Exactamundo

Riotous revelry

I've been neglecting this blog, what with all the other social media-Instagramalamadingdon-Facebook stuff most people do these days. Anyway, I thought I'd throw a post up. It might get me doing a few more. Or it might not, who knows!

The Riot was ages ago, but it was tip top as usual. I didn't get many photos, but these ones seem to stir some blurry, distant memory of what went on.

The obligatory shot of all the top cars outside the entrance.

The chalet parties/jam sessions were in full effect.

We even had a crooner in the Green Owl who we threw some shapes to.

Men with Hats.

Ladies with ladies.

Men with men.

Table top banter.

Doing the hand jive.

Man with thumb.

Man with knees.

Tip top.

Beauty's in the eye of the fez holder.

Phil's micro pub is slowly taking shape. Another month or so and Fez will be opening its doors to the unsuspecting residents of Margate. They're going to love it.

It even looks cool as it is now. Can't wait until it's done.

Tales of the Queen Vic

The Rockabilly Rave was fantastic once again. I didn't get to see that many bands, but the ones I did were tip-top. Charlie Thompson's hillbilly session and Jack Baymore doing Elvis, 60-63 Nashville Sessions, were amazing. And the hillbilly session on the back of the truck was pretty cool.

The DJs in the Queen Vic were a big draw again and we got stuck in there quite a lot!

Anyway, as far as i can remember, a top time was had by all. We had ukelele sessions, birthday parties, cases of mistaken identity, mistaken nationalities, jivers' arm, outfit clashes, barrels of laughs, growlers of beer, alcoholic Werthers Originals, sore everythings. Basically, the usual nonsense.

And I know these photos look like we only hang about with the same people, but we actually did meet loads of new faces.

Roll on the next shenanigans.

Get Rhythm...

A tad tardy, but he's a few pics from the Rhythm Riot last year. It was tip top, but I seemed to be too drunk to actually see any of the bands or take any pics of them. Anyway, here are a few of the gang.

 

Hail, hail rock 'n' roll

Those pesky kids, The Caezars, came down to cause some musical mischief at The Bottletop Club. A big crowd came along to shake a leg and any other body parts that worked.

There were smiley faces.

New faces.

Not-quite-so-new faces.

Boppers.

A salty-looking sea dog.

Three cool cats.

Murder on the dance floor.

Lew Lewis and the Twilight Trio rockin'.

The Caezars sweated buckets for the cause of rock 'n' roll.

Sue trying to get Danny to put a bit of Kelly Marie into the set. He wasn't buying it. A tip-top night nevertheless.

Love-in at The Bottletop.

The rockin' nights at UCA, organised by Phil, are always a laugh. Whether it's rammed out or not, everyone enjoys themselves. So a big thank you to Phil, Trish and Graham and everyone else who turns up to shake a leg. Here are a few pics from the last one with the Pulsators. Tip top.

 

Bonjour Les Frères Doel et au revoir Philippe.

A few pics from The Doel Brothers at UCA and Phil's tip-top leaving do.

 

Hillbilly Hi-jinks

After travelling for what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights, Phil and I eventually got up to Lytham for the Hoedown Weekender. It was at Fort San Antone, a massive western-style, wooden dance hall.

A weekend of top hillbilly/western swing was promised, and that's what we got.

Unfortunately, I got so excited I accidently drank too much and was unable to take that many photos. So I'll just list some bits that are missing.

The Taps pub in Lytham was fantastic - a World War 2 re-enactment weekend meant it was full of GIs, spivs and Nazis. And all the barmaids were landgirls! And the beer was only £2.70 a pint. An American paratrooper knocked over Phil's pint with his rifle.

The DJs played top music all weekend. Although they only played 'Waitin' in Line' 33 times, which we thought wasn't enough. The Doggone Honkabillies were brilliant as usual. There was lots of moonshine. And a carvery.

Sue was astonished by the size of the portions.

The Del Rio Ramblers put on a top show.

Dungarees were de rigueur.

As were beards.

Mick ordering one pint.

And here's a little behind-the-scenes action of Phil sorting out Andy's barnet.

"More Black & White please."

The Doel Brothers rocked the house, as usual.

Mick and Phil acknowledging the 33rd go round for 'Waitin' in Line'.

Willie kept an eye on proceedings, making sure no line dancers turned up!

It was an absolutely fantastic weekender, we've already booked the cabins for next year. Yee Haw!

 

Northern Chair World

The Rockabilly Rave this year was probably the best one I've been to. Absolutely tip top. The bands, DJs, all the old and new faces, the ukelele extravaganza, the complete ridiculousness of it all. Magnifico.

Here's a small selection of the ridiculousness.

We had a little uke jam on the balcony which we enjoyed, not too sure about the neighbours mind you. Anyway, slide geetarist extraordinaire to the stars, Phil Morgan, joined us. He almost made it listeneable.

Whatever you do, don't look at Sue Fisher's video on Facebook. But if you do, mute it.

Lauren can hardly control her excitement.

It only looks like Sue's giving Rose the evils, she's not really.

Rose has just seen the photo of Sue giving her the evils.

Always follow directions from a man in a fez. That's the law.

The Muttonchop brothers.

We met John and Catrin all the way from Welsh Wales.

Sue spent the whole weekend looking for a man in a kilt. She finally found one of these frenchies sporting one. Tres bon.

Top DJs.

Blip Blop.

Charlie Thompson.

Dave Mumbles.

As well as lots of standing around there's also top dancing. Here Phil and Ingrid demonstrate the chair-chair-cha-boogie.

The Fez Fandango.

The It's-my-round rhumba.

The Air Andy.

And if that gets too boring there's always the rides.

That's more like it, peace and quiet.

All the stars are very approachable too, not that they have much choice!

A Caezar with the ladies.

A Doel.

Another one.

A Rimshot.

A Dave and Deke Combo Dave.

A fast-fingered Phil Morgan.

We're definitely getting one of these for next year. Tip top.

Ladies night

Sue jacked in her job last year to do something she really wanted to do instead - brew beer. And everything came to a wonderful frothy head when she piloted her very own brew a couple of weeks ago.

It was made at Gadds' Ramsgate Brewery as part of the International Women's Collaboration Brew Day. Brewsters (lady brewers) from around the world collaborated to brew the same base recipe at the same time.

The lady-themed launch night was in the New Inn.

Here are four of the brewsters holding their brews.

Sue with Eddie Gadd and fellow brewer Jon.

The event was also a fundraiser for the Oasis charity.

Andy made these sought after, one-of-a-kind-works-of-art-disguised-as-badges badges.

Andy's top impression of Olive from 'On the Buses'.

Ben proudly displaying his collection of ladies.

Sergeant at Arms Steve with Sandie Shaw at the ready.

Pete doing a spot of dining before spinning.

Sue made a speech.

The cat didn't seem enormously bothered, but it was a tip-top evening. Well done Sue. x

Pop a top

The brand new Bottle Top Club had its opening night recently. We also celebrated a couple of birthdays, so there was lots of fun to be had and cake to be eaten. The Doggone Honkabillies put on a top show as usual and Lewis Ellen even popped up for a few songs. The Tuttie Fruities provided the tassel twirling titillation.

The birthday girls hootin' and a hollerin' with the Honkabillies.

Frankie fronting.

Lewis warbling.

Katie cakeing.

Beautiful badges.

Beautiful beards.

Bonjour.

Boys will be boys.

Phil mesmersing the ladies with his light tricks.

"Sorry Sue, I've left Super Trooper at home."

A tip-top evening was had by all.

Can your pussy do the Dog?

A western saloon in the middle of deepest, darkest Kent - with its own fake western town attached! Who knew?

Anyway, we were there on Saturday night - The Dancing Dog Saloon - for a top evening of pink and furry rock 'n' roll.

Vive Le Pink put on a top show, all guns blazing.

Luckily, there were no real guns blazing.

But tins of sweets aplenty.

Nigel seemed to be a bit aggrieved that someone was trying to take his 'Closest to the Ceiling' prize.

Miss Le Pink only had eyes for Phil...

...or Nigel.

The Duke obviously didn't like being outdone by a parachuting albino Santa.

A brilliant venue and a top-ten-gallon-hat of an evening.

Giddyup.

Here come the Belgians

In fact Betty's Doghouse were from the Netherlands, luckily I kept the chips and mayonnaise off the poster! That small hiccup aside, they were brilliant. They played four sets of top dancefloor-filling tunes.

Sporting the UCA 'Shake It' t-shirts they certainly cut a dash. Nigel was trying to get in on the act as the tallest roadie in show business.

They certainly liked a photo opp.

Slimboy kept everyone dancing when the boys were off stage.

The Folkestone Facial Hair Society sent some representatives.

Tatt-alicious.

They're playing Andy's song.

And this is how I felt the next morning.

Whole lotta Rosie

The Rhythm Riot this year was tops for taste. Cool bands, cool DJs, cool people. I heard a few people belly aching about some of the music, but balls to them I had a great time.

Nikki Hill's version of 'Whole lotta Rosie' could well have been the highlight.

This year seemed to involve Fezs a little more than usual.

Fruity Fez.

The Golden Fez.

The I-can't-believe-it's-not-butter Fez.

The female fez.

The Fez of earthly delights.

The Play-the-feckin-note Fez.

The Fifty-shades-of-grey Fez.

The Full-gin-and-tonic Fez.

The floating Fez.

The fashionista Fez.

Glamourpusses.

It all got quite tiring. Tip top.

Micro-pubbing in Margate

The Wikipedia definition of Micropub:
    • Is small (compared to a ‘normal’ pub), and single-roomed
    • Sells exclusively cask-conditioned beers i.e. no keg products: ‘smooth’, lager, Guinness etc

In addition:
    • Does not sell spirits or Alcopops.
    • Is best described as an old-fashioned 'Ale House'.
    • Shuns products from national and multi-national breweries.
    • Does not have TV, juke box, gaming machines or pool tables.
    • No food, other than traditional snacks such as eggs, pork scratchings, cheese, pies, etc.

Anyway, they're generally tip top and generally in Kent. We went to The Harbour Arms in Margate, which is on the harbour arm!

The harbour arm.

The view.

No takers for the deck chairs.

A slight nautical theme.

Wise words on the pint glass.

The canon keeps out the riff raff.

The riff raff!