Any road up, this DylProj Winter Tour 2010 started in customary British transport network nightmare style with;
1) the closure of the M40 due to a shed load (I did ask the car radio “a shedload of what?”) - 45min detour taking in Little Milton (the Oxfordshire village, not the 1960s R&B vocalist from Chicago whose biggest record on the Checker label – “Who’s Cheating Who” - funnily enough was produced by one Phil Wright. And, yes, for the Stephen Fry-ish read “Who’s Cheating Whom” ), Watlington and Nettlebed..
2) the M25 moving mostly around the 25mph mark for AGES. Unless it was at a standstill. At last we inched towards the M23 to Brighton, which soon became
3) CLOSED, due to something or other - I had by then switched off the traffic reports in an attempt to be serene, rise above it all and listen to Judee Sill’s “Heart Food” – fantastic early 70s Asylum-label CD, heartily recommended.
4) Just as I queued on the outskirts of Shoreham-by-Sea, a mile to the gig and an hour late for soundcheck, my nearside front brake kicked off with the scariest, brake disc-scouring grating noise. I presumed that the pads had finally gone and I was touching metal, as it were.
However, after a team effort to get those black boxes, bits, bobs and bats from car to stage (thanks, chaps) and a lightning quarter hour’s assembly thereof, we were ready to take on the Ropetackle Arts Centre’s finest. And did. A lively crowd, a bit of banter from the cheap seats and the tour was properly inaugurated. Considering we had neither played together nor rehearsed (rehearsed?) for eleven months, or perhaps because of this, we were pretty hot stuff. I had the added help of revenge to wreak on Ms 40, 25 and 23 by means of a Stratocaster and amplifier. Yummy. I love this job. I returned home by way of Southampton and the A34, so I would not have to use my brakes much, nor would I dignify the aforementioned motorways with my presence.
P.J.
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