bluebirdparade.co.uk

Last Friday, we supported Special Brew at the Arches in Coventry, a snooker hall-cum-venue set back on an industrial estate next to a set of imposing railway arches (get it?) with echoes and shadows straight out of a Midlands gangster flick, if there is such a thing.  Special Brew is a nine-piece 2Tone covers band, tight as a gnat’s belt.  We’re something else altogether:

But the audience, though prepped for ska and slightly bemused by our skalessness, was wholly chivalrous (there were even a few dancing) and warm – literally warm.  We broke an unseemly sweat, but the poor folks from Special Brew did exceptionally well to muster as much energy as they did in the sub-tropical temperatures (the Arches’ only fault).  It’s a shame they only play a few times a year, but with that kind of exertion you can understand why!  Plus they had already put in a formidable effort to promote the night and the good cause it was in aid of: the particularly grand thing about this gig was that it raised over £1000 for Teenage Cancer Trust via Special-ized.

I know I said in the last blog that I would write over the weekend, and now it’s almost the next weekend…well, that’s rural Broadband for you, and the helpful, empathetic, extremely knowledgeable customer service reps at BT.  But that’s also my inertia over the last month or two.  So there is a lot of other stuff to catch up on away from Coventry, including our other May gig with Stone Foundation – they were great; their album is great; we are sure the rest of their tour will be great, too.  I think they should call the next one “Preaching to the Converted”.  As for our own slow, languid tour of select regions within middle England, the next gig on the horizon is the Belper Exile Festival on Friday, June 29th.  We have the 9:45 p.m. penultimate slot, and you can find out more at www.belpermusicfestival.org.uk.  July and August are quiet so far, but we’re also planning our own headlining gig at the Donkey in Leicester on Saturday, September 15th.  I know that’s a long way off, and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on summer thinking about it too much, but we’d like to get the date embedded in your brains early.

The other really important thing that I need to do is wish Laura all the best for her new endeavors and officially welcome this guy into our lineup:

Don’t let the surprised expression fool you – Will Lindsay knows what he’s doing.  He’s fab, and we like him a lot.

NB: Big thanks go to Caragh Melling, who gamely took photos at the Arches on our behalf, using our little camera.  The photos in this post were taken by John Coles, who has a much better camera than we do!  I’ll put some more photos from both devices into our Gallery, but you can also see John’s Bluebird and Special Brew pix at picasaweb.google.com/108574838044816197362/SpecialBrewFriends02#. 

No, not a small, sticky, and serrated proof of payment.  More a stamp of approval and relief: good job, Joe and O.  The trans-Atlantic news today is worthy of my handmade gold owl from the East Village (only that won’t make an impression on a virtual page, so we’ll just have to pretend), or a third-encore feet stamp from the crowd like the Simone Felice Group got in Nottingham last week (heart-stoppingly good).  I’ll slip this in while I’m still feeling proud: did you know that I’m American?  And hey, good job to Bluebird Parade too.  My off-form banter notwithstanding, we had a cracking set at the Musician last Sunday.  And we’re off to a snooker lounge in support of Special Brew tomorrow.  Anyway, this is just a quick post to check that you’re still paying attention…we’ll do some catching up over the weekend, and I’ll tell you all about it then.

Some of my fondest memories are of vinyl, and on vinyl, too: purchasing that crucial first record with my allowance money (either a K-Tel compilation called Hit Explosion featuring A Flock of Seagulls, Haircut One Hundred, and Toni Basil; or Men at Work’s Business as Usual, depending on whether or not a K-Tel compilation can possibly count); slow-dancing solo in the living room as a moody teenager to Pornography by the Cure; digging a $1 copy of Strange Kind of Love by Love and Money out of the used LP sale on the Amherst town green (they were pretty obscure in the States, you see).  So I am rawthah excited that soon I will be able to watch Bluebird Parade go round and round on the turntable.  Listen, for those of you who don’t Facebook – and how could I blame you? – I will report the news verbatim.  It’s from the Special-ized page, of course – and yes, we will ride that particular seventh wave for as long as we can:

“With the CD upon us any day now- we are proud to announce that the vinyl album sampler will be available shortly. On top of this JumpUp Records in the USA are releasing a 7″ EP on vinyl featuring four tracks from the album! The EP will feature King Hammond, Roland Gift & The Values, Lee Thompson and Orange street. Another single featuring Bluebird Parade and Prince Edward Island to follow that! we will keep you informed as these will be very limited edition so it will get it then or miss out. Artist Harry Pye (of Team Beswick & Pye) is also designing very rare prints to give away with first few bought. Exciting times.”

More news in due course.  I’m off to blow dust out of some grooves.

For those of you who couldn’t make last night’s gig at the Musician, you missed a wonderful evening.  Malc (welcome back!) was kept busy on the desk as he had to accommodate, in set order, Fatbwoi (one person), Fay Brotherhood (two people: Steve Bentley was filling in on pheasant feathers and bodhran, since Fay’s usual fiddle player was injured), us (six people; more on that in a minute), and Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos (five people, although with a name like that you might be expecting a baker’s dozen, and fire-eaters and acrobats).  You had guitars, percussion, trombone, flugel, basses, accordion, a snare drum, a full drum kit, vocals, and alto and soprano saxophones, both played by the same person at the same time (well, someone needed to snake-charm the dancers at the front into submission).  Pete from Magic Teapot Promotions had to get out his calculator to figure out the running times; I don’t know how Malc managed, except possibly by having Magic in front of his name, too; and ears of gold.  And when the fog of leather trousers and gently provocative, geographically scattered accents lifted from our senses and we staggered from the stage towards an insufficient night’s sleep and another work-week’s end, we in Bluebird Parade were quite pleased with ourselves.  It was the first time we had performed semi-acoustically with all six of us: acoustic guitars only, Styx on his snare like the lone survivor on a shrinking drum island, Laura reining in Mark’s looser moments with those essential basslines, Russ donating the much-missed brass riffs that are casualties of the three-piece acoustic line-up.  So not the full-on band, but all of us together.  As I couldn’t help but observe, “Slightly emasculated – but happy”.  It’s not a bad way to make music: we’ll try it again next week, at the Donkey Song Club on February 2nd.

Hope to see you there.

Just a quick post wishing you all a happy Year of the Dragon 2012/4710.  My sources tell me that the Dragon, the most powerful of the zodiac signs, is typically dominant, ambitious, passionate, and driven.  Our Jon is a Wood Dragon: “Wood Dragons also are willing to entertain the opinions of others. Their artistic side is strong, and Wood Dragons enjoy being creative and innovative. They get along with others, but will always be the dominating force” (no, not from the back of a restaurant placemat, but close.  www.chinesezodiac.com)…here’s to his health and good fortune this year, and to yours!

By the way, we appeared in the Leicester Mercury again this weekend, along with the superb By the Rivers: www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/City-bands-signed-Special-ndash-ized-project/story-14994892-detail/story.html  Ah, the fresh bloom of youth.  And By the Rivers look pretty good, too.

Now that I can embed HTML code as easily as snapping my fingers, I thought I’d be bold and post two timely videos in order to publicize two of our upcoming gigs (it’s all becoming a bit “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, but so far I’m in control – honest).  The first one is a feast for the senses from the fabulous Magic Tombolinos – the kind of band where you just have to insert an awestruck adjective in between the definite article and the actual name – who, we are excited to report, we are supporting on Thursday, January 26th, at the Musician Pub in Leicester.  Or should that be “whom”?  Either way, please check them out.   I’ve cribbed the following from their website, www.magictombolinos.co.uk:

Led by Alejandro Toledo (Bachelor in Classical Saxophone Performance, Masters in Gypsy Saxophone Performance, and currently a PhD candidate in Romani Performance Practices), this high energy band delivers some of the most exciting performances.

“Our ever-evolving musical idiom reflects the way we think and live. Our music, among other things, is a conjunction of various influences (Classical, Rock, Gypsy, African, Middle-Eastern, Latin, and Hip-Hop rhythms) which we bring from places we have lived, visited, or simply the music we like, and have filtered through our own distinct voice.” A.

Classical gypsy hip-hop?!  We can’t believe our luck that we are going to watch them locally, and for free!  As for the rest of you, tickets are £7, and if you get them directly from us, we may be able to earn enough money to pay for Laura’s petrol from Mansfield.

Oh yeah, and the video:

Of course, we are getting EQUALLY excited about the Leicester branch of the Special-ized (am I the only one who bothers to insert the hyphen anymore?) Launch on Saturday, March 3rd at the Donkey.  Wow – Punks Not Dad, Bluebird Parade, and By the Rivers – almost as eclectic among the three of us as the Magic Tombolinos are by themselves.  It’s going to be a “special” night, indeed – and the £5 for a ticket will go, naturally, to the Teenage Cancer Trust.  Buy them now while they’re still available – the Edinburgh launch gig is already sold out.  www.pineapstertickets.com/venues/2968

Here is Bluebird Parade’s own promotional video for the whole project.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental:

That’s it for now.  Further gig details are listed below.  And if you think they make this post too visually sprawling, well…you aren’t the one in charge of the brooms, are you.

Related show

• Artist: Bluebird Parade supporting Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos
• Date: Thursday, January 26th 2012
• Time: 8:00pm
• City: Bluebird Parade supporting Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos in Leicester
• Venue: The Musician
• Address: Clyde Street
• Country: UK
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

• Artist: Special-ized Charity Album Launch
• Date: Saturday, March 3rd 2012
• Time: 8:00pm
• City: Special-ized Charity Album Launch in Leicester
• Venue: The Donkey
• Address: Welford Road
• Country: UK
• Admission: £5
• Notes: Featuring Punks Not Dad, Bluebird Parade, and By the Rivers. Ticket and album proceeds go to Teenage Cancer Trust.
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

Ah, what a lovely interview with Graham Lambert on BBC Radio Coventry!  He embodies the generous spirit and enthusiasm that is turning the Special-ized project into such a success…and he gives us a fantastic name-check.  Thank you, Graham.

“SPECIALIZED” INTERVIEW – BBC RADIO COVENTRY – THE VIC MINETT SHOW by Paul Willo