August 07 2010

Smethwick Mencap Club

We've played this little gig for so many years now that I've forgot how many show we've done there. The thing that amazes me is that a lot of the members can remember me from years ago.

They love their music here and Steve always puts on a cracking disco to start the night off and it's become a highlight of the night to get Steve up to sing along with the band.

See you very soon

Rating for venue 10 out of 10

 

July 25 2010

Greets Green WMC

It was our second return to this little club and as in our first visit, the gig went extremely well. The audience were very appreciative with lots of applause ect.

Not many dancers but the humid weather doesn't help. I've noticed with this club that the punters like their music, you can see them singing along and enjoying themselves and so in one way the lack of dancing is made up by the amount of applause and the fact that we kept a pretty full house right up till the last song. That's not bad going when it's a Sunday night gig.

We look forward to gigging there once again in November

Rating for venue: 10 out of 10

 

July 17 2010

Short Heath British Legion

As always, I look forward to playing this smashing venue, I like to say first of all thank you to our dancers, there's always a couple there who dance all night, it's so nice to see this, they're always first up on the dance floor.

I'd like to say thank you to Paul for looking after us and I hope things were alright after, there was a little problem with the volume but we managed to keep it under control, as any performer knows, it's the hardest thing in then world to manage your sound without a sound engineer but I think we managed to keep things to a minium as so to keep all happy.

Once again I'd like to say thanks to all of the dancers, it's always a pleasure to see the crowd u on the dance floor and to know that they appreciate all of our hard work. This is what playing is all about.

See you next time.

Rating for the venue: a cooking10 out of 10

 

July 10 2010

Boney Hay Social Club.

It was good to play this smashing little club, we always have a cracking night here. It never takes very long before the crowd start to get up to dance.                                                 Once again it was a very warm night but what a helped tonight was the air conditioning the club had, very nice indeed.

Our normal entertainment sec wasn't on tonight, she was on her hols but we were looked after very well by her stand in.

A good night was had by all, thanks to the dancers.

See you next time.

Rating for the venue: 10 out of 10

 

June 26 2010

The Forty Four Club,

It was our second return to this lovely little club, what a difference a year makes lol, last time we played there is was about -5 cel and snowing like anything and last night the total opposite, sub tropical temps, very hot indeed.

The audience were very appreciative and we had some very nice compliments.

As the night cooled down a little, the dancers got on the dance floor and we carried on giging well into the early hours.

Thank you to Geoff and staff and a big thank you to the audience.

See you next time.

Rating for the venue: a smouldering10 out of 10

 

June 12 2010

Darlaston Social Club

Well tonight was a welcome return to Charlie's club, not many people in tonight due to the World cup but the folks who were there, were as supportive as ever.

The band hadn't played for a while and it was good to play a club were you feel comfortable and relaxed, we were soon into our stride.

The club did start to fill later on and a big thanks to the dancers who up got and had a boogie.

Thanks Charlie for always making us welcome and see you next time.

Rating for the venue 10 out of 10

 

May 08 2010

Castlebromwich Rememberance Club

The band always looks forward to performing here, this is what playing's all about, a great club and a great audience.

It's always nice to see a good crowd on the dance floor and the folks here never let us down, I must say that there's quite a few rock'n'rollers out there on the dance floor and they really enjoy a good bop.

It's really nice being appreciated by the crowd and I was surprised last night to see that a few couples had followed us from the Mackadown club, that's really good to know that they enjoyed us so much and so I would like to say a big thank you the the folks for following us around and to all of our dancers.

Also a big thank you goes to Mick, our compare, he always makes sure everything is alright for the band and introduces all our sets at the start and ends.

It's really good to see a large club with a really friendly crowd who appreciate our material

We will see them later on in the year.

Rating for the venue 10 out of 10 

 

May 02 2010

Mackadown Social Club, Birmingham

Tonights gig was a suprise welcome back,  we weren't actually booked for tonights gig but we filled in at the last minute.

A nice little club, with a good audience who like to have a bit of a boogie later on in the evening. As with the previous gigs, the crowd always shout out for more and we're always happy to give them a couple of extra numbers.

It's always nice to see a club with a majority of tables still full even at 11.30 on a Sunday evening, that means we must be doing something right.

Hope to gig there later on in the year.

Rating for the venue 10 out of 10   

 

April 17 2010

Greets Green Community Centre (60's Night)

This gig made a change to our normal Saturday night gig in the respect that we playing a community centre. As soon as we arrived I had a good feeling about the place, what a lovely little venue. A great stage set into the bay window area, with easy access either side of the stage. The gig was listed as a 60's gig and I was a little worried about how the night would go, but what a night.

The audience were with us right from the start, after the first song the applause was so loud I couldn't hear Barrie start bringing us into out next song lol. There were a number of disabled people in the audience, who were having a ball. What a sight it was to see them enjoying themselves. Do you know, even if no one had got up onto the dance floor, just the sight of these people having a great time would have made our night. This is what entertaining is all about.

I'd like to say a very big thank you to Jackie and her colleagues for making this night go with a swing. Plus a special thank you to the audience for making us feel very welcome.

I would just like to say on behalf of Jackie, that the community centre can be used for a number of functions and parties. It's a very well presented venue with a wide range of facilities for disabled people which makes all the difference for family parties ect.

So if you're interested in looking for a venue then please contact : 

Jackie Owen, tel 07792 813609.

Greets Green Community Enterprises, 157 Wood Lane, West Bromwich, B70 9PT.

Rating for the venue 10 out of 10    

 

April 10 2010

Charlemont Bowling Club, West Bromwich.

What more can you say about this club, it's alway's like coming home playing here. Having played this club for many years, the audience have always been there for us.

We'd like to say a big thanks to Taff and the audience for being so supportive towards the band, plus a big thank you to the dancers and to all the members who showed their appreciation at the end of the night.

As always, the night finishes with Barrie's drum solo and thanks once again to Taff for letting us give the audience another 25mins of our material.

Hopefully we'll see a lot of the audience at next weeks charity gig.

This is what playing is all about,

Rating for the club 10 out of 10    

 

April 03 2010

Jaguar Social Club, Castlebromwich.

Our initial response to the club was very promising but this was soon to be changed due to a number of mis-management issues that shouldn't occur in a properly organised venue.

The band were originally booked after being seen in person at Castlebromwich Rememberance Club. As anyone who books the band knows, we are a 50-60's band specialising in recreating rock'n'roll and beat music.

The problems started as soon as the band arrived, we had to wait around 15mins before we could get into the club to start setting up, the time being approximately 7.05PM before we could enter the club. Whilst setting up, the bar staff mentioned that Saturday nights were ballroom / tempo nights, this seemed very strange considering what we play.

At no time did anyone introduce themselves as the entertainment secretary neither were we given the start and finish times for the spots. 

As any good entertainment secretary would know, a band need at least 1.30hrs to set up, do sound checks and making sure everything is safe and sound on stage.

At around 8.20PM whilst we were in the dressing room, a member of the committee just burst in the room complaining that we should have been on stage at 8PM, we soon got changed and commenced onto the stage. We were expecting to see the club room full, it seats around 400 people, to our dismay there were about 20 customers. We started playing and noticed the customers getting up and leaving. Soon we had the woman who had booked us come upto the stage and ask us to start playing waltz's ect because the customers were complaining.

We explained that as a 60's band we don't play tempo or waltz's ect and she said well just play something like that. We were pushed into a very difficult situation and tried to do as requested.

At the end of the night we had managed to keep about the same amount of customers still in the room and the woman who had booked us came in as if nothing had happened. I had to speak my mind and state that we were treated very poorly by the venue and that we shouldn't have been booked into a venue that only had tempo music. Plus how we felt as performers not being able to play comfortably and feel at ease on stage. I stated that no amount of money is enough and that it dosn't make up for being made look fools on stage in which she  replied that I had an attitude problem. I've played hundreds of venues over the years and have never been pushed to say anything in how we've been mistreated.

This so called club, is nothing more than a shambles, they should take a good hard look at how the neighbouring Castlebromwich Remembrance Club (Mick) run things or come over to Wolverhampton and see how Short Heath RBL(Jack Stain) treat their performers and manage their entertainment. 

If this is how Jaguar run things on the company front, then it's no wonder they've been brought out by Tata and that the future of their Castlebromwich site is a risk.

No liason with entertainment Sect

No introduction on stage

No set times

Wrong band for the venue, even though we were booked first hand.

Overall, the band were very poorly treated,

Rating for the club 0 out of 10    very poor