So this is the first of the mini-newsletter blogs which we'll be posting alternative months to the main newsletter (next newsletter will be out in early January)

Since Last Time 
It's been fairly quiet on the performing front with just the one open mic (Stan played a few songs at Chris Helme's Ruby Tuesdays night at Sotano) and the one gig - the AAM benefit at The Crescent. But what a gig, a really great night where we were joined by Carrie Martin and Atomic Raygun plus the inimitabe Hands & Voices choir. As well as having a brilliant time we raised over £600 for this top charity. Facebook users can see some more pics here.

The night before we went along to see our friends Vesper Walk in their new stage show Really Really Want at the Theatre Royal. What talented people they are, an excellent set of songs/performances telling the story of women coming to grips with middle age.

In September we were heading up for our 5th wedding anniversary trip to Edinburgh (where we played at the Bluebrd Cafe). On the way we stopped off in Alnwick at the Lionheart Radio studios and had a coupe of very enjoyable hours in the company of Charles Ells on his School's Out show. Here's an extract from our time there

And finally, in preparation for the change of season, Stan has adopted his winter plumage.

Coming Up 
We're looking at expanding into a trio and are on the lookout for someone to join us on harmony vocals and guitar. Fingers crossed.

A couple of dates booked before Xmas, on the 3rd we'll be joining in on the Live & Unplugged night at the Theatre Royal and on the 10th we'll be doing a spot of busking for local charity SASH at the Coppergate Centre in York. Beyond that we'll be aiming to get to one or more of the below whilst we get sorted for Christmas and our move of Mulholland Towers (moving to an apartment on the other side of York)

4th Steam Town open mic at the Falcon Tap
9th  Quicksilver Kings in Hull
9th Hardwired open mic in Driffield
12th Boss Caine/Mark Wynn at the Fulford Arms
13th York Buskers at  the Hop
20th  DWM Winter Solstice at the Crescent
23rd  Boss Caine Xmas Show at Fibbers
28th Cinderella at the Theatre Royal!!

It's been several weeks now since the last blog as we've been cutting down on the number of gigs we're doing. The plan now is to make the blog a 'mini newsletter', alternating with the bi-monthly Newsletter with the occasional extra one when there's something special happened/happening. So, expect an update blog-wise in early December and the next Newsletter in early November.

Here's a bit of an update anyway

Since Last Time
In early October we had a couple of gigs, starting with Toby Burras' open mic at the Flying Scotsman Tap Doncaster and a couple of days later down in north London at Boss Caine's Sundown Sessions at Aces & Eights. Both were very enjoyable with lovely audiences. We'll hopefully be back next year to play both again.

Coming Up (all in York)
21/10 - attending The Lungs ep launch at the New York Club, Blossom Street
10/11 - attending Vesper Walk's new show at the Theatre Royal
11/11 - our AAM gig at The Crescent with Carrie Martin and Atomic Raygun. Tickets on sale here

In July we were over in Chirk, Cheshire on a narrowboat singing some songs and this week one of the videos, Cold Wind, has been released. Came out pretty well. The rest of the week was mainly admin type stuff including putting together the night in November we'll be organising (and playing) to raise funds for York charity AAM (Accessible Arts & Media). It's on the 11th at the Crescent, York and at the moment the bill includes Jonny & The Dunebugs, us and the AAM Hands & Voices Choir. Going to be a great night. Tickets on sale soon. We've also tweaked the website a touch, adding a page which summarises the band's history to date - Gig Timeline

We did get out to sing & play though, this time we were joined by the brilliant bass player Kai West (Littlemores, Tooth) at York's Little Festival of Live Music. Nice crowd, nice night.

This week's gigs & things (26 Sept - 2 Oct)                 
WEDNESDAY - going to Waste of Paint gig Leeds?
THURSDAY - going to see Gracie Falls & Vespa Walk at the Little Festival 
SATURDAY - maybe going to see Savannah Betts in Newcastle 
SUNDAY - playing a set at Toby Burras' open mic at the Flying Scotsman Tap Doncaster

Next week (3 - 10 Oct)
MONDAY - playing a set at Sessions58 at the Century Club, London
TUESDAY - singing some songs at Boss Caine's Sundown Sessions at Aces & Eights, London
SATURDAY - chat and some songs on the This Is My Country show on BRFM radio
 

Last weekend was our fifth wedding anniversary and we marked it by heading up north for a couple of days of music, starting off on Friday afternoon chatting and singing on Lionheart Radio. We had a great time selecting tracks for Charles Ellis to play on his School's Out show and singing some songs live. We'll be putting up a recording of the show in a few weeks.

After the show we drove up to Edinburgh, what a great city. Spent a quiet day on Saturday wandering around the farmers market and drinking coffee before the short journey to the Bluebird Cafe where we met up with  Kylie Macgregor who hosts musical nights in her cosy cafe. A really lovely night and up there in our list of best gigs ever. Hopefully be returning next year.

This week's gigs & things (19-25 Sept)          
FRIDAY - maybe checkout The Howl & The Hum at the Crescent York or Fargo Railroad at the Trades in Rotherham
SATURDAY - gong to the Driven Serious gig in Newcastle? 
SUNDAY - playing York's Little Festival of Live Music

Next week (26 Sept - 2 Oct)         
WEDNESDAY - going to Waste of Paint gig Leeds
THURSDAY - going to see Gracie Falls & Vespa Walk at the Little Festival
SATURDAY - maybe going to see Savannah Betts in Newcastle
SUNDAY - playing a set at Toby Burras' open mic at the Flying Scotsman Tap Doncaster

Tunes in Two Cities gigs this week, starting off at the Fulford Arms, York (late venue change due to flooding at the Basement). A really good gig with a respectable crowd (in terms of numbers, and character :-) ) and excellent performances from the bands from Hull and York (Urban Rain, Happy Endings, Quicksilver Kings, Vinnie Whitehead and us)

On Saturday we were over in Hull at the Springhead for an encore. Again, great crowd great night. We're looking at making this a regular (annual?) event.

This week's gigs & things (12-18 Sept)        
TUESDAY - open mic?
WEDNESDAY - going to see Gracie Falls at Boss Caine's Sundown Sessions at the Fulford Arms, York
FRIDAY - live session on Lionheart Radio
SATURDAY - a gig at the Bluebird Cafe, Edinburgh

Next week (19-25 Sept)        
FRIDAY - maybe checkout The Howl & The Hum at the Crescent York
SATURDAY - Driven Serious in Newcastle gig?
SUNDAY - playing York's Little Festival of Live Music

This week's gigs & things (4 - 11 September)         
THURSDAY - Two Cities gig at The Basement, York  
SATURDAY - Two Cities gig at The Springhead, Hull

Next week (12 - 18 September)       
TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY - open mics?
FRIDAY - live sesson on Lionheart Radio
SATURDAY - a gig at the Bluebird Cafe, Edinburgh

We started the week with a return visit to Vale Radio, this time for Tony Haynes' FAB Folk & Blues Show. Unfortunately Ann wasn't feeling so well so it was a solo effort by Stan. It was great to chat to Tony and play some favourite CDs plus sing some songs live. You can hear the recording of the show here

Friday saw the release of a video we made earlier in the year over at the Peartree Sessions of Jarrod Dickenson's California

It was then a busy weekend, kicking off over Doncaster way playing a set at the Hatfield Chase Folk Festival on the Saturday. Sunday started with songs at Furley & Co in Hull before a sprint over to Larkin's Bar for their Ale & Music Festival.

We finished off the day back in York where we dropped in to sing a few songs at Vinnie's open mic at the Red Lion.

This week's gigs & things (29 August - 4 September)           
TUESDAY - first visit to the Blues Bar, Harrogate to play some songs  
Otherwise a quiet week aside from Ann's parents 60th wedding anniversary/party at the weekend

Next week (4 - 11 September)      
TUESDAY - Ruby Tuesdays, York?
THURSDAY - Two Cities gig at The Basement, York
SATURDAY - Two Cities gig at The Springhead, Hull

Been on our Hols 
We've spent the last week in Germany visiting friends and family in Hamburg and Wustrow (little town midway between Hamburg and Berlin). Ended up singing some songs to the family which has got us thinking of sorting out a couple of house concerts over there next year. With a bit of luck we can tie it into a spot at the Tønder Festival (Denmark) at the end of August. 

This week's gigs & things (22 - 28 August)          
MONDAY - Live session on Vale Radio (8.00pm) 
TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY - maybe an open mic 
SATURDAY - playing a set at the Hatfield Chase Festival in Doncaster 
SUNDAY - return visit to play at Larkin's Bar Festival in Hull 

Next week (29 August - 4 September)     
TUESDAY - first visit to the Blues Bar, Harrogate to play some songs 
Otherwise a quiet week aside from Ann's parents 60th wedding anniversary/party at the weekend

The Sesh
Wednesday, we had a rehearsal with Graham, pedal steel, for next week's Whitby gig (sounding great) then it was all about Saturday's Sesh - Hull's brilliant one day festival in and around Humber Street. We started the day checking out the Fully York Festival at the Fulford Arms where we caught Boss Caine's set before we all headed over on the A1079 to Hull. Lovely sunny day and a completely packed festival. Loads of great solo musicians and bands. We played on the Speak Easy Stage hosted by our good buddie Adam Brodie. Boss Caine played after us then we all skedaddled back to York to catch the end of the Fully Fest and the experience that is RSJ. Fantastic stuff.

Rounded off the weekend with a wander around the Fossgate Festival where we bumped into lots of lovely friends including Vinnie Whitehead who was running an open mic at the Bluebell. Sang a few songs accompanied by Harrison Rimmer on cajon.

Two more top gigs next week then we're on our hols :-)

This week's gigs & things (8 - 14 August)        
WEDNESDAY - supporting Charlie Parr [USA] at the Fulford Arms, York  
FRIDAY - supporting The Hot Seats [USA] at the Whitby Coliseum 

Next week (15 - 21 August)   
MONDAY-FRIDAY - trip to Germany to see family and friends
 

Thank You and Good Night
We played our last gig at the Orange Grove, Knaresborough on Friday. We started the monthly nights in January and have had some of our favourite musician friends joining us there. This time it was Waste of Paint from Hull. Brilliant as a 5 piece or duo (as they were last night), excellent songs with excellent performances.

Down By The River
We spent some time on Saturday and Sunday down by the river in York at the Artsbarge Festival,  It's always a great event, running over five day with music and arts for all tastes. Great to bump into so many musician friends and generally chill
 

This week's gigs & things (1 - 7 August)        
TUESDAY - Ruby Tuesdays?
WEDNESDAY - rehearsal with Graham (pedal Steel) for Whitby gig then maybe singing some songs at The Habit 
SATURDAY - playing the Humber Street Sesh

Next week (8 - 14 August)  
WEDNESDAY - supporting Charlie Parr [USA] at the Fulford Arms, York
FRIDAY - supporting The Hot Seats [USA] at the Whitby Coliseum