Jumpin Hot Club Revue – Part 2/ Words Shippy/ pics- Shippy, Anna, Philippa, Martin.
Shippy here, Hope you don’t mind me filling in the 3 days you missed of the revue tour, Juan Fitzgerald.
My hands had taken a right old pasting from 3 nights of playing the Double Bass (after what seemed 100 years of not) however things settled down a bit and l was carrying the flame and plodding on regardless. I think l got my mojo back, as it got much easier to play the beast.
From Bath we headed into The Cotswold’s via a quick visit to Eddie Cochran’s memorial in Chippenham. How super posh is this neck of the woods & how arrogant are those folk. We must have had the most inhospitable hosts ever in The George Inn, Lower Brailes. However the promoter Tim had worked really hard to get a good crowd at Brailes Village Hall on a Tuesday night for us. The show was a concert for big Jim Sargeant , a Jumpin Hot supporter who passed in January. Rob’s yodelling set the night alight and with Ags Connolly in attendance, a country hoedown in the country was witnessed. We then headed to Leamington Spa after strange goings on with a bell ringing jam at 4am in Brailes church !
We spent all day in the lovely spa town & Martin even fell asleep in the park. Mind, I wouldn’t go in the toilets there, if I were you… stinking. The gig was in the Temperance café. They had a live big screen outside the venue which provided lots of silly antics from Errant Moose & Rupert to the elder statesmen on tour (Me & Martin). A fella brought an old Jumpin Hot Club LP from 1989 down , so I just knew we were onto a good thing here…so we all finished in the winners circle there. The weather was on our side all week but a long drive to Glasgow via an Andy Kershaw podcast in Todmorden wasn’t the best of ideas from me. Andy told me that his dog “Bertie” was a bit of a ladies man ( and under his breath said, he was too) . That made me laugh & we had a very good humorous recording session in his kitchen . Sorry but we all forgot to ask Andy when it would be aired . I might even pay to listen to it myself. Rupert got us to the Glad Café on time with his awesome driving skills. He’s not just a fantastic musician you know. Id met promoter Kevin in Canada at a music conference way back & he does a great job in Glasgow & the gig had sold out months ago. . I personally liked this show the most, as my friend Martin Barrett accompanied me on guitar & he had actually learned the tunes. Even more than me, I might add. The whole Revue tonight were absolutely amazing particularly Martin Stephenson & Rupert & it was just such a fun & heartfelt gig. We celebrated in the wee hours in The Botanist in central Glasgow, testing John Shuttleworth’s theory, that people are nicer the further north you go ! Maybe we should play Glasgow’s The Grand Ol’ Opry next time there. Then it was back down to Gosforth Civic Theatre & another big highlight for my good self , as Nev Clay joined me on stage. As a thanks we played one of Nev’s songs “Hurting You “ in Claypath Deli the following evening. Having Martin & Rupert get up every night with me on my last tune , was such a thrill. They lifted the songs to another level. As did Cowboy Rob singing “Crazy Country Fool” and Errant Moose presence on tour for just being themselves. !
The Jumpin Hot Revue was booked by Rob Heron & myself back in January. I specifically wanted all these artists on the tour as a celebration of the past and the future of The Jumpin Hot Club. I’d say it worked & was the perfect mix & thankfully for us, a big success. Great big thanks to Juan for keeping the memories & photographic evidence & joining us on most of the tour. Also Anna Lavigne for Glasgow pics/footage.
