Violet Blue

 Today we played the wonderful annual(ish) Garden Party booked by wonderful friends and hosts Martin and Elaine. So many lovely, talented acts and a lovely, neighbourly crowd in a still (despite stacking heatwaves) beautiful leafy garden.

One of many highlights for us was pursuading Diane of Violet Cry to join us for a song on the vocals - a great moment!

Diane joining us on vocals

Another lovely Garden Party gig.

Once again The Blue Yellows and many of the musical great and good in these parts and beyond were asked to play at a private garden party with people our talented hosts; Martin, Elaine and family who have become good friends. The day also included another partner in crime Dayve Dean working hard on the (great) sound all day as well as playing a set of his enchanting self-penned songs.   

A real highlight, I think all would agree was poet, and guest of Helen Kay, Joy France. Joy said that when people see her at a poetry event, "..they expect daffodils" and when at a slam or rap/slam event, the other artists involved (if they don't know her yet) have been known to inform her that she ended up in the wrong place, and politely tell her where the loos are...

Well, if you are in any doubt of the poetic powers of this woman, check this out!



A snippet of our set..

Blooming Beautiful!

Aug 6th, 2017

Another August and another lovely invite to Martin and Elaine's friendly hospitality and mini-festival no less, in their gorgeous back garden. Playing with The Blue Yellows of course, or at least 3/4s of us while Em is away on holiday.

I feel I let the Yella Fella's down somewhat with a voice totally under-powered and under-tuneful almost from the off, however... something I realised later might be partly down to being generally dehydrated from having run out of drinking water at home (I live on a narrowboat, keep up!) and not having had time to replace it, or, therefore, drink very much at all that morning, my own stupidity at not realising this getting in the way then, really.
Nevertheless, it was a truly lovely, gentle day again in the most gorgeous garden, yummy food and very good company.

One of the most memorable performances came from songwriter Tim Lee, in fact I had that experience of completely forgetting where I was and totally existing inside the music as he played his song, 'A Curious Cure'. This is a common experience I have regularly when I play music (in fact I think musicians should aim for this state) and quite often when listening to great music alone, but rarely when feeling more nervous and conscientious when I'm with people. Anyroadup, Tim also made a really comprehensive write up of the whole day, and some very special performances, right HERE if you want to read more.

Many thanks to all involved and especially Martin and Elaine... Special!

When is a Garden Party a Festival?

Why not host a gig or (even mini-festival) in your home or garden?

August 14th, 2016

Connor, one of many great performances at the Garden Party event.

In The States, ‘House Concerts’ have become a big thing, but haven’t yet taken off in a big way on this side of the pond, though I know some artists who have managed to put some shortish house-tours together. This is a bit of a surprise really given that ‘staying in is the new going-out’ and that cooking for friends has become such a huge trend.

Sunday’s gig provided fantastic evidence as to why you, yes you should organise one.

Lovely hosts Martin and Elaine booked some of their favourite artists (the usual thing is just to book one artist or band, but M&E got themselves a whole mini-festival), provided the most delicious food and drink, had friends and family around. This has become something of a greatly anticipated annual event, and luckily, once again, the weather was perfect for it (though I was greatful for the shade provided, that could equally have provided rain-cover). 

This event was all about poetry, as well as music. One of my guitar students, Connor Owen was the only person to perform both poetry and music. An excellent performance poet, his newly-honed guitar skills have advanced so quickly that he would’ve still been impressive had he been playing and practicing regularly for a decade. I couldn’t ask for a better advert for my tuition (more details HERE folks, by the way)! Though of course, as with everything, as a teacher I am only really someone who can provide tips, guidance, encouragement, enjoyment in playing (it is playing after all) and facilitate the learning that really takes place within the student’s mind and hands. An event like this is actually quite a demanding prospect for an introverted control-freak such as myself (and as I know many artists are); The ideal really being a highly structured fold-out of events including a knowledge of exactly when soundcheck is, performance start and end times, set-up, running times and so on, so that I can carry out my (mostly internal/psychological) preparations. If any of this was an issue for Connor though, he certainly didn't show it. Very well done indeed!

It was the first performance by the whole band, all 4 of us that is (The BlueYellows), since Em took an extended period off for the birth of little Heidi. A quick rehearsal the day before was enough to give a good performance in a more laid-back acoustic mode, which seemed appropriate for this event, though with recording and gigs coming up this Autumn, we are well and truly back!

If you want to discuss terms for booking the band for a private event, contact us via blueyellows@live.co.uk or myself for a solo gig via jtarplee@hotmail.com

Now that wasn't so much gig at a garden party. It was more like a mini music festival. https://t.co/q7HaEo1Hn8

— Martin Rivers (@Martin_Rivers26) August 15, 2016

A Garden of Music and Words.

Sunday, August 9th 2015

I think this photo by host Martin, captures the relaxed atmosphere well.
L-R Tim Lee, Emma & Simon from The Blue Yellows before we played.

House parties are something both me and the band would love to do much more of, but this was very special by any standards. A garden party hosted by Martin & Elaine. Not only music fans, but the aforementioned Martin (Butterworth) is himself an accomplished musician and you can hear his amazing project Cheshire Plane, here. 

Delicious home made food and craft beers were provided and a wonderful, friendly atmosphere from all the fantastic musicians and poets mentioned in Martin's poster, below.

Just wonderful!

The Blue Yellows L-R Simon, Dave, myself and Em
Thanks to Martin again for the photo.

A bit of a break now for me after a good spate of summer festival gigs. When I say break what I mean by that really is booking winter shows and 2016 festivals, band rehearsals for Autumn 2015 gigs, practicing with Dan Logan for our food festival show, reporting gigs to the PRS, sorting new designs for fliers, badges, websites, social media, songwriting and guitar-practice of course, planning and a lot more besides (though I am getting away for 2 days), oh and involvement with a new video for one of my songs, yes!

My live Autumn Festival gigs start on September 4th (check to the right-hand side of this site for the gig-list confirmed so far).

See you around!