Juliet Turned Heads in Taunton

The Atrium,
Taunton College,
Somerset.
Fri 11th November


Juliet Turner, who was the winner of the 2005 Irish Meteor Music Award for "Best Female Performer, visited Taunton last night. One of only 2 UK venues (more in the new year) to promote her new "Live" Album. She had played at this venue before, but due to my ignorance it had been missed by this Blogger. Should be no worries this time. Given plenty of notice, and thanks to Graham,
I felt I was pretty in tune with her music.

Got to the gig in good time, along with good friends
Rob & Amy Howlett, at the venue SCAT.
(Somerset College of Art & Technology)
The stage & seating was set in what is called the Atrium, but which is in fact the student refectory. It was fairly busy already when we arrived, all the front area full. However it was of good size with plenty of seating round tables. Maybe 150-200 of us here eagerly waiting the nights entertainment.
We found seating towards the back, and had a pretty clear view of the stage. Beers in, perched on stools, and the lights dimmed.

Andy Lock The Promoter, (Apparently Juliet's quite pally with him, he's taken the photo's that are used on the "Live" Album) welcomed us all with the fire drill (and where to find the oxygen masks) and introduced the support.

Brian Houston A Belfast born lad. His set of 9 songs & an encore was very Dylanesque, with very amusing anecdotes.
A couple of numbers of note were
"I was a kid of the '70's" & "All the blame"
Get to see this guy if you can. He's very funny!

The lights went up. We all went for our loo & smoke breaks
( no smoking in school), replenished our glasses before the lights went down again.
Andy came back on stage to introduce the headline....

Juliet Turner

Juliet arrived onstage with a clean cut smart guy called Brian Grace
Not looking at all like what I'd been told or like the photo's I've seen of him. (check my photo link below) For the record Juliet was wearing a low cut sparkly top. The two of them perched themselves on stools, tuned their guitars, and then,

straight in to the set.

1 Dr. Fell
2. Sorry to Say
3. The Girl With The Smile
4. Burn The Black Suit
5. Season Of The Hurricane
6. 1987
7. Beyond The Backyard
8. Joy (a new one)
9. Pizza And Wine
10. Business As Usual
11. Pick a Story (I think ?)
12. Take The Money And Run
13. Everything Beautiful Is Burning
encore
Belfast Central

In between a few of the numbers Juliet gave us an insight to her life by relating on how she arrived at the next song. Some were pleasant, some sad, and some could even be classed as disturbing. But the way she put these anecdotes across, and along with the first-rate music, it all made sense.

Juliet even tried to get us to sing along with her on
"Take your money and run" with Brian taking one side
and herself the other. Although the response was rather
half hearted, it was certainly enjoyed none the less.

With all good things always coming to an end. It was over to soon.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening. I was able to have a few words with her afterwards on how I got to know of her, and her music.
(Thanks Graham, and she remembered you too)
and get my new "Live" Album signed.

Just think, I just might get to see her again

This could be love, so I'm off to Burn The Black Suit

Postscript: Brian Houston will be appearing here again on Fri Jan 27th. along with Amy Wadge.

A Home Spun Yarn

The ‘Homespun’ project was begun by Dave Rotheray, guitarist and song-writer with The Beautiful South,
initially as an outlet for his writing while the 'South were on sabbatical’. The original idea was simply to make home recordings, purely for the benefit of himself, his family and friends; no commercial release was intended. Dave had a bunch of so-called ‘fire-side’ songs (i.e. simple acoustic guitar-based country/folk music) that had been written in the previous year and which he was longing to record.

Sam Brown ( under-rated chanteuse, and famous daughter of Joe) became involved right at the beginning of the project as the first choice to take on the vocals.
Dave then enlisted the help of his musician friends, all boasting impressive credentials;
Tony Robinson took on keyboards, he had previously worked with the Super Furry Animals,
Gary Hammond then came onboard as the percussionist, he had previously worked with the Nina Simone band,
Clare Mactaggart then got involved, who has worked with Portishead, amongst others
& Melvin Duffy, who previously had been in
Robbie Williams band, works the pedal steel guitar.

The first musical offering from Homespun, was a self-titled album released in 2003. The album received a lot of positive press, and after touring they generated a loyal fan base consisting of fans, both old and new. Their second
Album "Effortless Cool".
was released in
July of this year

I had a very enjoyable evening back in January
with "Sam & Dave" at the
Marrs Bar in Worcester
when they Headlined
a gig along with
The Jayne Powell Band
and Eleanor McEvoy

So if you'd like to be warmed up on a cold winters evening,
get your credit card out and contact one of the venues below.

The Tour Dates announced for early 2006
are as follows.

Friday 20th January:
LEICESTER - The Musician (0116 283 5533)
www.themusicianpub.co.uk

Saturday 21st January:
WINDSOR - Windsor Arts Centre (01753 859336)
www.windsorartscentre.org

Sunday 22nd January:
BRIGHTON - Komedia (01273 647100)
www.komedia.co.uk

Friday 27th January:
PUTNEY - Half Moon (020 8780 9383)
www.halfmoon.co.uk

Saturday 28th January 2006:
MILTON KEYNES - The Stables Theatre (01908 280800)
www.stables.org

Sunday 29th January:
SWINDON - Swindon Arts Centre (01793 614837)

Friday 3rd February:
ALDERSHOT - West End Centre (01252 330040)
www.westendcentre.co.uk

Saturday 4th February:
GATESHEAD - The Sage (0870 703 4555)
www.thesagegateshead.org

Sunday 5th February:
SHEFFIELD - Memorial Hall (GIG CANCELLED)