13th November 2013
Many of you will have heard the recent news that Pete (Way) has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I'm sure you will all want to join me in wishing him the best of luck with his treatment, and a full and speedy recovery.
Diary Update - 6th November 2013
Hey there everyone, it's that time again. Or it had better be that time again, as I have been home for over a week now and am just sitting down to write my diary update. It's amazing to me how much stuff piles up when you are away from home and how long it takes to put it to rights, but having said that, I am sufficiently caught up to be able to put finger to keyboard once again!
As you diehards will already know, we have just finished a very successful three week run of shows starting on the East coast of the USA. We kicked off in Poughkeepsie, then on to Amityville, where apparently the only horror was our bus driver Lefty's attempts at reversing the bus and trailer (more on him later). Next up was the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville - really good to see them back up and running again after their brush with hurricane Sandy. The show was great fun and I got a nice new t-shirt into the bargain.
From there we headed into the wilds of Connecticut where we met up again with our friend and often sound-man Jerry Carillo, or the leg-end-ary Jerry Carillo as he became known on this tour. In case you are wondering why, it's because he had a rather unfortunate accident recently and broke his ankle. Hence he was hobbling around on crutches (been there, done that), but still seemed in good spirits. He even took it well when a certain mischievous drummer, who shall remain nameless, altered his crutches to a height better suited to "Mini Me". The fact that he made it a couple of blocks before he noticed makes you wonder what kind of meds they had him on.
After a most enjoyable show in Norfolk, CT we bid farewell to Jerry and his charming partner Joan and headed to Springfield, VA, and then North to Toronto for two shows. It was about this time that Lefty informed us that his father had had a second stroke and that he would be leaving us after the Toronto gigs in order to visit him. Having not played in Canada since the 80s it was great to finally make it back. The two shows were a great success thanks to our Canadian fans, and we hope to be back again very soon. Also many thanks to the young lady who baked us the rather risqué cake at the first show, and to Tara, Nina and Pria (hope I got the spelling right), the three lovely ladies who definitely helped make it a night to remember. After the second show in Toronto we drove overnight to Massachusetts. There, Lefty duly left us (no pun intended) and was replaced by Chuck, a great guy and an altogether better driver, albeit a little difficult for the British contingent to understand as he had a thick Georgia accent. Fortunately, having lived in Texas for eight years now, I have developed an ear for the southern twang and was able to act as interpreter.
Special thanks must go here to the chef and staff of the Galley Grille in Westport, MA who kindly re-opened their kitchen on a Sunday night to feed us all with some excellent fish and chips. It was around this time that Kate, who had been cultivating a horrendous cold and a hacking cough, was caught 'twerking' and hence earned the new name of "Smiley Virus". Fall River's Narrows Centre is not your normal rock club setting, but it did provide some mid-show entertainment for the folks sitting front and center when Phil sat down amongst them and joined them for a drink. Not to be outdone, later in the show Rob leapt onto a table and proceeded to rock out amongst the beer glasses, great stuff!
Next stop NYC and a new venue for us, Stage 48. Good to see Don Jamieson of 'That Metal Show' once again, but noticeably absent was our buddy Eddie Trunk who was hosting a festival in Brazil. From New York we made our way to a sold-out show in Sellersville, PA. Many thanks to Allison and the staff of
the Sellersville theatre for once again making us so welcome. On to The Tangier in Akron where the audience are also seated. No table dancing from Rob this time but it was nice to see our buddy and winemaker extraordinaire Dan and his wife Lisa at the show. Thanks for the wine Dan, it was excellent!
Saturday night found us in St. Charles, IL for another sold out show at the Arcada Theatre. This is fast becoming one of my favorite US venues thanks to the efforts of Ron, Sherry and all the crew there. Also a special thank you to Mike Mulcahy who I met in the hotel bar in St. Charles. We got talking guns as you do, (I have become a bit of a gun nut since moving to Texas) and he delivered me some ammo which he guaranteed would "clear my sinuses". Well Mike, it certainly performed as you promised, in fact I'm not sure that I have any sinuses left after shooting it, and the ten inch jet of flame coming out of the barrel of my gun had to be seen to be believed. The noise attracted the attention of Joe the range master, who, as the center of my target was already obliterated, challenged me to see who could get closest to the number '9' above the center at 7 yards. Turns out this ammo was pretty accurate, too. Check out the picture of the piece of target - close, but no cigar, Joe, Andy smoked this one! 
A brief stop in Tulsa, OK and we were back in Texas, at Dallas House Of Blues to be precise, where my guest list was filled to capacity with friends and neighbors. I was also surprised to see our longtime friend and promoter Mark, who had flown in from England just to see us play in the US. I have known Mark since the 70s and this was the first time he had seen us play outside the UK. The show got off to a slightly rocky start due to the fact that, a) I had a different set list to the rest of the band (thank you Vinnie). I will leave you to figure out what the actual songs were. And b) the guy running the lights insisted on repeatedly blinding the first ten rows of the audience. This of course didn't go down well with them or Mr. Mogg, but after a few choice words from our vocalist, the problem was resolved and a great time was had by all. Our last show was in Houston and then I was heading home, thankful that this time it was just a five hour bus ride away and not a ten hour flight. I want to thank everyone who came out to the shows, also our crew, Eric, Barry, Mark (congrats on your wedding!), new recruit Wil (great job and excellent impersonations), Kate aka Smiley Virus (we are looking into selling a range of UFO surgical masks on future tours) and Chuck - thanks for getting us all home safe and sound! Other people to thank include Jim Beier who showed up in St. Charles bearing yet another fabulous snare creation, a picture of which will be on my website soon, Steve Lobmeier (your t-shirt is in the mail), "The Fabulous Miss Wendy" for opening several shows, and our very own fabulous Miss Wendi (Huntzinger) for all the help and goodies.
Thanks also to superfans Paul and Phil who travelled in and out of Canada to five shows on this tour, to Andy Gomez, who now has our signatures from his last visit actually tattooed onto his arm, to Kelly Timmerman and Gail Pereira who also came to numerous shows, to Steve and Helen Howarth who flew in from Manchester UK to the NY show, and to the couples from British Columbia and Nova Scotia who made the pilgrimage to Toronto! To all you guys, and to anyone whose name I've left out, please give yourselves a big pat on the back! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to seeing you all again very soon. Love and Peace, Andy.
Oh BTW, it turns out that Lefty's dad hadn't had a stroke at all, it was just that he had double-booked another tour and didn't have the cojones to tell us. Wow! The lengths people will go to. Don't worry Lefty, your secret is safe with us!
Lots more photos and reviews can be found on Tristan Greatrex's
Misty Green & Blue website - HERE.
Diary Update - 26th July 2013
There is an auction tomorrow (Saturday 27th July) at a Granbury TX restaurant to benefit the family of a Hood County Sherrif's Deputy, Sgt. Lance McLean, who was killed in the line of duty recently. I'm not sure if they are taking phone bids, but the number for information on the auction is 817 573-5040. (Fans in the UK have an extra 6 hours as TX is 6 hours behind the UK).Here's a link to Grumps' Facebook page for more info about the auction.
Diary Update - 2nd June 2013
Hi all! I'm not even going to bother apologizing this time. By now you all know the reason that it takes me so long to write these updates. I always start off with the best intentions, like "I'll do it as soon as I get home" , but it never seems to work out that way. When I got back from Europe at the end of March, I was sure that I would get straight to it, but then my daughter and her husband arrived for a visit, and that was that. I was of course very pleased to see them as they had been in South Korea for a year teaching English. As luck would have it their contract expired right around the time that the North Koreans started their sabre rattling, so it seems they got out in the nick of time.
Anyway as my old mum used to say, "better late than never", so I will begin by thanking all of you who came out and showed your support for the U.K and Europe shows. Once again you went above and beyond the call of duty and made the tour a real success. My thanks also to Forbitten, who opened for us on those dates. They did a great job, and it was a pleasure having them along. The London show was as always a blast, all the usual suspects in evidence, including all three of my siblings. As we hadn't all been together since '07 it made it a very special occasion. Unfortunately I didn't get to see two of my nephews, because according to their dad, they left halfway through the show because we were too loud. Considering that they are only in their twenties, I guess the immortal words of Angus Young, "If it's too loud, you're too old", didn't apply in this case!
Despite some horrendously long drives, the European dates went very well. We managed to hit a few cities that we hadn't played in a while and some that, to my knowledge, we had never played, plus a different venue in our home from home Hannover, so all in all a lot of fun. Thanks to all the promoters, local crews and of course to our crew for a job well done.
As some of you will know, we just got back from a week in Brazil. This was our second trip there and I'm happy to report it was even better than the first. Thanks to Marcel our promoter for making it such an enjoyable visit, and to Jerry and Rob (our techs) for taking such good care of us. The only down side for me was that while I was there my home town of Granbury, Texas got hit by a number of tornados. I was extremely fortunate however, my wife and dogs were perfectly ok, and apart from needing new roofs our property suffered minimal damage. To all of you who contacted the website expressing concern, and to those who made donations to the relief funds, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I will be leaving home in a couple of days, heading to Sweden, Germany and the U.K. I hope to see some of you at the shows, but to everybody, until the next time, stay safe and keep rocking! All the best.Andy
Diary Update - 17th May 2013 - The tornado in Granbury
I would like to thank everyone for their concern after an EF4 tornado hit my hometown of Granbury, Texas on May 15th. We were personally very lucky – the tornado hit a mile and half away from our house, and my wife, dogs and home are all fine. As you may know, I am currently on tour in Brazil, but I will be returning home soon.
Our hearts and prayers go out to our neighbors who lost their loved ones and their homes in this terrible occurrence. But we live in a great community, and we know that together we can help rebuild the Rancho Brazos Estates neighborhood and the lives that have been so badly affected.
Again, thanks for your concern. If you would like to help in the rebuilding process, here are several links:Habitat for Humanity, Hood County - Mission Granbury - Red Cross
Thank you, Andy
Diary Update - 18th February 2013
Hey All! Once again I am starting with an apology. I am sorry that it has been so long since my last news, but once again Chez Parker took over my home life to the point of distraction. Between trying to evict angry squirrels from the attic, keeping the possums from infesting the back yard with fleas, and collecting this year's bounteous pecan harvest, I have been kept buzzing around like the proverbial blue ar**d fly.
On a brighter note, the massive bathroom renovation is finally finished, and it came out rather well if I do say so myself (see pics, below, along with a photo of our three bathing-belles... or should I say a bathing-Belle, a bathing-Bonnie, and a bathing Poppy!) I am hoping to move on to the exterior this summer, weather and budget permitting! I will keep you posted on my progress.
Having got my excuses out of the way, I would like to thank all the die-hards who came out to the USA shows last year. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and I thank you all for your continued support. It was a fairly short run, four shows in the mid-west, and a couple of weeks on the west coast, but you really made it a big success. I hope we will be stateside again later this year.
There's nothing like leaving things to the last minute, and I am writing this between doing laundry and packing my bag. I will be on a plane tomorrow heading for the UK. I'm going from one bath to another, as our next tour begins on the 21st February - this Thursday - in Bath, England. I will be leaving wife, dogs and the Texas sunshine for five weeks in Europe, although, according to the missus, not until I have put up the curtain rods in the bedroom. No rest for the wicked! Bye for now and all the best.
Andy
