Keep up to date with all the latest news, gossip and information from the Big Girls Blues Band, right here....
2010 Funking Wonderful!
Well a lot happened in 2010 - there have been some new band members, some new instruments, a new PA, no new jokes, a new baby, a new hubcap for the Transit, some new band T shirts, a wedding, some new venues, new recordings , merchandising madness in the form of some Big Girls key rings - and even a few new songs in the set list.
Hey , lets try and put some structure on the chaos.
Band members
Well the Big Girls drum stool must be impregnated with chilli powder, because the movements (and I use the word loosely) in that area have been ..er... fluid. For quite a while we enjoyed the funked up Sardinian, Andrea on all kinds of tympanic craziness, but sadly (for us) in October he became a rock star with the Crystal Fighters However, lets not dwell on the past or the pissed, lets just say that right now we have implemented a drumstool jobshare duo with the lovely (and funky) Michele and Josh. Although this means doubling up on essentials like band T shirts and monogrammed underwear the board of management has decided it's the only way to preserve their sanity and certainly saves explaining to venues that a funk band without a drummer is not necessarily a bad thing, takes up much less space and, ;lets face it, a tambourine and cowbell being smashed against the wall by an out of work (and out of time) part time, trainee security guard makes a pretty useful noise. So - a massive welcome to Michele and Josh whose combined ability to phunk it up is truly phenomenal.Read their bios on this site if you would like to know more about them.
Next we must give credit to the delightfully dimunitive and funkily fantastic Alice who joined the band initially to do backing vocals and roll-ups but who now storms through such poetry as The late Mr Morganfield ' s "I just wanna make love to you " and Mable John's "You're taking up another man's place" with such grit and gusto that grown men in the audience have been known to beg her to step off the stage and stomp all over them. Not a pretty sight - but thats show biz.
We also want to acknowledge the major contributions from musos who have helped out at various gigs from places as disparate and desperate as a shopping centre in Braintree and Shannon, Eire (about which, more later). So thanks to Louise, Txako, and Melanie on vocals, Jac, Seb, Frank and Marc the sexy saxes and George on drums
Shannon, Eire
In May 2010 we were invited by Victor the owner to re-visit past glories and perform on a special re opening of the Fun Palace that is Shannon Knights. "To be sure" we said. It was fun last time ( see "Tour News" ....) and now the electric supply has been tweaked it may be slightly less shocking. Some band members could not travel on this occasion. Excuses were advanced such as "My goldfish needs to go to the vet", "My instrument is bent" or even " My wife still isn't speakng to me after last time...." . None of this daunted the Big Girls Management Team who swung into action and personally drove the Band Transit up to Holyhead and then down to Shannon, pausing only briefly in Dublin for a day or two and 17 pints of Guinness and a potato pie .The volcanic cloud threatened to ground the Ryanair flights for other band members but in the end we all got there. The totally terrific and sexily soulful Jane gave the fans in her homeland a night (and an afternoon) to remember - and that was just the singing. Nice one Jane. Victor was so pleased that we made it he said "The food and bar bill for the weekend are all on me...." BIG mistake Victor....VERY BIG MISTAKE.... Some band members whose drinking habits up until then consisted only of the occasional latte or Ribena suddenly launched themselves into a major tasting session of Irish Whiskeys with devastating results.It took all the lovely Julie's management skills to explain to Victor that "they will never do it again - promise.." and it took other band members (hitherto hidden) diplomacy skills to explain that certain rather aggressive horn players had no real intention of hi jacking the plane to Cuba and even if they had, they would be comatose before the aircraft left the runway. As a PS to this unpleasantness the band is now returning to Shannon at Victors invitation in May 2011. This time the bar bill is on the Big Girls..
New venues
There were several but by far the most fun was the Grosvenor in Mayfair where Alan and Rosemary made us all very welcome with (other venue owners please note..) free drinks all night and sandwiches in the breaks . A lovely host, a great venue but sadly now closed by the landlords to be turned into offices. Good luck with the next one Alan !!! A word about our new hunter gatherer that relentless, unstoppable force that is Peter the Greeter. Getting gigs for the band that are (a) fun (b) funky and (c) not for a hen night in an Eastern European massage parlour is no easy task The mission requires grit, determination, a fast car and a friendly smile. So well done and thankyou Peter - you have sent us to places we could only dream of - like Watford - to name but a few..Never stop believing .....who knows the management may increase your petrrol and felafel and hummous allowance?
Australia
Yes the Down Under fan club based loosely in the North Manly Bowling Club Bar has now held several meetings . No one knows (or cares) when or how many meetings there have been but members of the club report a massive increase in sales of Coopers and Rizlas which has to be good news for all of us. In fact, so impressed were the Big Girls management with the Down Under Fans' (thats "DUFS" to you) devotion to their duties that a special delegation in the form of Julie our manager and Roger her lovely husband (or maybe vice versa?) was transported to North Manly at massive expense, the final part of the journey being undertaken in a superb white car complete with Rego, built in cobwebs and hand carved window wedges. On arriving at the club the visitors were greeted by such stars of the green as Rat and Poobah sporting band T shirts and a Coopers in each hand. Wonderful stuff chaps;truly wonderful. Shame about the (non member) who snatched away the meat tray raffle prize from Roger and (we are sure accidentally) stomped on his nose.........Roger headed North and played some garden gigs in Byron Bay where he was joined by George on vocals, Pat on keys and harp and Edwin on bass not to mention (but we do) Lucy on bones. See the "Australia" section of our Gallery for some candid shots.
Nuptial News
 Yes on October 1 2010 Roger ( in urgent need of more management) wed Julie the Big Girls very own Essex Girl manager from Braintree. Paul and June the force behind the DUFS (see "Australia" above) sacrificed a night of Extreme Bowls at the North Manly Bowling Club to travel 12000 miles to Islington (and back) to be the wedding witnesses - and to drink and dance at Big Girls gigs at The Dignity and The Old Explorer and to eat kebabs in Stokey at 3am after the latter.... The Scottish busker from Islington Green played some gypsy guitar and after dinner The Big Girls funked it up Big Time - everyone looked fanatastically wonderful, although maybe that was the lighting!!! Guests came and went (some before midnight - shame) , Titan ate most of the food and foreign guests from Sydney, Shannon, Sardinia, Scotland, Switzerland and Nottingham finished off the booze. Roger rambled on and talked about his disfunctional childhood which explained a  lot about his taste in music and why he is knee deep in Da Blooz. The honeymooners played 2 gigs on consecutive days straight after the wedding (thats showbiz) and then headed for Memphis, Clarksdale and Chicago ..thats rock n roll... here's Julie doin' it with the locals in Beale St Memphis - and Lady "A" just doin' it at Morgan Freeman's Blues Club "Ground Zero" in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Baby Big Girls
.....................and finally, saving the best till last, Justin and Charlene became very proud parents of the Oh so beautiful Olivia who has already attended her first gig - in Braintree.. Welcome Gorgeous.A quick mention for Justin who has been on a flying visit across the pond and secured a US recording deal for his original music under his alter ego "J-FUNK". Check it out when it comes out - www.j-funk.biz
and that's all for now folks - more news as it happens in 2011
June 2010. New CD Added
Listen to our new CD recorded live at The Dignity, Finchley Central - May 2010. Added to the Downloads page here.
February 2010. International Fan Club News
 The boys and girls in the band were deeply honoured, moved and humbled to receive the unsolicited message below from 12000 miles away - even further than Limerick (see separate News Item....) - and consequently (actually more in fear that they might turn up at a BGBB gig....) have authorised the immediate launch of the NSW Branch of the BGBB Fan Club as requested er , actually........... demanded. A very warm welcome to them all.
It is hoped to hold regular meetings with tea, biscuits, a bring and buy stall devoted to the wines of Napa Valley and book swapping featured throughout. Meetings will be chaired by a dignitary of the Club such as "Rat", "Poobah" or possibly "Bucket" if he has recovered in time and will commence at dusk with a rendition of Redemption Song accompanied by solo lagerphone.
The Club Rules will be made up from time to time and promptly forgotten. Any unexplained stains on band T shirts however must be referred to Poobah whose decision shall be final (as always...). The Band has spoken. Let it be.
From: paul
Subject: BGBB NSW Fan Club
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 19:09:48 +1100
This was the inaugural meeting of the NSW branch of the BIG Girls Blues Band Fan Club
The membership was set at $50 p.a.
I had some slight difficulties getting the full membership dues, so I provided a one time only $50 discount, all were happy with that.
The members have some requests, actually demands;
1. this picture to appear on the BGBB website
2. T shirts for all NSW members
I think I did pretty well. Remember - the Beatles never got a launch of 6 members in their NSW fan club without anyone having heard them play.
PS Bucket AKA Rod came late & was too pissed/whacked to understand the concept, he was however happy to pay the full $50 membership subscription if he got the same discount as the others.
Paul
December 2009 - ...and you think you have problems.......?
The trials and tribulations of broken strings, a blown out speaker, a pedal with a dud battery, an illegible setlist and clowns who spill their pina coladas on the mixing desk pale into insignificance compared to the misery of Matteo our Italian sound engineer as exemplified in his email below...
"Heeeyyyy no needs to say sorry Justin, you have been rather cute... if you
see how I get told off at the restaurant(s) lately... eheheh I have in my
mind a sort of fuga in dolby surround of people telling me off all the time
eheheh
So, don't worry... that's fine for me.
Wednesday I have a test where they will ask something like: "why this salad
is called like that?" and "can you mention three ingredient in this soup?"
and if I don't score at least 90something % I will be sacked!
So, be happy...
See you in Irelaaaaaaaaaanddddddddd!"
To make up for the soup exam (did he pass or fail..........? Watch this space....) we have bought him an XLR/XLR 15m Snake and a nice pretty box to carry all our microphones and thus save the embarrassment of placing them in the old Kelloggs Box. Finally as a special Xmas present for us all we have taken delivery of our new Ford Transit Trend Van which has everything a funk band could need......like an I Pod connection and a coffee holder.....now all Matteo needs are the built in waitresses to practice his foreign tongue skills.....more soon.....
Autumn News 2009
Lets get straight to it…… Matteo, who we introduced in an earlier news item, has proved a sound engineer of such high quality, intuition, integrity, knowledge of pizza toppings, devotion to duty and all round electric performance that we even allow him to travel with band members in the van; reward indeed ! His knowledge of what plugs into where and which Night Bus goes to West Drayton is unsurpassed and a source of inspiration to us all. There is of course a Dark Side, and although full details and photographs would certainly not climb over your firewalls, we can disclose that Matteo’s Puglian ancestry has equipped him amazingly well with everything necessary to attend to the various (and sometimes curious) needs of Eastern European Waitresses from The West End to Watford Gap Service Station. Yes girls, tighten your girdles, girdle your loins and let The Prince of Puglia take you on a never to be forgotten Switchback (or should that be Humpback?) ride to show you the true meaning of a Romanian Candle or indeed a Polish Sausage. At present Matteo’s adrenalin glands are pumping at an all time dangerous level as he revels in the joys of our new digital Yamaha Desk with more oomph and channels than Coco herself. The Desk is soon to be followed by monitors more powerful than a lizard – so we are assured of breaking all council imposed sound barriers at the switch of a flick or possibly vice versa. At any of our gigs don’t hesitate to come and say “Buono Notte, Ciao, or Berlusconi” to Matteo as he does his thing. He is easy to spot as the one with the headphones trying to sell you a BGBB CD.
Now a news item so shattering , so absolutely unbelievable that some less resilient band members have sought medical advice, ingested far too many drugs and bitter shandies to cope with the trauma – Yes its true, Dek, our man with the bottom, we are talking hand carved, home grown bass guitar, the very reincarnation of James Jamerson himself, has turned his 2 cabs of 4 x 12’s into a rather neat coffee table and , for the first time in over 30 years gone and bought himself a new amp. For those of a nerd like disposition (and we know who you are...), its a Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 12T .... Its bijou, its 600 watts, and it’s the serious business. More important it does not tower over the band like the WTC, it fits neat and snug next to Alistair the spankiest drummer in any hemisphere you care to mention and together they get the band movin’ and a-chooglin’ in a way that would make the aforementioned JJ – and of course, Mr Please Please himself, the now mentioned JB – shake in their grooves , er – sorry, graves. The added benefit of the size of Dek’s new amp is that there is more room in the van for WAGS and , of course, waitresses.
As to the music, both Jane and Justin , our star vocalists, are very busy on other ventures singing, composing, recording, doing stuff at festivals and of course presenting an increasingly confident and soulful vocal front line for the BGBB. The BGBB setlist gets longer, there are plans for a new CD, a forthcoming tour of Southern Ireland (but who is brave enough and sufficiently qualified to ferry Barry’s sax across the Irish Sea…?), plenty of gigs at “new” venues including the Midnight Jazz and Blues Bar and The Kings Head (both in Islington), The Dignity in Finchley and continuing regular gigs at the likes of The Old Explorer, Jazz After Dark and The Crown in Cricklewood where we like to meet old friends and waitresses. As well as playing for you we like to bunny! – so come and say “hullo” next time you are at a gig – full list on this website of course.
More next time..but to whet your jaded appetites we shall shortly publish news of the lovely Alice and Txako who are not waitresses but almost certainly why Delbert McClinton sang " He keeps sending me angels....." and definitely a reason for checking out the vocalists in the band rather than seeking out the grizzled features of Senor Cojones who , whilst (like Txako) having Spanish blood in his veins also unfortunately has it on his knees, chin and elbows as a result of pretending he can play football; maybe stick to the air guitar Senor?.
Finally Roger would like to say that, contrary to all predictions, he did resist the totally beautiful and highly desirable vintage Tom Murphy Gibson Les Paul in New York when visiting the Apple in August……but why? Surely a snip at $5500 ?
May 2008
We are excited to announce that the wonderful – and hey, lets say it loud and proud – the beautiful Jane has now joined us on vocals. So now we have Justin and Jane, the “2 Js” upfront we plan to expand our setlist even further to include not only the lowdown funk of Lyn Collins’ “Think” but also an oh so smooth and sexy version of Randy Newman’s “Baltimore” . That’s just for starters – this could go anywhere and probably will ; after all, when you think about it and we do all the time, Motown – Cowtown - Trenchtown – Kentish Town – whats the difference?
If you want to know more about Jane come and check her out at one of our gigs. Favourite tipple to get her talking….. Baileys – (oh! Come On – a LARGE one !) - and one ice cube. All Big Girls Blues Band gigs are listed on our gigs section on this site. Jane’s first gig with us is Saturday 7th June at the Old Explorer. Mighty cushty.
Old News
 The Big Girls Blues Band gets a new band member in the shape of Adeola. Adeola has previously worked with Maria Lawson, the X Factor finalist and is currently working with Xan Blacq (Amy Winehouse), Randolph Matthews (Don Blackman, Michelle Escoffrey), as well as The Bridge Band and CK Gospel Choir.
Read her Band Biography here and also visit her MySpace page here and StarNow page here to find out more about our great new singer.
Melanie has now taken over as the band's manager .
The Big Girls Blues Band will be performing on behalf of Oxjam on the 24th April at The Cricketers Club, 71 Blandford Street, London, W1U 8AB. Call 020 7486 2635 for tickets @ £6 or pay on the day where tickets will be £8. Some of the proceeds are donated to Oxfam. Download the flyer here.
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| Saturday 11th February 2012 |
| Kings Head Theatre Pub |
| 115, Upper Street |
| Islington |
| London N1 1QN |
| FREE ADMISSION - 10pm to 01.00am |
| 020 7226 4443 |
| Visit their website |
| Wednesday 22nd February 2012 |
| Dover Street Restaurant and Bar |
| 8 - 10 Dover Street |
| Mayfair |
| London W1S 4LQ |
| 10pm -Free before 10pm |
| 02074917509 |
| Visit their website |
| Saturday 25th February 2012 |
| Ye Olde Monken Holt |
| 193, High Street |
| Barnet |
| EN5 5SU |
| FREE ADMISSION 9.30pm start |
| 020 8449 4280 |
| Visit their website |
Click here for a full listing.
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