FRESH N LIVE
We started the tour by supporting a fantastic new healthy pub venue promotion - Fresh 'n' Live
at The Castle, Eden Road, Walthamstow Village, London E17
On Sunday 2 April, 2006. It was fantastic! Barnaby and I were made very welcome by the regulars and the entertainment throughout the evening was as diverse as you could imagine. Fresh 'n' Live aims to provide a forum for musicians and performers in a smoke-free pub environment. It's an open mic night, and all types of performers are welcome including poetry and comedy, as well as live music of all types. www.freshnlive.org contact: info@freshnlive.org

THE CATWEAZLE CLUB in Oxford on Thursday 7 April. Matt Sage has been doing a great job for many years holding a space (various venues) for sensitive listening to creative musicians. www.catweazleclub.org That was unbelievable. Barnaby played up a storm - best ever performance says Chi, who himself went barking... in a ladies dress!

THE GROVE in Great Malvern on Sunday 9 April. www.thegrovemalvern.co.uk Wow! What a fantastic venue! Great Malvern is paradise and The Grove is the home of the wonderful cellist and singer-songwriter Julia Palmer. Julia and Philip were charming and generous hosts. Barnaby and I were able to include piano works in our sets and the audience were very supportive and receptive. Thanks goodness the cd sales are picking up! We deserve it!

A FAMILY REUNION in Wigan on Friday 14. My nephew James loved Barnaby`s performance, particularly the Hurry song. The world premier of my new song Let It Fall featured the superbly intuitive guitar playing of Wendy Hutchinson. Matty and I finished off a memorable evening with a rousing rendition of my would be classic, Happy New Year! Tom, singer-songwriter from the band Curzon Circle, was one of the special guests. This teenager is one of the best singer-songwriters i have ever heard - not joking!

FROM AIDAN TO EDEN Well I met this guy carrying a guitar case 50 yds from the hotel where Jocelyn and I were staying in Glasgow. It was the night before our sightseeing tour of the highlands and a break, so I had thought, from the Fresh n Live tour. A simple question, an inviting reply, and one hour later I`m experiencing pre-performance nerves in Eliots Bar, at nothing more than an Open Mic night for allcomers hosted by the welcoming Aiden. The bar was right in the middle of the room. The music was free. The reward for playing was alcohol. So it was not a very promising Healthy Concerts situation! However Aiden made it very special with a positive attitude that showed a deep respect for music and musicians. Thanks to some healthy hosting and the engagement and participation of a small collective of talented singers and songwriters, I came away with some recordings I can definately incorporate in the album of the tour; recordings of very unlikely spontaneous songs, such as a 6 minute long lyrical and musical pitch begging the audience to buy my CDs so I could pay for the bus ticket home! I like Glasgow.

ROSEMARY AND KEN Many of our hosts are really Angels! We were pampered artists in Middlesbrough, never wanting for food, drink, home comforts or even event management! You couldn`t buy the quality of care that Barnaby and I have experienced on the tour; dinner waiting on the table when you arrive, sandwich gifts wrapped up and ready for departure time... We`ve been treated like musical kings, none more so than by Rosemary and Ken. The concert itself was very rewarding for us. I was able to relax into some of my most tender and soulful moments of self -expression, obviously appreciated by the virgin Healthy Concerts audience, who made it clear they wanted Peace on Earth and Happy New Year to end up on the album of the tour. Sure thing

THE DARWENIANS Natasha Lee Jones hosted our concert in her bohemian dwelling in Darwin on the 27th April. Barnaby settled in immediately into this unusually adaptable and adapted environment! I never found the cooker but the tea bags showed up in the salad compartment of the fridge! This house, a veritable venue for the imagination to run riot in, is were you can hear the queen of hearts sing. We soon realised we were in the company of friends and kindred spirits and that the acoustic scene was alive and well, none more so than when one of its most adorable and talented players graced the stage, our host Natasha Lee Jones. We thank the Queen!

GENERATIONS BRIDGED Thanks for the homecoming. Barnaby and I provide a most unusual form of family entertainment. No rabbits out of hats or game shows, just plain ordinary surrealism. But not just the performance was turned on its head in Wigan. We met a straight laced young boy and a trend setting granny! We didn`t disappoint but we may have shocked. My efforts to include everyone resulted in a spontaneous wandering minstrel show that even took me by surprise. The miniature chamber recital spilled over into the kitchen, ascended the stairs to the bathrooom and then plummeted onto the street. It works with Shakespeare, but without warning? This sort of creative license isn`t issued by the local authority and certainly constitutes risk taking. It was worth it, at least for the album. Thankyou Jane and Alan for all the hosting and support and to Pash and Shaun for warming up the audience with the most polished and tight set of funky songs I`ve ever heard. Listen out for their band, EVEN HAND.

CIRLCLE OF HUMOUR Saturday 29 April, and the 4th gig in as many nights. A beautiful view of the Dee Estuary near Holywell, North Wales. Catherine, her mum Sally and dad Paul, all but laid out the red carpet for us! An evening which often touched the collective funny bone. Music didn`t get a tangible response but any kind of interactive and spontaneous wordplay did, and how! At the end of the gig I felt as much a comedian as a musician! In the break the most popular topic of conversation was `horses`! Where did we go wrong Barnaby? Actually, everyone seemed to have a great time and that means we did good... plus I`m planning to do the next tour on horseback, honest!

IT MAY HAPPEN and so it goes that in the month of May we concluded our spring tour with performances in Cardiff, Bath and Bristol. We would like to say thank you to Cosmo, Hazel, Azita and Gerry for their love and support in hosting. Check out The Hawaiian in Cardiff - customers get a first class buffet dinner and a fantastic evening of entertainment for £3 all in!!!!

MAGIC BOW
That man, he plays like the wind. He grace. He fury. He she. He Magic Bow. He slow. He fast. He smooth. He rough. Barnaby is real. Barnaby is surreal.
The tour concerts have been fascinating to me, partly because of Barnaby O`Rorke's unpredictability and ability to re-invent himself anywhere and everywhere between classical and funk, between avant garde and roots, between something reminiscent of Keith Jarret romping on the piano and George Formby ranting in the street! Not only can he sing in the blunt nasal tone of Formby, he can make his cello sound very like a ukulele! How weird is that? But people who want the boxed set will be disappointed. Even the O`Rorke song is a flexi thing. Bits are added and subtracted whimsically and organically - that gig you did in Oxford was mind blowing! Barnaby O`Rorke is not an exhibition you visit once in a blue moon, but the match of the day you just can not miss. Win, lose or draw, I really treasure my season ticket and will always be a fan.

END OF TOUR