Mojo - Classic Rock

My apologies folks, just got time to apologise for lack of updates here.
Yes at last I have got off my backside and put other work to one side to try to catch up here!

September – What an excellent month with some great fun gigs! Well – we thought so! No doubt we would be told if otherwise!

• 4th – We visited the Arrow in Yeovil. What an excellent venue! New to us and a great place to play.
• 5th – Excise House, Weymouth. Always a pleasure to visit this venue.
• 11th – The York Inn , Exmouth. This place is alway busy busy!! Great people and great fun!
• 18th – Winyards Gap – between Crewkerne and Dorchester. Toby and Michelle made us welcome and the locals are a great bunch of folks – look forward to going back on Christmas Eve!
• 19th – Golden Lion, Weymouth. What a night!! Not sure what got into the folks down here – we had a great night! Busy busy!!!!
• 26th – The Squirrel Inn at Laymore on the Somerset Dorset border. A new one on us and a private party! great fun and excellent venue to play!

Well – that’s September gigs and we had a fun month. Many thanks to all involved!

Sunday came in a “little” damper than Saturday – in fact it poured down at times and it’s such a shame when you get down to Poole Quay, at the Lord Nelson, to see the guys out on the front doing their act. Congratulations guys for sticking it out in the weather…

Yes we were down in Poole, filling in for a band unable to turn up. What an excellent afternoon it turned out to be as well! I guess the rain kept more people IN the bar than outside – Thanks to the Lord Nelson for getting in touch!

However – we did have to push off as soon as possible to get to Lyme Regis and the Royal Standard. Fog dropped down on us at Askers – only to be expected I guess!! However we got there and set up – what a great little venue!! We did have to strip down the gear a bit to fit in but the response was excellent! Thanks to Jess and the folks for a great evening.

Well, Saturday 29th August 2009 came and what a day!! The weather was fantastic – not too hot and certainly not cold and what’s more it was NOT raining as it did last year!!

Hobo Jones

Ska Wars

Bands performing during the day were as per the T-shirt order! (web links where found)

• The Crew – and I believe two of the members were married at Hewishstock, then went on to play their set!! (unfortunately we were too late to see them) Wish you both all the best for the future!
• Aiden Simpson – a young man with a great future with his own songs, I believe
• Barry Paul as Elvis – always an excellent set!
• Mojo, yup – tha’s us!
• Bill Smarme and The Bizness – great new lyrics to some well known songs!
• Hobo Jones and The Junk Yard Dogs. Get along to see them!! Totally “off the wall” and brilliant!
• Ska Wars. The energy and enthusiasm these guys have is unbelievable! Again – if you gat the chance – go see them!
• Final act – Martha’s Vineyard – They have been at Hewishstock for a number of years and I don’t know how many! (I’m sure they may tell me). They have a huge following in the area and they were well in evidence here! It seems that this is their last appearance at Hewishstock. Sorry to hear that guys.

Finally – just want to thank all organisers for the excellent day – and arranging such good weather. (Pity about the Sunday!!) Also thanks to Ben (from Martha’s) for sound engineering – excellent job! Same goes to anyone connected with the running of the day!
Any better web links required – send them on in to mike@finding-the-time.co.uk

This weekend (15th and 16th August) saw us out at two venues – one in Yeovil at the Westminster. What a great crowd in there!! Always up for a sing-song and dance – great stuff. Thank you to the Westminster.

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Poole and The Lord Nelson. A friend of mine, local Dorset photographer Jonathan Gooding, said he was going to bring the family down to see us. His son, Max, plays guitar. This lad is possibly just in his teens (sorry Jon – can’t remember what you said there!) and he had the guts to come and ask to have a go! Tony always said that when he was young no-one ever let him “have a go”…so he let Max play his new guitar..

Max came up and “had a go” and what a go!!! He played Sunshine of Your Love, the old Cream number and was brilliant. He got a huge round of applause from the pub and one member of the public actually snapped him on a mobile phone!

Great stuff Max – keep it up! See also Mike Finding-Online.com!

We also had a young lad named James come up at the end to “have a go” on the drums. Although he wasn’t quite ready to play with the band yet, he will soon I’m sure. Well done James!

1/08/09 The Crown Inn, West Bay Road. Great evening with a great pub! Simon runs an excellent centre for local live music and his website shows a great listing of local band talent….and people who visit the Crown clearly love live music – we had a great time and look forward to the next visit!!

Thanks for a GREAT evening!

Last few gigs not mentioned so far in July -

• 10th – Golden Lion – first one here and an excellent place to play!
• Following day, Sunday, Nelsons down on Poole Quay. I would think that was around the time that summer officially ended!! It was a wonderful summer day and loads of people out enjoying the sun!
• 18th – Beehive in Bridport – private party and what another great night! Best wishes to the young man who threw the party – I believe he’s off round the world?? Or did I get that wrong?
• 24th – Exmouth at the York Inn – well this place never fails!! Party night was all you can say. The roving mike is a bit of a hit with all who like to excercise the vocals and several ladies came up to sing as well!!
• 25th – The Excise House in Weymouth….a cracking venue. Bit quiet this time out, but maybe that was the time of the month? Never the less always a great place to play.
• 30th – Nelsons Ale House, Blandford – this is a place that is great to play. Paul is great to the band and always gets a dedication!!

All in all and excellent month! Many thanks to all venues…see you again soon.

Cattistock village, deep in the heart of Dorset, quiet, almost sleepy you could say. Believe me you would be wrong!

The Fox and Hounds in Cattistock is a beautiful old building with thick walls and intriguing small areas off the main rooms. Absolutely excellent and it is also home to a great set of connections to HMS Cattistock if my eyes were correct. Check out the HMS Cattistock Affiliations here

The Landlady, Liz, welcomed us in and showed where to set up – out in the skittle alley. Sound could be a bit strange out there – wooden floors and stone walls, low ceiling…? Who knows?

We were slightly late starting, but it was evident that Cattistock is NO sleepy village when it comes to enjoying themselves!! A BBQ was on the go in the back yard and people began to arrive and make themselves very much at home – it’s very obvious that Liz and Scott have an excellent pub! Sound was definitely NOT a problem as the Fox and Hounds made us VERY welcome. The floor had people dancing pretty much all night!

A bit of rock and roll later in the evening and the place went mad! This was one excellent gig and we really look forward to going back in October.

Than you Cattistock for a great evening!

3rd of July saw Mojo down in Sandbanks at the Haven Hotel! Yes we were asked to play at a wedding and it was an excellent gig. The hotel is fantastic venue – right on the front next to the Sandbanks/Studland ferry. The hotel manager came to let us know about a sound limiter – never a good thing for the gear if they are set low or very sensitive.

The guests took a little while to warm up in the bar next to the ballroom but as soon as the disco (my apologies here as I never took note of names of ANYone) kicked in properly then it was quite obvious that they were there to party!

When we started our first set several young lady guests took charge of the mic and Tony’s hat!!

The roving mic seems to bring out the performer in a lot of people and “sing-along-with-Mojo” is fast catching on at gigs now! Brick in the Wall being one of the favourites!!

Great gig, great disco (wish I knew their names – if you read this, guys – drop us a line/comment!), great people and many thanks to the family for asking us to play! Best wishes to the bride and groom!

Oh – the sound limiter never budged once!! And Tony’s hat just survived being passed round several young ladies!

(Ps – apologies for not remembering names!)

How remiss of me to not mention gigs in June in a bit more detail!! Still – I AM getting used to this!

Great start to June, despite the weather!

Excellent night at the Bikers gig at Gore Cross on 6th June. Was it really that long ago!

Amy Winehouse tribute was excellent as was the 70s Glam Rock band – Diamondogz an excellent night was had by all I would suggest!!

Wedding at The Lord Leaze Hotel Chard!

A week later we were playing at the Lord Leaze Hotel in Chard at an excellent wedding! The bride looked lovely and they all danced their feet off – including the 2 or 3 little ones who stayed the whole evening – I bet they were done for the next day! Thank you for an excellent evening.

The Westgate Inn, Taunton

First gig at this Inn for Mojo in its present form and what a great evening! We look forward to a gig with the Westgate again as soon as possible!

Well, last few weeks turned out to be a busy ones!

2nd May – Tanners in Bridport. Wild night in here – always a pleasure to play this venue. It seemed to be an evening when not much else was going on and most of Bridport ended up here! Great night!

8th May – Quicksilver Mail in Yeovil – party time here as there were two events on at the same time. Busy or what!!

10th May – Good to return to the seaside and the Excise House! There was a whisper that the sound police were in. Sure enough a guy with a noise thingy was wandering around all night. I think he actually liked what we did as well!!

Exmouth – always an excellent venue to play with great characters who love to get up and move it all around! The York Inn is near the town centre just off the front. We have never seen any trouble and I guess that’s down to excellent management with great door men. Always a late return home but always an enjoyable night!

Bradpole – The Kings Head. THIS little pub never ceases to amaze!! You arrive and start to set up while people are eating with families and all ages. First time I walked in I thought “We’re gonna DIE in here!” NOT so – this place heaves and the locals love our music. I guess they love a lot of music (!) but it’s always great to play where you get a good response and this is it!!

Great weekends and looking forward to more in all these venues!

I have to say that none of these venues have websites of their own, apart from one. Shame as they could be helped by just a little nudge on the net. Maybe I could introduce them to a local web designer!??