The project consists of a suite of applications implementing a custom internet protocol which allows you to access the ARexx ports of applications on remote machines.

The protocol is inspired by webdav / http, but doesn't adhere to them strictly, more taking the useful parts in a pragmatic way.

Security is implemented at several levels, the actual connection can be protected by TLS with implicit and explicit modes (similar to ftps/ftpes). Access over this connection is password protected. Then the range of application ports sharable can be controlled by the servers configuration file.

A server client model is used, the server (NRServer) collates incoming requests and forwards them on to the ARexx ports of the the applications, returning the results in the body of the http style response. Support for setting local ARexx vars is supported (analagous to SetRexxVarFromMsg()) allowing the use of stem variables to pass and retrieve data, however network latency can make this the less efficient choice.

Currently there are two client implmentations, a “native client” (NRClient) and a python module (netrexx) which offers an API very similar to the AmigaOS arexx python module, this module is both python 2.5 / python 3 compatible.

The “native client” creates local arexx ports in a “portname@hostname” format, which can be used in a ARexx script just as any normal port. Just remember to quote the portnames! An special “COMMAND@hostname” port allows you execute commands on the remote machine to start applications, or retrieve directory listings etc. The feature can be switched off in the server config file if desired. As a slight change in API, compared with traditional ARexx, the output from the command executed is returned in the result variable (subject to ARexx string size limits of 32k characters). At some stage filtering of allowed commands may be implemented as an additional security measure.

The following video is a quick and dirty demo of NetRexx, with a server running on my X1000. A python based script on my phone to driving TuneNet is demonstrated along with a a natie script taking data from Ignition running on my SAM Flex, and drawing a graph using SketchBlock on the X1000.

I'm hopeing this system will be useful to other AmigaOS 4 users, and although there is more work to be done (including potential 68k client and server programs) I hope to get something released in the new year.

Happy New Year!

Whilst some years I've bucked the trend with clusters of gigs in January and February, what with the recovery from the pandemic and all, this year has fallen into the mould with gigs sparse until March.

With that in mind I've been working on extending and developing my set, to introduce some new songs that complement but contrast with the many I already sing. Two such songs are "Delia" and "St. James Infirmary".

Both songs have made brief appearance in my set over the years but neither have really stuck around. I think there are two reasons, firstly, they are more wordy, with more of story meaning the verses must be remembered in the right order! Secondly I've not really made them my own, thus haven't felt as comfortable playing them as I might.

Delia is a song I've enjoyed listening too by many artists over the years, there's a great version by Martin Simpson, and I heard many great version at the Railway Folk Club in Southsea, played by the more ragtimey end of the guest artists, spectrum, whilst definitely a blues song, to my mind, it's often found in the repertoire of the more folky artists, possibly due to it's balladic nature.

I first came to learn it myself as part of a set of a blues songs sung / written by Bob Dylan, compiled specifically for a concert at a "Dylan Convention" organised by John Roberts, some years back, and revisited it more recently for the "Dylan And The Dead" weekend. It quickly drifted out of my set the first time but this time I was determined to make something of it and keep it going.

So I set to working on my approach to the guitar playing, at the same time practice the singing aspect to lock the lyrics in my head, I hate to use lyric sheets at gigs, and if I do it's often too dark to see them!

The song is one of a number of songs written about the murder of 14 year old Delia Green by Moses Houston in 1900. This version of the story derives from two Blind Willie McTell songs "Delia" and "Little Delia" though most certainly written by him they have passed into the public domain due to the timing of American copyright law changes.

The first step was then to listen to various of the takes on the song, and naturally in this modern day, YouTube but also Spotify are great resources for this. I was familiar the Dylan version already.

I checked out the Blind Willie McTell version, this has a much faster rolling rag time feel to it, the chord prigression is little different to most versions played too, particularly arround the turnarround. I liked this approach but playing around with it I found that it didn't fit with my way of singing the song, which had, by now, got settled in to a degree in way that I liked. Another famous version is by Dave Bromberg, some whose music I'm not as familar with as I probably should be! Just to confuse my search his version is spelt with an "h" "Dehlia". This has a very nice melodic feel to the guitar playing.

I had feeling though that there was a version by The Reverend Blind Gary Davis, and many less famous youtube versions credited their version to him, but search as I may I couldn't find a trace of the original, either on YouTube or Spotify. It seems though the Gary Davis' version might be called "All My Friends Have Gone" or something similar and found Stephan Grossmans version of that.

This version has the slide up to a high C followed by a decent following the melody on the second half of the verse that I had picked out from the Dylan version, and also a an ascending base line from the F to the G after that, which I had instinctively felt should be there. No doubt I've heard this version or something based on it before and it's filtered out of my subconscious.

So to work on my own take on the song, the only way to get to that is with lots of playing, and deliberatly choosing different voicings of the chords to see what felt good and what didn't.

My starting point was based mostly arround open C & G chords add the melody in with my little finger, but I find that a bit restricting, almost claustrophobic as I like to move around the fret board more, so I switched out the open C shape for a the barred C at the 3rd fret, albeit fingered without the barre, and voiced the following melody notes over the G cord at the 7th and 8th frets of the G & B strings, as my ring and little fingers were fretting those strings in the C chord it was natutal to slide them up to the 7th / 8th fret, and put the 3rd of the G chord (B) in the bass forming a Bm#5.

After a few iterations I found myself either dropping back to a C with an E bass, or hanging on the Bm#5 for the whole bar depending on how the words fell in each verse. Later still I added an Fmaj7 here during instrumental breaks.

Mentally I was taking the verse as 4 distinct phrases, so for the second phrase "She gambled all around" I switched the C for an Am (fretted as a Am6 at the 5th fret) dropping to the same shape for a Gm, open C and back to the barred C following the melody.

The third phrase is where it hits that distinctive high C, to approach that I found I could slide in from a half barred B6 (first finger across all four top strings) to the C6 and drop my little finger down to hit the high C. Initially I just lifted my little finger up again to replay the C6 before a two fingered slide down to the open C chord, but after listening again to the various other versions I realised that second C6 ought to be an F and it was easy enough to drop in my second finger into that half barre to for an F on the top three strings. For the instrumental breaks I added a slide up to the start of the slide down and an extra note to make a more ornate phrasing.

That brought me neatly to a F with the thumb playing the bass note under the fourth phrase of the verse, the little finger adding a melody note in, thumb to F# to form an F#dim on the way to the G for the refrain ("All I ever had is gone" / "All my friends are gone" depending on the verse) and back to whichever C voicing felt right at the time. For the instrumental breaks the G chord was replaced with a single note phrase in G major with pull off and hammer ons....

So if you not a guitarist and have got this far, thank you for being patient with all the gobbledegook, if you are I've scored out the basic structure for you download if you choose to have a go at it.

I'm really quite pleased with the end result, an arrangement that sits comfortably with my voice and refers back to earlier versions whilst adding my own jazzier tinge to the sound.

Don't take my word for it though have a listen to the song on the video

The Blues Jam will be back on Sunday October 3rd, get there from 12:30 if you want to play and need to setup, we aim to start arround 1pm. Usualy fimish arround 3:30pm. All player welcome. Although we don't use a drum kit, (a space issue as much as anything) drummers are welcome to bring a snare (with brushes) or a cajon or similar light percusuion.

It's been while since I created a time lapse art video using SketchBlock, and I felt it was time for new one, however, I'm often asked for a real time / speed copy so that user of my software can see the way I personally use it. The trouble with this is keeping the video to a manageable length! (I'm not the fastest of digital artists!).

With my mother's birthday approaching I wanted to paint a simple card design featuring some Sweet Peas, as this should be a shorter painting than some I've attempted it seemed a good subject to record. I setup my EZCAP recorder on the HDMI output of my X1000 with the DVI attached to the monitor as usual, and started working on the project.

I captured the portion up to the finish of the actual painting, stopping before converting it into a card design. (Perhaps I'll do a tutorial on that another time). Total time was about 43 minutes. Not to long for more modern youtube possibilities.

The video has capture a good snapshot of my freehand work process, what you can't see is my keyboard short cuts in action. The most common of these is to press the control key whist painting to sample colours from other parts of the painting. The mouse pointer briefly changes to a pipette / dropper image when I do this.

If you see the colour darkening / lightening for no obvious reason, then I am pressing 'ALT COMMA' or 'ALT PERIOD'. like wise the size of the brush can be scaled up and down by pressing the 'COMMA' and 'PERIOD' keys.

Recording The Jazz

So I had my 43 minutes of video, but no piece of music long enough to use as sound track. I didn't want to loop a song or use an entire album's worth, so I thought up a challenge for myself, to record a single take improvisation, based on a theme, and to try and keep it varied and interesting, without losing site of the theme.

I recorded this by running the output of my Line 6 amp simulator direct in the line input (no pun intended) of the X1000s built in sound card. I then used the excellent Audio Evolution to record with. (I have the android version too).

Usually I run AE4 on my SAM-Flex but my Terratec Phase 22 seams to have stopped working, so this meant a bit of searching around for alternate cables as the X1000 has mini jacks whereas the Phase 22 uses proper full sized instrument inputs.

By the time I was setup the dogs needed feeding and I needing a cup of tea. With that done I settled in and just played for 43 minutes, a theme developed quite quickly and I drifted back and forth between it and more freeform parts as time progress, bring it back quite nicely by the end. (well I think so, have listen and see what you think.

The Video

That was more words that I expected to type, thanks for reading if you did, but here is what you came for:

SketchBlock Pro is available via AmiStore or can be purchased direct from myself. Send me an email (andy@broad.ology.org.uk)

I don't seem to get as much time to paint in my own software as I'd like, even in these stay at home times, other stuff (like building wardrobes in the loft!) seems to get in the way. So I just recently decided to do some half hour doodles of still lifes from my desk top!

So we're not talking great masters here by any stretch but here are the first two, click to view them in my gallery:

It would be good discipline to keep this going every day, but I rarely am that!

Design for Phone case

Our new household guest, a little Labrador named Daisy took a liking to Tracey's phone case, so I thought it might be nice to replace it with custom one.

Starting from a photo of Daisy and Maddie (the Working Cocker Spaniel) begging for food, I did a rough sketch over the photo the painted in the colour and shape by eye. Photo displayed on the SAM and SketchBlock running on the X1000. Export the below as a jpeg then off to customised-printing.co.uk to "design a case. Pretty good site with a wide range products and a good selection of phone cases. I'll add a photo when the cover arrives in a day or so's time....

I received a new graphics tablet as a gift. An XP-Pen DECO 01. This has a nice A4 sized drawing space and battery free stylus with tilt support. Having damaged a stylus on my old LaPazz UCLogic tablet by leaving the batteries in for to long, (stylus was still working even though the batteries had started leaking!) the battery free aspect was a welcome improvement.

Developing a new driver

As expected the new tablet didn't work with any existing Amiga OS4 drivers, so I set to work adapting my UCLogic driver to work with the new tablet. I wrote that code in 2010 and it was last touched in about 2012, so a bit of work was needed to refresh the details of the event flow of the USB driver process. And to be honest the code was not up to my current standards!

A first step was to replace the deprecated functions such as CreateMsgPort(), CreatIORequest() etc. with the equivalent AllocSysObject() calls. This reduced the 'noise' in the compile output and enabled me to turn on the -Wall and -Werror GCC switches. I then cleaned up the resulting errors, mostly unused variables, CONST inconsitancies etc. A warning free compile makes later debuging so much easier and can catch bugs before they "hatch"

Next step was to rename the driver to UGTablet.usbfd (based on the name the tablet announces to the USB system and so I presume the underlying chipset) and create a new UGTablet.fdclass file using the vendor ID of the XP-Pen tablet.

FUNCTIONDRIVER
NAME      "UG Tablet Driver"
VENDOR     0x28BD
TYPE      INTERFACE
PRI       6
DRIVER    "UGTablet.usbfd"

Success! Of a very limited kind, the tablet was detected and the driver took over the USB endpoints but nothing more happened. At least it didn't crash!

So onto the process of working out why the tablet was attaching but not working... First step was to add some serial debug lines that could tell me which sections of code were being executed. Something like this

um->IExec->DebugPrintF("%08lx: %s %ld\n", um->IExec->FindTask(NULL), __FUNCTION__, __LINE);

The USB interface driver essentially works by sending an IORequest, waiting for the reply, processing the data and then sending another request, looping utill done. With the debug in place I could quickly see that the driver was receiving the expected flow of IORequest responses whenever I brought the stylus close to the tablet, but than the meat of the processing code was being skipped. The handler function looked something like so:

VOID MouseHandler( struct usbtablet *um )
{
struct USBIOReq *req;
int16 X, Y,P;
int16 But1 = 0, But2 = 0;
int16 tmp1, tmp2;
int16 code, qual;

    req = (struct USBIOReq *)um->IExec->GetMsg( um->UsbMP );
    if ( req )
    {
        if ( req->io_Error == USBERR_NOERROR )
        {
          ----8<-----
          main processing code goes here
          ----8<-----
        }

	 /* Send USB  Next Request */
	
	 um->UsbIOReq->io_Command    = CMD_READ;
	 um->UsbIOReq->io_Data       = &um->UsbData;
	 um->UsbIOReq->io_Length     = sizeof( struct UGTabletData );
	 um->UsbIOReq->io_EndPoint   = um->UsbStatusEndPoint;
	

	if ( um->UsbIOReq->io_Length > LE_WORD( um->UsbEndPointDscrIn->ed_MaxPacketSize ))
	{
	     um->UsbIOReq->io_Length = LE_WORD( um->UsbEndPointDscrIn->ed_MaxPacketSize );
	}
			
	 m->IExec->SendIO( (struct IORequest *)um->UsbIOReq );
    
    }
}

Adding another line of debug revealed that req->io_Error was set to -36, which after cross referencing with the usb includes gave USBERR_BUFFEROVERFLOW. The notes in the usb/system.h include file for this error number were as follows:

READ returned more data than would fit into buffer.
It's up to you to decide if this should be treated
as an error (not all data the USB EndPoint wanted to
return could be stored and delivered to you), or as a
success (you actually got the amount of data you
requested from the USB EndPoint. It's right there in
your buffer waiting for you) */

if ( req->io_Error == USBERR_NOERROR || req->io_Error == USBERR_BUFFEROVERFLOW)

The tablet buttons (as opposed to the stylus buttons) did produce some data however, although at this point the data was being misinterpreted as stylus data and so just making small movements in the mouse position. This suggested that the data packets from two srcs were different sizes.

The length of data returned should be indicated by the um->UsbEndPointDscrIn->ed_MaxPacketSize field, but when I add debug to check how large these values were in both cases they were much larger than the expected data. So I temporarily modified the code to pass a dynamic buffer of the full MaxPacketSize and checked the value of req->io_Actual, to see how much data was returned. The values were 8 bytes for the tablet buttons and 10 bytes for the stylus data. The original UGTabletData structure (inherited from my previous UCLogic Driver as a starting point) was:

struct UGTabletData {
    uint8     mode;
    uint8     Buttons;
    uint16    X;        /* Little Endian X coord  */
    uint16    Y;        /* Little Endian Y coord  */
    uint16    Pressure; /* Little Endian Pressure */
};

Removing the temporary buffer and reverting to writing inot the struct UGTabletData and I was rewarded with my first tangible success. The mouse pointer now tracked the stylus position and the stylus tip worked as the LMB!

Next step was to fire up SketchBlock and see how the tablet performed. I quickly saw that stylus movement worked as expected, if significantly smoother than my old UCLogic tablet, but the pressure values were clearly off, increasing quickly with stylus pressure but then dropping to '0'. Checking the documentation for the tablet I found the pressure resolution was much higher 8192 steps as opposed to UCLogics 1023. A simple fix here, simply changing the value of the DEFAULT_RANGE_P constant in the driver to 8096.

So now to determine what that extra 2 bytes of data were representing. I added a line of debug to dump out the values returned to serial. Initially treating it as a little endian 16bit value. Then simply played arround with the stylus and watched what came out looking for patterns. Intially I looked like it might be pressure related, this was confusing why would the pressure be encoded twice? Then I realised I was dumping the wrong fields, so the debug I was seeing was a combination of the pressureand the unknown field. Once I fixed up that, so I was only looking the data I was interested in I saw that it was clearly related to the tilt of the stylus. The numbers being output were not obvious though, at least not at first. I took a look at the specifications at www.usb.org/hid ( a document that seems treated as not so much a code as a guideline ) to see if I could find any clues. It seamed I should be getting separate X and Y data, but no guide as to exactly how it should be encoded.

So I very carefuly tested by tilting strictly in the X axis or the Y axis and after a while realised I was getting two signed bytes of data, one for each axis. Adjusting the debug output to suit this I could see that I was getting values that varied from -60 to 60 in each axis with 0,0 being vertical. In fact the values seemed to match the inclination in degrees. Very helpful.

With that information I modified my struct UGTabletData:

struct UGTabletData {
    uint8     mode;
    uint8     Buttons;
    uint16    X;        /* Little Endian X coord  */
    uint16    Y;        /* Little Endian Y coord  */
    uint16    Pressure; /* Little Endian Pressure */
    int8        TiltX;
    int8        TiltY;
};

• The full range of the tablet - in this case +- 60
• the full practical range - one might think the stylus can only tilt by 90° in any directon
• One full rotation in each direction so that 0x7FFFFFFF = 360 and 0x80000000 = -360

In the end the code to convert looked like:

um->IENT_Tags[1].ti_Tag = TABLETA_AngleX;
um->IENT_Tags[1].ti_Data = -( um->UsbData.tablet.TiltY) * (0x7fffffff / 360); 
						
um->IENT_Tags[2].ti_Tag = TABLETA_AngleY;
um->IENT_Tags[2].ti_Data = -( um->UsbData.tablet.TiltX) * (0x7fffffff / 360); 
						

So the stylus was now fully working. It would be rewally great to get the 8 buttons on the tablet working too. These were handled by a seprate endpoint, but as noted above there as no way to tell which of the two bootclass endpoints was which. Studying the data though I realised that the mode byte was 7 for stylus data and 6 for tablet button data. That made it very easy to distinguish between the two datastreams, but only once they had started returning data.

I setup another line of serial debug to print out the button data as an 8 byte hex number and watched how it changed as I pressed various combinations of buttons. I could see that as I pressed more buttons the values generated shifted right down the 8byte sequence, mostly starting from the third byte. As buttons were released the data from the remaining buttons shifted left back towards the started of the 8byte sequence. So some kind of buffer allowing up to 6 buttons to be pressed at a time. The second byte was also taking on different values that didn't seem to shift down the pipeline.

I remembered that when plugged into my linux laptop the buttons had worked like a very limited keyboard, with an odd choice of keys so I took a look at Rene Olsens example rKeyboard driver on os4depot.net. The keyboard equivalent of the code I started the UCLogic driver from.

I saw the data structure returned by the boot keyboard was almost identical to the tablet keys, just that the Modifier field was moved one byte down and the first byte reused to determine the datatype. So:

/* Boot key board */
struct USBBootkbdData {
    uint8   Modifier; 
    uint8   reserved;
    uint8   Keycode[6];
};

/* Tablet data */
struct UGTabletData {
    uint8     mode;
    uint8     Modifiers;
    uint8 Keycode[USBKBD_KEYCODEFIELDS];
};

As the data was being written into the same buffer be it tablet button or stylus I combined the two structures using a union. I could then test the mode value, handle value 7 as a stylus and value 6 as a button. No other values have shown up so far....

struct UGTabletData {
    uint8     mode;
    uint8     Buttons;
    union {
        struct {
            uint16    X;        /* Little Endian X coord */
            uint16    Y;        /* Little Endian Y coord */
    	    uint16    Pressure;
	    int8     TiltX;
	    int8     TiltY;
        } tablet;
        struct {
            uint8 Keycode[USBKBD_KEYCODEFIELDS];
            uint16 pad;
        } buttons;
    };
};

By default the buttons mapped to a strange mix of characters including "b" "e" "i" "+" -" and a few that were unprintable, so I decided it would be more useful to map them to the first 8 functions keys by default. Later I intend to add some configuartion to the GUI.

The GUI itself was the last main issue to deal with. In the UCLogic driver it's created when the driver Process is created and it's controled by a unique commodity, however in the UGTablet case there are two / three processes, to the first created the commodity and GUI the second caused it to immediatly pop up. This was not ideal as really the GUI shouldn't appear till the user presses CTRL ALT U. Also the GUI needed to be controlled by the process handling the stylus messages and this couldn't be guaranteed as I didn't know which process was which till after I'd started the commodity.

The solution then was to only create the commodity if it didn't exist, move the creation point to the Handler function rather than the Setup function, and also just in case not require success. This gets the GUI working, but has some down sides. The GUI can only be effectively used by the first tablet attached (though I'm not sure many will use multiple tablets, you ought to be able to in principle, just as you can use multiple mice and keyboards). The commoddity does not become "live" till after the stylus triggers an event so you must touch the tablet to enable the GUI. Some space for improvement here, but it does do the main job of allow the tablet to be configured.

Adding Tilt Support To SketchBlock

Having added tilt support to the driver, I naturally wanted to make ue of it in SketchBlock. First step was to add it to the internal SketchBlock API. SketchBlock works in floating point so I needed to map the normalised signed integer discussed about to a floating point value from 1.0 (360 °) to -1.0. (-360 °) As I knew that the useful range of that might only be +- 90 ° I added a setting to define the useful tilt range. Defaulting to 0.25. The combination of the above results in:

LONG tx = IUtility->GetTagData(TABLETA_AngleX ,0,td->td_TagList);
LONG ty = IUtility->GetTagData(TABLETA_AngleY ,0,td->td_TagList);
                    
App->ap_TiltX =  (float)(((double)tx)/ 2147483648.0);
/* clamp and normalise to the userdefined tilt range */
if(App->ap_TiltXRange != 0.0)
{
    if(App->ap_TiltX > App->ap_TiltXRange)
    {
        App->ap_TiltX = App->ap_TiltXRange;
    }
    App->ap_TiltX = App->ap_TiltX / App->ap_TiltXRange;
}  
					                  
App->ap_TiltY =  (float)(((double)ty)/ 2147483648.0);
/* clamp and normalise to the userdefined tilt range */
if(App->ap_TiltYRange != 0.0)
{
    if(App->ap_TiltY > App->ap_TiltYRange)
    {
        App->ap_TiltY = App->ap_TiltYRange;
    }
    App->ap_TiltY = App->ap_TiltY / App->ap_TiltYRange;
}

The next step was to add functions to the plugin API to allow plugins to access the tilt value. SketchBlock exports an API to the plugins that is quite like a AmigaOS4 library interface, these functions allow the plugins to access the global data without needing to have direct access or knowledge of how that data is stored. I originally planned to make this public, so that third party devs could write their own plugins, but the practicalities of writing the required documentation and maintaining compatabilty meant this idea fell by the wayside. I'm not sure the 'market' is big enough for third party plugins anyway these days.

Next I added scaling of the brush with tilt in an 'always on' fasion just to test out the concept. I used the simple algorthm of multiplying the size by 1.0 / (1.0 - fabsf(tilt)) . This gave quite dramatic scaling as the tilt increased, too much in practice, as the tilt approach 1.0 the denominator approached 0.0!. The scaling in the X and Y axes were indpendent, which made for interesting effects with varying brush shape. What would have been really nice would have been to scaling along the angle defined by the X and Y tilt comonent, ie in the direction of the combined tilt, but this would require a big rewrite of my highly optimised brush stamping code. Something I really didn't want to take on at this point.

Having got the proof of concept working I added an option to the paint to to enable tilt support and add options similar to the new pressure range settings introduced in SketchBlock 3.3. The algorthom for calculating tilt scaling then become the more complex:

if(sbd->sd_PressureFlags & TILT_SIZE)
{
    rw = rw * (1.0 + sbd->sd_TiltSizeRange.pr_Factor * fabsf(sbd->sd_TiltX)) / sbd->sd_TiltSizeRange.pr_Divisor;
    rh = rh * (1.0 + sbd->sd_TiltSizeRange.pr_Factor * fabsf(sbd->sd_TiltY)) / sbd->sd_TiltSizeRange.pr_Divisor;
}

Having added tilt scaling, and to be honest found it difficult to work with at first, I decided that changing colour with tilt might also be nice and was quite easy to implement. Currently the direct of tilt is ignored and the colour varies between just two colours (foreground and background as displayed in the tools window), a future improvement might make it vary betwwn 4 colours one for each corner of the X / Y tilt range.

As a final feature for this stage of development I added an option to switch the X and Y tilt values, so that scale in particular could produce agreater range of brush strokes.

The paint tool settings with tilt support now look like so.

And here is a quick example of tilt size and colour. Tilt seams to make writing feel a little more natural, but still needs alittle practice to get used to writing with a tablet.

So I hope you found this description of my development process whilst writing both the driver and the sketchblock extension interesting. The new driver is available on os4depot and the updated version of SketchBlock will be available on AmiStore soon as part of the SketchBlock Pro 3.4 feature set.

One of my more successful songs is the bright up tempo swinging number, with a distinctive bass line, "Every Penny Of The Deal", the title track of my 2015 solo album.

The song was originally started around 2000 or so and had slow blues feel if I recall, but it didn't really work and was set aside for some years. In 2008 whilst writing some other material I came across it in my lyric book and reformed it in it's current style adding the final verse. The original version was inspired by a romantic relationship with a false start but the later version is actually about burgeoning musical relationship, songs often change their meanings over time...

I was recently asked for the chords by a good friend and so I went to town tabbing out the main rhythm part in probably slightly excessive detail! Click on the image below for a downloadable PDF if you would like to try it.

Before you get into the tab have a watch of this video on how to play it, it will probably make a lot more sense, I include a short section of "cheats" that simplify some of the stretches but keep that all important bass line going.

Here is the tab:

Have fun with that and stay safe.

I decided to use my instrumental "Shufflin'", most often performed with Walker Broad these days, as it's one that splits easily into three parts, all off which I'm moderately comfortable playing, so not too much fussing about getting the best take and video at the same time!

Here's the end result for anyone who doesn't want wade through my description of technical stuff...

How I did It

So here is where it gets a bit technical...

My lockdown studio setup, consists of a M-Audio Ultra 8x8 USB audio interface attached to my ageing HP laptop running Debian 9. Software wise on the laptop I'm using the Ardour 5.4 DAW with the ''Jack' low level audio system. I love the concept of 'Jack' where you can virtually wire the inputs and outputs different software elements together.

My Line 6 pro was setup running into input 3 of the M-Audio (the first two being microphone pre-amps). As I was only using one input at a time each time I added a track to the project in Ardour I had to remember to reassign the input, as Ardour helpfully always selected the next free one, that bit me later!

The video would be recorded on my Zoom Q2 HD along with an additional audio track to capture the acoustic sounds, plus a little stray birdsong!

I planned to record three tracks, videoing myself as I played them, starting with the rhythm guitar part to define the structure.

Next up was the bass part. Not being a bass player this was probably the most demanding part, so it was very frustrating to be half way through a great first take only to realise I hadn't reassigned the recording input on the bass track! Thankfully I had at least muted the record on the rhythm guitar track so hadn't over recorded the guitar!

Second take got myself a good bass part.

I then switched the annoying metronome off to record and video the third and final lead guitar part. Took two takes as I messed up the spoken intro, which I eventually decided to leave out anyway.

At this point I decided to export the audio and transfer operations to my AmigaOne X1000 where I have Audio Evolution 4 installed, software which I'm much more familiar with. I also have the android version on my phone! AE4 may not have all the bells and whistles of a modern DAW but is plenty enough for this project, in fact the lack of bells and whistles makes things easier and faster when you don't need them!

First off I produces a very rough mix of all three tracks which I was intending to use to line up the video tracks against in blender my preferred open source video editor.

When I recorded the video I slapped the side of my guitar or bass to create an obvious point to line up the videos, in effect a sort of clapboard. In practice though this wasn't clear enough in the rough mixed audio so I changed to a new tactic. I imported the original audio tracks into blender which were easy to lineup to themselves as they were all the same length and then, working one tack at a time I nudged the position of the video audio until there was no obvious chorusing / echo effect between the video audio and the recorded audio. Once I had that right I could realign the video with it's corresponding audio simply by tying in the same offset numbers.

I then setup the video start and stop points, discarding the spoken intro as I wasn't happy with it (am I ever?) and export all the video audio tracks one by one (muting the unneeded ones in the strip settings, clumsy but works).

Then I imported these into AE4 and mixed up my final audio mix, made the bass a bit more bassy, touch of reverb, backed off the rhythm guitar a bit, compressed and boosted the lead part to make it stand out more, etc etc.

This was bounced back into blender and lined up with the start of the project. I then cleaned things up by discarding all the unused audio tracks so the interface wasn't too cluttered up.

All this was just a slightly scaled up version of my normal work flow but now I had to work out how best to edit the video, switching between each "player" at the right moments.

Each video track has a different overlay modes so initially I tried using the cross fade mode with a IP curve setup to control how much each track faded at anyone time. But with three tracks that got very hard to understand and I couldn't get the them all to fade in from black at the start, so I switched to using 'effects strips' that combine two strips into one. Using a 'gamma cross' effect I combined the first two video strips, then a second ' gamma cross' strip combined the result of that with the third video. This was reasonably easy to manage. I set up an IP curve for each effect strip so that I could fade back and forth as needed. I used transitions of about ten frames, an instant transition seemed to jumpy when I watched the test render.

I selected just two or three transitions to show the "best bit" of the various parts, but keeping the main emphasis on the lead guitar. Then I rendered out the video and watched it through, making some small adjustments to the timing of the changes.

That done I added a simple title using SketchBlock rendered out the full resolution version and uploaded to youtube!

Quite pleased with the result, hope you enjoy it!

The venue was The Spring in Havant, on one of their Saturday afternoon Music Bites events.

We played a set of standards mainly drawn from the jazz side but with a few bluesier numbers, as well a couple of originals. Mostly intrumental, Mags sung a couple of numbers "Sunny" and "One For My baby" and ofcourse played bass guitar throughout. I played a few songs on my semi-acoustic and the rest on my Matthew Carter acoustic guitar.

Here is our take on Summertime:

We had a great turnout and the gig was going really well, but was unfortunatly cut sligfhtly short as the Elgar Society had booked the room upstairs and ironically we had a noise complaint! Though having received a massive round of applause at the end of our unexpected last number we were asked for a quick encore, so we had the "last laugh".

Once things return to normal we plan to be out gigging, look out for us if you like a mix of cool jazz and mellow blues...

If you a blues officiando you'll recognise the influence of Big Bill Broonzey...

I recorded responsibly socially isolated in the back garden...

Here's the lyrics!

Well I hear they're all buying up the bog roll 
man you know they shouldn't do that
Hear they all buying up the bog roll
why'd they want to go and do that

Virus coming
you might be pretty scared
but we going to get past it
if we all just share

Well they all buying up the bog roll
man you know they shouldn't do that

Go out shopping can't buy no beans or pasta
why'd they want to go and do that
Go out shopping can't buy no beans or pasta
why'd they want to go and do that

Virus coming,
Covid 19
We gonna get past it
if we work as a team

well they all buying up the pasta
why'd they want to go and do that

People go out still they want to party
man you know they can't do that
People just going out and a partying
man you know they can't do that

Got to keep your distance
stay at home
if you don't do that
that virus aint going

but still they all going out to party
man you know they can do that

If you liked the song please consider subscribing to my youtube channel or leave a comment below or on facebook.

Stay well everybody and stay indoors!

The main layers window now has two tabs one with the existing layers list and associated controls, and a second that now add a similar paths lists and analogous controls for sorting that list, copying paths, appending paths, adding and removing etc.

The path list uses the same layout as the layers list for consistancy of GUI. You will be able to edit the path name, add paths removes paths, copy the current active path and append the current path the next lower in the list.

Some additional arexx commands have been added to allow the path related scripts to disable this section of GUI whilst working, to prevent the unexpected reordering or removal of the scripts being edited!

The video shows creating three paths, using the 'keep path' option of the create text tool, performing simple edits, merging the paths together and rendering them. Currently the layers created by the text tool need to be removed, if not required, before release a "path only" option will be added.

Further features planned for the 3.4 update will include a shear tool along with various bug fixes and tightening up of error handling in many of the support scripts.

Sketchblock Pro 3.4 will be free to existing users of SketchBlock Professional Edition or can be bought via the amistore for £15.00 for new users and £10 update for existing owners of SketchBlock Lite ( 2.x series).

Hence the name of the slide guitar instrumental in video is "Bean Pole Swing" though I didn't think of the name tillafter I finished recording!

Have a listen:

Oh yes about those bean poles:

Hope you enjoyed the slide guitar, stay well out there.

I guess I should share the results with you!

As promised in the video, here is the tab to what I was playing, actually the tab has a few more variations for you to try. Feel free to comment, here or on youtube / facebook if you would like more info.

On a personal level the consequences, known and unknown of the virus outbreak and its containment is making me feel very stressed, so maing these video and writing the follow up blogs is somewhat of a way to keep sane. Hope you guys are finding your own sanity solutions, stay well!

So jazz in the lounge instead!

I start the video with an original composition, an instrumental I've been working on for while, gradually getting to where I want it. Comes out quite nicely.

Next I follow up with a improvised take on the Cole Porter classic, Night & Day. In my solo version of this tune I blend the standard jazz way of playing it with some chords built up from the Cole Porter original sheet music which reflect the melody a bit more explicitly.

Hope you enjoy the video, more to come...

PS: Later in the day it dried up so whilst waiting for the edited video to process I planted some carrots, mangetout and sprouting broccoli!

My partner Tracey also has it (a little worse than me but still not too nasty) so we are staying at hers in Waterlooville. Much nicer than being locked away in my flat! (both for the surroundings and the company!).

As well as getting on with some website updates and other technical stuff I've decided to get a few more acoustic guitar blogs going and here is the first, a short performance from the garden, could have been sunnier but at least the rain held off!

In the video I perform a funky arrangement of Howlin Wolfs "Ain't Superstitious", and a more Robert Johnsonesque slow blues. Hope you enjoy!:

So far haven't had many formal cancellation of gigs but as things progress I'm not optimistic so more video blogs to come as this may be my main musical outlet for while!

The system packs away into a small box that neatly fits inside the 2U rack mount case I use for my Line6 and is comprised of a a pair of jack plug "dongles", the transmitter plugs into the guitar and the similar receiver plugs into the amp. Nice and compact with no bulky receiver unit or long aerials. To help with telling the receiver and transmitter apart there are coloured QA dots, blue for receiver, green for transmitter, this maybe more a useful side effect of the QA system a the manufacturers than a designed feature, but it works!

I've been using the system pretty much continuously since I bought it and it has given me consistent results, whilst I recharge it (via the twin ended USB charging cable) in between gigs I can easily get two gigs out if it should I forget.

I'm not sure if the range may have reduced a little since I first had it, it's fine for on stage work, but I some times have to be careful how far I stray when doing a walk about with it.

One of the important things for myself, is that it works very well with the high impedance pickup on my acoustic guitar, which can be quite fussy at times. With the previous system the signal would lose all the bass and had a strange 'sucking' effect as the high signal level overloaded the transmitter, no such problems with the X-Vive U2, I get strong solid bass with a clear treble, best acoustic sound I've had to be honest!

I bought mine via Barry at Street Level Music, he still has them in stock, apparently they now come in black!

The upside of this is it's easy to get going, the downside I will quite a bit to sediment as the orange particles settle out of the liquid juice.

So off to LIDL to buy 5 litres of "simple" Orange juice, of which I used 4.

From my previous experiences I know that orange doesn't take well to a dry flavour, without the sweetness it's really quite bitter! So I would need to add enough sugar to make it sweet, but not too much, so I decided to go with adding the sugar in gradually.

So to start I poured 4 litres into the demijohn and pitched in the yeast (half a teaspoon died yeast plus half of yeast nutrient) with no added sugar and let it go until it started to slow down, five days or so.

Then I added 1/2 pound of sugar in buy pouring out a litre or so into a measuring jar and stirring in the sugar then returning it to the demijohn. The fermentation really started to shift then, in fact it blasted straight through the airlock, which is why the demijohn is on a tray in the photo above.

Once that had settled ( another five days or so ) I cleaned out the airlock, mixed in another 1/2 pound of sugar. Repeat once more so that the total sugar is at 1 1/2 pounds.

I let this slow right down till it was bubbling less than once a minute and then gave it tiny (and I mean tiny!) taste to check the sugar level then added a 1/4 pound.

Another quarter after that and it's up to 2 lbs sugar.

This the stage the fermentation is at as I write this, and I'll let that ferment right out before adding any more sugar. Assuming it's needed.

Based on info on the packet the juice contained 92g of sugar per litre so with the added sugar that makes 1275 total. So when made up to a full gallon it's likely to produce 1275 / 4.5 / 19 = 14.9 % alcohol by volume. Potentially quite strong but we'll see how it goes...

This will take quite a while to mature

I was on the point of giving up and having a clear out, but before pouring it all away down the toilet I thought to give it one last taste. Both had come good, both had a bit of a sherry tinge due to the airlocks having gone dry a few times, the gooseberry a little dry but drinkable. I even risked sharing a glass with Tracey and she affirmed it was good wine!

So re-enthused I decided to get a batch of Apple (4.5 litres LIDL apple juice and 2lbs sugar) going and a see if I get get it ready for Christmas (we were in October 2019 at the time). I also started of a batch of mead (4 lbs honey, 2 litres apple, 1 litre red grape). I knew the mead wouldn't finish in time but was optimistic about the Apple.

The apple did indeed come out in time, with the help of some stabiliser and finings it came out nice and clear but a bit too sweet, but quite drinkable if you like a sweeter wine.

When I tested the mead though, even though not quite finished it was incredibly over sweet, I think I misremebered how much honey to put in, perhaps just 3lbs would have been enough. So given that the apple had been so sweet I decided to split the mead in two and combine with some more apple juice to aim for a dryer combination, these two are just slowing down, though still bubbling and look to be clearing naturally.

A great start to the year so far, the first two Auckland Jams of 2020 were particularly well attended. The blues jam at the Auckland Arms (Netley Road Southsea PO5 3NB) takes place on the on the first Sunday lunchtime of the month, starting from around 12:30, arrive closer to 12:00 noon if you want to play and need to setup. There is usually a bass amp available, and whilst we don't mind if you bring your guitar amp there is often one you can borrow. It's a good idea to bring your instrument though! There is an acoustic piano. We don't generally have a drum kit, due to space / volume restrictions, but you're welcome to bring along a cajon or snare / hihat.

All players and singers of any standard and any instrument are welcome. Do come down it's great fun and getting better. Your also very welcome if you just want to listen, many do!

Acoustic Guitar Video Blog

I added a new episode to my long running acoustic guitar video blog back in January this one featured a demonstration of some travis picking combined with simple slide guitar licks.

Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C1h9JwIeUo

Here's the whole blog playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...

Speaking of blogs I've been working on the blog section of my main website (blog.php) to improve the navigation and presentation a little. Next step is to make it "mobile friendly" then I plan to add several sections to enable me to add extra details about my video blogs and lessons and more, maybe even the odd blog about home-made wine, got some 'orange' amd some 'apple mead' on the go at the moment! I'll let you know when the work is done and ready to view!

Jazz

For the last few months I have been working with Mags Wylie to resurrect our jazz guitar and bass duo. We are now ready to go and will be playing out first gig at the Spring arts centre in Havant at the end of the month. Come down for some blues tinged jazz tunes and a few songs. We will be looking for suitable gigs soon after, let me know if you have any suggestions.

Gigs

• Saturday 15th February
  The Station Arms, Southminster, Essex
  Andy Broad - Stompin Solo Blues.
  
• Saturday 29th February - 1pm till 2:30pm
  The Spring Arts Centre, Havant
  Andy Broad and Mags Wylie - Jazz Guitar and Bass
  
• Saturday 29th February
  The Locomotive, Littlehampton
  Andy Broad - Stompin Solo Blues.
  
• Sunday 1st March
  The Auckland Blues Jam
  All welcome!
  

See you all at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=951 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=951 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 15:28:00 GMT Hello and Welcome to this short Christmas edition of the news letter.

I'd just like to say thanks for all the support through the year and share my Xmas Card design video for this year.

Video

https://youtu.be/9s4WCNWorcI

The backing music for this years video was Mariachi Blues taken from my EP Cockerel Blues, if you are interested in more you can download the EP here:

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/andybroad2

Guitar Lessons For Xmas ?

If you are looking for last minute christmas present ideas, how about some blues guitar lessons? I'm running my 5 lessons for £75 introductory deal again or you can book individual lessons for £20. Pay me by paypal (andy@broad.ology.org.uk) and I will email you a voucher.

Anyway enough of the sales pitch! Hope you all have great festive period and hope to see you at a gig in the new year. Music kicks off with the Auckland Jam on Sunday 5th January 2020.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=936 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=936 Mon, 23 Dec 2019 10:42:00 GMT A quick update before the Christmas season gets underway.

After a short break from gigging (during which we have been rehearsing
material for our next album, more on that is a later email...) we have two
Walker Broad gigs coming up this month.


On Tuesday December 3rd we will be playing at The Vaults in Albert Road
Southsea. First time we've done the Vaults on a Tuesday so looking forward
to this, come down and join us for a laid back gig of jazzy and folk
standards interweaved with some of our favourite originals.

Friday 13th December finds us back at the Auckland Arms which is very much
our home gig and always a lot of fun!


As always the musical month starts off with the Auckland Jam at 12:30 on
Sunday 1st December, all welcome, players and listeners a like!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=935 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=935 Sat, 30 Nov 2019 11:50:00 GMT Hi welcome to this months newletter,

We've got a busy November coming up so I thought I'd better get you updated!

** New Winchester Blues Venue **

Well not strictly Portsmouth but not so far away either, the Green Man in
Winchester wil be hosting regular blues gigs on Friday's. I went up there
to see Eddie Martin at the beginning of October and was very impressed with
the warm and friendly atmosphere, the music will be taking place in the
backroom bar, which was once a skittle alley, I believe, but now has a much
more up market feel (as does the whole pub). Solo duos and trios will play
raegularly and the occasional bigger band night too. I will be playing a
couple of night this month, and the band is a possibilty in the future.
Food is available too.

https://greenmanwinchester.pub

** Guesting With Stompin Dave at the Bullfrog Blues Club **

As you may have read the band booked to play the Bullfrog Blues Club for
November 7th has had to pull out for medical reasons, and The Stompin Dave
Band is filling in at short notice. I'm very pleased to have been asked to
play. Having joined Dave for a couple of gigs with the Cross Eyed Cats
Muddy waters tribute I'm looking forward to this! the band will featureing
Stompin Dave, guitar / piano / vocals, Andy Broad guitar vocal, Professor
OZ bass, John Butters drums.

** Gig List **

Here's the list of this months gigs

Sunday, 3rd November- 12;30.
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road Southsea
The Auckland Jam.

Our regular Jam, all welcome as ever, this month will also feature a short
set from the full Sally Starwberry band.

Thursday 7th November, 8pm doors £10 door £8.00 adv
The Bulfrog Blues Club, Onslow Road Southsea.
The Stompin Dave Band

Friday 8th November
The Green Man, Winchester
Andy Broad Solo - Original Acoustic and Electric Blues

Thursday 14th November
The Wine Vaults, Southsea
Burnt Ice - raw Funky Contemporary Blues

Friday 29th November
The Green Man, Winchester
Andy Broad Solo - Original Acoustic and Electric Blues

Sunday 1st December
The Auckland Jam come round again.

See you all at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=931 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=931 Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:47:00 GMT Got a good night's sleep in the caravan after the Scott's gig, stil water tight despite the lashing rain outside!

After writing the blog spent the day chilling out in JRs music room

The next gig on the itinerary was O'Mara's the stage area was in a largish text on the forecourt, some heavy carpet of a some palettes which worked quite well

We arrived in time to set up for 6pm as there was a slight confusion over start times with the pub poser saying 6pm and the main poster saying 7pm, turned out that the 'popup choir' had been relocated to the tent due to the weather hence the hours delay. AS we were setup ready in time tey were able to use my microphone to boost the lead vocal, happy to help and they souned great

In the end I went on stage at 6:30pm paying a two hour set with the shortest of breaks to switch to electric mush as the day before. Although the core originals set was the same did make the effort to vary the covers I played . Had some silly technical issues like the stomp box sticking to my foot! (Never buy gafa from ASDAs!!!) but later on settled own well and got a great reception from the audience particularly on the electric section, the damp had killed the acoustic strings and they will need changing for the next gig, thankfully I have a spare set with me.

Lots of great feedback after the gig, and some CD sales

Tonights gig is at the Treaty Tent just out side the front of the Greyhound Bar where I played in Kilkee last year.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=930 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=930 Sun, 29 Sep 2019 10:07:00 GMT So he first gig of the Che Do Bheatha festival for me was to play at Scott's bar at 10pm on the Friday night.

After meal with JR and his endlessly patient wife Rhona we head for kilkee at about 8:30pm driving along back roads through alternatin stormy and dry weather arriving at the bar at about 9pm. Access to the stage area was easy through the side door, so having got the gear in I set the PA etc. whilst JR went off to check on some details with Joe at he Greyhound the organiser of the festival.

All set by 9:45pm and started playing promptly at 10pm. I played one set through till 12:15am, taking the shortest of breaks to switch from acoustic to electric at around 11:30pm

There was a good audience with a steady flow of people coming in and out, did my walk about on acoustic rather than electric for a change, managed to get out of the side door and in the front to take a few by surprise as I emerged from behid them.

Overall a good success with enquiries about a wedding boking for next October!

Tonight is O'Mara's which is a little further down the same road at 7pm

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=928 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=928 Sat, 28 Sep 2019 10:07:00 GMT The Ferry was slightly delayed due to the weather but not excessively so, and also there was a sight delay as they did a customs check o the foot passenger bus, with a sniffer dog, which hadn't happened on the last trip over. Two people were taken of the bus for further checks though both returned as false alarms!

Finally we were driven to the terminal where JR was waiting to pick me up in his camper van

It's only short drive to Colfer's Pub in Carrig on Bannow and we were soon on our way winding through a short maze of country roads with only one false turn. John Murphey the landlord was there to great us with a couple of customers already in.

The gig was not starting till 10pm so we ad plenty of time for pint of Guinness and for the two John to exchange stories as is their wont.

We set up JR's small Thomann PA combined with various bit and pieces I had brought over on the small corner stage in the front bar and I was ready to go with plenty of time.

Being a Thursday it didn't get hugely busy but there was small and appreciative audience who I recognized from last time. I played two acoustic sets and JR and another member of the audience whoes name I have sadly forgotten joined in on spoons for a couple in the second set. Finished playing about 12:15 am

I took advantage of the initiate nature of the gig to experiment with a few less often played numbers and get a good feel for how the guitar worked through the PA, sus out the mini stomp box in action etc etc.

After the gig there was another Guinnes (just the two in total for me! And a lot of talk (it's Ireland after all!). Then John Murphey took us the house he owns next door where we were to stay the night, more talk and eventually we went to bed about 3am...

Next day we had breakfast in the very nice Red Door restaurant on the other side of the pub, before setting of on the journey across to County Clare on the West coast, arriving there about 4pm.

Tonight is the first of the Che do Bheatha festival gigs starting about 10pm in Scott's bar Kilkee. Looking forward to that, a new venue for me.

Thanks to John Murphy at Colfer's Pub for his hospitality, for the first gig of the tour and for entertaining us with a little trad harmonica playing after the pub had closed. ]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=927 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=927 Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:14:00 GMT Up and out good and early (for a bluesman) and on the way with two hours of spare time factored in. Just as well as the A34 was reported closed just past winchester and Google decided to take me on a rather interesting detour! Including a short spell stuck behind a school bus on a one track road with oncoming traffic causing the bus to stop and squeeze past! Final joined the a34 only 15 miles from the M4 and the rest of the journey was easy driving and made good time arriveing with 3/4 an hour to spare

Short walk from the carpark to the terminal, but with two bags and two guitars to carry, it seemed a little longer! Got in plenty of time to get a cup of tea before checking in.

So now installed on the Ferry, a bit of swell predited, but hopefully can get some sleep on the 5 hour crossing to be ready to play at Colfer's Pub later tonight!

It's going to be fun!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=926 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=926 Thu, 26 Sep 2019 13:52:00 GMT So I'm off to Ireland tomorrow for this year tour of Ireland.

I'll be blogging about it as I often do...

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=924

Check the blog daily for updates and if you might be out that way check my
giglist for where I'm playing

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.php

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=925 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=925 Wed, 25 Sep 2019 20:13:00 GMT Had a great time in Ireland last October and so am really looking forward to this years tour which starts tomorrow (Thursday 26th September).

As last year I will be travelling over by foot ferry from Pembroke Dock to Rosslare and so have been shoehorning all the gear I need into one bag that I can carry on my shoulder with the laptop on the other and a guitar in each hand. I should just about be able to stagger on an off the ferry bus at each end!

JR will be picking me up the other side and then we'll go on to the first gig of the the tour at Colfer's Pub, Carrig-on-Bannow, where I started my tour last year.



The rest of the tour is slightly different this year in that the gigs I will be playing are all centred arround the Che Do Bheatha Festival in Kilkee, a festival that was started in 2011 to celebrate 50 years since the meeting of the artist Jim Fitzpatrick and Ché Guevara in a hotel bar in Kilkee. This meeting inspired the artist to paint the world famous iconic image that has adorned bedroom walls and t-shirts all over the world.

Early start tomorrow to get to the other side of Wales to catch the ferry...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=924 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=924 Wed, 25 Sep 2019 19:39:00 GMT Second gig on Saturday was The Greyhound at Kilkee. This was a larger pub split into several sections with a small indoor stage, where I was to play, and larger semi covered outdoor are with big stage, and several sections to the main pub, with gave the feel of multiple rooms with out there being any doors as such.

This gig was naturally a bit louder. I had to mic up the WEM as there was a small 'wall' in from of he stage which masked the sound. This wall meant I needed to sit on high stool to be seen, something I don't like as I need both feet in contact with the floor. But I found bench stool which I could use it raise the height of the 'floor' and my mini stomp worked perfectly.

Because of the louder volume I was able to push the volume of the WEM up quite high for the electric part of the set and really get a great sound out of it.

Another great reception, more CDs sold, and lots of positive feedback at the end of the night.

Tonight (Sunday) is the last night of the tour and I'll be playing at Tom Malone's in Milltown Malbay. Apparently there's a party with a trad session on before me so it'll be great craic!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=871 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=871 Sun, 14 Oct 2018 11:32:00 GMT Saturday was a two gig day and the first up was the Record Break in Ennis. Start was at 3pm and as it was only a short drive away there was plenty of time to have a relaxed lunch to restock my body from the losses of the day before!

We arrived in Ennis at about 2:40, but JR had to pick up food for the cats and inevitably started chatting with the shop owner, so we made it the venue at closer to 3:00. However the place was quite small and had a small PA in place allready so just needed to add microphones and use JRs WEM for the guitar, so were ready to go very quickly.

The volume of the A was quite low so the gig had a very acoustic feel and the small audience (15 to 20) were very attentive. 15 to 20 was quite close to capacity by the way.

Despite the intimate acoustic feel it wasn't long before a couple of women were dancing at the back. I always like it when people dance at acoustic gigs as I always feel blues is best listened on your feet and not treated like some kind of respectful classical music!

The cafe itself, run by the very welcoming Sinead and Sean, is half record shop half cafe and has a small indoor stage where I was playing) and larger outdoor stage for the summer, which must be a great setup. The clientele are very friendly and obviously like their music. One guy had travelled 70 miles to be there!

Sold some CDs and had some nice chats with the customers after!

All in all a great reboot to the tour after the hiccup the day before.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=870 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=870 Sun, 14 Oct 2018 11:07:00 GMT Got up the next morning, not too early, for a great breakfast at the B&B. A good selection of veggie breakfast standards.

We set off for County Clare at about 11am, should be roughly 3 hours drive. Started well but around 1pm I start to feel a bit rough and unfortunately had to ask JR to pull over and left my breakfast at the side of the road.

Though I hadn't had that much Guinness the night before and had turned down the last pint offered the night before, it seems the choppy ferry cross, traveling cross country and lack of sleep had shaken up my stomach. Never mind there would be a good couple of hours to sleep once we made it to JRs place, and so I was confident all would be well by the evening.

By the time we arrived I was feeling worse and was ill again, slept solid for two hours but woke up feeling worse! JR had taken the gear to the Bake House restaurant whilst I was sleeping to give me time to rest and eat before playing, unfortunately I couldn't eat!

We dithered about canceling but decided to go for it any way. I went on stage but had to pull out after three numbers, which was gutting as I was getting a good response from the audience and few tables had been booked specifically because I was there.

With much apologies we had to let the gig go. JR had warned the proprietors that this might be possibility and they were very understanding! They asked JR to bring me back next year, so hopefully we can return to make good!

This is only the second time in my career that I've had to pull out of gig once I actually started playing and only the 4th where I've cancelled from illness at all, which makes it all the more gutting as any muso will understand, sometimes the show just can't go on!

Typing this this morning I'm feeling much better, just a little 'bruised' from being ill the previous day. So I'm looking forward to todays gigs 3pm at the Record Break cafe and this evening at the Greyhound Kilkee.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=869 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=869 Sat, 13 Oct 2018 10:35:00 GMT The ferry arrived a little late due to 'adverse tides and winds' but JR was also held by an accident (not his!) so that kind of timed well. Journey over was okay, but a little bit choppy perhaps, I mainly tried to sleep, discovered afterwards that the next ferry sailings had been cancelled due to incoming storms, so I was kind of lucky to get over!

Having met up with JR we headed to Carrig on Bannow, which only a short distance away but through some very winding lanes. Pleased to see I'm not the only one who can get confused by a SatNav! First off we headed for the bed and breakfast, grabbing a bag of chis on the way, as I's not had much chnace to eat at that point.

We arrived at Carrig House B&B, and received a friendly greeting from the owner. JR has stayed there many times with various musicians he's taken on tour so is well known and has a 'usual room' I was just across the hall. The rooms were very nice and breakfast the next morning was great, I'd recommend it!

Colfers pub was literally just round the corner. There were just a couple of people in when we arrived, a mediums size bar with small stage near the door, fine for a solo act. JR was providing the PA so we go that is and set it up. I put the guitars through his WEM valve amp and the vocals and new stomp box through the small PA. A bit of gaffer tape to fix the mini stomp box to the floor and all was fine.

Started to play at 10pm and a few people drifted in through the door during the opening numbers. A small but appreciative crowd to start with. Suddenly there was surge of youngsters maybe 15 / 20 all speaking french! Was I on the right tour? The pub now had quite lively air to it.

I played a good hours worth on the acoustic, then took a very short break, in fact playing a little jazz in the break at the landlords John Murphy's request, then back on with the electric laying through to about 12:30. It turns out the landlord is a champion traditional harmonica player and could turn his hand to the blues too, so he went and got his harps and joined in a couple towards the end of the set.

After the gig there was drinking of guiness and talking at the bar. John Murphy played a bit too some amazing agile harmonica playing with traditional tunes and melodies.

I have to admit to not being quite as hardened as JR et al and ended up falling asleep on the bar! (Well I did start out very early and had been travelling all day, the sleep on the ferry hadn't been much good!

A great start to the tour though!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=868 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=868 Sat, 13 Oct 2018 08:40:00 GMT Got up good and early, despite my phone deciding to switch the alarm to half volume, thankfully the vibration woke me up!

Getting on the road by 8am and there being very little traffic meant I got to Pembroke Dock in plenty of time. Which was relief!

Just about managed to add the laptop to my stack of stuff to carry, though it nearly broke the camel's bluesman's back! So I'll be able to blog in between pints of Guinness, I mean gigs...

Thankfully the shuttle bus for foot passengers travels with the ferry so don't need to haul my gear round the ferry, though that in itself make me nervous, don't like the guitars being out of sight!

Looking forward to the weekend, first gig this evening at 'Colfers Pub', Carrig on Bannow.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=867 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=867 Thu, 11 Oct 2018 13:31:00 GMT So it's the evening before my first trip to Ireland, to play 5 gigs over 4 days in a variety of venues in County Wexford and County Clare.

I'll be travelling as a foot passenger on the Pembroke to Rosslare ferry, JR (John Robert of the Bullfrog Blues / Barking Spider Music fame) will be picking me up on the other side and kindly driving me from venue to venue and providing PA. In fact it's JR who has sorted out the entire tour for me, so a big thanks to him for that!

As I'm travelling as a foot passenger I've had a bit of dilemma over just what I can and can't take, I wanted to take both acoustic and electric guitars, stomp box and line 6 preamp, but I only have two hands!

So yesterday I built myself a mini stomp box out of an old wooden printen box (left over from the Walker Broad tour of Aachen in 2013!) ans some plastic foam.

Today I dumped all the junk out of my music gear bag ( a job that needed doing anyway as it gets heavier every gig it seems!) Found the shoulder strap at the back of the cupboard and filled it with clothes, microphones, guitar leads, the new stompbox, box of CDs etc. With that on my should I have a hand each for the Les Paul and the Matthew Carter Acoustic. the only thing I might not have space for is this laptop I'm typing on now, so this could be a short tour blog!

I'm due at the ferry for 14:00 tomorrow, which should be plenty of time but am a little anxious about traffic as last time I went to wales it took me 7 hours to get to Cardiff let alone Pembroke Dock! That was particularly bad traffic but still I think I'm going to leave silly early tomorrow! I'd rather sit around board at the ferry terminal than be stressed out in a queue to get over the Severn bridge!

Really looking forward to visiting a new country with my guitar in hand, I'm assured by all I'll have great time and I quite believe them.

Hopefully I'll work out a way to take the laptop so I can keep you all posted on my adventures...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=866 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=866 Wed, 10 Oct 2018 20:45:00 GMT Hello All,

A very quick update before the start of a busy weekend...

**Poole Blues Festival**

Really pleased to have been asked to play Poole Blues Festival for a third
year running. This year will be two solo gigs and a band gig with Burnt
Ice.

Friday 7th 5:30pm I will be playing solo at the Quay Emporium, then
Satudarday 8th at 2pm I will be in solo again in The Stable, pizza and
cider bar, then at 8:30 pm Burnt Ice will play the Portmouth Hoy. All three
venues are on or very close to the Quay, thus right in the centre of the
action!.

http://www.poolebluesfestival.co.uk/


**More Acoustic Guitar Blogs**

Been busy working on more episodes for the VBlog.

The most recent episode I got sandy from the Walker Broad band involved and
we discussed and performed our song "Emergency Exit" which was developed
from the funky slide guitar riff I played around with in the very first of
these blogs.

Andy Broad & Sandy Walker - Emergency Exit From Funky Slide Guitar
https://youtu.be/Z3TxQJ34nLg

Earlier in the month I made video about my 1939 Kalamazoo

https://youtu.be/xULClbEBeAU


**Irish Tour**

Plans for the Irish tour are really shaping up now, 5 out of 6 gig slots
filled, thanks to JRs hard work. So between the 13th and 16th of October I
shall be mainly in County Galway, Eire!

Looking forward to it.

**Gigs**

Bit short of time so I'm going to be lazy and just post the link t the
giglist

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml


Andy


Kind regards
--
---------------------------------------------------------
| Andy Broad - Blues & Jazz guitar/ vocalist |
| |
| Website - http://www.broad.ology.org.uk |
| Reverb - http://www.reverbnation/andybroad |
| Last.FM - http://last.fm/music/Andy+Broad |
| WalkerBroad - http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk |
| Telephone - 023 92 877 933 |
| Mobile - 079 51 170 874 |
---------------------------------------------------------

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=861 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=861 Thu, 06 Sep 2018 13:28:00 GMT Welcome to August's Blues News.

** Videos And Acoustic Guitar Blog **

As mentioned in the last email, having bought a new video camera,
a Zoom Q2HD which built to record good audio, with a better camera
than my phone, I've resumed making both live gig videos and my
series of Acoustic Guitar Logs.

Here's a video of Burnt Ice's closing number of our gig at the
Golden Eagle In Southsea. We hope to return there in the Autumn.

https://youtu.be/beCbTJhqBc0

I've been quite busy on the blog, here are new the episodes since
the last email.

o Andy Broad - How Do You Write A Song Like That?

Inspired by a question at a walker Broad gig last year, I
describe some of my composition process...

https://youtu.be/R3nnrVxu13c

o Andy Broad - The Thrill Is Gone - Solo - Tips and Tricks

This one was by request from a friend wanting tips on how to
play solo electric guitar.

https://youtu.be/H392dfIudY8

o Andy Broad - Techniques for Playing Slide Guitar in Standard
Tuning.
I'm frequently asked about how I play slide guitar in standard
tuning, here are some tips on my approach.

https://youtu.be/HBBdwcxSD_4

And the most recent:

o Andy Broad - A Jazz Blues With Just One Note

I explain how to play a jazz blues with a one note melody line,
and chords that move around the note. I teach this to
intermediate to advanced students, get in touch if interested.

https://youtu.be/GNt_yx3LCT0


As you can see I've been quite busy on the video front, hope you
enjoy them! If you do please do share them on you favoured social
media or even just let me know in a comment on the youtube video
page.


** Lessons **

I currently have space for a couple of students. The standard
start up deal of 5 lessons for £75 is available. Get in touch by
replying to this email!


** Gigs **

Quite a bit going on this month with outings for each of my bands!


Sunday 5th August - 12:30pm
The Auckland Jam
Auckland Arms Netley Road Southsea

As ever all welcome both to play and listen, it's always a lot of
fun.

Sunday 12th August - 8:30pm
Blues At the Red
The Red Lion, High Street, Stevenage.
Andy Broad - Solo

This one is always a great gig, with a supportive audience.

Thursday 16th August - 8:30pm
The Vaults, Albert Road Southsea
The West Side Blues Band

Chicago Blues

Friday 17th August - 8:30pm
The Windsor Castle, Gosport.
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

Thursday 23rd August
Printer Playhouse, Eastbourne
Andy Broad - Solo

Really pleased to be asked to be the opening act at this new blues
club in Eastbourne.

Friday 31st August - 8:30pm
The Auckland Arms
The Walker Broad Band

Been a little while since we did a full band gig at the Auckland
as diaries wouldn't line up right, so we are really looking
forward to this one.


That's it for this month, see you at a gig soon and check out
those videos!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=829 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=829 Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:31:00 GMT OK so it's not quite June yet, but some exiting things
coming up so I wanted to get ahead with the mailing list
for once!

*** Wimborne Minster Folk Festival ***

Walker Broad are pleased to have been invited back to
Wimborne this year and we will be playing on The Minster
Arms stage at 12:00pm on Sunday 10th June. Were playing
for about an hour and half so we will be airing our
folkier numbers to start and gradually funking it up as
we progress through the set, should be a lot of fun, so
do come and join us.

*** Videos ***

After bit of break I've got some new videos to share with
you.

Walker Broad - Hampshire Festival Of the Mind - Square
Tower performing "Not The Keeping Kind"

https://youtu.be/TENEIuBqj0U

Six Cross Eyed Cats - Muddy Waters Tribute featuring
Stompin Dave - Hanger Farm Arts Centre - performing "The
Same Thing"

https://youtu.be/2HtE9f-ozjA

A new "episode" of my Acoustic Guitar Blog where I try
out a new camera and jam on funky riff...

https://youtu.be/GXgw-nQDTQ0


*** Forth Coming Gigs ***
Sunday 3rd June - 12:30 pm

The Auckland Jam, Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea

All are welcome to our regular blues jam, players and
listeners a like, beginners and more experienced. If you
want to play just let me know when you arrive and I'll
make sure you can get up.

Mostly blues based but we aren't 100% purist about it.

Sunday 10th June - 12:00 till 13:30pm
Wimborne Minster Folk Festival
The Minster Arms Stage.

Walker Broad Band - original folk blues and jazz.

Thursday 14th June
Blues At Jude's Place
Jude the Obscure, Walton Street, Oxford
Andy Broad - Solo Blues

Friday 22nd June
The Ironmaster - Farehame High Street
Andy Broad - Solo Blues.



*** GDPR ***

Seems there been a lot of noise about this lately! So
here is my little contribution... I've taken the advice
that, as this mailing list is subscription only, I don't
need to reseek permission to send you email, but do need
to point out that you can unsubscribe at any time, either
by replying to this email with a request to unsubscribe
or by the link in the signature of the mail. Of course we
hope you'll stay with us!

The only personal data we hold is you email address and
in few case you name as well, and we don't share that
with anyone else. Originally the festival mailing list
had a postal option, but we never used that and I have
deleted the address data that a few people gave us.


*** Hope To See You At Gig Soon ***



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=821 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=821 Tue, 29 May 2018 16:11:00 GMT Hello All,

A greate month of music coming up. Beer festivals and new solo venues and
some regular gigs.


*** Friday 13th April - Wickham Beer Festival - Burnt Ice ***

Really pleased to have been asked to play at this years beer festival in
Wickham. Burnt Ice will be appearing on the Friday for The Beer Blues and
Curry Evening.

From their website:

We shall be having our Beer Blues and Curry Evening again. 7pm till 11pm.
Tickets can be purchased for Friday Evening with or without a Curry ( Curry
Tickets only available till midnight 9th April Due to needed to pre order.)


So if you want curry with your beer an blues plaese go to their site and
order your tickets asap.

http://wickhambeerfestival.co.uk/

The venue is The Wickham Centre, Mill Lane, Wickham, Hampshire, PO17 5AL



*** Thursday 19th April - The Vaults, Albert Road - Walker Broad Band ***

This is always a great gig to play, our mix of blues folk and jazz inspired
material is always well received, look forward to seeing you there!



*** Saturday 21st April - The Steam Town Brew Co, Eastleigh - Andy Broad
Solo ***

This will be my first gig at this new venue and in a variation on my usual
solo outings I will be playing electric guitar all night. Expect lots of
Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker inspired grooves, mixed up with more
unusal indian and spanish grooves, and bit of funk too....

The Steam Town Brew Co, Bishopstoke Road, Eastleigh.



*** Thursday 26th April - Belgium and Blues, Southampton - Andy Broad ***

A year or so since I played this one. Was great fun last time so looking
forward to returnig. Belgian beer and blues has to be great combination.

belgium and Blues, Above Bar Street, Southampton.


*** Sunday 6th May - The Auckland Jam ***

Our regular Blues Jam at The Auckland Arms in Southsea. All Welcome to play
and listen.
We have a wide ranging turnout of musicians from pros ro beginners so don;t
be shy to come along we'll fit you in.

*** Monday May 14th - Hampshire Festival Of the Mind 2018 - The Square Tower
***

Looking further ahead into next month, Walker Broad will heading up the
lineup for the evening session of this years festival of the mind.

http://goodmentalhealth.org....pshire-festival-of-the-mind/


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=820 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=820 Mon, 09 Apr 2018 14:10:00 GMT Meant to send this out just before Christmas, but got delayed, hope you all
had a good one and have a great New Year too...

**Christmas Card Video**

As is becoming a bit of tradition, I created a blues related Christmas card
again this year and video to go along with it, with a bit of jazzier sound
track than usual.

Here's a linik to the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqzokWqP-8E

Here's the finished card in my gallery....

http://webplus.broad.ology.o.../__cat__0001&directshow=0076

**New Years Day Jam**

First gig of the year next year will be an extra special edition of the
Auckland jam for New Years Day. As ever all welcome, players and
listeners/dancers alike, last year was lot of fun.

Usual time 12:30 to 15:30 or so.

Afterwards Shep Woolley will be holding his charity Jam in the Barley Mow,
castle Road, so we'll likely go along to that too...

**Walker Broad at Havant Music Club**

Walker Broad are pleased to start the year as the featured artists at the
Havant Music Club, a roughly monthly event intended to raise funds for the
Sustainabilty Centre, a modest door charge of £5.00 is split between the
band and the fund for the centre.

The club held at The Wheelwrights Arms in Havant, Monday January 8th and
promises to be great start to our musical year as a band.

More info on facebook
https://m.facebook.com/Havantmusic/

**Gigs List**

Here's the lineup to finish the old and start the new year


Friday 29th December
The Ferryman, Warsash,
Andy Broad Solo.

Monday 1st January, 12:30 till 15:30
The Auckland Arms.
New Years day Jam.

Friday 5th January
The Ironmaster Fareham
Andy Broad Solo.

Sunday 7th January, 12:30 till 15:30
The Auckland Arms
Regular Auckland Jam

Monday 8th January
Havant Music Club
The Wheelrights Arms, Havant
The Walker Broad Band

Thursday 18th January
The Vaults, Albert Road, Southsea
Burnt Ice.


Thanks for all the support throught the year, and looking forward to another
great year of music making...

Andy et. al.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=807 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=807 Fri, 29 Dec 2017 15:46:00 GMT November 2017

Sorry it's been a short while since I emailed the list with an
update, so have accumulated a few things to share ...

**Burnt Ice 30th Concert**

Many thanks to all those of you that came out to the Burnt Ice
30th anniversary gig at The Bullfrog Blues Club in September, we
had a great time thank you for you support. If you subscribe to
Blues In Britain, you will find and excellent review of the
evening by Bob Chaffey, a regular supporter of the club. I'll be
posting it to the website fairly soon...

Andy Thomas our sound engineer for the evening recorded the
concert in multi track and I have been working on mixing out the
results, sound very good so far, the plan is to have a live CD
produced before the end of the year, perhaps including a couple of
bonus tracks from our trip to France in July. Will keep you posted
on the progress of that.

**Videos**

My youtube channel passed the 25,000 video views point last month
which is very gratifying, thanks for you support in that regard.
The latest video uploaded is a complete set from my appearance at
Keighley Blues Live in September. If you follow me of facebook
you may have heard I had a bit of "fun" getting to that gig with
the car engine throwing a piston rod through the block just 20
miles south of Bradford the day before, but with the help of green
flag I made it there and was able to do the gig as planned. It was
great gig and a supportive audience, here's the video:

https://youtu.be/buR26mvNqMY

**Blue Touch Live presents Robin Bibi Band and Andy Broad**

This Friday, November 10th Paul Ruston's BlueTouchLive promotions
will be putting on a gig in their new venue at Hill Park Memorial
Club, Fareham featuring the Robin Bibi Band and Andy Broad solo.
It should be great night and I heard good things about this venue,
with a good stage area and room layout.

You can get tickets from:
http://www.bluetouchlive.com/home/next-event/

**Milford Blues Night**

On December the 16th Burnt Ice will appearing at The Milford Blues
Night presented by Bob Long.

This promises to be great evening of music and will take place at
the Milford On Sea Community Centre, more details including
tickets here:

http://moscommunitycentre.org.uk/events/blues-night-12

**Gig List**

Here's a list of the upcoming November gigs.

Friday November 10th
Hill Park Memorial Social Club, 78 Highlands Rd, Fareham PO15 6JD
Robin Bibi Band plus Andy Broad

Saturday 18th November
The RMA Tavern, Cromwell Road, Eastney
Burnt Ice

Friday 24th November
The Beehive, Swindon
The Walker Broad Band

Friday 1st December
The Windsor Castle, Gosport
Burnt Ice

Sunday 3rd December 12:30pm till 3:30pm
The Auckland Arms Lunchtime Blues Jam

All welcome as ever, both players and listeners alike.


Lookforward to catching you at a gig soon, do say hello!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=791 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=791 Tue, 07 Nov 2017 16:25:00 GMT **Welcome to September's Newsletter**
***********************************

A really busy and exciting month coming up! Appearances at
Poole Blues Festival, Burnt Ice's 30th Anniversary, and a
solo gig at Keighley Blues club in Yorkshire and more

**Poole Blues On The Quay**
***************************

The first weekend in September is quite a busy one with
two concerts at Blues on the Quay In Poole and the regular
Sunday Jam sandwiched in between in Southsea. Andy Broad
will be appearing at the Rope & Anchor Sarum Street, Poole
on the Saturday 2nd at 8:30 and then at The Foundry, Poole
at 7:30pm on the Sunday, given just me enough time to host
the Auckland Jam in between!

**Burnt Ice 30th Anniversary**
******************************

Hopefully by now you will know that Burnt Ice have been
playing the blues for 30 continuous years, unlike some
longer running bands on the circuit, there has been no
time off for good behaviour! We've been celebrating that
with a tour that started in France in July at the Bastille
Blues Festival, and finishes up at the Bullfrog Blues
Club, Southsea on Thursday September 7th, which we are
planning to record, so come along and help us make a big
noise!

Here's a quote from Dave Allen on the Pompey Pop Facebook
Group:

" When I was just a lad, and first saw the great blues
veterans like 'old' Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Little
Walter etc. they had mostly been going since the 1940s -
in other words, shorter careers then, than Burnt Ice now -
the Blues Legends of '17. Congratulations chaps! "

Thanks Dave!

Tickets for the concert at The Bullfrog can be bought
online from
http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/ or
bought in person from Street Level Music in Albert Road
Southsea.

**Keighley Blues Club**
***********************

All happening this month, Andy Broad will be heading up to
Yorkshire on 15th to perform at Keighley Blues Club as the
opening act for the Moody Maas Band, should be great
night!

**Videos from France**
**********************

As mentioned above Burnt Ice started the 30th celebrations
with an appearance at the Bastille Blues Festival in
France, the Walker Broad band also appeared. Here are a
couple of videos from the event.

Burnt Ice Perform Sweet Little Angel
https://youtu.be/7Ews7UoLzZo

Walker Broad perform Wild Women
https://youtu.be/u6qVMHfzqRg

**Giglist For September**
*************************

Saturday 2nd September, 8:30pm
The Rope & Anchor, Blues On the Quay, Poole.
Andy Broad - original acoustic and electric blues.

Sunday 3rd September, 12:30pm till 3:30pm
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea
Andy Broads Blues Jam, all welcome as usual to our monthly
jam.

Sunday 3rd September 7:30pm
The Foundry, Blues On The Quay, Poole.
Andy Broad

Thursday 7th September 8:00pm
The Bullfrog Blues Club
The Dockyard Club, Onslow Road, Southsea
Burnt Ice 30th Anniversary Concert.

Saturday 9th September
"Gig Buddies" opening, Fratton
Andy Broad

Friday 15th September
Keighley Blues Club, Yorkshire
Moody Maas Band plus Andy Broad

Friday 22nd September
The Ferryman, Warsash
Andy Broad




]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=786 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=786 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:08:00 GMT Welcome To July's Newletter,

Also a warm welcome to some of the new members on the
mailing list, if you joined up recently it's been a while
since I posted so don't worry you didn't miss anything!
Things have been bit busy and I've been relying on
Facebook to much for PR!

BTW our facebook links are

http//www.facebook.com/andybroadblues
http//www.facebook.com/AndyBroadBluesPage
http//www.facebook.com/walkerbroadmusic/

Some good stuff coming up over the next couple of months
particularly in the run up to the 30 years of Bunrt Ice
celebration in September.

Bastille Blues Festival - Brittany.

http://www.breizhms.com/html/BastilleBluesFestival.html

As it's Burnt Ice's 30th anniversary this year I decided
that this years tour of France would be with the band,
and given the overlap in lineup it seemed sensible for
Walker Broad to go too!

So on Friday 14th we head for Brittany to play at the
Bastille Blues Festival, Planco�t, hosted by our Friends
at Le Cheval Blanc, a great little Irish Bar / Hotel in
Planco�t between St. malo and Rennes. Walker Broad will
play the Friday evening, Burnt Ice on the Saturday and
then there will be Jam session on the Sunday afternoon.

Please do pass this info on to anyone you know in that
area of France, and of course come along yourself, just a
couple of hours on the ferry :-)

Burnt Ice - 30th Anniversary

As mentioned above Burnt Ice have been playing our quirky
brand of funky blues for 30 years, and we will be
celebrating with a number of special gigs culminating in
the gig at the Bullfrog Blues Club on September 7th.
Tickets for that are available to buy on-line now from
the Barking Spider website, and will soon be available
direct from band members.

http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/docs/tickets/


Gigs For July

Saturday July 8th
The Dolphin, Osbourne Road, St. Denys, Southampton.
Andy Broad - funky acoustic blues and slide guitar.

Booked at relatively short notice I'm looking forward to
this first visit to the Dolphin. Please do come down!


Friday July 14th
Bastille Blues Festival
Le Cheval Blanc, Planco�t, Brittany
Walker Broad

Saturday July 15th
Bastille Blues Festival
Le Cheval Blanc, Planco�t, Brittany
Burnt Ice

Sunday July 16th - Afternoon
Bastille Blues Festival
Le Cheval Blanc, Planco�t, Brittany
Blues Jam et Scene Ouvert.

Friday July 22nd
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea
The Walker Broad Band


--
---------------------------------------------------------
| Andy Broad - Blues & Jazz guitar/ vocalist |
| |
| Website - http://www.broad.ology.org.uk |
| Reverb - http://www.reverbnation/andybroad |
| Last.FM - http://last.fm/music/Andy+Broad |
| WalkerBroad - http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk |
| Telephone - 023 92 877 933 |
| Mobile - 079 51 170 874 |
---------------------------------------------------------

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=777 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=777 Fri, 07 Jul 2017 17:14:00 GMT Hello,

Just a quick update to wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for all
the support through the year, whether it be through attending gigs, buying
CDs or watching my videos, every little helps as they say...

** Christmas Card **

As with previous years I've designed a blues themed Christmas card and made
a video of the process set to a specialy composed track.

The final result is here in my gallery

http://webplus.broad.ology.o.../__cat__0001&directshow=0074

and the video here

https://youtu.be/991yj4XWIZo

** Christmas Day Airplay on Digital Blues **

I'm really pleased to hear that Ashywyn Smyth has chosen to include a track
from my recent EP on his Christmas Day show, one of three reviewing the
best music of the year.

The show will air first at 17.00 UK time on Kansas City Online Radio
http://www.kconlineradio.com

If you can't tune into that then there a list of alternates on Ashwyn's own
website:

http://www.digitalblues.co.uk/

** New Years Day Jamming **

First 'gig' out of the year will be the Auckland Jam on Sunday 1st of
January in it's usual timeslot, 12:30pm start till arround 3:30pm. After
that we will be heading across to the Barley Mow to support Shep Wooleys
jam for teh homeless, should be an exalent way to start the new year and
shake of that hangover.

Auckland Arms
Netley Road
Southsea
January 1st 12:30pm

Thanks again and Merry Christmas to you all!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=748 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=748 Fri, 23 Dec 2016 22:47:00 GMT Welcome to the last (probably :-)) newsletter for 2016.

This month is a little quiet on public gigs though I am playing a couple of
private parties, it's not too late to book me for yours, get in touch if
you want a special house concert for new years eve!

The last public gig I'm playing this month is a special one to commemorate
the ten year anniversary of the death Jamie Roberts, John Robrt's son. It
will take place at The RMA Tavern on Decemember 17th and will feature Bex
Marshall (backed by Steve Brwoning bass and Dan Ogus Drums) my self playing
a solo set, plus other special guests, Although reason behind it is sad,
it's going to be a celebratory affair and should be a lot of fun. Entry is
free but there wil be a collection for Cancer Research, please do come
down, all are welcome.

** Video Blog **

I have started up an Acoustic Guitar orientated video blog, which will
feature performances, background details of songs, the occasional lesson,
and any other good ideas I can think of to put in there, maybe even the
occasional rant :-)

Here are the first three "episodes" in the playlist

https://www.youtube.com/play...oPBYFAirhBQXXd0loZ04oqQnb-rC

Funky Acoustic Slide Guitar Blues - Andy Broad

Andy Broad - Guitar Lesson - Shuffle in E

Andy Broad - Gypsy Jazz - Blues Style - Swing 42


Please check it out, subscribe to my channel to get regular updates, and
share it with anyone you think may be interested...


** Guitar Lessons **

With Christmas coming round I'm doing my special deal again, your fist 5
lessons in fingerstyle blues and slide guitar for just £75 , normal price
£20 per lesson, so you save £25. Would make a great gift for your guitar
enthusiast... For the £75 deal you'll need to pay for 5 lessons n advance
then after that pay on the day of the lesson in cash. Advance payment can
be by paypal , cheque or similar to make giving it as agift easier.

Get in touch by email and we'll sort out the details!

** CDs **

If guitar lessons are a bit out of your budget don't forget I've got my full
back catalog for sale at

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html

As a special christmas deal I'm offering both "Every Penny Of the Deal" and
"Cockerel Blues" together for just £15.00 with free P&P to the UK (normal
price £17.00 plus P&P). Reply to this email to take advantage of the deal.


That's all for now, if I don't see you before, have a great Christmas!

Andy

STOP PRESS - Just heard that the first gig of next year is now confirmed as
New Years Day at the Auckland Arms for the first installment of our regular
Jam, all welcome, last Sundays was a scream with both a big audience and
plenty of players, lets do it again!







]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=738 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=738 Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:08:00 GMT Welcome to this months newsletter.



*Weekend Gigs*


Couple of gigs coming up this weekend.

On Friday(18th) Walker Broad will be playing at The Bakers Arms in
Winchester, this has become a fast favourite over the ast year, always a
great crowd, with a lively interest in the music.

Saturday 19th finds Burnt Ice at The RMA Tavern, Eastney must be nearly 20
years since we first played there, and it's always great to return. Come
down for some lively funky blues...



*Airplay for Cockerel Blues*


I've literally just heard by email that Ashwyn Smith will featuring a couple
of tracks from the Cockerel Blues EP on his radio show Digital Blues on
Thursday.

http://www.digitalblues.co.uk/

Big thanks to him in advance for that, please do tune in and have listen to
his great show.



*Videos*


Back at the start of October, Burnt Ice had the great pleasure of being
second on the bill when Nine Below Zero played at the Wedgewood rooms. I've
uploaded two video from the performance to my youtube channel.


The opening instrumental
Iceman -https://youtu.be/-GUi25djnl0

Iceman is featured on the Cockerel Blues EP.

A long time standard in the set my original song first release on cassette
two long ago to remeber!
Postcard Blues - https://youtu.be/3Bg6iUDVMt8


I've been working on new song idea based a round a funky riff on the
acoutsic guitar, this is short video about it's evolution from a picked to
slide guitar approach.

Funky Acoustic Slide Guitar Blues - Andy Broad
https://youtu.be/gCs-NYPBfmc


That's all for now hope to see you at a gig soon!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=736 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=736 Mon, 14 Nov 2016 15:28:00 GMT Some info about next fridays concert in fareham sent on behalf of Paul at
Blue Touch Live Promotions, it's going to be really great gig!

Bluetouch Live present:

Zoë Schwarz Blue Commotion plus Andy Broad
8pm Friday September 30th
Club V
Cams Alders Recreation Ground,
Fareham
PO14 1DJ

Tickets just £10.00 from http://www.bluetouchlive.com/ or on the door.
Price inlcudes a free drink and free parking. Doors open 8pm music starts
at 8:30pm.


**** Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion ****
************************************

www.bluecommotion.com
www.zoeschwarz.info

Zoë and the band have come right to the fore of the British Blues Scene as a
result of an intensely busy, exciting and creative three years. Their
latest CD, a live album 'I'll Be Yours Tonight? (Jun 2105) is their fourth
release in three years. It follows hard on the heels of the acclaimed
studio albums 'Exposed' and 'The Blues Don't Scare Me', both of which
generated a series of awards and nominations including Runner-Up for ?Best
Band? in the 2015 British Blues Awards, plus Runner-Up for Zo in the 2014 &
2015 British Blues Awards.

"Their exemplary song writing skills coupled with outstanding performance,
puts them at the very edge of triumph on the world blues scene."
Ian McKenzie, Blues In The South, UK 2015

"Zoë, once again proving that there is not a better female blues singer in
the UK and probably far beyond."
Dave Scott, Blues In Britain, June 2015

Their exciting live set is based around the band's rootsy originals;
featuring strong catchy riffs, interesting arrangements and exciting
grooves, providing the perfect vehicle for Zo's yearning, passionate and
commanding vocal style, and Rob's unmistakable touch and flow on guitar.
The highly accomplished rhythm section of Pete Whittaker-Hammond organ, and
Paul Robinson-drums (Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney to name a
few) bring massive musical authority with the ability to push the music in
unpredictable and exciting directions.

Zo has made a considerable impact in a very short space of time and is one
of those new artists that have added a fresh approach and vibrancy to the
thriving UK blues scene.

"A whip-crack band.. expressive voice... impressive material"
Pete Feenstra, Classic Rock's 'The Blues Magazine', UK, 2014

"Incendiary vocal, guitar and organ work"
Ed Mitchell, The Blues Magazine, 2015

"Exceptional original songs"
Blues in Britain, 2013

"Schwarz & Koral make it all look easy, blues, swinging tunes, bossas,
Billie Holiday-esque ballads all delivered with an expert flair while still
possessing the wild hair necessary for true authenticity..."

C.Michael Bailey, All About Jazz, USA, 2013


**** Andy Broad ****
********************


Andy Broad's professional career has spanned nearly 30 years, and in that
time he has taken his music arround the world to San Fransisco, France,
Belgium and Germany and ofcourse extensively toured the UK. Combining the
rootsy delta based blues of Robert Johnson, Son House etc al with elements
of "world music" and more contemporary blues influences such as Robert Cray
and Luthor Allison, he creates a lively and vibrant sound.

His latest two CDs the solo "Every Penny Of The Deal" and the instrumental
based "Cockeral Blues" have both recieved good reviews and extensive
airplay.

"clever and accomplished guitar work embellished with a resonant clear vocal
... some fine slide"
Bob Chaffey - Blues In Britain Magazine

"some superb picking and stupendous vocals"
Russell Hill - Maverick Magazine

"... a rollicking bit of slide ... "
Chris Broom - The News
--
---------------------------------------------------------
| Andy Broad - Blues & Jazz guitar/ vocalist |
| |
| Website - http://www.broad.ology.org.uk |
| Reverb - http://www.reverbnation/andybroad |
| Last.FM - http://last.fm/music/Andy+Broad |
| WalkerBroad - http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk |
| Telephone - 023 92 877 933 |
| Mobile - 079 51 170 874 |
---------------------------------------------------------

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=727 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=727 Sun, 25 Sep 2016 22:32:00 GMT A bit of an update from to the newletter earlier in the week, I've been quite busy working through the backlog of video taken at various recent gigs.

Here's the most recent 5 videos.

Burnt Ice - Ashcroft Art Centre - Little Red Rooster (Albert King style... not sure if Albert King ever played little rd rooster but if he did it might go something like this...)

West Side Blues Band - The Vaults - Take A Little Walk With Me

West Side Blues Band - The Vaults - From the Roots On Down

I included these next two in the last email, but I know it bounce from one or two recipients so just in case here they are again:


Andy Broad - Blues At The Red - Cockerel Blues

Andy Broad - Blues At The Red - Big Road Blues

If you get this email in time, Burnt Ice will be at the Windsor Castle in Gosport tonight (Friday 9th Sept).

 --------------------------------------------------------- 

| Andy Broad - Blues & Jazz guitar/ vocalist               | 

|                                                          | 

| Website     - http://www.broad.ology.org.uk              | 

| Reverb      - http://www.reverbnation/andybroad          | 

| Last.FM     - http://last.fm/music/Andy+Broad            | 

| WalkerBroad - http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk               | 

| Telephone   - 023 92 877 933                             | 

| Mobile      - 079 51 170 874                             | 

 --------------------------------------------------------- 

 

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=721 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=721 Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:02:00 GMT Welcome to September's Blues News Letter.

September is going to be great month blues wise,
off to an excellent start at the Auckland Arms on
Sunday, a good mix of band solo and duo gigs follow
with some festival appearances thrown in too!

***Blues On the Quay***

Poole is holding it's first Blues On The Quay
festival this month (16th / 17th )and I'm delighted
to be appearing three times, once in solo mode and
twice as a duo with Sandy Walker joining me on
piano and vocals. In contrast to our normal Walker
Broad duo where Sandy takes the bulk of the vocals,
we will sharing the microphone and concentrating on
a more solidly blues based set, featuring some
original numbers from my recent CDs, a couple of
Walker Broad originals and a few standards,
rehearsals have been a lot of fun and we are really
looking forward to the festival.

More info:
http://www.poolebluesfestival.co.uk/

***Bluetouch Live - Club V***

Really pleased to have been asked to get involved
with Bluetouch Live's next promotion, I shall be
opening the show in solo mode on Friday September
30th at Club V in Fareham. Followed by the
excellent Zoe Schwarz and Blue Commotion. Tickets
are £10.00 and include a free drink, I'll have some
available to buy at gigs during the month or you
can order them direct from their website:
http://www.bluetouchlive.com/

***Nine Below Zero***

This is strictly speaking in October but is worth a
bit of advanced notice! Nine Below Zero will
appearing at the Wedgewood Rooms on Saturday
October 8th and Burnt Ice are really pleased to be
second on the bill. Tickets are just £15.00 but you
can get them direct from members of Burnt Ice for
just £12.50, get in touch if you want some, our
allocation is going fast.

***Videos From Blues At The Red***

Had a great gig in Stevenage at Blues At The Red
last month and have uploaded two video from the gig
to my youtube channel.

A solo interpretation of Cockerel Blues from my
latest EP of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUclh0D4jzE

My take in Big Road Blues, which blends elements
from various interpretations of the Tommy Johnson
classic, with a bit of my own...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vTeFAye7Xk

***Mojo Fingers Blues***

I've just heard that Chris 'Fossy' Fosbrook will be
featuring a track from my latest EP "Cockerel
Blues" on his show on Flash Radio tomorrow night.
You can tune in here http://theflashonair.co.uk/
and thanks in advance to Chris for the support.

***Gig List***

Friday 9th September
The Windsor Castle, Thomas's Road, Gosport
Burnt Ice
Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

Friday 16th September
Blues On The Quay - Poole
The Angel, Market Street - 8pm
Andy Broad and Sandy Walker

Saturday 17th September
Blues On The Quay - Poole
The Rope & Anchor - 2:45pm till 4:45pm
Andy Broad - Solo

Saturday 17th September
Blues On The Quay - Poole
The Angel, Market Street - 8pm
Andy Broad and Sandy Walker

Friday 23rd September
The Square & Compass, Worth Matravers
Andy Broad - Solo

Friday 30th September
Blues Touch Live, Club V, Fareham
Zoe Schwarz Blues Commotion
Andy Broad

Sunday 2nd October
The Auckland Jam, Netley Road, Southsea
All players welcome, we start at 12:30pm.


Saturday 8th October
Nine Below Zero, Burnt Ice plus support
The Wedgewood Rooms, Albert Road, Southsea


Bit of long one this month, thanks for reading to
the end :-)

See you at a gig soon....



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=720 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=720 Wed, 07 Sep 2016 15:35:00 GMT Welcome to this months blues newletter.

**Cockerel Blues EP Released**

Most exciting new this month is the release of my new colection of
instrumental blues on the Cockerel Blues EP.

The new EP brings together a selection of instrumentals, each with very
different twists on the blues. starting with the exuberantly funky slide
guitar driven title track. It then moves to a gentler jazzier sound on the
acoustic guitar led "Mariachi Blues", drawing in the sounds of Mexico, then
onto a solid soul shuffle with "Soul Shuffle Spread". "Ottoman Blues"
brings in a distinctly Arabic sound, and the final track "Iceman" is very
much a tribute to the great Albert Collins, though with a hint of Hendrix
in there too!

As well as myself it features Simon Tufnail on bass, and Alan Blackmore on
drums.

You can buy it from my website here
http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html#cock or if you'd prefer to
buy downloads (available in various high quality formats) you can buy them
here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/andybroad2 .


**July's French Tour Videos**

Beginning of July saw my yearly tour of France, a great time was had, though
the shedule was quite tight this year, with 1600 miles of driving in 4
days...

Here's some videos taken during the tour.

https://www.youtube.com/play...oPBYFAhIYrc9tuN9edXfXo1adyD3


**Dates For Your Diary**

Two longer range dates for you diary.

On Friday September 30th I will be opening the evenings entertainment at
Club V in Fareham, when Blue Touch Live present Zoe Schwarz's Blue
Commotion plus Andy Broad, tickets wil be available from September onwars
from http://www.bluetouchlive.com

On Saturday October 8th Nine Below Zero will be appearing at The Wedgewood
Rooms, and I'm pleased to be able to announce that Burnt Ice have been
added as second on the bill with one further act to be announced.

More info here:

http://www.wedgewood-rooms.c...leID/30/NINE-BELOW-ZERO.aspx

Tickets are £15.00 and available now, please mention Burnt Ice when
buying...

**Gigs For August**

Sunday August 7th - 12:30pm til 3:30pm (ish)
The Auckland Arms, netley Road, Southsea
The Auckland Blues Jam.

All players and listeners welcome to this freindly jam.


Saturday August 13th
Private Party Fareham
Walker Broad Band

Invite only but do get in touch if you like any of our acts to play for you
own party.

Sunday August 14th
Blues At The Red, The Red Lion, Stevenage
Andy Broad - Original acoustic and electric blues, solo.


Thursday August 25th
The Wine Vaults, Albert Road Southsea.
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

Sunday August 28th
The Wine Vaults, Albert Road, Southsea
The West Side Blues Band - Bank Holiday Sunday Blues Special.

Earlier in the year we played a last minute gig on the bank holiday sunday
it went down an absolute storm, so they asked us back... come down for a
real blues party.





]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=718 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=718 Wed, 03 Aug 2016 20:40:00 GMT As mentioned on Facebook travel has made blogging harder this year, but now I'm installed at Colombiéres I have so time off during the day.

Arrived in Colombiéres after a long but not too strenuos drive down from the herault, where I'd had a great gig at Pub Gabariers the night before, also meeting up with Pete and Linda Robinson, who were passing through on their way to Germany.

The next gig on the agenda was Le Grand Cafe in Camplong. I had a couple of hours to have powernap and clean up before the short half hour or so drive inot the mountains to the venue.

This was one of those times, I'm sure every musician gets, when you haven't heard back from the venue direct since it was booked for me, and so was quite releaved to see my poster in the window on arrival.

In previous years at Le Cafe Grand there had been people arriving by 8:30 but this year things were still quite, whilst that made setting up easier, it was a bit worrying in terms of the final turnout, and indeed in the end the final numbers were a bit lower than last year, but the enthusiam level of the audience was astonishing, clapping along with almost every number, and literaly screaming and shouting at the end of every number! One guy had driven 5 hours to see me play, which was great complement!



So tonight is the concert in the Courtyard of the Château de Colombieres sur Orb. The aim is to raise money for the maintence of the medieval tower further up the mountain side. Last year was great, looking forward to this, as all the gigs this tour, but slightly apprehansive about the football, though we start early and will beinish before kickoff, so maybe it won;t be a problem.


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=709 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=709 Sun, 10 Jul 2016 12:05:00 GMT Big thanks to those who turned out last night, a very receptive crowd, though crowd is pushing it to be honest. When planning the tour at the beginning of the year, I didn't know that France would be playing Portugal in the semi finals of the european cup. Needless to say this had the same effect of on audience numbers that an England match can have on an audience in England...

Knowing on the night that turnout might be low I'd set up for a more literally acoustic approach, still in the PA but miked up rather than DI, which gave an intimate feel and was very well received by those that did come.

Musically a gave a good showing, and CDs were sold, so not total disaster, but frustrating for the first gig of the tour.

Now for coffee and the Drive down to the Charente, looking forward to playing Gabariers again tonight.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=708 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=708 Fri, 08 Jul 2016 07:02:00 GMT Well the experiment with the phone blogging worked but was rather fiddly so back with the laptop now I'm attached to Wifi at Le Cheval Blanc.

I seems the classic cars in the Ferry queue were headed over to Le Mans for Le Mans Classic Many were MGs the most impressive was the one behind me, hich looked to date from the 1920s, but oddly was fitted with very bright modern headlight bulbs! Couldn't get photo of it as was too dark

Journey went well but tiredness kicked a little earlier than expected, especially as it was too hot, too much rushing arround the day before and no sleep on the Ferry.

So quite a few stops to top up with coffee and keep from falling asleep at the wheel, one of which had arather impressive view.



And some rather off stainless steel structures, which might have been art or might have been bird feeders or might have been both!



Keeping this first blog of the tour short, as I need to reenergise for tonights concert at Le Cheval Blanc.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=707 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=707 Thu, 07 Jul 2016 14:39:00 GMT This is just a quick test to see if I can blog from my phone.

Busy day getting stuff sorted for the tour now at ferry in Newhaven.

As far as I can tell the only thing I forgot is the milk for my coffee.

Awful lot of vintage cars in the queue , wander where they are going...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=706 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=706 Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:42:00 GMT Blues News For April 2016

Sorry if you get this twice, the first was rejected from a very large
percentage of the list due to automated anti-spam software.

As I couldn't determine the reason in this case , resending the same again
would just bounce twice so you can read my original intended mail in the
archive here.

http://webplus.barkingspider..._April/2016_April_06_1.shtml

Highlghts are some links to reviews and information about Walker Broads
concert at Hambledon Folk Club.

In fact I noticed at least one link was broken that may have been the
reason...

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=698 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=698 Wed, 06 Apr 2016 19:46:00 GMT Welcome to April's Blues Newsletter.

** Walker Broad Band @ Hambledon Folk Club **

Walker Broad are delighted to be invited back to
Hambledon, to play at this excellent folk club on
Wednesday April 13th. We had a great time, when we played
for them a little over two years ago, an appreciatively
attentive listening audience, giving us the opportunity
to play some of our more subtle folkier numbers. The club
meets in the Youth club building in the Hambledon Village
Hall Car park, next to the Vine Pub on West Street
Hambledon. Despite it's quirky address the room is the
perfect size for an atmospheric setting, with candlelit
tables and space for about 40 or so.

http://www.hambledon-
hants.com/Hambledon%20Folk%20Club.htm

** Various Reviews **

Since the last newsletter some excellent reviews have
been printed in the national blues press.

Blues Matters Magazine featured a review of "Every Penny
Of The Deal" in it's February / March edition number 88
released end of January.

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/review_epotd_bm
html

Blues In Britain featured a review of my gig at
Homeheights House written by Bob Chaffey, which referred
back to his earlier review of the CD.


http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/acoustic.html#sc
rapbook

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/review_epotd_bib
_html


** Gigs **

Here's the upcoming gigs for April beginning of May


Wednesday April 13th
The Hambledon Folk Club
Hambledon Village Hall - West Street - Hambledon
Walker Broad Band


Friday 15th April
The Windsor Castle - St. Thomas's Road - Gosport
Burnt Ice

Sunday 17th April - From 2pm
Montey's - 69 Castle Road Southsea
Andy Broad - Solo Blues & jazz

Thursday 21st April
The Beehive - Swindon
Walker Broad Band

Tuesday 26th April
Platform Tavern - Southampton
Walker Broad - Special Guests at Bob Longs regular Blues
Jam.


Sunday May 1st
The Auckland Arms - 12:30pm
Andy Broads's Blues and Jazz Jam - All players and
listeners welcome.


Friday May 6th
The Horse & Jockey - Curbridge
Burnt Ice


Sunday May 8th - 12:30pm
The Auckland Arms
Jam for Mental Health - An extra special edition of our
regular jam as part of the Hampshire Festival of the
Mind. As ever all welcome!

Complete list of gigs and concerts at

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml

Look forward to seeing you all at a gig soon!



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=697 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=697 Wed, 06 Apr 2016 19:01:00 GMT Welcome to (probably) the last newsletter of the year.

** Christmas Card **

As has become abit of a tradtion, I have created a new blues / guitar themed
christmas card design and recorded a timelapse of the process, accompanied
this time by a improvised slide guitar instrumental played on my Les Paul
Gold Top Deluxe.

Here's a link to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMb-8dQENMA


** CD Review in Blues In Britain **

The december issue of Blues in Britain featured a review of my CD "Every
Penny Of The Deal" written by Bob Chaffey.

I've added a link to the text of the review and also a revue in Blues In The
Northwest to mu CD Sales page here.

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html#EPTOD

The reviews are just below the preview video , just click on the picture to
link to a readable version text.



Many Thanks for all your support through the year and

Merry Christmas

PS The gigging starts again with a charity Jam at The Vaults in Albert Road
on New Years Day, hosted by Shep Woolley, followed by the regular Auckland
Jam on Sunday the 3rd.


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=673 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=673 Fri, 18 Dec 2015 14:27:00 GMT Welcome to the mailout for October!

Just added a bunch of emails from the paper mailing list form so welcome to
the list and sorry for the delay!

** CD Review on Blues In The North West **

After the great surge of initial radio play, reviews are starting to come
in, I know of two pending that I won't tempt fate about by mentioning
before they are published, but the first past the post is a nice review by
Norman Darwen on Blues in The North West.

http://www.bluesinthenorthwe...oad-every-penny-of-the-deal/

Really ought to get some gigs up that way. Suggestions venues and contacts
welcome!

** Mini Tour of The Midlands. **

In a fortnights time I'll ne heading north, not all the way up to the
northwest, but as far as Nottingham to play two solo gigs first on Friday
23rd for the Nottingham Blues Society at the Trent Navigation. Then on
Saturday 24th I'll be performing at the Needwood Folk & Blues Club, at
Barton under Needwood. (near Burton) Thanks to Bob Chaffey for putting me
in touch with the second of those.

I say "solo" but in fact Sandy Walker will be joining me for the second set
of each of these gigs on keys, adding another dimension to teh sound and
allowing the songs that she features on on the new CD to be performed as
recorded.

Playing out of area is always a bit more challenging on the publicity side,
so if you have any contacts in the Nottingham / Burton area please feel
free to forward this info on to them! All help greatly appreciated.

** Gigs **

Friday 16th October
The Bakers Arms, Winchester - 8:30pm start.
The Walker Broad Band - Blues folk and jazz influenced originals and a few
well
chosen standards.

This is the first visit by the band to this venue, would be great to see you
there!

Saturday 17th October
The Station Arms, Southminster.
Andy Broad - Solo blues.

It's rare to get two gigs a year at this venue so I'm really looking forward
to this second one!

Sunday 18th October - 7:30pm start
Hobbitts Restaurant & Bar
Andy Broad - solo

Friday 23rd October
Nottingham Blues Society
The Trent Navigation, Meadow Lane, Nottingham
Andy Broad + special guest Sandy Walker.

Saturday 24th October
Needwood Folk & Blues Club, Needwood under Barton.
http://needwoodlivemusic.club/
Andy Broad + special guest Sandy Walker.

Sunday November 1st - 12:30pm
The Auckland Jam

Gets better every month, come down early and make you self know if you want
to play.

›
Look forward to seeing you at a gig soon



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=658 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=658 Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:29:00 GMT Welcome to Septembers newsletter.

*** Airplay for "Every Penny Of The Deal" ***

During August I recieved fantastic support from various members of the IBBA
(http://www.bluesbroadcasters.co.uk/), and from a few DJs outside their
scope, to the extent that I reached number 7 in the IBBA chart for that
month.

http://www.broad.ology.org.u...g_images/IBBA_August2015.jpg

Big thanks to Chris 'Fossy' Fossbrook for forwarding on my CD to the other
members of the organisation.

Yet more airplay coming up this week with Ayswym Smythe featuring another
track on his Digital Blues show on Gateway978.com tonight (Wednesday) at
9pm UK time.

http://www.digitalblues.co.uk/?page_id=29

Jim McNeill will be featuring a track on his Blues Club Podcast available
from Thursday.

https://www.mixcloud.com/TheBluesClub/

If you want you own copy of the CD you get it directly from my site:

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html

via CD Baby (best option for those in the states)

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/andybroad

or on iTunes, Amazon etc if you prefer downloads.


*** Giglist ***

Friday 11th September
The Phoenix Duncan Road, Southsea.
The Walker Broad Band. - Acoutsic Blues Folk & Jazz

The Phoenix is always fun, please do come down and join us!

Sunday 13th September - 2pm onwards
Angry Aly's - Castle Road Southsea
Andy Broad - Acoustic Blues mixed with a little jazz

Great Sunday lunches here, book tables to avoid disappointment.

Sunday 27th September - 1pm til 3pm
The Roebuck, Droxford Road Wickham.
Andy Broad - Acoustic Blues.


Sunday 4th October - 12:30pm til 3:30 ish
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road Southsea
The Sunday Lunchtime Blues Jam

These sessions get better and better, all welcome, to play or listen!
Please get there early and say hello if you want to play.


Hope to see you at a gig soon!




]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=645 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=645 Wed, 09 Sep 2015 13:13:00 GMT Hello and welcome to this months news letter, July has been rather busy with
the CD release and tour of France and August promises to be busy too...

** French Tour **

Got back at the beginning of the weeke from another great tour of France,
with two new venues this year, and quite a bit more driving, a total of
2014 miles!

I haven't yet sorted through my photos but have managed to process at least
one video from each gig and you can find the playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/play...oPBYFAhGK4OTftZREABHwLB0FR-i

** Every Penny of the Deal **

The CD has now filtered it's way through the various distribution systems
and is now available to buy from iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon et al.

Thoe in the states that want to buy the CD itself (as opposed to downloads)
would be receomended to buy from CD baby at

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/andybroad

or possbly amazon.com if you prefer, those in UK and Europe buy direct from
myself at

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html

or of course at a gig....

** Giglist **

Saturday August 1st
Private Party - Chichester
Andy Broad - Original acoustic and electric blues.

This one is invite only, but if you would like us to play for your own
function or party please get in touch, anything from solo blues , acoustic
jazz folk or full on electric band can be arranged :-)

Sunday August 2nd - 12:30 - 3:30 pm
The Auckland Arms - Netley Road, Southsea
The Sunday lunchtime (mostly) Blues Jam.

All welcome, players and listeners a like.

Saturday August 8th - 5:30 pm till 7:30 pm
Wickham Festival Fringe at The Kings Head, Wickham Square
The Walker Broad Band
Original Folk Blues and Jazz

Thursday August 13th
The Vaults, Albert Road, Southsea
Burnt Ice - raw funky contemporary blues.

Sunday August 16th - 2pm start
Angry Aly's Southsea
Andy Broad - Acoustic and Electric Blues.

Sunday August 23rd
Blues At the Red - The Red Lion, Stevenage
Andy Broad - Acoustic and Electric Blues.

Sunday August 30th - 1pm - 3pm
The Roebuck, Droxford Road , Wickham
Andy Broad - Acoustic and Electric Blues.


Look forward to seeing you at a gig soon!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=638 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=638 Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:28:00 GMT Home at last, unpacked car and shovelled out 10 days of accumulated water bottles and food wrappers, taking care of course to filter out the 4 bottles of wine acquired at various locations on the journey.

But I've jumped forward, the last of the gigs was my third at Pub Gabariers in Saint Simeux and having had two great gigs on Thursdays in previous years I was looking forward to playing a Friday.

I travelled back down over two days stopping off at Poitiers over night, the weather had clouded over a little so a much more comfortable journey, the usual SatNav fun where roads had been moved since it's maps were ma de, but I know most of the traps now, even if not confident to go the whole way without it!

So I arrived around 1pm, to a warm greeting from Simon the owner and the offer of lunch and wine, gratefully received, then after plenty of time to setup at my leisure and chill out.

Beforehand I went for wander up the hill above the venue taking my video camera and guitar, and took quite a few clips with the aim of editing something out of them, with a rural french theme to it, no chance yet to review what I took, will have to see in the next few days what I can come up with.

I'd setup by around 8pm and was joined by Simon for an excellent pizza, I'd really recommend them if your in that area of France! There was quite buzz in the pub with most of the indoors tables full and a few outside ( the weather had finally broken and it was cooler and a bit window, though still put an English summer evening to shame) and a good crowd at the bar.

I went on at 10pm and played two long sets, 1 hour 20 minutes each! Early in the second set I spotted a couple from Belgium that I remembered from last year, very pleasing to see them there again! Good solid applause even from the people still eating which is always a good sign, both sets went down well, I has a good chat with the Belgians in the break, using a mixture of French, English and sign language, they bought a CD on the assumption that it was la même de ce soir, (which I hope means the same as this evening, or nearly so...) which it more or less was :-)

I had plenty of time the next day to make the ferry at 10pm, so could set off at my leisure, I arrived on time but the ferry itself was late! It 'steamed' at double speed to make it back to Newhaven on time, bring the tour full circle.

On the journey home from the ferry I was on the edge of tiredness most of the way, being earlier than usual, a roadside cafe that I often stop at was closed but I stopped anyway, to make sure my eye props were in place. A bit further down the road a deer leaped out in fron of the car, beautifuil site, if a bit of a shock, thankfully I missed it!

I've some recording and videos of every gig, but have yet to have a chance to review any of it, finger crossed it will useful and useable, will post the results in a few days.

Big thank you to all who helped me organise this year, a la prochaine!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=637 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=637 Sun, 26 Jul 2015 20:28:00 GMT So Wednesday has arrived and a new venue for me. Le Cheval Blanc in Plancoët, not that far from San Malo in Brittany. So also a first one for me in the north of France. The journey up from Nantes was a breeze, both because it was relatively short and simple and because it was much cooler up here!

When I arrived in the early afternoon Mick the Irish owner was out shopping so I parked up and went for a wander round town, working my way down to the river and then back up again. A picturesque setting but quite different in style from the towns ans village in the South.

Got back to the venue and noticed a number in the doorway to call if absent, and Mick returned very shortly afterwards lot to do if you run a place like that by yourself!with potatoes and sausages for the meal, he would serve for those attending the concert. Inside the bar was a good size long with a stage at one end and various decorations with a mixture of Irish and musical themes, and a decent house P.A. Luxury!

As we had Plenty of time before the evening, I got my gear in leaving my PA in the car and we did a kind of slow motion setup and sound check with Mick interweaving other jobs, such as pealing the potatoes and finishing cleaning the bar. A lot to do if you run a place like that by yourself. By the end we had a pretty good sound particularly for the acoustic. I then went up to my room to catch a hours sleep, thankfully remembering to mention I was vegetarian before Mick prepared me a meal!

The bar opened at 7:00pm with one customer rushing straight in desperate not to miss the food (a slight misunderstanding about the times for a mid week concert) and with stories that the farmers were setting fire to the roundabouts as protest against milk prices!!

The audience slowly grew and I went on stage at 9pm to about twenty or so, maybe ten more came in after I had started, they made a great audience, listening intently and clapping loudly! After making extra effort to speak French on the Château Colombiéres gig I consciously decided to mix up a bit more this time, as I new many in the audience good English and it would easier to communicate that way.

As usual I divided the gig into two sets one acoustic one electric and spent quite a lot of time talking to the various members of the audience in the break, and sold a few more CDs! In the second half I got them all barking and howling along with little red rooster and singing to Let the Good Times Roll, all great fun!

More chatting with a group of English music fans after, and another CD sale to a French family in from Paris, overall a good first gig there from my point of view. As I was staying over at the venue I was able to enjoy a few glasses of wine with Mick the landlord be fore retiring!

Next gig up, will be a my third gig at Gabariers in the Charente, so back on the road again early(ish) in the morning, rough plan being to stop off at Poitiers on the way.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=636 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=636 Thu, 23 Jul 2015 22:03:00 GMT So the second night in a row and I'm in an almost identical F1 hotel room!

Yesterdays drive was quite hard going, ironically being less tired I took less breaks then got to stretch of road where there seemed to be no shaded places to stop. I seemed to get stuck behind an endless stream of Lorries and was generally not enjoying myself. Quite the opposite of my original plan for a laid back journey north!

Eventually I gave up looking for shade and stopped an the next lay-bye. I noticed that there was a stall selling fruit so crossed over the road and got a melon to eat for lunch, not thinking that I lacked a knife to cut it up! I also added another bottle of Vin de Pays to my growing collection.

So a little further down the road and I final found a decent Aire de Repos, with some shade and seating and took out the melon at that point realising about the lack of cutlery! That's okay I thought there a Stanley knife in the tool kit, except that that slot was empty! Best available was a screw driver! So I hacked the melon in half, getting juice every where and then pro ceded to eat it using half stale mini baguette as a spoon! More mess, but it was really good, and lifted my spirits considerably, half was more than enough (especially combined with the bread) so I left the other half for the wasps, whose attention I had attracted!

Although in brighter spirits I was still ground down by the heat so being just south of Brive at this point, I decided to revisit the F1 hotel there I had used on the way down. Although the room number was different, you couldn't have told from inside! This time I also noticed a pizza restaurant opposite that I had seen on the way down and so ordered a quatre frommage pizza, standard vegetarian fair in France I think!

This put me just over a third of the way to Plancoët, so a research up the locations of several F1 hotels about the same distance again, so that I would have only a couple of hours to drive on the last stint, the day of the gig.

So tonight finds me in Saint Luce sur Loire just outside / on the edge of of Nantes, having just come back from a walk down to the Loire it self. All the restaurants within walking distance are shut (!) and so my meal has been a three cheese salad from Carefours and some more cheese (Ch�vres) and a not so stale baguette. I bought a small pack of plastic knifes too!

Just a couple of hours driving tomorrow will put me in Plancoët ready for another great gig...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=635 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=635 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:28:00 GMT So tonight's gig, much more of a concert really, took place in the Cour du Château de Colombiéres sur Orb, whch was a lovely setting for a gig if ever there was one!

We arrived just after 5:30pm giving me about and hour and a quarter to setup. A stage had been setup in the shadiest corner, which was great, the only thing that worried me about it was it was slightly high for me to step off if I went a wandering in the second set. Some slightly wobbly steps were found, so problem solved.

By the time 7:00pm came round the rest of the courtyard was mostly shaded by the surrounding buildings, and the audience started to fill up the seating that had been laid out. By 7:15 or so most seats were taken, time to play!

After a short intro from Lindsay my first acoustic set went well, sound was very good, a large tree stopped the courtyard from being too echoey, as did the reasonably sized audience! A couple of faces from Camplong, including Eric the Belgian, one or two I recognised from playing in Lamalou in earlier years, as well as many new faces.

The first set was well received, and I was better pleased with my attempts at french, but I doubt it was understandable! Plenty of people wanted to talk in the break, which is always a good sign, there seemed to quite a mix there, French of course, but also an Irish couple, and a couple from the States, who found the idea of going to see a blues gig in a small French village quite surreal, but were enjoying the music non the less, and of course many English (and at least one Scotsman).

To start the send set I decided to walk through the crowd and on to the stage playing the electric, the steps proved slightly wobbly, but I got up without mishap! On electric guitar this time as before and I got a few people dancing, before descending the wobbly steps again to perform a slow blues from B.B.King (How blue can you get), the loved it and immediately started clapping along as I transitioned into my own Mornin' Sun at the end.

Even better than the dancing a good proportion of the crowd sung along with Let The Good Times Roll my traditional last number, this is always a bit harder to achieve in France so I was well pleased with that. Finished up with Every Penny of the Deal for an encore.

After the concert tables were laid out an there was a meal for the for members of the association, myself included, Thérése, the owner of the Château had cooked a fabulous main dish for me, including aubergines cheese and tomatoes.

I think we had a little over 60 paying guests at the concert so quite a success on both side the money being shared 50/50 between the Association and myself. Many thanks to Lindsay and her husband Roger for all their hard work, and for their hospitality!

Next up Le Cheval Blanc, Plancoët, Brittany on Wednesday, but a couple of days exploring France first!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=633 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=633 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 10:04:00 GMT So Saturday was a day off, the next concert being at The Château Colombiéres on Sunday.

Whilst sending out publicity info to various sites Charlotte who runs the Languedoc Living website and coincidentally features in the painting on the front of my Live In France CD mentioned that a group of them were meeting up for Oysters and Piquepoul at Lamalou market on the Saturday morning. I said I join them to be sociable but that I'd skip the oysters!

That in mind I got up a fraction earlier for a somewhat more edible breakfast than I'd had at the F1 hotel the day before and drove down to Lamalou. Originally I planned to walk but quickly realised it was a tad too far, especially in the heat.

I wasn't quite sure where the market was, even though I'd busked there in 2012 to publicise the gigs for that years tour, so just walked up the town, and luckily guessed right! I spotted the group just as they spotted me walking up the road, and joined them for a couple of hours chatting, with a little bit of publicity for Sunday's gig thrown in. I recognised most faces from previous years, but couldn't have passed a test on the names! They were all feasting on Oysters and drinking Piquepoul, a white wine made from a grape grown very near where the oysters were fished from. Being vegetarian I declined the Oysters but tried a glass of the wine.

All were done with their oysters and went their separate ways, with a few promises to turn up on Sunday, so job done there :-), I drove back to the hotel, with plans to revise some French phrases for Sunday's gig and edit the video I had taken. Somehow blender my video editing software of choice had stopped working, and no longer recognised the videos as being videos, so I'll have to do those when I get back, very frustrating.

A quiet evening in the Hotel, just me a Camembert, and a bottle of Chimay.

Sunday morning I checked out the Hotel and used the very well drawn map that Lindsay's husband Roger had done for me, to easily navigate the 15 minute journey to Colombiéres, and found them at their house as expected, joining them for lunch, and conversation.

Tonight at 19:00 I'll be just up the road at the Château. The concert aims to raise money for the local association that renovates and maintains an historic tower.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=632 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=632 Sun, 19 Jul 2015 15:52:00 GMT The trip from Bédarieux to Camplong is a fairly short, but quite twist 15 minutes into the mountains. So I had plenty of time to shower and "power-nap" and left the hotel at 6:40pm to get there at 7:00pm to set up.

I was looking forward to this one, as the busiest gig of last years tour was here at Le Café Grand. I was a little concerned that the heat might keep some away, though was a bit cooler in the village than down in the town, it was still pretty hot in the café, even with the air con on full blast.

The cafe has been owned by the Joucla family for some generations, and is currently run by Katel with help from her father, and they gave a warm welcome on arrival.

As I was there in plenty of time, I decided to complicate my setup by setting up a recording using the MAudio Pro Ultra on which I recorded the new CD and my Laptop, not a combination I had tried live before. Adding Röde condenser mic just in front of the stage and a direct feed from the PA. I got a recording which I will review after posting this, but I could see at the time the condenser mic output wasn't working, probably faulty lead :-/ I hope I can work around that before Sunday's gig at the Château Colombiéres.

Lindsay who is running Sunday's concert and who help me negotiated with the Le Café Grand this year, came along to help out with taking money on the door etc. for which I am very grateful!

Although advertised as 8:30pm start, as was expected people didn't start arriving till just before 9:00pm and I went on stage at just after , to a reasonable crowd, though less than last year in numbers, they proved to be just as attentive and appreciative. A number of faces were recognisable from last year, and in particular a Belgian couple who had seem me last year, and had come back again, making a point to say hello! Having not had much time to think through what I was going to say, my confidence french language wise, was bit lacking to start with and I reverted to English a bit quicker than on other occasions (will practice some tonight!) but I felt I was on form guitar and vocal wise, the audience particularly appreciating the slide guitar work.

The first set on acoustic guitar ended up about 50 minutes long, mixing in quite a few numbers from the CD with old standards from my set. I took a break of about ten minutes and after chatting with a few of the audience in mixed English / French quickly returned on electric. Of course included "Every Penny of the Deal" the title track of the new CD, which has been in my set for a few years anyway, and much dancing and clapping along ensued, largely lead by Katel and Lindsay!

All in all a great start to the tour! Sold a fair few of the new CDs and at least one walker Broad Cd too. After playing Katel served food, a mix of cheeses, and salad etc. which was very welcome!

As the phrase L'année Prochaine was mentioned several times I hope to be back next year!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=631 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=631 Sat, 18 Jul 2015 16:42:00 GMT The next phase of the journey south was much easier, the most challenging part possibly being the F1 Hotel coffee! Slept reasonably well and got up early enough to have the car loaded in time for the start of breakfast, which I forced myself to eat, not being much of a breakfast eater usually. The first cup of coffer was biter to say the least, but the refills seemed less so!

On the road by 6 I made good progress, getting a good percentage of the journey in by the time the sun switched on, and even then the heat never got much above 30 while driving, bit chilly really...

Past a lot of interesting places on the way, and was very tempted to stop and explore, but my inner sense of urgency to get to the Hotel and rest up before this evenings gig at the Cafe Grand made me press on.

So I arrived at the Hotel de l'Orb in Bedarieux at 12:30, made really good time, walk up reception, it's shut! Doesn't reopen to 4pm arrrgh! I might as well have stopped off on the way. So I now have three and a half hours to kill, my first concern is that the car park is in full sunshine, and it's starting to get hotter, the PA will be okay, but I really didn't fancy leaving the guitars in there! So I drive into Bedarieux to search out a more shady parking slot, but nothing was to be found, in the words of Jimmy Reed, the sun was shining on both side of the street! I remembered that at the bottom of Lamalou-les-Bains there is a shaded car park so decided to try that, found a space, but still took the risk of leaving the windows open half a notch whilst I went for an explore.

The cafe I was most familiar with from previous visits with Pete & Linda, appeared to be shut so I picked another at random, and mulled a few moments away over some coffee. Wishing that the battery in this laptop worked so I could have worked on the blog...

After about an hour I grew restless and returned to the car, which was now in sunlight so I decided to move, driving back through Bedarieux and found a roadside parking just outside the town, which was now in good shade, so I stopped off to eat more of my now cooked cheese rolls and drink.

Found that I could get down to the river and so took my sketchpad down to the weir and did bit of sketching got half and hours or so, till it was time to return to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, it's still not open, but there is now a shaded spot, so I park up and wait for quarter of an hour, till they open. Finally in my room by 4:30 and time for a power nap before tonight's gig at Le Cafe Grand, Camplong.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=630 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=630 Sat, 18 Jul 2015 10:03:00 GMT The fact that my first two gigs of this tour were the furthest away, combined with the fact it was cheaper to book the ferry on Wednesday night and book into an F1 Hotel than book one on Thursday, made it a good idea to travel down over two days, so I'm writing this first instalment from the 2/3rds point off the journey, as planned for me by Google, Brive.

Getting ready on Wednesday was a bit fraught, despite having been planning and preparing for weeks, numerous small jobs seemed to crop up, so I used up most of my contingency time dealing with trivia and some less trivial things (at the last moment, quite by accident I found my microphones in my 'small kit bag' that I use to take to space restricted gigs, despite distinctly remembering transferring the contents into the main bag! Phew!

Never the less I got underway okay, arriving in Newhaven in plenty of time to catch the ferry to Dieppe. The crossing was foggy and dank, even a bit cold, not what I was expecting! I've got an almost automated routine now when I get to Dieppe, as soon as I get through passport control (record time this year!) it's straight to a parking space next to the river, that always seem to be available at 5am, walk to the cash point next to the big church, grab a small supply of euros, then back to the car, cup of coffee from the flask (one f the more important bits of trivia!) then get under way as soon as possible to get as far as possible before the heat kicks in about 10:30. I was on the road by 6am this year slightly later than usual due to a change of ferry scheduling, but still excruciatingly early for blues player that doesn't do "Woke Up This Morning" and had been kept from sleeping on the ferry by large groups of boisterous school children!

The fog seemed to have followed me off the ferry with the first hours journey varying from misty to really quite thick fog, really not what I needed as I adjusted to driving on the wrong side of the road, but at least it should keep things cooler! Just as I worked my way past Rouen at around 7ish the last of the fog had burnt off, but I still had a good couple of hours till the sun started to heat up, and I planned to get as far as possible in that time, not having any air con in my car, at least that's how it worked last year...

By 9:30 it was already up to 25℃! 11:00 hit 35℃, though it didn't feel as hot as the epic drive across Germany between Walker Broad gigs in the middle of a heatwave in 2012, by the time I got to the A20 it reached 38℃ and sticking my hand out of the window warm sit up rather than cooling it down! At around Limoges it peaked at 42℃ according to my car thermometer, though checking on weather websites says 39℃, either way the hottest weather I ever travelled in! Really glad I decided to do the journey in two legs as I had no pressure to arrived on time for a gig, and so took lots of breaks!

First priority on arriving was to get the guitars out of the car! Second to get a drink, next to find out how the showers work....

Even though I have a much shorter leg tomorrow, I may still start out really early now, as I'm concerned about a repeat performance from the thermometer!

Hope it's a little cooler in Camplong tomorrow or it will be a steamy gig at the Café Grand!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=629 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=629 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:19:00 GMT I'm pleased to be able to announce the CDs have arrived! Really pleased with
the way they look and sound and relieved that they've got here in time for
France albeit a few days later than I was expecting them!

Here's a photo:

http://webplus.broad.ology.o.../__cat__0001&directshow=0012

I've created this Sampler video that gives a short preview of each track
against a slide show of images related to the CD.

Watch it direct on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDH32T9VehQ

or view it on the CD sales page of my website.

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html

*** Radio Play ***

The CD is already recieving radio play, Chris Fossbrook kindly featured it
on his show Mojo Fingers Blues on Flash On Air last sunday, playing a 5
track selection and Tony Corner will be featuring a track on his show Blues
Corner at 7pm tomorrow, hopefully I'll be back in time from my afternoon
gig to tune in.

http://rock-radio.co.uk/?page_id=321#sunday

Big thanks to both of them.

I'll be sending CDs out to a wider range of stations when I get from the
French tour.


*** Weekends Gigs ***

Tonight (Saturday 11th) The Pheonix, Duncan Road, Southsea
West Side Blues Band

Sunday 12th Angry Ali's Restaurant & Bar, Castle Road, Southsea

Andy Broad solo. 2pm start.

*** French Tour ***

All set to leave Wednesday night, arriveing France Thursday morning at
Dieppe then driving doen to the first gig in Camplong on the Friday night.

No doubt, as has become a tradition, I'll be blogging my progress, keep an
eye on http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php from wednesday onwards.

Right, now I have to pack up some CDs to send to the distributor on the
states, see you at a gig soon!



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=628 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=628 Sat, 11 Jul 2015 13:50:00 GMT Welcome to July's News Letter.

Picked up a few new subscribers recently so welcome
to them too.

** Every Penny Of The Deal CD **

I'm really pleased to say that the CD is finally
finished and sent off to the printers, expecting
them back in about ten days, give or take.

If you want yours hot off the press you can
preorder them from my website CD sales page:

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html

The last couple of weeks I have feverishly working
on the design of the cover and kept a visual blog
of the process on my gallery here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/gallery/thumbgall
ery.php?dir=./__cat__0002/__cat__0001/__cat__0001

I'm very pleased with the final design, I'm also
very pleased with the music, my best collection of
my original solo blues to date. There are 12 tracks
on the CD , 7 solo recorded "live in the studio", 3
add Sandy Walker on organ, the first of those
"Paper" was recorded in one take, the other two
feature some over dubbed electric guitar as well,
the 12th bonus track was recorded at L'Eglise Du
Barry on last years french tour.

** Name The Slide Guitar Instrumental Compo **

As the CD is now finished I have to thank you for
all the entries I received for the competition to
name the slide instrumental, a lot of them had
animal themes which was interesting, and in the end
I chose "Mosquito Hunt" as suggested by Sue Mullan,
so many thanks to her for that, and CD will with
her as soon as they arrive back from the printers.

** French Tour 2015 **

Plans are now well advanced for my next trip to
France with 4 dates starting on the 17th of July.
I'll be covering quite a lot of France with this
one, with dates in the Languedoc, Charente and
Normandy.

Still space for last minute additions if someone
has a venue suggestion. see below for booked dates.

** Gigs **

Saturday 27th June (Tonight!)
The Rose & Crown - Charlbury
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.

Sunday 28th June - 2pm start
Angry Alys - Castle Road, Southsea
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.

Friday 3rd July
The Windsor Castle - Thomas's Road Gosport
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues

Sunday 5th July
The Auckland Arms
Sunday Lunchtime Jam 12-30 start all welcome.

Saturday 11th July
The Phoenix - Southsea
West Side Blues Band - Chicago Blues inspired by
the West Side sound (Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Magic
Sam etc.)

Sunday 12th July
Angry Alys - Castle Road, Southsea
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.


Friday 17th July
Le Grand Café - Camplong - Herault FRANCE
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.

Sunday 19th July - 19h00
Cour du Chateau de Colombieres sur Orb FRANCE
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.

Wednesday 22nd July
Le Cheval Blanc Plancoet Normandie FRANCE
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.

Friday 24th July
Pub Gabariers - St Simeux - Charente FRANCE
Andy Broad - Solo original blues.


That's all for now, see you at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=627 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=627 Sat, 27 Jun 2015 13:30:00 GMT Welcome to this months newletter.



* New Video *


We had planned to record the last gig of the West Side blues band, but it
turned out that the hard disk in the recorder was making odd noises, so
hopefully that will be fixed for the next one in the mean time I did get a
decent video of us performing Snooky Priors "How'd You Learn To Shake Tt
Like That"

https://youtu.be/dC_oyPAAgGo



* New Solo CD *


Not ready yet :-) but working towards the mastering stage and starting to
think about cover designs,



* Gigs *


Two great walker Broad gigs coming up this month.

This thursday (9th April) Walker Broad Band appear at The Vaults in Albert
Road, Southsea and will be in 5 piece mode with the addition of Dave
Pilgrom on additional percussion, bring some of those extra sounds the
Blackie was able to add on the CD. (Just as a reminder you can download or
buy that from here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/walkerbroad )

Later in the month we (Walker Broad ) will be returning to the Phoenix, in
Duncan Road (just behind the Kings Theatre), always a nice audience there.
That's on Friday April 24th.

Full list of gigs here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml

Look forward to seeing you soon!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=607 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=607 Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:33:00 GMT Just a quick update mailing.

Two gigs coming up this weekend one local and one further a field.

Tonight I'll be appearing at The Phoenix, Duncan Road, Southsea with The
West Side Blues Band. Chicago blues with abias towards the music from the
west side.

Then tomorrow I'll be at the Station Arms in Southminster Essex for a solo
gig. This one is always a goodie, come down if your in the area.

Still working hard on the new album, but I thought I'd upload a track from
the most recent session, with Sandy Walker on keyboard.

You can listen to it on my Reverbnation page here.

http://www.reverbnation.com/...unmastered-from-forth-coming

Catch you at a gig soon!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=598 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=598 Fri, 20 Mar 2015 15:16:00 GMT Happy New Year and welcome to the first newletter of 2015! Hope you had
agood break over Xmas.

** New Solo CD **

Work is progressing on the new solo CD to be titled "Every Penny Of The
Deal" with 6 songs now recorded and two more sessions booked in. The album
will be mostly if not all original material, and will feature mainly solo
numbers, but also a few numbers featuring Sandy Walker on hammmond organ.
I'm really likeing the combination of acoustic guitar and hammond! Also
included will be a couple of bonus track recorded on tour in France last
year.

I'm still running the Name That Tune competition, the winner, who comes up
with the best title for the slide guitar intrumenatal featured on the CD
will win a free copy and get amention on the CD.

Listen to the video below then send me your title ideas by email!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXNROZ6Kn5M

** Gig List **

After a great start to the new year at The Auckland Jam we carry on with:


Thursday 15th January
The Wine Vaults - Albert Road , Southsea
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

This gig is always a lot of fun and agreat way to shake of those January
Blues.


Sunday 18th January - 1pm til 3pm
The Roebuck Inn, Droxford Road, Wickham
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues

First visit to this venue, looking forward to it, apparently they do a mean
Sunday lunch!

Friday January 23rd
The Windsor Castle - Thomas' Road Gosport
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

We had a lot a fun with our first gig here, it's been a while before we
could get back due to a double booking so looking forward to this one.

Sunday 1st February - 12 til 3:30
The Auckland Arms
Andy Broad's Sunday Blues Jam

Next edition of the Jam, do come down and play or listen, all welcome!

Saturday 7th February
The Roebuck Inn, Droxford Road, Wickham
The Walker Broad Band

Back at the Roebuck, this time for a livelier set with Walker Broad.

Sunday 8th February
Hobbits Restuarant & Bar, Hythe
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues.


Look forward to seeing at a gig soon!



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=580 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=580 Tue, 13 Jan 2015 13:35:00 GMT Just wishing you a merry Christmas from myself and all the bands I'm
involved in.




XMas Card



As in earlier years I've made a digital XMas card design and a timelapse
video with blues guiar soundtrack ofcourse.

Here's the video:


http://youtu.be/V_X-ZgQbJwM

And here the finished design:




Walker Broad


As our last gig of the year Walker Broad in duo format, will be provideing
entertainment at the Christmas Homless Shelter, Union Chapel, Islington on
Sunday December 28th.

** Next Year **

Music starts up again at the vaults on January 1st for Shep Wooleys annual
charity raising gig / jam. Procedes to St Simmons and then Sunday 4th at
The Auckland Arms for the monthly blues Jam.


Merry Christmas from all of us below!

Andy Broad solo,

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/acoustic.html

Walker Broad,

http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk

Burnt Ice

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/burntice.html

The West Side Blues Band.

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/rkings.html
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=576 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=576 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 16:18:00 GMT Three gigs coming up this weekend:

Friday 5th December
The Golden Lion, Southwick
The West Side Blues Band

Chicago Blues with many songs taken from the artits from the West Side of
Chicago, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Magic Sam etc.

Saturday 6th December
Barebones Music Club - Milton Village Hall, Milton Road
The Walker Broad Duo

A great eveing of all acoustic (no electrickery at all!) music from The Pete
Harris Trio and Walker Broad in duo format. Plus suprise guests.

Free to enter, a collection will be taken for the bands.

Sunday 7th December 12:30pm
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea
Andy Broad's Sunday Blues Jam

All players and listeners welconme to thelast Jam of the year, going to be a
party! Get down early!

Look forward to seeing you over the weekend.



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=571 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=571 Thu, 04 Dec 2014 13:19:00 GMT Hello,

Just thought I'd give you all a quick up date on two Walker Broad gigs
coming.

This Saturday November 22nd the full band will being appearing at The Square
and Compass, Worth Matravers, near Swannage in Dorset. Those of you who
have been there before will know what a great venue this is, aprt from the
quality live music schedule, they serve excellent ciders and real ales, and
don;t forget the pasties.

Here's their rather execellent listing for the gig:

www.squareandcompassp...

The lineup for this one will be :

Sandy Walker: Piano / Vocals / Penny Whistle
Andy Broad: Acoutsic and Electric Guitars
Simon Tufnail: Fretless Bass.
Alan "Blackie" Blackmore: Cajon and other percussion.


Then on the first Saturday in December (6th) Walker Broad will appear in duo
format at the Barbones music club, a bit closer to home at the Milton
Village Hall, Milton park, Milton.

Here's the email organiser Dave Jordon sent to his email list:

-8<--------

It's just 3 weeks to the next acoustic music evening at Milton Village Hall. This time it's Blues Night.

Saturday 6 December at 8pm, doors open at 7.30. (Yes, back to Saturday!)

Barebones presents an evening of exquisite acoustic blues music, featuring:

The Pete Harris Trio. Pete will be familiar to some of the older folkies among us as the talented guitarist behind the famed writer of folk operas Mick Ryan. He was always a blueser too, though, and that's where he's been concentrating his efforts more recently. Normally seen out as the Pete Harris Blues Band, a five piece electric set-up, Pete has agreed to play an acoustic set for us with vocalist Jeradine Hume and harmonica player Jon Vaughan. This is such a rare event, there is no video or sound clip of this line-up on the web. However, you can see and hear all three of them together in the electric band here (prepare to be impressed):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ablQND1189I.

The Walker Broad Duo are Andy Broad and Sandy Walker. They started playing as a duo in 2010, but are more often seen as a trio or even quartet these days. Sandy's background is in folk/jazz/blues. Andy is very well known locally as great blues guitarist and singer, but has also established a following in France where he tours most years. Andy is also involved in jazz ventures, so I guess anything could happen. Check them out here - there's a tab at the top that links to videos -

http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk

There will also be some excellent surprise artistes performing short sets for your delectation and delight. I can hardly wait!

The usual rules apply, such as they are:

* There is no admission charge, no tickets and no bookings.
* There's no PA - it's entirely acoustic - and not much in the way of lighting. Also, the furniture is a bit hard so you might want to bring a cushion.
* We'll have a collection where the audience is invited to contribute what they think it's worth for a full evening of some of the best acoustic blues around. The money is shared out among the performers listed above and pays for the hire of the hall.
* Bring your own booze or soft drinks and/or nibbles. The hall is not licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor.
* All this is why we call it Barebones!


Looking forward to seeing you there, Milton Village Hall at 8pm on Saturday 6 December. Doors open at 7.30pm.

-8<--------

Hope to see you at one or both of these!

Andy ]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=569 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=569 Tue, 18 Nov 2014 15:13:00 GMT Welcome to November!

Another busy month ahead.

**New CD Progress.**

Just before going away (more on that in a minute) I had a very constructive
studio
recording session, getting down three good tracks and another 3 rehearsal
recordings,
singing at volumes that would cause my neighbours to add percussion on the
walls
and ceilings! This weekend I mixed the good takes out and so have 4 tracks
towards
the new CD.

The name the slide guitar instrumental completion is still running, thanks
for the
entries so far, Dan Ogus featured the track on his Scattering the Roots
program and
you can hear the track on Dan Ogus' listen again facility at

http://www.mixcloud.com/DanO...attering-the-roots-28-09-14/

The tune is featured about 16 minutes before the end of the show. Do email
me you
suggested title to get a free copy of the CD and a mention on the cover.

**AmiWest Sacramento, California**

At the end of last month I had the great pleasure to be invited out to
perform at the
Banquet of the AmiWest computer convention in Sacramento, California. I was
to
talk about my usage of the Amiga computing platform throughout my music
career
and play some of my music (live of course) as well as demonstrate the art
package
that I work on as a hobby. A very unusual way to do a gig but it worked out
quite
well, I sold all the CDs I took with me and received a couple of online
orders too! Read
more about it on my blog
http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=560
There is a video of the Banquet performance there too, music starts around
15
minutes in.


**Gigs**

Friday 7th November
The Bee Hive, Swindon
The Walker Broad Band

We had a fantastic gig here last time, a great audience. We are really
looking forward
to returning.

Friday 14th November
The Windsor Castle, Gosport
Burnt Ice

Almost a year since our last visit. The last one was a cracker.

Sunday 16th November
Hobbits, Resturant & Bar, Hythe.

Andy Broad Solo

Saturday 22nd November
The Square & Compass, Worth Matravers
The Walker Broad Band

Second visit as a band , though I been playing here solo for many years, a
great venue
with added dinosaur museum!

Thursday 27th November
The ( Wine )Vaults, Albert Road
West Side Blues Band

Sunday 30th November 4pm til 6pm
The Seahorse Gosport
Andy Broad Solo

Great Sunday afternoon gig, do come down!


Look forward to seeing you at a gig sometime soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=561 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=561 Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:59:00 GMT So this October found me travelling to the USA for the first time. I was really pleased to have been invited to attend the 2014 AmiWest Show as special guest of "Friends Of AmiWest" a dark and shadowy organisation if ever there was one :-).

It was going to be a week of firsts, first flight, first long haul flight, first trip to the USA, first Amiga show, first opportunity to perform my music to a mostly American audience.

Travel arrangements were arranged in advance on my behalf so all I had to do was a bit of travel admin., passport, the ETSA thingy etc. etc., and of course get myself to Heathrow Airport by 10pm on Wednesday 22nd. I met up with Matthew Leaman from AmigaKit / A-EON on schedule and we checked in on time and boarded the aircraft, only to find an hours delay on the ground as someone had to be taken off the plane due to illness, which of course meant retrieving their baggage from the hold.

There was a further delay in the air (head winds I suppose) and so we arrived at San Fransisco International airport almost two hours late, having arrived late it seems that the customs shift had swapped over resulting in another hours delay in the customs queue! So my first experience of international air travel was something of a baptism on fire...

Having finally got through we met up with Paul (PJS) who would be giving me a lift to the hotel in Sacramento, dropping Matthew off at his hotel on the way, Matthew would be joining us at the show the following day along with Trevor Dickinson. On the way to the hotel we planned to stop at Bill (tekmage) Borsaris for something to eat, an interesting journey with Paul cursing the Californian road signs and driving eastwards on the "80" instead of west for a while. (Very glad it wasn't me driving with all those lanes to deal with!). Bill eventually guided us in by telephone and we rolled up out side his newly extended house. Bill had ordered in burgers and the veggie burger I had, had to rank as one of the best ever. After eating and a tour round the house we checked out his Amiga collection, and I got my first sight of an Amiga one X5000 in an impressive red and white case with boing ball logo on the side. We grabbed a couple of boxes of gear to take to the show, Bill would bring the rest himself the next day.

After another hours travel we arrived at the hotel where the show was taking place, no one around it seemed, though the airwaves were alive with IRC traffic from the various attendees hiding away in their rooms. As I had been on the go for 25 hours at this point it seemed like a good idea to retire! Especially as there was no bar or beer available!

So up early (for a musician at least ) the next day and down to breakfast, a strange assortment of very American things, like automatic pancake makers, doughnuts (for break fast?) and some oddly cooked eggs. I went for the eggs and multiple refills of the coffee. Various show attendees started to show up, include OS developers Steven Solie and Tony Wyatt, "Epsilon", Bill who we'd met last night, Val (Valiant), Eldee (eliyahu) Stephens, Brian Deneen of SACC and a few other whose names I'm already forgetting , sorry!



Before the show proper started on Friday evening there was going to be a programming seminar / jam, so the first job was to set up all the machines, many had brought their own machines and there was wide range on monitors etc. to borrow. Having come by air I hadn't risked a computer (let alone my guitar!) so my role was to be a wandering coder offering support and advice, where needed.

Steven Solie, AmigaOS 4 Team lead, started proceedings with an introductory talk about the SDK and then the idea was for each of the participants to take on a project of their choosing and the four experienced programmers would give them advice on how to proceed, this free form system seemed to work quite well, especially as every one was at a different level.

The day passed quickly, with much discussion both about programming and about the Amiga scene in general, Trevor and Matthew turned up later in the afternoon. The coding session carried on into the early evening, then we all went out for dinner as a group. A Chinese restaurant was chosen and our group seemed to arrive first, and waited patiently and then not patiently outside for the others to arrive, we were at the point of thinking there must be more than one restaurant when Brian came out and we found the others had beaten us to it, and were waiting inside , they had been there for 15 mins already!

The food started to arrive, it looked fantastic, but only one problem, each course had at least one piece of meat in it! Soup with fish, rice with pork, noodles with beef! Eventually a noodle and pancakes dish with no meat arrived, phew! I commandeered it, finally something to eat!

Back to hotel, we tracked down "Goody" and his legendary supply of craft beer, which was taken back to SSolies room ( I think ) and consumed with much conversation, the porter was remarkably good, I just had to let it warm in the glass for a while, unfortnatly we got a noise complaint! So we decamped to the great room where the breakfast was served to avoid any further issues. Plenty of stories were exchnaged along with the beer and not just amiga related.

Next day was the second programming seminar session and I had a fuzzy head, I really wasn't sure if it was a hangover or jet lag related, but it eased quickly (which my hangovers rarely do) so I assume it was the latter. On this session we set the machines up in the other half of the exhibition space so that they needn't be moved again when the show proper started in the evening. Today as well as helping out with the coding I got together with Valiant to make sure the usb stick with various demos on it would boot on his machine, an X1000 with a brand new video card in it, a bit faster than my own. Every thing worked okay with only minimal tweaks so all was set for the weekend.

During the afternoon Brian Deneen brought in the guitar he was kindly lending me to enable me to perform at the 'banquet' on Saturday night, so I had a welcome break while I tuned it up and ran through a few things to get used to the feel of it.

Friday evening was the real start of the show and the main theme was a repair session primarily for classic hardware. Though some work was also done on bring a SAM 440- flex up the latest OS version with a preview copy of Final edition. Many of the others had arrived by then and it was good to be able to put faces to the any names, including Mike Brantly, Ken Lester, Ken (Sundown) and others. Once the repair session was well under way we all headed out for another meal, this time at an Italian style restaurant, I got to order my own food this time, so chose the butternut squash pizza, and a good many of us joined Tony (the Pieman) Wyatt in ordering pie to follow. Oh, I forgot about the texmex lunch, already I'd eaten more in two days that I would in a week, and Epsilon had been worrying on IRC about there being food available!

Saturday was the first main session, with the various display tables setup on one half of the space and the second half setup for demonstrations and presentations. SACC (the Sacramento Amiga Computer Club) who were our hosts, had setup a truly impressive display of classic amiga hardware, including a CD32, A500, A600, A1200, A1000, A2000, a video toaster, and A3000D and probably some I missed out. All running and sporting different ages of the operating system for people to try out. There was also a wide range of NG hardware scattered across the exhibits, including the latest machine in the form of Bill Borsari's X5000, but also an X1000 and several SAMs and a Pegasos running Final Edition, and Epsilon had a Mac Laptop running Morphos, and a MiniMig.

There was a combined AmigaKit and A-Eon table duaplaying the X5000 and with lots of goodies for sale (including Amiga.org mugs which seemed very popular). Steven Solie and Paul Sadlik, manned the Hyperion table and Eldee the intuitionbase exhibit.

The presentations started arround 11am after a bit of fidling about and a swap of projectors, needing the room layout to be rotated by 90 degrees. Steven Solie drew the short straw and got to go first. He gave the suprise announcent of the Final Edition release of AmigaOS 4.1 which no one was expecting at all *cough*, and also an announcment from Acube about their new SAM 460 CR model, and fielded a few questions from the floor. Also he talked about the wiki where most of the documentation now resides.



Trevor followed up and gave an excellent presentation about what the Radiance multimedia package was and an introduction to AmiStore with a great introductory video. (played using the special radiance version of mplayer), their new hardware X5000 and the new emphasis on content. Also he talked about the Sentinal logger the first xorro board for the X1000!

This lead neatly into my own first presentation which was a demonstration of the various component in Radiance. I focussed intially on the video playing features of te RadeonHD 2.4 driver in combinatin with mplayer, by playing a 1080p video of mplayer playing a DVD with the newly working DVD navigation feature (which as far as I understand was only working on linux before, I certainly hadn't seen it working mysef).

I followed up with a demosntration of CANDI the new animated workbench backdrop, in combination with my own AnimIcons.



Then onto my main contribution to the package PPaint 7.3. I ran through as many of the new features as I could think of. As well as now being a fully native Amiga OS 4.1 program, it has added tablet pressure support, more builtin brush shapes, 100 custom brushes courtesy of Kevin Saunders and quite a bit more, and it will comfortably open on a HD 1920x1080 screen.

Someone (Trevor!) sabotaged me by giving me some "fries" as I was about to start speaking about the package which caused some resumed coughing (did I forget to mention the cold I caught just before getting on the plane?) but I hope it came over okay.

After my presentation Bill (tekmage) Borsari demoed some of the latest AmigaOS games.

Towards the end of the Saturday session, a guy walked in with a Chelsea football shirt on with an Amiga advertising logo, Trevor went over to talk o him and it turned out to be none other than Colin Proudfoot MD of Commodore UK! He'd come down after seeing the event advertised on Facebook I believe, he agreed to speak at the Banquet, after my own contribution of course, I wasn't getting off that easily!



So after that, the presentation room was cleared for the Banquet, and people generally milled around, I went and returned to my room, playing the guitar a bit before changing into gig mode and coming down stairs again. Not being a regular public speaker, I planned to blend a gig style approach with a talk about how I used the Amiga during my music career at different stages both of musical activity and technological ability.



So after a pleasant meal, (no vegetable main course but plenty of vegetable side dishes, including courgettes and asparagus which did me fine), Brian Deneen gave out the awards to the sponsors of the event and to the SACC members who had contributed the most during the year, a regular aspect of the show.

To settle myself in I started with a song "Good Feeling" my usual gig starter, and very appropriate given the friendliness of everyone there. A good response! I worked my way through the talk inserting a song every time I thought I was rambling to much. Passing round my CDs as examples of the DTP you can do on Amiga, strangley people kept the CDs and forced me to accept these strange pieces of paper with pictures of presidents on them. All the CDs I took remained in the USA, which I was not at all displeased at!

Colin then took over after a short introduction from Trevor and told some stories of the attempt to buy the main Commodore business at the bankruptcy auction and how they were beaten by Escom in a surprise switch of sides by the manufacturer they had lined up, also some stores about the Commodore management style and the famous To Be This Good Will Take Sega Ages CD32 ad.



After this we retired to the great room for more of Goody's beer .... till about 2am I believe...

Sunday was day two of the show proper. I was due to do my SketchBlock demo, but before that Eldee (eliyahu) did a very good presentation of the Final Edition features, the camera was turned of for this due to an agreement for an exclusive with Amiga Future magazine, but during the presentation the streaming machine crashed, and when it came back up it streamed the end of the presentation, oops! Well these things happen ...



So next it was my turn again, demonstrating my own application SketchBlock, I demoed the new themeing system and some of the features, such as layers, paths the new brushes, selection masks etc. etc.

I hope it came over well, I tried to answer as many questions as possible.

After me Epsilon gave a great demo of Amiga OS 4 Classic running on a laptop and AlexP aka MR_BIOS gave a demo of linux on the new X5000.

So now the show was coming to an end and all the stalls were being disassembled.



Traditionally it seems most of the attendees go for a final meal so we gathered at another restaurant. Group photos were taken and goodbyes started to be said. Food wise I chose the vegan burger, not a good choice, the complete antithesis of the burger provided by Bill upon my arrival!

Trevor, Matthew, Paul and I then headed off to San Francisco where we would stay over night before catching our various planes. Paul took the lead and got to San Francisco far enough ahead of the other two that we could drive round the city for half an hour checking out some of the sites, such as China Town, Lombard Street, the cable car tracks (with the cables hissing under the ground!) and in the distance the Golden Gate bridge, and still beat them to the hotel!

Next day we had to be at the airport early to drop off the cars, but the flight didn't leave till 8 pm so whilst Trevor and Matthew worked on their press releases I took the BART (which I'm guessing means something like Bay Area Rapid Transit and isn't named after a Simpsons character) back into San Francisco and took a walk around. Having got the lay of the land the previous night I managed to work out how to get to the Ferry Building then planned to walk far enough round to see the Golden Gate, but I only made it as far as the Alcatraz tour before running out of time and having to turn back. Still worth the effort though, and much better than a day in the airport! I got a coffee and a Greek salad from a cafe next to the BART station once I knew I was safely inside my time limits.

Flight back was much easier than the way out, no delays, in fact slightly ahead of schedule, the plane seemed to overshoot Heathrow, giving a great view of the London skyline, gherkins and all.

Overall, no complaints about a really great weekend, really good to meet the people behind the nicks and avatars on IRC and the amiga forums, great to see all the different hardware in one place, and really good to have an opportunity to play my music in America.

Must go back, maybe with guitar in hand next time....

All Photography © Mike Brantley 2014
Used By Kind Permission
Original Post
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=560 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=560 Fri, 31 Oct 2014 22:46:00 GMT Welcome to September

Another busy month coming up, with a batch of Walker Broad and solo gigs and
work started on the new solo CD "Every Penny Of The Deal"

*** New CD Started and a Competition ***

At the weekend I started work on the long awaited new studio CD, with a
recording of a punchy / pacey slide guitar instrumental, played on my 1939
Kalamazoo KG-14. I'm planning on including a range of tracks on the CD some
strictly solo, some with special guests and the best couple of recording
from this years tour of France as bonus tracks.

Now here's the competition bit, being an instrumental I don't have a an
obvious title for it from the lyrics, so I thought I'd throw it open to the
expertise of the members of my wider mailing list. Just before the weekend
Sandy (singer from Walker Broad) videod me playing a prototype of the tune
as I cleaned up the Kalamazoo in preparation for the recording, she
included it on her blog here: http://bit.ly/1u62bPU , so pop over and have
a listen then send in your suggestions for titles by email.

The prize will be an mp3 of the pre-mastered version of the track, plus a
copy the CD when finished and a thank you mention on the CD cover.

Let see what you can come up with!

*** Southsea Folk & Roots Weekend ***

Southsea Folk & Roots returns this month on the weekend of the 27th and 28th
of September, I'm sure JR will be sending out a details email soon but I'd
just though I'd mention I (Andy Broad) will be opening for Aynsley Lister
Band on the Sunday evening and Walker Broad will be appearing on the
Saturday afternoon. Tickets are
available from http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/

*** James Needs A Heart Fundraiser Event ***

After a fantastic first gig at the Greyhound in Broughton over the weekend,
Burnt Ice are honoured to have been asked to provide the entertainment at
this fund rausing event for Great Ormand Street Hospital .

http://www.thegreyhoundbroug...m/event/james-needs-a-heart/

Tickets are just £15.00 and include a buffet, live music from Burnt Ice and
other entertainmant. Please come along and support this event.


*** September ***

Friday 5th September
The Square & Compass
Worth Matravers

Andy Broad - Solo Original Acoustic and Electric Blues

This gigs is always a crazy one, get down early and leave late!

Saturday 6th September - Evening
Pompey Beerex
Student Union Building
Cambridge Road

Andy Broad - Solo Original Acoustic and Electric Blues

A while since I did a Pompey beerfestival, I shall find a way to walk to
this one!

Sunday 7th September 12:30 to 3:30
Andy Broad's Blues Jam
The Auckland Arms , Southsea.

Al welcome as usual, do come down and play or listen.

Friday 12th September
The Phoenix Arms
Southsea
The Walker Broad Band - Original Folk Blues and Jazz

Been having some good gigs here lately, I'm sure this will be no exception.

Saturday 13th September
The Red Lion
Arundel
The Walker Broad Band - Original Folk Blues and Jazz

We played here last Christmas, emphasising our blues side, this should be a
great gig.

Sunday 14th September
The Seahorse
Gosport
Andy Broad Solo
Another of the regular Sunday afternoon music session that Warren the
landlord is keen to promote.


Saturday 27th September - Daytime
Southsea Folk & Roots Weekend
the Dockyard Club, Onslow Road, Southsea
Ron Trueman Border, The Walker Broad Band, Mary Jane Acoustic, Red Sky
Divers.


Saturday 27th September
The Greyhound
Broughton
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

See above for details!

Sunday 28th September
Southsea Folk & Roots
The Dockyard Club, Onslow Road, Southsea

Aynsley Lister band + Andy Broad


That's all for now, see you at a gig soon and send in those track title
ideas!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=547 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=547 Tue, 02 Sep 2014 15:37:00 GMT Welcome to this months newsletter.

Lots been going on and a lot more to happen over the next month or so!

*** French Tour 2014 ***

This years tour of France went very well, split into two trips due to date
conflicts, (with a trip to Wales in between!) I had the opportunity to play
at 5 great venues. It was great to return to the new MaryJohn, the bar
where I recorded my Live In France CD had moved just down to road to
slightly bigger premises. All the gigs were great but one of the standout
venues was the Eglise du Barry, Montpeyroux a restored chucrch with Roman
origins, a fabulous venue for a concert.

Here is a video from that event, the two stills at the beginning show what a
great room it was...

http://youtu.be/aHPd66l8Xko

As I had taking the minidisc recorder over, I got a better more dynmic sound
recording than relying on the camera mic, so it's worth a listen as well as
a watch :-)

*** Gigs & Festivals ***

Lots of gigs and festivals coming up, including Burt Ice at Bentworth Blues
on the 15th and Walker Broad at the Southsea Folk & Blues weekend on the
27th.

Friday August 15th
Bentworth Blues Festival
Burnt Ice.

The festival opens at 12:30 Burnt Ice will playing in the bar at 4:15. It's
nearly sold out but there a number to enquire about availabilty here:
http://www.star-inn.com/bluesfestival.html you might get lucky!


Saturday August 16th 2pm
Wickham Festival Fringe
The Kings Head
Wickham Square
Andy Broad Solo.

First of two gigs I'll be onstage at 2pm with my solo blues. Finish at 3 and
off to....


Saturday August 16th 8:30pm
The Station Arms.
Southsinster.
Andy Broad Solo

Saturday August 23rd
The Phoenix
Duncan Road, Southsea
The West Side Blues Band

Saturday August 30th
The Greyhound
Broughton
New Forest
Burnt Ice.

New venue run by an old friend, looking forward to it.

Friday September 5th
The Square & Compass
Worth Matravers
Andy Broad Solo

Sunday September 7th 12:30
Andy Broad's Blues Jam
The Auckland Arms

Thanks to Alan Holloway for looking after the jam last month when I was on
the second leg of the French tour. Looking forward to see all the regulars
again and hope for some new faces, bring you
guitar/bass/flute/harmonica/accordian/banjolele or voice! Don't bring a
piano there one there allready!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=545 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=545 Thu, 14 Aug 2014 17:08:00 GMT I'm back in England now, having not had much time to blog en route.

Sunday was the last day of the tour (bar the travelling) and I was due to play the cafe Grande in Camplong. But during the day having recovered a bit from all the driving, and positively boosted from the gig the night before I was able to join Pete and Lyn for a walk into town (Lamalou) with the dogs.

The old railway line behind their house has been converted inot a cyclepath that leads direct to Lamlou-les-Bains so the walk into town was much more civilised than my previous visit, though the route was still lined with trees giving some shade, much needed in the increasing heat. The cicadas and grasshopers were positively screaming their songs from the trees, though you could never see them.

One we reached town we stopped at the cafe opposite the old location of the Bar MaryJohn. I risked one red wine before switching to Café Blanc. As we sat there the sky darkened considerably and the promised rain arrived with thunderous accompaniment. Real rain! Pete was happy as his garden was being watered, but we couldn't walk home in that so another round of drinks...

Once the rain had slowed to a cooling drizzle we made our way back. The thunderstorm has broken the heat just a little.

That evenings gig at the Cafe Grande in Camplong, was bit closer that Saturdays night, a half hour trip into the mountains to a small one road in village, same road out, so go in with larger van you'd be stuck like a cork! Setting up was simplified slightly as I'd run out of minidiscs, so wasn't recording this one. I still planned to put up the video camera.

This one was a ticketed gig at €5.00 per person, we decided to ket smaller children in for free. Lyn did the door which was very helpful. Due to start at 8:30 people were already arriving in strength at about 8:15, building to around 50 by 8:35 I was ready to go on on time but le patron insisted I wait as he thought more were coming and also wanted to introduce me.

Well he was right! By 8:45 the audience had swollen to 75! I sold a few CDs before I even started. I couldn't really understand the introduction, but it resulted in a great and welcomeing round of applause as I started my acoustic set at 8:50 or so.

I swapped the set arround a little as I was awrae that a few had probabably seen all three concerts in the south so I didn't want to be too predictable. There was a gentle hubbub from the crowd, but agreat appluase at the end of each song, clearly having a good time. I managed more of my awful French whilst introducing somgs than I had so far, this audience was mostly French, so they deserved the effort, whether they understood me was another thing...

Knowing that Pete who had worked so hard to support me on this part of the tour was great fan of B.B. Kings "The Thrill Is Gone", I dedicated a rendition to him. It really hit the spot as the hubbub died down in total silent attention. Something I always find more gratify is an audience that stops talking to listen, rather than one that is slient from the start. You know they stopped because you were good, not because they were being polite!

I played a good 50 min first set then took a short break, before the switch to the electric. Plenty of good feedback and amongst the broken french english conversations, a request to play a venue in the English midlands, contact details were exchanged, I'll keep you posted as to the date.

Second set I started playing outside, wakling in with the electric after Pete's quick reintroduction, we were trying to push the show element with this one. The set progressed well and the walk arround in Sweet Little Angle was well received as ever, and with the crowd clapping along enthusiatically as I started up Mornin' Sun. (a John Lee Hookeresk boogie number of my own which lebnds it'self to sarting on tnhe move).

I had finished the gig the night before with Let The Goodtimes Roll, which meant I had to remain on stage (or just in front actualy) to the very end. Pete had commented that it would have been effective to walk off with the guitar, so this time I finished with Crossroads, and gradually worked my way out of the bar door. Not quite the same as walking out to the dressing room, but it had the right effect and I was soon back in playing Let the Good times roll as an encore instead. This was quickly followed by a second encore (an Elmore James medley). A fantastic end to this years tour which has been a good one overall.

Monday brought the journey home. A 12 hour drive but I didn't need to be at the ferry till 3:30 the next morning so there was no pressure to start too early, even so I was on the road by 9:30. The weather had cooled considerably and there were quite a few showers, which helped to keep things even cooler. It was along journey but quite manageable with frequent stops.

Two events of note, the first as I stopped to adjust the programing of the SatNav to avoid tolls having reached the first P�age section, I looked backwards and got a dramtac view of the mountains I had just crossed. A shame the camera was burried in the back of the car somewhere. The second having failed to get the SatNav to accept the way points I had planned to use (Orleans and Rouen) I was being directed through Paris, I expeted to go through the outskirst, instead I seemed to be in the very centre, talk about hectic traffic! And on the wrong side of the road! If there were sites to be seen I was concentrating so hard on the traffic I could driven under the Arc de Triumph without noticing!

Made it to Dieppe with plenty of time and so back to England. Next gig Wales on Saturday, then back to France for a private party the weekend after that!

I have three minidics and three sets of videos to check over now, fingers crossed they came out well.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=544 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=544 Wed, 23 Jul 2014 22:24:00 GMT Saturday night's gig was at a church in Le Barry, a hamlet in the village of Montpeyroux, about an hours drive away from Poujol-sur-Orb where I'm, staying.

The journey there wound through one of the most twisty turny roads I've ever travelled on then led up through a rough unmetalled road to the church itself, and what a venue it was. Shortly after we arrived one of the organisers Oliver Collins arrived to let us in to a high ceilinged church hall with roman origins. This gig was going to be a concert! Alison Collins the main contact arrived shortly after, both were very helpful.

With the dramatic venue came a substantial reverb, which proved challenging sound wise but also add greatly to the atmosphere.

As is inevitable in high summer there was a lot of competition from events in the surrounding area, so we were unsure of the expected turnout, but come 8:20 a few people arrived, start time was advertised as 8:30 but people were still arriving up till 8:45 so the start was delayed, which apparently was quite normal.

The plan was to play two 45 minute sets, one acoustic one electric as usual, Pete Robinson introduced me and I walk out on to stage, quite a formal start... I chose songs and instrumentals to suit the sound of the room, Jiterbug Madras sounded particular effective in the deep natural reverb, as did Pretty Nose which I haven't been playing quite so often.

I took advantge of the setup to walk on playing for the electric set, and the walk arround in Sweet Little Angle was delight in such a venue.

A great reception! I sold a quite few CDs in the break, then some at the end. There was no set fee with donations encouraged at the end of the night, the audience was most generous in that regard.

This gig had been a bit of an experiment, and one that worked well, a big thanks to the organisers, Alison and Oliver, and not to forget Pete who not only booked the gigs for me but has been acting as my road manger for this part of the tour. All greatly appreciated!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=542 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=542 Sun, 20 Jul 2014 09:20:00 GMT My first gig in France was at Le MaryJohn in Lamalou-les-bains and I was quite disappointed last year when the bar closed down, but Olivier has secured new premises and spent almost a year building his new bar, in the same style as the first one, though slightly bigger. So I was really pleased to be returning for a gig there this tour.

I arrived in Poujol-sur-Orb after another long journey, this one had been worry me as I had got lost last time I made the trip, but with carefull attention to the google maps route and programming way points into the SatNav I arrived without to much incident. Some great views along the way, frustrating that I couldn't stop for long at any of the interesting spots.

Plenty of time for a sleep before the gig.

We went down to setup arround 7.00 ish with Pete who had sorted the gigs in the south giving me a hand. The new version of the MaryJohn is larger and has a stage in doors but due to the excellent weather we set up outside, as in previous years. There were a few choices of position to site the stage, we settled on a corner flanked by Vibe covered steps, with a good view of the tables and seating.

With little more time to spare I set up the camera to see what might be caught video wise and also setup the minidisc recorder. The first 20 minutes were recorded video wise and the first 80 on mini disc, will have to review the footage later.

The nominal starting time was 9pm but as is often the case the bulk of the audience turned up just after starting, building to pleasant and again attentive, listening crowd. Some had clearly come because of Pete's extensive advertising efforts (thanks Pete!) and some appeared to come over as they heard the music when passing.

Acoustic to start, electric second set. Another great gig, Olivier the patron, immediately asked me back next year, which is always gratifying!

Pete caught a snipet of my walk arround on video and posted it to facebook. Here's a link, though it may be subject to facebook membership etc.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=541 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=541 Sat, 19 Jul 2014 12:50:00 GMT Arrived at Dieppe at 4:00 perhaps slightly ahead of schedule, and did my traditional amble into town to find a service till and get an emergency supply of euros (which ironically I haven't touched!). It was cool, maybe even a bit cold, which made for a refreshing start to the impending 8 hour drive.

On the way by 5:00 am, and though using the SatNav I'm getting to know the journey, it's quite reassuring to recognise the landmarks, and know the SatNav hasn't thrown a wobbly again!

Easy travelling travelling, with a couple of coffee breaks, till about 10pm when the sun switched on full blast. The temperature went up to about 34 C in the car and was making feel quite sleepy, so I was a taking breaks every 50km or so. Still arrived at Gabarriers quite early about 2.00pm

After making myself known to the staff (with a little translation help from John the bar) I chilled out on the terrace, whilst waiting for the evening staff to arrive.

I spent the time warming up on the acoustic, and left the guitar on the terrace while I went to fetch a new set of strings. Returning I found it had become the perch for a damsel fly. Ofcourse it had gone by the time I returned with the camera.

Whilst tuning the new strings, a group of people came over from one of the boats that had just moored at the side of river in front of the bar. To find out when I was playing, they were disappointed to hear I wouldn't be starting till 9.00pm, as they would be travelling on before that.

At 5pm Cecelia (who was managing the bar while the Simon the owner was away) arrived and sorted out access to the caravan where I would be sleeping, and I was able to catch up on some sleep.

As it was a Thursday we decided I would play slightly earlier than planned and as it was so hot and humid I would set up on the terrace stage. Even on the terrace it was uncomfortably warm setting up my fingers felt glued to the frets when setting the guitar sounds.

Last time I played the Gabarriers the restaurant was full and most people stayed on the terrace, whilst I played indoors, so I was thinking being on the terrace was a better idea, but by 8:00 only three people had arrived to eat and few more round the corner drinking, I was getting concerned!

After the traditional French panic about me being vegetarian, my own meal arrived, a goats cheese salad, which was quite filling in the heat. The audience started to turn up, easing my worry that I would playing to the fish jumping in the river! Particularly pleasing was that the group from the boat, who had stayed at the mooring after all, turned up! They went on to buy a CD too.

By 9.00pm things had cooled down a little the audience had built up and I played an 70 minute first set on the acoustic. The audience was very attentive and a pleasure to play to! A couple of CDs were bought in the break, with the group from the boat choosing the Walker Broad CD as they had enjoyed the folkier tunes I had been warming up on.

The electric set went well. The walk about was well received, finished up about 12.00pm. All in all a good with no need for my earlier worries.

It was nice to meet a few faces from last time, including "Patrick Photo" who brought me some copies of phots he took at last years gig. Thanks Patrick!

Then off to bed after a quick glass of wine, up at 5:00am to get on the road by 6:00 and beat the heat!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=540 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=540 Sat, 19 Jul 2014 11:51:00 GMT On the way again! The usual day of fidgeting, trying remember what I might have forgotten, a nervous half hour trying find my car insurance documents, at one point I thought I'd thrown away this years and kept last years! It turned out the pile of insurance papers I thought were my green cards for this and the next French trip were my standard insurance stuff, OMG so where are my green cards then? Under Bullfrog Blues Club cash time where else?

Two more important musical decisions to be made which amps and gear to take? Last time I took the last one, but as I know at least one gig will be outside I'm taking the musicman for the electric set (and as a monitor for the acoustic perhaps depending on situation), although I've played for Le MaryJohn before it's moved to new premises so I've effectively got three new venues, want maximum flexibility. Whilst sorting my gear I found some unused minidisks, so I'm going to try and record some sections of the tour. That meants sorting out a few more combinations of cables!

The other important decision is what CDs to take?! I decided on the latest Robert Cray (50th birthday present, thakyou you know who :-)) Luther Allison live in Chicago and Lil' Jimmy Reeds american CD as sold at his recent appearance at the Bullfrog Blues Club. My plan to start the journey in the company of Lil' Jimmy Reed, but my CD player decided it wasn't playing fair and wouldn't switch on....grrr.... no time to fix it I need to be on the way. After half an hour it jolted back into life, so I got the Muddy Waters CD allready in the slot instead!

So Lil' Jimmy will be joining me on the first stage of the journey on the french side....

There's supposed to be Wifi on this ship but I can't even get enough signal to pay for it let alone use it, so posting this will have to wait til I stop somewhere on the way or til I get to Gabariers.

Arrive in rance about 4.00 am french time so need to get some sleep in if possible for an early start.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=539 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=539 Wed, 16 Jul 2014 22:33:00 GMT Welcome to this months newsletters.

After a quiet start to June (just as well as I had a two week bout of flu!)
things start to pick up as we move into July and get a little crazy once we
get to August!




* French Tours *


This years solo tour of France has split into 2 mini tours, the first in
July the second the first weekend in August. % gigs overall mostly in the
southern half of the country. Looking forward to reviting Gabariers,
playing at the New MaryJohn in Lamalou-les-Bains, playing two new venues in
the Herault area, and returning in August to play a private party for the
couple who's wedding party kicked of the French tour thing in 2011! No
doubt I'll be blogging my progress as usual, subject to wifi :-)





* Gig List *


Saturday 21st July
Walker Broad Band + guests
The Phoenix, Duncan Road, Southsea

The Walker Broad will be joined by Rod Paton on French horn and Harmonicas
for a gig with a different twist at the Phoenix.

Thursday 3rd July
Little Jimmy Reed + Bob Hall
The Bullfrog Blues Club

I don't nornmally include the Bullfrog gigs on the broadology mailing list
but this one is a bit special, the real deal, LJM is one of the last
players from the golden era of the blues, who took on the name Lil' Jimmy
Reed after depping for Jimmy Reed himself during a period of illness, the
response was so good that after Jimmy Reed death Lil' Jimmy Reed took up
the name.

Tickets from http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/

Saturday 5th July
Burnt Ice
Private Party

This one is invite only but do get in touch if your want some classy music
for your own party or event. Solo Blues to Full Band, Mellow Jazz or folk
we got a combination for that will work for you.

Sunday 6th July - 12:30 - 300pm
Andy Broad's Blues Jam
The Auckland Arms, Southsea.

All welcome as usual!

Sunday 6th July - 7:30pm
Andy Broad
Hobbits Restuarant and Bar, Hythe

Straight after the Jam I'll be high tauiling down the road to play at one of
my regular solo gigs. Great Food and a well stocked bar ( and top quality
blues ofcourse!).

Sunday 13th July - 4.00pm
Andy Broad
The Seahorse, BroadSands Drive, Gosport.

The Seahorse is putting on regular Sunday afternoon acoustic music, come
down and support it!

Thursday 17th July
Andy Broad
Pub Gabariers, St Simeaux, FRANCE

First gig on this years solo tour, was a cracker last year looking forward
to it!

Friday 18th July
Andy Broad
Bar MaryJohn, Lamalou-les-Bains, FRANCE

The MaryJohn where I recorded my Live In France CD is back in new premises,
really looking forward to chacking the new place out.

Saturday 19th July
Andy Broad
L'Eglise, Le Barry, Montpeyroux, FRANCE

Concert style gig, possibly in teh courtyard if the weather is good.

Sunday 20th July
Andy Broad
Cafe Grande, Camplong, FRANCE

Saturday 26th July
Andy Broad
Private Party, WALES

See above about availabilty for parties!

Sunday 2nd August
Andy Broad
Private Party, Bergerac, FRANCE

Back in France for another private party, as you can see distance is no
issue, get in touch!

Thanks for reading, hope to see you at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=523 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=523 Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:28:00 GMT It's been a little while since I sent out the Blues News and there's a
couple of busy months coming up, so I thought I'd better let you all in on
the secrets....




* Radio Play *


Seem to be having a little April shower of radio play at the moment, with
airplay for Walker Broad in Swindon at the end of march thanks to Sean
Hodgson on Swindon 105.5 , a couple of Walker Broad plays from Shep Woolley
and Dan Ogus on Express FM, and coming up this weekend Phil Penny will be
featuring a trck from the Burnt Ice EP on his show on Nottingham's Radio
Trent this Saturday, and yet another spin from Dan Ogus for Burnt Ice on
Sunday!

Phil Penny's show will air between 10pm and Midnight on Saturday then is
repeated a number of times through the week.

http://www.radiotrent.co.uk/pages/progPP.html

Dan Ogus will be on air between 4pm and 6pm Sunday afternoon.

http://www.expressfm.com/programmes/scattering-the-roots/



* French Tour *


Plans are moving ahead for this years tour of France and it's looking like
it's splitting into two separate tours one in July and then back again for
the first weekend in August.

July 18th will see me playing Gabariers by the Charente again and also the
new
Bar MaryJohn where I recorded the 'Live In France' CD, plus more dates to
be confirmed. August will see me playing for a private party near Bergerac,
with possibly some additional dates in a local restauarant.



* Guitar Lessons *


Still have space for one or two more students. If you want to learn
fingerstyle blues guitar then get in touch. Special offer of 4 lessons for
£60.00 or £20.00 per lesson. Lesson times can be flexible but have to work
round my gigging schedule.




* Birthday Party *


I will be celibrating my 25th birthday on Evening Sunday the 50th of May at
the Auckland Arms in Southsea, there will be sets from a selection of bands
I'm involved in, plus special guests. Do come down!



* Gigs *


Here's what's coming up this month.

Friday April 11th
Nottingham Blues Society
The Trent Navigation
Meadow Lane
Nottingham

Andy Broad - Original acoustic blues.

Very pleased to be asked to play this one, it's going to be well worth the
400 mile round trip!

Sunday April 13th
The Seahorse
Gosport

Andy Broad - Original acoustic blues.

This Sunday afternoon acoustic music session is buiding well, come down and
help make it a long term fixture on the gig diary.

Friday 18th April
QD's Music Venue
High Street, Gosport
Walker Broad Band - Original Folk Blues and Jazz

First booking for Walker Broad at this promising new venue in Gosport. Been
hearing great things about the place, lookng forward to playing there.

Sunday 20th April - Afternoon Session
A Feast Of Easter Folk
Masonic Hall.
Clarence Road
Gosport
Walker Broad Band

Last years Easter fest was a great success and Walker Broad are very pleased
to be appearing again! A wide range of folk and roots music over 4 sessions
on the Sunday and Monday.
Tickets available from www.southseafolkfestival.co.uk

Friday 26th April
The Kings Head
Wickham

Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

Sunday 3rd May
Brighton Foodies Festival
Walker Broad Trio

A three piece version of Walker Broad just for a change.

Sunday 4th May - 12:00pm til 2:30 (ish)
Andy Broad's BLues Jam
The Auckland Arms

We've had a good start to the jamming this year with some top class players
turning up. We still welcome all players at all levels and ages, come down
and join in or just listen.


That's all for now.

See you at a gig soon.

Andy

P.S. Did you spot the deliberate mistake?



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=503 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=503 Thu, 10 Apr 2014 15:58:00 GMT The first part of this note will be dull as ditchwater if you are arriving here from a musical route so jump a head a couple of paragraphs...

Been doing some digital house keeping, found I'd filled my Music: disk partition to the brim with various recording projects, so needed clear some out and make some space. That meant building the backup server I've been meaning to set up since just before Christmas with a batch of spare hard drives I've acquired from various second / recycled sources, as there was no way I was going to delete anything!

So a session of crawling round on the floor under my desk to extract the linux computer, open it up and the some swearing and cursing whilst I fitted in two of the new drives and then found the cables were too short, once I got the cables connected some googling to find out how to activated the extra RAID / IDE hard disk connectors. A small jumper on the other side of the mother board! Now I have 160Gigs of spare space for backing up to, not enough for future proofing but I've space for 3 more disks. (If you have any 80Gb + PATA hard disks you want rid of I'm in the market for recycling them for you!).

Next up copy across 34 Gigs of recording projects. Even over the LAN that the best part of three hours! Later I need move across all the video from my laptop that I've accumulated over the last couple of years of actively adding gig material to my youtube channel

Now where it's get more musical, I have to make room on the hard disk for more projects, so I have to choose which to delete, can just delete the oldest as there are cross links from the CD writing software and also unused ideas that will just get forgotten in the "attic" I just created for backup.

So a session of exploring the old projects, digging through, finding stuff I'd forgotten about, songs ideas for the next solo album that have been sitting neglected, a whole stack of jazz tunes that have never seen the light of day. Good recording of bad ideas, bad recording of good ideas, a couple of gems like a recording of Buddy Guys song "Steppin Out, Steppin In" which I'd completely forgotten ever learning let alone recording! That one I've decided to add to my revernation page:

Steppin Out, Steppin In

As part of this process I've realised that the song player on my website front page has a lot of out of material on it, when you get past the first few songs there are some quite experimental bits and pieces original not meant for the general public but that have ended up there as I no longer have access the editor for the any more. So I created a new player based on a reverbnation playlist and removed the old IacMusic based one.

Webiste

Conclusions from exploring my home recording history is that my next solo album really is very overdue and that I also ought to record a Jazz CD! Whether solo or with a quartet needs to be determined...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=481 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=481 Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:25:00 GMT Welcome to 2014 and a Happy New to you all.

We have busy start to the year with a quite variety of gigs. European tour
planning is progressing, it's all looking good, if it would just stop
raining all would be sunny....



* Guitar Lessons *


Want to learn finger style blues guitar? Learn the tricks of slide playing
in standard tuning? Doing block bookings of 4 lessons for £60 in advance
or just pay £20.00 per lesson as you go.
I've only space for 1 or 2 more students so don't hang arround, get in
touch!



* Gig List *


Sunday 12th January 4pm till 6pm
The Seahorse, Broadsands Drive, Gosport.
Andy Broad - Solo Acoustic and Electric Blues.

Come down to the Seahorse for a great afternoon of rootsy blues, songs from
the Live In France Album and the forth coming solo album "Every Penny Of
The Deal" and more favourites.

Friday 17th January
The Star Inn, Bentworth, near Alton
Burnt Ice

After a number of successful solo and duo gigs at The Star this is the first
outing there with the band. Should be a cracker, do come down. The
restuarant gets great reviews so why have meal first?

Thursday 23rd January
The Vaults (aka Wine Vaults), Albert Road, Southsea
The West Side Blues Band

Chicago style blues in the style of Buddy Guy, Otis Rush etc (with thod bit
of Muddy Waters too...)

Monday 27th January
The Hastings Arms, Hastings
Andy Broad Solo

Looking forward to the first of several booking this year at this dedicated
blues night.

Tuesday 28th January
The Platform Tavern, Southampton
Walker Broad Band

Walker Broad are very pleased to be asked back by Bob Long to be the special
guests at this months Platform Tavern Jam. We've down it before as a duo
and decided it would be nice to it with the whole band this time. (The
advantage of a cajon playing drumer) One or two sets of music from Walker
Broad with jamming. Come down and play come down and listen.

Sunday 2nd January
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road Southsea.
Andy Broad's Sunday Lunchtime Jam sessions.

Next installment of the monthly jam. We had a good one to kick the year off.
Come down and play or listen, all welcome. Mostly blues but were not
prejudiced against other genres. :-)

See you all at a gig sometime!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=475 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=475 Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:51:00 GMT Just two more gigs to go this year. (barring short notice bookings, need
some acoustic blues for your news years eve party?).

This Sunday 15th December I will be playing a solo gig at the Hobbits
Restuarent and Bar Hight Street Hythe, this is always a good one, starts
out restauarant style then evolves into a more informal bar gig as the
eveing progresses.

Then in the gap between Christmas and the New Year Walker Broad (in three
piece mode) will be making a first appearance at the Red Lion in Arundel on
Saturday the 28th. Looking forward to this one.



Thanks for all your support through the year, hear is a video Christmas card
with a blues theme.

http://youtu.be/sOBels7qPv0

Cheers

Andy


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=464 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=464 Wed, 11 Dec 2013 13:53:00 GMT Welcome to December a couple of days early!

We had some great gigs in November highlights being the Burnt Ice at
Langstone Sailing Clubs Hayling Billy Party ( did manage to pull out a
couple of train tunes!) and Walker Broad at the Hambledon Folk Club. You
can read more about that on Sandy's blog

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...kerbroad/blog.php?blogid=138



* Gift Ideas *


Christmas is coming and all that so if you have friends with a taste for
blues folk and jazz why not get them one of our CDs?

Walker Broad's CD can be bought direct from http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk or
via Amazaon iTunes et al. Buying direct guarentees the fastest delivery.

Andy Broad / Burnt Ice etc. can be bought direct from
http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/cd.html

Direct payments are handled securely via paypal.



* Gigs *


Saturday November 30th
The Phoenix - Duncan Road - Southsea
West Side Blues Band

Chicago & Texas Style Rhythm and Blues. Had some great gigs at the Phoenix
in years gone by so are pleased to be able to fit on in before the end of
the year.

Sunday December 1st
The Auckland Arms - Netley Road - 12:00 till 2:30 (or so).
Andy Broads Sunday Lunchtime Jam.

All welcome for the last jam of the year, should be agreat musical adventure
(see what I did there?). Every month is different and whilst it's mainly a
blues jam we aren't predjudiced so come on down and play or listen!

Thursday 5th December
The Two Brewers - Hadlow - Kent
Rhythm & Roots Club
Andy Broad - original solo blues.

Had agreat reception here when I played for their beer festival earlier in
the year and am really pleased to find it's the new home for eddie Armers
Rhythm & Roots club. Promisies to be a top quality gig!

Saturday 7th December
The Seahorse - Broadsands Drive - Gosport
Burnt Ice - contemporay blues with a funky edge.

A special booking for a biker party, it's going to be a rocking gig!

Sunday 15th December - 7:30
Hobbits Restuarent and bar - Hight Street - Hythe.
Andy Broad - original solo blues.

This ones always fun, great food served and an intimate bar area if you just
want to drink.

Saturday 28th December
The Red Lion - Arundel
Walker Broad Band

First gig here at this well known venue, looking forward to it!.

Saturday January 4th
Private House Party Afternoon
Andy Broad - This one is invite only but don't forget if you want a bit of
quality music to make you event or party special we can provide a full
range from acoustic folk to rocking blues, get in touch!

Sunday 5th January
Auckland Jam

Look forward to seeing you at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=463 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=463 Thu, 28 Nov 2013 17:25:00 GMT Welcome to Novembers Newsletter

Lots of good stuff coming up this month and at the beginning of December



* Walker Broad Band at Hambledon Folk Club *


The highlight of this month is definitly Walker Broads headline appearance
at the Hambledon Folk Club. The club meets in the Youth Club Building, in
the Village Hall car park, just next to the Vine. The club has a great
intimate atmosphere with the room holding about 40 people. You can buy a
drink in the Vine and bring it through to the club, I believe they also
serve tea and coffee.

The evening will start at 8.00pm on Wednesday 13th November with a
supporting set from '2 Come By' then Walker Broad will be playing a full
two set concert. Contact Rod Smith on 02392 632 504 or email
folkclubhambledon@hotmail.co.uk to reserver your tickets or turn up on the
door. Tickets are £8.00 or £7.00 members




* Gigs *


Friday 8th November
The Windsor Castle - St Thomas's Road Gosport
Burnt Ice - Contemporary Progressive Blues

Friday 9th Novemeber - Langstone Sailing Club.
Burnt Ice - Contemporary Progressive Blues

Had a fantastic gig here last year and are really pleased to be asked back
to perform at their Hayling Billy Party. Better do a couple of songs about
trains!

www.langstonesc.org.uk

Wednesday 13th November
The Hambledon Folk Club - Youth Club Building, Village Hall, Hambledon.

Saturday 30th November
The Phoenix

The West Side Blues Band. - Blues From The West Side Of Chicago

Sunday 1st December - Lucnhtime (12 till 3.00pm)
The Auckland Arms
Andy Broad's Blues And Jazz Jam

All welcome to come and play or listen.

Thursday 5th December
The Two Brewers Hadlow.
Eddie Armers Roots & Blues Club.
Andy Broad Solo - Acoustic and Electric Original Blues.

Having played a number of gigs at Eddies club I'm really pleased to asked
back to play at it's new venue at the Two Brewers.


See you at a gig soon!




]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=454 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=454 Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:29:00 GMT A quick update to let you know that Ashwyn Smith will be playing a track
from the Walker Broad Album "A Walk Abroad" on his show Digital Blues on
Gateway 97.8FM

Digital Blues one of the Country's top blues and roots radio shoes, goes out
at 9.00 pm this Wednesday (18th September).

Gateway broadcasts in the Basildon / East Thurock area but you can tune in
online at

http://www.gateway978.com/

or

http://www.digitalblues.co.uk/

More about Walker Broad here:

www.walkerbroad.co.uk

Hope you can tune in!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=432 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=432 Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:32:00 GMT Welcome to September!



* French Tour Photographs *


It took me a couple of weeks to get ot it but I have sorted through and
posted the photographs from this years solo your of the Charente region of
France.

Here's a link to the middle of the set with an excellent sequence of photos
taken by Le Gabariers residident photographer "Patrick Photo".

http://bit.ly/17lsxDs



* Walker Broad at The Square & Compass *


The Square & Compass is a fantastic venue that I've been playing solo for
many years, (after an initial introduction by King Rollo IIRC), and walker
Broad played our first gig there as a band last Friday. The gig was very
well received, with an attentive listening audience.

You can read Sandy's blog about it here.

http://bit.ly/15GUhFx



* Two Brewers Roots & Blues Club in Kent *


Just after getting back from France at the end of August I played at the Two
Brewers Beers festival, the gig was well received, dispite the slow start
due to the exceptionaly damp weather. I'm pleased to say that I've been
invited back to play at thier Thursday Roots and Blues night, run by Eddie
Armer. I played a few dates for Eddie when his club was at The Poacher so
I'm looking fiorward to that. The only shame is that it's not till December
5th!



* Gigs For September *


Here's the listing for currently booked gigs for the rest of September.

Friday 13th September
The Walker Broad Band
The Auckland Arms - Netley Road - Southsea

Always a great gig, come down and enjoy the atmosphere provided Big Dave and
Helene's hopsitiality and some great music.

Friday 14th September
Burnt Ice
The Seahorse - Broadsands Drive - Gosport

The first gig here with dep drummer Jerry went down a storm, now that
Blackie's back we should tear the place apart ...

Saturday 21st September - Mid afternoon
The Walker Broad Band
Portsmouth Summer Fair - Victoria Park - Portsmouth

Walker Broad will be playing the acoustic stage between 1 and 2 pm (exact
time TBC). Acoustic really does mean acoustic in this case, in fact the
main "electric" stage will be running on bycycles and batteries....

http://www.portsmouthcan.co.uk/

Saturday 21st September - Evening
Andy Broad Solo
The Station Arms - Southminster - Essex.

As soon as Walker Broad finish I'll be hitting the road to get to essex in
time to play this great blues venue. It will be worth the rush, as you will
know if you live in that part of essex, come down!


Sunday 6th October - Lunchtime

Time to jam at the Auckland again!

Thanks for reading, check out the photo's and blog and see you at a gig!





]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=431 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=431 Mon, 09 Sep 2013 19:57:00 GMT Just a quick update to let you know what's on this weekend.




* Two Brewers Beer Festival - Saturday 24th - Hadlow Kent *


I will be performing a solo blues set at The Two Brewers Beer Festival music
starts at 7pm!

http://www.thetwobrewershadlow.co.uk/



* Radio Session - Air Radio - Sunday 25th 11am - 1pm - Weymouth *


I'll be appearing live on David James' show between 11.00 am and 1.00pm.
Some chat about France no doubt and up coming gigs as well as some solo
acoustic blues playing. If your outside the radio "catchment area" you can
tune in on the internet via

http://www.aironair.co.uk/



* France Blog and Videos *


Had a great time in France, you can read about my exploits on the Broad
Ology Blog at

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php


Here are two video clips from the first two gigs.

Good Feelin' - Pub Gabariers

http://youtu.be/YI9Ga5snky4

Late On In the Evening - Dixieland Cafe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsYMvkX52TQ


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=427 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=427 Sat, 24 Aug 2013 11:35:00 GMT A so to the last gig of the tour. After catching up on a few an hours sleep, I loaded up and headed out from the Hotel to Le Kennedy. It was a pretty short journey with only a slightly challenging right turn to deal with, challenging as it's so sharp I couldn't get the car round the corner in one lane. I arrived in good time just after 6.

The landlady (or whatever the equivalent would be in a French Irish pub) saw me arrive came out to great me and asked if I spoke french, "Un Peu" , whatever she said next was a lot more than my "peu" encompassed and seeing me look blank she gestured for me to follow. As I got inside it seemed that a band was setting up, oh no surely not a double booking? My posters were in the window, so obviously I was expected, what was going on? I feared the worst!

Thankfully the guy setting up the P.A. spoke a little english and was able to explain that some children would be playing before me, and that I would be starting at ten as expected. They had quite a lot of kit, so there wasn't much room for my stuff, so after a brief discussion the guy offered to do the sound for me. So a weight of my my mind as setting up at high speed after the band had played would have been a bit too much!

It took a while for me to work out what was really going on but it seemed that a residential music course had hired the venue for there end of course concert. Vacance Musicales Sans Frontieres, if I understand rightly they were from Paris. After a short while the venue filled up with youngsters and there followed 2 hours plus of enthusiastic music from them, they had a great time, and it was quite entertaining. They finished up with a couple of songs from the tutors band, not bad. I thought about asking them to join me for my second electric set, but one minute they were announcing that I would be following them on stage, and the next the kids had swept on and cleared the entire kit away, the most efficient stage clearage I've ever seen! In fact the sound gut had to grab back the bits he need for me!

During the youngsters set the venue had been slowly filling up, and when the departed the room was still full. I did a rolling sound check and first number and proceeded to play tho an enthusiastic audience. Considering how hot it was I pleased to have so many in the audience, definitely more than last year. There was a lot of cheering and clapping along with songs, great feedback to keep me going, especially as the heat was taking it's toll and requiring my full stamina to keep the show going. Quite a few of the children had drifted back in and seemed to be enjoying the show too.

I took a break after an hour and a bit, and got some great feedback from the audience, I made the mistake of asking a guy in a Gretch t-shirt who had come up to say hello, whether he played a gretch, the landlady had to drag him away before he had finished the extensive list of guitars he started to describe, I think she wanted me back on stage the same night!

I played the electric for a good hour then swapped back to acoustic for another half and hour before finishing with "Let The Good Times Roll".

Not having to pack my own PA up was a blessing at the end and I was able to talk to a couple who wanted to buy a CD (albeit in sign language!).

A great gig to finish with, the Landlady seemed very pleased, and again promises of a gig next year!

Was there a down side? Well the 'vegetarian', food was a tuna salad! Thankfully it was a posh one, so the little bits of tuna could be removed quite easily, first time I'vie really had a problem with food, whilst on tour in Europe.

So shortly I leave the hotel to head back to Dieppe and the ferry. What to do until 4am in the morning?

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=426 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=426 Sun, 18 Aug 2013 10:21:00 GMT Now at the Hotel F1 in Angouleme the day after a great gig at the Dixieland. The laptop ran out of battery seconds after posting the last blog so it's good to see it made it up on to the net! I spent the rest of yesterday afternoon snoozing in the Dixieland's beer garden, the camera battery died some when during the the second set, and the phone battery went down at the same sort of time! So immediately I arrived at the hotel all eletricals plugged in and the electric surge is likely causing a brownout in Angouleme!

The weather yesterday was excellent, so for the first time I got to play on the Terrace stage in the Dixielands Courtyard garden. A wonderful atmospheric setting with the Chateau looming above. Shame the camera lens is not wide angle as you wont be able to see the Chateau on the vid. There was a hint of cloud early on but it never developed into rain, so a long and pleasant gig was had!

The plan was to start just after nine then play til 12 with breaks, I intended to do 3 x 45 mins sets, probably two on acoustic and 1 electric. It was a busy night in the restaurant with all the garden tables sold and also most of the restaurant, over 50 covers if I understood correctly.

As well as the human audience there was a small pond full of brightly coloured fish and one biggy, perhaps a Coy, certain somekind of carp. A few lizards were scampering arround on the walls too, taking advatage of the days heat!

The first set was going well with no signs of the technical problems on the guitar I'd had the night before. A few of the diners lefts but were quickly replaced with drinkers. Starting to feel a little tired, I stopped for moment to check the time, expecting it to be about 9:30 and feeling slightly concerned that I should be feeling it quite so early. It was 10:30! I'd already played an hour and a half solid, nearly a whole gig at some venues! Losing track of the time to that degree is always a good sign!

So I took a break then resumed on electric guitar for my second set, deciding now to play through to the end. When it came to the walk around I managed a complete loop, in through the pool table / games room, a quick sprint through the indoor music room (quick because I could hear the guitar from there so couldn't'y tell if the signal was getting through!) and back out through the restaurant, catching Laurence (the owner) by surprise just as he was enthusing to someone about the wandering guitarist :-). Big round of applause at the end and audience clapping along as I kick in 'Mornin' Sun' a John Lee Hooker inspired original, I've recorded a number of times in different formats.

Finish up with 'Let the Good Times Roll', with a version of 'Poor boy' for an encore.

I stopped over, sleeping in bar as the upstairs flat was let. Got a reasonably comfortable arrangement of seats to sleep on (cushioned ofcourse). Being quite tired I was glad not to have to pack the car and drive off to somewhere else to stay, well worth the occasional disturbing noise from the beer coolers!

Woke arround 10:30 or so, just as they were starting to cleanup and open for the daytime session, recharged with a good dose of coffee, got loaded up and said my Good byes to Laurence and staff, with promises of more next year!

So now have a few hours gap before the Le Kennedy gig tonight in Angouleme. Which I will spend sleeping, though I might just have go at facebook scrabble first!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=425 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=425 Sat, 17 Aug 2013 12:51:00 GMT Did I forget the sunflowers? I think I did! On the way through to Saint-Simeux I passed enough sunflowers to make a billion pounds worth of Van Goghs!

After blogging this morning and before leaving for The Dixieland Cafe I went for a walk up to a local view point, a moderately steep climb (though nothing compared with the walk up the mountains in the South last year!) led up a winding path to a view point from which you could see the Gabariers bar itself and the surrounding country side. Also the village of Saint-Simeux. I passed many more sunflowers on the way up and even not surprisingly the odd grape or two! Took a few photographs!

After walk back down I went and photographed the village and a few scenes of the river and a weir just upstream from Gabariers. A nice relaxing way to start the morning!

Said my goodbyes to Simon at Gabariers with a contact for a venue in Normandy and a promise of a gig next year, a 45 minute drive and I'm now sitting in the bar at the Dixieland!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=424 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=424 Fri, 16 Aug 2013 13:48:00 GMT Two working titles for this bit of the blog were, "Oh my god it's full of stars ..." and "Always a gamble...", read the end to find out why. Or perhaps the simpler "Au bord de la Charente" which is where I'm writing this, sat outside the Gabariers the day after a great gig.

I managed to get a couple of hours with my head down, In the old mobile home where I would be staying the night, got up at 18:30 and started to set up, the gear all felt a bit heavy for the first few minutes until I'd when properly. Gabariers has a decent size stage area in the bar, with lighting, but I was using my own PA. With some much space it was easy to set the stage, it's always nice to be to move around the back of the PA to wire it up rather than groping awkwardly. The sound was great! I got a good onstage stage, clear and with plenty of volume to reach the outside of the venue, on a hot night like this many of the audience would be eating outside on the terrace...

Although there plenty of lights it seemed a colleague of Simon's (the patron) had borrowed much of the lighting gear to do the lights for another concert the week before, and hadn't been able to return them due to Illness, consequently there was only one red gel and the rest could be any colour I liked, as long it was white! Still adding in my two little coloured strobes the stage still looked okay.

I was due to start at 22:00 and was setup by 20:00, so a couple of hours to kill. Much of that was spent eating the meal provided by the house, as is the custom in France, I've yet to play a gig where I wasn't fed! Id warned them in advance that I was vegetarian and had an excellent plate of goats cheese on french bread toast with melon and salad, and interesting combination. Very nice!. Along with a glass of what I think was a Belgian beer.

Whilst I was eating a steady stream of customers arrived and the terrace was quite full by ten but as expected not many inside, Simon the landlord suggest I boost the volume for the first set, to attract them in, so I took his advice, and started into my first set at ten o'clock playing to and enthusiastic 6 people in the bar. Soon I had another 6 sitting directly outside the door by the stage and more drifted into the bar proper. So I had a good audience directly in front of me. Which always help as knowing people are listen outside is not the same as seeing the whites of their eyes! I plated for an hour and a quarter before taking a break. With a great response, and quite a decent audience by the end, people started to drift outside again straight away though so it seem ed like I might have to start from scratch in the second set!


Photo: by 'Patrick Photo'
During the break I chatted with a older guy with a camera "Patrick Photo" he had been photographing me during the gig and we managed to converse fairly well, with a mixture of my band french and his limited English. I got 40 photos from him at the end of the nigh.!

I start the send set around 11:30 on electric guitar and its started very well. My walk out into the crowd, who came back in straight away, went down very well and all was going well when the guitar start to cut out intermittently! I initially suspected the speaker leads and started swapping cables in between songs, but to no avail, the problem gradually got worse, maybe it was the radio pickup? Changed to a guitar lead. No, not that! After a while it seemed it must be the lead from preamp, swapped that out, no change, very frustrating and whilst the audience had abandoned me I was finding hard to keep the continuity going! I abandoned the preamp and went straight to using my old busking amp which I had brought as a fallback / monitor if needed, for 20 watt it can make quite a noise, and worked a treat if a little clean sounding for the rest of the night. I finished with some more acoustic numbers playing up till 1.00 am.

A great night! the end of a very long day that started at about 8 o'clock the night before!

What about those working titles? Well as I looked up when walking to the caravan I was staying in, I got the best view of the milky way I've ever had! Hence the quote from Arthur C Clarke's science fiction classic. Then when I got there I realised I'd forget ten the caravan was without convenience, so back to the bar to use the indoors one, but the light were out, so if you've been paying attention to Sandy's Walker Broad lyrics and song titles you should be able to work that one out too!

Chill out for a while now before heading to the next gig at Verteuil-sur-Charente.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=423 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=423 Fri, 16 Aug 2013 10:10:00 GMT The next phase of the journey was a lot more fun, if not without (slight) misadventure.

Although I didn't' get much sleep on the ferry, I perked up quite well and the journey down to the Charente started quite well, with one hitch unlike last time (which was of course around mid summers day) it was dark when I started out. So the first stage of the journey required more concentration, as it seem every driver approaching me had their lights on full beam, thanks fully the roads were quite quiet so that was too much of a pain. Last year I was struck by images of Churches and Windmills, and one enormous statue, this year I passed them unnoticed in the dark.

By 6:30 it was brightening up into a clear day, in fact as the morning progressed and i ventured further south, its turned into a gloriously hot day! I did see one big church that had caught my attention last time, one that just grows out of the plains like its been stuck there as a spare, with no obviously associated village, it's big enough to be some cities cathedral! As before I couldn't' stop until it was almost out of site and the photo I got makes it look like a village church!

I stopped in quite a few different places, and took short walks to ease my driving tiredness. I was treated various wonders, a cloud of butterflies in a patch of woodlands set back from the road, a basking in the sun lizard startled by my return to the car. I tried to take a break in Tours I thought I would take a walk by the river, its a bigger, but I was defeated by only having 40 cents in coins for the parking meter.

A bit later I was getting much more tired and thought I would take I longer break and start writing up the blog, so I pulled into a car park, and plugged the charger in to the cigarette lighter socket. Disaster! It blew the fuse. This meant my Sat Nav would now be running entirely on battery for the rest of the journey, if it ran out I would be stranded! Luckily signs for Angouleme appeared soon after and I could save the battery power by following them till the last 20k or so. This was essential as Pub Gabariers is well out into the country

So arrived!. A fantastic place directly on the river. (Charente). Simon Constant the owner wasn't there ate the time, so after saying hello at the bar the first thing I did was find my spare fuses and fix that cigarette lighter socket!.

Then I got a beer, started working on the blog, Simon arrived and showed the mobile home where I'd be sleeping, basic but okay. As soon as I've posted this I'll catch up on my sleep, then set up up 6ish, show starts at 10! I wonder if my radio pickup will make it all the way to the riverside?

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=422 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=422 Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:26:00 GMT Well first part of the journey done, the easy bit, driving to Newhaven. The ferry from Portsmouth is just too pricey for an itinerant bluesman!

The queue for customs was short and only a hours wait for the ferry, half an hour taking loading into account. All the decks are open which is promising, hopefully a smooth crossing! Wish I'd worn jeans rather than shorts as it's a bit nippy outside! The engines have started the boat is rattling like a ford mondeo whose wheels need re-balancing, (must get to that before the MOT!). Looks like we are off. Chance to explore then try and get some sleep. Due in at 4am which is a tad early for me! Gives plenty of time to drive down to Saint-Simeux for the first gig at Pub Gabariers.

The on-board wireless doesn't want to play at the moment, maybe I'll have to wait till I get to France to post this, technology, huh! Well I supose this is not the most pressing of bloging moments any way.

Well gives me more time to play at being a geek, my satnav recons we are heading south at 4miles per hour weeee! A speed trip :-). When we got going for real it pushed up to a steady 34km/h (I'd changed ober to 'France mode' by then!

An hours gap and sleep isn't coming too easy. Maybe I shouldn't have had that second coffee from the bar. Spent some of the time sketching in GIMP, working on loose interpretation of a scene from Monschau (spelling?) which we visited on the day off on the recent Walker Broad tour of Germany.

More time passes. Ferry journeys on your own are a bit tedious! Well late night ones anyway. You can't even watch the sea :-). Really looking forward to getting to France and getting on the road!

Another hour with some mini sleeps, it's 2:35 am UK time so just updated the mobile to French time, 3:35. The lights of France are visible off the starboard side and the SatNav is desperatly trying to map out routes to Dieppe from the nearest road to the ferry, kind of funny in a geeky way. They just made an announcement but the ferry was vibrating so much due to the final manouvers, I couldn't hear what they said!

About a kilometre to go!

At Dunkirk and if I recall correctly you just drive through at the french end, but Dieppe they check all passports, what makes the difference I wonder? So a delay in the queue then into Dieppe proper. First mission find a cash machine to get a few euros. Easy enough, remined by the find "point of interest" feature on my untrusty sat nav, I found the one I used last year (but not the one the Sat Nav suggested!). It was great wandering round the town in the very early hours of the morning with almost nobody arround, taking photos of the architecture in the dark. It seems a great town, although Ive only seen it at 4.00 am and theres a distinctly odd smell near the ferry area!

BTW In posting this from the Pub Gabariers as the Ferry internet never worked!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=421 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=421 Thu, 15 Aug 2013 04:00:00 GMT Welcome to the August newsletter.



* France 2013 *


Off to France this evening for the 2013 solo blues tour. Spent the day
making sure I haven't forgotten anything, particularly small but important
things like "bottlenecks" and god forbid my guitar!

Looking forward to some fun this year as I revisit two venues from the last
tour and start the tour with a brand new venue, Pub Gabariers - Saint
Simeux, thanks to Ric for putting me in touch with that one!

I'm taking the laptop so I'll be blogging about my progress again, and I'll
have the camera so look out for the blog while I'm away and some videos
when I get back.

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php



* Beer Festival Two Brewers Hadlow near Tonbridge *


The only down side of going to France this week is that I missed an
opportunity to play at the Gosport Real Ale and Music festival, being held
at Bay House School, Gomer Road, Gosport. Frustrating to turn down a
definite booking but being 8 hours drive away not much I could do, I'm
particularly pleased therefore to pick up a late booking for the Beer
Festival at the Two Brewers in Hadlow on the 24th August.


If you find yourself near the Charente in France or in Kent the following
week do come along to a gig, details all on the giglist at:

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=420 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=420 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:16:00 GMT **** Walker Broad Germany Tour ****

Walker Broad are back from Germany after a great week touring.

We had three great gigs and an impromptu appearance at a local jazz jam in
Aachen.

Check out Sandy's blog about it here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...oad/blog.php?blogid=131#blog

Photos here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...ir=./__cat__0005/__cat__0002

Were allready planning for next year.

Next Walker Broad gig is at the Auckland Arms on Friday August 2nd


**** Gigs ****


Tonight (Saturday 27th July)

The Boars Head Inn - Crowborough Kent.

Andy Broad - Solo Blues


Sunday 28th July

Hobbits Restaurant and Bar - Hythe

Andy Broad solo Blues


Friday August 2nd

Walker Broad @ the Auckland Arms Southsea


Sunday 4th August - 12:00pm

Andy Broad's Sunday Blues Jam



See you all soon!



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=418 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=418 Sat, 27 Jul 2013 13:31:00 GMT A little run of three gigs to finish up the month of June:


Thursday 27th June - Burnt Ice - The Wine Vaults, Albert Road Southsea.

The previous two gigs here were absolutly excellent, outrageously so...


http://youtu.be/TGlk-g8q4as


Saturday 29th June - King Rollo & Andy Broad - Milton Arms, Milton

After a successful gig at Blues On The Farm with the 4 piece Rollo & Co.
we're going to do a cut down version at The Milton Arms. I suspect Rollo
will darft in some guest percussionists.


Sunday 30th June 12:00 till 4:00pm - Walker Broad Band - Bay Side Cafe,
Stokes Bay, Gosport

This will be a great afternoon at the fund raising event for GAFIRS (Gosport
And Fareham Inshore Resue Service).


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=410 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=410 Mon, 24 Jun 2013 17:33:00 GMT Welcome to this month's newsletter, the end of May and beginning of June are particularly busy with a wide range of events happening from Bar Gigs to Folk Clubs and from Food Festivals to Blues Festivals with venues ranging from village halls to palaces to farms!

* European Tours *

Walker Broad are touring Germany in July and Andy Broad will be in France in August, check the website giglist for details. We're always interested in any contact info suggestions for venues info you might have, thanks to those of you who have helped out that way, added an extra gig to the French tour just last week thanks to Ric's help.

* Time Lapse Video - Self Portrait with Kalamazoo *

I'm made a time-laspe video of a self portrait of myself (if you'll excuse the tautology) playing my 1939 Kalamazoo guitar. The video has an improvised guitar soundtrack, variations on some folk / jazz themes in 3/4 6/8, recorded in one take on my Matthew Carter guitar (The Kalamazoo is just a little old for anything but slide)

Here's a link: http://youtu.be/B2BGHM5sgxI


* Gigs & Festivals *

• Saturday 25th May - Burnt Ice
  The Seahorse, Broadsands Drive,
  Gosport, Hampshire,PO12 2TJ
  
  First gig here for our old friend Warren (who used to run the
  Railway in Gosport in days of yore). Blackie will be up in London
  reprising his role as an Olympic drummer, so we'll have guest a
  guest drummer, Jerry, standing in.
  
  
• Monday 27th May - On stage approx. 3pm - Walker Broad
  Foodies Festival - Hampton Court Palace
  http://foodiesfestival.com/event/hampton-court-palace/
  
  First of a few food festival we've been invited to play in May /
  June, should be a lovely day out. Blackie will be back and sat on
  his Cajon!
  
  
• Friday 31st May - Burnt Ice
  The Bell Hotel - Wimborne
  
  Another new venue for Burnt Ice, the landlord Tony seems very
  enthusiastic about his music, so looking forward to what promises
  to be a great gig.
  
  
• Saturday 1st June - Walker Broad
  Village Folk Club - Titchfield Parish Rooms.
  (Next to the Queens Head). �7.00 admission.
  http://www.communigate.co.uk/hants/villagefolkclub/
  Doors 7:45pm - Performance 8.00pm
  
  The Village Folk has now moved to a lovely new venue in Titchfield,
  The Parish Room is right next door to The Queens Head, so buy your
  self a beer in the Pub and bring it through to the hall. The Hall
  itself is a nice sized room with good acoustics, a great place for
  a concert.
  
  
• Sunday 2nd June - Lunchtime 12:00 noon Andy Broad Sunday Blues Jam
  The Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea.
  
  Looking forward to another great Jam, last months raised the bar
  yet again for attendance and variety. All players and listeners
  welcome, even if you don't play purist blues, a little folk and
  jazz is quite welcome too. Get there for 12:00 if you'd like to
  play 12:30 to listen.
  
  
• Friday 7th && Saturday 8th - Walker Broad
  Foodies Festival - Clapham Common, London.
  
  Another great festival of food and music, we'll be on stage at
  15:30 on Friday and 17:30 on the Saturday.
  
  
• Sunday 9th June - Andy Broad Solo.
  Blues At The Red, The Red Lion Stevenage.
  
  A return visit to this great blues club in Stevenage, I've revamped
  the solo set a bit adding a couple of numbers by Mississippi John
  Hurt and even a Martin Simpson song, along with my originals and
  some old favourites.
  
  
• Thursday 20th June - King Rollo & Co. (with Andy Broad lead
  guitar).
  Blues On the Farm - Chichester.
  
  I'm really pleased to have been asked to join Rollo, Ruby & Co. at
  this great festival, I'll be providing the lead guitar as a
  counterpoint to Rollo's acoustic. Great to add Blues On The Farm to
  my list of festival appearances.
  
  
• Friday 21st June - The West Side Blues Band
  The R.M.A. Tavern, Eastney.
  
  Due to a range of other musical commitments of the various members
  of the west Side we have been as active this year, so it will be
  great to get together at one of our regular gigs. Come down and
  party!
  
  
• Saturday 22nd Burnt Ice / Walker Broad
  Private Party. (Wedding).
  
  This one is invite only, but if you'd like some quality music at
  your own party / event get in touch, we can provide anything from
  solo blues, laid back jazz, to full on blues bands or a combination
  of the lot!
  
  

Thanks for reading, see you at a gig or two soon!



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=398 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=398 Wed, 22 May 2013 14:52:00 GMT As I have a busy month, I want to get the publicity ball rolling early for
next months gig at the Bullfrog, we have another coop, Ben Poole.

www.benpooleband.co.uk

Tickets are just £8.00 in advance;

Buy them online from:
http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/

or

From Street Level Music - Albert Road, Southsea.

More about Ben.

"Amazing.....I really love his playing" (Jeff Beck). "A really great player"
- (Gary Moore).

The past few years has seen Ben Poole's profile rise far beyond expectation,
his name cropping up regularly in Europe's biggest selling guitar magazine
'Total Guitar', who named Ben as "the guitarist to watch out for"

Ben was voted `Best Newcomer' by 'Blues Matters' magazine in their 2011
readers poll. Ben was nominated for three awards at the British Blues
Awards, including Best Young Artist and Best Original Song.

Ben represented the UK at the 2012 European Blues Challenge in Berlin,
coming 3rd out of 19 world-class bands.

For the past couple of years Ben has toured extensively throughout the UK
and Europe. He's played major festivals such as Glastonbury, Colne and
Cambridge Rock, and last year Ben could be seen blowing away classic rock
fans at the Planet Rock Radio sponsored Rhodes Rock in Greece and the
Legends of Rock weekend in the UK.

Ben has already been booked for the Playing With Fire Festivals in the USA &
Canada in 2013.

And now he's at The Bullfrog! DEFINITELY one not to miss - he may not pass
this way again....

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=386 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=386 Fri, 03 May 2013 12:12:00 GMT There were three things I wanted to tell you about in this update but I can
only remember two of them!


** Walker Broad's Vocalist, Sandy Walker interviewed in The News **

Sandy was interviewed in the News this week for the My Weekend feature, she
talks about music and more

Read the interview here and her followup blog here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...oad/blog.php?blogid=124#blog



** Dave Allen TV Interview with Andy Broad on YouTube**

The Portsmouth Live TV website is not available any more so the interview
with Andy Broad on Dave Allen's show Pompey Pop has now been made available
on youtube.

You can watch it here:

http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/acoustic.html


** Gigs **

Check out the gig list to find our latest dates

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml


See you soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=382 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=382 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:33:00 GMT The Bullfrog Blues Club is extremely please to be able to present Jo Harman
& Company with support from young blues player Zach Blues.

This will be a fantastic evening, Jo is a rising star in the blues / soul
world and has been getting great reviews in national media for her latest
CD.

http://joharman.com/

Buy Your tickets online:

http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/

£8.00 advance.

or on door for slightly more.


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=372 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=372 Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:41:00 GMT ***K.T. Award - Best Blues Song***

The voting for the first round of the the Kevin Thorpe Award for Original
Blues Song ends this Sunday (March 31st). Walker Broad are extremely
pleased to have been nominated for the song "Play Me Some Blues" from the
Album "A Walk Abroad".

Voting have been a little tricky to find however so the the guys at FizGig
have put together a page with links to all the songs and voting liks for
each of the 15 blues radio stations involved.

http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/fizgig-tom/KT-Award-2013.htm

The direct link to vote for Walker Broads song is

http://www.britishbluesawards.co.uk/ukbluestoday

You can vote for a song from each station so once you've voted for Walker
Broad you can also vote another local band the White Knuckles who have been
nominated for Steve Roux's song Can't Change The Time
http://www.britishbluesawards.co.uk/10radio

After that why not browse through and listen to the best of contemporary
Britsih Blues!

***Easter Sunday Folk (March 31st)***

Walker Broad will be appearing twice on Easter Sunday at two diverse
extravaganzas of fantastic folk music.

Between 1pm and 2pm in the afternoon they will be appearing at the Hometown
Hoedown at the Edge of the Wedge in Albert Road. A massive all day event
featuring a range of acoustic roots and folk.

Then they will hightailing to Gosport to appear in the eveing session of the
Feast of Easter Folk at the Masonic Hall, Clarence Road, Gosport. Tickets
for this two day event showcasing the best of the southscoasts folk music
scene (with a peppering of the international with the likes of Tom Lewis
from Canada) are going fast so reserve yous via

http://www.southseafolkfestival.co.uk or by calling the organsisers on 02392
713627 - 01329 512106

Thanks for your support!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=369 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=369 Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:57:00 GMT Just a reminder that Paul Stiles will be playing his nominees for The KT
Award (includeing Walker Broad's 'Play Me Some Blues' for Original Blues
Song this Sunday on Radio Seagull show starts at 6.00pm UK Time. It would
br great if you could tune in and vote! If you can't tune in on the night
voting is open allready see links below.


More details ...

Paul Stiles, one of the Radio DJ's that first played Walker Broad's CD "A
Walk Abroad" in the run up to the launch in November, has nominated the
song "Play Me Some Blues" for the Kevin Thorpe Memorial Award for Original
Blues Song, part of the 2013 Britsh Blues Awards. 


Each of the participating radio stations nominates 4 songs which they will
play on their show (I think there will be a listen link on their sites too,
but Paul's is not set up just yet) then the public can vote for the best
onefor each station. The somg from each station with the most votes go
through to the next round.  

Paul Stiles' is voting page is here: 

http://www.britishbluesawards.co.uk/ukbluestoday.htm  

There more info on the BBA here 
http://www.britishbluesawards.com

and the KT Award here 
http://britishbluesawards.com/kt-award/4574324576

Paul's radio station Radio Seagull is here:
http://www.radioseagull.com/

and more info on his show, U K Blues Today, in particular is here:
http://www.ukbluestoday.co.uk/ scroll down the page to se info om the award.

Paul will being playing his 4 nominated songs on his show on Sunday 24th of
March.


Spread the word!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=368 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=368 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:01:00 GMT Sandy Walker and Andy Broad from Walker Broad will be appearing live on
Trent Sound Radio in Notingham tonight, talking with Blues Show presenter
Colin Etches about their music and performing a few songs live in the
studio.

If you're not in the Notingham area you can tune in via the website here:

http://www.trentsound.com/


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=367 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=367 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:46:00 GMT Some great news for Walker Broad

Paul Stiles, one of the Radio DJ's that first played Walker Broad's CD "A
Walk Abroad" in the run up to the launch in November, has nominated the
song "Play Me Some Blues" for the Kevin Thorpe Memorial Award for Original
Blues Song, part of the 2013 Britsh Blues Awards. 


Each of the participating radio stations nominates 4 songs which they will
play on their show (I think there will be a listen link on their sites too,
but Paul's is not set up just yet) then the public can vote for the best
onefor each station. The somg from each station with the most votes go
through to the next round.  

Paul Stiles' is voting page is here: 

http://www.britishbluesawards.co.uk/ukbluestoday.htm  

There more info on the BBA here 
http://www.britishbluesawards.com

and the KT Award here 
http://britishbluesawards.com/kt-award/4574324576

Paul's radio station Radio Seagull is here:
http://www.radioseagull.com/

and more info on his show, U K Blues Today, in particular is here:
http://www.ukbluestoday.co.uk/ scroll down the page to se info om the award.

Paul will being playing his 4 nominated songs on his show on Sunday 24th of
March.


Spread the word!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=365 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=365 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:18:00 GMT March is looking to be a great month for Walker Broad with three exciting
events on
the calendar.



**March 1st - Jazz Folk & Blues Evening featuring Walker Broad Band -

Brookfield


Hotel Emsworth**.


An exceptional evening of music and dining.
Set Three Course Dinner served at 8.00pm with a mellow accompaniment from
Walker Broad followed by a lively set to finish the evening in style

Just £20.00 per person to include Dinner and Entertainment

Discounts available on accommodation for those that want to make a night of
it.

Advance booking essential due to limited capacity
Please contact the Hotel directly to book your tickets and/or accommodation
Call 01243 373 363 Or Email: bookings@brookfieldhotel.co.uk

The Brookfield Hotel
Havant Road, Emsworth, Hampshire, PO10 7LF
http://www.brookfieldhotel.co.uk




**March 8th - Live Interview and Session on Trent Sound Radio in Nottingham

with


Colin Etches**


Really looking forward to meeting Colin and playing and talking about or
music live
on the show.

http://www.trentsound.com/blues.html

**March 31st - A Feast Of Easter Folk - Gosport Masonic Hall**

We really pleased to be taking part in this great two day folk festival this
Easter. The
Walker Broad Band will be performing in the Sunday Evening session.

Acts appearing include:

REET PETITE & GONE - TOM LEWIS - WALKER BROAD
KEITH KENDRICK & SYLVIS NEEDHAM - SHEP WOOLLEY - PETE QUIN
SARAH MORGAN & JEFF GILLETT- ADE CULL
VICTORY MORRIS - 'AMSHIRE- JIM LEE- DICEY RILEY
PORTSMOUTH SHANTY MEN - BILL MCINNON - M27 - GEORGE WILSON
POMPEY PLUCKERS- JO & GRAHAM- SANDI O'DONNEL
BRIAN HOOPER & JEFF HENRY- BERNARD POTTER
DAN OGUS - THE DOLLYMOPS - SWEET BELIEVERS
THE JELLY ROLLERS

There are 4 sessions Sunday afternoon and evening and Monday afternoon and
evening, each session costs £7.00 or £20.00 for all four.

Tickets can be bought via the southsea folk and roots festival website

www.southseafolkfestival.co.uk


Hope you can tune into the radio show or get down to one of the concerts.
(Or both :-))

www.walkerbroad.co.uk

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=363 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=363 Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:19:00 GMT

*Andy Broad's Portsmouth Blues Mailing List*



My apologies for cold fingers and lousey typing! the link for the Brookfield
Hotel came out garbled! Here's the correct entry in the gigs section.


Friday March 1st
The Brookfield Hotel
Emsworth
http://www.brookfieldhotel.co.uk/
Walker Broad Band

This is an extra special evening presenting Walker Broad's brand of original
Folk Blues and Jazz. Tickets are just £20 and include a three course set
meal.

Contact the hotel directly for bookings / reservations.





]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=351 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=351 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:48:00 GMT Welcome to this months newletter.

** Videos **

Quite a slecetion of new videos up this month. Acouple from the Burnt Ice
gig at the Vaults, an extra bit of footage from the Walker Broad CD Launch
and some video of the Andy Broad solo gig in Essex at the weekend.


Burnt Ice T-Bone Shuffle

http://youtu.be/TGlk-g8q4as

Burnt Ice - Sweet Little Angel

http://youtu.be/q6JRbDBq294

Walker Broad - Bordering On Bedlam

http://youtu.be/Sj-iT9Du9-s

This one was speciall uploaded for inclusion in the "Black Dog Tribe"'s Blue
Mood Month. More about that on Sandy's blog

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...oad/blog.php?blogid=117#blog

Andy Broad - From The Roots On Down

http://youtu.be/eY_EpaZxSd0

Taken at the Mayflower in Leigh on sea. A nice gig if a little quiet to
start...

** Gigs **


Saturday 16th February
Burnt Ice
The R.M.A Tavern
Cromwell Road Esatney

Contempory Blues with a funky edge.


Friday March 1st
The Brookfield Hotel
www.broakfieldhotel.co.uk
Walker Broad Band

This is an extra special evening presenting Walker Broad's brand of original
Folk Blues and Jazz. Tickets are just £20 and include a three course set
meal.

Contact the hotel directly for bookings / reservations.


Sunday 3rd March 12:00 noon till 2:30
Andy Broad's Sunday Blues Jam
The Auckland Arms
Netley Road Southsea

Get down early if you want to play, it gets busier each month...




]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=350 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=350 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:37:00 GMT Welcome to 2013! It's seem the world didn't end and there's an
exiting year to come ahead! Lot's to happen, including a tour of
Germany with the Walker Broad Band, another tour of France, lot's
of gigs in good ol Blighty, radio appearances, and more good stuff.

**Radio Play**

We've been doing quite well on the radio play front with the new
Walker Broad CD, over Christmas sandy was interviewed by Shep
Woolley on ExpressFM 93.7 and he played our track "Pointless",
Ashywn Smith featured the song "Play Me Some Blues" on his first
show of the year (http://www.digitalblues.co.uk/).

There's more to come, Sandy was interviewed about her work with
the Human Library by Terry Powell for ExpressFM and they also
talked about Walker Broad, the interview will aired tomorrow
(weds) between 700pm and 8.00pm and he will play "Bordering On
Bedlam". http://www.expressfm.com/

And yet more! Walker Broad are really excited to invited to appear
on Martin Clarkes Blues show on Radio Wey this Friday. The show
airs between 9pm and 11pm, we'll be playing live (really live not
recorded live :-)) and talking about our music.

http://www.thebluessession.co.uk/

**Gigs**

Sunday 13th January
Hobbitts Bar & Resturant, Hythe.
Andy Broad - Solo, original acoustic and electric blues.

This gig was postposned from last year, sorry if anyone missed me
that time hope you can make it to this one, always a great
atmosphere there, nice menu too!

Thursday 24th January
The Wine Vaults - Albert Road, Southsea
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

Burnt bring their raw and funky blues back to the Wine Vaults for
a second visit. We had agreat gig there last time. Good atmosphere
great beer.

I'm waiting on confirmation for another gig in the Farnborough
area in January so keep your eye on the gig list at

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/gisglist.shtml

**Sunday Lunchtime Blues Jam At The Auckland**

You never know what the first even of the year will be like, but
this one was a cracker. we were full to cpacity with many
variations of blues and some quite blues played. I think everyone
got to play, but one or two player singers didn't get to sing as
well as play.

Too many people to thanks individualy but a great start to the
year.

Next one is Sunday 3rd February, get there early if you want to
play. We try to fit everyone in but if it's as busy the first one,
you'll need to be in 1:30 to be in with a chance (but it wopuld be
better to get there at 12:00!)

Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea.







]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=339 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=339 Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:03:00 GMT **Walker Broad Videos**

Walker Broad CD Launch went every well, as you can see from the videos
below...

Jazz 'n' Blues Dinner http://youtu.be/PUpko9XDYe0
Space Girl - In These Shoes http://youtu.be/KrxkUdjozIg
On Cliff Hill - http://youtu.be/L6eJnhaFZk4

The videos are collected together on our playlist at

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/videos.php

And ofcourse you can buy the CD from

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/cdsales.php


**Burnt Ice - The Wine Vaults - 29th November**

Burnt Ice are pleased to have been asked to play at this great venue. The
Wine Vaults (actually I thinks it's just 'The Vaults' nowbut old habits die
hard) have been putting on live music on Thursdays for quite a while now,
and the evening are very successful, they serve good beer too.

Come down and have a riot!

Burnt Ice
The Wine Vaults, Albert Road Southsea
Thursday 29th November



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=326 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=326 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:23:00 GMT Paul Stiles let me know that I'd made a small mistake in the section of the
last mail about his radio show. I got the frequency wrong! It should have
been 1602AM

Additionally the show is repeated at 7pm the following Monday on
www.networkradio.eu/4


Sunday November 18th - 6am and 6pm - Paul Stiles is planing to play
a track from the album on his show UK Blues Today on Radio Seagul 1602AM
again if you are out of range you can listen online
http://www.radioseagull.com/ http://www.ukbluestoday.co.uk/

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=322 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=322 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:50:00 GMT **Walker Broad - A Walk Abroad - CD Launch**

Hopefully you will have heard on the various grapevines that
Walker Broad are Launching their new CD this month.

The launch will take place at:

Wednesday 21st November
The Cellars at Eastney,
56 Cromwell Road
Eastney,
Southsea,
P04 9PN

And will feature a performance by the full Walker Broad Band
(Sandy Walker, Andy Broad, Simon Tufnail and Alan "Blackie"
Blackmore) who will be playing a selection of material from
the Album, other original material and a few of their
favourite, tradtionals and standards. They will be supported
by the wonderful Ade Cull, a fine acoustic guitar player.

Doors will open at 8:00pm Tickets are just £3.00 in advance.
Music starts at 8:30pm.

Launch Poster:
http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/images/AL_poster.pdf

**Presales And Sample Tracks**

For those of you that can't wait for the Launch to get your
hands on the new CD, Walker Broad have now set up the CD sales page
on their website and are taking preorders now. We'll deliver as
soon as the CDs get to us (expect eta is next Monday or Tuesday)

Two sample tracks have been uploaded into the website player.
"Pissing In The Dark" and "No Words" read more about it on Sandy's
blog:

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...kerbroad/blog.php?blogid=108

or go direct to the cdsales page here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/cdsales.php

**Radio Airplay**

Last but certainly not least Walker Broad are very pleased to have
some choice airplay coming on a number of radio stations, in the
run up to the Launch.

Sunday November 11th - 6pm: Chris 'Fossy' Fossbrook will be
featuring Walker Broad on his show on http://www.flash1512.co.uk/ a
South Hampshire based internet station run by the people behind
Angel FM in Havant. Chris will be featuring 4 track from the Album.

Sunday November 18th - 4pm: Dan Ogus will be featuring Walker Broad
on his show "Scattering The Roots" on ExpressFM 93.7FM If you are
out of range of the station you can listen via the site on
http://www.expressfm.com

Sunday November 18th - 6am and 6pm - Paul Stiles is planing to play
a track from the album on his show UK Blues Today on Radio Seagul 1062AM
again if you are out of range you can listen online
http://www.radioseagull.com/ http://www.ukbluestoday.co.uk/



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=321 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=321 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:40:00 GMT Welcome to the newsletter for October.

October is shaping up to be a busy month, with numerous
gigs, and lot of activity in the studio, as the Walker
Broad CD recording comes to fruition.


* Walker Broad - A Walk Abroad CD Release - The Cellars
at Eastney *

As you will have read in previous newsletters Walker
Broad have been hard at work in the studio this last few
months, working to create the all original debut CD "A
Walk Abroad". We are really pleased with the progress and
it's very nearly done, with just two more mixing sessions
and a mastering session to go. A lot of work has been out
into the CD cover design, which is also just about
complete, with only the running order to decide on and
type up. With all these threads coming together, Walker
Broad are pleased to announce our CD Launch, which will
take place at The Cellars at Eastney, Cromwell Road, on
Wednesday November 21st.

The evening will begin with a short set from our good
friend, the very talented guitarist / songwriter Ade
Cull, followed by a full set from The Walker Broad band,
playing a selection of songs from the new CD and a few of
our live favourites and perhaps even a couple of new ones
we have in the works...

www.walkerbroad.co.uk



* Gigs *


Friday 19th October
The Portsmouth Hoy, Poole Quay, Poole.
Walker Broad Duo

Our 4th trip to this wonderful pub on the Quay.

Saturday 20th October
Private Party
Andy Broad - Original acoustic and electric blues.

This ones invite only, but remember any of our acts can
be booked for your own party or other function, send us
an email!

Tuesday 23rd October
The Golden Lion - Southwick, Hampshire
The Walker Broad Band

Come and join us at Greg and Janes fabulous pub in
Southwick.
Tuesday 30th October
The Platform Tavern
Walker Broad. - Special Guest Spot at the monthly
Platform Tavern Jam.

Sunday 4th November
The Auckland Arms, Southsea
Andy Broad's Sunday Lunchtime Blues Jam.

Come on down to our regular Jam at the Auckland, always
great fun, all players and listeners welcome!

November 17th
The Station Arms, Southminister, Essex
Andy Broad - original acoustic blues.

November 21st
The Cellars At Eastney
The Walker Broad CD Launch.
Tickets £3.00
Doors 8.00pm
The Walker Broad Band plus special guest Ade Cull.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=320 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=320 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:54:00 GMT Hello and welcome to this months blues newletter...



* Jamming At The Auckland *


The new Sunday Lunchtime Jam at the Auckland Arms has got off to a great
start, with two Sunday sessions under our belt and the "Festival Jam". As a
slight variation on the previous Jam at The Florence we have a set of
congas set up as standard, giving more options for rhythmic additions to
the sounds, and ofcourse the acoustic piano is miced up through the PA.

We've add a few new players to the regulars, but more are always welcome, as
of course are listeners! If you want to play get there early we set up at
12:00 players should arrive arround 12;15 if possible, although wewill
still try and fit you in if you arrive later. We start jaming at 12:30 and
play through to about 3:00 ish. (2:30 official end plus overun :-))

Next one is Sunday October 7th



* Walker Broad Web Site Updates *


We've redesigned the blog page on the Walker Broad site as it was getting
rather long! Blogs are now presented on monthly batches with archives
indexed by year. We've given the page a new look too.

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/blog.php

Also a new page "reviews" has been added to collect togther the nice things
people are saying about us.

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/reviews.php

The main page is ofcourse www.walkerbroad.co.uk



* Photos and Video Of Andy Broad @ The Southsea Folk Roots & Blues Day *


A set of photos taken by John Palmer and used by kind permision.

http://webplus.broad.ology.o...allery.php?dir=./__cat__0009

And a more extensive set including the other acts here:

http://webplus.barkingspider...ir=./__cat__0007/__cat__0007

Video of Andy Broad playing Stones In My Passway

http://youtu.be/VnyjYKSbyMY




* Gigs *


Saturday 8th September
The Rose & Crown, Charlbury
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic and Electric Blues
www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/acoustic.html

Wednesday 12th September
The Piranha bar, Hayling Island
Walker Broad Band.
www.walkerbroad.co.uk


Saturday 22nd September
The R.M.A. Tavern
The West Side Blues Band


Tuesday 25th September
The Golden Lion, Southwick
Walker Broad Band

Sunday October 7th
The Auckland Jam


Check the giglist at

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml

for the latest info

Hope to see you at a gig soon

Andy


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=308 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=308 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:51:00 GMT


* French Tour 2012 *


Back in England now and have just uploaded a set of videos taken during the
tour, at least one for each venue, to youtube.

Here is a playlist assembled in the order the gigs were played...


Watch on Youtube

Also I kept a blog running, describing the tour as it happened, whilst I was
away, if you didn't catch whilst I was away you can read it here:

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=269

You'll need to scroll down slightly to start then work your way up the page
to read it in order....




* Gigs *


A nice selection of gigs coming up now I'm back...

o Tuesday 26th June
The Golden Lion, Southwick.
Walker Broad Band

o Wednesday 27th June
The Piranha Bar, Hayling Island
Walker Broad Band

o Sunday 15th July
Darker Than Blues @ Charlie Wrights Bar, Hoxton, London
www.darkerthanblues.co.uk
Burnt Ice

A first trip up to this club for Burnt Ice, looking forward to it.
I believe doors openarround 6pm and the band is on at 9:00pm

o Sunday 22nd July
Blue At the Red, The Red Lion, Stevenage.
Andy Broad - Solo Acoustic and Electric Blues

o Tuesday 24th July
The Golden Lion, Southwick
Walker Broad Band


Hope you enjoy the French videos and see you at a gig soon...
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=288 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=288 Mon, 25 Jun 2012 19:53:00 GMT Having arrived at The Mad Hatters Kitchen the night before the last gig of the tour, I had the day to myself, so I spent the time in various ways. I went for a walk round the small village of Le Breuilliac, which seem a mainly farming village, with many typical farm building old and modern as you might expect on working farms. I took a few photographs, found the pool where the frogs lived (the ones that croaked at 2.00 in the morning!) but failed to see anything more than ripples on the pool. Got another section of video edited, and did some sketching (on paper for a change as when the sun wasn't too bright to see the laptop screen it was trying to rain, just a few spots, nothing on the scale of the thunderstorm that crashed and banged through the night before, but enough to make it unwise to use the laptop in the open.) I also got another section of video edited, I had at least on song from each gig ready on my hard disk to upload once I got back to England.

The plan for the gig in the evening was to hold it "feast style" with one long table on the garden lawn, however the weather was playing games with us, as it brightened up during the day, the wind also picked up, making it unhelpfully gusty, despite being sunny, so that it wouldn't't have been pleasant to eat outside, so the decision was made around 6 o'clock to move the feast into the restaurant.

There was just enough room for the numbers booked so all worked very well, the audience for this gig was almost all, if not entirely English, so I dispensed with any attempt to talk french, started my first set on acoustic guitar around 8.00. The room had a very nice sound and the performance was well received, played for just over an hour then took a break, and was fed a generous helping of the vegetarian elements of the feast.

Back for the electric set, which also went well, although a couple of things didn't work quite as planned, the walking around with the guitar, didn't work simply because there was no where to walk to in the full restaurant, that would have worked particularly well outside, the weather hasn't been kind on this tour at all, but never mind... a good response by the end of the gig.

Next day I was heading back to Dieppe to catch the ferry home, so I stripped down all the gear and packed the car so as to be ready for an early start.

Said my goodbyes in the morning, thanks to Charlotte and Glynn for the opportunity to play for them and for enabling me to stay the extra night, a godsend with the driving distances involved.

I headed off to Dieppe just before 9.00am as planned and intended to take the scenic route again, but found I was not making good time, too many lorries getting in my way! So parked up reprogrammed the SatNav to go the fastest route with tolls and cut the journey time down by two hours, at the expense of a more boring drive and about 35 euros in tolls.

Arrived in good time for the ferry. The ferry crossing was a bit rough, to say the least, and whilst I wasn't sick I didn't have a comfortable time. I slept for the first hour, then I planned to do some more video editing on the laptop but found I couldn't concentrate on the screen with all the pitching and yawing of the ferry. So the main problem was boredom, combined with the motion of the ferry, the arrival time of 9pm came along after a long time it seemed, minutes seemed like hours and the hours seemed like days to quote Muddy Waters. As the time finally arrived there was an announcement apologising for a delay of 25 minutes! I did't think I could cope with another 25 subjective hours! My favourite way to cope with sea sickness is to go on deck in the fresh air and watch the sea, but as the sea was rough they had closed off all the outside decks, at this last moment I realised that there was a small section open for the smokers to go out! I rushed out out, and gained immediate relief! Also had the added advantage that I could watch us come into port, and watch the interesting process of docking the ship.

I had a 60/70 mile drive to get back to Portsmouth, which shouldn't have been a problem, but having avoided sickness on the ferry suddenly it came over me on the way home. I had to stop a few times and the journey home became quite difficult, not a pleasant ending to the tour at all, but I got home okay and waking up next day all was okay again and I was able enjoy the memories of what has been a great tour, now looking forward to the next one! Well worth the 1565 mile round trip!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=287 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=287 Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:29:00 GMT In the gap between the gig at Graissessac and The Mad Hatters, in Le Breuilliac I stayed in the south with Pete and Lynn (thanks again to them for their hospitality) and went into "tourist mode". On the Sunday night we went to a small music festival held at the bottom of a gorge just up the road from Poujol-sur-Orb. The festival was a part of the France (Europe?) wide Fête de Musique which nominally takes place on the 21st of June, with some events the weekend before and the weekend after.

This event had been moved from the weekend after to the weekend before with out any new advertising, so the numbers were down a bit on previous years, still quite a few people there though, when we arrived there was a modern jazz band on the main stage, did't catch their name but they were playing a very creditable "So What". After this they swapped the action to the second smaller stage, where two acts played a mix of "French Chanson" and a couple of bluesier numbers. Then it was the turn of Andy Boal (who played bass the night before at Graissessac) to play a half hour set of acoustic blues on the main stage. A good mix of standards, slide and finger style. In between all this a bag pipe player was wandering around playing music with a decidedly Scottish feel to it!

All this took place below a a massive cliff face, a really dramatic setting for a music festival. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so go no photos :-(

Monday was lazy, but on Tuesday we had planned to go for a longer walk, up in the mountains, at a place called Douche. And were accompanied by Charlotte a Friend of Pete and Linda's who lived near the walk.

It was a long circular route which "peaked" at a high viewpoint from which you could see the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees, or at least you would have been able to if the weather had been less hazy and not threatening to rain! The first 20 minutes of this walk were very challenging, ascending up the mountain very rapidly, not rock climbing but a pretty steep walk, the heart and lungs were definitely given a workout.

Charlotte had come armed with a plastic bag, and as we worked our way around the walk she managed to fill it with Cépes, large French mushrooms, that are particular delicacy, try as the rest of us might we could only find toadstools! A slice was had for dinner and proved very nice!

Tuesday night it rained like crazy, but I was having an early night anyway, one to recover from the walk and two because the next day I was off to meet another Charlotte, this one the owner of The Mad Hatters Kitchen, at Le Breuilliac, Chaunay, the scene of the last gig of this years tour.

It was a 7 hour drive going the scenic route again, this time the SatNav was well behaved, no trips down impassable tracks or any such, maybe just a slightly tight tune in one of the villages en route. A good journey in fine, maybe slightly too hot weather, I seemed to get stuck behind a few too many lorries, (hard to overtake on the wrong side of the road) but other than that quite pleasant.

Arrived a little ahead of schedule, to be greeted by three friendly dogs and a flock of chickens, then by Charlotte's son, Jake, Charlotte herself returned soon after, from a shopping trip for the restaurant.

Typing this from the caravan where I'll be staying the night, watching a large black cockerel strut his stuff, and looking forward to tomorrows Solstice feats at which I'm playing....

In the evening I was asked to join them for the family meal, which was very nice, it turned out that Jake was learning guitar and so after a little chatting I gave him an impromptu and informal guitar lesson, just a few pointers really.

Then off to sleep to the sound of the frogs croaking in the pond next door. I had thought they were ducks earlier in the day, from the noise they were making. Bit of a thunderstorm during the night, quite dramatic, but sunny this morning, fingers crossed for the feast this evening which is planned to be outside...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=285 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=285 Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:12:00 GMT The last of the gigs in the south, was at the Bar des Sports in Graissessac, an old coal mining village in the mountains. So a half hour or so journey through some winding roads, nothing too extreme though.

The day before there had been some talk about a jam in the second set, and Pablo a young drummer had said he would be there by 6 if he was coming, we arrived at 6:10 and he was there already set up. A good sign. He helped us in with the gear (thanks!) then went of to meet up with a friend he had in the village.

We got the gear set up quite quickly, then sat outside, talking with a few locals (half in sign language for me) whilst we waited for the pitza JB, the bar owner, had ordered for us. The pitza seemed to take ages to arrive from only two doors down the road, but when it did it was very good.

The gig was scheduled to start at 9pm but by ten past nine it was still quiet and we were starting to worry that this might be a slow one, so we delayed the start slightly. By half past though quite a few familiar and new faces started to turn up, some had seen the advertising, some heard the music as they walked past and came in. So in the end the acoustic first set had a decent audience.

After a short break with some interest in the CDs it was time to start with the electric second set. The original plane had been to do a few solo then get the guest musicians up, but I decided just to go for it with the whole band and see what happened. We chose 'The Thrill Has Gone' as an opening number and we quickly had a groove going, a good decision then!

A great second set ensued, with the guys following my lead and paying enough attention that we even got most of the ending right... The guys who played were the aforementioned Pablo on drums, Andy Boal from "Bad Luck and Trouble" on bass (Andy formerly played with Pete's band Chasin Charleys Ghost) and Mike Katin of Troubadelic on guitar. There were a few other musos in the audience including Pascale Michault from Troubadelic and American singer songwriter James Benton

A pretty good end to this phase of the tour and I must a big thanks again to Pete Robinson for organising and help with the logistics et al. Now w few days off, before the last gig of the tour at The Mad Hatters, Le Breaulliac, Caunay.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=284 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=284 Sun, 17 Jun 2012 16:11:00 GMT The day started cloudy again, when we made the visit to the cafe over the road from Le MaryJohn, which has become a daily routine for this section of the tour, it was quite overcast, but still didn't feel like rain, so I was optimistic.

But midway through the afternoon the sun poked it's head through the occasional gap in the clouds, then by 6 oclock the skies were blue, and they stayed that way till they became stary later on ...

Le MaryJohn was were I recorded the "Live In France" CD last september so I had really been looking forward to this one, as with last year the gig was 'â le terrace'. One reason to be grateful for the departure of Les Nuages!.

Got set up by 6 o'clock with a little more time to pay attention to the sound. Was fed pitza from avery nice restaurant across the road, then onstage at 8:30 pm. This gig started and finished a little earlier than is typical for the French gigs, due to noise limitations at night. A good crowd had already arrived though and it built nicely as my set progressed. I had got a very nice sound and was able to play with more subtlety than the night before. Received a good response from a mostly listening and occasional dancing audience!

Second set started around ten and as usual featured the electric guitar. Got some video of both sets to process later...

All in all a successful return visit, and quite abit of interest in the CD, particularly from those featured on the cover :-)

Tonight is the Bar des sports out in Graissassec, and small mining village nearby. There were a few local musicians at Le MaryJohn and there is some talk of a jam, with perhaps bass and drums in the later part of the second half. Should be fun if it comes off.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=282 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=282 Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:45:00 GMT After a slow start to the weather over here, Thursday had started bright and sunny with only a few clouds. Very promising for the gig at O'Sullivan's in Beziers. But by the time we left for the gig, a relatively modest journey of 35km, the cloads were back, but thankfully not the rain!

O'Sullivan's as the name suggest was the second Irish Pub on the tour. Seems a little strange to travel to France to play in a bar that is pretty much the same as a pub in England, but it seems that most Irish bars put on a lot of music, of all genres, and this one has a lot of blues.

All set up and fed (it seems that almost every venue provides food for the band), the show started at 9:30pm. The Ireland verses Spain match was still on the telly, and although the management offered to turn the screens off once I started, it seemed prudent to leave it on as there were a few Spanish in watching, and we didn't want them to move to another venue! The match was finished soon any way.

It was quite a lively pub and the acoustic set got a little lost past the front couple of rows, but the electric punch through in the second set. Both were well received. Did the usual walk about with the radio set, and that went down as well as always. Every time I've done that so far as I got to the end of the slow blues, and launched into Mornin' Sun, the applause immediately turns into enthusiastic clapping along, very gratifying!

Several of the audience had come to last years gig at Le MaryJohn and had seen the advertising and come specially,there were also a lot of musicians in the audience. Including and american singer saxophonist, Jersey Julie from New Jersey, David Costa Coelho from Smokey Joe Combo, and more whose names I didn't get!

It's been cloudy again so far today, although not cold, and the sun is poking it's head through, which encouraging as tonight gig at Le MaryJohn is outside! It was the gig on the last tour where I recorded most of the Live in France CD and I am looking forward to it.

Big thanks to Pete (in the photo) for his assistance both with setting up this section of the tour and on the night with roadying, translating etc...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=281 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=281 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:23:00 GMT Another day of promotional busking, this time in Clermont l'Herault. Clermont l'Herault has a big market on Wednesdays, and is centrally placed amongst the towns where I will play my gigs over the next few days. An ideal place to spread the word.

A little further away but a pleasant drive through the mountains, we arrived about 10:30 or so. Unfortunately the pitch that Pete had recommended was already taken by another guitarist, a familiar feeling from the days when I busked for real, so we had to move further up the market. Still we found I nice place with quite a few cafe terraces overlooking it.

Same plan as yesterday, I busked whilst Pete gave out flyers, this time there were no unhelpful Gendarmes, so I could put out the CDs too. Played for about an hour with many people stopping listen, and taking leaflets. A few drops and a couple of CD sales. We stopped once Pete had run out of leaflets as the primary purpose was the advertising not the busking.

Just before the end of the session, someone I vaguely recognised came past and stopped to talk to Pete whilst I was still singing, lo and behold once I finished the song he up up to say he'd seen me busking in Fareham in the old days! Small world. Petite Mond!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=280 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=280 Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:58:00 GMT With a few days to spare before the next gig, we decided to do a little promotional buskng.

Tuesday is market day in Lamlaou-les-Bains so we (Pete Robinson and I) headed into town, to a spot Pete had checked out earlier, the market was quite busy so we had to set up on the edge. I played an acoustic set for a hour or so, and Pete handed out leaflets advertsing the three gigs in the area.

It was going quite nicely with a few interested people stopping to listen, drop in a few euros, taking flyers and promising to come to the gigs. Got a bit of interest in my CDs too but before I could make a sale, a passing Gendarme came over and said I could carry on playing but must'nt sell the CDs as I was outside the official Market area. No doubt if I was inside the area they'd want me to buy a Market stall, so not much chance of that!

Still a very successful hours work on the publicity side of things... a big thanks to Pete for all his help so far.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=279 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=279 Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:09:00 GMT Now safely arrived at Pete & Linda's in the south, after an ecessively interesting journey! Most of the extra interest was down to the Sata Nav and it's ability to cope with out of date maps. The French must have built a lot of roads since my Sat Nav was new, and even more importantly taken a few away!

To make matters worse it was raining like crazy for the first 7 hours of the journey, the periods when I was on the motorway were a nightmare of spray. So I was glad I had decided to take the scenic route again, as it was quite managable on the smaller roads. There were a couple of times when there was new round about the Sat Nav hadn't heard of, and then suddenly i was on a new road, then as far as the Sat Nav was concerned I was in a field! Most times the new and old met up quite quickly and all was well, but one time the sat nav took me down a road that just stopped, the old road had beenm grassed over, so a backedinto a side road, turned round, found the new road and drove down it a bit until the Sat Nav thought it knew where I was then, I started following it's directions again, it was soon winding me through village back roads, uh oh I've got a bad feeling.... suddenly I pop out of the side road I'd used to turn round! I was back where I started. So back on the new road again, and stubbornly drive and hope it goes the right way for a while, it did!

Taking the scenic route took me passed some impressive scenery, especially as I got further south, and the hills turned into mountains. Every valley had a village and a chateau, some perched on the top of a mountain, I wish I'd had the time to stop and photograph them all! I did stop in a couple of places. A couple of photo's in the Gallery soon....

At the end of the journey the big hills really do become small mountains, and some of them not so small! A lot of winding back and forth up and down the valley sides, crossing the rivers several times. Very impressive views!

Just as I neared the destination, the Sat Nav kicked in again with it's interesting interpretation of a road. I recognosed the place names from last time and the road, then SN saus turn right so I did so, into a small village I didn't recognise, and after a shoart while I'm heading down a one way track, hoping no comes the other way, then suddenly it;s not evn a road and I'm praying it doesn't run out as there was no way I could have turned round on it! At the end of this 'road' I popped out below Lamalou-les-bains having completely skipped the town!

Arrived in Peujol-sur-orb safe and sound shortly afterward, without any more excitement.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=277 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=277 Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:37:00 GMT Arrived at Le Kennedy in plenty of time,maybe even a bit early, dispite a couple of minor navigational mishaps, (accidental turned onto the left side of the road, and nearly went down a one way street, a helpful frenchman pointed it out before I met an motorists coming the otherway!).

The Patron of the bar, Diddier D'Amour spoke possibly less English than I do French, but we still communicated successfully, with a bit of hand waving and one words sentences. Later on an English barman arrived, which eased communication somewhat. Le Kennedy's is a big pub in an obviously Irish style, the stage was described as small in the 'contract', but it plenty big enough for a solo act. I got everything set up by 7:00pm and had a 3 hour wait till the gig started.

I was promised a meal, but it didn't look like the venue did food so I was n't sure what to expect. Come 8.00pm though I was taken round the corner to a fantastic restaurant. Le Bruleau Charentais. The was some consternation when I said I was vegetarian as being a grill it mainly served boeuf! The solution though was excellent, a round of Camembert baked by literally throughing it on the fire! Served with a green salad and chips, I was pretty full by the time I'd finished! The grill itself was an open fire in a massive hearth with a grill in front of it, the food cooked in in the glowing embers of on the metal grill. Facinating to watch even for a vegetarian. Very friendly service!

Running out of time will have to continue later .... okay back now, I had just 15 minutes left to get out of my hotel room! Computers created a timewarp! Continuing from the carpark!

Back to Le Kennedy with another 45 minutes before I started playing, it was starting to fill, although possible not as fast as one might like. The weather is not doing me any favours on this tour, in fact it's pouring down outside the car now!

Onstage at 10 and instantly got a complaint from the management, really great but can you turn up? That kind of complaint I can cope with very well! Turned up, and played an 1hour and quaters first set on acoustic guitar. Great reception from the audience. which was mostly French. At the previous gig (Dixieland) I had rather wimped out of trying to talk to the audience in French, there being some many English there it made me lazy, this time I'd practiced a few bits during the day, and gave it my best shot, whether anyone understood me is another thing!

I took a short break, and many people came up to say they were enjoying it. Including a somewhat drunken Irish man, more about him in a bit...

At the request of the barman I kept the break short (although he may have been rescuing me from said Irishman I'm not sure! And went on to do a second set at 11:30 or so playing through till 1:10am! This was the electric set, and it went down very well. It was a full on boogie set, and it a bit of walking round the bar with the radio mic went down well as always!

Finished up at 1.10am with plenty of positive friendly comments, and a few CD sales. No interest in the paintings yet, I'm not sure I've got enough French to 'market' them!

I had too challenges during the evening, the first how to explain that I wanted to write about the restaurant on my blog, and did they have a website?
The second? How to talk with a drunken Irishman who was telling me how Gary Moore was the greatest blues guitarist of all time! It took all my skills in diplomacy! And no I don't play Parisien Walkways!

All in all a great gig, Diddier and his staff all said how much they enjoyed it, and would like me back again. Have to email Mick at Home Cooked Records when I get home.

Heading south now, and have a few days break before the next gig at O'Sullivan's in Beziers, time for my throat to get some rest!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=275 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=275 Sun, 10 Jun 2012 10:47:00 GMT Now safely ensconced in the Formul1 hotel in Angoulême. Room is basic but clean, fine for a touring muso, got internet acces etc.

Time to catch a couple of hours sleep before the gig at Pub Le Kenendy's

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=273 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=273 Sat, 09 Jun 2012 13:01:00 GMT Last nights first gig of the tour went really well.


I was staying in the flat above the music room and managed to get a couple of hours shut eye to recharge after the drive. After that I had time to set the gear up at relative leisure, not too much rushing around, the original plan was to setup in the beer garden, which would have been an amazing backdrop, with the Château towering above, but the weather wasn't quite up yo it, so I was indoors like the previous visit.



The gig itself went well, I played three sets from 9.00 till 12.00 to a receptive audience, some in the mucic room itself some in the main bar looking through the door, or at a video screen showing the stage. I took some video of the first set, haven't checked out how it came out.

Chatting in the bar afterwards over a couple of glasses of wine, thanks to Laurence and his crew for a great start to the tour!

Tonight it's Le Kennedy in Angouleme, only a short drive this time!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=272 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=272 Sat, 09 Jun 2012 09:48:00 GMT Arrived at the Dixieland Cafe after a 7 hour drive from Dieppe, could have been a little faster but I decided to go the scenic route to see more of France, (and avoid the motorway tolls!).

The ferry started a little bumpy but settled down after abit but it was too windy to go on deck. So no arriving in France pictures. Got a couple of nice photos of Dieppe whilst I searched for a service till, the only way to get hold of some euros at 4:30 am.

Having got my euros and downed a cup of coffee from the flask I started off. A few uncomforatable moments whilst I got used to being on the wrong side of the road, thankfully very quiet roads at that time. Weather was abit iffy to start, but around 10:30 someone turned the sun on, and it got quite hot. There were still a few sharp showers wandering around though, hopefully gone by tonight...

The wind really seems to whip across the fields in the part of France and there are windmills everywhere (mostly new electical generating ones, although I did see one old wooden one, couldn't get a photo of it as I was doing 110km/h at the time!). Windmills and churches, several huge churches, big enough to dwarf some cathedrals, just standing by themseleves in the middle of a field.

Enough of the touristy stuff tonight is the first gig, plenety of time to rest up, and give a great show!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=271 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=271 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:55:00 GMT On the ferry, left the usb wire to my camera in the car oh well, looks like I need to pay to use the wireless so maybe uploading loads of pictures is not such a good idea!

Get into France at 4:30am not sure if that's UK time or France time. Journey to newhaven was uneventful, strangely quiet on the roads. So dispite leaving slightly late, got to the ferry port in plenety of time to sit in the queue ans listen to artists on my iPod beginning with 'A' Alabama3 followed by Ali Farka Toure,then a litte Jon Amor.

I was alittle late leaving because, dispite spending the last two weeks planning and the last two days rushing arround, I still almost forgot my mixing desk,( I hid it in plain site) and also almost forgot my suit! (Hung by the door!) Noticed both one after the other as I went up to get my guitars. I didn't forget those! The the pesky air machine in the grage ate my 50p and I had to go complain. Tyres pumped up though:-) ready for alot of driving.

.

The ferry is moving ... Next stop Dieppe....

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=270 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=270 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:02:00 GMT Just a hour or so to go
before I load up my car, and head of for the ferry, ironically travelling via Newhaven / Dieppe as the return ferry to Portsmouth was allready full!

Depending on the degree of iternet access I get I'll try and keep up a diary of my progress on this blog, so check back everynow then over the next couple of weeks, or subscribe via RSS. I'll try and get a few photo's up but probably will save any video for when I get back. Don't want to sitting round waiting for youtube!

If you are in France and want to catch up with me check the giglist for details of where I'm playing. First gig is Dixieland cafe, love to see you there.

Au Revoir :-) ]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=269 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=269 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:22:00 GMT Welcome to this months newsletter.

The end May / beginning of June marks the start of an
exceptionally busy season, with more recording of the Walker Broad
album, a second tour of France, and more in the pipeline.



* Videos *


Quite a crop of new videos since the last newsletter:

o Andy Broad playing Brownseville Blues @ The Rose & Crown
Charlbury
http://youtu.be/NYK6RNpDwck

o Burnt Ice performing Black Cat Bone @ the R.M.A. Tavern
http://youtu.be/fF3NYI1od5A

o Burnt Ice with their version of B.B. Kings "You Upset Me"
again at the R.M.A. tavern.
http://youtu.be/SF5IM3h7bTg

o And finally Walker Broad performing Kirsty MacColl's
"In these Shoes?" at the Auckland Arms, Southsea.
http://youtu.be/xt5xOmFLHe0

You can also watch the Walker Broad video on the new dedicated
videos page on the walkerbroad website

www.walkerbroad.co.uk choose video from the menu.



* Walker Broad Recording *


We've been making good progress on the new album. 6 Rhythm tracks
down with vocals and guitar of 4 of them, with another vocal and
guitar session at the beginning of June. It's all sounding pretty
good!



* French Tour 2012 *


Now making final preparations for this years visit to France, 6
great gigs booked in from 8th June through till the 21st. I will
be revisiting both the venues I played last year plus some
exciting new ones. Full details on my website. There a few dates
free still over the time there, so anyone with suggestions for a
last minute booking do get in touch.



* Limited Edition Prints *


I now have some high quality prints of my painting of Muddy Waters
and Lighnin' Hopkins for sale. Please get in touch if you might be
interested. Prints will be priced at £15.00 plus p&p and ready for
framing (sized just slightly smaller than A3).




* Gigs *


Tuesday May 22nd
The Golden Lion, Southwick, Fareham
Walker Broad band.

Our loveley regular gig at The Golden Lion comes round again.
Great atmosphere here, great food too.

Tuesday May 29th
The Tuesday Lounge @ The R.M.A. Tavern
Walker Broad Band.

It's quite a while since we played at Dan Ogus' tuesday lounge, a
laid back mostly acoustic night. This will be the first time there
with the full Band.

Friday June 1st
Walker Broad studio session.

Saturday June 2nd
The Portsmouth Hoy, Poole Quay, Poole.
Walker Broad Duo.

Last month we played at The Portsmouth Hoy for the first time
after it being recommended to us by our good friend Adam Franklin.
It went down very well and we are pleased to be invited back. It's
lovely sea front venue, and well worth the trip down.

Sunday June 3rd 12:00 till 2:30
The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
Andy Broad's Blues & Jazz Jam.

The regular Jam at the Flo, all welcome. Every month comes out a
little different, so come down and put you own spin on it. It's
mostly blues based but we don't object to the odd out of genre
spot.

Sunday June 3rd 7:30 till 10:00 pm
Hobbits, bar & Restaurant Hythe

Andy Broad, solo Blues.

This will be the warm up for the french tour....

Friday 8th June
Dixieland Cafe, Verteiul-sur-Charente, FRANCE

Saturday 9th June
Le Pub Kennedy, Angouleme, FRANCE

Thursday 14th June
O'Sullivans, Bezier, FRANCE

Friday 15th June
Bar MaryJohn Lamalou-Les-Bains, FRANCE

Saturday 16th June
Bar Des Sports, Graissessac, Herault, FRANCE

Thursday 21st June
Mad Hatters Kitchen, Caunay, FRANCE

Andy Broad solo Blues.

Thursday 26th June
back in the UK for the next visit to The Golden Lion with walker
Broad.


See you all at a gig soon!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=268 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=268 Sun, 20 May 2012 15:38:00 GMT Welcome to this months newletter.



* Review In Blues In Britain Magazine *


The March Edition of Blues In Britain featured a nice review of the most
recent Andy Broad solo gig at The Auckland Arms. I've just added a
'clipping' of it to the scrapbook section of the solo page.

http://www.broad.ology.org.u...main/acoustic.html#scrapbook

Thanks to Bob Chaffey for driving al the way up from Plymouth to review the
gig!

More info on Blues In Britian here: http://www.bluesinbritain.org



* First Walker Broad Studio Session and Site Player Update *


The first studio session for the debut Walker Broad album went very well
with rhythm tracks being laid down for the first four tracks. Read more
about it on Sandy's blog at http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk, whilst your there
if you are reading this on an iPad you should notice that the player now
works for you as the flash based player has been replaced with a shiney new
HTML5 one.



* Watermelon Slim at The Bullfrog Blues Club *


I don't normally mention the Bullfrog directly on this list, but this one is
a bit special. Watermelon Slim is agreat american blues player, possibly
the best we've ever had at the club. If you only come to one Bulfrog this
year make it this one! Thursday 5th April @ The NBE CSA Club, Onslow Road,
Southsea. Support from Andy Broad. Tickets available online at
http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/ only £8.00 in advance
£10.00 on the door.



* GigList For The Month *


Thursday 5th April
Watermelon Slim @ the Bullfrog Blues Club
The NBE CSA Club, Onslow Road, Southsea, P05 2NH

Saturday 14th April
Burnt Ice @ The R.M.A Tavern

Burnt Ice are rejoined by Matt Beckwith on Harmonica, and will be dealing
out their usual funky brand of contemporary blues. Everyone has been busy
with other projects, so this is the first time out for Burnt Ice this year,
it's going be a cracker!

Tuesday 24th April
Walker Broad Band @ The Golden Lion

Friday 27th April
Walker Broad Band @ The Auckland Arms

We'll be nice warmed up from acouple more studio session so come out to one
or both of the freindly pubs and enjoy are latin tinged jazz folk.


Look forward to seeing you all at a gig soon!


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=258 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=258 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:43:00 GMT

*Welcome To February's Newsletter.*




*Videos:*


Quite a cluster of new videos this month, with a couple
from Walker Broad Band at The Golden Lion in January, a
couple of solo ones from Andy Broad's appearance at the
Phoenix Theatre in Bordon, and one of The Westside Blues
Band at The R.M.A. tavern.

Here are some direct links:

Walker Broad - On Cliff Hill
http://youtu.be/gco1sUByFWs
Walker Broad - I've Got A Feeling
http://youtu.be/5jtpvvveWng

You can read Sandy Blog about the gig here:
http://bit.ly/AiDFDu (includes the embedded videos)

West Side Blues Band - Cold Cold Feeling
http://youtu.be/7c60XsqNO0c

Andy Broad - Good Feeling' - Phoenix Theatre
http://youtu.be/M-fiStbp2hc
Andy Broad - Jitterbug Madras - Phoenix Theatre
http://youtu.be/YXS2QDX19_E

And lastly:

A Pint Of Beer - Station Arms - Southminster
http://youtu.be/pXFV28IFpLw

Wally a regular at The Station Arms places his pint in
front of the camera and then helpful adjusts the camera
angle to get a better view of the pint! :-) Features Marrying
Blues by Andy Broad in the background....




*Gig List*


Sunday 19th February
Hobbits Bar And Restaurant
Hight Street, Hythe.
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues

Saturday 25th February
The Rose & Crown
Charlbury
Oxfordshire

Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues

Tuesday 28th February
The Golden Lion
Southwick

The Walker Broad Band

Thursday 1st March
Poachers Blues
The Poacher
Tudeley
Kent

Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues


Sunday 4th March
The Florence Arms
Florence Road
Southsea

Andy Broad's Blues & Jazz Jam
All welcome.


Hope you enjoy the videos and see at agig soon!



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=247 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=247 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:55:00 GMT Welcome to the first newsletter for 2012, Happy New Year to you all and hope you had a great holiday over Christmas. 2012 is already shaping up to be a great year, with lots of things in the pipeline, including recording Walker Broad's first CD, a second tour of France and more as the year develops.

* Walker Broad Recording *

As we mentioned in a previous newsletter Walker Broad are currently busy doing test recordings of our material to fine tune arrangement ideas, before gong into the studio in a couple of months time. We posted a few photos of the latest session to our website, the link is in Sandy's latest blog, here is a short link direct to the blog article Quick Link

* French Tour 2012 *

Plans for my second trip to France in June are well under way, with re-bookings from both of the public venues on my last tour. It'll be great to see any of you that live over there or might be visiting at the time, keep and eye on my giglist at giglist for more details as they emerge. If you can't make it over you can always catch a bit of the flavour of the last tour by buying the Live in France CD, available on-line from cd.html or at gigs.

Anyone with ideas for venues in France (or anywhere else for that matter :-)) please get in touch!

* Acoustic Guitar Heaven *

The third of the Acoustic Guitar Heaven Tour concerts takes place at the start of Feb. (3rd) at the Phoenix Theatre in Bordon, the first two were very successful so we are looking forward to this one. There is a slightly changed lineup to last time, this concert will feature Mike Dawes, Tom Jannsen, Andy Broad & John Dignam. Tickets are only £10.00 and are available from

www.phoenix-arts.co.uk

£10.00 is a pretty good deal for 4 quality acts so please come along and take advantage of us...

* Giglist *


Heres a break down of the gigs and concerts coming up this month.

Saturday 14th January
The RMA Tavern, Cromwell Road ,Eastney
The West Side Blues Band

Powerful electric blues inspired by the sounds of the west side of
Chicago (Buddy Guy, Magic Sam etc.), featuring Andy Broad
(guit/voc), Barry Leaney (harmonica), Tim Nowell (bass), Tim
Peters (drums).

Friday 20th January
The Bent Brief, Lodge Road, Southampton
Andy Broad

Original Acoustic and Electric Blues.

Saturday 21st January
The Station Arms, Southminster, Essex
Andy Broad

Original Acoustic and Electric Blues.

Tuesday 24th January
The Golden Lion, Southwick
Walker Broad Band

Original Folk / Jazz featuring sandy Walker on Vocals and Piano,
Andy Broad on acoustic guitar and Simon Tufnail bass, Alan
Blackmore Drums. A lovely venue, with great food available.

Friday 27th January
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea
Andy Broad

Original Acoustic and Electric Blues.

Friday 3rd February
The Phoenix Theatre, Bordon
Acoustic Guitar Heaven

Sunday 5th February
The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
Andy Broad's Blues And Jazz Jam

All players welcome , listeners too to pur friendly no pressure
jam.


* And Finally *

I added some new paintings to my art gallery on the site including a time-lapse video of a painting of The Cafe Dixieland in Verteuil sur Charente where I'll be playing on the 8th of June .

. onwards....

See you at a gig soon!
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=234 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=234 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:37:00 GMT As we work towards recording our first album next year, we've being doing
some test recordings to sort out arrangements, spot problems etc before
coming acropper in the studio proper. Some of them have come out quite
nicely, so we thought we'd shared one with you.

A newly written song by Sandy and myself: Pissing In The Dark.

First on the list here:

songs.php

Not sure where to pin it Genre wise, maybe Kirsty MacColl plays Pentangle
:-)


On Christmas Day we will be appearing on Shep Woolley's Scattering The Roots
Christmas special on Express FM 93.7, playing live in the Studio, and
talking about the year and stuff. If your out of the area you can catch it
online at

www.expressfm.com

Have great Christmas and see you for lost of gigs in the new year...



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=225 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=225 Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:37:00 GMT Welcome to this months newletter, slightly delayed in sending this out due a
busy start to the month, /
accounts / receipt thing but lets not get into that, maybe I should write a
blues about it...

Lots happening in the second half of the month though starting with:



* Mental Health Everyone's Business - Closing Concert *


During this week a number of events have been held to celebrate World Mental
Health day, centred arround a conference on the Monday. A theme running
through the week has been the Walker Broad song Bordering On Bedlam (Will
Slocombe,the author of the book of the same name gave a talk at the
conference, and our song has been used on various radios shows etc
publicising the weeks events).

To cap it all off there will be a free to enter concert by Walker Broad
tomorrow night (Friday 14th) with Madcap Han as support. This will be the
first outing of the band version of Walker Broad, adding Simon on bass and
Blackie on cahon to our acoustic guitar and piano. As I said admision is
free to all, so come down and celibrate with us. The event is being held at
the NBE CSA Club, in Onslow Road, Southsea, (just off Clarendon Road near
the Florence Arms)



* Andy Broad on Portsmouth Live TV *


At the end of September I was very pleased to be asked to appear on Dave
Allen's Pompey Pop show on Portsmouth Live TV, the show went out live but
is now available to watch online. I've added a link to it from my solo
webpage at http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/acoustic.html . We talk
about my influences, and the blues in general and I play three songs live
in the studio. It was avery enjoyable half hour and I'm sure we could have
filled a two hour show!



* Live In France CD *


I've been working hard on the recordings I got from my recent tour of France
and have over 6 hours of recorded material mixed out. Now I have to choose
the best tracks... I've also been hard at work developing ideas for the CD
cover and you can get a sneak preview of a digital painting done for this
in the gallery.



Also in the gallery are some photo's of the tour

France 2011



* Gigs *



Got some great gigs coming up this month, here's a summary:

Friday 14th October
Mental Health Everyone's Business
Closing Event with The Walker Broad Band + Madcap Han
The NBE CSA Club (aka Dockyard Club), Onslow Road, Southsea, PO5 2NH
Free Admission. Doors at 8.00pm


Sunday 16th October, 1pm till 5pm
Restuarant 69, Palmeston Road, Southsea
The Shawsax Quartet

Wednesday 19th October, 7pm till 11pm
Restuarant 69, Palmeston Road, Southsea
The Shawsax Quartet

Thursday 20th October
The Blues Club @ The Poacher, Hartlake Road, Tudeley,
Near Tonbridge, TN11 0PQ.
Blue Graffiti (Andy Broad & Chris Shaw)
Acoustic and Electric Blues Plus Sax
(hoping to have the new CD by then)

Friday 21st October
The Thomas A Becket, Worthing
The Shawsax Quartet

Tuesday 25th October
The Golden Lion, Southwick.
Walker Broad Band plus guests.

The jazzier side of Walker Broad in a new regular gig on the last Tuesday of
the month, lets us know if you'd like to do a guest spot with us, or come
down on the night and have achat about it.

Thursday 27th October
Blues at Browsers Cafe,
7 East Grinstead Road
Lingfield 
Surrey RH7 6EP

Blue Graffiti (Andy Broad & Chris Shaw)
Acoustic and Electric Blues Plus Sax. Really pleased to have been asked to
play this prestigious gig. Tickets available from
http://www.bluesatbrowsers.com/


Friday 28th October, 7pm till 11pm
Restuarant 69, Palmeston Road, Southsea
The Shawsax Quartet
 
Saturday 29th October
The Fawcett Inn, Fawcett Road, Southsea
Burnt Ice - Raw Funky Contemporary Blues.

Sunday 6th November

The Monthly Florence Jam


* That's All for now, sorry it's been a longer email than usual, so much to
tell! Hope you made this far and looking forward to seeing you at some of
the above gigs!






]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=196 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=196 Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:53:00 GMT Photo gallery of last weeks tour of France.
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=182 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=182 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:55:00 GMT Just making my final preparations for my french tour, very much looking
forward to it, leaving on tonights ferry, but before I went I wanted to
remind you that tickets to the next months Bullfrog Blues Club featuring
Geoff Achison from Australia are now available to buy from our website and
in person from Saraband in Goldsmith Avenue, Southsea during shop hours.

Saraband, 163 Goldsmith Avenue Southsea PO4 8BJ

http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/

http://www.geoffachison.com/

I'll be back from France middle of next week with a set of recording for the
next live CD, if you're in France and want to catch up with me check my
giglist http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/giglist.shtml for more details.

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=181 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=181 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:18:00 GMT
A very busy month coming up!



* Blues Kitchen @ Le Cafe Parisien *


Thanks to everyone who came to Le Cafe Parisien on
September 2nd, despite there being a number of competing
events in town that evening, we had a full house, we
might just a have fitted in an extra table for two, but
you would have been bumping elbows with the table next
door!

They are planning more of these so I'll let you know more
when I'm back there!

* French Tour 2011 *

I'm off on my tour off France next week, leaving on
Wednesday night and driving down to the south of France
during Thursday, I've then got three dates to play on the
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, gradually working my way up
the country till I return home on Monday. The Saturday
night is a private party but I'll be playing public dates
on Friday 16th at 'Bar Mary John', Lamalous-les-Bains and
Sunday 18th at Dixieland Cafe Verteuil-sur-Charente. I'm
planning on taking the minidisc recorder and looking to
come back with enough material for a Live In France CD.


* Walker Broad Videos *

The Walker Broad duo had a great time playing at The 11ht
Southsea Folk & Roots Festival this year and we've got a
couple of videos posted taken during the gig. With a
couple more in the pipeline. (Probably not till I get
back from France though)



Bordering On Bedlam

http://youtu.be/TxCpesV3CLo


If Can Do

http://youtu.be/U1nDSSJRhfI


Rehearsals with the band version of Walker Broad continue
with our first outing being on Friday 14th October at The
NBE CSA Club as part of the Closing celebration of
"Mental Health Everyone's Business" a week of events
based around World Mental Health Day on the 10th of
October.

You can get a sneak preview of The Band at The Thorngate
Halls in Gosport on September 24th, when the bass player
may be joining us for a few numbers....



* Gig List *


Here's the lineup of what's happening this month.

Sunday 11th September 4.00pm till 7.00pm
The Jolly Sailor, Clarence Parade, Southsea
Blue Graffiti - Andy Broad & Chris Shaw

Friday 16th September 8.00pm Till Late
Bar Mary John, Lamalous-les-Bains, France
Andy Broad - Solo Blues Tour 2011

Saturday 17th September
Private Party, France
Andy Broad - Solo Blues Tour 2011
Invite only but if you want to book me for your own
event, please get in touch!

Sunday 18th September
Dixieland Cafe, Verteuil-sur-Charente, France
Andy Broad - Solo Blues Tour 2011

Friday 23rd September
The Auckland Arms Southsea
Walker Broad - Sandy Walker and Andy Broad - Original
Folk Blues & Jazz

Saturday 24th September
The Auckland Arms Southsea
Walker Broad - Sandy Walker and Andy Broad plus special
guests - Original Folk Blues & Jazz

Sunday 25th September
The Hobbits, Restaurant And Bar, Hythe
Andy Broad - Solo Blues

October 2nd September
The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
Andy Broads Blues Jam


Hope to see you at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=176 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=176 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 15:45:00 GMT Just back from one of the best Festival Jam Nights we've had at The Florence
Arms, well they are always good, and evolved over the years passing through
different phases, starting with a full band version, then going strictly
acoustic, then moving back to a band format for the last couple of years.

This year we had the hardcore of The West Side Blues Band as the house band.
That's myself on Guitar / Vocals, Tim Nowell on bass and Tim Peters on
minimal (but effective!) drum kit. We were graced with various blues
luminaries from the local and not quite loacl scene who took turns as
frontmen.

Thanks then to Message from Avalon (Glen and Jason Malo) for providing the
acoutsic interlude in the middle) Bob Long (not seen hom do the electric
thing before, very authentic as you expect from his acoutic side), King
Rollo always stylish and Chris Morely for helping out as frontmen.

Then thanks ofcourse goes to the players, Gary on guitar, Barry (Street
level Music) Leaney on Harmonica / Guitar, gavin for joinging me on a
couple of acoustic numbers, Chris on semiacoutsic guitar, Simon Tufnail and
Blackie from Burnt Ice, Mac on harminca, Geoff Web on guitar and Al (who I
remeber from the band Blind Lemon along time ago!) on guitar, hope I
haven't missed anybody....

... and ofcourse the Audience not only for listening but for giving us a
rousing chorus of Let The Good Times Roll at the end. Sorry to the one or
two players that could get up, we had to finish some time!

Gavin video some of the jam and I've heard that they've come out well, as
soon I've got the links I post them in the blog version of the email.

The festival continues with three more days of live music centered arround
the NBE CSA (Dockyard) Club just round the corner from the Flo. You can see
more of King Rollo when openbs the show for Aynsley Lister on Monday night.

Tickets from http://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/tickets/

If you came and enjoyed tonights Jam we have a regular jam on the first
Sunday Lunch on the month, again in the public bar of the Florence Arms,
Southsea.





]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=174 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=174 Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:04:00 GMT Just to remind you all that the Southsea Folk & Roots Festival blues jam
will take place this Friday (26th) at the Florence Arms, Southsea. Jamming
will take place from 8:30 or so but if you can arrive at 8 ish to set up,
so much the better.

We had some great Jamsin the past with a wide variety of participants, from
professional to beginner, we try to be as inclusive as possible, we like to
give everyone a spot, but the earlier you get there the easier this is to
acheive.

It's great fun to listen too as well so come dow n have a ball!

Andy



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=172 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=172 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:19:00 GMT * New Live Song Uploads * Just a short one to let you know that I've uploaded two more recording to my
reverbnation page, this time from my Blue Graffiti gig with Chris Shaw on
Sax at recorded live at The Bent Brief on Friday.

You can listen to them here:

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/3409675

There's a recordin of my arrangement of 'Walking Blues' from the acoustic
set and 'In the Mood - Hooker Medley' on electric in the second half. The
vocals and sax get abit faint arroung 5:30 in the Hooker Medley because we
are out in the audience away from the mics! You need to come to gig to get
the full efect!


* Gigs For The Weekend *

Whilst I'm here a quick reeinder of the gigs for this weekend.

Thursday 18th August
Tanners Live Lounge - Tanners Arms Horsham
Walker Broad


Friday 19th August
The Phoenix Albert Road Southsea
West Side Blues Band

Saturday 20th August
The RMA Tavern, Eastney
Burnt Ice



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=166 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=166 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:32:00 GMT recording setup at the Andy Broad solo gig at the Milton Arms on the 6th.

Dispite some technical hitches ( I overwrote the first set!) I got a good
recording of my take on "King Bee" from the second "Electric" set which
I've uploaded for your listening pleasure to my reverbnation page:

http://www.reverbnation.com/andybroad

Or a direct link to the song here:

The reason for the tesing BTW is that I intend to record some of the
performances on my for coming French tour, more about that next month....


Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=163 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=163 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:59:00 GMT * Welcome to this months news letter: * August is often a busy month but this year it promises to be one of the
busiest yet. There's activity on all fronts read on for more info:


* All About The Song *

Two years ago the Cellars @ Eastney held a celebratory competition for the
songwriters of Portsmouth, it was so successful that they've decided to
make it an annual event. This years is sponsored by Gunwarf Quays and
Portsmouth Live TV, Nevada Music and The News are also on board. having
spent the last 18 months writing songs Walker Broad have decided to win, I
mean enter into the spirit of celebration, and have selected 4 of our
strongest songs to play at the 4th heat on Thursday 11th August, which will
be held at the Easyney Cellars. Doors will open at 7:30 and the proceding
start at 8.00pm sharp, why come down and support the creative side of live
music (and walker Broad of course :-)).

More details: http://www.thecellars.co.uk/detailedlistings.html#0811


* Southsea Folk & Roots Festival *

This year bring the 11th Southsea Folk & Roots Festival, the first at a new
venue, The NBE CSA Club in Onlow Road, as well as a top quality lineup of
Folk Roots & Blues there will also be the traditional fringe events at the
Florence Arms and The R.M.A. Tavern. Walker Broad appear on Sunday 28th
(onstage aprox 13:30) and Andy Broad will be running the annual festival
blues jam at the Florence Arms on the Friday 26th (8:00pm start).

Tickets for events at The NBE CSA Club are available from

http://webplus.barkingspider...atis.com/tickets/tickets.php


* Giglist *

As well the above there's quite a lot of activity on the gig front, here's
the complete list....


Thursday 11th August:
All About The Song - 4th Heat
Cellars @ Eastney, Cromwell Road, Eastney
http://www.thecellars.co.uk/detailedlistings.html#0811
Walker Broad
sandy walker and Andy Broad present 4 of their best songs at this
celebration of the Portsmouth Songwriting

Friday 12th August: Afternoon
Private Party (wedding)
Shawsax Quartet

Invite only but if you need a Jazz or blues band for you party or corporate
event etc please get in touch!

Friday 12th August: Evening
The Bent Brief, Lodge Road Southampton.
Blue Graffiti - Andy Broad & Chris Shaw

Blue Guitar & Saxophone. Chris adds his virtuoso sax playing to Andy
powerful guitar and vocals for a full on blues show...

Sunday 14th August: Afternoon from 4:00pm
The Jolly Sailor, Clarence Parade Southsea
Blue Graffiti - Andy Broad & Chris Shaw

Blue Guitar & Saxophone. Chris adds his virtuoso sax playing to Andy
powerful guitar and vocals for a full on blues show, this time in a great
setting, with views of the common and a terrace where drinkers and eaters
can enjoy the music in the sun.

Thursday 18th August
The Tanners Live Lounge, The Tanners Arms @ Horsham.
Walker Broad
Very pleased to be asked to play at this popular, prestigious showcase,
aong with with 3 other great acts, we went up to check it out last month
and could hardly get in, but don't let that stop you trying, would be great
to see you there!

Friday 19th August
The Phoenix, Southsea
The West Side Blues Band
Second appearance at The Phoenix for the West Side, went down a storm last
time, so this promises to be a great evening of Chicago Blues.

Saturday 20th August
The R.M A. Tavern, Cromwell Road, Eastney
Burnt Ice

Burnt Ice bring their unique and infectious brand of funky blues back to the
R.M.A. Tavern

Friday 26th August:
The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
Andy Broad's Festival Blues Jam

Always one of the most popular of the festival fringe events. All welcome to
play, please get down early!

Sunday 28th August: Afternoon
Southsea Folk & Roots Festival - Daytime Session
Jigantics, Mary Jane, Walker Broad

Doors 12:00 music from 1:00 tickets available from

http://webplus.barkingspider...atis.com/tickets/tickets.php

Sunady 28th August: Late Afternon

The Jolly Sailor, Clarence Parade Southsea
Blue Graffiti - Andy Broad & Chris Shaw

Blue Guitar & Saxophone. Chris adds his virtuoso sax playing to Andy
powerful guitar and vocals for a full on blues show, this time in a great
setting, with views of the common and a terrace where drinkers and eaters
can enjoy the music in the sun.


Thanks for reading this longer email than usual!

Look forward to your support at one (or more) of the above!


Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=162 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=162 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:38:00 GMT

* Welcome To This Months Newsletter *


After a quieter start to the month things start to get busy this weekend
onwards, so i thought I'd better let you know what's going on.



* France in September *


I'm off to France in September to play at a wedding on 17th in the vicinity
of Bergerac, and am looking for additional venues to play at whilst I'm
over there. I've allready added one to my list the Cafe Dixielan in
Vertuil, but if anyone has suggestions of additional venues to try in that
area (or on the way there, I'll be travelling via Caen) I'd be very
greatful if you could get back to me!



* Radio Session with Walker Broad *


Walker Broad have been invited to play alive session on OneWorldRadio.org.uk
on Friday 29th July. I did a solo session for the DJ Stever Sheppard some
years ago on a different station, so we are looking forward to meeting up
again talking about our music and ofcourse playing a few songs for you. I'm
not sure if there a listen again option so please do tune in. We'll be live
at about 10:30pm

Here's the link to the station http://www.oneworldradio.org.uk/

And don't forget to check out Sandy's regular blog on the progress of the
Walker Broad project on www.walkerbroad.co.uk




* Gigs *


Some nice gigs coming up, with trips to Charlbury in Oxfordshire and
Stevenage and more, here's the complete list for the month.


Saturday 16th July
The Rose & Crown, Charlbury, Oxfordshire
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues

Sunday 24th July 5:30pm start
The Jolly Sailor, Southsea
Blue Graffiti - Andy Broad & Chris Shaw - Blues Guitar & sax

Friday 29th July 10:30pm
One Word Radio http://www.oneworldradio.org.uk/
Walker Broad
A live session featuring Sandy Walker vocals & Andy Broad guitar.

Saturday 30th July - Afternoon
Private party (Wedding)
The Shawsax Quartet

Sunday 31st July
Blues @ The Red - The Red Lion Stevenage
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues


Tuesday 2nd August
Art House cafe - Southampton
Walker Broad - Original, Jazz Folk & Blues featuring Sandy walker Vocals /
Piano and Andy Broad Guitar.
Opening event for the Art House Summer Show

Saturday 6th August
The Milton Arms - Milton
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues

Sunday 7th August
The Florence Arms
The monthly Jam - new players always welcome....



* And Finally *


Those of you who've browsed through my gallery will have seen that I dabble
in digital painting in my sparse spare time. Some are better than others I
have to admit but I just completed a portrait of Muddy Waters that I am
particularly pleased with so I thought since it was blues related I'd post
a link here for you to look at...



Hope to see you at a gig soon

Andy

PS As ever you can read the latest news on my own blog at
webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=145 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=145 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:37:00 GMT As many of you will know Sandy maintains a blog on the Walker Broad website,
detailing the adventures of Walker Broad and sometimes including poetry and
writing that is not so strictly related to the duo.

A few of you have asked for the facitly to comment on the blog or to "add
ticks of excellence" so I have added Google Plus One buttons and a comments
option to satisfy your demands...

The comments are protected by a "captcha", you know, one of those things
where you have to type the letters and numbers from the image to post you
comment. We've iopted to do this as there are so many dodgy bots out there,
and we don't want to end up advertising something sleazey!



* About The Captcha *


In case you ever wandered what CAPTCHA actually means it stands for it
means: "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and
Humans Apart". Obviously it's a pun on capture, it captures bots and not
humans (hopefully). The one we've chosen to use, is reCPATCHA. It uses the
human response to the captcha to gradually digitise older books that OCR
(Optical Character Recognition) software can't cope with. More info about
here http://www.google.com/recaptcha



* About The Plus One Butons *


As google have recently announced that they are dropping support for older
browsers you may find the plus one buttons don't show if you using an older
browswer, sorry about that, I think there is a work arround but I haven't
had time to implment it yet.

Here a direct link to the blog:

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/blog.php

The overal link to the Walker Broad site is:

http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk

So check the blog out, leave a comment if you feel inspired and most
importantly listen to some of our music whilst you are there!

Andy

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=132 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=132 Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:51:00 GMT Welcome to this months news letter.



* Jagz And Tongues & Grooves *


Had some nice gigs at the begining of the month, including a trip to Jagz in
Ascot for walker Broad, where we appeared with Sonny Black as guests in
regular Blues & Roots Club there.

Sandy has written about it on her blog on the walkerbroad website
(http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk) or
http://webplus.broad.ology.o...lkerbroad/blog.php?blogid=31 for a
direct link to the blog entry.

Her previous blog tells about our appearance at Tongues & grooves at the end
of May, so have aread of that as well whilst you are there :-)

Thanks to all who supported both those gigs.


Here's list of whats coming up this month.



* Gigs *


Friday 10th June 8:30pm
The Auckland Arms, Netley Road, Southsea
Walker Broad (www.walkerbroad.co.uk) - Blues, Jazz, Folk and more

One of our favourite pubs, Dave and Helene always make great hosts, come
down and join in the great atmosphere.

Sunday 12th June 5:30pm
The Jolly Sailor, Clarence Parade, Southsea
Blue Graffiti (Andy Broad & Chris Shaw)

A pleasant Sunday afternoon gig, outside on the veranda if the weather
suits, we'll be in mixed jazz and blues mode for this one. Have a late
lunch or just enjoy a beer ot two.

Tuesday 14th June 8:00pm
The Tuesday Lounge - The R.M.A. Tavern
Walker Broad

The rebooted tuesday sessions organised by Dan Ogus, always a fun evening.

Friday 17th June 8:30pm
The Square & Compass, Worth Matravers
Andy Broad - "A punchy blend of blues with threads of jazz ad world music
mixed in".

Annual trip to the Square, one the best pubs in dorset!

Saturday 18th June 3:00pm
Bar 69, Palmestion Road
The Shawsax Quartet - Smooth jazz with just enough bite, featuring Chris
Shaw on Saxophone

This is special edition of our regular wednesday gig at Bar 69, put on for
the Southsea Food Festival.

Saturday 18th June 8:30pm
The Fawcett Inn, Fawcett Road, Southsea
Burnt Ice - Raw, Funky Contemporary blues.

This outing of Burnt Ice will feature Chas Shapiro (from Chicago!) on drums,
were looking forward to having him guest with us!

Sunday 26th June 5:30pm
The Jolly Sailor, Clarence Parade, Southsea.
Blue Graffiti (Andy Broad & Chris Shaw)

A pleasant Sunday afternoon gig, outside on the veranda if the weather
suits, we'll be in mixed jazz and blues mode for this one. Have a late
lunch or just enjoy a beer ot two.

Sunday 3rd July
The Florence Arms
Back at the Florence for the monthly Jam.


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=131 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=131 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:57:00 GMT Last week we (Blue Graffiti) performed at the Blues & Roots night at The Poacher near Tudeley in Kent. A gig which we enjoyed imensely.

We got some great feedback by email originally sent to Eddie Armer who organises the event.

----- Original Message -----
From: Rick Stead
To: EDDIE ARMER
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 4:29 PM
Subject: Andy Broad


Hi Eddie

Just to let you know, Great set from Andy Broad last night, really enjoyable played with
real commitment and feeling. Thanks for booking him, must repeat.

Rick

and

----- Original Message -----
From: Margaret
To: Eddie Armer
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:57 PM
Subject: Music


Hi Eddie,

I really enjoyed Blue Graffiti, some  music that I hadn't heard for a long long time! The
first set was acoustic, Andy  has an excellent voice and is an accomplished guitarist and
was well supported by Chris I really enjoyed his sax. The second set with electric guitar
 was just as good and they really enjoyed the venue and can't wait to come back. They had
a long journey home to Portsmouth but really enjoyed the evening and were well received.
...
I can't wait for them to come back I even purchased the CD .

Margaret xx

It always great to hear good feedback, so thanks! We look forward to a our return visit! And thanks of course to Margeret for buying the CD, I hope she enjoyed it!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=126 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=126 Wed, 25 May 2011 14:02:00 GMT li { margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; }

Weclome to this months news letter, the end of May beginning of June looks to be a very exiting and busy fortnight, with several road trips eastwards, one to Kent two to Essex, garden parties and an appearance at Jagz in Ascot for Walker Broad.

The fun kicks off tommorrow night when Blue Graffiti head down to The Poacher, Tudeley in Kent for the thursday night blues club, this club has been established for a few years now and we a very much looking forward to playing there.

Then Saturday (21st) sees me in solo mode playing a private function / garden party in Portssmouth just after lunchtime, followed by a trip to Southminster in Essex to play one of my regular gigs at the Station Arms.

The following Friday (27th) I'm back in Essex to play at the Beer festival at The Norton in Cold Norton.

Sunday 29th back in Southsea for Walker Broad's appearance at Tongues And Grooves, we are the featured artist for this months poetry and music night, held in the back bar of the Florence Arms, Southsea.

Wednesday 1st of June finds Walker Broad at Jagz Ascot, where we have been invited to appear at Sonny Blacks regular roots and blues night. Then on Thursday I'll be opening the evening at the Bullfrog Blues Club, this months main act being Rocky Lawrence a great solo blues artists from the U.SA.

* Gigs *

Here's an in depth breakdoen of all the exitement mentioned above....

• Thursday 19th May
  Blues & Roots @ The Poacher
  Tudeley, Near Tunbridge, Kent
  Blue Graffiti (Andy Broad & Chris Shaw)
  Blues Guitar and Saxophone
• Saturday 21st May - Afternoon
  Private Party Portsmouth
  Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues, Jazz and beyond ....
• Saturday 21st May Evening
  The Station Arms, Southminster Essex
  Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues, Jazz and beyond ....
• Wednesday 25th May
  Bar69
  Palmeston Road, Southsea
  The Shawsax Quartet, Smooth jazz with just enough bite, featuring Chis Shaw
  on Sax and Andy Broad on guitar.
• Friday 27th May
  The Norton Beer Festival
  Cold Norton, Essex
  Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues, Jazz and beyond ....
• Sunday 29th May
  Tongues & Grooves
  http://www.tongues-and-grooves.org.uk/
  Walker Broad - featuring Sandy Walker on Vocals / Piano and Andy Broad on
  guitars
  http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk
• Wednesday 1st June
  Jagz
  Ascot.
  http://www.jagz.co.uk/
  Sonny Black
  Walker Broad - featuring Sandy Walker on Vocals / Piano and Andy Broad on
  guitars
• Thursday 2nd June
  The Bullfrog Blues Club
  The NBE CSA Club, Onslow Road, Southsea, PO5 2NH
  Rocky Lawrence - support from Andy Broad buy tickets
  
That all for now look forward to seeing you at a gig soon!

Andy


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=124 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=124 Wed, 18 May 2011 16:41:00 GMT OK people ! Due to a couple of unfortunate cancellations, there's been a
change of plan for Friday evening's entertainment in the Gun Room @ The RMA
Tavern. So, we're giving you an impromptu and wonderful evening of music.

Featuring : Ade Cull, Dan Ogus, Jonny Bell, Andy Broad and Sandy Walker

Entry : Free with bucket collection

DJ Spike will be purveying his brand of classic rock vinyl in the main bar
of the RMA, so for those who fancy something a little quieter, pop back and
see us in The Gun Room, it'll be great !

Drink, be merry and enjoy the music, for it'll be over faster than you know
it !!!

Dan Ogus

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=121 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=121 Thu, 12 May 2011 22:31:00 GMT Walker Broad will be playing at The NBE CSA Club (aka Dockyard Club to it's
regulars) this coming Sunday Lunchtime (May 8th music starts aprox 1:30
pm).

We'll be playing in the members bar, but non members are welcome too! We'll
be playing our blend of Jazz Blues and Folk influence originals and
standards (or I suppose traditional songs in the folk case :-)).


http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk

http://www.nbecsa.org.uk

Walker Broad
The NBE CSA Club
Onslow Road
Southsea
PO5 2NH



]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=117 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=117 Fri, 06 May 2011 21:34:00 GMT Got a busy weekend coming up so I thought I'd give a quick update on whats
goining on:



*Bordering On Bedlam*


If you've been following Sandy's blog on the Walker Broad website
(http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/blog.php ) you will have
read about our song Bordering On Bedlam, which is to be published in a book
of the same name about boderline personality disorder towards the end of
next year (end of the world permitting). We've now uploaded our first mix
and we think it's sounding rather good. You can listen to it from the
player on the left of the site here: http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk or hear a
live version at the gigs we've got lined up.




*Gigs Over Easter*


Good Friday
22nd April.
The Phoenix, Duncan Road, Southsea
West Side Blues Band
Chicage blues inspired by the sounds of the 'West Side' (Otis Rsh, Buddy
Guy, Magic sam etc)

Easter Saturday
23rd April
The White Swan, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth
An all day chairty event, raising funds in support of reasearch into
Childrens Cancer, featuring Walker Broad and quite a few others! We'll
bring performing our blend folk jazz and blues at 9.00pm. But do come
alonmg earlier, there a whole bunch of great acts from 12:30 onwards,
including Robin James Hurt, Don Ogus, The Jelly Rollers MacGonagal, Wood
Wire and Words, and Victory Morris.

Easter Sunday
24th April
Hobbits Bar And Restuarant
Andy Broad - Solo Original Blues




* Guitar Fest *


I (Andy Broad) will be appearing at the Guitar Fest, at South Hill Park in
Bracknell on April 30th, with a solo performance at 12:40pm and I be
holding a workshop on "Slide Guitar In Standard Tuning" at 4:00pm. There's
great lineup for the whole days of the festival and the head line act
Antonio Forcione is a simply astonishing acoustic guitar player, worththe
whole days fee by himself. More info at http://www.guitarfestival.webs.com


Hope you have a great Easter break and I look forwrad to seeing at one (or
more !) of the gigs over the weekend.

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=113 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=113 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:49:00 GMT I've been concentrating so hard on getting the website and other promotional tools for the new Walker Broad project online and underway that I hadn't been checking in on my own page at IACMusic.com for a while.

So I go and take a look today and what do I find? Burnt Ice - Holding These Feelings is at NUMBER ONE in the blues charts, and has entered the top 100 overall. Yah!

Thanks to all that listened too it!

If you liked it you can buy the CD it came from for only £6.00 (GBP) at my online CD shop at my main website.

Thanks again to all those who listened or added it to an IAC station station!

Andy ]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=100 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=100 Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:56:00 GMT Welcome to this months newsletter.

First off, news about the new Walker Broad website.

I've been hard at work over the last two weeks constructing the new website
for Walker Broad. It went live on thursday and after a couple of tweaks is
ready for the general public.

There's two ways to get to it

http://www.walkerbroad.co.uk

or

http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/walkerbroad/

As you'll see it features some excellent photography by G.E.Whiting, taken
at Waverly Abbey near Farnham earlier in the year.

The site has been designed so that you can browse through the pages, gallery
and blog without interupting the music, which you can play using the player
on the left hand side of the webscreen.

Walker Broad feature Sandy Walker on piano / vocals and Andy Broad on
guitars. The music is an infectious blend of folk, jazz and blues.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you'd like to link to it, feel free! Let us know and we'll set up a
reciprical link from the links page. If you do link please use the
www.walkerbroad.co.uk variation ...



*Gigs*


Now some info about this months gigs

Saturday April 2nd
The Milton Arms, Milton, Portsmouth
Blue Grafitti (Andy Broad & Chris Shaw)
(http://www.broad.ology.org.uk/blues/main/bluegrafitti.html)
Blues Guitar and Saxophone

Sunday April 3rd 12:00 noon. till 2:30
The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
Andy Broad's Blues And Jazz Jam.
As ever all welcome to our friendly jam

Wednesday April 13th
Bar 69, 69 Palmeston Road, Soutjsea
The Shawsax Quartet
Jazz from Chris Shaw (sax), Andy Broad (guitar), Tim Nowell (bass) and
Trev(drums)
This is a lovely venue for a mid week gig, come down and have drink or maybe
a meal....

Friday April 22nd
The Phoenix, Duncam Road, Southsea
The West Side Blues Band.
Long awaited first gig at this venue, shoul be a cracker!

Saturday April 23rd
All day Charity Event at The White Swan, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth
Featuring Walker Broad, Dan Ogus, Jellyrollers and many more.
Walker Broad are on stage at aprox 9.00pm for an hours set.


Sunday April 24th
Hobbits Restuarant and Bar, Hythe.
Andy Broad - Original Acoustic Blues.
Great place to eat drink and listen to the blues.

Saturday April 30th
The Guitar Festival
South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.
A fantastic day of music and other activities celibrating the guitar.
Headline act is Antonio Forcione, Andy Broad will be performing in the
Cellar Bar at 12:40 and giving a workshop on Slide Guitar In Open Tuning at
arround 4:00pm
http://www.guitarfestival.webs.com/

Sunday May 1st
The month turns full circle with another jam at the Flo!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=99 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=99 Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:50:00 GMT I have had my music for sale at IAC for sometime now, but they've recently improved the system with payments going direct to my pay pal account. Which means no more waiting for a minimum payout etc. And they take no cut for themselves so all the procedes go directly to me (less a little to pay pal of course). For that reason I've reduced the price to just $0.50 for the rest of the month. Buy now to take advantage of the great offer ... JUst got to my IAC page iacmusic.com/andybroadand click on the sign under each song title to buy.

Cheers

Andy
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=89 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=89 Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:00:00 GMT


* West Side Blues Band, Fawcett Inn Saturday 26th February*

The West Side Blues Band featuring Andy Broad on guitar vocals, Tim Nowell on bass, Barry Leaney on harps and our new drummer Tim (who's surname I haven't a clue of, sorry Tim!). The Fawcett has been running under new management for a a few months now, with regular live music, we had a great gig there with Burnt Ice last October, so I'm really looking forward to doing this one with the West Side. To add an extra spin we'll have a guest singer with us for a couple of numbers, Helen MacDougal from MacDiva. http://www.macdiva.co.uk


* Reverbnation, Photo Shoots and Recording *

Two new pages at reverbnation, one for Andy Broad featuring acoustic blues and other solo stuff, and another for the Walker Broad project. This will feature our original stuff.

Walker Broad have been quite busy over the last fortnight, with a photo shoot at Waverley Abbey near Farnham (thanks to my nephew Gary Whiting for an excellent set of photos!) and recording sessions at a secret location in Gosport... The photos and recording will gradually emerge over the next few weeks and will surely be featured on the aformentioned reverbnation page, as well as our new website.
andybroad
walkerbroad





* Jazz *

After a great first night, The Shawsax Quartet will be making regular appearances at Bar69 in Palmeston Road, Southsea. Featuring Chris Shaw on sax and Andy Broad on Jazz Guitar, they are backed by Tim Noweel Bass and Trev on drums (why is it nobody tells me the drummers surnames?) and play Smooth Jazz, Bebop, Blues, Bossa. Check out the Bars Website for details of their excellent menu. http://www.69castleroad.com

Next gig is Wednesday 9th March, music from 8.00pm till 11:00pm
* Gigs *

Here a quick round up of the gigs coming up over the next couple of weeks...

• Saturday 26th February
  The West Side Blues Band
  The Fawcett Inn, Fawcett Road, Southsea
  
  
• Sunday 6th March
  Andy Broad Blues & Jazz Jam
  The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
  
  Looking forward to another great session, all welcome, both to listen and play.
  
  
• Tuesday 8th March
  Walker Broad
  Not Necessarily ACoustic @ The RMA Tavern, Cromwell Road, Eastney
  
  Sandy walker on Piano Vocals and Andy Broad on acoustic guitar, original bluesey jazzy folky songs, plus a couple standards for good measure.
  
  
• Wednesday 9th March
  Shawsax Quartet
  Bar69 Palmeston Road
  
  
• Thursday 10th March
  Burnt Ice
  The Brass Monkey, West Street, Fareham.
  
  Burnt Ice bring their brand of raw funky blues back this grea Fareham venue.
  
  
• Friday 11th March
  Andy Broad & Mags Wylie
  The George, The Square, Petersfield. 5:30pm start!
  
  Jazz guitar and bass, a lovely early evening gig, a great way to wind down after work and get that weekend going in the right vein
  
Look forward to seeing you all at a gig soon!

Andy
]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=82 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=82 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:42:00 GMT Solent Diabetes Association present:

Sixties R&B Skiffle

This will be a fund raiser for the Solent Diabetes Association, and will be held at "The Bugle" Titchfield, pub website, this coming Sunday 6th February. Music starts from 4.00pm and continues on into the evening, due to daytime commitments (The Flo Jam!) we'll be joining them in the evening, some time after 7.00pm. 'We' in this case is Walker Broad, featuring Sandy Walker on Piano / Vocals and myself on acoustic guitar.

There will be a raffle, and collection for the association, please come along and support this, and enjoy some good music at the same time! Other acts appearing include Pete Harris (great blues guitarist) and The Jellyrollers. All the artitsts are giveing their time for free.


Guitar Festival - South Hill Park, Bracknell

A really spectacular guitar festival is being organised on the 30th of April, at the South Hill Arts Centre, Bracknell, and I'm delighted to have been asked to take part! The headline act in the evening will be Antonio Forcione, a truly stunning player! There will be a number of stages active throughout the day, along with workshops, a guitar shop, and more, check out the Guitar Fest site for more details.

I will be performing a set of my acoustic blues on the Cellar Bar Stage at 12:40pm and then presenting a workshop on "Slide Guitar In Standard Tuning" at 5.00pm.

There are a lot of excellent videos of Antonio Forcione, on youtube, but here's one to get you going...

Nice additions to the calendar, I hope you'll agree, why not come to both!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=77 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=77 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:11:00 GMT

I'm often asked if I give lessons, and the answer is yes! If you want to learn finger style blues and slide guitar that is. I can give a few pointers on the jazzier end of things too.

Overall Approach:

My approach is to explain and demonstrate my overall philosophy of playing, encouraging the student to find their own style and develop their won version of the blues. With that in mind then I won't be tabbing out your favourite blues artist for you, rather I'll show you techniques and ideas of ways to create your own version of the song, true to the original yet unique to you. Also it's important to be able to play with others so often we'll start with a more generic blues piece and explain how to accompany and embellish / improvise over it. Then move on to more specific pieces that the student might be interested in.

Video / Recording Lesson:

As I said above I don't always tab or score things out for the student, even simple blues often looks over complicated on paper and anyway it should never be the same two times in a row! However the student will often need something to refer to whilst practising, so I'm more then happy for them to bring a video camera or tape recorder with them and for them to record as much of the session as they like. I only ask that they ask me beforethey share it, (I'll most likely say yes).

Lesson Duration And Cost:

Lessons are typically 40 minutes long for which I'm currently charging £20.00. And you get a free cup of tea with that! Alternatively you can block book 5 lessons for just £15.00 a lesson (a total of £75.00).

Email me: andy@broad.ology.org.uk or phone me on 07051 170 874 to book a lesson now.

Below is a sample lesson that would suit the slightly more adavnced student, but I do teach all ability levels:

Sample lesson: Walking Blues In G

Here is a short clip taken during a recent lesson. The technique being demonstrated is a jazzier blues with a walking bass line in the key of G.

The chord progression used is

G  /    /    /   | G  /  /  /  | G  /  /  / | G /  /  /  | C9 /  /  /   | C9   /  /  / |
G  / Am7 /  |  Bm7 /  Bb 7 /  | D9 /  /  /  | C9 /   /  /  | G /  /  /  | D7#9 /  / | or G7 to end

The G major chord is fretted with the third and fourth fingers on the 5th (B) and 6th(E) strings at the 3rd fret, leaving the first and second fingers free to play the walking bass line. Listen to the rhythm, and notice how I play the chord alternating with the bass in a syncopated swing rhythm, don't play it too even or it'll sound like country music!

When I move to the C9 the third and fourth fingers move to the 4th (G) and 5th (B) string again at the 3rd fret the first bass note is the C at the 3rd fret 2nd (A) string and then I play an ascending pattern that starts with the open E bass string and moves in semitones up to the G at the 3rd fret , then to the open A string and again in semitones up to the B at the 2nd fret (Musical credit: I first heard that idea on a song called Marrying Blues played by Isaac Guillory and my own version can br neard on the Blue Graffiti CD).

The next sequence gives a jazzy sound to the piece and as you can see from the video is two beats each of G Am7 Bm7 and Bb7 to lead into the D9

Watch the video closely to see the way the D9 slides down to the C9 to give a nice smooth transition, the bass notes used here are D A D Db C G F F#.

The sequence then ends with a simple walk G (3rd fret 1st(E) string)) B C C# on the 2nd(A) string fretted individually, that is I'm not hold a chord down at the same time, this leads nice into the D7#9 for the turnarround of the G7 for the ending.

Have fun! ]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=68 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=68 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:03:00 GMT Hello,

Just a quick email to wish you all Merry Christmas before I nip off to do the family things for the next couple of days.

Thanks for all your support during the last year.

Still a few events to go over the holiday period.



* Gigs *


Tuesday December 28th
Dan Ogus' Not Necessarily Acoustic @ The RMA
Walker Broad
Sandy Walker and Andy Broad combine their talents to present a blend of jazz
blues and folk inspired original music.
Sandy piano / vocals
Andy guitar

Friday December 31st
New Years Eve @ The Vine, West Street, Hambledon
Burnt Ice.
A great new years eve party with so funky blues from Burnt Ice.

Sunday January 2nd 2011
Andy Broad's Blues & Jazz Jam
The Florence Arms
Florence Road, Southsea
All welcome as usual to the first Jam of 2011

That's all for now!

Merry Christmas

Andy
[edit]Removed email link to blog (you're already here!) and add Ecrad image....[/edit] ]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=58 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=58 Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:55:00 GMT
18.00-20.00
Wednesdays Even Worse with Ian McKenzie
Two hours of the best of blues and music with American roots, including
jazz, R & R, soul blues and blues rock.

Tune in at http://www.phonic.fm


]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=36 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=36 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:32:00 GMT

A week of highs and lows, well I suppose that's the way life goes when you are a blues musician! A busy week though!

Last Friday we had the pleasure to share the bill with American artist Crosby Tyler, we in this case was Walker Broad. That is Sandy Walker on piano vocals and myself (Andy Broad) on guitar and the odd vocal as well. The gig was in the back room of the R.M.A. Tavern (often referred to as The Gun Room) it's an intimate venue seating about 40 with a nice little stage (with Red Velvet Curtains!) and a simple warm sounding in house P.A. It was a perfect occasion to try out the new set on a listening audience. The set is a 70% originals with a couple of well chosen covers / standards, our folky blend of blues and jazz went down well.

Saturday found Burnt Ice in the newly reopened Fawcett Inn in Southsea. We did this one as a three piece as Martin was in Sweden and Chris had a prior booking. The pub has been cleaned up somewhat from the 'previous version' and a had good size stage area and the three piece achieved a good solid sound. We weren't sure what to expect audience wise and in the end it was quieter than we would have liked, though by no means empty, it seems that many people were heading straight passed the pub on there way to Halloween parties on Albert Road. We got a very positive vibe from the new landlord and landlady though and look forward to it developing over time...

Monday found me back in The Gun Room @ the R.M.A Tavern to man the door for the Kent DuChaine gig. Kent is a great performer who I've worked with many times and never fails to give a great show. We had done a few ticket sakes on-line so I was feeling optimistic, however it was not to be! Unbelievably there was almost no walk- up and the end total reached only nine, yes nine! Usually we do three or four times more walk-up than on-line sales for this type of gig. For Kent who usually draws around 70 at Bullfrog gigs this was unbelievable! Kent went on and did a great gig, leaving nothing out and playing just as well as he would have to 90, a great tribute to his talent and professionalism. It was a last minute booking, a Monday night a different venue to usual but you still have to wonder what is going on in the world...


Dan At His Informal Session
Tuesday was yet another gig at the R.M.A. this time in the front bar with Walker Broad. Dan Ogus was running "an informal session" of acoustic music and had asked to join him for the evening. Also playing was Dave Auton, Ade Cull, Glen Malo and Dan Ogus himself. It was a very enjoyable evening with a great range of music mostly played acoustic literally unplugged (although our set was plugged in to balance the acoustic with the piano...) Look forward to more of these the next is on November 16th I understand.

Oh I forgot about the guitar lesson I gave on Monday! My new student Gavin is showing promise and is happy to go with my more philosophical non spoon feeding approach to teach finger style blues, I'll write more about that in another blog later, also think of making a guitar lesson video...




The Juke Joints
Thursday brought the Bullfrog at the Pier. The guests this month were The Juke Joints from Holland, they had last played the Bullfrog in 2003 and I new them to be a great act, however after Monday's turnout for Kent DuChaine I was feeling optimistic, JR had given them the option to pull out as it was their only UK gig of the tour, but they wanted to go for it, more power to them! They are great blues band with a full on sound, fronted by the drummer who sets his kit up on a portable podium at the front of the stage, all the musicians are top quality, the harmonica player doubles on cajun style squeeze box for a few numbers. well this time my pessimism was proved wrong! We had nearly 50 in not a huge audience admittedly but enough to give an atmosphere and to pay a reasonable amount to the band, they had come a long way! Their faith in them selves was justified! I have to say though the pier itself is slowly falling apart it's a great shame that such a fine resource is not better maintained. I think the Bullfrog is going to have to move venues to survive as more and more people are put of by walking past smelly bins, no lighting, etc. Obviously it's JR's decision, but I know he is investigating options. Good things could be happening next year!

Stage Set Up at Milkwood Jam
Friday the 5th. was Blue Graffiti at The MilkwoodJam in Swansea. We had been booked for this one a few weeks back, one of their first Friday blues nights as I understand it (traditionally they had blues on Tuesdays) I'd enquired after the gig after noticing that Dave Acari was playing there, I knew we would be compatable with an audience who liked Dave. We got a little worried just before the gig as up till the week before everything had been going well communications wise but suddenly I couldn't get in touch to confirm sound check times PA requirements etc. But it all came good at the last minute, emails suddenly got through, correct telephone numbers communicated etc. So we set off with great enthusiasm it was a three hour drive about 200 miles so we left plenty of time for problems. And what a journey it start drizzling just out of Portsmouth, then it just got worse and worse, some moments we could hardly see! There were accidents traffic jams all sorts! Chris kept me entertained with anecdotes about his former life in Wales and the sites would could have been seeing if the weather wasn't so awful! We stopped off in Porthcawl for a cuppa at Chris' dads, then made it on to Swansea, the satnav confused me complete referring to non existing roundabouts and telling us to turn into one way streets the wrong way, but we got there in plenty of time for the get in. In fact we beat the owners there :-) The venue is wonderful really nice room, great PA system, Carol, & Rich were really friendly. We got a great sound in the check, the dressing room was really nice with fruit bowl tea and coffee etc. All seemed to be going well. The bubble was burst by the turnout it was disappointing to say the least, but taking a leaf from Kent DuChaine's book I was determined to give a good show anyway and we went on a played a strong acoustic set. It well received by those that were there and every single one of them bought a CD and got us to sign it. Lets hope they spread the word. It's hard to work out why gigs like this go wrong, it hadn't made the venue website, but on the other hand plenty of posters went up. and they had had CD to play on the previous weeks. Maybe it was the weather? It was fireworks night as well so maybe people were otherwise booked who knows? All I know is next time it will be better!

There are always ups and downs in this business but in the words of Muddy Waters "I love the life I live, I live the life I love" so I just keep going and know people will join me when I get there...

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=28 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=28 Sat, 06 Nov 2010 13:12:00 GMT Here's and end of month update, some extra gigs have come in and also I've made quite a few upgrades to the infrastructure of my website.

Site News

You may have noticed that there was a link "news page" to a news page on the home page of the blues section of my website, if you ever followed this you will have noticed that the last update was in 2003! This old page was built by hand and even though there have been many improvements and updates to the site since 2003 I never had the time to keep note of them on this old page.

Enter the new news page system.

news.php


This one is database driven and will be much easier to maintain. Some things (such as new additions to the giglist) are automated so I don't need to worry about adding the same info twice. There's a latest news panel in the home page of overall site which shows the most recent article.

Also you can subscribe by RSS by clicking on the orange RSS icon on the main RSS page.

Here's a direct link to the RSS feed

newsrss.php
or

broadbluesnews

for a prettified version.



Along with the news system comes a Blog page for longer articles, they will be mainly blues related but I may post on any subject so take a look from time to time to see what I'm ranting about! These mails will be automatically posted to the blog page, with any links etc. converted into proper clickable links . Again there is an RSS feed.

blog.php
blogrss.php
BroadOlogyBlog


Gigs

A couple of interesting gigs have come in during the last couple of weeks so here's a quick update.

• Friday 29th October The Gun Room @ The R.M.A.. Tavern, Cromwell Road, Eastney
  Crosby Tyler (USA) plus Walker Broad.
  Admission £5.00 Doors 8:00pm
  

  Crosby Tyler www.crosbytyler.com/ is touring the UK during October/November and asked us to join him for his Portsmouth date. We happily said yes and will be playing a set of our original folky jazz blues based music. The Gun Room will make an excellent setting for this.

• Saturday 30th October
  The Fawcett Inn, Fawcett Road, Southsea.
  Burnt Ice
  Raw Funky, Contemporary Blues.
  
• Friday 5th November
  Milkwoodjam, Swansea, Wales
  Admission £6.00 see website for details
  milkwoodjam.com
  Andy Broad & Chris Shaw
  

  Were taking our energetic brand of blues down to Swansea, going to be fun!

• Friday 6th November
  The Brass Monkey, Fareham
  Burnt Ice
  Raw Funky Contemporary Blues
  
• Friday 7th November
  The Florence Arms, Florence Road, Southsea
  Andy Broad's Blues & Jazz Jam
  

  The monthly Jam comes round again, all welcome to play or just listen and enjoy Gregs fine selection of cider and ales.

That's all for now, see you at a gig soon!

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=25 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=25 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:35:00 GMT Here will be the blog.

Copies of the emails sent to the mailing list will appear here with any links made clickable (unlike the old news archive), also longer posts that don't fit in with the shorter more automated news page.

Like the News Page there is a RSS feed, subscribe by clicking on the RSS icon

]]> http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=14 http://webplus.broad.ology.org.uk/blog.php?blogid=14 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:53:00 GMT