My First Foray with Insurance

Had my first encounter with insurance companies today. Before I could officially hire out the filming equipment for the war film I had to do one of two things: Get insurance on the equipment (£50) or pay a deposit (£8000). Guess which we went for? Reading through the clauses on the insurance site I noticed that I may need to pay extra since they did not cover films with pyrotechnics in. This was a big issue since our war film was geared up to included explosions and shellings.

Ended up contacting the man in charge of our films special effects who told us that 'explosion' was a gross exaggeration. In reality we were going to use battery power air cannons to propel dirt within a 2 meter radius. Called up the insurance people for their definition of explosion and we got it granted to us!

Went out to celebrate at the Buffalo's open mic night and had an amazingly cracking time. Before heading out Jamie hosted a jam session with a few mates. They were all planning on doing a mini set together and were visibly itching to perform at our local, especially Jamie who wanted to put his new Cajón into action, he gave the honour of playing it to Ed, Jamie's manager at Wagamama.

For anyone who doesn't know, a Cajón is effectivly an 'all-in-one drum kit.' You just sit on it and slap the sides to make a snare or a bass drum sound. They are about the size of a footstool and a great little bit of kit.

So we all sat down and had a few pints. Someone offered to buy a round of 'fakerbombs' (a jägerbomb but with cheaper ingredients) and many festivities were had as we watched Dr Jazz play quite late into the night. After his set was over three guys picked up their instruments and sat down. We had seen them play before and they are always absolutely amazing. They played one song, looked around the pub, spotted the Cajón and asked the perfect question.

'Who plays the Cajón?'

Ed's face beamed at he rolled on up to play with the regulars. Me and Jamie were in stitches at this point. Ed was apparently a really good drummer a few years ago but has never actually played the Cajón until yesterday. We could see them now gearing up for their next song, Jamie and I were in great anticipation to see Ed's big moment, but nothing could have prepared me for their next song: 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow.' 

Oh yeah, this was the real deal. This was the New York Cheesecake of acoustic sets. From their on out the night maintained that level of excellence, everyone who came on was fun and great to listen to. Ended up staying until close and stumbled home with Jamie, both of us were still buzzing over what a great night we had.