I'M BACK AFTER BICIPITAL TENDONITIS AND A TORN LIGAMENT

Hello, have you missed me.  I'm sorry I haven't written my blog for what seems like an eternity but for those of you who don't know I tore a ligament in my shoulder and also got bicipital tendonitis.  I was just doing my usual stuff in the cellar, lifted four 9 gallon casks on the Friday worked two shifts and come the Monday I was in so much pain.  Long story short, couldn't use right arm, pain killers knocked me unconcious (when I wasn't being off my head) and then since I've been back I've been playing catch up with work stuff and still can't pull a pint with my right arm, however I can now do it with my left so not all bad.

So here's the blog for the last few months

June - Unconcious on pain killers

July - Unconcious on pain killers and then awake but busy

August - Knackered after being unconcious and awake and busy

In August so far I've seen some quality bands in Cask Corner thank you to you all,

SUPERCELL

DANIEL JEAN RENAUD & THE CAMDEN CATS

ALICE NICOLLS

MEMPHIS CRUISERS

DOSCH

LIVE & GIGGING WITH HOLLIE SUE

CLOGIRON BROTHERS

T C & THE MONEYMAKERS

LIVE & GIGGING WITH ALISTAIR PEARSON

AVIT

GROOMLAKE FUGITIVES

Plus the Comedy night with Headliner DOMINIC WOODWARD, host Jack Evan and support from Tom Tolson, Paul Mutegejja, Natasha Bisby, Liam Mitchell and James Spencer was a great night which I missed thanks to The Waterboys who I went to see in York and were brilliant don't know why I'd never heard of them until Simon mentioned them!

Now I'll try and revert to the usual diary ramblings of "What I did last week".

MONDAY 18.08.14
Usual Monday stuff, pay bills, rack, order, event stuff work till too late.  Scrabble which I did not win, argh not on, I'm going to have to up my game this week.

TUESDAY 19.08.14
Live and Gigging with the extremely talented Alistair Pearson which was great he's just too good, finally got to record The Legend of Dandelion and Shoe which is a, to quote Simon, stunning song.  However I'd taken my camera sans battery so had to do it on my Nexus which messes the sound a bit.I'm just trying to make it sound a bit better before I upload it.  Simon and the wonderful photographer and Mapfest web designer Mark Loraine were there and we had a chat about Mapfest (which is this weekend 29th and 30th).

WEDNESDAY 20.08.14
Up bright and early for a photo shoot to advertise Mapfest at the Marketplace Alehouse and Deli then to Cask for delivery.  Open Mic was great this evening, I had such fun it was a little quiet but it usually is before the bank holiday but the atmosphere was great and the performances outstanding.

Here's Richard Cook showing us you don't need instruments or a PA when you've got a voice like his.

THURSDAY 21.08.14
Day off and I did absolutely nothing but watch telly and hanjii until Simon came round and Georgia came for a coffee.  I went for tea at Mummy and Daddys armed with birthday presents for my sister who didn't come!!  Her birthday was July 30th, will I ever get to see her before Christmas because at present in the bag with her birthday presents are also her easter ones!

FRIDAY 22.08.14
The start of the bank holiday weekend, both looked forward to and dreaded by landlords around the country, we look forward to the business but dread the drunks we have to refuse to serve (well we refuse at Cask I'm pretty sure other establishments aren't quite so vigilant at doing that).  A great night with AVIT back to where they belong, awesome band and a packed out bar.

SATURDAY 23.08.14
Nice lazy day, Mick Holmes came round to wash my pots (got a weeks worth and not had either the time or inclination to do them.  We ended up chatting and playing harmonica and banjolele until it was time to come to Cask so the pots remain unwashed.  Groom Lake Fugitives were amazing, so good to see these guys going places they deserve it, they were born at Cask Corner along with Smoking Beagles so I feel very maternal towards them, it was another packed out bar everybody dancing and singing and a great atmosphere. Got home in the early hours.

SUNDAY 24.08.14
A delivery ordered on Friday evening for Saturday hadn't come so I re-ordered it for Sunday delivery so left my phone on in case they needed to contact me however, Gary Drakett felt the need to call me at the dawn of crack, so woke me up far too early but I took the oportunity to ring up said company to ensure the delivery did indeed come today and then ring Gary and swear at him.  Pottered oh and washed some pots!!!!!  Then it was time yet again to visit my, I was going to say second home but I'm pretty sure Cask Corner is now my first home as I'm there far more than I am at my actual home.  Tom, Georgias son, is playing at Mapfest on Saturday and wanted to rehearse at Jam night with Laura Kelly, he's a 9 year old pianist and very good.  Jam night was brilliant.  It was so busy that instead of staying for an hour I ended up leaving at 11.45 to finish enjoying my "day off".  Oh and the delivery didn't come again lets see what there excuse is this time.

For those of you who want to know this is what's happening at Cask Corner this week here's all the information and times etc.  Don't forget it's Mapfest this weekend with music from 2.30 onwards on Saturday all Free entry.

TUESDAY 26.08.14 21.00 – 02.00 FREE ENTRY
LIVE & GIGGING WITH KARL SCOTT
Dynamic, emotional, spiritual - just a few word that have been used to describe Karl Scott’s music. He is an acoustic singer-songwriter who travels around and has performed in Europe, the US, and the UK. Karl enjoys experimenting with unusual tunings, multiple capos and dynamics. Being completely self taught his style is somewhat percussive, with soft cinematic overtones. Karl has 3 self made ep’s, even designing and making the covers himself. His particular joy is to play house concerts, finding the intimacy a perfect way to connect with people.

WEDNESDAY 20.30 – 02.00 FREE ENTRY
OPEN MIC
James Taplin will be your host for the evening, offering support, advice and some of his great music, it's a chance for all you budding young/old musicians to come and share your music with us at Cask Corner, we have a full PA, Mic, Piano and Drum kit and a tiny maraca, just bring your guitars or whatever other instrument you play and have a jam.

THURSDAY 21.00 – 02.00 50p PER PERSON (MAX TEAM SIZE 6 PEOPLE)
QUIZ NIGHT
Brilliant Quiz and fabulous music from DJ Cevin Moore.

ALSO ON THURSDAY 28.08.14 18.00 – 21.00 FREE ENTRY
MAKING THE MOST OF RADIO
At this special event in partnership with MapFest, Music Industry Yorkshire and DMF Digital presents a panel of industry experts to discuss the different radio sectors, which one is best for different genres of music, and share tips and tricks how emerging musicians can take best advantage of radio to get their music to new, wider fan-bases.

Panel includes:
Alan Raw - BBC Introducing stage compare at Leeds festival, Music Industry Yorkshire Outreach
Jon Kelly - Programming coordinator at Sine FM 102.6 Doncaster
Chris Hague - Radio Plugger into national and international stations
Christian Carlisle - BBC Introducing presenter for South Yorkshire

Now in its Third Year, Mapfest continues to be the premier Urban event for music and spoken word in Doncaster.

With more than 20 venues and in excess of 150 acts there is something for everyone right across Doncaster Town Centre, so if you like Jazz, Blues, Rock, Prog or Irish music to name but a few. Obviously I want you to stay here at the Blues Stage so I've got some quality acts on both Friday evening and all day Saturday starting at 2.30pm with the youngest person to perform at Mapfest, Tom Myerscough a 9 year old pianist, and triple headliners, Fallen Trees, 13 Women and Smoking Beagles!!!

Doncaster’s very own brewery will be supplying a specially brewed beer for us. And should you need a break from the partying, the fabulous Yorkshire Pie House will keep you feed with their wonderful Mapfeast as it goes, this also includes the Mapfest beer too, so there is no escape.

So, put the date in your Calendar, set your watches and arrange childcare should you need it – this year’s Mapfest looks like it is going to be the biggest and best yet!

FRIDAY 29.08.14 08.30 – 02.00 FREE ENTRY
MAPFEST WEEKEND - THE RUSTY NAILS
Blues Turned up to 10!

SATURDAY 30.08.14 14.00 – 02.00 FREE ENTRY
MAPFEST WEEKEND – SMOKING BEAGLES, FALLEN TREES, 13 WOMEN, TOM MYERSCOUGH & ANASTASIA WALKER, LAURA KELLY, PAUL & NICK, BLUESY STEVE, ALISTAIR PEARSON, STEVE CHAPMAN SMITH, THE LAST POLITICIAN, DAN RIVERS

SMOKING BEAGLES 00.00 – 01.00
This band will show you what performance, skill and entertainment really are, from rock to blues these guys deliver, definitely a band to watch out for. JAMES TAPLIN - Lead vox/Rhythm guitar; GARY DRAKETT - Keys/Backing vox; TOM LOWBRIDGE - Lead guitar/Tomfoolery; MICK 'The Harp' HOLMES - Blues harp; MATT MCCORMACK - Bass/Backing vox; WILL SAUNDERS - Drums/Backing vox.

13 WOMEN 23.00 – 23.45
A collective of musicians all diggin' the same beat! They record all their own stuff on vintage reel to reel machines! A great feel good band who will have you tapping your feet and singing along even though you don't know the songs!

Bob Hughes - Guitars/vox/Bass/Drums/percussion/Keys/B vox, Danny Foy - Guitars/vox/Bass/Drums/percussion/Keys/B vox, Mick Holmes – Harmonica, Anthony Forder – Double Bass

FALLEN TREES 21.30 – 22.45
Disciples of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and Neil Young.
Fallen Trees are Paul Littlewood, Glenn Moss, Graham Sutherland and Dave Timmons.
‘something dirty and perfectly dissonant, a band like this will destroy you' - Electric Ghost
'super intense, bold rockers' - Sheffield Telegraph

STEVE CHAPMAN SMITH 20.30 – 21.30
Has had a wide and varied musical career to date. He has played on many recordings from bands including Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Fiat Lux, Ghostdance, Riprize,Ada Wilson, Stranger than Fiction and more recently The Troubadors. He has also had the pleasure of recording 4 sessions for the late great John Peel with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Ghostdance at the BBC's Maida Vale studios.

LAURA KELLY 19.30 – 20.30
Singer/guitarist from Barnsley making use of Loop pedals and harmonisers to create a unique performance which will have you spellbound from start to finish.

PAUL KEETON & NICK TROTH 18.30 – 19.30
Brilliant blues guitar, singing and harmonica

ALISTAIR PEARSON 17.30 – 18.30
Alistair J Pearson started writing and recording songs in 2010 following a bilateral lung transplant. Nobody has been able to shut him up since. He regularly plays open mics and busks around Doncaster playing a mixture of folk, indie and alternative songs and covers.

The Scrooby Star (October 2013):- "Nearly 100 people were treated to a great evening of music kicked off by Doncaster singer/songwriter Alistair J Pearson, whose unique style really got the crowd going."

THE LAST POLITICIAN 17.00 – 17.30
Ian Walker (The Last Politician) has been writing songs for several years. He organised the first music festival in Doncaster Market Place way back when. He has been involved in music for many, many years.

The Last Politician sings AgitaPop commentaries on life, love, politics and travelling in the tradition of protest singers since music began with: Ugg twanging his Bow in time to the Chorus "Chief Fat Bum steals my meat."

BLUESY STEVE 16.30 – 17.00
Our very own bar man, amazing blues guitar playing earthy, dirty, sexy, blues.

DAN RIVERS 16.00 – 16.30
Bar man, friend and a great singer songwriter

TOM MYERSCOUGH & ANASTASIA WALKER 14.30 – 15.00
Tom is a 9 year old pianist and new member of Doncaster Stage Orchestra he is the youngest person ever to take part in MAPFest and today he will be accompanied by Anastasia Walker lead singer of the fabulous band Bang Bang Romeo.

SUNDAY 19.00 - 02.00 FREE ENTRY
THE SUNDAY CORNER JAM NIGHT
Drum kit, bass, guitars, keyboard, ukulele, Cajon drum all available. Selection of shaky eggs/ tambourines available for those unenthusiastic participants haha

Acoustic songbooks also available for people who claim 'they don't know anything'

MONDAY 01.09.14 19.30 – 02.00 FREE ENTRY
3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY, GAMES NIGHT AND GENERAL SILLINESS
Three years ago I became the proud owner of Cask Corner Dive bar, its caused me grief, aged me terribly but I LOVE it, I've met some wonderful, wonderful people, and heard some great music, some amazing music in fact and generally had a ball. Tonight it's your chance to come and play some games, we've got twister and I'm bringing in the Scrabble for anybody who wants to challenge the mistress of the game and there'll be other games, I personally think Charades should be played. There'll be nibbles and go on then Lemon drizzle cake. Get your party hats on.

ROCK STAR

I'm a lot more organised this week, I made notes so hopefully I won't miss anything or anybody out.

MONDAY 02.06.14
I had a meeting with the lovely Rachel from Doncopolitan we discussed advertising, and Mapfest and touched on some other interesting things including me maybe writing an article one day!  Lunch with Simon then in the evening Scrabble which I lost, not a happy bunny.

TUESDAY 03.06.14
This evening I had two events at Cask Corner, one was Under the Chandelier organised by "Writing Yorkshire" it was basically an open mic for poets and writers and there was some great material read that made us laugh and cry and the evening ended with Allan Wilkinson playing guitar and singing some of his own songs which were wonderful I'm hoping he will come to Open Mic one Wednesday, people would love to hear him.  

The other event was upstairs and was the monthly meeting of the Homebrew Group I shot upstairs for the final bits of it and was in stitches at Nigels story of his chimney being accidentally taken down instead of his neighbours and having to be rebuilt and also his bees "don't read the books" and aren't dong what they're supposed to, hopefully I'll have some more of his bees honey soon the last lot was fabulous.  Smelt the hops and didn't guess what they were (one day I'll get it right) and tasted some of Pete Hindles' alcoholic Dandelion and Burdock, wow it packed a punch and made us all pull a face but was instantly transformed to palatable with the addition of sugar syrup from the cocktail bar.  Was gutted to find out that Brew Camp is on the same weekend as Mapfest so I won't be able to go, I was really looking forward to it. 

Back home to scrabble and another darn loss for me, I'm finding it very hard not to sulk.

WEDNESDAY 04.06.14
Got my early morning wake up call from Al from Thwaites his words "Bet you thought you were dreaming", me "I was, I was fast asleep".  Off to Cask to his delivery and several others, very full cellar.  Went to look at a shop with Simon for his record shop, it was perfect apart from the mushrooms growing in one of the rooms at the back but they said they'd sort that.

Today its Daddys' birthday so off I went to Frenchgate Cafe to meet him and Mummy, with my Sister and Simon and Mummys' ex boyfriend Ray who she hasn't seen since 1965 when he moved to Canada and his brother Roger.  Don't think the Frenchgate Cafe has ever had such a rowdy gathering but they were lovely and took photos for us (they also make the best Mocha in town) and we had a great gossip, catch up and a photo looking at session.

From left to right Simon, Daddy, Me, Roger, Mandy, Ray & Mummy

 Then we all went back to Cask for a pint (and to take some selfies in the coffin)

Birthday Boy

Me & Mandy

until they had to leave as Rogers parking time was up.  I think my favourite part of the conversation was when Ray said, "I left in 1965" and my sister replied "That's when I was born!" and he responded "Why do you think I left?" and her quick come back of "Daddy!".

Comedy Night this evening, a bit quieter than normal probably due to the football (which was late due to the weather) and the incessant rain we've had all day, the headline Ro Campbell handled the drunken women heckling very well and was really funny and we beat last months record of 22 people in a disabled toilet with 25 this month.

THURSDAY 05.06.14
I spent all day trying to learn Enter Sandman on Bass guitar, two bits eluded me and weren't helped by my CD jumping on exactly those bits and the bass tabs on the Internet all being different.  This does not bode well for playing with Mr Stiff (a band, naughty minds!!) on Friday, I may have to cancel.  I don't think I ever want to hear the song again either after playing it repeatedly all day (damn now I've got dum dum dum dum dum dum dum in my head)

I've written washing here in my notes don't know why perhaps I did some although I doubt you care either way.  It also says Georgia twice, yes Georgia came for coffee twice.  At last balance was restored this evening by me winning at Scrabble once more.

FRIDAY 06.06.14
The sun was out this morning (probably due to me being back to being the winner in Scrabble again)  Usual busy day and more beer deliveries in readiness for this evening.  Home showered and changed and back to Cask. 

I walked in and went to Paul and Tony and apologised and said "I don't think I'll be able to play with you tonight as I just can't quite do a couple of bits in Enter Sandman", Paul replied laughing "We don't do Enter Sandman, I thought you were joking when you asked if you could play it", great so I spent the entire day yesterday learning a song that they don't even do.  However they insisted that I played with them so we did Gary Moores "Walking By Myself".  I love playing with them it makes me feel like a rock star, I want to jack everything in and join a band I imagine it's how proper musicians feel, the buzz of being on stage, everybody clapping and taking photographs it's great.

SATURDAY 07.06.14
Today I'd planned on gardening I love my garden and every year I spend ages in the greenhouse and planting and weeding, this year I have really neglected it due to work, etc but the gods were against my plans and it rained incessantly all day.  So I took the opportunity to not do housework and not do washing and sat and coloured in (Hanjii) and caught up on my telly viewing, SO lazy. 

In the evening back to Cask Corner and Liberty Skank, luckily football didn't affect us too much and Liberty Skank had everybody dancing all night, great band (and they were even honest enough to let me know I'd overpaid them by £10) brilliant musicians who are also members of Doncaster Jazz Orchestra who I've been following since I was 21 so you know you are going to get quality and professionalism with these guys.

SUNDAY 08.06.14
Another lazy day, it couldn't be helped Ghostbusters was on telly!  Weird that, my ex husband David did a great dance with his mate Pete to Ghostbusters and whenever they're together now they like to embarrass Lorna by doing it, after Ghostbusters was Mannequin which was always a favourite film of mine and Lornas when she was little and after that was Dirty Dancing which I went to see the night before I went into labour so lots of memories for me today.

Off to Sine FM for Simons' show The Other Way (a tad late due to aforementioned Ghostbusters).  Some more brilliant local talent were his guests today, The Missing Pages, James and Kieran,  who were lovely and really good and are coming to Open Mic this Wednesday and Laura Kelly who you all know I love also Dave my friend and wonderful sound man was also there. 

Chatting outside with Dave and Laura and Laura shut the door behind us so we were locked out without mine and Daves phones and no way of letting Simon know until we remembered that we could contact him via facebook on Lauras phone, dur.  After a little jam in the green room Laura let me accompany her on the guitar whilst she played Ukulele and sang, in her beautiful beautiful voice, "Dream A Little Dream Of Me", I didn't do a brilliant job (but in my defence we did only play together for about 5 minutes before hand) but I enjoyed it thank you Laura.  Here's a link to the show for those of you who missed it

 http://www.sinefm.com/a_z_of_shows/the_other_way   (Laura and I are in part 2)

Back home to Trivial Pursuits (Simons a wizz at this and I lost twice) and then Scrabble, I won, it's now 23-4 to me.   Check out Simons blog if you get chance he's the one who got me started and is much better than me http://freelancepeanut.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/left-it-bit-late-starting-this-one.html?spref=fb

Thank you all for reading and below is a list of whats on this week at Cask Corner.

Wednesday 11.06.14      20.30 - 02.00   FREE ENTRY

OPEN MIC

Thursday 12.06.14         21.00 - 02.00    50p

QUIZ NIGHT

Friday 13.06.14             20.30 - 02.00   FREE ENTRY

THE OUTFIT

Saturday 14.06.14         20.30 - 02.00   FREE ENTRY

POORBOY

AND A BIT OF INFO ABOUT IT

WEDNESDAY        20.30 – 02.00    FREE ENTRY     

OPEN MIC

James Taplin will be your host for the evening, offering support, advice and some of his great music, it's a chance for all you budding young/old musicians to come and share your music with us at Cask Corner, we have a full PA, Mic, Piano and Drum kit and a tiny maraca, just bring your guitars or whatever other instrument you play and have a jam.

Now one of my favourite nights of the week, wonderful musicians sharing their passion with us on the stage. If you watch X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent then you'll think you've been watching playschool when you see the talent that we have here. It's a wonderful nights entertainment and a humbling experience for a wannabe musician like me. If you can't play come along and watch, if you can, come along and play we'd love to see you.

THURSDAY         21.00 – 02.00  -  50p     

QUIZ NIGHT

Brilliant Quiz and fabulous music from DJ Cevin Moore.  This quiz is not for the faint hearted but it's only 50p to enter and the prizes are in pints so what's not to love.

 

FRIDAY 13.06.14 – 20.30 – 02.00    FREE ENTRY    

THE OUTFIT

The Outfit are a four piece rocking blues band (happy blues!) from the South Yorkshire area formed at the beginning of 2013. Garry - Harmonica/ Vocals, Martin - Bass/Vocals , Graham - Drums, Mick - Guitar/Vocals. We cover Dr Feelgood, Free, SRV, Canned Heat, Muddy Waters, and Robert Johnson.  They consist of harmonica, guitar, bass, drums, with 3 of them taking turns on vocals. They are mature musicians and have all been in loads of bands over the years.

SATURDAY 14.06.14 – 20.30 – 02.00    FREE ENTRY     

POORBOY

This four piece blues band, based in Leeds, give a cracking gig and have the place jumping from the very first number with an electric atmosphere. Paddy Wells, the bands front man on lead vocal and blues harp is a real performer with a terrific voice.

Gary Whittaker on guitar, Fred Hiebler on bass guitar and Jez on the drums. The band has been together for four years and are a must-see band. They are a genuine band that works hard to entertain.

The band concentrate on the Chicago Blues genre and they have an extensive repertoire. Their rendition of, Nickel and Dimes, Killing Floor, Shame, Shame, Shame, Mellow Down Easy, and Stormy Monday are all guaranteed to take the roof off.