Keele Postgraduate Association, Ghoulies Ball

 

'When the full moon shines

On the village green
And ancient chimes
Strike thirteen . . .'

It was a bit early, I know, but I celebrated Halloween performing with StringFing at the Ghoulies Ball in the KPA up at Keele University. There were lots of pumpkins, witches and skeletons abroad and Terry and Emily got into the spirit of things by blowing the gig money on face paints from the Pound Shop. Emily changed into a witchy thing whilst Terry resurrected his Heymaker persona. For some reason neither of them thought that I required any modifying to get into character and that a cheap suit and a general demeanour of melancholia was horrific enough. The lack of a camera protects us all from the judgment of posterity.

Spike was AWOL as his son Doug had a play, Life Support, being staged at the Royal Theatre in York and, unaccountably, Spike preferred to be up there with him rather than with us. If York is too far away, you can catch the play at the KPA on Wednesday 10 November.

These days Halloween is not so much a Celtic festival when 'the summer goes to its rest' but a triumph of consumerism as it is has become the third biggest money-spinning festival after Christmas and Easter. For a gigging musician the ritual year can be both a blessing and a curse – bookings on these feast days, like buses, tend to come in threes. Only a musician can truly understand the trauma of refusing a gig, and thus money, because you are already booked.

It was well past the witching hour when I got home but the weird sisters were nowhere to be seen.