Blog: A Very Busy Weekend

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Oh the mad social whirl! On Friday morning The Chick Pea In My Hummus and I headed for FOLKESTONE, their to attend the grand society wedding of Clare and Pauly (the noted interweb hundredaire), and we had a BLOODY GRATE time. It was really nice to be at a wedding where I didn't have to actually DO anything, and as soon as we got on the BUS to the CASTLE (oh yes! It was in a CASTLE!) we could sit back, relax, and be gently moved from place to place throughout the day. THUS we did PIMMS, Ceremony (aah! Pauly seeing Clare for the first time! ), Champagne, Lunch, Speeches (i LOVE Wedding Speeches), BEER, Ceilidh (sp?) Band (DANCING!), DISCO (even MORE DANCING!) and then bus home, this last featuring SPIRITED SINGING, even tho we were hard pressed to find a song that any of us knew more than two full lines of. It was a lovely day full of lovely people. HOORAy!

Next day it was up and OUT of our Traditional English Style Hotel, a NIP to the beach to dip some toes, and then back on the train. In That London The Salt In My Sea Water headed back to the OLD EAST END, while i got on ANOTHER train, this time for Birmingham where i was playing at Ray's Birthday Barbecue, as is TRADITIONAL. Last year i was embarked on a FOOLISH experiment with The V Plan Diet (i.e. replacing BEER with Vine, Vodka and Vhisky), and when offered a drink i asked for Whisky & Ginger. There was no Ginger Ale in the house, so THIS year Ray's Mum had got a MASSIVE bottle in... then poured me HALF A PINT OF WHISKY! I felt honour bound to drink THE LOT, and so DID - it was Actually rather a pleasant way to spend the afternoon in BOOZE!

I did the first half of my SET in the back garden, and the second half indoors due to RAIN, and here is what we had:

Red & White Sockets

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Fucking Hippy

Good Cooking

Payday Is The Best Day

Easily Impressed

Boom Shake The Room

It feels odd to be typing a setlist for playing in someone's HOUSE, but HEY! There were ar DARN sight more people there than at SOME gigs i've done! There was also TONS of delicious VEGAN style food, and when it came time to leave I was presented with a plastic carton which i STOCKED UP with more food for later, and ALSO found myself clutching two carrier bags full of BEER and a whole OTHER bottle of whisky! Aah! It was LOVELY - roll on next year!

We got a taxi into Birmingham, and I met mein hosts The Graham Parsnip Liquidiser Torture Think Tank (Project) who are a SMASHING bunch of chaps. Soundcheck was DONE, SNEAKY BEERS were extracted from my Big Bag Of Beer, my former Voon Colleague Mr Simon Wilkinson arrived, and i hit the stage and played THIS:

The Peterborough All Saints Wide Game Team (group B)

Hey Hey 16K

Clubbing In The Week

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Fucking Hippy

Dino At The Sands

Red & White Sockets

Easily Impressed

Boom Shake The Room

I REALLY enjoyed it - things seemed to go well, and i felt CONFIDENT enough to Actually Do Different Things. I'd originally intended to do "Hey William" third, but it didn't seem right when it came to it, so i moved on and so later found myself running UNDER TIME. I EMBARKED on a version of "Things'll Be Different" but for some reason got all confused and thought I was doing the second verse wrong, which actually i might not have been, so went STRAIGHT into "Fucking Hippy". It felt GOOD to feel IN CONTROL, so thought "to HECK with it, let's try something A LITTLE DIFFERENT" and did DINO! Oh yes, i am WELL EXPERIMENTAL, and instead of going "la la la" in the middle bit i made up a ditty about the need for an orchestra to make it work. OK, in the cold light of Sunday it sounds a bit daft, but at the time i was MOST CHUFFED with myself. SHortly afterwards "Easily Impressed" and "Boom Shake The Room" went REALLY well, not least because we'd had a practice of it at Ray's house earlier on, so a large portion of the audience knew what they were meant to be doing!

It was MUCH FUN anyway, and there followed a period of CHAT and BEER before we gathered once again to watch The Graham Parsnip Liquidiser Torture Think Tank (Project). I'd only heard their stuff on CD before, so was prepared for some jollity and humour, but NOT for the full on FUNK ASSAULT that is their live experience - they were REALLY FANTASTIC! Ray and Co also REALLY got into them, and were last seen dancing down the front, as Simon and i made a RUN for it, to catch a train. We walked, then got a taxi to Moor Street, then a TRANE to Leamington Spa, then a LIFT to Coventry, and we were at HIS. PHEW!

This morning he treated me to TEA and Them Vegan Baco-Slice Thing SANDWICHES, before we FLEW once more, this time to RUGBY (it was a West Midlands ROLLERCOASTER ride yesterday!) for the first train to London, and HOME, very tired but very happy, where i discovered our BOILER had gone KAPUT. STINKING as I did there was nothing to do but have a COLD SHOWER, and now you find me clean, WORN OUT, but very alert!

It was a lovely LOVELY weekend of varied ACTION, but now I'm ready for a KIP!

posted 14/8/2005 by MJ Hibbett

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