Dog Tail Soup in Skibbereen Nov29 08

Posted on Thu 04 Dec 08

Nov 29th
We play in Skibbereen. A late run on tickets means a full house and spares us all the possibility of blushes on a freezing night!
As a town hall it’s improved immeasurably since it became part youth cafe;more compact,better sound and it has a BAR!VERY important in my book (of gig rules)!
The playing goes well;we have Paul Tiernan back in town from France for a while and a measured approach in the beginning quickly builds to vocalised appreciation from the(usually rather frosty) Skibbereen audience and a standing ovation at gig’s end.
Bloody marvellous and due in no small part to the contribution of new double bass player Gareth Hughes who drove 6hrs plus from N.Ireland to be with us!A fluidly imaginative player with a sweet temperamant and delightfully dry sense of humour we’re thrilled he’ll be joining us on Dec12th at the Crane Lane Theatre in Cork city.More details to follow as they’re known.
Perhaps more interesting (for me) and fulfilling was the concert preamble.We’ve recently been compiling a CD from the 12hrs plus of concert recordings from the summer and made a final selection just prior to saturday (only JUST!).Finding someone able to print at such short notice we took the plunge for an initial run……..and then 5 of us spent nearly 5hrs last week hand making EVERY SINGLE SLEEVE (about 60).In business terms it was sheer madness……….but the thing looks bloody beautiful to my eyes and looking at the pile of them when we were done (and discovering they had ALL been sold IN THE INTERVAL with orders for more)probably gave me the biggest kick i have ever had in 27yrs (really)in this business!Certainly the biggest thrill since the first time i heard one of my records on the radio (John Peel Show 1981 if you’re interested………..you never forget your first kiss!).
It was like being a kid again;all things were possible!The naysayers are only that…it doesn’t mean anything in and of itself because we don’t do this FOR others,we principally do it for ourselves….then try to find the others who care about it the same as we do.
Man this makes me so excited….this is like the secret of eternal life,like the (big trainer company) advertisement;“Find something you can’t do without and do it…… just DO IT”
Tonight we’re sitting down to make another batch of sleeves
And drink some wine
And talk through some stuff
Know what?

I can’t wait!
Love your life
CVBlack