The following Tuesday, I went to the Alley Cat in Denmark Street for the usual fortnightly duo with Jim Mercer but this one was different as we were augmented by drums and bass. This too went enjoyably well and we hope to have the four-piece next time. Incidentally that won’t actually be on a Tuesday as there is a record launch that evening. We will be playing on the day after, Wednesday 15 April, at the usual time, six till eight, which is the happy hour. This caused various interpretations of phrase last time we played there. Jim had just finished announcing the song he had just performed, “Four until Eight” when Tim Penn interjected that should be six until eight,  forcing me to declare my interpretation, which was: Sex until Late. Yes I am still living in a dream world…

The Shakey Vick Band

at The Red Squirrel

junction of Elgin Avenue and Chippenham Road W9 2AF

9pm till late. Free.

Buses 31, 328 and 36 stop outside.

During the course of the drinking at the Louise, I realised that this had almost certainly been the place in Holborn where I had promoted the Hellhound Blues Club, way back in the late sixties. It had also been the venue of various jazz sessions some of which Dino had worked in. These reminiscences led to the usual comparison with the London music scene then and now. Perhaps the new easing of the licensing laws will encourage a return to busier pub venues but I’m not holding my breath.

Back to the here and now, the duo gig I’ve been doing with Jim Mercer every other Tuesday is cancelled next week and we’ll be back at the Alley Cat happy hour session on the 30^th of this month. Before that Jim will be on bass and vocals with my band on the 27^th at my local, the Red Squirrel on the junction of Elgin Avenue and Chippenham Road in Maida Hill. Jon T-bone Taylor also sent me an email about doing a repeat gig in the greenhouse at Ravenscourt Park in July. No rest for the wicked then.

I spoke to Chris Youlden yesterday but he is unable to do the band gig at the Squirrel as he has serious leg and ankle swelling  which he’s having antibiotic and zinc-dressing treatment for. He has been told to rest so lets hope he improves soon. as we’re due another drinking session. Which leads me to another  meeting on Saturday with friends of the late guitarist Bruce Langsman, who gigged with me in the early days and may well have gigged at the Hellhound blues Club. Mel Wright and Wolfie Witcher are attending at this annual get-together of Bruces mates which is being arranged as usual by Bruce’s brother Rex. The late bassist /vocalist Ron Skinner was a regular at this event too. Incidentally, I have not been invited to play at Maggie Thatchers’s wake, but perhaps there isn’t one…

The Shakey Vick Band

The White Lion,234  Streatham High Road SW16 1BB

Charity gig for music4kids

9pm free

Eventually I was discharged about 2.30 in the morning, with some pain killers. They weren’t very effective and I had to call another ambulance on the following Wednesday. The  examination was more intensive this time and I was discharged with much better painkillers and a letter to my GP. The pills ran out a week later so I trudged off to the doctor and was given more pain killers and also antibiotics for a lung infection. That meant another missed gig at the Alley Cat but Jim Mercer told me that Gordon Smith went along to help out so I didn’t feel at all guilty. Suffice to say that I did finally get to the latest gig on the Tuesday just gone. Yes, I did drink and no I wasn’t drunk when I fell over on the ice. This is the third time I’d cracked a rib and only once had I been drinking, just to set your minds at rest.

Now back to the less mundane. Is it just me or is there a certain irony in that DNA evidence was used to verify that the burial site of Richard the Third had indeed been discovered and that DNA evidence also led to the discovery of horsemeat being used to augment  beef products. Perhaps if a cow had been at hand at that battle, he could have saved his kingdom and we wouldn’t have needed DNA to tell the story. On the other hand, “A Cow, a Cow, my kingdom for a cow” wouldn’t have suited Shakespeare, though it seems he too had his sense of humour. The news coverage of the confirmatory evidence about Richard also mentioned that a plaque had been placed at a nearby river bank where it was alleged his body had been thrown in by an angry mob. In the discussion about where the bones should be laid to rest, seems to have occurred to no one that they  could have been thrown into the river where the plaque was. Oh well, I have my ideas of how to do things and nobody takes any notice…

A couple of months ago Jim Mercer asked me to join him in a gig at the Alley Cat in Denmark street, just off the north end of Charing Cross Road. It’s the sort of club I would consider running myself, not too big but spacious enough and near a tube station (Tottenham Court Road) and served by plenty of buses. We do a duo every other Tuesday, with Jim on guitar rather than his usual bass and we play during the happy hour, between six and eight. We had a break over Christmas and will be back on Tuesday 22^nd January. Chris Youlden says he will make it that evening. In theory it keeps me out of trouble.

I’ve also agreed to do a gig at the White Lion in Streatham for a children’s charity which helps children in Nepal. For further details about the promotion go to the following website: events @music4children.org which gives some details about the White Lion and the way it ahs been changed into a community bar from what seems previously to have been a pretty run-down pub. Not that I have too much against run down pubs as long as they are still open. There is always hope of some improvement instead of the place becoming yet another Tesco local store, with or without beef burgers. The gig will be me, Dino Coccia on drums, Alan Vincent on guitar and possibly Jim Mercer on bass, but as he’s still in the Caribbean, I can’t confirm that yet. Chris is unable to do that particular gig but may do further ones should they arise.

I met Chris the other day to pass on some information and show him a video of Betty Lavette covering one of his songs. We met once more at the J.D. Wetherspoon’s on Charing Cross Road. Chris is doing okay with a few health niggles, but his wife is having quite a few problems, so I hope things pick up for her soon. I don’t think I’ve completely convinced him to get an I-pad but he seemed impressed at being able to watch the You-tube of Betty’s performance and then write and send a reply without having to leave the pub. I  met Dino the next evening in the Princess Louise in Holborn. As I wrote previously; déjà vu. A belated Happy New Year to everyone.