Site updated 28/7/2010
Website designed by Davie Munro Camden St Studios Evanton ©2010 all rights reserved camdenstreet.music@virgin.net
T h i s p a g e w i l l b e u p s o o n
“BlackRock Craic 2010! “
Hapee Noo Yeeeaaa !! BlackRock Ceilidh and The Tongue Hotel provided one of the few Hogmonay Parties not cancelled by the weather.
We spent the 31st loading the gear and listening to the forecast and all the roads north that were blocking due to the snow. Heard that Glasgow , Inverness, Tain , Thurso etc had all cancelled their New Year Parties.
Band decision at 2pm. Head north via Aultnaharra and try to make the gig. Check out Facebook for the videos of the snow. We met the last plough near The Crask Inn , Just as the snow was becoming real deep and the road invisible. We made it though. God Bless Land Rover....
I think Lorraine was shocked to see us appear like a bunch of Innuits at 5.
We carried the gear in over the drifts and threw the Landy and trailer into another.
After a feed we headed from the craic of the bar to the function room to do our thing.. We had a great night and got everyone singin’ and dancin ‘ before the Bells. We were invited by some of the local folk to a party after the gig, so we played onto til around 1.30pm ,broke down the gear and were hustled off to the Village Hall by Laina and Sharon and friends. We met so many great folk who were more than generous with their Whisky and vodka and danced the night ‘til we fell out of the place at 5 am for a huge snowball fight.
Claire fell head first into snowdrifts and had to be dragged out and Laina had to be carried as the stilettos didn’t match the conditions too well.
The journey home over the snowy flow country next day was an adventure in it’self. . 4 and a half hours that took .. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz !!!
Jan 02nd 2010
The Lock Inn , Fort Augustus.
The scene of another surviors session and gig for the Band. This must be the 4th time we’ve done this one. Always great craic ! More travails on the snowy trails to get to Fort Augustus today.. At least this was an acoustic gig so no trailer ( rear mounted snowplough ) required.
We arrived at 3 ish and started playing . It was great to have Graham and Mike from over the Struie who came to play in .
The place was loupin’ and packed with a brilliant atmosphere and the fire roaring. We had been playing for about 3 hours and had been joined by some of the locals playing in too , when our friends frome Stornoway looked in on their way from Rum to the ferry at Ullapool. With them were three other muso’s so that swelled the numbers by seven. The next three hours went past in a blur as at least 15 players had the place rockin’ !!
Well done to “Cheesey “ for taking over ont the cajon , whilst Liz gave us one of the Lock Inn’s legendary dinners.
Fantastic !!
We left at 9pm , to head north and get a nightcap of you know what and a few more tunes at our local , but the night did not stop there.......
Snow, snow, and yet more snow !!
Friday Jan 15th-
This gig was a long time in the making, as Doug and Samantha Wylie’s wedding arrangemnets changed due to the weather. The Jacobite Queen was Ice bound in Inverness, so we headed to The Jacobite Legend at the Clansman instead. It was reeeeeally icy on the approaches to the pier, but we got the gear stowed safely and set up and sound checked on the cruise to GlenUrquhart castle, where we picked up the wedding party.
After the speeches we struck up and had the company dancing the cold away.
The American contigent were very keen to learn and we had a great time as we cruised round the Loch. Even though it was cold outside it was toastie inside, so much so that the company decamped to the top observation deck to cool off and admire the snow in the hills round the Loch.
The band unplugged, took the instruments and went out too, to have a good sing song of Jacobite rants which everyone joined in the chorus. Great fun !! After quarter of an hour of this the minus degree cold set into the shirt sleeved band and we started the dancing again downstairs.
The boat was really rocking and before we knew we’d docked again.
What a grand afternoon we all had & thanks goes to Graham our impromptu drummer who was steady as a rock through out. ( until disembarking when he dropped his drum in the drink, we all helped by laughing as he fished it out with a boat hook )
The final flattering words must go to Doug and Sam....
“ What about the band, they were brilliant & made the perfect day even better. The guests really enjoyed the dancing ,the music and the ambience se by the band..
Sam & I can never thank you all enough , I would highly recommend everyone.
Nice people eh !!
See the Pics kindly sent by Susan McQueen , of the sub zero sing song on deck. -