No Lip at the UXB10 Festival.

We made it out for the night!

I've been looking forward to this for months; Pete Corse of 'No Lip' and his friends organised a two day festival in Uxbridge to raise money for the Macmillan Nurses and to give local bands a new venue.

We got a big stage, speakers and monitors....everything;

And all the proceeds went to a very good cause;

We got there late (I'm still a bit crotchety at the moment) but we were there in time to see 'Holy Faction' who played alternative punk and we liked them a lot;

This is 'Dog Rotten', young and full of action;

But I have to admit the highlight for me was 'No Lip', which shouldn't be any surprise if you've read this Blog for any time;

Straight forward punk sung at the top of it's voice in 3 minute bursts;

The band were a blast, even if the mikes were playing up by this time.

This is Pete Corse, who deserves a big thank you for putting on such a great night; 

And it really was a blast, as you can see;

Last band on were 'Rage DC';

We ended up staggering home at 12-30, at which time I could have done with my own personal Macmillan Nurse.

The second night is tonight; £3-00 on the door and 7 (yes 7!) bands including 'Girl in the Garden', who I've reviewed here before
.
I may not make that but if you're free it will be good.....it's at The Battle of Britain Club, Hillingdon Road, Uxbridge.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home:helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Uxbridge's Millstreams and the Canal.

By now I was getting bored and I drove around to the other side of Uxbridge, parked up and had a walk through the water courses.

Uxbridge is a big town full of office blocks and shops but underneath (and I mean underneath) there's a network of streams, rivers and canals.

This is the heart of 'The Colne Valley' which ends up at Colnebrook, the River Colne by us and then at Staines Moor before it flows into the Thames.

Except it isn't one river, its a collection of streams that split and combine all over the place.

At Uxbridge there were once a series of Mills, most of which have been converted to offices or restaurants. Underneath, the streams still flow even if some go through pipes every so often.

I've even tried to follow them on a map or Google Earth and failed.

Some end up flowing into The Grand Union Canal which is where I ended up walking along the towpath.

Many of the narrowboats still have traditional designs like this fine lettering;

The canals were built in the 18th century, had a short spell before the railways came along and took most of their trade.

In the 1920's, the Grand Union was created by merging several canal companies into one in an attempt to get big enough to compete and modernise.

The main branch is from London to Birmingham but this is the Oxford branch which runs through Slough and Uxbridge on its way to Town.

I stood a while on the bridge by the lock, watching the water squeezing through the lockgates;

The guy in the blue boat wasn't too sure of himself. As he left the lock he collided with the boat on his right then bounced back hitting the wall of the lock before colliding with the lock gate as he emerged.

Meanwhile he forgot about his partner who had been struggling the lock gates for him so he had to reverse into the bank which involved another collision so that he could get her back on board. She wasn't too happy about it.

Of course, I wouldn't be any better myself but it was very funny.

I like the idea of these lost streams, just as I like following the course of London's many lost rivers; The Fleet, The Tyburn, The River Moselle, The River Westbourne (Westbourne Grove!), Stanford Brook, meanwhile in South London which I don't know so well there is The River Effra (Effra Road).

Most ended up in underground drains, some are in pipes which you sometimes see when you are travelling on the Tube, under a bridge or you hear them bubbling under metal grates in the road.

Sometimes, you just see the damp in the walls of a building!

In medieval times they were important water courses, used for drinking water, sewerage or a way to catch a boat.
Life went on around them or was about getting over them without getting wet.

Now they usually end up as a drain coming out of a wall in the Thames Embankment.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The power of Soul at the Three Steps, Cowley.

 

Valentines night....we headed out to The Three Steps, Cowley. It's actually a 1960's designed Pub, on three levels. Each level is an octagon, the biggest with a tiny stage.

It's a community pub and it's been expanding its facilities recently - including live music.

You couldn't do better than go to see 'The Power of Soul', a six piece we love. They play an extensive range of soul classics including some of the instrumentals made famous by Motown and Stax.

It was great music played by some seasoned professionals, although the guitarist and drummer were new faces to us.

After a couple of solos in the last set, the drummer got a well deserved burst of applause.  

 

 

The whole Motown/Stax inheritance can easily fill an evening, everybody loves it and not just the obvious soul fans dotted around the hall. With three sets and a set list as long as your arm, 'The Power of Soul' never fail to cheer everybody up.

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 



Power of Soul - Oh yeah!

Friday night - you don't really want to know what the last ten days have been like.

We jumped in the car and headed for The General Elliot in Uxbridge for a taste of 'The Power of Soul'.

Here's what they have to say for themselves;

       Originally formed in 1988 by Glitter Band sax player Harvey Ellison  and

      founder members Gavin Barnett (bass ex Albert Lee) and Ted Cullen
      (trombone ex Scratch Perry) have kept the flag flying for Classic Soul
      music and with accomplished accomplices in Adrian Barry (vocals), highly
      acclaimed guitarist Steve Kempson, plus George Lee (alto sax ex Jimmy
      Cliff and the Amboy Jukes) all powered by the drummer’s drummer the
       amazing Mac Poole (whose Soul background included taking over the drum
      stool in top Birmingham Soul band Locomotive to let  his pal John Bonham

      leave to try his luck with Led Zeppelin).

 
                                  

Think Motown, think Stax - in fact the opening few numbers were classic instrumentals from the world of Blues and Soul.

Then the Soul began;

All the greats of 1970's classix soul, played by some great instrumentalists;

                                                 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com