old news

25th August 2006

On Wednesday, 6th September Maxine Edgington succumbed to cancer after a long and incredibly courageous fight. I first met her when she came to Mike Hallett’s studio in Weymouth to listen to the playback of ‘We Laughed’, the song that she wrote with Billy Bragg. Maxine was a remarkable character, always positive, upbeat and, well, full of life right up to the end. She will be sadly missed.

The Ben Waters Band set off for the Great Woods Park Festival, Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada on Saturday 6th August. It was the first time I’d ever been across the Atlantic into North America, and it was a fascinating experience. We flew into Toronto (business class, due to a great bit of blagging by Ben) and on to Winnipeg, where we were met by the festival organisers, Ron Madjeski and Tom Bowler (crazy name! Crazy guy!).

Ron, his partner Karen and Tom have been running the festival for eleven years in an absolutely idyllic setting just outside Beausejour. The Brokenhead River runs through the site, bald eagles snatch fish out of the river, chipmunks nick your leftovers and the horizon goes on forever.

As for the music, blimey! Wonderful blues/roots bands from Canada and the USA. The standard of musicianship, particularly within the rhythm sections, was frankly intimidating. The strange thing was that when we shuffled onstage to knock out our bunch of dodgy 12-bars, they loved it! Ben will go down well with any audience anywhere because he’s a world-class player, a great entertainer and a specialist in his field, but it was strange to get complements from scarily good rhythm section players. Apparently we’ve got a uniquely British sound that they find appealing (or perhaps they were just being kind). Monty Python’s big in Canada too!

A day and a half back in Blighty and then it was off to Finland . Unfortunately our flight out of Gatwick was delayed, meaning that we missed our connection at Amsterdam and had to wait seven hours for the next flight to Helsinki (the first-class lounge softened the blow), where we were due onstage at the Storyville Happy Jazz Club at 10pm. We eventually got there at midnight after 19 hours travelling and went straight onstage, where we played straight through until 3am . I woke up the next day at ten to seven and had no idea whether it was a.m. or p.m. I eventually worked it out by the way the shadows were moving on the wall of the hotel across the road.

We had three great gigs at Storyville and then it was back to the UK , and another gig with Ben on the boat on Thursday 24th August as it cruised around Poole Harbour on another beautiful summer night.

My son Jack has started playing bass, so on Monday 28th, his 13th birthday, I gave him his first bass. I don’t know who was more chuffed, me or him! Expect a picture of Jack with bass in the gallery bit of this site soon.

The Ben Waters band topped the bill of a day of music that night in Maumbury Rings in Dorchester, a Roman amphitheatre and a fantastic setting.

We’ve got our first Little Dixie gig in a long while at the Three Horseshoes in Burton Bradstock, Dorset on Friday 15th September. The following day it’s Marsha’s Fun Day, the annual celebration of the life of my mate Phil McDonnell’s daughter, at the Winning Post in Twickenham, London. Marsha was brutally murdered in 1993 and every year the musical fraternity unites to show solidarity with Phil and his family, and to produce 12 hours of world-class music. This year’s show features contributions from Nine Below Zero, The Strawbs, Maggie Bell, Hamish Stewart (Average White Band) and Jeff Allen’s All Stars, featuring musicians that regularly play with the likes of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Fleetwood Mac (Bob Weston) and the like. There’s a coach running up from Weymouth, costing £25 (including entry to the gig). Contact me if you’re interested.

As usual, the Thursday night jam sessions continue at Finns, Westham Road, Weymouth . New and established bands and solo artists are encouraged to take to the stage, and there’s at least half a dozen bands out gigging now that started off playing a few numbers at these sessions. If you want to book yourself a slot, get down there before 9pm and have a word with me (or Tim Broad while I’m away). PA and backline is provided.

Chris Lonergan





Valid CSS! Valid HTML 4.01!