Many thanks to all who attended last Tuesday's Station House gig. What a musical adventure we were taken on by Sam, www.sam-kelly.com, and the boys - all world-class instrumentalists in their own right and singer, Root Jackson, who can only be described as soul personified! As I said to Sam, such a musical treat, with that variety and mix of styles with vocal and percussive arrangements executed by the whole band and carried out to such a high standard is a rarity indeed - I was blown away! So many people came up and shared those same sentiments with me. A truly wonderful band!

November 27th sees a return of one of the club favourites - THE CADILLAC KINGS, www.cadillackings.co.uk. The ideal band to take the club into the Christmas period with that jumpin', swingin', Chicago style Blues that the Cad's are famous for - they do it better than anyone else in the UK! Please let me have your bookings ASAP for this, the last chance to grab quality live music at the ROFFEN before January 29 2008!

In the meantime please remember that we also have a gig at the MAIDSTONE venue on Thursday 15th November with world-class acoustic guitarist Thomas Leeb, www.thomasleeb.com, and a special door price of £6 for Bottleneck regulars - which is amazing value for an act of this quality in such lovely surroundings as the refurbished Mu Mu venue. Aim to arrive at the lounge no later than 8.30pm, however, why not make an evening of it and have dinner there beforehand? I have some bookings but I need more, particularly if we are to persuade the venue to give over a late week evening for our gigs!

.................................and with this in mind the response and general feedback to the Monday nights has been poor to the point where I have decided not to proceed with this, including the normal MAIDSTONE Christmas gig for this year. Perhaps it was asking too much to achieve this successfully following the short notice take-over, however, something will no doubt be in place for 2008 and hopefully this will be taking advantage of a late week regular spot at the MAIDSTONE venue - watch this space!

Finally, John tells me that no-shows had been a problem in the past. Last Tuesday we had nearly 30 of these, half of which were informed on the day of the gig and half not at all. This severely impacted on the viability of the gig, not least because I had actually turned people down for seats in the last few days leading up to it. So if you have booked, please do try to turn up or, if cancelling is unavoidable, give me at least a few days notice. Regardless of the notice, we need the numbers! It's a labour of love and a lot of hard work running a famous club like the Bottleneck - please help me keep it alive and actually come to the gigs - it's the only way!