the on site sound guys who were real pros and got us a very good sound onstage mix as well as off.  We had decided as it was a new audience that we would open with a couple of full on tunes Snakebite followed by Morning Letter and keep the pace up up as it was a straight through 90 minute set.

After the sound check the Robbie(bass) Rosie (vocals)and Terry(Dums) went off to eat and we went for an interview with a Welsh Blues radio station as a couple of the guys had called us a little earlier as Vicky had been in contact with them earlier in the year. We had a very good talk and tried to share some of the insanity that is Elephant Shelf , what makes us tick and all about the songs as Elephant Shelf is a very distinctive band on the circuit particularly as it features Violin/fiddle and keyboards as a lot of the other bands tend to be Guitar and blues harp. Also we only play a couple of covers in our set at most and they are often quite different in approach thn the way they are normally performed. There was just time to grab a quick bit before we got on stage at 8.30 and as the newbies we had the opening slot.  We did a very high impact set and it was great to have room to move around on stage too unusually I did not have a drink on stage but as the beer was  a bit crap perhaps that was not so important,  at least I could not trip over it. we got the audience on our side fairly quickly and I did my Vocal number Just another Someone to a pretty good reaction too. I wondered how it would go as its  a mile down the road from blues and features a Violin solo, but it  came across OK and the duet with Rosie was really powerful too.
Also on it’s first gig with the band the Pink Hippo who sat on top of the monitor watching the set..
We also managed to get some of Gary Boners Roadhouse to watch the set and enjoyed it, and as they have played Colne and various other festivals quite a few times that was good to know. Alan from Blues Matters also made it to the show and was very impressed which was also very encouraging.  The set was really tight and there were none of the little disasters that plagued us at the Boogallo weekend last weekend. We also met a guy from France who was a radio  DJ and was also not very

far from Mazamet where we will be staying for as we have 3 gigs with the Delta Ladies Duo which we are using to also help sell the  Band in France.  So all in all not too bad a day.  We watched the Mustangs who were on after us, had a couple more drinks and chatted to one of the Girls who sings with Roadhouse then tea and bed.

Sunday morning was fairly uneventful as was the trip home, though I was a bit knackered by the time we got back .

My first week-ender with Elephant Shelf at Hayling Island of all places.  It went well despite a few litle problems.
When we got there as soon as we strated to unload it pored with rain. Better yet I took a Chair for the Piano which was soaking wet and ended up doing the sound check sitting on it so I was soaked right through. The rest of band turned up late so Vicky and I had to do all the unloading from the van. Because they were late we did not get much of a sound check. So it was a bit rushed and the onstage sound was not quite as I would have liked.  Having got soaked I had to wear a completly diferent outfit than the one I was expecting to wear for the gig. I hope it looked alright, but who knows. Terrys snare drum broke as well. Seconds in to the first number the Piano went silent. possible due to a lead affected by the damp. then two numbers in Vicky broke a string!  That never happens. Still a not bad reception and sold a few CD’s.  We did a 90 minute and then went off for a drink and watched the Spikedrivers who were headlineing that night.
They did a good rootsy show and had the audience with them from the start. There was a late night Jam which bands are expected to attend where you mix with the punters quite a few of which are players at every level.
It was an interesting experience, as we were landed with a very drunk slide guitarist…  We escaped at about 02:00 am had a very rock & roll cup of tea and went to sleep. 

Up at about 09:00 tea & bickys and a dash of to breakfast and a quick post-mortem on the days events, then get the gear off the stage area and back in the van.  We were doing an unplugged set in the early afternoon which was as well received as the main set the night before and we manged to sell a couple more CD’s and got some good feedback from the punters too. On this set my Violin A string snapped mid song and so I managed on 3 strings ish.
We watched the next act had half a Guiness and went home.  Had a quick snack then off to Sta Albans to veiw the second night of the Blues room venue which was very good with a very happy crowd. 

Details of the event below: 

A fab weekend of blues and R&B in the friendly atmosphere of Lakeside, Hayling Island.   Headlined by Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges with the fabulous King King featuring superb guitarist Alan Nimmo, plus the ever-popular Spikedrivers,the all-danceable Swamp Cats, new to Boogaloo the extremely entertaining and lively Elephant Shelf, plus up-and-coming young and talented guitarist Ben Poole and his band.   Sadly Son Henry has been taken ill so is not allowed to fly BUT we have been fortunate to book Trafficker in their place with guitar supremo Tommy Allen. Boogaloo Promotions Blues Bonanza weekend