7/11/04
Another mad day, two gigs in the same day again! First off it was down to Regent Street in London for the turning on of their Christmas lights. Having supported Jamie Cullum at last years’ Regent Street Festival, the organizers were so impressed with our performance and the way we got the crowd going that they asked us back. As it was the 50th anniversary of the Regent Street Christmas lights they had a band representing each decade since since 1954. Guess which decade we were representing! The whole party wrapped up with a performance by Busted and Samuel L. Jackson was on hand to turn on the lights as he was in town for the premier of the Incredibles.
Then we drove like bilio down to Warmwell on the South coast for our first appearance at the Party Weekender event. This was the last night of the weekender and if the whole thing is that much fun, we’ll have to stay the whole weekend next time. We played the slower end of our repertoire and the floor was packed. Its good to see an Essex boy doing well, so thanks to Darren and Leanne and all the other helpers. I got to have few dances myself and it was good to see the “Grease” battle of the sexes where the boys and girls line up and have a “sing off” to the Grease medley, then Darren ended the night off with the good old Okey Kokey in good old Essex party style — I could have been at one of our bass player’s family Christmas parties!
31/10/04
Hanging out with the big cats today! We performed at the annual Saint Hill Charity concert which raised £30,000 for three different charities. On the bill with us was Broadway star James Barbour, jazz trumpeter and movie music scorer Mark Isham, living jazz legend Chick Corea and the Soul Man himself, Isaac Hayes. What a show! We enjoyed an interesting conversation backstage with Chick and Egyptian drummer Hossam Ramzey about rhythms based on 13 and 17 beats, I think we’ll stick to four though. After the show we were greeted by the 30 plus mayors that were in the audience from all over the country.
30/10/04
Due to circumstances beyond our control, our schedule seemed to pack a weeks worth of gigs into one weekend. Therefore today, we did the mad and seemingly impossible thing of driving from Sussex all the way up to Wrexham in North Wales, did a full set at the Dance Jive club and then, literally, run off stage into the van still in our stage suite, drive 40 miles down the road to Bodelwyddan Castle (a beautiful place, by the way!) for the Jive weekender. We jumped out of the van, and almost straight on stage after the Cadillac Kings. We pulled it off though and had great feedback after both gigs.
14/10/04
Quite a bizarre yet fruitful day considering we didn’t have an official gig. Vince and Pete had the opportunity to jam with the Reverend Alvin Mckinney who used to play sax for MC Hammer and currently plays with the Jumpin’ Joz Band and also a trumpet player who’s been featured on 6 Grammy winning albums. The informal concert was for two kings from Ghana no less!
13/10/04
What a fantastic gig at Rusty’s Rhythm Club! We had the highest attendance since her opening night 3 years ago and great fun was had by all. Ian even got hoisted onto someone’s shoulders for the final Swingin’ All Day duel. You can check out our crazy antics on Rusty’s website (www.swingshiftontap.com). We then popped round the corner to Jerry’s “Famous” Deli (hey, they say it’s famous so it must be!). It was quite a winner in the milkshake department, especially the pineapple milkshake which has come in a close second (to last weeks blueberry milkshake in Phoenix) in the Jive Aces milkshake test! Also, the Jive Aces Burger LawTM was also further tested and proven to be correct (if you are wondering what this is then ask us next time you see us).