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The Journal Page is under construction.
| 31/10/2020: Crazy Halloween Happenings! |
| Some of you extremely observant Cats and Chicks have noticed that our very own Mick Jogger is now a Mick Jagged... Unfortunately, during a recent visit to an African tribe, Mick used the power of bees in a vain attempt to enlarge 'Little Mick', but instead became the victim of a curse. It seems calling the tribe's chief a 'Honky Tonk Woman', even though in agony, does not go down at all well. Mick will now continue getting younger, and possibly shorter, until he eventually becomes a single cell organism. Thankfully this is still some time away, and there is a whole lot of fun to be had with our 'new' improved Mick. So come on down Cats and Chicks, and check him out!! He's luvvvvverly!!! Alllllriiiiight!!!! |
| 26/11/2006: Play with fire |
| So, anyways, after a little break the wheels of the Clones mobile starts to roll again. This time it's a 60th birthday party in a neat little village in Suffolk. We arrive to a pub which for this occasion has donned a huge marquee. We arrive and set up in the usual manor and we all go and enjoy a nice cup of tea in the pub and warm our toes beside the fire. Ronnie seems very interested in the windows for some reason that the rest of us can't fathom out – he just tells us that it's a secret, hmmmm, cryptic! Anyways, after a few jokes and the odd scupper we get made some food, niiiiiice. The party gets going, and Myself (Bill), Mick and manager/soundman/boos-man Benson watch an inspiring documentary on a mountain expedition the rest of the guys are drinking/playing pool and in Keith’s case: generally walking around with a large brandy and coke and being happy cause his ears all better.... We all change into stage gear, and treat the awaiting audience to yet another set of Rolling Stones classics. |
| 18/11/2006: é muito bom estar aqui |
| All bleary eyed, travelled thru the night to get to Gatwick for a 6 am flight to our second home in Lisbon, Portugal. Check in, voodoo/airport lounge, coffee, waiting, more coffee, gate, take-off, coffee, snooze, land, baggage, customs, ciggy and then meet our driver Lou. On the road again in EARnest , with all the gEAR in the boot, and have to stop off and sEARch for a hospital for a few minor adjustments to keefy’s EAR. All sorted after a few misunderstandings and a massive €2 bill for treatment and then head off to Borba near the Spanish border for the nights show. We get to the venue and have some lunch and a look around while awaiting the arrival of Mr Binal boy, our trusted Portuguese fix-it man, Hosé. We head back to the hotel while our faithful servants, Benson and Hedges, stay back to help set up the gear and get the stage set. After out nap we head back and do out sound check. Spirits are high and the venue is set. We get changed and await the sound of The Who, that’s our cue…. We head out and the crack of lightning signals the opening chords, the audience get steamy and the systems red-line…. Another great success in our second home in the heart of Europe. Fantástico. |
| 17/11/2006: Steel Wheels |
| The usual schedule of pick ups, Benson and Hedges meet first, Ronnie and Mick meet at Charlie’s country estate to be picked up on the Lear-jet/Clones mobile. Keefy catches the bus EARly in London and Bill near Cambridge (the seat of learning!) Then all of us go to Potters in Norfolk for the rock and roll circus. Ronnie has selected a new house in which to fit his paintings, Bill still jet-lagged from his trip to Oz. We set up, do the usual tweaking and checks and then eat from the staff buffet. The show hitches up to shouts of ‘have a good one’ in the Clones tradition and we blast the awaiting audience to the sound…. Charlie treats us also to a cross hand drum solo extravaganza before the all deserved encore. Rock on…. Pack up and head off for the airport………. |
| 21/10/2006: have a good one |
| 21st October A full Irish breakfast and a few sore heads. A much needed refreshing shower and it was off to Belfast. By this time the top bunk in the van had become the last space anybody wanted (largely down to its high point of gravity and the not so smooth Irish roads) it was only about a 1 and a half hour journey to Belfast. after getting totally lost in Belfast despite playing there for years we arrived at the empire, a music hall steeped in tradition which you can almost taste as you walk in there. With a few hours to spare we booked in our hotel which is just across the road and went about our business. Ronnie, bill and me were first to go and check out the rusty zip (a retro hippie clothes shop) its clones tradition to do this .we spent quite a while in there rummaging through loads of stuff bought what we needed (me a black grandmothers top with pleated arms and bright gold buttons just what I wanted) then went for drinks in a coffee shop some girl had passed us flyers for .some time passed and Benson and hedges who had also been down to the rusty zip joined us. Benson was wearing the jacket he had bought which went very well with his new glasses and made him look like some big time manager from the 70s .on finishing our coffee and chat we walked over the road to the empire ,loaded in and set up. It was a while before Dee the soundman arrived so in that time we ordered food and planned tonight’s show. Dee arrived sorted out sound check lovely all ready to go we returned to our hotel to chill for a while. At about 10pm we went across to the empire which by now was rammed the stage lights were on and it looked totally different to how it had looked at sound check the atmosphere in this place is unbelievable this is the closest to being the real stones you can ever get. backstage the preparations were well underway Ronnie putting on make up, Mick star jumping, bill drinking (a little) Benson saying” are you nearly ready” more than twice and Charlie rearing to go. With a minute to go Benson and hedges left for front of house and we all waited eagerly for the intro. The intro came on ,the crowd roared and surged forward “have a good one” “cats and chicks guys and dolls the Rollin clones” full of energy we rocked the empire and the empire rocked us too .(as always) thank you Belfast what a night. soaked to the skin backstage we peeled off our clothes ,got changed and retired back to the hotel bar where we all sat around drinking and talking about the cool gig. One by one people went to bed leaving Charlie, bill and me. Bill bribed the barman for another round(well done that man) then we also went to bed. We all slept like lions that night with the roar of the crowd fresh in our minds . Night…! |
| 20/10/2006: well i never kept a dollar past sunset |
| 20th October A full Irish breakfast a little tweaking of the set list amidst Charlie’s jokes and its off to ballybofey near Donegal this is about 3 and a half hours so naturally it only took us 4 and a half .this was a new gig to us the balor theatre, so we were all intrigued as to what it would be like. after a scenic tour of Donegal courtesy of hedges our very own tom, tom we arrived at the b&b in good time to have a little sleep before going on to the venue. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised a lovely intimate theatre and the staff were very friendly they even looked like they had promoted it quite well (as is not always the case in different places)good sound check and off to a lovely Chinese restaurant for food and drinks. by now I was so fluent with my Irish accent the rest of the guys were well surprised. After a Good original folk/rock band we were ready to perform, the public address system announced “ ladies and gentlemen please take you seats for this evenings performance” the black intimate box room darkened with flashes of blue and red light highlighting the smoke on stage “cats and chicks guys and dolls” the rollin clones The crowd roared as we burst into jumping jack flash and all through the gig .we could tell that they were really enjoying the show and we were too. We felt connected. After the show we had a chat with the audience with Ronnie doing his best Camden market lingo and shifting quite a few cds (well done that man.) The people were really friendly and that’s always nice. loading out we were invited to stay for drinks by the lovely staff there which in the true tradition of rock n roll we did .after a few hours of chatting etc.. rock history lessons from Charlie and quite a few drinks we all loaded the van and retired to our b&b. I had a brilliant night that night and im sure everyone else did too. Tired and pleased that we had, had such a good show we all slept like hibernating bears that night and bears do snore don’t they (good job they were all in the same room then ) night! |
| 19/10/2006: on a steel horse we ride |
| 19th October Full Irish breakfast and some pills (of the painkiller variety) for Ronnie and bill and we were ready for the off. it was about a 3 hour journey to Galway . stopping for junk food and coffee on the way we made it in 4. Booked in the b&b but couldn’t get in venue till 6 o’clock so we had some time to kill. Charlie was worried about a drum skin or something, whilst Benson scraped the van reversing it up a very narrow alley (on his own may I add) Mick, Ronnie, bill and Benson had some sleep and hedges and me (rock climbing experts by now) went for a walk around the town. By the time we got back it was time to leave for the venue, tonight it was the quays ,all accounted for we set off in the clone-mobile. except Mick who met us down there . Loaded in ,set up, now this is no normal set up if you can imagine setting up on a huge church organ then that’s what it is like . The soundman was not arriving till 9ish so that gave us time to go and enjoy a lovely meal in fat Freddies a cool pizza place. Ronnie needed some stuff he had left at b&b so we tried several times to direct him there as it was only a short walk away. But to no avail the first time we directed him there ,5 mins later we caught him wandering back past where we were all sat.(cant blame him it was his contact lenses that he needed) in the end after sound check hedges took him back. We were not due on stage until 12 o’clock midnight so we had a few beers played a few jokes smoked a few cigarettes (outside of course)until it was time to go on. The smoke smouldered through the huge pipes of the old organ, the lights dimmed “cats and chicks guys and dolls the rolling clones” another successful gig was enjoyed by all that night. Leaving all the equipment there to collect in the morning and after a fair few brandy’s walked (staggered) back to b&b with bill, Charlie and hedges who were by now quite impressed with my Irish accent ,needless to say we all slept like logs that night except logs don’t snore.zzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
| 18/10/2006: ready for action |
| 18th October Full Irish breakfast and a lovely view . Everybody had there own bits to do Ronnie and Benson played with rons new guitar thing, Mick was on the phone ,bill in bed , Charlie laughing to himself whilst me and hedges decided to take a walk down to see the sea lions. on reaching the beach and discovering the sea lions were really surfers we decided to make our way back to the b&b via our own route along the cliffs with the sea crashing over our heads me and hedges climbed our way back just in time to help look for bill who was on the missing list. van packed and ready, bill paid and the other bill found we set off to Waterford our first gig of the tour. Arrived in Waterford, booked in b&b, went to venue ( stage 2 @ forum),set up and sound checked all great. The place filled up the lights dimmed and smoke filled the stage “cats and chicks guys and dolls the Rollin clones“ Cracking gig ! okay it was a Wednesday but we were warmly received (thank you Waterford looking forward to a weekend) ronnie drove the van back that night which is always good fun. we stopped off for food where there was a very drunk man singing very loudly he sounded a lot like Ronnie. with the first gig done and a full stomach everybody slept like babies that night except babies don’t snore (or do they?)zzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
| 17/10/2006: get ya boots on! |
| 17th October All met at Birmingham airport at 5pm bright eyed and not so bushy tailed for the start of our week tour of Ireland. all in high spirits and ready to go we boarded the plane at 7.00 and took off for cork. When we arrived in cork we met hedges (our driver ,manservant) at the airport in the clone-mobile (van) which had been turned into a mini Winnebago for the trip bunk beds an all. All feeling a little tired we drove to our place of rest a pleasant b&b on the coast, where we had shepherds pie and fish pie followed by lots of Irish coffee ,night. Zzzzzzzzz |