This was yet another Saturday with two gigs. These two slotted nicely together - the first one was at Berkhamsted Town Hall which is about 60 miles north of me and the second was at Northampton which is about 50 miles north of Berkhamsted.
I've been to Berkhamsted Town Hall in the past and I always find it to be a pleasant venue. The house manager (Rick Kubik) is such a nice friendly bloke and all the rest of the staff just make me feel at home. They have even told me that if I phone them when I'm next coming over they will see that the piano is tuned for me. The event on this particular occasion was the wedding of Nicola Gifford who had booked me just one week before. Everything went well and quite a lot of the guests were musicians themselves.
The next gig was at the Sol Central Casino in Northampton and this was with Alice Harvey (the jazz singer that I usually work with). Jobs like this usually involve a certain amount of stress - first of all I had to find the venue and then I had to find out about the parking facilities and the logistics of getting my PA system and keyboard into the performance area. I've got to say, once again, that the staff here were ever so helpful - the doorman couldn't do enough to help me and it wasn't long before I had got everything set up. My next worry was whether Alice was going to turn up (I had forgot to take my mobile phone with me - so I couldn't get in touch with her), she had promised to be there nice and early (around 9-00pm) and it was now 9-25pm. Eventually  I went downstairs to the entrance and there she was (phew). There are two Gala Casinos in Northampton and Alice had been to the wrong one (typical). The rest of the evening was uneventful really - the staff were great but the audience was small and very unresponsive. I think they were more interested in gambling; and music was the last thing on their minds. Anyway, I had a good time - Alice is so easy going and is a dream to work with. I eventually arrived home at about 3-30am.

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