Reviews...
Saturday 11th June 2011 - The Crown Hotel, Callander
I thought had the weekend off, after a recent cancellation. I'd told all of my agents I was available, and saw myself taking any old gig for whatever money I could get. Luckily I had a last minute phone call from Ish and Bill, the owners of the Crown Hotel in Callander. They were looking for someone different to entertain their busy wee hotel, and I was free! (By that I mean available...).
Google Maps had our journey time as about 1hr 40 mins, so we set off with our usual hour extra to be on the safe side. As it turned out, we were reeeeeeally early, and it only took 1 hour to get there. After sitting staring at a duck pond through the windscreen and rain, we decided to go up to the hotel and go in for a drink before the gig. They couldn't have given us a better welcome! A pot of tea for me and a coffee for Al were quickly supplied, and Bill and Ish were very apologetic that they were away to have their tea after being on their feet since 9am that morning. They made sure we knew where to set up and what to expect, and then left us with their very friendly bar staff.
This was a 7.30pm start, which is quite unusual really, but the pub has karaoke on after the act, so I was happy to come along earlier than usual. It meant we would get home at a decent time (unusually), and get to bed before "stupid o clock". As it turned out, the crowd were so impressed they decided to ask me to finish at 11pm rather than 10.30pm, which meant I had to find another half hour of material to fill the time. As I have around 200-odd songs in my repertoire, this was not a problem.
The hotel are always on the lookout for good acts, so I'd recommend them to any singers out there. Just give em a call. This could possibly be the busiest place in Callander on a Saturday night! I'd like to nip in through the day for a meal too, as the menu looks lovely.