Thea Gilmore - An impromptu weekend.

Thea Gilmore - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham. 28/4/07.

My work rota for the weekend read Fri - Off, Sat - In, Sun - Off. It was looking like it was going to be a nice weekend weather wise. Fri morning I phoned work and asked to take Saturday as a days holiday. No problem was the reply.

Ok so where do I go? my first idea was to go up the North Wales coast to Conway, a fave old haunt. I then thought I'd like to take in a gig somewhere, it's been nearly three weeks since Joan and I'm getting "itchy ears" so to speak. I search the listings and I come up with either Help She Can't Swim in Leeds or Thea Gilmore in Nottingham. The only way to decide was to toss a coin. Easy heads for HSCS and tails for Thea.
Tails it was, so off to Nottingham I go. Train at 10:30 to Crewe on to Derby arrive Nott'm 1pm. I've been to Notts a couple of times in the last few years so my knowledge is pretty good of the city center. I get a hotel sorted by 2pm, go to the venue and buy a ticket for Saturdays gig (not yet sold out thankfully). I book a table at a great little restaurant I remembered from my last visit. Next on the agenda is of course a visit to the world famous "Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem" Inn the oldest in England dating back to 1189 AD. Set up against the rock the castle is built on it's a fascinating and wonderful little pub.

Saturday I do a bit of the tourist thing and visit the castle itself and the museum and galleries. I spend quite a bit of time wandering the gardens as it was such a lovely warm day, great for people watching. Later I book a table at another restaurant I know for 5pm as doors were 7pm for the gig. There was a curfew on it so it was guaranteed to start on time.

I get to the Rescue Rooms at about 6:45, there are a few people hanging around outside but no queue as such. The doors were duly opened on time so in we go, I decide to go "Carries" side in front of where Nigel will be so I can get a better view of Thea. Rescue rooms is a small venue and quite intimate so I felt I did not want to be on top of Thea so to speak. Ok there's a line there but I 'aint gonna say it.

The support came from an American singer/songwriter whose name I forget but he was ok. I should start keeping notes as opposed to going from memory, as my memory is shite obviously.

Thea came on dressed much more casual than in Chester last month. It was obvious straight away she was more relaxed and comfortable with the venue and crowd. By now too the place was pretty full though it's a small place. She opened with Old Soul then introduced Nigel to come on so to get going properly. A great version of Seen it all before
was played and Contessa. There was a good banter with the audience too, she declared last time she played here she was heavily pregnant and had to keep taking "piss breaks" thus giving the stage to Nigel to play some of his solo stuff. Highlight was one of my fave Thea songs "The List" you could feel everyone in the audience singing it to themselves somehow. She ended the encore with This Girl another fave, in all a really good show even though a shorter set than she played in Chester. I think more enjoyable though because Thea herself seemed more at ease.

After the gig I bought a T-shirt designed by Thea herself, taking a leaf out of Dame Janet's book there I think. I said a quick hi to Thea and told her I was at the Chester show recently she immediately declared this was a better gig than the Chester one, I agreed. Oh I did grab Nigels set list too and got Thea to sign my ticket.

Sunday was spent traveling back home doing some shoping for provisions and getting things ready for the working week ahead. In all a very enjoyable few days off and I count myself very lucky to, a) be able to have the time and freedom to do it and, b) have the money to do such trips.

I don't have a bad life really so next time I whinge about work or whatever, read this post.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG.

Well it's been 1 year to the day since I set up "Little Red Book".
At the start I think I just thought I'd keep a diary, no specific topic just my life as it happened. It seems to have turned into a slightly different animal than that simple thought. I now generally use it for gig reviews or music related items. I post the odd non related item now and again but this will become a thing of the past as I now have the facility to post pics on my "Myspace blog". The opposite way to Andy really, He! He!
A lot of the post have been about or mentioned S-K. My trips to see them in the UK and in the States last year were more small essays. Sorry Julia don't intend to steal any thunder off your wonderful S-K blog. Those were posts I am proud of because when I read them now they bring back such great memories of seeing the ladies live and of all the wonderful people I met along the way. S-K do have the best fans that's official!.
I think I'm getting more adept at it now too as I now have a decent digital camera to post pics. It is sometimes difficult to take decent photo's during a gig. Though I do need to brush up on my photographic skills, or lack of.
I am considering doing album/band reviews as I do listen to (and buy) an awful lot of stuff. Again I would be very amateurish and crap at it but hey it's my blog, so well see.
Lastly a thank to anyone who has taken the time to read this. Thanks to people who have left comments and shown an interest in my unimportant life.
Especially to Andy, thanks for all your comments. I hope I've kept you up with some bands you love and introduced you to some you may never have come across.

Joan

Joan As Policewoman, Manchester Club Academy, 11/4/07.


Managed to scarper from work and catch the 5:54 train. I felt I had a tight schedule here as the Academy generally runs on time. As doors were 7:30 I had no time for food or any sustenance before the gig. I managed to leap a bus by Oxford Rd station which took me down to the Academy and my hotel. To my astonishment there was a mile long queue (ok think PDX1 5 pm)stretching from the venue. I noticed that 99% of the people were obviously not Joan fans but were hard core goths. They were there to see a band called I don't know Twilight of the dead or something stupid like that, no dis, just my opinion. I literally just chucked my stuff in my hotel room and joined the queue.
True to form the line started moving on time but it took a good 20 mins to get in. Club Academy is the small poor relation of the complex, though I quite like it. It is in the basement of the building and a nice small cozy venue. I got in and there were only 20 ish people in there, most at the bar. I bought a drink and noticed there was only one person at the front of the stage. I walked over to take up my position next to the lady sat on the stage. We started talking about Joan and introduced ourselves, as her husband turned up with drinks. I now know them to be Mike and Anne from Joan's board. We had a good natter about music and gigs, they had travelled down

from Yorkshire for the show and were great Joan fans (obviously). They were telling me they travelled down to London for Joan's appearance on the Culture show, cool. Memoirs of the long distance gig goers, I'm sure I have the material for a book. Nathan, you'll have to ghost write it for me.


The support act was a singer-songwriter who was ok. Mike said that they had seen him before and had liked him. If I'm honest when it comes to this form of live music I much prefer the female voice, but fair play to the lad he carried it well.

Joan came on by herself and played To be lonely solo on the piano, or her keyboard whatever. She was the joined by Ben and Rainy. The first four songs she played on keys, then shifted to center stage and played guitar. She announced that she had been on Marc Riley show this morning and made a fool of herself by proclaiming the Human League were from Manchester. I bet Marc had fun with that!
She also gave a shout to Marc thanking him for his support and to the UK in general where she seems to be more popular than at home.
She played a couple of new songs "Furious" and "No Question"(solo) both of which were great.
In all I think Joan was at ease here she seemed relaxed was happy with an attentive but enthusiastic audience. She got the reaction she wanted from the songs she played. It was good. I grabbed Joan's set list at the end, yeah well it's what I do.
At the end I said my goodbye to Mike and Anne and headed of to the merch desk, my wallet twitching. I was good I only bought the 7" vinyl single. I got Joan to sign the set list to "Johnaspoliceman" (my sign in name on her board) this made her giggle.
I headed off to the pub I know down the road and just sat down and relaxed. A few guys came in one wearing a Joan T shirt so I said "been to the gig". They had and I chatting to them, turns out they had travelled over from Derby, again nice to meet some lovely people who made the whole night a good one.

Sweet Kooky Laura

Laura Veirs, Manchester Academy, 5/4/07.

After a good day and an enjoyable evening catching up with the Shoes. I decided to spend most of the day taking a trip out to Salford to see the Lowry exhibition.


It's about a 15 min metrolink ride to Salford Keys. A complex of theaters, exhibitions and shops ect. The Lowry center itself houses an exhibition of work by Lowry, obviously.

After some retail therapy, yeah I bought a couple of albums, so what? I got the metro and got there about 1ish. It was only about a 5/10 min walk to the exhibition center. I was surprised to see it was free to get in, but donations accepted.
As you walk in the first painting your hit with is the famous "Going to the match" which was larger than I had anticipated. It is one of those paintings that you can stare at all day and still pick up new details. Anyway it was a great look round Lowrys work and very enjoyable, I'm glad I finally made the the time to do it.



I got to the Academy at more or less doors (7:30) and bumped into Colin, the guy I met at K's show last month. We had a chat and went into the gig together. Took up residence right in front of Laura's mike, must admit I was really looking forward to seeing her plugged in as I'd only seen her play solo acoustic before. By this time Nick who I know had turned up and the three of us chatted for a while till lights went down. The support was from Your Heartbrakes who are led by Serene Peterson the girl who runs Laura's web site. They were ok, I ended up buying their cd anyway.

Laura came on sporting a new short haircut and dress embroidered with stars and a guitar with an LV on it, kooky!

She opened the set with the single Pink light. The first four song were off the new album she then played Parisian dream off Meteors. In a similar vein to Kristin she then played four acoustic songs in the middle of the set.

It was great to see Laura with a full band. Tucker Martine was playing drums he's her producer and also a member of the Decemberists, who I saw last month. The guy playing keys is also an interesting chap, Karl Blau. He runs a small independent label in Seattle which you can only get stuff online but have to subscribe. You pay a yearly fee and he sends out stuff that he thinks is worthy of listening too.

Including the encore Laura played all 12 songs off the new album, unusual that. I suppose she has a confidence in the material to do so.

She played a few of my faves off Meteors, Secret Someones, Rialto and Parisian Dream. There was no Galaxies though which was a shame.
There was one superb moment during Phantom Mountain, this is one of the more rockier songs on Saltbreakers. During the song in the instrumental bridge Laura turned side on to Tucker and they exchanged a look and a smile. It was one of those looks were you could just tell they were saying to each other "this is good". It was very good! At the end I grabbed Laura's set list.

After the gig Colin and I went to the merch table. Nick had to run to get his train back to Macclesfield. I had a chat with Serene and bought her album. Laura then came out I had chat with her as I needed to ask about her mailing list. She has changed servers and I can't seem to bring up the new page. Laura immediately handed my question to Serene who told me the best thing to do would be to re-register.
I got Laura to sign my ticket said my my goodbye to Colin and headed off, I again ripped the gig poster off the door on my way out. Jeez I'm a kleptomaniac.

Blood Red Shoes

Roadhouse, Manchester 4/4/07.

Because I had two gigs on consecutive nights in Manchester, I fixed my rota to have the Wed and Thurs off and not work Good Friday. Thus three days off in Manchester. I got there early afternoon on Wed. Checked into my hotel and decided to have a wander round and check out the locations of a couple of French restaurants I'd "googled". At about 6ish I sat down to eat at a restaurant, yeah French. It was the more expensive of the two I'd checked but I felt in a holiday mood, so what the heck. It was quite "white cover" and more expensive than I normally choose to pay, but as I said I was in holiday mood.

Got to the Roadhouse about 7:45 (doors 7:30) doors were open but there was a queue of about 10 people on the stairs leading down into the venue. A minute later they let us all in. I bought a drink and had a quick look round and took up residence at Corins side. This is the best side to be for BRS. A couple of bands came on one called Daggers who were ok. The singer was a cross between Morissey and Curtis though. Then a band called "something" Circus, again not bad but lead singer loved himself too much imo.

Time for Blood Red Shoes. They started setting, same as I saw them last time. They set up to play "at" each other which I like. They're cool too they both drink red wine while setting themselves up. As Stephen was testing his kit SY's Kool Thing started playing over the PA. Stephen then proceeded to drum along to it perfectly, he's obviously an SY fan.By now the crowd had filled and though not full was not a bad

audience. I don't know what it is about this band that makes me like 'em so much. Er! yeah I do really there good and noisy yet carry a tuneful structure. They play well together, they're obviously an item. Stephen is a very good drummer for a 12 year old, well that's how old he looks at times.
Laura announced that this was the rescheduled N&D gig from last month, where she could not speak due to a throat infection. She then said she now had a cold but was well enough to play, and play well enough she did.

After the show I had a wander round to see if there was anyone I knew, but no. I stood in the middle of the room and put my beer on the table behind me. When I turned round damn! the bar staff had cleared it. I took this as a sign to make my way into the night. On the way out walking up the stairs I noticed a poster for a show I'll be attending at the Roadhouse next moth. So I coolly ripped it off the wall and walked off happy.

Thea Gilmore

Telfords Whorehouse, Chester, 2/4/07

So began a promising week, one I'd been looking forward to for a while. Firstly there was Thea Gilmore in Chester then I get to see Laura Veirs with her full band in Manchester. These are punctuated by the wonderfully noisy and erratic Blood Red Shoes, one of my little secrets.

Got away from work early even with the gig being in Chester I still didn't have time to get home, change, grab something to eat and get back to town. I decided to get changed in work and go to a little bistro I know just up the road from Telfords.
Got to the venue about 7:50, and to my surprise Erin Mckeown was already on, damn!

I wanted to see her. I'd recently been introduced to her stuff, interesting she is too. To my amazement too they had put rows of chairs in all of which were taken up. Chairs? what the hell are they puttin' chairs in Telfords for? Anyway I stood on the steps at the back for few moments. I then realised there was an alleyway down the right hand side, I didn't see any reason why I couldn't just walk down and "stand" at the front. So I did, sorted.
I only caught about half of Erins set but yeah she was ok. A quirky little performer with good energy and a good stage presence.

Thea didn't take long to take the stage. Which by the way was unusually decorative for Telfords with some cartoonesque animal mural at the back. Anyway Thea came on wearing a black dress and a pair of blood red shoes, He! He!

By now I had been joined by a girl who asked if it was ok to stand here. I said I think so and that I couldn't see any reason why not. Thea was joined by Nigel Stonier her producer and I think, husband? not sure but I think so. If this info is incorrect I'm sorry and I'm an idiot.
Anyway she did not work to a set list just seemed to play the next song that came into her head. This was interesting and refreshing. Quite a few times she asked the audience to request a song and would duly play it.
Most of the stuff she played was off the last two albums and a new EP she has just recorded.

The interaction between Nigel and Thea was excellent. Even though the whole set was acoustic they managed to belt out some of the more rockier songs very well.
Another note here, she was onstage for well over one and a half hours, so excellent value in this day and age were a lot of bands/artists play for barely just over an hour.

After the show I bought the new EP and got Thea to sign it. I told her it was great to see someone of her calibre in Chester to which she said that this was a local gig for her. It turns out she now lives in Nantwich which is about 15 miles down the road from Chester. So with a bit of luck she'll play here from time to time. Love to see her with a full plugged in band though.