THE QUEEN IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

Auriel Andrew was buried in Newcastle on Monday, January 9. It was a fitting farewell, a funeral service that was packed to the rafters and full – as I’d hoped, as appropriate to Auriel – with as much laughter as tears, plus more than a little singing too of course. There was a wonderful warm feeling for her that just inhabited the space and the day; a feeling that I only hope won’t ever fade, but rather, and certainly if Buried Country: Live in Concert has anything to do with it, will just grow…
            … and so perhaps it’s apposite to say here now, as Auriel herself, ever the trouper, would have agreed: The show must go on! – and so this is to say, by way of a formal public announcement: Buried Country: Live in Concert  will continue on, to play throughout the forthcoming year (and hopefully maybe beyond!), and not with a replacement for Auriel because you couldn’t replace Auriel Andrew, but with just a bit of what I like to call panel-beating; and also, I don’t doubt, with the beautiful benign spirit of Auriel smiling down on us, spurring us on… This next one’s for you, Big Mamma!