Summer?

Chilling with a hookah

Gloucester Rhythm & Blues Festival has been, burned brightly, and gone for another year. It was a hectic week for me with nine gigs in as many days and that included three nights off. The highlight of the week was spending time and making memories with the Myers Brothers, Mike and Stevie, and Stevie’s lovely wife Laura. I also got to meet the lovely Suzie in Painswick who was a wonderful host to us all on a number of occasions during the week and I hope she will be at more blues gigs in the area in the future as I know she’s a real blues fan. All of the Myers gigs were brilliant fun and well received and I know they had a great time performing, making new friends and seeing as much of the area as they could. Can’t wait til April when I’ll be catching up with them again in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Those of you that are friends on Facebook will have noticed I took a week out for some rest and relaxation and some guaranteed sunshine and heat but now I’m back and fired up ready for the rest of the year. Both the Sons of the Delta and the Jigantics have some late summer festival gigs coming up and I’m especially looking forward to a mini tour of Spain in September with the Sons. With Spain’s economic situation as bad as it is I was beginning to wonder whether we would get there this year, especially after tour dates provisionally booked for March and May came to nothing. But we have our tickets and our itinerary so Spain here we come!

This weekend it’s my Sister Jan and Bro-in-law Derek’s Golden Wedding Anniversary so there’s a huge clan gathering of the Coles and Pearsons from all over the world. It’s going to be great fun and a weekend to remember. There will be live music, of course, and much eating, drinking and catching up with people I’ve not seen for years. My boys haven’t even met some of their relatives so it should be a special time for them too. As with all of these occasions there will be people missing that we wish were there but they will be remembered and tales will be told.

The next three months will see both the Jigantics and the Sons busy in the studio, so there should be plenty of new music for you to treat yourself or someone else to in time for Christmas! Aaron at Plump Hill Studio is doing a great job and between the two bands, plus other bands that some of the guys are involved in, we’re keeping him busy. More news on the recording as and when I have any pics or sounds to share with you.