Nick Garner’s Music & Ramblings

February already! The year is starting to fly by yet again. it’s been pretty cold and miserable so far - and sad too, with the loss of a few greats already.

Have you been trying to conserve your energy this winter? I know I have, by not putting the heating on until really needed and turning off more electric devices than I would have done before...

Have you been to The Orange Tree this year? If so, you may have noticed a change - not only inside, but also with the new landlord and landlady being Max and Jess Castledine. They also successfully run The Queen’s Head in Boreham. Check out what they’re up to - it is worth a visit, with lots of great food as well.

Have you seen that awful shop that has taken the place of Loveday’s on the corner of Moulsham Street and Baddow Road? It looks so awful and does not fit in at all in my opinion. Hopefully the council are going to make them change it. I do think that Moulsham Street and Baddow Road are vibrant with their diverse collection of independent businesses which I think the High Street could look at, as people seem to like these smaller and more diverse shops.

All this cold weather has seemingly increased the number of pot holes, which I know our councillors are doing their best to keep on top of by alerting us where to be watchful. We also need to careful of slippery frost and ice on the ground and on our vehicles.

This year, the council has been busy with bringing back The Fling and 3foot People festivals, as well as having reopened the newly refurbished theatres - which they have also renamed... something I do not get myself.

Music

I have just been away to my first festival of the year at Butlins in Skegness, which was cold but also a lot of fun. I went with some good friends and met up with lots of old friends - some I have not seen for a long time. It was sad that it was the very last Rock and Blues Festival event here though apparently. The festival was a sellout. Of course, there quite a few mates playing who I photographed, and some we helped sell their merch as well.

I have also been to London for one day to the Americana Music week, which was a first for me. It was based in Hackney, and wow - I would love to see more venues like these ones in Chelmsford! There must have been about six venues very close to each other. Here, we have Hot Box, but a few more would be good, and within close proximity to each other. I think it clearly works up there with people going from to the other.

I have just found out as I am writing this that it’s all change at Allegro Music in Chelmsford. They are closing their guitar department and all others except piano and keyboard departments - but do not worry as they are reopening in a smaller unit on the Bringey Estate in Great Baddow, where the pine and antique centres were. They are also opening another keyboard centre there too. The shop in Chelmsford will be purely for pianos and keyboards now and they have told us that it will be the largest of its type in Essex.

Now to live music. It is with huge regret that I have to tell you that show with Chris Jagger is no longer happening due to unforeseen circumstances, although we do hope we can get Chris here in the future.

I am just waiting on some more date confirmations which I hope I can announce very soon to you. I am also working on some other shows as well as putting some acts together to play at Hot Box. So far we have Matt Woosey confirmed for June, and there is plenty more to follow. You can keep up-to-date with events in The City Times and the What’s On guide. You can also contribute any kind of event to the listing, as long as it is open to the public.

We kicked off this season with Nine Below Zero, and as expected it was a very busy night. The band brought with them Al Perez who is from Oregon in the USA. He was great, and one to watch out for when he is next in the UK. Following Perez, Nine Below Zero hit the stage and boy, oh boy, they were on fire! They played the whole of their Third Degree album, which is now 40 years old, followed by some of their classics. We want them back and they want to come back, so watch this space...

As this edition is coming out on Friday 3rd February, we have Led-IntoZeppelin playing - a great Led Zeppelin tribute act if you can make this. Then on Friday 10th February we have the Orbison Project - you will not hear or see a more authentic tribute to Roy Orbison. Dave Collison is just amazing and the band he has around him will just blow you away.

We are so lucky. We have so many great live acts coming up and they are all so affordable too. On 17th February we have The Overtures, said by Elton John to be the best covers band in the world - so he booked them to play his wedding! They also played Lulu’s 60th and have also played for Paul McCartney - Lionel Ritchie and Robin Gibb have both sung with them too. This is why they are still at the top after thirty years.

The next show is on 24th February and is a more of a supergroup with John Verity, who was the guitarist for Argent and Del Bromham who also formed the legendary band Stray. The band has come together to play some of their favourite covers and few of their own songs and to have some fun.

Finally, on 3rd March we have Martin Turner, the man who formed Wishbone Ash and sung and wrote most of the material. They are going to play the whole of their classic live album, Wishbone Live Martin has to call himself ex-Wishbone Ash, which is crazy when everyone says he is Wishbone Ash... His band is the best as you will see, so do come along.

Take a look at the advert in this issue to see some of the other amazing acts that are coming to play at the Chelmsford Social Club, and also check out Hot Box too, as they also have some amazing shows coming up.

If you have anything that you think could be of interest to our readers for either publication, then let us know at editorial@ itsyourmedia.co.uk - it may be an event or a topic of interest. Have you done anything unusual this year or last year, or are you planning something? If so, we want to know about it! If you know of someone who may wish to advertise with us, then please ask them to contact ads@itsyourmedia.co.uk and we can send over full details.

You can get tickets for our shows in Chelmsford from Intense Records, Hopsters and Chelmsford 4Good - please pay cash in person. Tickets are also available online from www.wegottickets. com/BlackFrogPresents, or via our ticket hotline at no extra charge: call or text 07508 496 411 and you can then pay at the advance price on entry to the show rather than the walk-up price.

For all Black Frog Presents gig updates and information, go to www. linktr.ee/BlackFrogPresents, or scan the QR code in the poster in this magazine. It would also be fantastic if you could share our magazines The City Times and Moulsham Times for us. We continue to publish both magazines online as well at www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia.