Monday Night - The Zebra Bar, Maidstone

We’re back tonight late (about 1:30 Am.) from Maidstone. We played the Zebra club on their Maverick Magazine Showcase night. We had about 150 people there. We opened for a young folk-rock band called Wheeler Street. The audience was made up of a combination of mainly young fans of Wheeler Street (the band is mainly teens and young 20’s) and the older crowd that are regular followers of the showcase night. It reminded me of the Dick Cerri-World Folk Music Assoc. nights around DC in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

We did a 45” set, well received – got calls for encore, but we were already running late so thought we’d leave them wanting more. That’s where CD sales were supposed to come in, but they were surprisingly light tonight given the reaction. I’m learning however, that when you’re in the opening act slot here, the audience is coming with the main act’s merch in mind. We’re looking forward to some of the gigs that are our own.

We did meet some great folks, including Alan Cackett the editor of the magazine and some audience members that remembered Briana from her tour last fall – so that made it a mini homecoming.

Robert is doing a great job driving us around – I think I ‘m getting the hang of the left side of the road and the millions of “roundabouts” – seems pretty easy to get around. Some of the traffic around London and the outskirts is incredibly heavy and that’s the only time I think me driving might get a little hairy – anxious to try it though.