Last time I wrote I was on a bus down to Newcastle, well, ultimately Gateshead to see Carl Marah doing his solo thing at Station East, the lad did not disappoint, and neither did the pub! Station East is only just on the other side of the Tyne, and definitely worth a wander over. It’s a smashing pub, the bar staff were great, plenty of beers and ciders, and a fridge full of pies!! Okay, it being a Sunday the fridge wasn’t full but there was still plenty of choice. A couple of hours in, I refuelled myself with an Aberdeen Angus Steak Mince & Onion pie, oh my lord! It was sooo good. I had fancied a Mexicana but was warned that it was quite spicy, yeah, no.

Local musician AJ.Potter (he played support when Carl was last down in Newcastle) was in and delighted the crowd with a few of his tunes before Carl stepped up to the mic. Sunday afternoons don’t come better than this! Seven songs, including a new one Fountain of Youth, then two favourite covers (one by Squeeze, natch), a short break, then plenty more, with a couple of brand new songs in the mix. All the while I was enjoying the great range of ales on offer, and a couple of halves of cider, it was an interesting trek to the train station afterwards! Oh yeah, I bought one of the Mexicana pies to take home, had it with a yoghurt dip to cool it down, definitely the right thing to do! Do try a Pitman Pie if you’re ever down that way, bloody tasty.

I did said at the end of that last post that the following week wasn’t looking up to much, how quickly things change! Louis Crosland posted about three gigs on Instagram, yay, then Carl Marah was playing the Three Marys in Leith (I’ve never been in there, so it seemed like a good reason to go), and Power Denim playing Binkies on the Friday evening turned out to be another of Mr Potts’ sidelines (just the band name had my moosedar tingling with suspicion). There was also a few films that I fancied catching on the big screen …. I took myself off to see the Bruce Springsteen biopic on Wednesday evening, hmmm. It was okay-ish, very long, the actor playing Springsteen was very good, but it was for the more ardent fans, methinks. Roofman and Good Fortune were both way more my thing, hey, two out of three, you know. It’s great having an Unlimited card! The new Emma Stone film will be next.

Halloween had the town packed with all manner of weird creatures, but none so strange as seeing Jed Potts on stage sans guitar! I surely wasn’t the only one mumbling, what? huh? wow, really? Yes, Power Denim had Jed centre stage with just a microphone (I wonder if he kinda felt naked without his guitar?), oh, and a guitarist, bassist and drummer, playing classic rock; they’ll be back in Whistlebinkies at the end of the month, or so the gig guide says. I left after the first set to catch a number 14 down to Leith to see Carl at the Three Marys, what a lovely bar! It wasn’t very busy so, yay, more Marah’s Originals in the mix, sweet. The weekend saw Louis Crosland out twice with his trio and once with the Moanin’ Bones (two of those in one evening), naturally I was out to catch the vibes.

And now I’m about to pop out again, it’s nearly midnight, on a Tuesday – if you don’t know where I’m going you haven’t read enough of my musings! Time for another Scat Rats top-up fix, it’ll take me through nicely to tomorrow evening when Mr Marah takes to the stage in the Voodoo Rooms with a band too! It’s gonna be bloody, bloody brilliant, oh, my heartses.

Toodle pip!