Mickeyboro

Feel free to tell us more about yourself!

So you are Fine Lines?

😁

Otis Jay Blues Band played an assisted living complex in Bournemouth. All good clean fun, got some people dancing in their seats and/or on their feet. My Elf and Barefaced One10 kicked it in the outdoors, and I am still enjoying my recently acquired Flea bass. It almost plays itself!

Bob Fish has gone but other singers still there - worth it!

Have just seen a version of UB40 supporting the Who. You could not have murdered the song as thoroughly as they did their set!

Great pic of you there Pete! The smile says it all… Funnily enough, when we saw you a couple of weeks ago we were sitting next to two of the drunkest people I have ever seen in a seated venue (Bournemouth). Perhaps you drive these folk to drink…😂 And, having driven back from the Who at Badminton late last night, I sympathise with your journey through the backroads. That nearly drove me to drink! 🍺

We are a blues band. I gigged my Flea Jazz for the first time last night, and when he’d set up our guitarist teased with the intro of Under The Bridge. At half time we were asked when we’d be playing it! Thankfully we didn’t try. Any similar stories?

Under canvas at our favourite Dorset glamping site. A couple who had just been touring the South said the Otis Jay Blues Band were ‘as good as anything we saw in Memphis’…praise indeed! it didn’t rain, the wind died down and we got free fish and chips. What’s not to like?😉

But the punters love it!

Come on Pete - you know it’s raining all over the world… tonight!😂

So it’s true…life is cheap.😈

His guitar pal Ray Russell posted this on Facebook: "There wasn’t a gap of two days between either Mo or I calling each other. Once he was with Frieda of ABBA in Sweden, I was in Italy with Greg Walsh we spent evenings on the phone from music to surreal humour. Fifty years has gone by from playing with Jimmy Helms in Spennymoor to now waiting by a bedside of a man brave in death. "I held his hand, kissed him, said my goodbyes and he fell into a deep sleep. Six hours later he had slipped away hopefully to join the famous others who have left us. From now on Thunder will be laughter and rain will be tears of joy. I know I will see him, the back of his head walking somewhere but I won’t shout out, it won’t be real. "I feel confronted by a sea of exclusion, where to jump. The person that made trousers flap and out the groove right in the middle and facilitated strong melody lines as his own songs and what we wrote together prove. There will be posts of what musical heights Mo achieved and he was a master but also a master at making the most awful things funny. "Most of all, he was the closet two only children have been brothers. I feel that a part of me has disappeared like a land slide, a voice I will remember I hope until it’s my turn. My Brother in arms, Fuzzy Bear, Mo-Jo. Two thirds of my life I have loved you and that will never change. On Earth you have educated people to the nature of musicians. And never suffered fools gladly. Your values and integrity were emblazoned on anything you wrote and played and composed. You said a death was like a library burning. Although this was symbolic, I can feel the heat from here. An empty chair, a lead waiting to be attached to the Bass and amp that will remain silent. But you will remain long past the song has ended."

Must check out, but I thought generally Dougie was pretty impressive and original - imagine being presented with those songs was a challenge to rise to!

I listened to Crime all the way through the other day. Still spellbinding. I interviewed Roger Hodgson a few years ago, and he and Rick Davies were rarely on the same musical page. Amazing therefore what was achieved.

But, Steve, I look at some of the gigs you’ve done and they make me jealous. If people can play music they enjoy, that to me is living the dream. I agree though, hats off to Spencer!

That is beyond sad… the man had a big heart, and even more talent. He offered me fretless lessons when I despaired of ever mastering it - wish I had taken up the offer. EDIT I liked his British Rock Guitar book and have just found more (unpublished) writings on his Facebook page. Shame we won’t get any more.