29 April 2008

What a cracking gig in the Isle of Wight on Saturday.
Our sincere thanks go out to all who made it possible,
especially Dave Edwards and his team at the Ventnor
Winter Gardens, Lofty and his crew from Codex PA, Mark
Lear for doing the lighting, Mick Burrows for driving
the band mini bus, Nicki & Terri at the Brunswick B&B,
and last but definitely not least, the fantastic
audience who came along on the night to see the show.
What an atmosphere they created! A lot of effort went
into putting the gig on but when you have a night like
that it makes it all so worthwhile.

Mind you, after a long journey down, loading in,
soundchecking, doing the gig, getting to bed at 4.30am
after a load of post-gig Beer and Scotch, getting up
early for the Full English Breakfast, and then doing
another 7 hour door-to-door journey home with all the
lugging about of kit that had to be done.... I must
confess to feeling a bit knackered since!

One other thing to mention about this show is that the
filming by IPTV has come out really well apparently.
They rang me today to say the 'rushes' looked great and
they are now going to proceed with editing etc. This
will take about six weeks and at the end of it not only
will they have a programme to broadcast, but we'll have
a top notch 'DSOTW Live in Concert' DVD!

Finally, as one gig finishes another one appears on the
horizon, and we're back at one of our very favourite
places next month - Stoney Stanton Social Club. The
date of the gig is Saturday 17th May (FA Cup Final day
to those that know that kind of thing!). Tickets are
with the venue now and can be bought or reserved by
calling Jim Bunting, the clubs Ents Sec on 01455
272492. We look forward to seeing you there, and to
another great gig!

Steve
DSOTW

23 April 2008

Latest news on our show in the Isle Of Wight this
coming Saturday is that an Internet TV station have
approached me for permission to film Saturday's show
for broadcast in the UK in about 6 months time. The
filming will be done using high definition
multi-cameras - something we've wanted to do for ages!
The company is called IPTV and they run the 'UK
Entertainment' channel. They have two centres of
operation. One in Barcelona and somewhat bizarrely,
another one on the Isle Of Wight! They also run a
channel that broadcasts on terrestial TV in Spain
called 'Mediterranean International TV' and our concert
will be broadcast there first apparently. IPTV will
provide us with a finished DVD of the show and hope to
do some band member interviews on the Sunday morning
(if we get up early enough!) which they can inter-cut
with the concert footage.

IPTV will launch their new set top boxes in about a
months time and firmly believe the way forward in this
home entertainment digital age is for a joint internet
and television service via broadband onto your tv. They
have already done a couple of recordings at the Winter
Gardens, including the recent International Jazz
Festival, and they came out superbly so fingers crossed
we'll have a nice end product to use for ourselves too.

All we have to do is a 'levels check' before the doors
open - and of course, PLAY EXTREMELY WELL!

If you're coming along we look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers
Steve - DSOTW

08 April 2008

Only a couple of weeks to go until our return to the
Isle Of Wight. And we can't wait!

We are performing at the Winter Gardens in Ventnor on
Saturday 26th April (tickets/details can be had by
calling 01983 857581). The doors open at 8.30pm and
there's a bar until 1am! We hit the stage at 9.15pm.

We're busily trying to arrange all the logistics for
the journey down and as usual, we seem thwarted by
mini-buses! Every time we book this particular one
through a friend something happens to it! We found out
last week that some teenagers decided that it would be
a cool idea to repeat last year's trick and nick the
mini-bus from it's Birmingham compound - and then torch
it! No chance of the insurance being sorted in time so
we've had to seek more costly options with our singer
Mick ringing up everyone he knows in the West Midlands
transport industry! With seven in the band, plus a few
partners and crew we have to take a mini-bus, a van for
the band's gear, plus the PA company's van. Thankfully
the venue have a sponsorship deal with Red Funnel
Ferries so at least that part of the journey's paid for!

Anyway, all being well, and not too much out of pocket,
we should be at the venue by around 2.30pm in the
afternoon. Plenty of time to get the gear in,
soundcheck and book into the B&B! If it's anywhere as
near as much fun as last year we should be in for a
great weekend.

For more locally based people, after this show the next
one is back at the Stoney Stanton Social Club on
Saturday 17th May. A few people will know, but for
those who don't, Jim Bunting, the ever busy and most
hard working of promoters we're ever likely to work
with, suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago. Anyone
who goes to Stoney Stanton Club will know how much
effort he puts in to make the venue a success - without
him it simply wouldn't happen. I saw him last weekend
when I went to take the tickets, posters etc over and
though he obviously went through a very scary time,
thankfully he's loads better - which is a real relief
as he's a top, top bloke. He claims he's now having to
"cut back on the bungy jumping and the leaping off
wardrobes". I say, "support the club and stop him
having another one!"

See you soon!

Steve
DSOTW