From Wayne: After a hale and hearty Premier Inn breakfast (they have crumpets!) and a shower and a preen in the mirror I joined Parker, Graham to you, at the waiting pink Rolls for our drive across from York to Buckley. After loading our baggage, Parker has a rucksack and I have more luggage than Lady Penelope takes on holiday, we hit the road. Leisurely. I snooze in the front whilst Parker obeys Ethel (shes our Sat Nav) in her instruction ignoring all road signs to the contrary. We have ended up in some strange locations because of Parkers reluctance to think for himself. Anyway, I digress. And Im not being fair to Parker, Graham to you, as he has driven very well on this tour and has gotten me from a to b on a regular basis with no dramatic occurrences aside from attempting to smash the passengers side wing mirror off on passing road toll booths. We basically have two CDs in the Rolls, which, besides long periods of listening to Talk Sport Radio on AM radio (side note: how can the biggest sport radio station in the UK still be on AM? Every time we go under a bridge or pass a field of cows it sounds like the Concorde is landing), the CDs being the excellent Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls and SOCAR by yours truly. We alternate the CDs but Parker has now taken to asking, no, demanding, that we play the instrumental version of SOCAR. I think, after hearing me warble on for more than two hours each night, he maybe getting a little bored of my voice. He doesnt say so, hes too kind for that, but that is what I am beginning to suspect. Oh, we also have an album given to me in Winchester of a whole CD of Bob Dylan covers by the legendary Julie Felix. I shared a dressing with Julie in Winchester a few weeks ago. She was playing upstairs whilst I was downstairs, of course. Always in the gutter looking up at the stars. Anyway, when it was time for me to go onstage Julie had already started her show. My rider was left on a table in the corner of the room with a big note on it saying property of Mr. Hussey. When I got back to the dressing room 2 hours or more later after my show someone had stolen my nuts and chocolate. I always like an après show nibble on some Cadburys and some nuts. Good for the energy. I was astounded. Who would deny a boy his nuts and chocolate? I hate casting aspersions but Im afraid that as I was sharing the dressing room with Julie (no bucket that night, see, chivalry isnt dead) there is only one conclusion I can draw. And when I had finished my show and returned to the dressing room Julie was there and packing to leave and, lovely lady that she is, gave me her CD of Bob Dylan covers. We said our au revoirs and it was only when shed left that I noticed my nuts and chocolate had also left the room. So, because of this scandalous episode of the stolen nuts and chocolate I cannot bring myself to play Julies album in the Rolls. It may well have been someone else that snuck into our dressing whilst it was vacated and thought, mm, nuts and chocolate. Ill have that!, in which case I proffer my profuse apologies for any defamation of character and tarnishment of professional reputation suffered by the very lovely Julie Felix. I do hope our paths cross again someday. If only to ask her about my nuts and chocolate. OK, gotta go now as I have a shower to take before we travel the last 100 or so miles into Madrid. More later. Right then, sat in the dressing room in Madrid, just finished soundcheck. What a mad, crazy, busy city this is. And big. Our friend, Manuel, came down to soundcheck with his lovely partner and their six month old baby son. What a lovely little charmer he is, and the baby aint bad either. Good to see Manuel. He is a long time fan who has become a friend through the years but disappeared off the scene and now I know why. The powers of procreation and becoming a daddy will do that to ya. OK, where was I? Oh yes, Buckley. Well, we drove over there from York and checked into yet another Premier Inn just outside of Runcorn with, we anticipated, a further 20 minutes or so drive onto Buckley after I had coiffed my hair and chosen what glad rags I would wear that evening. We set off at 4:30pm, plenty of time, or so we thought, to arrive at the venue, set-up, soundcheck and have a little relax before show time. We pulled onto the M56 and immediately it became a parking lot. Didnt move for 30 minutes so we asked Ethel for an alternative route and once we crawled to the next exit we, well, exited. Only to find that everybody else had had the same idea. Anyway, to cut a long story short we ended up taking over 3 hours to get to Buckley, arriving just before doors were supposedly opening. In a mad rush we set up and soundchecked whilst the poor people waiting at the door waited in the rain. Apologies for that but it was certainly a case of circumstances beyond our control. The Tivoli is a big barn of a place, certainly for a solo show. It would be great for a Mission/Blood Brothers show so lets see if we can maybe make that happen sometime in the future. The gap between the stage and the audience was about as big as the whole of The Fulford Arms in York so it felt very strange being so far away from the audience after the previous evening when they were so close they could they could smell what Eu De Cologne I was wearing. For those interested its Acqua Di Parma. And the thing is, and most musicians will attest to this, but when youve done a great show the night before its invariably a little bit of an anti-climax the following night. And so it was. Through no fault of my own or the spartan crowd that was there. We tried valiantly to raise the roof together but the roof was a long way up. It took us less than 20 minutes to drive back to hotel after the show. Of course it did. Next morning, up early, Parker carrying my luggage to the waiting Rolls and off we merrily go to Edinburgh. Of course I instantly fall asleep in the front, its the best sleep Im getting on this tour, I think, because of the movement of the van. Im like a baby that wont sleep that you need to put in the pushchair and walk it around until it falls asleep. Ah, thats what I shouldve done before I got the sleepers. I shouldve got Parker, Graham to you, to drive me around the block for a few hours every night after the show. At least it would have ensured I got at least a few hours shut eye. I wake and were in Scotland. I have to say that every time I visit Scotland I always marvel at how beautiful it is and resolve to take Cinthya there for a holiday sometime. But we always end up in a Buenos Aires, or Rome, or Paris. Which aint bad either, if truth be told. And Edinburgh is probably the jewel in the Scottish crown. Of course the evening we were there Scotland had just won their Euro qualifier so the streets were full of rowdy cavorting staggering celebrants and quite rightly so. I hope Scotland do qualify as I do Wales too. Couldnt care less about England but the powers that be will ensure we qualify as its good for the coffers of FIFA. Anyway, getting out of Edinburgh after the show tested Ethels abilities to calculate alternative routes as nearly every street we drove down was blocked off by partying Scots folk. In the end we had to ask a policeman as Ethel let us down. I dont remember much about the Edinburgh show, but the evening was distinguished by perhaps the most emotional moment of the whole tour thus far. A few days previous a friend (take a bow, Mr Pepper) had emailed me and told me the story of Kevin and Ali who used to follow The Mission around as members of that clique called The Eskimos back in the late 80s. Anyway, Ali and Kev got together, got wed, and soon a beautiful baby girl was born to them who they named Tanya. And then, sadly and cruelly, Ali was taken by breast cancer. Butterfly On A Wheel was Alis favourite song. Kev came to the Edinburgh show and brought with him his now grown up little girl, Tanya. I dedicated Butterfly that evening to Ali, Tanya, and Kev. And whilst I played the song Tanya was dancing with her dad, Kev, in front of the low stage and tears were a-flowing. It was hugely emotional, I believe, for everybody that was there and Im not ashamed to admit that I, too, had to fight back the tears whilst singing and playing. It is moments like this that make any hardships endured worth it to be able to create and perform music. And then sleep......... To be continued.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 11:29:05 +0000
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