DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME;

'The Hills are alive with the sound of Love!'

- a Brecon diary by Caryne

Having a drink with Dukie, Caryne,Bootsie and Phil before the show--Photo by Dukie Anderson

This was a straight from work job, dashed out of
school, at 3pm, faster than the kids! Drive to Brecon
was quicker than I thought, it's really lovely around
that area, the hills looked amazing, just wished I
could have been staying longer. Found guest houe
(after noting 'Kebab Shop' and thinking of Mike!) Now
I've been vegan for around twenty five years, my mates
hadn't mentioned it to the landlady and she really
tried her best to think of something for me to eat for
breakfast - sometimes, when people are this helpful I
feel really awkward but there was no way I could eat
her 'sunflower spread' on my toast and the poor woman
couldn't understand why! No matter how often I said
it 'didn't matter' she persisted. Later she told my
mates 'there's no pleasing her!' - well, there is, but
it aint with sunflower spread! (And that isn't a 'Last
Tango in Paris' reference either, in case you were
wondering!!)
Had no idea where the venue was but figured in a town
that small it couldn't be far. Text Mike about drinks
etc (by the way, I text everyone lots, it's best to
ignore them unless they are important!!) be suggested
the bar at the venue and, as there didn't seem to be a
bettter option, went for it. My mates got a meal, I
found cider! By the way, the theatre was very
picturesque, overlooking the canal, newly built etc,
lovely.
Mike appeared and attempted to by a pint at the bar
(not before entrusting me with several pages of
closely written diaries which I'll be typing later),
the bar staff seemed to find him invisible so we gave
up and went upstairs (bigger bar). Now Mike was
committing the heinous crime of carrying a glass
bottle, so he had to drink that one very quickly and
then buy one in a lovely plastic glass (not a problem,
so it seemed). Disocovered the people of Brecon are
having problem with band identity, Mike had been
greeted earlier with 'Hello Arthur', so he's gone from
a 'Teenage Guitarist' to a bloke pushing 60 in a few
weeks, amazing what the rigours of touring can do to a
man?!!
Dukie and his mate arrived, camera appeared (my hand
can be seen on Torben's website!) and more alcohol.
Sadly missed Micky Gee (first support) great
guitarist, saw him in Cardiff, but beer/cider had to
be drunk. Mike went off for his (and Rusty's) guest
appearance with Chris Helme and we went into the
stalls (Nice to see Rusty shaking something!!)
Now me, I find it hard to sit down at a Love gig and
when I realised people were going to sit all the way
throuhg I actually felt physical pain, I felt caged in
my seat and though I enjoyed the show (and I'm sure
Dukie will have already posted the set list on
Torben's site) it wasn't till the one song encore
(they'd well over run the 11pm curfew) that I was
really happy when I got the chance for some jumping
around at the front - though I'm sure 99% of the
audience thought I was mad!
Too soon all over, bye to Mike and back to 'cosy'
guesthouse (noting 'Kebab Shop' still open, wonder if
he found it?)
Slept well then back to Bristol, screaming kids and a
wonderful two hours of pain at the tattooist from
where I have just returned. No more gigs for me till
April 2nd, can I wait that long....

"Pretty Boy" Mike, Caryne and Dukie

SCOTTISH ROSE RECORDINGS
www.thefreedomman.com

=====

Mike Randle
mike@lovewitharthurlee.com

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