1998

As 1998 dawned we knew that we had a lot of work ahead of us in order to get our debut cd ready for sale in the summer. We couldn't continue recording straight away, however, as we had to rehearse for a major event; our 7 year anniversary gig, scheduled for the 21st of February. It turned out to be the best gig we've played yet. But for a while it looked like the gig might never even happen.

Our first major problem was getting a permenant keyboard player. We had been looking since May, as calling up Katherine everytime we wanted to play a gig, and Mike everytime we wanted to record was no use in the long term.
May soon became November however, the gig was drawing nearer and nearer and we still could not find anyone suitable. Finally in December I searched a classified ad section on the internet (who says the internet doesn't work), and found 2 ads that sounded promising. One of these turned out to be Mark Roberts, a very talented, and ,more importantly, easy going and friendly , musician. He soon became a full-time Shorty.
(Left: Mark belts out 'Last Train To Clarksville' )
Note: This photo (& 90 % of the photos here ) were taken by Mystic Green , who runs our fanclub. Our grateful thanks to her.

Our second problem was that Saul had been suffering a protracted bout of illness since October. Everyone expected he'd be better far sooner than he was. Finally in mid-January he told us there was no way he could perform at the gig.
Mark suggested a friend of his , Ravi Lowbeer, who came in at very short notice, had only 2 full rehearsals with us (only 1 with everyone present) and went out and gave a stonkingly good performance. We owe him a debt of gratitude and he joins the ranks of honary shorties who will gain power and prestige when we found a new nation :)
Right: Ravi Rocks out !

Our final crisis was due to being shafted by the 100 Pub, with whom we had a verbal agreement. The arrangement was that the venue was definitely booked, and we had to pay a deposit 7 days before the gig, and the rest on the night. Dan and I arrived to pay the deposit, and a junior accidentally gave the game away, when he showed us the bookings log. Another party had offered them double what we had, and so they decided to take the money and shaft us.
All seemed lost, you have to book venues months in advance, and as Mal and I rang pub after pub despondency set in. Then a breakthrough. The Bank Of Swans pub, by a bizarre coincidence less than a mile from the old venue, had just changed landlord, and had NO bookings. It turned out to be an even better venue, and so finally, 2 days before the gig, all we had left to worry about was the music !!!
Left: Funkmeister and Rock God Daniel Auty gets in the groove.

The gig itself went amazingly well, despite several people not making it as the bastards at the 100 pub once again reneged on a promise, this time the promise being to redirect any ticket holders we hadn't been able to inform of the venue change.
Our support band Colourfly brought their amazing mixer, and thus the sound was amazing. Combining that with the fact that we really got into a groove, and the result was cosmic. What was really encouraging for us was the fact that our originals got a great reception, despite the fact that only a few of the 50+ audience had ever heard them.
After our originals, Colourfly did a great set, and then we returned to do our main set of Monkees tunes.
Right: Mal gives his all on Circle Sky.

By this stage the adrenalin was really flowing, the audience response was so good that we were really buzzing. A bit too much as it happened, as we began belting a couple of numbers out at an inordinately fast pace. One of those was 'Pleasant Valley Sunday', on which we were lucky enough to have Nicko, an amazing singer who played at last yrs Monkees convention, singing. She coped brilliantly though, and despite Star Collector also sounding as if we were late for another appointment, most of the set, and even the gags, went brilliantly.
Left: Nicko, coping admirably with a double speed 'Pleasant Valley Sunday'.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our fanclub, who sent us a lovely 'Good Luck' card, signed by all the fans, including the American members who couldn't make it (some lame excuse about a plane ticket costing $500 !!). The fans who were there provided sterling support. They became an impromtu horn section on 'Listen To the Band', and sang backing vocals on many tunes. Finally, they presented us with the Shorty Blackwells underpants shown in the picture at the top of this page. So, a big thanks to them, the best fan club in the world.

Set List: Originals: Would You Ever?, Star Wars Vision, Elephant Sings The Blues, Fish And The Tambourine, On The Balcony, No No No, The Is Not the Gook.
Monkees tunes: Girl I Knew Somewhere, For Pete's Sake, Star Collector, Circle Sky, Gonna Buy Me A Dog, I Wanna Be Free, Last Train To Clarksville, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Monkees Theme, Steppin' Stone. Encore: Daydream Believer, Listen To The Band, I'm A Believer.