Day 287

Day 287

Tuesday December 15

I didn’t mention that last night me Jenn and Cris went to the Blues Kitchen for dinner. Really great to see the staff there. It was also amazing to see that there were tables on the actual stage. I really wanted to sit up there but Jenn just wasn’t having it, eating up in full sight. There was even a table right in my spot. Oh that would have been fun. Oh well. It was also pretty cool to get something of the star treatment. Not only free desserts all round, but a whole 50 per cent off the bill.

I wasn’t going to talk about this particular BK trip, but I do so now to say that all the staff I speak to tell me of the horrendous night they’re expecting tomorrow (Tuesday). With the announcment that this would be the last night for pubs, their bookings for today suddenly more than doubled. I tell Sophia, one of the mangers, who’s become a really good friend, that I could possibly come in and help. I don’t know the systems so couldn’t jump in behind the bar or on the restaurant in such a pressured situation, but I could certainly be a useful, and I’m sure very gratefully received, pair of hands going round the place and picking up glasses. She thanks me very much, but says, ‘Your bar is going to call you. I was calling every member of staff I could today and asking if they could come in.’ With that, she, and another of the managers, invite me in for afterwards drinks. ‘It’s going to be a big one,’ they tell me. Lovely, but she’s absolutley right. I get home, turn on the computer and see a message from our own assistant manager. Could I please please come in tomorrow? With Monday day having been my last time in, I thought I’d done all my evenings for now. Not so fast. I’m now doing the last one as, like the BK, bookings more than doubled with the announcement yesterday.

However, in the event, it really isn’t all that crazy. If I hadn’t been there as the extra person, it would have been too much for those already on, but it’s really fine although one or two regulars do order just one or two shots too many with predictably messy results. I really should have said no. Would have saved me the cleanup. Towards the end I get a message from Sophia asking how it’s been. Not the crazy night we were expecting at all. ‘Same here,’ she says. Mad.

Day 289

Thursday Dec 17

Now bars all over London including our own have been put to bed, it’s time for a rethink of what’s next. I kind of see this as a companion piece to the recently written overview.

So what is next? I have absolutely no idea. I’m not remotely allowing myself the hope of paid music or gigging within the next year at least. Even if Covid suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth right now, the bar business has already been seriously hit. I have no idea what the figures are, but anectotal suggestion and stories close to home paint the picture that many bars have either already ceased trading, or probably will in the near to mid future. The same for theatres and other such venues. And of the bars that will be staying open, the thought that any considerable number of them will be able or willing to pay the kind of live fees they have over the past few years is disappearing or has already disappeared. And once again I’ve got to dip my waters in political discussion in these pages. As of January, citizens of the UK will lose the right to travel freely or settle and work across Europe. Bands may still be able to travel and tour but from what I understand, this will be accompanied by increased paperwork and costs making it prohibitive for all but a few operators, mostly concentrated among the biggest names and highest earners with organisations around them able to help them absorb this new reality. My belief is that this will lead to a huge amount of people who would have otherwise been touring or living abroad and playing remaining in the UK trying to make a living out of a dwindling pool of opportunities. There already wasn’t a great deal to go around and, as you’ve seen here plenty of times, the hustle can be hard and brutal. But what we’re going to have now, and I’m sure I’ve used this analogy here before, is a shrinking ice floe beseiged by more and more penguins. I’m not saying it’s over, but I really don’t think I have the stomach to scramble through the crowds to hustle for the scattering crumbs of dust around a broken trough. I’ve felt for a while that the musical rug of London was being tugged and was possibly already fraying when I got here. Now the floor has collapsed underneath it.

There are three professional worlds I really know. Bar, music and media. If I’m not overtly trying to play music professionally, what then is the point of a bar job? For me it’s always been the means to an end. A deliberately sought position of no, or little, responsibility that allowed me to take off whenever the call came. As long as it came with enough notice. Now it’s just a job. But yes I’m very much aware, it is still a job and must be greatly respected, although to be fair I have always greatly respected it. But even with that there’s no telling how long it’s going to last. As I said up above a minute ago, these places are seemingly closing by the minute. I just have to hang onto it for as long as it’s there because it’s not just in music that opportuny has been and will be decimated. My thoughts are already turning to what else I could do in this landscape, but I think I need to let some considerable dust settle first before I even think of venturing out there. So what is next? Bar career? Don’t fancy that. I’ve already said no once to the opportunity. As it is, I don’t see many other opportunities coming up. Media or journalism? I don’t see that either. I loved that world but it was a long time ago and all I see now are euphimisms for creating click bait. No thanks. I’m sure there are still positions within it that I would find attractive and that I could add value to, but I have no doubt competition would be beyond fierce should any show themselves. Yeah, I feel I could compete but I don’t think it would be far off a lottery.

So what is next? I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that I’m more open to it than I would have been for as long as I can remember.

I said a little while ago that I was now playing just for fun. I think that’s going to continue to be about the size of it. Musically, my mind has now turned to creating and working with people who create; the only reason to learn and play covers is to make money. If the opportunity to make money isn’t there then you might as well do whatever you want. With that I have the foundations with Xara, and with Cris as he puts together the next Wild Child album. Since I’ve been in London I’ve had many offers to join original bands and have refused every one of them. Wild Child doesn’t count because I was paid for those shows. Now? Like I said, I’m open. But, I think for the most part, also already taken.