It soon rolls around and today was the day we filmed the next batch of performances for The Random Saturday Sessions. As far as YouTube hits are concerned it isn't exactly breaking the Internet despite me following the advice given on TFI Friday by Justin Bieber and tagging the videos with such misleading click-bait as 'cute kittens', but it remains a lot of fun to be a part of so even if nobody bothers watching them I will still do them as long as I can get people involved. We met up in West Bridgford this time and the town was full of the Christmas spirit as today was the switching on of the lights later on. This put everyone in the mood for some festive music so we were able to film some extra songs for the extended Christmas special that will be released as a standalone video on Christmas Eve and not be a part of the episode numbering. Each tour is going to be presented as a series and as such the Beeston videos are series 1 and today is series 2. By my rough estimation I now have a weekly series to last until the end of January, not all of the Beeston videos are out yet, indeed today saw Cibele's set released and Gerry's set will drop next Saturday. 

A lovely sunny cold morning greeted us as we met up for coffee so we popped over to the park to record Jay Brow's songs. As usual we were met with the mixture of cooperation, generosity and bewilderment that normally follows us around although we were met with more negativity than we are used to. This didn't dampen our spirits though as the places that welcomed us were charm personified. Jacob and Adam, half of The Mithered, made their début as did Alexa Hawksworth, Lisa DeVille and The Idolins and stalwarts Gerry Trimble, Anthony Smith, George Gadd and Cibele all played. 

What made this 'tour' more special is the fact that we actually had an audience for a lot more performances this time around. There will always be people who try and carry on as if The Random Saturday Sessions isn't blocking off the part of the shop that they need to be in but today people were taking notice and applauding. I suppose it's a bonus to walk into a shop and see someone singing but I do wonder if the presence of the camera has something to do with it too. The Mithered played a greetings card shop and George played a fairly posh looking chocolate shop to an appreciative gathering (George even sold a CD to someone in a shop queue). It is the independent businesses that accommodate us the best and this was especially true of the hardware shop that The Idolins played in. They even allowed us to attempt a recreation (with a difference) of the legendary Four Candles sketch. Alexa played in a very trendy home made toys type of place (I do have the names of the places written down so we can credit them on the videos) and the reaction was the same, 

For me the best example of a business welcoming us came when Lisa DeVille played her set (plus a duet with Cibele for the Christmas special) in the upstairs of Cured, a bar come restaurant, and not only did they seem to stop serving food while she sang, the people sitting at the tables listened and applauded. I had a horrible feeling that we would be talked over but I'm sure Lisa could have done an entire set without complaints. The upstairs room would be the perfect setting for some kind of music related session, possibly on a weekend afternoon, so of course I suggested it to the manager. It would be interesting to see if I get some comeback from it though. 

It was a long day and the cold had set in by the time of the final performance, City of Kites (Gerry and Ant without Will) played in the outside seating area of a deli surrounded by Christmas trees in nets ready to be sold. This will add a special festive ambiance to the video which makes it a shame that it won't be coming out until the end of January.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #64 is available now from here

Please read my November newsletter about funding for new projects.

This week's episode of The Random Saturday Sessions is here.