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Tobe - Slick 50 - Dixon - Mitch - Manny - Steve - Rachel - Guitar - Keyboards - Bass - Drums - Violin - Boogie, Blues & R&B in the South East.
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No 58 - Medway Bridge Marina - 20.08.10

In the chandlery this time, we cut down on gear and found we had a great sound.  This is one of our favourite gigs and the audience was up to their usual standard in the clapping, drinking and sarcasm departments.  We all enjoyed the BBQ [however the chef that I brought with me has some suggestions as to how to improve some aspects of the incineration process] and are looking forward to the gig on October 30th where we expect to see some outrageous costumes.
Announcement: After his 3rd stint as bass player with the band Mr Slick has decided to call it a day and go off to do his own thing again.  Of all the bass players we have had he has always been the most dynamic and will be the one our fans miss the most.  He played like a demon at this gig and we are very sad to lose him.  Look out for the 'Goodbye Mr Slick' party coming up soon, invite only of course.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 57 - Drakes Cork & Cask - Maidstone - 29.07.10

Despite any missgivings about the acoustics before we played this was a fun gig and the sound was fine.  The audience were there to listen to music and enjoy themselves.  Many thanks to all the dancers and great to see so many young people getting into our band.  Can't remember how many shirts it was that night for our animal at the back, several I should say.  Looking forward to our return.

No 56 - LDF Charity event at Westleigh Heights - Basildon - 18.07.10

It was a lovely day despite looking a bit rough weather wise earlier.  We were short of two key members so we cast about for a competent bass player in order to keep Dix on the keyboards.  Unfortunately we got Dick instead.  He was obviously on [heavy duty] medication and although he played all the right notes they were [for the most part] not in the right order.  Dick billed himself as 'the best bass player in Kent' but we were playing in Essex where I assume the standard must be much higher.  We had a very fraught time setting up.  Dix lent his P.A. to the guys doing the sound for the dancing as theirs had packed in.  The only part of our P.A. that gave no trouble was the main power amp.  Both monitor systems failed and so we made the duff decision to switch 2 of the main speaker outputs to the out front monitor bins, of course we were deafened and had to change it all and put the main bins behind us for the 2nd set which then restricted our overall volume.  Dix played most of the bass after the first set and as the only guitarist I worked really hard for a change.  It was a bit strange playing as a three piece after all this time but at least we could hear each other.  Dick Turpin got the hump and went to the pub.  Poor old Dix had picked him up and had to take him home again, we left after him and kept a lookout for a body or a large pool of blood beside the road.  When we saw nothing we assumed that Dix had taken a different route.  Mitch and I did an Amy MacDonald song 'Mr Rock & Roll' acoustic - guitar and voice. To our surprise we were asked to play an extra set and invited back for next year.  The keyboards kept going off while we were playing and it turned out that there was nothing wrong with the gear it was the generator.  Lessons learned.  The weather stayed lovely all day and overall it was a great event.
Here is a copy of the letter from Moira regarding the event:
ldf letter


There are a few missing here due to me allowing my personal life to impinge on band things - I will try to prevent this happening in future.


No 46 - The Six Bells - Cliffe - 30.04.10

This is the gig we will always remember as 'the one that Dix forgot'  We were all set up and realised that he was a bit late, very late in fact.  Phone calls were made and he arrived while we were playing, we kept going while he set up his gear, creeping around trying not to look conspicuous.  It was great when he suddenly came in on the keys, reminded us of why he is in the band.  Great gig, thanks chaps.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 45 - The Good Intent - Rochester - 03.04.2010

This was the gig with no Slick, could have been right dodgy especially as I was as deaf as a post [still got the bloody virus after 15 weeks!] but it turned out good, after a slightly shaky start.  I apologise for cocking up the first song.  Dixon excelled himself on the bass and everyone loves Rache and her fiddle.  Jackson was brilliant and Mitch really got into Mollys Chambers and of course we forgot the break, silly us!  Steve was bloody awesome again and the 'buggers at the back' had a fine old time playing on the fact that I couldn't hear a thing, they still made me laugh though.
Highlights: Harry and his mate falling over backwards while dancing [or something close to dancing anyway], Dixons 'Bass Solo' in Baby Jump, Steve getting up and playing the pub furniture, Mitches boots [both of them], someones silly giant glasses changing the settings on my amp when dropped on it, and Dixon playing another makeshift cardboard box after I forgot the proper one [again].
Thanks to Karen for booking us so many times and thanks to a wonderful audience, love all the dancing.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 44 - The Steampacket - Strood - 13.03.2010

Blindin' gig, brilliant audience, my band were just fantastic, I'm proud of them all.  Thanks to Fliss for booking us again despite the fact that she could have had Eric Clapton for only  28 times our fee!
Highlights: Slicks guitar amp doing a damn good impersonation of  a short wave radio being hit by lightning, one of the staff failing in her suicide attempt [you need to jump off the roof, not the bar], Steve Fishers wonderful comment "I really loved the way you did 'Milk & Alcohol' man"......Manny and I looked at each other and I said " wow man!  If an imaginary song is that good what were the ones we really did do like?"  Steve was thinking of 'Sex, drugs & rock&roll', Dixon playing a crisp box 'cause I forgot the proper one and Steve changing his shirt [3 times!].  We call this a '3 shirt night', thought I'd mention it just in case anyone gets the wrong idea.
Cheers, Tobe.

Mick Green:              22 February 1944 - 11 January 2010 

Mick Green didn't like to boast about his prowess as an instrumentalist, yet he was one of the most influential musicians to come out of the British Isles in the early 1960s.

While The Shadows' lead guitarist, Hank Marvin, pioneered a clean sound, Green, who joined Johnny Kidd & the Pirates in 1962, was a gutsier, louder, raunchier, more exciting kind of guitar hero.

He managed to simultaneously play blistering lead and staccato rhythm parts on his Fender Telecaster, a trademark style that would soon be emulated by The Who's Pete Townshend and Wilko Johnson of pub-rock legends Dr Feelgood, and was greatly admired by Slade frontman, Noddy Holder. Though Green became a Pirate two years after Kidd's British No. 1 "Shakin' All Over" – a mainstay of The Who's repertoire throughout the Sixties and early Seventies – his driving guitar epitomised the band's high energy, high-octane approach, on stage and on their subsequent singles, including their storming covers of Arthur Alexander's "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" and Bo Diddley's "I Can Tell", the Top 20 singles "I'll Never Get Over You" and "Hungry for Love" – all issued in 1963 – and "Always and Ever", their last chart entry in 1964.

Green subsequently joined Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas, and later plied his trade backing Engelbert Humperdinck in Las Vegas. Kidd died in 1966, but Green reunited with the Pirates mainstays, the bassist and vocalist Johnny Spence and the drummer Frank Farley, as a back-to-basics trio a decade later. The Pirates proved a natural fit with the pub rock and the punk generation and enjoyed success with their own Out of Their Skulls album in November 1977 and the Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival, a double set documenting a three-week event at the London pub venue which also featured The Wilko Johnson Band, The Stranglers, XTC, X-Ray Spex, The Saints, 999 and Dire Straits, which was released in March 1978. Over the last three decades, Green occasionally performed with The Pirates, but also recorded and toured with Paul McCartney, Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry, an indication of the reputation and standing he enjoyed as a sideman.

Born in Matlock, Derbyshire, he grew up in Wimbledon in the same block of flats as Spence and Farley. By the mid-Fifties, the three boyhood friends had grown into teenagers, in thrall to the skiffle craze, and were eagerly trying to figure out the chords to Lonnie Donegan's chart-topping version of "Cumberland Gap". They quickly formed their own skiffle group with fanciful names such as the Wayfaring Strangers and the Ramrods.

Green was the inquisitive type and backtracked from skiffle to the blues of Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters. He also studied classical guitar for 18 months. His playing was inspired by the American guitarists he admired, Chet Atkins, the Johnny Burnette sideman Paul Burlison, and especially James Burton, whose feel and sound he successfully emulated and moved on into a new era.

He was still at school when Kidd hit with "Please Don't Touch" in 1959 and "Shakin' All Over" the following year, and became a Pirate when he replaced Johnny Patto in March 1962, two months after Spence and Farley had come on board. A stint at the Star Club, the Hamburg venue where The Beatles had honed their craft, helped the powerhouse trio to develop a near-telepathic understanding and Green blossomed as they opened with their own 15-minute set before backing Kidd, the swashbuckling front man, who wore an eye-patch and used a cutlass on stage.

"We didn't have a rhythm guitarist and our sound needed filling out," Green said of his distinctive and pioneering approach to his instrument. "You can only play that way with a trio, you can't play like that with another guitar or a piano. It's achieved by bashing out the chords loudly and twiddling around with the things. It's quite an easy thing to do; there's nothing magical about it."

This line-up lasted two and a half years and appeared all over the UK, including at the Cavern in Liverpool, and topped the bill over The Beatles at a Liverpool Riverboat Shuffle event held aboard the Royal Iris on the Mersey in August 1962. The Pirates also issued their own single, pairing "My Babe" and "Casting a Spell", but after the "Jealous Girl" single flopped in August 1964, Green left for Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. He played on their 1965 hit "Trains and Boats and Planes" and co-wrote its B-side, "That's the Way I Feel", and several more tracks, and recorded two Kramer-less singles with The Dakotas in 1967 before backing Billy Fury for a spell.

The guitarist's lengthy tenure with Humperdinck started in 1968. It brought steady income for the newly married Green, as well as the occasional side benefit, like meeting Elvis Presley in Vegas, but it was creatively unfulfilling. In 1974, he formed the band Shanghai with the Thunderclap Newman songwriter John "Speedy" Keen, and they released two albums and supported Status Quo on tour in 1976. By then, Dr Feelgood, named after the Piano Red song covered by The Pirates, had become all the rage. They had included "Oyeh!", the Green instrumental first recorded by the Dakotas, on Down by the Jetty, their 1975 debut. "The first time I heard the Feelgoods on the radio, I really thought it was us," he remarked in 1977. "Fine, so the Feelgoods made it by using many of the things that the Pirates developed. That's great and shows how valid our approach always has been."

Green and Johnson became friends and co-wrote "Going Back Home" which became a high point of the Feelgoods' set and was included on both Malpractice, their 1975 follow-up, and Stupidity, their 1976 No. 1 live album. Johnson pestered Green to reform The Pirates and the guitarist eventually relented. Planned as a one-off event at Dingwalls in London, the reunion attracted rave reviews and became permanent as the group upstaged Eddie and the Hot Rods at the Roundhouse. They signed to Warners, recorded Out of Their Skulls live at the Nashville in London and at Rockfield Studios in Wales with Feelgoods producer Vic Maile, and toured the UK and continental Europe. Their mix of the covers and originals which had constituted their Sixties repertoire, plus new compositions like "Don't Munchen It" and the guitar ode "Gibson Martin Fender" went down a storm, and they recorded a second album entitled Skull Wars. As they had done with Kidd, they wore thigh-high boots and other piratical garb and inspired the look Adam Ant sported at the dawn of the Eighties.

Another fallow period followed and Green made do with accompanying Freddie Starr, getting the occasional opportunity to shine as the comedian impersonated Presley and other rock stars.

Given Green's pedigree as one of the originators of British rock'n'roll, it was fitting that McCartney recruited the guitarist to make the Ñíîâà â ÑÑÑÐ/CHOBA B CCCP album of rock'n'roll covers originally conceived as a USSR-only release in 1988. Eleven years on, when McCartney revived the idea for Run Devil Run, and added three of his own compositions to another dozen rock'n'roll classics, Green headed a stellar cast of sidemen including the Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, and keyboardist Pete Wingfield of "Eighteen With a Bullet" fame. In December 1999, they even played a landmark gig at The Cavern in Liverpool which was webcast and issued on video and DVD.

Indeed, the last decade saw Green in great demand, as he toured with Morrison and participated in the recording of six of the vocalist's studio albums, starting with Back on Top in 1999 and including the Top Ten albums Down the Road (2002), Magic Time (2005), Pay the Devil (2006) and Keep it Simple (2008). He also contributed to the Ferry solo albums Frantic (2002) and Dylanesque (2007), and performed with him as well, though he suffered a heart attack while in New Zealand in 2004. Farley retired from The Pirates in 2006, but Green and Spence released the Skullduggery album the following year.

"I enjoy all gigs. If I didn't really enjoy the playing, I wouldn't be doing it," Green said in 2004.

Michael Robert Green, guitarist and songwriter: born Matlock, Derbyshire 22 February 1944; married Karen (two sons); died Ilford, Essex 11 January 2010.

 



No 43 - Medway Bridge Marina - Barbs birthday - 13.02.10

Surprise birthday party  for Barbara - she was surprised.  We played in the chandlery, it was brilliant.  The new P.A. played up again, that's it, it's going back.  We have learnt several new songs recently and did most of them.  The crowd were wonderful, at the end of our three song finale [that never is] the applause was actually painful to the ears!  At first we were meant to stop at half past ten, I have no idea what time we finished but I did see a witch on a broomstick through the window shortly after.  Thanks to John and Barbara, the management and especially you the audience for giving us such a good night.
Highlights - Barbs face when she walked in.
Cheers, Tobe.

Obituary - 02.02.2010

Wichmann the cat, aka Wicky, Mrs cat and 'that bloody hairball freak!' has passed away after 10 years of faithful service demonstrating what perfect killing machines cats are and almost never forgetting to leave me a nice kidney under my desk [just where I like it] every time she ate a rat or a mouse.  After these 10 years she spent another year gradually winding down and left the mangling of rodents behind her preferring instead to take up permanent residence on my office chair.  Many laughs we had as she shot off when I span it round, tee hee.  She was the undisputed boss and one of the funniest things I have seen was Bob the dog rushing up to his bed and then trying to make it look like he wasn't going to jump straight into it when he saw Wicky curled up in the middle.  Mrs Cat had her own little bed at the time and somehow Bob managed to scrunch himself up so small he got in it.
We are going to bury her down by the sea wall right on top of old Leroy Brown.  That'll piss him right off.

No 42 - The Walnut Tree Maidstone.

Thanks to all the regular CBL9 nutters who came, and  nice to see some of the old crowd from the Beauty of Bath.  Great to see half of 'One Way Street' at the pub.  Shame Rachel couldn't make it, even tuned up my banjo in readiness for the Irish songs.  I must make an apology for two things: firstly for doing 'Foxy Lady' unrehearsed and by christ it was rough, and secondly for still not having fully recovered from bronchitis.  Several people said I sang well but I felt I was struggling at some points.  I certainly had a job to restrain a cough during the harp break in 'Doctors' which could have led to a very sticky situation of you will pardon the pun.  Apart from that we feel good about the gig and are looking forward to playing more this year.  The new P.A. setup seems to be settling down as we gain more experience with it and now we are all using smaller guitar amps the sound is more balanced and easier to control.
Highlights:-
Steve smashing a pint glass while doing his solo bit in 'Baby Jump' - Dix and Steve ['the buggers at the back'] both playing part of each others instruments while still playing their own, at the same time - Dix playing a bass solo [he never did that before] - Mitch and I singing 'Jackson'  with all the correct words and in the correct order!
All in all not a bad gig especially as it was the first of the year.
Feedback:-
Despite 'Foxy Lady'  it seems [according to some] we are the best band to play in there for months.  Roll on October.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 41 - New Years Eve 2009 - The Pier Hotel Upnor.

It's a very long time since my band has played on New Years Eve and we didn't intend to this year either.  Gary asked if we could do it and to my great surprise only Manny was otherwise committed so we agreed.  Both Mitch and I were suffering from this dreadful cold and I really struggled to keep it together, sustained as I was by old Mrs Pointyhats absolutely vile cough mixture, [last used by the Sheriff of Nottingham] which was ok until I od'd about 11.00hrs.  It doesn't make you any better, you just don't care about being ill.  From what I can remember it was a very enjoyable gig, we made a few memorable cockups - Mitch and I fell apart on 'Jackson' but we just laughed about it and carried on and the P.A. played up somewhat but not as much as last time.  It seems you need a special kind of brain not available round here to understand how the bloody thing works.  We are working on it.  Thanks go to all the CBL9 Appreciation Society, Gary, Steve and all at the pub, my band, Paul and everyone else in  the audience.  We got some good fotos and some of the recordings came out not too bad.
We now have video of the event now which you can check out at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CufTvuJbWjU
We will be back in the pub some time in the new year with the full band.

No 40 - Xmas Bash 2009 - 12.12.09 - Deangate Ridge Golf Club.

I would like to thank the Golf Club staff for looking after the band exceptionally well and providing us, and the audience, with such a pleasant atmosphere.  Some people thought that the manager was a little officious and spikey, but I explained to them that the poor woman was simply overwhelmed by the charisma of 'Cell Block 9 and Fans' and the pace of the evenings entertainment.  After all, the most energetic thing to happen at the club this year was the 'Easter Monday Easter Egg Hunt and Bonnet Competition' . -  [taken direct from their website].  The manager was happy to provide us with a large knife and fork with which to cut up the turkey as the knobhead who incinerated the bloody thing neglected to consider whether guests may be unwilling to tear bits of it off with their fingers.  She also waived my offer to pick up the feathers left after Michelle and I gave our demonstration of perfectly synchronised modern dance and gave me a lovely kiss goodbye at the end which really made the evening for me.
As for the gig itself, firstly, Doves Cry were brilliant considering it was their first ever live performance.  It was a hard thing to warm up our lot, but they got them at the end.  A stroke of genius doing 'Wade in the Water' I don't know anybody who doesn't love that song.
Max.....you have the most wonderful voice, we all think you should be singing jazz.
Thanks to Max - Geoff - Gilly and Henry - Doves Cry - check them out at www.reverbnation.com/dovescry
Geoff and Henry are both ex founder members of CBL9 - small world innit?
The CBL9 bit went like any other of our Xmas Bashes....bloody mayhem.  Half of the props disappeared, the P.A didn't overload this time...it couldn't since I bought a power amp big enough to do Glastonbury, no...... this time it overloaded the mains power supply.  Band members got lost, both physically and musically, the sound system went all to ratshit for us despite behaving perfectly for Doves Cry.  Michelle got told off for using the staff bog, bloody good job they didn't enter while I was in there with my meat & two veg hanging out trying to get those bleedin' pants on.  Yes, tensions were running high behind the scenes but as usual, we put on a perfectly seamless, polished and professional performance.......Ho, Ho.  The day we do that I will have a stroke for sure.
All said, the evening went off fine and we raised a lot of cash for MAGIC and more good news is that some company is going to match what they raise this year up to a limit of £5000 !!!
The video has yet to be edited and mastered but look out for Steve Arbour and myself looking very silly and thanks to all you people present for not calling the local mental hospital.....now you all know why I don't dance.
Some people went away with some great raffle prizes as usual [thanks Gaynor] and it seems most of you would like to come again next year.
I need to thank a lot more people so here goes:
Paul for doing so much and so many things I can't list them all here and for having endless patience with me when I disagree with him.
Michelle for enormous enthusiasm, making clothes and props, painting things, choreography, singing and shouting at me when I need it, but most of all, for daring to try to teach me how to dance and helping me to conquer one of my greatest fears [and I am not joking here] - cheers Mitch.
Rachel for joining us and doing so much more than just playing the violin
Pete for his help, support and encouragement in the face of the idiocy of the average musician. [Me]
Food people - Mr Big - Dix - Manny - Linda - Linda - Lucy - Mitch - Justine - Linzy - Slickers - John & Barbs - Steve Fisher - Rach & Pete - Gaynor.
Nasty and troublesome people - thank you for staying away this year.
Door people - Linda - Harry and Pete, cheers.
People whos names I do not know - esp. the woman from the garage on Cuxton road who bought several tickets without any real idea of what she was in for.
Tim at Absolute Music for getting our rolling chassis to us on time against all the odds - http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk
All our fans and other people we conned into attending and helping us to celebrate our own band and raise money for charity at the same time
Clive for standing in for Steve on the drums while he was trying to get his belly into and out of that basque and during 'Time Warp'.
Gaynor for the privilege of helping her wonderful charity.
Most of all, my band.  The band which has morphed into the most amazing bunch of musicians I have ever been in awe of.  It keeps growing.  Eight years ago John Monday said he thought the band had about another two years in it before it ran out of steam.  Just shows how wrong a man can be.  Nothing personal John.  [He gets a bit paranoid sometimes].
Look out for our next gig at the Pier at Upnor on New Years Eve.
Cheers from Tobe.....I thank you all.

No 39 - The Trocadero, Gravesend - 31.11.09 [Halloween]

You can't accuse CBL9 of not getting into the spirit of things, we looked ridiculous.  We weren't intending to go in fancy dress until Manny informed us he had purchased a dracula outfit...that was it then.  Steve the drummer came in some kind of weird drag setup, Dix was meant to have a 't' shirt covered in blood but I think they forgot the blood, however he did have a witches hat on and makeup.  Mitch looked so Gothic we thought she had actually died at one point, and I had the CBL9 Wizards Cloak on inside out, a monster top hat made out of cardboard, and makeup.  Slickers came as himself which is frightening enough in any case.
The gig was in two parts:
Part one - we play for an hour and the pub fills up gradually.  During this period we think 'ooh'... this is good...full venue, and they like us.
Part two - we stop for a break, the canned music is so loud that nearly all the audience piss off elsewhere and at least two members of the band insert ear plugs until we start again.
Outside, one member of the audience was heard to say to Tobe "get back in there and stop that dreadfull effing row".
We got back in there but the moment was lost, the remaining crowd were great, but it stayed thin and the sound was not as good.  All in all we enjoyed ourselves but we feel that 'Devil Man' as he was christened on the night needs to change his eardrum karma.  I have never heard of a band wearing ear plugs while the disco is on and removing them for their own set, but perhaps you have?
I must say that Gravesend was very alive that night and we hope to be able to play in the town again.
A message to the lovely young lady who asked us to play a Kings of Leon song:-
Next time you see us we will do one especially for you.
It was very nice to have so many people appreciate us doing 'Radar Love'.  I'm amazed that it is so popular again.  Slick 50 and I went up to Ipswich earlier in the year to see Golden Earring at one of the only two gigs they have played here in the last 25 years, they were awesome.  I saw them in 1973 in Plymouth and they blew me away, that was the year Radar Love came out.  Back to Ipswich 2009, when they played the intro to Radar Love everybody [except the woman in a wheelchair] stood up and no-one sat down for the rest of the gig.
Apologies for the sound problem at the end, we have not quite got the hang of our new p.a. yet.
I want to thank all the people who stayed despite an attempt to give them permanent tinnitus and I thank my band for being themselves despite all my attempts to make them famous.  A special thanks to Mitch for doing all the makeup and singing with me, particularly, on Radar Love and Roadhouse Blues.
Cheers for now, Tobe.

No 38 - The best laid plans - 03.10.09

The gig on the Rochester Queen went well considering the circumstances, [my arrest for handling stolen goods and Linda doing a runner after I took the dog back in order to prevent another person from being arrested] until the fight at the end - spoilt it really.  We shall monitor the situation.  As you probably know it is very easy to ruin a boozer and extremely hard to get it back into shape.
We now have a band without a manager and a singer without a woman, I think we shall worry about the mangement problem first.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 37 - 14.09.09

We were hoping to go to Darnet Island to make a promotional video in the fort but unfortunately the weather is against us and I have made the decision to cancel it and we will try to do it at another more accessible location as soon as we can.  Apologies to all the people who were coming with us, but it was always dependent on the weather.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 36 - 12 09.09 - Steam Packet, Strood.

What a difference a few hours can make.  We had a blinding gig.  Radar Love was the pinnacle of it.  We were all a bit nervous about doing it after the cockup at lunchtime but it was bloody awesome.  Mitch did so well considering she had the dreaded lurgy and we love it when Steve does his introducing the band bit in Sweet Home Chicago.  We did a lot of instrument changes and sometimes Dix and Steve did songs with the wrong gear but it didn't matter.  Thanks to all who attended.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 35 - 12.09.09 - Help For Heroes gig at the Pier, Lower Upnor.

Apologies for the crap performance and the poor sound.  I am not going to make any excuses.  It was a laugh though, especially when I manged to change into my leathers etc during the last song, ready to ride off with the rest of them; which would have been fine if they had actually been ready.  This is only the first gig of the day, we have another at the Steam Packet tonight, hope it goes better than this one.
Cheers, Tobe.

No34 - 24.08.09 - Jackies Party, Cliffe.  [Self - Slick 50 - Manny - Mitch - Peter]

Steve called me at work and he now has the Swine Flue and simply wishes to go to bed and never wake up again, so I called all the drummers I know and some I don't and this 'ere geezer Peter [never  met him] agreed to come and do the business.  We were a little concerned that he might be a fantasist or worse but he turned out to be a truly great drummer and we had a wonderful gig playing in the garden in the middle of a large housing estate and, had no complaints!  Amazing.  The sound with the new P.A. was almost startlingly clear and, as usual, when playing outside we just had a great sound overall.  Manny and I did a lot of work with the two guitars and found it very easy to get a good sound as Peter knew when to come down in volume.  Slick 50 has a new bass amp but still uses the IBL P.A. bin as well which gives him a wicked sound.  He played like a demon and actually looked like he was enjoying himself, smiling and grinning..... most unusual.  All in all, another very enjoyable gig for the band and what a lovely audience.  Special thanks go to Peter for jumping in and doing such a great job at very short notice.  Thanks to the lady who asked us to play 'Little red Rooster' as we now have a new song on our set list; Manny grabbed my slide guitar and got on with it while the rest of us faked the first bit until we figured out how it actually went, Cheers.  Thanks to Jackie and Mick for inviting us to play and to everybody else there for enjoying the band.
Cheers, Tobe.

No33 - 23.08.09 - Flower Pot, Maidstone. [Self - Slick 50 - Manny - Steve Arbour - Mitch]

This was the first gig since the goodbye Emitt party.  We were a little nervous.  We have been rehearsing 'Radar Love' and intended to do it but were a bit worried about it sounding shite.  When we did do it we found our fears were totally unfounded, it was great and the audience certainly let us know so.  The new P.A. had it's first gig and is incredibly clear, we had not noticed he gradual deterioration in the old one.  The band seems to have morphed into a kind of chamelion affair which amounts to 'whoever turns up plays' which is great in one respect as you never know exactly what you are going to get and so it's not as boring for the audience [hopefully].  We had a good night although Steve was a bit under the weather, and another gig tomorrow.
Thanks to all the CBL9 fans who attended and made it such a good night.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 32 - 22.07.2009 - general update.

Not too much to report,  cancelled Cornwall.  There's a first time for everything I suppose.  We are all gutted really but there was no other way.  It may well cost me several hundred quid as we will only get the deposit for the house back if they manage to let it to someone else.
On the bright side; things are going really well in the actual music area.  Steve, our new drummer is fitting in really well and is already singing and putting his own mark on the band.  We are finding that we can do songs with Steve that we struggled with in the past so look out you lot.
We now find ourselves with a very flexible band which has 5 singers when at full strength, add to that the ability of the bass player to play guitar and the keyboard player to play bass and drums and we are able to approach songs in ways not possible before.
Mitch is coming on well as a singer and we have great fun singing girlie backing to her 'Duffy' vocals.  Look out for her doing Tina Turner soon.
We should be giving you a bit of twin lead on the guitars soon as Slick and I are going to learn the guitar work for the Wisbone Ash number 'Blind Eye' together.
We have a new P.A. system now and are hoping it will be at least as good as the old one which we have retired to the rehearsal studio now.  What a shame you will not be seeing one of us bashing it to stop that bloody 'orrible noise it used to make while it was warming up ever again, ahhh.......the good old days eh?  I bought it in 1995 and it has done every gig I have played since then....that's enough reminiscing.
Funny things from the archives:
Dix was going for it in the rehearsal studio the other night and he must have slowly worked his way back, suddenly he started to fall over backwards, still on his chair.  The funny bit was that despite falling over the edge of an 18 inch drop he kept playing by stretching out his arms further and further as he went.  One thing we can say about this band is that we have had an awful lot of fun.

I have been for quite some time now saving as MP3 some of the funny, stupid, or just notable things that happen at our gigs in between songs and intend one of these days to put the best of them together on a CD.......who can forget the amazing R2 D2 battle at the Royal Function Rooms between Manny and Mitch, in parts it is difficult to tell which is her voice and which is his guitar......another time I announced that Linda and I were to be married and Dix asked "what?.....to each other?"  Anyway we can stick it all on U tube some day.
Cheers  for now, Tobe.

No 31 - 17.06.2009 - The search for a drummer.

Auditions are all over thankfully.  We have chosen our next drummer, Steve.  This means that we have two members called Steve in the band again.  Looking forward to the future now, as always, and the old Controller can get on and book some more gigs.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 30 - 14.06.2009 - The bye, bye, Emitt Barbeque.

Slick 50 organised this event and we all brought some grub and booze and instruments etc.  Fortunately the weather was with us and we had a wonderful afternoon eating and drinking and playing and singing.  We had a small P.A. and one speaker for the keyboards and the bass.  Manny and I plugged our electro acoustic guitars in so we could play lead and all the warbling was acoustic.  It was great fun and Emitt still managed to do a bloody awesome solo on just the one drum.  Linda and Carol got very emotional [and pissed].  John brought his guitar along and played some, surprising us as he usually does.  We filmed it with a selection of cameras and have some good footage to edit.  The band got Emitt some quality brushes as a going away present, it seems he is a serious artist as well as a phenomenal percussionist.  We got some advice from a famous artist we happen to know and got him some 'Hogs hair' brushes.  He was very happy.  It must have been a great night as Slick didn't make it to work the next day.
Thanks to all who attended and a special thanks to the adults who had a go on the trampoline and made us all laugh so much.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 29 - 31.05.2009 - Emitts last gig, he is moving to China!

Another great gig at the Good Intent at Rochester.  Many thanks to Karen and Dal for putting up with our eccentric band again, we all had a good time.  During the gig I made an announcement regarding Linda and I getting married next year and to my surprise it got the best applause of the night [except for Emitts solo, of course], made me feel quite humble.  Thanks to all you nutters who came to support us and don't forget to come and see the band next time we are there, in September.
Hightlights:-
Emitt excelled himself with his solo and we hope the film came out ok as we had some problems wiht the recording gear.
Just after I announced that Linda and I are getting married Dixon was heard to ask "what? to each other?"
Carol and Dixon both wearing those T shirts with the functional graphic equalizer things on.
Me getting a massive shock off the plug on the strobe light, not once, but twice!

It is sad that Emitt is leaving but as I said to him "life is bigger than Cell Block 9".  Linda then said "not to you of course" and she may be right.  Anyway, we wish him all the best in his new venture and are hoping that he may be able to organise a CBL9 tour of China some day.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 28 - 30.05.2009

Played the Steam Packet at Strood last night, brilliant gig.  It was a bit of a squeeze getting us all in but great fun.  Wonderful audience, we started early and finished late.  I announced our forthcoming marriage and got a lovely reaction.  Mitch done well, and Manny played some great guitar.  Steve used his new amp for the first time and it really does sound good, he always plays well but excelled himself at this gig.  Emitt was Emitt as usual, brilliant.  Dix played to his normal standard and made most of the stupid comments, so no change there.  It was great to see Linda at a gig again.

No 27 - John & Barbs Wedding - Medway Bridge Marina - 23.05.2009

Fantastic gig.  Played nearly 3 hours, amazing audience.  It's so nice to play to so many people that really love the band.  We had plenty of room and the sound was great.  We didn't have to pack up till the next day either, luxury.

No 26 - something cheerful for a change

Just played our second gig at the Flower Pot in Maidstone.  Wonderful name for a great little pub.  Several people in the audience said the same thing; along the lines of "we missed your first gig here so we made sure we came this time".  That's the kind of thing I love to hear.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening and no one commented on the fact that we had Manny with us instead of Dix.  I did make a reference to our keyboard player being a bit older and a bit balder and not having his keyboards with him.  Michelle sang her Duffy song again and really did it well.  She is over the moon to be taking a bigger part in the band and I want to give her a lot more to do.  She has a lot of ideas and is finding her feet regarding the kind of material she should best do.  Manny was his usual showman self and brought life to 'Black magic Woman' and 'Red House'.  Cocaine was great fun with Manny and I throwing licks at each other in the break.  Michelle and Manny had a little 'Scat' moment with him doing R2D2 on the guitar and her doing the same with her voice, amazing.  Emitt did a great job as usual and got thunderous applause for his solos.  Steve played great bass and hid behind a pillar most of the evening only coming out to berate me for talking too much, so no surprises there.  The audience were fantastic, I salute them.  I had a great night myself and spent half an hour or so being hugged and kissed after the gig and got paid as well!  Apologies to the lady who got thrown at me by Carol [my No1 fan] who mistakenly thought she would sort of automatically want to hug me.  We managed to avoid close contact; but only just.  It was a lovely surprise to see Lydia, Rachel and Pete walk in the door, I have some great fans.


No 23 - 25.02.2009 - General stuff

Ello all you CBL9 fans wot read all this stuff so avidly. I have been truly overwhelmed at the sheer volume of responses to my request for feedback and wish to apologise to any of you who have not received a reply yet. I must especially congratulate a Mrs Trellis from North Wales who wrote 'dear Tiger Woods, I had no idea you were in possession of so many talents, please keep up the good work and when you have finished over there could you come and clean my brickwork?'. It is very humbling to find that our little band has reached so many people and that we seem to appeal to such a wide range of ages. Thank you to all who attended that Xmas Bash and helped us to raise a record amount of dosh for 'MAGIC'. We will be doing it again next year but it will be a little smaller.  I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Michelle to the band. She has been singing the odd song with us for some while now and is gradually doing more and more. Cheers for now, T.

No 22 - 17.02.2009 - First gig of the year, The Flower Pot.

After the hectic time we had last year we had a nice rest, only thing is, it went on so long that our first rehearsal was at the Flower Pot in Maidstone.  We should have been very apprehensive but none of us were that I know of and it was a blinding gig.  We all enjoyed ourselves and the audience certainly seemed to like it.  We got a return straight away and are back there in April.  It's a great little venue with good staff and a nice laid back atmosphere.  We have decided to only rehearse new material from now on so look out for a whole bunch of new numbers.

No 21 - 21.12.2008 - The Christmas Bash

When you do things for charity people seem to be happy to give some of their time to help out, however, when CBL9 does something for charity people seem to go crazy about it.  I am overwhelmed by the volume of work that has gone into the Christmas Bash this year.  In our studio we have had carpentry, welding and fabrication, plumbing, construction of electrical devices, painting, rehearsing, shouting and swearing and lots and lots of laughter.  We had a dress rehearsal for the cabaret and the first time I came out with my blond wig and my feather boa the band cracked up.  People have been to all kinds of places and bought all kinds of gear, costumes have been made and all sorts of props.  The food was thankfully well up to our normal standard and everyone was so kind offering to cook etc.
All kinds of things went wrong but nothing stopped the show.  My radio microphone picked up some kind of interference and was unusable so I went off and got another which got itself lost.  Some of the lights packed in and we struggled to see what we were doing.  The smoke machine developed a fault and instead of the smoke exiting Mitch the fairys cleavage it came out of the box.  Performers got lost and unfortunately were found again.  The new PA system required a highly trained technician just to make the simplest adjustments and gave us no end of hassle.  My banjo detuned itself and refused to allow anybody to return it to concert pitch making me look even dafter during 'The Streak'   Dix decided at the last moment to play 'Smoke gets in your eyes' in a different key which made for an interesting effect, a kind of war between the piano and the voice, with any other band it would have been 'off key' or 'out of tune' but hell, this is the wonderful world of CBL9 and it was after all a comic interlude.
 
The grub was great and I must seriously thank all the people who provided, and or, cooked food for the do - we love you.
We raised lots of money for the charity, not sure of the final amount yet but I will post it as soon as I am.
Thanks go to all the people who attended, you made a wonderful audience and we would like to be able to entertain you again some time.  Thanks to Dave and Rose for providing the venue.  A special thanks to Linda, Mitch, and Paul for their dedication to my band and all it does.
I must mention that my old friend Jean who has known my family for nearly 20 years failed to recognize Slick 50 at all on the night but did notice my 'very handsome new bass player'....ho, ho.  He did look good I must say and especially when he played the double bass which was kindly provided for a very low fee by Thwaites music of Watford, many thanks.  Dix and Emitt also looked very good and exuded class.  We had a whole host of problems mostly technical but managed to carry on till the end which is better than last year so the curse of the Christmas bash is gradually waning.

No 20 - 02.11.2008 - The Four Fathoms and the Steam Packet

Two distinctly different gigs.
The Four Fathoms [31.10.08] was hard work, playing to a largely disinterested audience [partly our fault I would say, considering our lacklustre performance here the last time] of 15 to 20 people.  The sound is difficult to manage and the place is not really big enough for the band to set up in.  We have had some good gigs in there but I think we need new songs for them.
The Steam Packet [01.11.08] was jumping.  Jackie brought several people with her and they all enjoyed it.  The locals were again impressed.  Dixon was not looking forward to the gig as he didn't like the look of it from the outside but he had a pleasant surprise.  The band played extremely well and I think we all enjoyed the gig very much.  Thanks to the management for booking us and looking after us very well.  I'd like to thank Jackie and everyone who came with her, Lyn and partner, Harry [get a wash mate] and Steve Fisher for being at yet another CBL9 gig.  Thanks go to my band for being the best and to the Great Controller for twiddling all the knobs, so to speak.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 19 - 14.10.2008 - Special announcement

Linda has just had her operation at St Thomas' hospital to remove one of her parathyroid glands which had a tumour and was overproducing hormone making her progressively more and more ill.  These glands are notoriously difficult to locate and the scans showed nothing, however, the surgeon found it and removed it and her calcium levels are already back to normal.  Recovery from the debilitating effects of this problem are usually rapid and I am looking forward to having my wonderful, crazy, woman back to 'normal' quite soon.  I must thank Mr Hubbard for doing a fantastic job, they said he was the best in the country, he must be.  I'd like to thank all the SGI Buddhists who have been chanting for Linda during this difficult time.  It is her birthday today and I doubt if anyone had a better present than the good news she has had this morning.

Linda would like to thank the surgeon Mr Hubbard and the nurses of Nightingale Ward at St Thomas' Hospital for the fantastic job they have done.  In the anaesthetic room Linda met a woman called Gemma, a paramedic who was observing anaesthetics being administered.  Linda was very frightened and had a long conversation with Gemma about all kinds of things including Buddhism.  Gemma encouraged Linda to chant to help her over her fear.  Linda says that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo never fails to bring people out of the environment to support us when we need it.  Thank you Gemma.


No 18 - The Good Intent

First gig in this pub.  Lots of people who know me here.  They loved us.  Certainly got to do this one again, even old Relfy was impressed.  The old P.A. tried to melt at this gig and I think, as good as it's been, after 13 years of robust and constant service it's time to retire it to the rehearsal room.  A replacement is on it's way now.  I must thank Karen for booking us and hope to be back in the new year.
Tobe.

No 17 - Cornwall Tour 2008 - 13th - 21st September

Wadebridge
As usual I was up late the night before having totally underestimated the time required to get everything ready.  We left far earlier than we needed to as the traffic was very light this time.  It makes quite a day when you drive down, get all your gear into the caravan and then go and play a gig and this one was an unknown quantity.  The Bridge On Wool.  35 years since I had been in there.  I had found it hard to imagine where the band would set up in this very small pub but a pleasant surprise was waiting for me; they had knocked the two bars together.  We were more than a little apprehensive about this gig after all we had really only had a few rehearsals and played four gigs.  It was absolutely packed and they loved us.  It was the best start to a tour ever for me.
Highlights
Emitt bought a chinese and they told him he couldn't eat it in the pub.  He went out in the beer garden and they told him he couldn't eat it there either.

Some big old bird saw the coffin when we were setting up and decided to lie down on it and shout to her mates.  Unfortunately she couldn't get back up again and I had to help her to her feet.

St Columb
We have been playing this gig since the start of the Cornwall thing only missing one year I believe.  Normally there is a small but slightly nutty audience and we get a few people dancing in the second half.  Not so this time.  Dick Gummoe [or however you spell his name] has finally retired and the place was jumping.  I've never seen so many people there.  We had another great gig and nice to see the hard and fast CBL9 supporters out in force.
Keith Johnson and Pete Taylor came and I got both of them up to play, it was great.

Bugle
Down to earth here I'm afraid.  Like some rough old dive in the deep south the audience turned their backs on the band and refused to clap anything.  You could cut the atmosphere with a knife and the few people who were not part of the local clique were mostly intimidated out of applauding.  I am proud of my band for putting on a show despite the ridiculous negativity shown by the locals who obviously would have preferred to listen to some nice Beethoven piano concertos or perhaps some gentle chamber music, maybe a few Bavarian folk songs would have suited them much better.
Actually, I lived there in the 80's and I didn't expect anything much better.  They were a bunch of ignorant inbreds then and they ain't changed much.
What was nice was when my ex wife told me about a woman at work who said she was at the gig and without any idea that Jan knew me, or the lads, described to her a great band being treated badly by the locals.
Don't suppose we will be allowed back in Bugle after I publish this, but no great loss now especially as Rex has retired from the chip shop which I have been attending since before most of the inmates of the pub were born, I might add.

The Barbeque

It is a habit of ours to have a little get together with people we know on a night when we have no gig.  This year it was on the Monday.  It's great really because it feels like we have 2 days off.  Lots of people attended and we all had a great time assisted by my tradition of providing the party goers with some slightly illegal flapjacks.  This only happens once a year so I put plenty in.  One member found the plain white ceiling incredibly interesting for about 3 hours and I eventually became incapable of playing the guitar.  [The year before I made the mistake of licking the bits of resin out of the cheese grater after I popped the innocent looking cakes into the oven and oooh was I gone? or what?]  Many thanks to the people who did all the grub, especially Mitch the Fairy, and I'd like to thank all the locals who came and made it such a great evening.  Also thanks must go to our neighbours on the site who must have heard the noise but didn't complain, hope we didn't keep you awake too late.

Bodmin
This is the second time CBL9 has played in the Garland Ox.  We only just fit in.  It's a weird place to play but it actually is a good sound.  Slick 50 had a bit of a shock when a veritable truckload of his relatives arrived to see him play.  I thought he'd done a runner but he was just out the back talking to his extended family.  Christ, the pub was full of them, his grandmother turned up, his uncle John and his lovely wife Terri, Steves Auntie Angie, his maternal mother Janice and all his many half brothers and sisters.  It was mad.  Lots of my old mates attended and we had a wicked gig and really ripped the piss out of the Bugle Inn [or as we call it now 'The Last Post'].
Highlights:
Dix was talking to his wife, the utterly gorgeous Verity, on the phone, and he needed a wee wee.  Steve and I watched with great delight as he unwittingly walked into the ladies, unzipping as he entered, and then kind of wavered about uncertainly when he saw a sink where he expected the urinals to be; however, due to the fact that he was talking on the phone he just couldn't suss what was going on and only made it back out after Slick told him he was in the wrong bog.
Watching my lovely Linda walking up the path looking at me while my ex wife and I were in each others arms with her blubbing down my neck and knowing she wasn't going to be angry at me.

Falmouth
Back at Finn Mc Couls for the third year in a row.  It's a strange gig mainly because it's a transit pub.  The crowd changes through the evening and at some points you look out and there's hardly anyone in but 30 minutes later it's full.  The landlady is a darling and we always have a nice chat, though I find it awkward after a gig if I'm talking and the other chaps are all busy packing up, I'm sure they must talk about me behind my back, you know the sort of thing 'who does he think he is?' - 'bloody prima donna' etc etc.
During the gig I noticed stuff descending on me, I looked up and a young woman was up on the next level blowing bubbles down on us, I smiled and she gave me a wonderfully cheeky smile back, it really made my night.
On the way back the two vans got separated and as I got to the Par Moor roundabout from one direction Dix was approaching from the other side.
Highlights
None.

Plymouth
There is usually one during a tour and this was it.  We got there and the Landlord who reminded me of the burnt out old screw in Porridge tried to make out that he had cancelled the gig not aware that we manage ourselves.  I was in such a good mood that I immediately decided not to make a big thing out of it and to play the gig for nothing in view of the fact that we were all already there and we had a number of people come to see us including members of Dixons family, members of my family who had travelled from Taunton and a number of SGI members who had come after a young mens meeting with my son Dan.  We made it a party.  We used the P.A. bins that were there and the excellent monitor bins and we had a ball.
Highlights
Setting fire to the cigarrette thingy outside; and my brother actually managing to remove his tongue from his new girlfriends tonsils for long enough to say 'Hello'.

Polzeath
Not the most welcoming audience but not particularly anti.  It's usually a fairly flat gig in a pub/restaurant and we had to wait ages for the noshers to vacate the area before we could set up.  There were quite a few feet tapping and I think they liked us but it was hard to tell.  We had a laugh though and it's a nice place.
Highlights
Emmit taking the piss and Dixon looking round and trying to figure out what was missing till I pointed out that his keyboards were absent.  Then he went out to get them but returned about two minutes later and asked "what did I go out there for?"  He was knackered.

Penryn
What can I say?  There was society wedding in the town and everyone went, even the tourists it seemed.  it was the biggest pub I have ever been in, the lounge is in Penryn and the toilets are in Falmouth and we had precisely 3 in the audience who did not come with us!  One of them slept the whole gig on a bleedin' sofa and din't even stir when I turned my guitar up to earsplitting volume and played the intro to 'Cocaine'.  After we finished Paul filmed while I woke him up and asked him what he thought of the gig, with a bit of luck I will be posting the result on you tube soon.  We made it a party.  During Emitts solo in Summertime Blues he got out his African finger piano and played it.  I came back from the toilet to hear this incredibly beautiful music, everyone in the place was transfixed, people were hardly daring to breathe.  The band had no idea he was going to do this.
During 'Dust my Broom' Emitt decided to just get up and go to the toilet, I gestured to Slick to keep going and to my great delight [and everybody elses'] Dix jumped on the drums and did a great job.  He finished the song off putting in a great smash and bash ending, excellent.
We had a race home and despite us getting ahead to start with they just pipped us, we met at the par moor roundabout again but they got there first.  Verity was driving and they told me she was crazy, now I believe it.
We had another party after and it was lovely, Emitt played the finger piano again, I played and sang, we chatted and laughed.  Later Mitch the Fairy threw about a half a hundredweight of left over food up on top of Dixons abode and I complimented it with a large tin of pilchards which kept rolling back off the bloody roof at me.  Someone always gets the 'early morning seagull fight alarm call' and this year it was them.

Conclusion
Best tour ever - need a big house on it's own next time and try to arrange it so we play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
I must thank my band for being the best I have ever played with and also the least trouble to organise.  The whole week was just full of people laughing and having a good time.  I would like to thank the management at the Bridge on Wool, the Red Lion, the Bugle Inn, the Garland Ox, Finn Mc Couls, the Phoenix, the Oyster Catcher and the Kings Arms for giving us the opportunity to entertain and use their premises for such a rewarding purpose.
Many thanks to all the absolutely brilliant CBL9 fans who came down with us and made this such a special week, Carol, Lyn, Geoff, Max, Dave, Verity [esp for the driving lesson], Linzy, John, Barbara Bob and Hess the dogs, and Jo.  I must thank my sons Dan and Bill, my brother Benn and his new girlfriend Jill, Roger, Dixons relatives, Keith Johnson, Pete Taylor, Jimmy Underwood, Johnny Vanderplank, Terri, Angie, Janice and all her children, Zazz, Tanif, Beryl, and all the others who came to our gigs.  I would like to say thanks to all the people who did appreciate us at Bugle and bollocks to all those who forced themselves not to.
Special regards go to the  wonderful couple in the Kings Arms at Penryn who were the entire, conscious, local audience, we hope we gave you a night to remember.
I would also like to say a very special thank you to our great friends Paul and Deb for their steadfast support in so many areas during every tour since the very beginning in the early 90's.
Cheers to the people at Par Sands Holiday Park for providing the accommodation and doing a great job of it.
Thanks must go to Paul and Mitch the Fairy for all they have done to help make this thing work.
Extremely special thanks go to Linda for organising this event and we hope she can do it again for next year.  I am so impressed that she was able to do all the work involved in running this rather unusual band despite being extremely unwell.  Thanks Sweetie xxxxx.
Tobe.


No 16 - Medway Bridge Marina - 08.08.08

This is the second time the band have played at the marina.  Of course the lineup has changed to the extent that I am the only one who played last time.
It pissed down with rain, the gear got wet, my guitar packed in, we couldn’t see anything till someone got some lights sorted, my pedal filled up with water and made my sound awful, the hog roast man got greedy and they cancelled him.  Apart from that we had a great time.  Plenty of grub, the rain after all, was warm.  Most people stayed all night and it stopped raining a bit before we finished.  The band was raw but well received, my playing was certainly not the best and that is strange as I had just been on holiday and played guitar every day for at least 2 hours.  The rest of the band however were great.  Everybody loves Emmit and it's wonderful to be able to ask the crowd do they want to hear him and just stop playing and listen.  The first set was a bit wobbly as all those songs were the ones we had not played live with this line up.  Set 2  was a different thing and at the end when we had actually run out of songs Slick 50 suggested we did 'Baby Jump' and it became the best song of the evening.  Pretty good going considering Slick and I were the only ones who had ever played it and we hadn't done it for years.  Not only that, it is a very hard song for the drummer to come in on, and Emmit is one of only two drummers who have ever manged to come in on the correct beat first time [some never managed it even after exhaustive rehearsals causing us to develop the ability to instantly change rhythm to accommodate the error].
The audience were fantastic, they danced in the rain.
At one point we were amazed to see, through the rain, tractors, passing back and forth in front of us.  OK they were plastic tractors but it was really bizarre.
Later, after the band finished we had an acoustic blues jam for ages, and then about three a.m. Barbara started cooking burghers and sausages.  My van was off the road because it had run out of mot.  Now, that does not normally stop me from driving it as it is my habit to leave it for a few weeks before renewing it but this time the climate change protesters were in Hoo to attack the power station and the old bill went right over the top, talk about a knee jerk reaction.  1500 protesters and 1400 police!  They stopped everybody, they had camera vans, they took over the island and tried to block our access with their toilets.  They wanted to know everything.  I felt it would be silly to drive the van until it had it's ticket.  So we had to use two other vehicles, and get drunk people home.  It was hilarious.  Stuff got put in one motor and then taken out again when we found other gear would not fit.  I drove motors up and down and kept parking the wrong way round as I was stoned off my nut thanks to my friend Steve.  Mitch the fairy got in the back of Johns pajero which he kindly lent us and the seat she was on had somehow become free floating on its runners, every time I braked she shot forward and collided with the back of my seat and then flew back again when I accelerated.  It was light by the time we got back to the marina.
Thanks go to John Reynolds for putting on a great party and inviting us to play again, to Barbara for cooking above and beyond the call of duty, to the audience for putting up with the band and the rain, to Linda for robustly promoting the event and the band, to Mitch the Fairy for singing and to Paul for being the cement that holds together all that we do.
We are now looking forward to our forthcoming Cornwall Tour starting on the 13th of September.
Cheers, Tobe.


No15 - Beer & Steam - 05.07.2008

What a day!  Brilliant. We organize the bands for the Saturday of this wonderful 2 day event.  This year we had - The Crawlers - Cell Block 9 - One way Street - Gator & Co and the amazing Running on Empty.  Two bands dropped out along the way and that is how we managed to persuade Crow & the boys to come and perform.  Since he got together with Manny Leeman they have made Running on Empty one of the most Charismatic bands I have seen since the Chili Peppers.  To fill the space left by the other bunch of idle no-shows we cooked up a kind of CBL9 tribute with 4 old members and myself.  On stage at one time were: - Mr C. Deville - Guitar.  Mr Keith Webb - Bass.  The famous, and unflappable Steve Nye - Drums.  John [I sing in the 3rd fuckin' octave] Monday - lead vocs and harp, and the only surviving founder member of the CBL9 of today: me.  It was very good fun and nice to see Spider having  a good time and being the wonderful happy man I have missed for a short while.  All the bands were good and the high point for me was to come when my friend Guy rang me after the event to say he had just seen my band on Meridian TV.  Wicked!  One way Street had a good set and Rodger was in fine form, Steve also sang very well and I love his new guitar, it really needs a few scratches and dents before it can attain the level of street cred that mine has risen to and we did volunteer to bring it on a bit but Steve just thought we were joking.
The railway said that they had a record number through the stile, well over 700 I understand which is nearly as many as they had over the full 2 days last year, brilliant.  I'm sure we can make it at least as good next year and we at CBL9 Control will be working on it.
Thanks must go to Paul for doing so much to help me and to Mitch for being brave enough to get up and sing 'The House is a Rockin' for us.  Is there no end to her talents? [dancer, trapeze performer, painter, painter of boats, dress maker, flag maker, singer, choreographer, photographer, agony aunt and roadie].  I must also thank the performers:-
Pete Phillips - Keith Webb - Steve Nye - Pete, from Jumbo Gumbo - Maxine - Henry - Steve Baldock - Slick 50 - Dix - Emitt - Pete Lewis - Rodger - Crow - Manny - Guy Colins - Robbie Wright - Geoff Strange and John Monday.
Thanks to all the people who came to give support and made it such a great day.  Thanks to all those who danced and clapped.  Special thanks to the railway for inviting us and for providing me with all that bread pudding.  I salute you all.
This was the first gig with the new line up and a great opportunity to show off the latest member of the band, Emitt, our seventh drummer.
Cheers, T.


No14 - High Turnover - 02.07.2008

We had another amazing gig with Emitt bashin' the skins last Saturday.  Totally in contrast to the fairly lacklustre performance we put on at the Four Fathoms the night before. As a direct result of that we now have Emitt on the drums in place of Steve.  Emitt is a truly amazing performer, he managed to capture the audience and they went mad when he got into a solo.  The hard and fast fans were bowing down to him and chanting "we want Emitt" and similar.  The atmosphere was great and I knew that we had to have him in the band.  We talked about it afterwards and as soon as I could speak to Dix [who was yacht racing down at the Isle of Wight] it was all arranged.  I must apologize to Steve for messing him about but that's rock & roll and at least he has the record for the shortest period as a member of CBL9, one week, one rehearsal, one gig.
This band has now had 18 members over 9 years, out of which: one has been in the band twice and another three times.  Emitt is a showman and we already have plans for some extraordinary performances.  Look out Kent.
Tobe.


No 13 - Unlucky for some - 26.06.2008

I would like to welcome Steve into the band as our drummer.  Thankfully, auditions are now officially over, I hate them.  Steve played a gig with Dix last Saturday, just a scratch band and Dix described him as 'awesome'  At the same time we played a gig with Manny on guitar and Emitt on drums [Emitt came in at the last minute as Fred and I made a cockup and at 3.00 pm I found we had no drummer] and we had a brilliant gig also.  Our conversation the next day went something like this:
Dix "how was the gig last night old chap?"
T "absolutely brilliant, best gig I've ever played"
Dix "suppose that means I'm sacked then does it?
T "yep, and how was your gig at the barbeque then?"
Dix "fantastic, Steve was awesome, great gig, didn't want to stop"
T "suppose that means I'm sacked as well then eh?
Dix "yep"

Christ, this means we now have 2 Steves in the band and sod it, I'm still the oldest member.
Enough silliness.  Steve is fortunately able to play the gig with us tomorrow night and he can do the Beer and Steam.  We are now looking forward to some stability in the band and the opportunity to get some serious rehearsals in and smack together some of the new covers I have on my list and get some originals in the set.  Look out Kent.
Cheers, Tobe.


No 12 - The next stage - 13.06.2008

Fred [the first Buddhist in the band] has decided he must leave, mainly because he's sick of looking out and seeing my arse.  Seriously, he just lives too far away so we are now about to launch into yet another bout of auditions.  We have a few drummers to check out and a couple of them seem like the right kind of characters.  It is important with this band to have the right kind of person which means that playing ability is not the only factor to consider when looking for a new member.  Slick 50 has come back to the band to replace Mr Spider and we had our first get together, Dixon, Slick and myself last night down on the boat.  It was awesome.  No drums and although we started of with a drum machine we couldn't get the right beat for the first song so we didn't bother after that and it was so good being able to hear everything we sang that we have now decided to look for a dwarf drummer with a little tiny kit and very short drumsticks.
Cheers, Tobe.

No 11 - The end of an era - 24.05.2008

Mr Spider, our steadfast and lovable bass player, dry humourist and culinary magician has made the decision to leave the band.  Keith has been a part of CBL9 for four years now, he has done the Cornwall Bash twice, played around 150 gigs and put up with me all of that time, without [as far as I know] pchyciatric treatment or an attempt at suicide.  An award is required.  I would like to thank Keith for his time and effort, his friendship, and all the camaraderie he has injected into proceedings.  I have learned a lot from Keith about music, life, and pasta.  I wish him well in all he does.  I would also like to say thank you to Maddy for supporting Keith and the band through the years; it has always been a pleasure to see her at a gig.
He is so funny, on the 2006 Cornwall tour Linda was interviewing us and she asked him "tell me Mr Webb, why do they call you Spider?"  he kept a straight face and said "I think it's because I'm thin and spindly".  When we did our drag act at the 2007 Xmas Bash he got so into it and kept us laughing by acting very camp while we were dressed in womens clothes.
Thanks Keith.
Tobe.

No 10 - 27.04.2008 - Dave Hodder saves the day

Ello, fans, played the Rochester Queen last night. We had a great gig and I'd like to thank all of you for turning up and supporting the band. During the set Freds bass drum pedal lost a screw and started misbehaving. We couldn't find the screw and Dave Hodder nicely provided us with two small jubilee clips which sorted the problem. Cheers Dave. Anyway, a good time was had and thanks also go to Anita [my countrywoman] who had a birthday and gave me a lovely note thanking me for making her evening. Thanks to all the wonderfully silly people who blew 'happy birthday' on the kazzoos and I'd like to apologize to Carol [one of the Glimmer Twins] as I inadvertently gave her an out of tune kazzoo. Cheers to all the dancers esp. Mitch the Fairy. And many thanks to Paul for his work and keeping me in order.
This music game is entirely strange and you never know what is going to be waiting round the corner and 'gawd blimey' we are called CBL9 again.
Back on track, so the only way up is straight down, now.
Cheers, Tobe.





No9

Spoke to Pete.  We are now officially Cell Block 9 again, so calm down Carol.  We have lots of ideas and realise that with Dennis and Fred in the band we have the potential to cover songs previously off the list.  However, we first need to really get to grips with the arrangements of the songs we already have.  So here goes.
Tobe.


No8

Played the Four Fathoms at Herne Bay.  Bit of a test, this one.  They seemed to like the new lineup, it's still a bit raw but we now have the basis for a cracking band.  Some fans are still not happy with the name change and I have been pressed to talk to Peter regarding the possibility of retaining Cell Block 9, so I shall.  I will let you all know the outcome.
Tobe.

No7

Played the Beauty of Bath last night with Manny Leeman on guitar.  Dennis couldn't be there as he's on honeymoon.  Most inconsiderate.  Manny played guitar in my band 'The Thieves' for several years during the nineties and we have occasionally played together since.  It was great, Manny was fairly awesome and made me look like what I am, the apprentice.  All four of us were singing.
Tobe.


No6 - 10.04.08

To keep you up to date with legal happenings we have now received a cheque from Wheelers Bar at Torpoint for £181 regarding the fee for the gig we didn't play on our 2007 tour of Cornwall cause they denied booking it, minus what we got in the hat at the other pub and plus our costs.  We have spent about £60 getting this result and so 'MAGIC' [our local charity] will be in receipt of £120.  I have posted a copy of the order with the cheque stuck to it below.  Contrary to what I often feel there is some justice after all.

We found out after that they had been forced to cut back on bands and had obviously forgotten to let us know so they tried to front it out when we arrived but they were obviously lying.  Linda went straight in and asked for the entertainments manager by name and she was there but still denied booking it.  Then they just ignored us and waited till we went away.  We took them to court as we were sick to death of the way a lot of venues treat bands.  As we had all our advertising on record and they lied to the court and sent a very obviously faked diary in as evidence we won the case.
Moral is: don't tell lies 'cause they always come back and bite you.
Tobe.


No5 - 03.04.08

Late breaking news - I asked Bob Hoy if he could play guitar for us but he chickened out.  Shame........could have been a hoot.
Gig 1 - 29.03.08 - British Pilot - Allhallows
Well, well, you just never know what may happen in this game.  We were all very apprehensive about the gig on the way there.  We had a band that had one rehearsal under it's belt during which we cooked up several songs that some of the members were not at all familiar with [I learned the guitar breaks and the vocals for Sweet Home Chicago that afternoon]  With the late edition of Dennis on keyboards much of the work Spider and myself had done to try to get up to speed as a three piece outfit was out of the window.  Some songs from our old set which we had rejected in the run up, we hastily resurrected as Dennis knew them, but there was no time for any proper arrangements.  Dennis and Fred had never played a gig together, Dennis had played with Spider and myself once and Fred had played one gig with CBL9.  We were nervous.
The Pilot is not the kind of place to put on a crap show and although CBL9 had in the past gone down fairly well the crowd always made it obvious if they thought a number was shite.
We had a fantastic gig.
Dennis made the night, the keyboards really filled it out and although some of the starts were a little vague the rhythm section was wicked and just what I needed behind me to get busy on the guitar.  The audience were with us all the way, lots of dancing, lots of congrats and we had enough material.  I think the old CBL9 fans enjoyed it; the only moan I got was about the new name.
Thanks to the faithful for turning up and special thanks to Carol, Paul, and Mitch the fairy.
Tobe.

No4 - 24.03.08

This is the blog from the Cell Block 9 site.  I thought it important to bung it here as well.

Ello, ello, Tobe here. Thought I might not be doing this again but here I am. Don't get worried though, the band are not getting back together; although we are going to have a little bash in the summer at the Beer & Steam at Kemsley Mill. It's just too good to miss.
No, this one is to let you know that we won our case against Wheelers Bar in the small claims court. Last summer during our annual 'who ate all the pasties tour' we arrived at Wheelers Bar in Torpoint for the appointed gig and were told in no uncertain terms that there was no gig and they had not booked us. Linda went in and asked for the manageress by name and she [very nervously] told her she had not booked the band and that was that. After this they totally ignored us and went about their business as if we were not there, the chap I tried to talk to just looked right through me. It was obvious that they were lying but there was nothing much we could do there so we re-grouped in the high street and Linda the great controller of all things human shot into a pub while I called various friends and relatives to try to stop them wasting a journey. Some people were already in the town. I was gutted, and angry. Linda came out of this pub and said "come on get your gear in, you're playing here tonight"
What a fantastic manager. I'm so proud of her. We played for nothing in the Standard. We had a great gig and the landlady was such a darling, we all fell in love with her. She treated us like royalty and at the end she asked me if we knew 'Need your love so bad'....we did it and we did it well [the only blinkin' time] it was fantastic. The hat was thrown around and we got a bit of dosh, about a tenner each.
When we got back we decided that this time we would not let it go and sent a bill to Wheelers Bar for the fee. They refused and sent a lot of trite stuff in return to our letters. We went to the small claims court and after they tried to lie their way out of it [they even faked a dairy but made it too obvious] the court found in our favour. Now they have to pay us the fee minus what we got in the hat plus our costs and expenses. They also had a solicitor so we reckon it cost them about a grand and all we wanted was the £170 we were owed in the first place. When we get the money it is going to 'MAGIC' our local charity.
I must say here that if it wasn't for Linda and her amazing tenacity we would not have got this result. I would have given up ages ago and I feel we have made a stand for all the bands that get treated in this way. I'm sure that Wheelers Bar will think twice before trying a trick like that again.
All the best,
Tobe.

No3 - 23.03.08

Ello all you people with nothing better to do than read this dribble. Played at the Rochester Queen last night with Dennis & Co, it was his wedding bash. Awesome. He got several of his musician mates up to perform and they were good! Mr Spider excelled himself playing stuff he didn't know. I faked it when I didn't know it. Mark the guitarist was fantastic and not an egomaniac either. We started off with some swing stuff with a really great singer but he had to leave early, shame. As the night progressed it warmed up and we got a bit more up tempo. Mark and I managed to get a bit of guitar exchange in which was good fun. The big drummer/singer whose name I can't remember made the night singing loads of stuff and making sarcastic comment. The atmosphere was great. This woman got up to sing 'Songbird' unaccompanied, it was spine tingling and of course the hard disc recorder decided to run out of disc space just after she started and I only managed to get it recording again just before the end. We recorded the whole thing, took loads of fotos and got some video footage. I asked Dennis if he fancied playing with us next Saturday and he readily agreed, rehearsal next Thursday!
All in all everyone had a great night and Spider and myself would like to thank Dennis and Verity for inviting us to their fantastic evening.
Cheers for now, Tobe.

No2 - 07.03.08

Well fans, had the first official Salami rehearsal last night and it's obvious that I need to do a lot of work to bring my guitar playing up to scratch. I have fronted a three piece band before but that was a long time ago and a very different type of music. Only time will tell now. On the positive side we have got a few songs on the 'sorted' list already and I am able to spend a lot of time learning licks so hopefully things will look a lot different in a couple of weeks time.
I shall let you know.
Cheers, Tobe.

No1

Didn't bother with a number 1