I happened to see your band at Hanworth the other day and thought it was brilliant. Sometimes live bands aren't that good to dance to - something doesn't quite work but the Sundowners had a great beat - that even my wife didn't complain about. I thought that the guitar sounded fabulous - a bit like the man who played in the Bluecaps - or even Jeff Beck. I expect you've heard Beck's Boogie , which is really just the licks from BlueJean Bop: a great guitar number! Incidentally the new album from Albert Lee has some good tracks on it, including Rock Around With Ollie Vee.

At one time I used to play a bit ( in the 60s and 70s mostly) myself and (back then) English blokes were never quite sure how to adjust the tremelo unit on a standard Strat. A lot of people just used to screw it down tight! Last night the tremelo effect sort of floated in the echo, but stayed in tune. I really enjoy that style of playing - very 50s American and it was brilliantly done. Locking tremelo just doesn't sound like that.As a point of information Rodney Crowell had someone who played like that (who I think left to join the Eagles) , and there were/are also good sounds in that style on one of the Commander Cody Albums.

I couldn't help but think to myself - if these guys had been there, playing like this, in 1956/7......You would have destroyed the Rock'n'Roll Trio.

Regarding Our Easter Sunday event, all I will write about that, is, our die hard Crondall punters had a great time, as did most of the others that came to Crondall for the first time. I say most, as some merely came along to see the Cruise which we were supposed to be hosting, arriving from Bristol and organised by someone else, who also organised the bands for the occasion. We were responsible for the organisation of everything else - licensed bar & hot food all day, stalls, tattooist, extra car parking/attendants & extra hands on deck.

There simply was NO cruise, not even in Chippenham.( Which Dave the Rave didn't realise at the time of his article submission else where. No probs Dave.)

As organisers, we were just as, if not, more gutted than the punters were. One of our regulars drove his classic to Bristol only to find no cruise to drive back with, & spending a massive £90 on fuel. Another of our punters had serious trouble with his engine on his classic, in that the engine went on him, I gather! And all for nothing.

Our event started at 2pm, we had organised the time schedule for the bands, d.j, raffle e.t.c. At 3pm, I finally get through to the organiser of the cruise to find out where they are, not knowing that there was no cruise at this point until the person turned up at the hall. I discover at this time that Somethin' Else had split up the night before . As I say, we were not responsible for organising the bands for this event, so I hold nothing against the band for not informing me. Liaising with me was not their prerogative.

They were due to go on at 8pm...So now, as nothing had been done about rearranging another band, it was full speed ahead to try & find a band to cover the slot, as we didn't want to disappoint our punters.

It is...Easter Sunday/bank holiday weekend/beautiful sunny day at 3pm, what luck am I going to have?! I'm surprised that my phone didn't burn out! But finally, with thanks to Linette Richardson on the way, I managed to get hold of Sundowners, who were travelling down from Stockton on Tees from a gig from the night before, hadn't got home yet & with a couple of phone calls between us, agreed to do the gig, with NO PRESSURE on them whatsoever, ( I even said, that they mustn't feel obliged, if they would rather not do it, just say so). They were up for it so enthusiastically, but explained they had been travelling & they wouldn't be in their tuxedos...LOL. Who cares about dress code?Jeans and tee shirts do us, it's the sound we want!

We had to have a swap around due to their arrival time, and they actually went on at 10.30pm. Poor things, they looked knackered. But they were the stars/heroes of the event. Did a perfect 1 hour set as though they were as fresh as if they had come from home. Lee, Mini Dave And Bassman Nick deserve rockin' medals for saving the day. They are a 100% credit to the true rock 'n' roll scene! I cannot express how much effort they put in at such short notice, we are so grateful. And what a great party atmosphere. It was difficult shifting the punters on this occasion! They were still partying outside after we cleared up!