Music news

Last night saw Mrs The Millbrooker and me stepping out to the D&C to see Tony Harris and his vastly expanded quartet (last night the line up included drums, keyboard, vibes/fiddle, guitar, trumpet, and two saxophones; that makes seven players by my reckoning). Lizzie was on hand to provide some vocals. That makes an eight piece quartet.


The sounds were, as usual, an excellent blend of extemporising and good old fashioned melody.
They play from around 8:30 onward, with a couple of fag and pint breaks, every Monday; do give it a try, I find it a great way to spend an hour or two.


Anyway, the news is that Harry and Rosemary turned up a bit unexpectedly to see and hear Lizzie warbling. Harry and I got to yapping and it turns out that he's got himself a ukulele (not as cool as mine, I'm sure, but it might stay in tune better). Within a pint's slurping we'd decided to form a uke band. Watch out, world: The Barnett Millbrooker Elastic Band will be starting rehearsals. Should be a godawful noise but lots of fun for those of us making it.

We repaired to Millbrooker Towers for a nightcap and a quick ukulele session. Here's a shot of the effervescent Harry Barnett showing off his musical skills with the coolest instrument on Earth, performing his rendition of "Drunken Sailor", shortly before demonstrating that drunken sailors might occasionally stumble over hearth stones and into mantelpieces: