#that is the Cale Conundrum

[forgetme-eternally-blissfully]

@fictionalcreator

Currently rereading the novel for my fic and my god, Cale really do be the little shit type. Man's out here spouting bullshit left and right. He thinks he's scamming other people but he's running the biggest scam on himself??

Like what do you mean you're scamming the Jungle by putting out their fire in exchange for land? That's called employment?? What sort of job did you do before?

What do you mean you're gonna use On and Hong, and force Choi Han to pay for his meals? You're gonna scam Eruhaben, or put Raon to work? Saved Hannah and Jack, using them to topple the Empire? They already wanted to do that, dumbass. You give these people food, a house, affection and mental stability, and you think you're scamming them?

Man's biggest scam is deluding himself.

The funniest thing is reading about how at one point, Adin considers the two of them to be alike. Meanwhile, Cale's out here kicking ass and taking names with the power of friendship.

[mnfrostofficial]

the context was that fucking jeff carter elbowed cale in the face mid game and he had to leave the ice and literally everyone was rallying behind babygirl makar (and i, personally, threatened property damage on carter)

i told myself if anyone actually told me the cale situation i would answer “i said i didn’t need to know” but since you are my beloved ksmdfkjsnkd that felt really mean so. i will sign your key jeff carter’s car petition. i’m down

[illusionsofdreaming]

13. Elusive

Notes: Wow. This had to be the hardest one so far- the prompt word and the character given was so vastly incompatible- even now, I’m not sure where the prompt went-

Ft: Toonka

Cale Henituse was a conundrum.

He was skinny and frail but had the presence of a giant. He would bruise with the slightest taps but would always find strength to get up, again and again, against adversaries. He lacked stamina but have travelled farther and experienced more than most.

Cale was so very weak. Toonka didn't understand why despite all the evidence, his senses told him otherwise.

He stalked over to the man in person with a smile. Thinking hard never got Toonka anywhere far, he'd much rather get his answers directly anyways.

"My friend! Let's go for a round!"

[corndoggod]

Turtles

Passing this turtle in the hallway whenever I left the apartment was a daily ethical conundrum, Cale said. The turtle in question was housed in a plastic tub of dirty water, choking on its own sewage, in a terrible building Cale used to live in. I helped him move in and we scuttled all his belongings, including his mattress, up and over the sad, helpless turtle, which did not move at all. The turtle belonged to the family across the hall, but no one seemed to feed it.

I could’ve put it in the pond in prospect.

That’s probably where it came from.

Maybe it was more like a lobster and they were waiting for a special occasion.

Celina pointed at me. Remember Ang’s rogue turtle? The one she found on the street.

Yeah didn’t she find someone who specializes in rescuing turtles.

Was it a turtle or a tortoise or a box turtle? Cale interjected.

A box turtle? I said

It was a turtle, Celina insisted.

There’s always the reintegration problem, Cale went on. Do you remember what kind of turtle it was because it matters. **A lot**.

Where was this?

Brooklyn.

If you get out of the city there’s a lot of turtles. Celina pointed at me and said remember that place we couldn’t swim in because humans poisoned it with their deodorant and sunblock? That used to be swarming with turtles.

(I remember the day well. On the drive out, I stopped to buy a twelve pack. It was 11am and the cashier asked me if everything was ok at home. I was taken aback. Was I giving divorced dad spiraling energy? Did I look that rough? But I said yeah, everything is good back home.  Oh good, he said. I know so many people whose homes flooded.)

Have I told you the story of the snapping turtle? Cale asked.

Celina shook her head.

I must’ve told you he said looking at me.

I don’t think so.

You remember the cove at my Dad’s cabin? I didn’t, but Cale visited the cove every day. A bullfrog lived in that cove and Cale heard him call out every morning and every night. He responded to the call and started grooming the bullfrog. Gave him little pets. Set him on his thigh. Spent quality time like that.

I go to show Anthony -- I don’t even like Anthony -- but I went to show him my frog friend anyway. But when we got to the cove, the frog was swimming in a circle like this, Cale said digging at the air with his torso turnt as if blindly rummaging around in a high closet shelf.   And it’s guts we’re just spilling out, he said gripping his spleen. And it was surrounded by these two snapping turtles -- **who I also knew, and hated** -- were pecking at my frog friend.

At the time I always carried a net. You know, like SpongeBob.

Ok Huck Finn, Celina cooed. Celina loved a Huck Finn. All I had to do was roll my jeans up high and walk around bare foot with my chest out and eat a can of worms.

I started stabbing the snapping turtles with my net and then I gently scooped out the frog, guts and all. I took my knife out and cut into one of its organs, and out swam a baby turtle.

An inner turtle, Celina mused.

It wasn’t really an inner turtle, Cale said. It was a dead baby turtle. All gray and stuff.

So it ate one of their babies and that’s why they attacked? I asked.

No it was actually a baby box turtle. That’s what was weird about it.

[lostinfinity1]

Theory time : Trash of the count’s family

As usual, it’s pretty long.

And I don’t think I ever got a theory right. So if you don’t want to read a lot, skip it. Spoiler until chapter 480 of the light novel and a few things that I was spoiled. (I know, I still have a long way to go with 700+ chapter having been released, but the idea just kept coming back in my head and I was trying to not work on other things. So, I procrastinate to write this and to flee the tiny humans visiting who wanted to keep playing with me until exhaustion.)

Theory: Cale Henituse aka Kim Rok Soo ‘s soul/ heart is someone from the ancient time.

Why? There are a few things that caught my attention while reading the first 480 chapter.

I first thought about it because the ancient powers’ behaviour surprised me a little.

1.      The little hints in the ancient powers

               a.      The way the ancients power saved the “water of judgment”.  They burned a whole area in the North, created an epic mess and saved/ freed someone in the process. When I read about that crazy plan, I thought: that is something Cale would do. And the more I thought about it, the more I am certain Cale would have done something like that had he lived in that time. Create a big mess to save someone.  

            b.      The ancient powers personalities. Don’t they seem like crazy people that would gather around Cale had they lived in the present time? Also, Cale kept wondering if the Cobblestone was human since he killed so many monster in the tunnel between the two continent next to his villa. But if the ancient powers were not all human, it would parallel Cale present time where he befriends so many different races that look up to him. And while they worked together to save the water ancient power, they seemed to have split later on since they all died alone and they did not all seem to be friends.

                                          i.     It made me think of another theory, if the one person (Cale original self per example) they gathered around together died or disappeared (Cale is the heart of the group in this present time too), it wouldn’t surprised me that they would split. And that would kinda explain why the fight was so complicated that all evil and all heroes died if the strategist had died beforehand and that the core members had died while branching out.

               c.      The way the scary cobblestone kept asking: do you want to sacrifice yourself. Now we know that he wasn’t doing it to scare him (well maybe a little), but because he was worried and wanted to protect him. But what if he was asking and being worried because he and the other power knew his self-sacrificial tendencies from back in the days (and that they failed to protect him maybe)?

              d.      Cale can hear the ancient power while others who have ancient powers don’t. It was said that it was because the power didn’t fuse with him properly, but it might have been a subconscious choice from him. Cale also chose to not to fuse with them to keep hearing them. The reason could be because while he doesn’t remember them, he subconsciously didn’t want to lose them again.

                e.      The reason Cale was so lucky to find all five ancient powers could be because they all wanted to be found by him. Why? To protect him. They were all on the same side of the war. None of the powers are the ones that the white star or his subordinate had. I know most of them came from the Birth of a hero book from Nelan Barrow but (SPOILERS that I found out that happens later in the series, be warned, 600+ chapter ?) it was said that the current god of Death could be the first Choi Aka Nelan Barrow. He was also part of the group of heroes from that time since he was the only survivor of the last battle because he was protected by the Scary cobblestone. If he had known about the original Cale, he could have written about them for Cale to find because he knew they would have wanted to protect him. Remember that some ancient powers in the book were mentioned, but never claimed. That itself is pretty weird unless it was on purpose. And Nelan Barrow might have written down only the powers that he knew that Cale had met, if he had met the ancient power after they had split since I don’t think they say at what time exactly he arrived in ancient time. It could be before, in, or after the war.

               f.       The world tree hint. Chapter 172 I think : “There were people like you whom I could not see their pasts nor futures. I could only see tiny glimpses of their near future.” And later. “– The owners of the ancient powers were just like you. I could not see them. (…) I couldn’t see through the arsonist nor the rock for brains.”

 2.      Cale ability “record”.  I have a theory that the ability people awakened in his version of Earth are things or power that they either consciously or subconsciously wanted. Like his team leader embrace that stem from his desire to become an actor in the past. The ability to “record”, thus remember things, might stem from him subconsciously wanting to remember people in this time since he forgot (because of reincarnation probably) his past life (or lives).

 3.      The Henituse motto. "There is no reason to be recorded in history. Live for peace and happiness instead." The key word here is “recorded”. Knowing Cale’s ability, this sentence hits differently. What if the Henituse family had ties to Cale’s earlier life (ves?) ? Or was created by him at one point in time if he had more than one incarnation? It’s an old, selfless noble family that ended up protecting people from the forest of darkness while quietly living their life. The motto is essentially how Cale wishes he could live. I always thought it was fishy when I read it. The first incarnation of Cale may or may not have had the record ability though, but may reflect Cale’s desire not to known as a hero or recorded as one. However, the two sentences still hold true to what Cale wants and desire, especially if he lived in the troubled/war time that was the ancient times.

 4.      The birthday conundrum. It seems the Choi of the past and present and Kim Rok Soo share the same birthday. It might be the “link” that allowed the Choi and Cale to transmigrated into the birth of a hero world. But I wondered something else, what if (Spoilers again like earlier, so 600+ chapter spoilers that I saw online) the link was more subtle or emotional. If the first Choi, Nelan Barrow, chose that day, his own birthday, to incarnate people to protect someone. Kim Rok Soo friend, the nephew of Choi Han, ended up dying to protect Kim Rok Soo. Choi Han is currently acting as Cale’s sword. Nelan Barrow, possibly the god of death, is using Kim Rok Soo to save the world, maybe 2 worlds since he was also a hero on Earth.  Anyway, the God of death seems like a complicated story that will get worse as it goes on.

 5.      Cale’s aura. The fact that people keep mistaking him for dragons/demons/some sort of other being. He could be related to the gods or be a divine race, or just a human favored by nature (and possibly his past friends that had a close affinity to nature such as the ancient powers). It points toward the fact that Cale is someone special in any case.

 6.      SPOILER Chapter 600+. Cale’s mother from the Thames family has a time/fate? Ancient power. The Thames family also gathered information about transmigrator and the sort. So there is definitively something going on on that side that has yet to be revealed.

 7.      Raon power is the present. It sounds like a strange power and, as of chapter 481, he hasn’t really used it yet. I kept wondering why he had that power. But if Cale’s time is related to the past, maybe Raon is going to be needed to secure is time in the present or something of the sort. But I feel like his power is a clue to the events to come.

 8.      Cale time is warped according to the white star. That itself doesn’t say much, but (SPOILER Chapter 600+ that I saw) Original Cale had not his time warped apparently. I am wondering if it’s because Kim Rok Soo transmigrated or if it’s actually because it’s is soul/heart that is from the ancient time.

 9.      Cale/Kim was supposed to die, but didn’t according to the god of death. His friend from Earth weren’t supposed to die, it seems. Kim Rok Soo was supposed to die, but it was never cleared when he was supposed to die. It could mean that he was supposed to die in the past, the ancient time kinda past. Yet, he is here now. I also find it weird that his past team leader on Earth took the time to explain to him, he who can remember everything, how is special ability, Embrace, work when it was not standard to talk about them. I also wonder a lot about him since he was the first one to find Kim Rok Soo and that he was one of the first to develop an ability, but that’s off topic.

 Well, that’s all I could think off.

I’ll keep reading the novel when I get more time and probably think how a fool I was to write this. Bah, Tumblr is the land of fools. It would not be the first time I am completly wrong about something. And this novel is pretty good at being hard to predict.

[ohmycale]

Oh hell yeah

I also hate fanfics who pull this. Granted, the only thing I could do is bookmark them in my ‘not to be read again’ fanfics.

Like I don’t have a very high opinion of Deruth as far my posts and ramblings are concerned but authors who write this stuff makes me more hate their interpretation. I have my biases sure, but a Deruth done right might make me convince and hope that we can get Deruth to be father he is to Basen, Lily and KRS to og!Cale too. In case, people hasn’t notice, Deruth’s first child is Og!Cale whom he failed.

But when some fics pull something like this…I’m just want to ask, “are you trying to make me hate this character more than the TCF!Deruth already makes me?" This interpretation makes me also kinda resent the author’s interpretation of KRS!cale’s character in the story because it seems that interpreted!KRS!Cale gets golden child status and og!Cale is  again, left behind. Maybe I am wrong or hoping for too much but aren’t stories like this a supposed fix-it to that looming conundrum when the Henituse family finds out that hey, one of your family members was replaced! Or hey, maybe this is a good time for author to give their take on fixing the family dynamics? For me, authors is going for the second coming of Deruth’s failures with KRS!Cale (and other Henituses) as casualty.

It’s not helping anything for me. Sure, I want that ‘happy family’ vibe fanfics. But no way I’m wanting that if it will be at the expense of anyone, including Og!cale’s character. Is it because he has less screentime? Because of protagonist bias? I’m not pushing for him to be everyone’s fave, just a bit of understanding goes a long way.

Eventually, people (in the story and in the fandom) will forgive KRS!Cale. My take is that they loved KRS!cale for who he is but it is exhausting to read that KRS!Cale gets accepted like a snap. And Og!cale again gets the end of the stick. I dont shame and I take ‘don’t like, don’t read’ seriously. Thanks for the interpretation but I wont be sticking around.

Let's talk about this

I hate it when people think that it's going to be alright when the Henituse family finds out the truth about Kim Rok soo. Like wtf so you really think that deruth would go like this when he finds out the truth about the transmigration. Oh no my son is gone but it's alright cuz the person who is possessing his body is a good man :) like bruh he will wreck havoc. He will try everything in his power to bring Cale back no matter who is it in his body. If anything he will restrain his movements. He might not have been a good father to og Cale but that doesn't means he is going to completing ignore the existence of his son ??? I have read fics were people just be like this Deruth finds out about KRS Also Deruth - ik i just lost my son but so what the man in there is a son to me too.

?????

Bruh Og Cale has been with Deruth since he was born. That's 18 years. And KRS 3 years . Who is the real son??. They do the same for Ron, basen and Lily. It's so unrealistic and tics me off.

It's as if the tcf fandom is scared that their might be people who might hate KRS.

No one hates KRS for anything he has done . But it's extremely natural for them to be furious that their eldest's body is being posessed by some random person. Of course that doesn't mean that KRS has done something wrong. It wasn't his choice to begin with. Rosalyn, Choi Han , Alberu , Lock. These are people who didn't know about OG Cale so it doesn't matters to them. But Ron , Beacrox, Deruth and his Family knew Og Cale.

It's very obvious, that if ever they find out the truth it's gonna mean trouble for KRS.

[professorlsp]

Taste "Like Most Mass Movements, They Can't Be Hip..." We have for your listening pleasure Sunday at 11am est Episode 362 of "Troubadours and Raconteurs with E.W. Conundrum Demure" on WFTE Community Radio(www.wfte.org)

This week we have an insightful conversation with Resident Punk, Co-Author of "Please Kill Me, the Uncensored Oral History of Punk" - Legs McNeil.

Legs and I discuss His Days in NYC's Bowery as One of the Founders and Publishers of Punk Magazine, Cartoonists. Approching & Interviewing Lou Reed, Rachel, Hanging Out at CBGBs, What the Term Punk Means, the Velvet Underground, the Influence of Underground Theater on the NYC Music Scene, Glitter Rock into Glam into Punk, the New York Dolls, Max's Kansas City, the Dictators, Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, Nico, the Ramones, the Dead Boys, Jean Stein & George Plimpton, the Art & Craft of Constructing a Narrative Oral History, the Byrds, Jim Morrison, Richard Hell, the Ramones, John Cale, Danny Fields, the Company Freak, Mary Heron, Gillian McCain, Patti Smith, Dennis Wilson, Tina Weymouth, Debbie Harry, Grunge Music, His Stint as Senior Editor of Spin Magazine in the 1980s, CBGBs Bouncer Merv, Hilly Crystal, Morals, Charles Manson, His Soon to Be Published Prequel to "Please Kill Me" Co-authored with Gillian McCain titled "69 - an Oral History of the 1960s Hippie Noir"...

Episode 362 also includes an E.W. Essay titled "Conformity." Our Associate Producer Dr. Michael Pavese reads an essay titled"The Myth of Icarus and Daedalus." We have an E.W.poem called "Paste."

Our music this go round is provided by these wonderful artists: Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grapelli, the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, the Dictators, the Stooges, the Ramones, Branford Marsalis and Terrence Blanchard. Photo by Tom Hearn.

Commercial Free, Small Batch Radio Crafted In the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania... Heard All Over The World.

Tell Your Friends and Neighbors.

[trevorbarre]

Nico’s ‘Frozen’ Music; pre-freeze

John Cale’s ‘stabbing’ piano, on White Light, White Heat, I Wanna Be Your Dog and Facing The Wind was groundbreaking in its simplicity and power. The forthcoming years were to belong to prog rock, where such nicities as compression and fission were neither welcome or appreciated. Nevertheless, this particular dog was eventually to have its day.

Cale and Nico’s abbreviated moves were also reflected in Marble Index’s (MI) length - around 30 minutes in total. This was a time when punters expected at least 40 minutes for their average vinyl purchase. Pink Moon (PM) also courted controversy by being even less than 30 minutes - size mattered then, so both MI and  PM were considered lightweights at the time, a judgement that history has definitely reversed. The Stooges weighed in at just over 34 minutes, so was obviously seen as another rip-off/deadbeat product. Nowadays,ironically, they all seem miracles of concision and lean, tensile strength.

As we are discussing Nico here, I want to make a plea for consideration of two other products of this Valkyrie-industry that may be less well-known, but that I consider essential. The first is James Young’s written account of her latter-day tours, named Songs They Never Play On The Radio, which is dark humour at its extreme end. It should be subtitled Too Much Junkie Business, basically, but is hilarious and grotesque in turns, and very, very well-written. It takes a lot of skill to produce humour from such dark materials, but Young manages to do this. Read and weep - from tears of grief and hilarity.

Nico’s first album, Chelsea Girl, is a forgotten masterpiece. It features songs by then-beau, Jackson Brown, ex-beau Robert Zimmerman and to-be beau Lou Reed, all of them edgy and ‘interesting’. Plus two lengthy tracks by an early Velvet Underground configuration, It Was A Pleasure Then and Chelsea Girls itself, which are both essential listens for Velvets completists, and which could have featured on the first Verve album without any problem. It finishes with a Tim Hardin number, Eulogy To Lenny Bruce, which just about sums it all up - “...never again will we get together to die..after every last shot, why was there always another?” Not a complicated question really, but Nico makes it sound like the ultimate existentialist conundrum.

[bluesdoodles]

    Chocolate Free Music Fueled HRH Blues Easter

  Back in the O2 Sheffield for the second year HRH Blues III promised with a deep blues infused line-up to be an Easter full of music. They certainly delivered across the two stages, as ever clashes were at times frustrating, demonstrating the wealth of blues in town this weekend.

HRH Blues once again created an ambience, professional on the outside, inside pure unadulterated fun of listening to live music. The two days had a mix of blues from heavy and raw through to delicate and everything in-between. More people this year stepping on the bright blue HRH Blues Train crammed with live music in Sheffield.

With two stages, we heard a total of twenty-two bands and for some Royalty Passes & Media an extra five acoustic acts early on Sunday morning. The one disappointment for many was the missing act. King King had to pull out at the last-minute – now we know it was due to Alan Nimmo having acute Laryngitis.  With the number of King King T-shirts in the audience you could have expected annoyance, but all you heard and saw on social media was empathy, love and get well. The bands that did play filled the gap with extended sets from Simon McBride and Ten Years After and a slightly early Saturday.

Getting the Easter music fest started was Dani Wilde who set the scene with quality opening act it was going to be high quality blues form the first to last note. Highlights in the main stage on Saturday were…

For the vast majority that I spoke to the stand out band of the first day and the festival were Billy Walton Band, they bought fun, blues and music that just gets every one excited.  Following on from the band that wowed the audience and were still being talked about as the festival closed. Why? A full on band who really get that good-time vibe flowing the boys from New Jersey bring that East Coast joie-de-vie. Billy and the band want you want to party all night. With a horn section adding texture and tone they are just very entertaining and totally enjoyable. They were ready to party with the festival a fan supplied an array of hats and they were delighted to play with the donated headgear. The atmosphere was now loud, electric with blues flowing through the O2.

Follow that, well this is HRH nothing safe, nothing out-of-bounds as The Graveltones, a duo took to the stage. Heavy, raucous, energetic and loud they divided the room just as Marmite on toast would! The guitar was raw and the drumming hard with splinters of wood being torn from the sticks. Heavy, hard with complex rhythms and bucket loads of feel, delivering a punchy set that re-defines duos and the blues.

All aboard the next station on the blues train journey to Finnish Blues with Erja Lyytinen and her band. For many of her fans the first time we have had the opportunity to listen to the music from her acclaimed album Stolen Hearts. I was definitely excited having given her the full 10-doodle paws. High class set from the renowned queen of the blues slide guitar. In the set is Black Ocean for me a highlight and favourite on the album now a live favourite as prog meets blues under the charms and skills of Erja.  We joined her on the rocking Chair, sang along with Stolen hearts. Then the trained steamed up the hill with her interpretation of Tina Turner’s Steamy windows. This was blues that sparkled as Erja smiled, played and won our hearts.

This year with the addition of food stalls and coffee there was no need to leave the arena and miss a single note of blues that was weaving their magic over the audience.  Now we had two stages running parallel always a conundrum what to stay and listen too. Quick run upstairs to catch some of Will Wilde, this was the decision of many as the second stage was rammed and Will’s harmonica playing won him many new fans. For some the band of the weekend having never heard him play before. Will delivers more ‘authentic’ blues almost a match for Erja, a shame about the clash of blues titans. Will is one of the best blues-harp players on the UK circuit. Now we had a festival exploding under the glories of blues in full flight.

Back downstairs for Pig Iron returning for the second year. Describing themselves as Blues Metal this was pounding heavy blues that incorporates some delicate harp playing. Upstairs was Troy Redfern, the Welsh slide guitar troubadour.  With tracks from his current album Backdoor Hoodoo. His rendition of John The Revelator is always a crowd-pleasing winner as it was tonight in Sheffield. The HRH Blues train was now gathering speed and pulling in a wide variety of acts.

Now back to the main stage for Simon McBride and the headliners returning for the second year Ten Year After. First, a stunning blues rock guitarist Simon McBride. The set saturated with scintillating riffs and licks making Simon’s PRS guitar sing and squeal. An accomplished set strewn with covers to extend the time on stage and numbers from his last two albums.  What a set it was a tone the festival wanted to hear that mix of SRV, Hendrix woven together with McBride magic. The dueling between bass and guitar was magnificent. As he played Good Times Roll, following a McBride favourite Down To The Wire we were definitely having a great Easter Saturday as he closed with Deadman Walking we were all alive with festival fever.

After fifty years of touring with Ten Years After Chick Churchill & Ric Lee are now joined by bassist Colin Hodgkinson and the charismatic Marcus Bonfanti.  Marcus’ vocals are full of power, tonal texture, his guitar playing sharp and the harp adds another dimension to the Ten Year After sound of 2017. No Ten Year After set is complete without The Hobbit, Ric Lee and his drumming acrobatics. A wonderful set blending old stalwarts and new numbers from the forthcoming album A Sting In The Tale out later this year.  The whole set is a perfect platform for showcasing what a great and oft underrated guitarist Marcus is.  Wow moments of the festival with Love Like A Man and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl. Ten Years After strong after Fifty-years and the thrill of a new album. What a Saturday now for Sunday’s delights.

Sunday, started with a Smörgåsbord of acoustic showcases, including Chantel McGregor; Big Boy Bloater, Crow Black Chicken and Dan Patlansky who we would be hearing in full amplified glory during the day. The sets were chilled whilst also demonstrating the varied sounds achievable from the acoustic. This was personified by the difference between Big Boy Bloater and Dan Patlansky, same guitar totally different tone and approach.  We heard hollers, blues and songs given new shapes a perfect slow wake up call to join the main blues train downstairs on stage one. Into the mix the wonderful vocals and charm of Jack Hutchinson a welcomed addition to any blues gathering, with a new band album, Set Your Heart For The Sun, let’s hope he is back electric in 2018.

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  What a stunning set once again from the mighty Sean Webster with his new band The Deadlines. Having heard Sean many times he never disappoints, unsurprisingly he was the find of the weekend for many. His rendition of I’d Rather Go Blind moved many to tears with the raw, intense emotion he puts into every word sung and note played. Sean has the winning combination of a superb blues voice and plays the guitar with lightning blue touch.  Now living in Netherlands, Sean is the enigma of the British Blues scene never reaching the heights his playing should be taking him. Let’s hope the station stop on HRH Blues Train will be the launch pad for a renaissance of Sean the bluesman. Following on from Sean, in a bright red dress is Chantel McGregor always a firm favourite with her many fans. The set was a mix of favourites and her latest album. Anyone hoping for some new material would be disappointed, though there was a new drummer in the band. The set was safe, definitely rockier than the early days of   Chantel. She still smiles with warmth and affection and Freefalling was a guitar blazing delight as were the other guitar improvisations. Her rhythm section gives her a solid platform, bassist Colin Sutton and Ollie Goss on Drums. The mischievous Chantel was ever present with ‘Aving A Giraffe a fun out take celebrating the April the Giraffe giving birth the story that Chantel has been following on Social media. The set overall felt a little flat, come on Chantel lets have some new McGregor gems soon. This is the nuances that makes live music fun a have to be there moment. British Blues celebration continues with Laurence Jones with his new band.  Laurence is maturing the new band seems to fit his style and the addition of Bennet Holland on keys certainly adds some textures to the music complementing Laurence’s stinging guitar. We are enjoying this stop on the train. Yes, this is British blues-rock personified; what is great to see Laurence continuing to grow in stature, developing his sound and staying fresh. The longer lead breaks played with growing confidence adds interest and variance in the live sound. Fantastic audience participation during JJ Cale’s Cocaine, conducted with vigour and winning smile from Laurence more Cream and Clapton than Cale. That is no bad thing in a stalwart of the blues circuit who wins fans whenever he picks up his guitar and plays. .

Quick sojourn to Stage 2 for StoneWire a band from the South coast that I had heard about. This is a five-piece led by a big voice. Another great female vocalist out front shaping the StoneWire sound.  Whilst on stage one, young gun Aaron Keylock, was completing the very British Blues opening to the day.  Solid set as this man’s stage presence grows. He is full of potential and the setlist was a perfect showcasing opportunity for Across The Grain his debut album. The slide guitar was over loud and the vocals slurred but every time you hear him there is improvement, Spin The Bottle a set residence that suits this young man who is truly motivated and shaped by the blues.  Not to be missed, if you get the opportunity another HRH Blues festival favourites are definitely Black Crow Chicken. The sound is earthy, dirty blues. Every song has a colourful story as they take the blues train down an Irish lane as roots blues collide with Irish Tradition through the amplifier. The humour is dry and all-encompassing that follows through into the strong lyrics. With Jonestown and a tribute to Pat McManus from Pariah Brothers, the latest album. This is a band I could have listened to for longer. A definite bring back next year request.  With Big Boy Bloater following, his acoustic set was superb so we were looking forward to electric Luxury Hobo. The sound was too loud for the small stage area and that meant the music lost its edge. That said what a rendition of bloater blues pushing them to the limits and he knows how to entertain the crowds vital for any set and sometimes missing. The superb track from his album Luxury Hobo, It Came From The Swamp won him many fans another strong contender for stage one 2018.

Now back to Stage 1  for South African, Dan Patlansky who always delivers fireworks from his Strat.  Tonight, with a band of session players from Germany we were treated to a stand out set of guitar acrobatics. Old Red is the signatures Strat of Dan, and is off for a refurb after this UK tour.  With his latest single from Introvertigo, Sonova Faith given a live airing we hear the clever improvisation that is part of the live show. Never expect to hear the songs the same, chords and lyrics are a constant but the interpretation every time is a certainty. Dan can rock his blues, and then with an application of the blues breaks will slow it right down. Then you listen with care as it is as good as it gets. Dan Patlansky is a showman. He brings Laurence Jones back to play Bright Lights, Big City that sees a guitar dueling that sparked with jaw dropping intensity. Closing the set, instrumental My Chana is a majestic exploration of the every sound a strat can make. As he experiments with feedback, ringing single notes. The audience are spellbound, a collective holding of breath with wonderment. No one wanted the moment to end. Sadly, it did one more act Stan Webbs Chicken Shack and 2017 HRH Blues fell silent.

Easter Sunday, this year more music that chocolate. What a tasty day once again HRH train ride was full of blues hooks, licks and riffs, laughs and friends the perfect festival journey.

HRH Blues III blues train was full of exciting stops along the complex musical map that incorporates The Blues. The festival does not rely on have the same favourite acts returning each year. Weaving into the acts surprises and variance in the sound of blues.

With such an array of blues it is unsurprising, with not a single act announced HRH Blues IV; 14-15th April 2018 is already over eighty percent sold. People want to come back, reserving there spot for when the HRH Blues train leaves the station once again in Sheffield 2018. HRH Blues a definite for Blues lovers diaries.

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