An Tobar Sessions Tour : Day 6

Drumnadrochit. We were all looking forward to this one - Glenurquhart Hall is a lovely wee hall. Jennie McFie looking after us as usual, and what a splendid job she did. Had a totally lovely gig, with a good turn-out. Tom B managed to turn the CD sales around for the trio by some well-placed emotional blackmail on the audience. I particularly liked the "trio-have-5-children-between-them-and-Aidan's-band-only-have-one" sketch. The audience responded with mock-sympathy and bought enough CDs to avoid us winning the wooden CD award again. Tonight was also a particularly good rendition of Brown's - I think Tobermory & Drumnadrochit are tied in first place so far...

Had a wee party and a tune back at Jennie's house after the gig - relatively civilised affair, highlights included Konrad's induction to marmite, and Aidan's spectacular multi-level somersault. With fiddle. Very impressive.

Off to Aberdeen now. See you there.

An Tobar Sessions Tour : Day 5

Dunfermline tonight. What can I tell you about the gig in Dunfermline? Carnegie Hall. Ticket sales not great. Played in the bar instead of the theatre so it would look more full. Good for morale that. Gig was nice. Audience were nice. Staff were nice. Hotel was nice. I guess it was nice.

Quote of the day: "No, I don't want fish. I'll have chicken or something. And fish.

An Tobar Sessions Tour : Day 4

Today we're just traveling - no gig tonight so we're all going home for an evening with our families. Lucky them.

An Tobar Sessions Tour : Day 3

Today is technically a day off - still a gig to do in the evening, but no traveling or soundcheck. And what a cracker of a day. We decided to drive over to beautiful Calgary Bay on the north west of the island. Went to Martyn Bennett's grave for a while, and Tom & Aidan played a couple of tunes. Was nice. Still miss Martyn. If you're reading this and don't know who Martyn is, go google him and find out. He was a truly remarkable guy, and a big inspiration to all of us.

We also walked down to the beach - stunning white sand, blue sea and not a cloud in the sky. It was not warm though, by any stretch of the imagination, not even remotely - which made Tom & Aidan's swim in the sea (albeit a brief one) all the more impressive. Tom L even got a kite flying at one point. We also met Tim's sister there with her wee boy Harris, and Zana the dog. I'm not sure how you spell Zanna, but I'm fairly sure Zhanna won't be offended if I spell her name wrong. I am pretty sure Sanna is spelt with a Z though.

After a very nice lunch in Calgary, we headed back to Tobermory. Some folk napped, some played. The second gig was just as nice as the first, although I think we were all a little tired for some reason. It was very nice to have Olive Brown (of Brown's fame) in the audience. Olive has actually retired since we originally did the Shops project, but she was the lady who tried to continue serving customers during our performance behind the counter in Brown's hardware store.

Most of us had a slightly earlier night tonight.

An Tobar Sessions Tour : Day 2

Arrived on Mull just after lunchtime. Good to be back where it all started. Gordon Maclean is in good form as usual. Had a fairly predictable afternoon of soundcheck/eating /rehearsal/eating/coffee drinking/checking emails/eating etc...

Gig went very well. The wee room in An Tobar was full as usual, with a great atmosphere as usual. Browns was particularly well enhanced by the audience tonight. After the gig we ended up hanging in the said wee room for a relaxing drink. Tim did some excellent DJ-ing from the mixing desk, Tom B provided everyone with boomwhackers which we thrashed around for a good half hour (which amazingly only resulted in a couple of minor injuries), I played the drums badly along to Booker T, before everyone realised that if you put the boomwhackers over your ears, the music sounded weird yet at the same time, if I may borrow a phrase from a much earlier decade, "far out".

The rest of the company were then treated to an impromptu and exclusive performance of the Scandinavian free improv duo "Knut & Thor", who bare some resemblance to Tom B and myself, which is quite a coincidence. After that, the tunes flowed, and the An Tobar donations box filled up as musicians attempted to cure their munchies. Between 11pm & 6am there was some very lovely music, but there was a fair bit of nonsense too. And laughing. Lots of laughing.

Quote of the day: " I think Dave has a vitamin D deficiency..."

Word of the day: "Rickets"

An Tobar Sessions Tour : Day 1

Well, we have arrived in Perth for our first gig of the tour. And it would appear that we didn't forget to bring anything. How unusual. We're still waiting for the piano to arrive though. Not the easiest soundcheck I've ever done...

Today's quote of the day: "Are there any vegetarians in your band?"

Today's word of the day: "Twart"

For those who don't know, the Trio is touring a double-bill with Aidan O'Rourke's An Tobar band, which is:

Aidan O'Rourke : Fiddle

Martin Green : Accordion

Catriona Mackay : Harp

Phil Bancroft : Saxophone

Martin O'Neill : Bodhran

Dates are:

Apr 19 2010	Perth: Red Rooms, Perth Theatre (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.horsecross.co.uk
Apr 20 2010	Mull: An Tobar, Tobermory (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.antobar.co.uk
Apr 21 2010	Mull: An Tobar, Tobermory (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.antobar.co.uk
Apr 23 2010	Dunfermline: Carnegie Hall (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.fifedirect.org.uk
Apr 24 2010	Drumnadrochit: Glenurquhart Hall (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.glenurquhart.info
Apr 25 2010	Aberdeen: The Blue Lamp (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Tel: 01224 647472 (Box Office)
May 6 2010	Gateshead: The Sage (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.thesagegateshead.org
May 7 2010	Edinburgh: Queens Hall (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.thequeenshall.net
May 8 2010	Banchory: Woodend Barn (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.woodendbarn.co.uk
May 13 2010	Stirling: The Tolbooth (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: tolbooth website
May 14 2010	Findhorn: Universal Hall (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.findhorn.org
May 15 2010	Stornoway: An Lanntair (with Aidan O'Rourke)	Web: www.lanntair.com

Hope to see you at least at one of them.