Mark's
Diary EntriesMark's
Diary Entries
Shanklin & Chessington (16th November)
Hello people, as this is a double helping of gig reports, so a double wino
gargle has to happen too! First slurp is a South African First-Cape
Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon, not bad, but as I prefer Californian and Australian
reds, the second slurp is a Jacob’s Creek Shiraz/ Cabernet Sauvignon and in my
tiny opinion number two slurp is the more superior! Talking of superior….
WELL DONE Lewis Hamilton. FIA Formula One World Champion. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL!!!!
Now then, over to a 70’s weekend on the Isle of Wight at the Shanklin Hotel.
Friday night, a Tina Turner tribute act sadly failed to please the billies! This
is not a pop at the act by us, it’s the opinions of the patrons that attended
the event. Saturday night, a certain Quo tribute rocked, rolled, and boogied the
billies, and a great night was had by all. Lots of billies said how much they
enjoyed the evening. Some told us that night and some told us in the morning.
The resident DJ Dave Cannon topped the bill all weekend and his show was great.
He’s also a very nice bloke.
We’d like to thank the Hotel proprietors, Gloria and Jeff Holt, Debbie, Victoria
and all of the staff at the Hotel. Also thanks to Adam for our excellent service
at dinner and breakfast. TA!!
The Rhodron’s Club gig was also a very good gig and the trip up to Chessington
was painless! The billies did the best Oh, oh, oh, oh’s ever at the beginning of
Dirty Water and were a pleasure to play for. TA!!
Keep Rockin’
TA!!
Saunders Field Tadley (6th September)
Hello ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls, I have a fellow wino, our newbie Stewart
is a kindred spirit! We had a good chat as we travelled cargo-class in the Bogus
bus; we enjoy a love of motor sport too, and we waffled on about F1and vino for
most of the journey to Tadley.
We arrived at a very boggy Saunders field, and since the gig was cancelled in
May because of rain, we couldn’t believe that we would still be playing the gig
because of similar weather conditions!
Load-in started a 13:00 and we had a few problems with a dodgy sensor on the
generator, so we sound checked at 17:30 and Melissa and her band sound checked
till 18:00.
We then trudged off for some well earned dinner and then got back to the venue
for the start of Melissa’s set. Overall, the billies were a good sort!
Our show started at 22:00 and generally, everything went to plan, Tony broke a
string in the middle of Rain (not planned), Captain Feedback made several
appearances during the evening (Oh David!), and we rocked and rolled until
23:55. We had to stop before midnight, as I turn into a Watermelon at that time
(which is a vast improvement, but I can’t hold onto my drumsticks).
On the nice to see you to see you nice list were, Sir Dave of Dell, Andy, Eve,
and several people whose names I’ve forgotten! Sorry!
Breakdown and load-out stared promptly at 0:00 and finished at 02:30. As we
drove across the field, we were stuck in some mud! After a push and a shove, we
freed the Bogus bus and made good time on the homeward journey.
Take care and stay safe.
Keep Rockin’
TA!!
August Update (24th August 2008)
Hello ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls, and welcome to wino’s corner. A lovely
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah from Chile has tickled my taste buds this
month, but of course, I should be informing you all of what’s been going on with
the band!
Well, the band has had a touch of (Bassistitus) a disease that makes Bass
players disappear! Basically we parted company with Billy, and immediately got a
replacement in the shape of Sir Alex of Quo, a friend and fan of the band. Being
a keen and dedicated guy, he settled in very quickly, and was great to play
with. However, another attack of (Bassistitus) hit us out of the blue. Another
one bites the dust!
Unperturbed by these events we simply got in contact with Stewart. A rock ‘n’
roll, no nonsense, superb bass player type of chap. Just what we needed, with
gig commitments on the horizon. A big push to get ready in time was our new
adversary!
We feel that we’ve conquered ad-vers and sary, and armed with a new drone intro.
We’re confident of playing a top-notch show at Tadley. We’re looking forward to
sharing the stage with the very talented Melissa and her band. Checkout her
website NOW!!
http://www.melissaandmore.com
Take care and stay safe.
Keep Rockin’
TA!!
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The Southampton & District Motorcycle Club (7th June 2008)
Hello ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls, and welcome to wino’s corner. I’ve
savoured a very nice red wine from South Africa, a Kumala Zenith Merlot,
Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz with subtle flavourings of Red cherry, plum,
blackberry, verrucas, blisters and corn plaster! I’m not into that entire
descriptive tasting malarkey, I’m obviously not a connoisseur, but I do like a
good drop of juice.
Many thanks to Pepsi-P for allowing us the use of her great photos of the
Firehouse gig, and hopefully Sir Dave of Dell will have got to grips with his
new camera. I know how you feel mate, as I’m still learning how to use mine
(more on that in a shortly).
We’re all sorry that the Tadley gig got cancelled, as we were looking forward to
it so much. The opportunity to have Eddie Vortex and The Cyclones with us again
as our special quests was an exciting prospect. However, plans are underway to
reschedule the event and we’re hopefully going to have EV and The Cyclones with
us, but there’s a possibility that they’re booked on the date in question. Which
now seems to be the 6th or 7th of September.
And so onto tonight’s gig where we took the gamble of moving a couple of songs
on the set-list and opted to ditch the drone for a new intro-theme and all of it
unrehearsed!
Well that idea became the “best laid plans of…. “ Intro ended and we never left
the starting blocks! Then lighting gremlins again! Then a technical problem with
a guitar, but we soldier on and overall the evening went rather well. Many
thanks for the BBQ food and thanks for being a great audience.
Haste ye Back!
A common phrase found on many a roadside sign up in Scotland, and that’s exactly
what I’ve done. Oh yes, I’ve been up there again (Ooh er!).
Iain and Lynn have looked after me very well as usual and made me feel very
welcome at my little home from home. I won’t tell you the name of the place in
Prestwick, because there’ll be no room for me when I return. However, the hotel
begins with a letter K and ends with a G. Ok I’ll tell, it’s the Hotel Kincraig
39 Ayr Road, Prestwick Tel 01292 479480.
I enjoyed my week away immensely, I had great weather, good food, and I took
many photos with my new camera, an Olympus E410 DSLR. I also left a couple of
inukshuks dotted about the coast, these man shaped stone cairns were created by
the Inuit Indians of the Canadian Artic Circle, and Rush’s drummer Neil Peart is
the cause of my mad crusade to build the things when I’m on my travels, with
only natural materials available (no superglue) just balancing stones. Maybe I
should refrain from reading his excellent travel books? No chance!
SA was as wonderful as ever, maybe more so!
Take care and stay safe.
Keep Rockin’
TA!!
The Firehouse Gig Report! (18th May 2008)
Hello ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls, I’m typing this latest (wine-free!)
instalment whilst watching Moto GP at the Le mans circuit on T.V. So, this
ramble may go on longer than the race!
I’d like to thank Big D for pointing out that Bogus Quo played in Southampton at
Nexus five years ago! So, my last diary had a slight error in it. I didn’t like
the gig, so it’s kind of been erased from my memory; I tend to forget some of
our poorer moments as quickly as possible, even though we do tend to have an
autopsy after every gig!
We had a relatively quick load-in and set-up time (about 2 hours) and
immediately had an attack of the gremlins! Number one lighting rig only had two
of the twelve lights working, which vexed us somewhat as we’d recently spent a
whole day checking that everything worked! The best laid plans of mice and men!
BQ hit the stage at 21.30 and it felt good to be playing live again after our
two-year break. Pete enjoyed his first gig, and we had the odd moment of guitars
losing tune, bum notes, and an occasional squeal from Captain Feedback and a big
cock-up from yours truly during Spinning wheel Blues. But that what live music
is all about, and another reminder of the best-laid plans of … Well you know
what!
It was great to see Rob J, Sir Dave of Dell (who was doing a great PR job), Sir
Alex of Quo (Very nice to see you again mate), Pepsi P, and some other people
who’s names I forget, and apologise for. There were some of our friends in
attendance and some missing, they know who they are so I won’t mention you.
A big thank you to some members of another tribute band, Stayed as Quo from
Bristol. It was great to meet you and talk to Paul, Kev, Ron the jacket, and the
very lovely Lorna. Thanks for your support and we hope to return the favour in
the future.
Load-out and van loading took a little longer than usual, but we had a great
evening and look forward to playing the Firehouse again soon.
Many thanks to Ian and his staff and everyone who took the time to rock with us,
Thanks a million!
Take care and stay safe.
Keep Rockin’
TA!!
The Firehouse (Southampton) (7th April 2008)
Well hello, it’s wino time again and I’m fuelled on a rather nice
Shiraz/Cabernet from down under. We’re all okay, rehearsals are going well and
we have finalized the set lists.
We have our first gig (for BQ mark VI) on the 17th of May
at the Firehouse in Southampton.
We have several other gigs booked, but they’re private functions. So, it’ll be
great to see you all in Southampton. Although it’s our home city, we have never
played at any of its venues, so this’ll be a double first!
See you all at the gig.
Take care and stay safe.
Keep Rockin’
TA!!
October Update (15th October 2007)
Well hello ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls, your resident BQ reporter here again!
I’m having a lovely glass of milk whilst I type this latest instalment.
It seems that it’s a case of “Tempus Fugit” for October and 2007 in general! I
say this because, the year has just flown by and we’ve finished rehearsals for
the rest of this month.
The reasons for us stopping for now are; it’s Pete’s birthday at the weekend,
and Tony has a function to attend at the end of the month. However, we are at
the phase where we are sorting out set lists!
Before I end this gripping instalment, I just want to tell (BORE!) you all with
a mention of my recent holiday to the home of the brave and free, the best small
country in the world! SCOTLAND!!
Yes, I’ve been to the land of HaggisGolfWhiskyThistlesandLochs. SA looked as
lovely as ever!
Biggus Davus and Lisa accompanied me on what was going to be a road trip, but I
changed my car just before we were going to go. So, we flew with Ryan Air, and
hired a Hertz car.
We had a very enjoyable break, and saw lots of wonderful countryside. I’m not
going to tell you to go to Scotland, but miss what it has to offer at your own
peril!!
I also recently saw super rockers Rush at Wembley Arena, and I actually
witnessed Neil Peart drop a drumstick! It happened during a gap in YYZ. I was
stunned, that a Drum God could do such a mortal thing! But Neil is a consummate
professional and if you blinked you would have missed it.
Neil, Geddy and Alex you’re all amazing!
That’s it from me for now.
Keep Rockin’!
See you out there soon!
Take care and stay safe!
August 2007 Almost There! (26th August 2007)
Well hello boys and girls, your resident BQ wino here again! Yes, I’m having a
lovely drop of grape whilst I type this latest instalment.
My chosen drop of juice is from South-Eastern Australia; I do love my Aussie Red
wines. This one has a selection of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mataro, and
Grenache grapes.
Glug! Glug! Glug! Slurrrrrrrrp!
We’ve had a rehearsal to forget this week. Not that once we got going things
didn’t go in the right direction. It’s just that I broke a few sticks and
Billy’s Bass amp speaker died during “Roll over lay down.” (Now he has to get a
new one!) Nevertheless, we were able to finish the session without further
problems.
It’s fortunate that it happened during rehearsals and not at a gig, because
although we have spare parts for most of our equipment, we have no spare Bass
Amps!
Pete is working really well and his playing, and his vocals are sounding good!
Billy is also doing vocals on “Junior’s Wailing, Bye bye Johnny, and Roadhouse
Blues.” And we are getting close to doing some of those new songs that have been
promised for so long, but have never materialized. We will be working on them
very soon.
Keep Rockin’!
See you out there somewhere!
Take care and stay safe!
July 2007 Rehearsals (5th July 2007)
Well hello boys and girls, we’re in fine fettle and hope that you’re okay out
there!
Our new guitarist Pete is working really well, and although we’ve been unable to
accept any bookings now, we’ll soon redress the balance.
Sir Dave of Dell is doing a sterling job as always with this website, and
without his effort, enthusiasm, and support, our efforts would be poorer!
We’d like to thank all of you for your kind words, enquires, and continued
support.
Let’s hope that summer arrives soon, or we’ll all be sprouting webbed toes and
start quacking.
Keep Rockin’!
See you out there somewhere!
Take care and stay safe!
... hmmm, lets see if I can remember how all this fits together!
Hello Quo fans, I know that it seems like we’ve fallen off the planet, and
some people out there would love that! But we’re still alive and well (just!).
First, thank you to everyone that have been e-mailing us, and making enquiries.
We’ve had a few false starts with a new guitarist, between September and the end
of ’06. Also, during that time I’ve received some early treatment for suspected
carpal tunnel syndrome! And that has had an effect on rehearsals. However, I’m
getting there, and we have a new guitarist to tryout.
So, things are starting to move in the right direction at last. We might even
announce a gig in the near future!
Take care and keep rockin’
Well hello all you quo maniacs, yes it’s me here once more to ramble on and
on about absolutely anything and everything! Only this time round I’ll do my
best to keep it cheery, but as you all know sometimes I get a bit rattled now
and then! I’m only human (even though I’m only a Drummer)!
What do you mean sort of?
Well I must say that it’s nice to be the right way up again! You see (for those
of you who don’t know) I’ve been to Australia, but rumours of my living there
are not true. But it’s a great place and very interesting, beautiful, dangerous
and far far away! Too far for me to settle in, well for know anyway.
Australia isn’t the only country that I’ve visited during my time away from the
band (more on that later). Scotland, land of the brave and the free! It’s not
the other side of the world, but it’s the greatest small country in the world
(so they say). And I have to say that I’m in love with S.A (no, not Southern
Australia or South Africa or Saudi Arabia) but it is in Scotland.
Anyway on to rockin’ with BQ again, not B&Q!
I’d been giving the idea of possibly playing with Bogus Quo again a bit of
thought, but whether I would play again wasn’t just up to me!
First off, I had to discuss it with my wife, and then test the water to see if
BQ wanted me to return? After a couple of attempts to get in touch with Tony and
Billy I managed to chat to Tony at his house and we talked. I spoke to Billy on
the phone a few days later, and now we’re looking to rehearse very soon!
So now I’m drinking a very nice Blossom Hill Shiraz/Grenache and listening to
Belavista Man whilst I write this here diary.
And as I sign off, I have to say that I reckon that we’ll hope to be gigging the
new look BQ by Christmas.
Keep Rockin’ dudes!!