SBG BLUES BLOG

Ratings: S - Sound, A - Audience, P - Personal, F - Food/Drink

	Datum		Ratings SAPF		Venue		Comments and Stories
JANUAR 2008
	10.01		8665		Rickenbackers*
	11.01		7887		Liliput*		This place works. Bernie, the landlord, has knocked a couple of walls down, accomodated his neighbours to gigs till midnight and lo and behold we have a good blues joint in Berlin!
	12.01		7888		Finekeller*		Good fun in Bauhaus land. V found the fans 'aufgekratzt', which roughly translated could mean 'all scratched up'. Anyway, they had a good time. Fortunately, this place is now being run by a landlady, so the latrines are more civilised!
	17.01		7785g		Kulturcafé		Quite honored to have some people come down from Denmark for this one. This was a dry run - gig without alcohol - so I did not sing 'One bourbon, one scotch and one beer'.
	18.01		7788		Rock Café		This was without a safety net. Americans would say 'a pig in a poke'. This phrase features in the original version of 'Close To You'. For some reason modern bluesers don't sing this line - except for me as far as I know. Gig was fine - pleasant evening. Had an interesting chat with a bloke named Thomas who knew me from my Hamburg days; in 1990 making a living from music in Berlin was tough (the wall stupid), so there I was plugging away in the german 'blues Hauptstadt' with all the other expats and local heroes. Of course the conversation revolved mainly around Moto Guzzi's but that's another story. Thanks to Rosemarie for running out and grabbing me some schnitzel.
	19.01		9999		The Ranch*		This was at short notice. We were supported by the Yard Blues Band from Zwickau, a family outfit featuring a twelve year old lass on bass and playing a lot of sixties covers. B enjoys these gigs where the folks like to dance around. We got some praise for our 'vielfalt' - multifacetted, nice compliment.
	25.01		7680		Live Club		It is extraordinary that I have never played here previously. It is such an obvious gig.
FEBUAR 2008
	01.02		7788		Killarney Oak		First time in this neck of the woods. The 'Tetley' tea bags impressed me the most.
	02.02		7788		Pub Big Ben		Bringing the blues to the Thuringia frontier. Lots of folks decided to skip the local 'Fasching' thing.
	08.02		7788		Nienburger Kulturwerk		A shoe-string gig.
	09.02		7787		Cafe Klecks		Been here before. Had some problems with the crate amp again. The input socket has worn out.
	21.02		6677		Felsenmühle		The promotion for this gig was almost non-existant. The audience were in no-way clued in, they didn't have a chance!
	22.02		8788		Café Carré		A few years ago this sort of gig would have been tricky. Friday night with a bar full of people expecting to listen to some cover rock. Some of them enjoyed the real deal.
	23.02		7877		Mirage		Pleasant gig in a place that seems to feature a lot of solo blues guys. Meat some officers from the 'Bundeswehr', they clued me in to Radio Andernach. The drive along the Mosel river was also up to grade. No reception for the mobile though!
	24.02		7888		Tom Bombadil Pub		Nice to drop in here again, although the landlady has been having some tough times. Had to zoom back to base after the gig to get ready for a swiss tour.
	27.02		8698		Desert Penguin**		B & T on the road with the trailer and the Marshall amp. This was a bit slow, especially as the birthday girl did not make an appearance. Luckily some fans made the effort, including the Hof connection.
	28.02		8788		Hotel Walhalla**		Another fun evening in St Gallen. 'Tip-Top' was the verdict from the House-manageress.
	29.02		8777		Pickwick Pub**		Thanks to the guy for fitting us out with a connection cable for a swiss electricity socket. This pub was so packed and some of them were really into the music.
MÄRZ 2008
	01.03		7958		dolder2 KultUhrBeiz**		This was a good day for 'shanghai blues' tourism. We spent a couple of hours at the thermal baths in Baden and later checked out the 'Rheinfall'. The audience at this gig were something special. Extremely engaged and responsive. The landlord played harp with us on a couple of songs, which was fine.
	02.03		6387		Noch Besser Leben**		We slept in 'Paradies'. The hotel was not so much paradise, though. Ever come across hotel without honey for breakfast? This was it. We left as early as we could - the bakery delivered at 8.30h. Then the long haul to Rosdorf next to Göttingen to pick up B's new guitar from Manfred at 'Manzanita'. Beautiful instrument, big sound - wow. Then another long drive (when are they going to finish the A38) to Leipzig. The gig was a bit of a non-event, welcome back to the land of Hartz IV. However, it was useful to stretch out into the big red dobro.
	08.03		6887		Blues-Musikkneipe		Thanks for the girls for squeeling the 'Kansas City' responses.
	12.03		8888		Marstall		Nice to have a good gig in BW.
	13.03		7788		Wirtshaus zu Asbach		Could have been better.
	14.03		8698		Brueckerl		See previous entry.
	29.03		8968		Fabrik*		This was more like it. Place was full, music and business was good. Manfred Pietrzok from Manzanita could not believe the frenzied atmosphere. Folks in the old BRD don't party like they used to! On the return drive V decided he wanted to leave the band - so we start looking for a new drummer.
APRIL 2008
	05.04		7788		Ritterhof		First time in this neck of the woods. Pleasant evening. The drive though, was a hassle.
	11.04		7688		Alte Schwimmhalle*		Nice part of the world.
	12.04		7688		Kultur DIELE*		See previous entry.
	17.04		7787		Wirtshaus Taglaching		Third year in Taglaching. First live outing of the 'Washing Machine' song. Before the gig, recorded a few songs with Carsten (he played drums on the 'Trouble In Love' album) - good stuff.
	18.04		8997		Acoustic Corner		This was good. My host, Erik Berthold, is also a musician and he has set this up just right for colleagues. Place was full, lots of fans, some good laughs - 4 hours just flew by.
MAI 2008
	01.05		8886		Kloster Altzella		Neat little blues festival deep down in Saxony. Weather held up and the dobros went down well. Here's a foto link.
	04.05		6565		Hofgarten Berlin Tegel		Berlin, Berlin.
	09.05		7888		Atlantik Pub		Usedom can be the place to be.
	10.05		7608		Schrääg Rüber		This was very 'Schrääg'. One guest insisting on providing harp sounds.
	17.05		7788		Kunsthalle*		The day after a recording session including 'Washing Machine', which seems to be an instant hit. Just like coffee. There were some interesting pictures in this gallery.
	28.05				Zum Uhu**		Ooops
	29.05		8888		Brasserie 17**		Long drive to this hostel/bar. The show went down well.
	30.05				Avivas Music Lounge**		Jamais.
	31.05		8889		tschuppi's wonderbar**		This was a crazy one. Two or three casualties, the best iroquois wig ever made and a party afterwards till half four.
	01.06		7878		Hummelflug**		Quite a change from last night. A cultural evening in Heilbronn, thanks again to Klaus for lining it up. Here's a link for his fotos.
	05.07		7768		Stadtfest*		Quite adventurous to have us for a city festival in north west Mecklenburg. The audience came and went, came and went. Sang a bit, danced a bit, drank a lot. We played till about one thirty, by which time we were into the sexy blues for all the ladies (with their husbands!). Afterwards we were treated to some good old radical right wing slogans ('die haben die Hosen voll...') and a couple of hours later an army of police turned up.
	06.07		7888		Forstbaumschule*		First time in this big beer garden. For once the weather let us down. We managed one set but then the heavens truly opened. This was Niklas' last gig with us so we say thanks man and good luck for the future.
	19.07		8788		Kulturbastion*		First time out with Johannes Stickel on drums. Neat gig.
	23.07		8608		Blues Bar		Bamberg has a hopeless traffic infrastructure and especially for my gig they dug up the city centre so it was impossible to drive to the venue. On top of all the hassle you get a parking ticket. Gig was ok.
	24.07		7708		Pepper		Culture time in the suburbs of Munich.
	27.07		8999		Brueckerl		Lovely beer-gargen gig with lots of blues fans.
AUGUST 2008
	01.08		9808		Blasiikirche		Beautiful Lutheran church in this extraordinary town stacked with medieval restoration. Acoustics were fantastic.
	03.08		8888		Kunst- und Kulturverein e.V.		Nice breakfast gig.
	16.08		4558		Marktplatz**		Old school in Rathenow. Good job the weather held up
September 2008
	07.09		8678		Kofferfabrik		How often do you get to meet pretty canadian opera singers? Just organise a gig here. But seriously, almost a home from home.
	08.09		8658		Strohalm		Right here on the front line of the live-music scene - and it's still kicking!
	26.09		8888		Zum Jungfernsprung**		Did someone mention the front line of the live-music scene. Udo's kepping the ball rolling in Thuringia. (Watch out for the dumplings for breakfast).
	27.09		8879		'Blues Respect' RECORD RELEASE PARTY Liliput*		Played all the songs from the new CD. Niklas was back on drums as part of his 'departure (abschied)' tour.
Oktober 2008
	21.10		7888		Green Island Pub		Nice to stretch out in an irish pub with a good audience
November 2008
	27.11				Blues Bar		Blues in Bamberg.
	28.11		7978		Schlosscafe Fussberg		Nice to see some Bavarian fans including Carsten Fabian, the Munich drummer on the 'Trouble In Love' CD.
December 2008
	05.12		7888		Literaturweinstube		Last time B played here it did not seem to work but this gig was more like it.
	06.12		8888		Carnaby		Quite a neat evening with people asking for Hooker - only too glad to play his stuff!
	21.12		9889		Funambules		Took years to get round to playing here but the wait was worth it.

*Pete Gavin & shAnghAi blues gAng.

** Pete Gavin & Pick Stevens aus Shanghai.