A slight change of plans for Sunday folks. We are excited to announce that blue’s legend Martin Lee Cropper will be the main act onstage for the first part of the afternoon. What Martin doesn’t know about blues is hardly worth knowing. He is passionate about Delta blues and an exponent of the National guitar. We are all in for a magnificent treat. Martin will be followed by even more blues classics from eNJoy. For those Stumptown fans, fear not, Stumptown will be playing Blues Central later in the year. Come and join us on Sunday for some of the best blues you are ever going to hear.
Hopefully, everybody has had good Christmas and maybe (if Santa has been) we will see some new instruments at the jam sessions next year.
Well, in December we had our final jam session of 2022 and it included some of the usual suspects, a number of new combinations of musicians and some interesting and impressive performances. A number of members were pretty gobsmacked to see Ron Kinson taking lead vocals for one of the sets and Gary Green providing excellent support on the harp(?) for Ron. The usual high standard of musicianship was maintained during the afternoon and it is obvious that members are working on their chops to ensure they do not let anyone down when they play.
We also seem to have a group of loyal supporters who, whilst not being musicians, are members and regular attenders and enjoy what we do at the club, and probably the beer and food at The Parade as well.
December produced a number of challenges for the club, which may not have been apparent to most members, but illness and accident impacted the committee and there were some hectic decisions that had to be made. Unfortunately, Gary Palfrey, the new club secretary, had an accident on his motorbike so he was out of action and the rest of the committee tried to cover the responsibilities of Gary. As they say, everything was alright on the night.
We have created a new sub committee to try to establish how many bands have been formed in the club as the club is sometimes approached to see if we have bands available for gigs in the area. The gigs that crop up are often “small” gigs that might require a band for about an hour. The sub committee will try to find out which bands have been formed and if the bands feel ready to do gigs. This may include bands that can do a 45 minute spot, a 90 minute gig or a whole gig. It would also be helpful if “band members” let the sub committee know how they are going and other information such as if the band has a PA or not.
The first Jam Day of 2023 is coming around pretty fast. As the first Sunday in January is the 1st January, so the Jam Day (3rd Sunday) will be 15th January.
We also have Blues Central at Froth Bunbrewery on Sunday the 8th January and some new ideas for Blues Central are being considered. This is another reason to let us know if you have formed a band and would like to perform on the big stage, (soloists and duos included). I think we are going to have some great sessions at Blues Central, Froth and with our regular jam sessions at the fantastic Parade Hotel it will be a great year to be involved with the South West Blues Club.
We are ready to take the year out with a hiss and a roar. It’s been a great year, great music, some great music sessions so let’s give 2022 a great send off. Come and join us for our last jam of the year. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
