Tom Wiggins, Letter Carver & Writer

You would be hard-pressed to find a genuine slice of Californian bluegrass and old time music on any given Wednesday in Gloucester .   On this particular Wednesday, however, The Tree Tops Bar and BWM Promotions was very proud to host that very ticket as we were joined by The Old Tire Swingers during their fifth leg of their 13-date UK tour.   The four-piece band from Fresno , California is made up of Paul Chesterton (banjo, vocals), Nick Kennedy (guitar, vocals), Frick Dau (upright bass) and Nathanael Felon (mandolin, vocals).   Placed between two extensive US tours, the band have travelled the five thousand miles from central California to promote their self-titled debut album.   At around 6 feet 4 inches and sporting a bushy Amish-style beard, Paul Chesterton cuts an imposing figure as the band’s lead singer and physical peak.   Adjusting the ribbon microphone to meet his height, his friendly and engaging manner quickly disperses any preconceptions of anyt...

Step 1: Creating a Distraction Drive your car into a neighbour’s house, Apply a pillow to your sleeping spouse. Super glue your lips together, Fix the aerial in windy weather. Light a Cuban at the pumps, Give a lion the birthday bumps. Smuggle drugs through North Korea, Catch explosive diarrhoea. Drink your weight in anti-freeze, Eat a thousand angry bees. Confuse a landmine with a stepping stone, Go to a gangster for a mortgage loan. Crash a bullfight in a red balaclava, Take the high-dive into molten lava. Accept a lift from a suicide bomber, Kidnap the Queen during the birthday honours. Participate in an avalanche, Swing from an oak tree’s highest branch. Ignore the call from Camelot, Play your part in a shifty plot. Follow these steps to the letter, And you ought to feel so much better. If all goes well, you should be thin, Or otherwise in the loony bin! Disclaimer:  Those who make the slightest blunder,  Have found themselves si...

I’ve listened to the masses, but I’ve respectfully chosen to ignore them. They’ve said that – wait for it – "a list" is no longer valid. The horrible lot are after cold, hard facts! They shirk at the sight of lists for their subjectivity. They "lack the desired corroboration." Hmph to that! Do people need polls to back up their beliefs? If a pie chart has sliced your opinion into the biggest portion, must it be true? In the same way that reality TV has asked "Why settle for popular when you can be famous?", polls – especially the ever-present online ones - have rendered the once-mighty list, well, useless. You may well ask: "Why should I take your opinion when I get the opinion of industry experts?" I’m glad you did ask, because here’s why. In this Internet age when you have the most comprehensive information archive in the history of the world at your fingertips, we have quickly evolved into a people that questions more and settles for less. ...