Blue

It’s late in the afternoon and I’m driving to Rhyl to play my second solo gig this year at the Blu Bar. It’s pissing down still visibility on the A55 is dramatically improved when I purchase and infuse some screen wash. I eat sandwiches on the way and get crumbs everywhere and think about the holidays we used to have here as kids spent mostly in amusement arcades on those 2p penny shove machines. Caravans were also a big part of it. I arrive in good time. The gig is on the second floor of the bar and the PA guy is ready and waiting. The Casio dies after some dodgy wiring problem leaving just me and the guitar. Soundcheck wise everything is sound and checked, then a local ska punk outfit come seriously close to dancing on my guitar [we’re still in the soundcheck] and I’m forced to have a word in their ear [I feel like their dad] about the sensible distance between my expensive pedal board and their doc martin boots. They respond appropriately but it could have gone either way. After this I go to the car, make some calls and finish off my sandwiches. I feel irrationally uneasy. Returning to the venue everything is as it should be, gear intact and support band in full swing when for no good reason I smoke a cigarette rolled from the remains of a dusty pack of Golden Virginia donated by Gav at last weeks Glasgow Gig. I promise myself that it’s just a one off. I meet up with Carl from local band Gintis and we talk about the NHS and The Music. Carl is playing at the Night n Day here in Manchester tonight; I realise I should be there but I’ve not long got in after a return trip to Habitat to change a picture for a thousand words. Sorry Carl. The gig is enjoyable, I get a request to play Flatter and Deceive for an encore which is nice and just about get through it as I’ve not done it for ages [many thanks for the request should you be reading this folly], most appreciated. Steve who runs the gig pays me off and I’m out of there but not before a few sales most notably to a guy who last saw me on the Jools Holland tour in 1997 when he was just 16. Now he has a mortgage and a baby which gives me that where did the time go feeling but in a nice way, best, VPx