Hello everyone. Just thought I'd let you know how Jim Page's gig in Liverpool went.

It was a terrific success and everyone (including Jim) had a great time. We could have used maybe a few more people in the audience but never mind. I didn't quite cover my costs but my wife and I just looked at it as a night out - and a bloody good one.

Jim was on great form. He really is an extraordinary performer. His honesty, generosity and passion are really something to be experienced. Very few solo performers come close. Christy Mooore, Dick Gaughan, the late Steve Goodman - the list is a short one. My only gripe was the door was two floors down so after all that organising I missed most of the first half! After that I thought 'sod it' and closed the door and went upstairs to listen.

Too many highlights to list - 'Trail of Tears', 'Anna Mae', 'Mr Ondo', 'Rachel Corrie', 'Everything is Round', and finishing off with 'Lightnin' Hopkins'. The guy is an absolute gent as well, driving up from Trowbridge on Monday and going back to the South Coast the next day for what I have to say was a very reasonable fee - which I had to persuade him to accept. My seven-year-old daughter loved him as well and presented him with a little glass flower she had made at her playgroup which Jim tells me made it all the way back to Seattle with him. (She also invited one of her friends round to look at 'The American', which I thought he handled very gracefully.

My mate Bruce Scott opened up, and did a wonderful set of traditional and original songs drawn from his Liverpool and Irish roots. Jim was blown away by him and they ended up trading CDs and email addresses. It's great to be able to put artists together that way and see them click like that. It doesn't always happen. One of my friends who was there said that the great thing about the evening was having two one-off talents performing together on the same bill.

The venue was perfect - it's a beautiful little art gallery three floors above Matthew Street in the heart of Liverpool, bang opposite the site of the original Cavern Club. Ken Martin, who owns the gallery, is an architect whose twin passions seem to be art and music. He and his staff were brilliant and he brought along a lot of his own friends to swell the numbers, including the great Liverpool screenwriter Jimmy McGovern.

I'm hoping to promote some more gigs there in the near future and any acoustic or traditional artists who would like to play in Liverpool in an intimate setting surrounded by excellent artworks are very welcome to PM me. Maybe we can help each other out. My address is on the first post of this thread.

I'm also hoping to get Jim back in the near future - the Liverpool Irish Festival is taking place at the end of October and Jim may be in Ireland at the time - it's only a short hop to Liverpool. So if you missed him this time you may get another chance before too long. Again, if you'd like to be kept informed, let me know.

Before you ask, no, I'm not making any money out of this - I'm just happy to be able to make it happen. If I can make it pay for itself, fine. But now I've got the bug anything could happen.

All the best,

Chris