They don't Mackem like they used to

Published on Wed 22 Feb 2012

It's been a busy couple of weeks again. The other weekend we went up to Sunderland because Annie was doing a gig at a really nice venue called The Independent. The guy who runs it has the (rare, but correct) attitude that if you make a nice place and consistently put on good things people will come. It seems to be paying off because the room was packed. Maybe there's not much to do in Sunderland.

The main act of the night were The Cornshed Sisters, and although I'm not convinced they're really sisters, they were good to watch. Excellent harmonies, and falling just on the right side of the suprisingly thin line between traditional folk and musical theatre. I first noticed said line when I saw The Unthanks (at the time called Rachel Unthank and the Winterset) in the early days when they had a comedy pianist who kept trying to steal/spoil the show depending on whether you like musical theatre. Maybe the two styles are so far apart that they meet up again round the back. Other things I enjoyed about the weekend were taking pictures of the snow out from the train, the word Jesmond, the fact I finally got to see You've Got Mail and getting addicted to Bejewelled on my phone. That still hasn't worn off. I used to be addicted to it on facebook and that was pretty bad, but you can take your phone anywhere.

Last Saturday we finally did a band gig again with the now semi-classic line up of Mike, Andy and Dave. As with pretty much all band gigs it was at The Portland. We're all too old and too busy to be travelling far, and nobody else will let us play anyway. The night itself was a bit stressful because it was a crowded bill and the soundman (who did a good job in the end, despite his fondness for disco lighting) didn't turn up for ages, but I had a brilliant time while we were playing - the crowd was really friendly and enthusiastic and (for the most part) we played well I thought. Setlist (along the lines of): So Finally a Love Song, The Forked Tongue and The Blind Eye Turned, Watertight, Cold Case, Cabin Fever, Borderline, 60 Miles With a Slow Puncture, Soaked to the Skin, Closure (encore! One guy was even quite forceful about it). We had a new (to the world in general) song to play called Guilt Edged Opportunity but there wasn't really time and I bottled it. Would've probably been a good time to do it though because everyone seemed to be on our side. Or maybe we'd have lost them... There might be video depending on how bad we sound...

All the other acts (Andy Buclaw, Annie, and Lester who I've written about before) were really good. Lester has probably got the tallest band I've ever seen. He's incredibly tall and his brother is somehow even taller. I questioned him about it and he said all the best genes come out first. I'm taller and better than my brother too. They also swapped instruments to the extent that they almost but not quite sounded like a different band with every song. Not a bad thing.

The excitement has worn off again now, which is just as well because it really is a great feeling and it gets frustrating sitting at work wishing that you were doing something else. There's some more music going on in the next few days though. I'm playing keys with Annie in London on Thursday and then seeing Kevin Devine on Monday at my favourite of the London venues The Borderline, which is getting nicely worn out again since they spoiled it by neatening it up a couple of years ago. He was brilliant last time I saw him, so fingers crossed.