Exciting or nervewracking

I have been in a constant state of sicky excitement for the past fortnight - the big gigs, my first proper paying ones are nearly here...only two days until one of my all time heroines comes to sing at St Paul's - because of this gig, Angie Bowie, Dana's friend has asked me to promote her as well when she comes to London. Angie has been fantastic and publicised the Dana Gillespie gig on Facebook and elsewhere - I can't wait to meet her.

Back to the Dana gig then - the day after tomorrow: The support act (me, Phil, Serranda Serenaders, Brentford Blues Combo, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all) is ready and sounding really good - as long as we can keep it up and not crack with nerves - it'll be fine! Dana and the Brentford Blues Combo are going to play for about two hours non-stop including encores and I just can't wait - there is so much goodwill behind these gigs that it feels like the only way is up.

Serendipity - Kevin Swain who is a very experienced sound technician saw my poster during his one and only ever visit to Morrissons and contacted me to offer his services as a Hel's Angel - very welcome too! Turns out he is friends with Roy Hill (Chiswick gig next year) and probably many more that I know as well!

The gig after that is our fantastic acoustic night on 12th November - Sean(Doctor)Millar accompanied by Jim Walker with my Phil doing his own set ands also accompanying Sean on his set - this is going to be a really warm, special evening of beautiful music - Phil's set is going to incorporate numbers from all the bands he's been in, and there'll be musicians in the audience from all those bands as well as well-wishers and old acquaintances who have not had a chance to see Sean play in England for many years.

People are coming forward to help with the gigs and the Hel's Angels T-shirts are nearly ready! - what I really really want though (and I'm sure it will come to pass) is my own venue!

What Happened Next - new job part two

Well, I'd given in my notice and started to plan for the next gig. I thought that the ideal thing would be to organise gigs and events featuring musicians I really like. One of my favourite singers is a very soulful blues singer, Dana Gillespie. I've been going to her gigs on and off since I was about 17 and hanging around with my friends Fran, Nick and Julian -that is Julian Clary - I met them all at what used to be the Group 64 am dram theatre in Putney, decided I wanted to be on stage and left school - anyway, I digress - I e-mailed Dana through her website telling her all this and the next day her manager/agent called me and we booked a date, this being 4th November - I was so excited! I set about booking the venue, got Matt to work on the flyers and started telling people about it. This has been interesting, and people have variously asked 'what Dizzy's sister?' or 'what, THE Dana Gillespie' which of course is great, because anyone who's been to see this woman perform will know how brilliant she is! Anyway while I've been planning that gig, more bands have approached me to put them on, many intrigued by the use of the Church as a venue; others less so, but still very keen to play in a big venue in west London now that the Red Lion has been replaced by MacDonalds and the live music part of the Watermans Arts centre is a restaurant. So following on from booking the Dana gig, I asked the Bitter Springs to do a gig with me - my hubby Phil is the fiddler with them and I think they're a brilliant, literary and slightly punky rock band, who at one time were an incarnation of Vic Godard's Subway Sect as well as themselves. The last time they played on their West London home turf was over 5 years ago, at the Brentford FC Stripes bar, so a long overdue return - they're going to have great special guest acts in Band of Holy Joy, and Kitchens of Distinction frontman Patrick Fitzgerald.
So what is my day like? well I get up at the same time I always have, check my e-mails, have a delicious coffee made for me by Phil and then plan the day. Sometimes this involves business lunches, Wow! A few weeks ago, Adam Donovan from the Jetsonics put me in touch with Toby Burton who has a networking website called Rock'til you Drop - a fantastic resource for the more mature musician, and also for promoters - he has a very lively forum and blog as well - (see my links page)
It was great fun meeting Toby on a sunny autumn day at the South Bank and knowing that this is an aspect of my work now. My first event in my new self-employed state is the WaterAid ceilidh this coming Saturday. I'm slightly nervous about it, as ticket sales have been slow, but many have said they're coming on the night! I had fun going to Majestic WInes and choosing booze for the occasion. I love a ceilidh and this will be the first one I've been to this year in spite of having been at Whitby folk week. My hip and leg have been so sore with bursitis and now sciatica that I'm in some doubt as to how much do-si do-ing there'll be on Saturday.