Pauline's birthday funday...

Pauline and I had a lovely day celebrating her birthday yesterday, we headed up to Loches for lunch at 'Le George' (our current favourite place) but to work up an appetite we had a one hour walk through the public gardens then over to the riverside promenade before heading for an excellent lunch at the restaurant.

Then it was back to La Guerche for a wee nap before heading over to 'Le Halle café' in Boussay to listen to Angie Palmer with friends. 

Pauline was presented with a lovely posy from Sally and delicious cake made by Alison.

Can you tell we had a fun day?

Lovely vibe last night at La Halle Café in Boussay

 

 Angie Palmer took to the stage, armed with a guitar and a voice that never holds back, soulful, powerful, and full of heart.

Backing her up was the effortlessly cool Paul Mason on bass, calm, collected and keeping things grooving with style.

Above image courtesy of Norman

The café, already pretty charming on any given day, transformed into the coziest little concert hall, filled with hand-clapping locals, enchanted visitors, and possibly one or two folks who only popped in for a beer but ended up staying for the music.

Big thanks to Angie and Paul for turning an ordinary evening into a night of good vibes, great tunes, and the kind of magic that makes our little corner of France such a joy to live in.

A welcome return...

As Pauline and I walked along Grande Rue under our umbrella last night to take in Angie Palmer's return to 'Les Tilleuls' I was hoping Meteo's forecast of the rain stopping at 8.00pm was going to be an accurate one.

  

The restaurant had taken the precaution of installing a barnum for the evening but Meteo got it right, so it was more of an event room than shelter from the rain. The band were excellent with the crowd, with a large contingent of Brits, showing their appreciation.

Catherine and Pascal and their staff did us proud - a very sucessful night - oh and did I mention Angie allowed me to join her on 'Knocking on heaven's door' - good fun.

image courtesy of Les Burgess

 

Angie Palmer Band rocking out to 'All along the watchtower'

Something else for the weekend...

Bluesy in Bossay-sur-Claise

A group of us went over to  Bossay-sur-Claise for another good night of live music last night from the ever popular Angie Palmer. We choose to have the meal on offer which proved a little challenging for our hosts from a service point of view, not helped by "problems in the kitchen" but didn't take anything away from an enjoyable evening.

Live music in rural France, Paulmy, Centre-Val de Loire

Some images from Saturday nights Angie Palmer gig at the Bar de L'Union at Paulmy. Jacky (Pineau), owner of the bar, reopened its doors at the weekend to satisfy a legal requirement that means he has to open at least once every (I understand) three years so as not to lose the license. It also means that he can continue trying to sell the business including the said license. The place holds many fond memories for Pauline and I in the company of Cally & Nev and many other friends.

Bonne soiree...with Angie Palmer in Barrou

Good turnout last night here in Barrou for the Angie Palmer gig. Angie and Paul gave us a great, if now somewhat familiar (seen them 3 times this year) set.

We were blessed with a lovely summer's evening...

...in great company!

Willy and especially Sandra and her team at the restaurant pulled out all the stops,eventually!

Footnote: 

One of Angie's main pieces of equipment,her mixing desk, failed to work but because she had arrived in an area of music lovers she had three offers of a solution with David (Henderson) being good enough to drive back home for a replacement.

Too much of a good thing?...I think not.

After our visit to Loches on Saturday we headed back to the Old Walnut Mill where we were joined by friends for a bite to eat before heading over to the Châtel Blues festival in Chatellerault to catch a performance by Angie Palmer. Our dessert for the evening was more of Pauline's cake which was given the thumbs up!

Angie's performance went down really well and as a precursor to her gig at Barrou was timely as most of our table will be there on the night.

How kind was she?

Made it along to Chez Millésime in Chatellerault last night to listen to Angie Palmer. It is a small venue and as such tables had been reserved in advance but unfortunately not by us. We were a group of 10 so it was difficult to accommodate us. It was suggested that we should go and have a drink in another bar and try again a little later as some people don't stay for the whole set. So it was an about turn, even though there was a 'reserved' table of six  still awaiting some smarter people who had pre-booked but as yet, not turned up (Angie had started her gig).

Off we trod to another local hostelry where we were given a warm reception - doesn't, I imagine, get many large parties dropping in. We were just about thinking about heading back round when who should appear but Angie herself to announce that the 'pre-bookers' had failed to turn up and the proprietors had felt bad about turning us away and wanted us back...and why wouldn't they?

The table was right in front of the 'stage' but because of good sound balancing proved to be an excellent position to capture a very good and intimate set by Angie and her baseplayer.  

Here is a clip from her performance at last years Barroudeurs festival here in Barrou.