Report from gig at Last Bus Depot

What a fantastic place, what a fantastic gig!  The Last Bus Depot is an amazing venue - a bit like a big boy's playroom.  Can't explain it in enough words, so have some panoramic photography courtesy of Jayne (thanks darling!)

The crowd were really up for it and I would say that it was one of the best gigs we've ever done.  I can't wait until we come back and do it again!

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band, Omar Bin Mohamed Afif

When: Saturday 28th July 2012
Where: The Last Bus Depot, New Pitsligo
Doors: 7.30pm
Tax: £5

An unusual new venue for us - the Last Bus Depot just outside New Pitsligo.  I can't explain it any better than their own site, so have a link - http://www.lastbus.org

I'm really looking forward to this one, hope to see you there!

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band, The Carousels

When: Thursday 26th July 2012
Where: Cafe Drummond, Belmont Street, Aberdeen
Doors: 8pm
Tax: none, free entry!

Oops, left it a little late to put this up but if you're at a loose end this Thursday (tomorrow as I type) then why not head down to Cafe Drummond and treat your ears to the psychedelic country tones of The Carousels followed by a heap of different tunes from us, our songs, other people's songs, all good time tunes.  Free entry, no excuses, hope to see you there!

The Oxbow Lake Band: At the Festival

I'm very excited to announce the first recorded output of The Oxbow Lake Band since my joining.  It's a song called "At the Festival" and it's been recorded to celebrate our upcoming appearance at Belladrum Festival in August.

You can have a listen here:



You can also download it for free from Bandcamp and Reverbnation.

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band, Q-nim, Jamie Rodden

When: Friday 29th June 2012
Where: Slains Castle, Belmont Street, Aberdeen
Doors: 8pm
Tax: none, free entry!

Once again we grace the "orchestra pit" of Slains Castle for another night of totally groovin' tunes.  Six musicians to squeeze into the pit this time (and seven if we have MC along with us for a couple of tunes), so I'll have to make sure I don't lop anyone's head off with me bass.

If you missed us last time (or can't remember, it was 3 months ago), here's a little reminder of how we roll:

Support from Jamie Rodden and Q-nim.  Things get going (hopefully) at 8pm, it's free entry so head on down, let your hair down and dance!

Health kick

Recently, we've made a couple changes to see if we can be a bit more healthy.

1) I'm joining Jayne at Zumba once a week.  At present I am the only bloke attending this particular session.  I had a brief flashback to school when the male membership of the recorder group dwindled away to just me (I left as soon as that happened - oh, if I knew then what I know now), but I just had an attack of  "what the hell" and got stuck in.  I lack co-ordination and tend to throw myself about like an idiot, but it gets the heart going and sweat running so I must be doing something.

2) We're doing Meat Free Mondays (http://www.meatfreemondays.com/) - it's been three weeks now and it's no bother - while I enjoy eating meat, I'm not completely closed minded to meals without meat.  Quorn, as you can imagine has figured quite heavily in things so far but I will branch out and try some recipes as the weeks go on.  Not my turn next week though, so I've got a bit of time to prepare :)

Hopefully these small changes will make a difference to health and energy levels.  Not that I have been feeling unhealthy or lethargic, but I have thought over the past few years that I could do better.  Time will tell.

Sitting on a bankrupt throne made of ... CDs

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band and Martin Stephenson

When: Saturday 26th May 2012
Where: Macduff Arts Centre, Duff Street, Macduff
Doors: 8pm
Tax: £8 (£6 concession)

This should be a great gig, I'm really looking forward to it.  To quote the COAST Festival programme:

"Two of the most articulate musical and good time music acts in the UK on the same bill!  Martin is an 80s legend, who toured with Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera and Janis Ian - "builds bridges between love and hate, between cradle and grave, between folk and pop, between the past and the present" - NME.  Witty, eclectic, insightful, Martin is an intuitive and highly entertaining artist.  The Oxbow Lake Band is a lively 5-piece rock/folk/jazz/funk/poetry crossover band.  A must for every celebration of creativity, the Oxbows are likely to turn up with plug-in guest musicians and poets.  Impossible not to dance to!"

Aye, so we're nae bad then.  If you're up this way then why not drop by?  Bring your dancing shoes!

This event is part of the COAST Festival which runs from 25th - 27th May in Banff and Macduff.  Full programme of events here: http://www.coastfestival.org.uk/programme.html

The Oxbow Lake Band: Banff Castle 06/05/2012

We played recently at Banff Castle as part of their Beltane Bash.  Have some video from it:

Freedom of speech?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-17858257

This news item made me think, along with the other stuff, like people being pulled up for clearly jokey threats to blow up airports about how our freedom of speech is being eroded.  Now it's not nice to wish harm on people, and advocating that someone be shot is a bit harsh.  But surely all it requires is a time out, a calm down, and an apology?  Who is actually going to shoot someone on the vague urgings of a tweet?  Would a bomber say "I'm going to blow up an airport" before they go and do it?  Preposterous.

Perhaps I should be arrested too.  I have a confession to make.  

The year was 1994, it was summer and the World Cup was in full swing.  Beer was consumed and football was watched.  The USA were playing the fancied Columbia in the first round.  I vaguely remember it being an exciting match and I can still remember the feeling of utter disbelief when the unfortunate Andrés Escobar scored an own goal a striker would have been proud of in his attempt to cut out a USA cross.

I remember this moment like it was yesterday.  A friend and I stood up simultaneously, pointed at the telly and in unison proclaimed "THAT BLOKE SHOULD BE SHOT!"

Anyone with a passing interest in international football probably knows what happened next.  For those of you who haven't figured out where I'm going with this see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Escobar - basically he went home and a week later he was shot dead outside a nightclub.

What I did is exactly the same as what has been happening in all this draconian smacking down of off-the-cuff remarks on social networking on the Internet. You had better come down and arrest me, for I have been a very naughty boy.  Even worse, the "harm" that I wished on someone actually came true.  Clearly that makes me prime suspect.

Or maybe some sense could be seen.  It's very simple - either you arrest and charge all the 4000+ people who repeated Paul Chambers' chilling threat on Robin Hood Airport, or you let him off.  He made an off-the-cuff remark for which he has apologised.  Case closed.

Oh, and sorry Andrés, I never actually wanted you to be actually shot, like with a real gun.

End of the road

Hey folks, as you might have noticed, I can't stick at this photo a day malarkey - even with a camera in my pocket at almost all times.  I'm not sure what this says about me other than I'm either very forgetful or very lazy.  Either way, I was always worried about the artistic value of what I was doing.  I always want to have a point to the photos, something interesting to look at but it was getting to the point where I was resisting the urge to just point the camera in a random direction and fire it, just to have something to post. I didn't consider that to be a worthwhile use of my time, or yours come to think of it.  So I've decided to can it.

From now on, there'll only be something here if I feel it's worthy of inclusion, be it pictures, video or words.

Photo a day 2012 (86/366) - welcome home

Photo taken just off Abbey Road, Aberdeen.  Chico lying in wait for my return home.

Photo a day 2012 (85/366) - it's cream, ok?

Photo taken at my friend Rich's house.  Fed up with people saying that his home made speaker cabinet is white, I proved that it is cream by sticking a known white object on top of it :)

Photo a day 2012 (84/366) - where's the pond?

Photo taken in Wrights' and Coopers' Place, Aberdeen.  During the March heatwave, all the water dried up.

Photo a day 2012 (83/366) - band in a pit

Photo taken in Slains Castle, Aberdeen.  Went for a spy the week before we played here.  It's interesting having the audience all around you and slightly above you.  I think the band here were called Sort of Alive.

Photo a day 2012 (82/366) - campus in bloom

Photo taken in Wrights' and Coopers' Place, Aberdeen.  Lovely day, lovely place to work.  Here comes the catch up flood, sorry folks :)

Photo a day 2012 (81/366) - pint (sized) guardian

Photo taken in Campbell's Bar, Torry.  Strange figurines in the windows of the pub, minding pints while you're in the loo.

Photo a day 2012 (80/366) - extreme closeup, waaaa!

Photo taken with a cat in my face.  Ownership of my mobile phone is about to be asserted.

Photo a day 2012 (79/366) - where the noise comes from

Photo taken in the bedroom.  I'm a terrible one for having a poke about inside things, I've done it since I was a kid.  Not so much "user adjustable" stuff these days though.  That's one thing I like about bass guitars - apart from a few active instruments it's all deliciously "low-tech" - just wires, switches, pots and sockets.

Photo a day 2012 (78/366) - the spice of life

Photo taken in the dining room.  I've decided to carry on.  I'll catch up gradually.  I do like my chilli flakes :)