I MUST admit I’m rather disappointed with the new thesaurus I received for Christmas.

Not only is it disappointing but it’s left me feeling disappointed too.

Which is all a bit of shame as I need quite a selection of words to describe the aching void, the all-encompassing  vacuum of nothingness, the terminal tundra of  total torpidity that awaits us over the next few endless weeks.

But perhaps one word will do: January.

It’s the time when the diaries of both bands and venues are as empty as your bank account after the revelries of the festive season.

But if you scratch around deep enough and are prepared to make the effort, there are a few live music events emerging over the horizon which could raise you from your post-Christmas stupor.

Fr’instance there’s the double header coming up at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton next weekend, Friday and Saturday, January 10 and 11.

Friday night’s entertainment is 80s/90s soul diva Jaki Graham, one of only two British females who can claim to be a Motown artist.

(If you know the other one, you’re welcome to join my pub quiz team. If you don’t, I’ll tell you later…)

Jaki had a string of smashers through the decades, including Could It Be I’m Falling in Love?, Step Right Up, Set Me Free and Breaking Away.

She also holds a Doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton for services to music and also a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the first black artist to have six consecutive Top Ten hit singles. So there…

Tickets for Friday’s show are £17.50 from the box office on 01258 475137.

As we’re now officially into the 20s, The Pasadena Roof Orchestra are the perfect headliners for Saturday’s show at The Exchange.

They’ve been recreating the glorious tunes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Ray Noble, all made famous in the golden era of the 1920s and 30s, for more than 50 years now.

So put on your top hat, polish up your tails, get ready to cut the rug with your jitterbug to the filthy hot jazz of Duncan Galloway and his red-hot band.

Tickets for Saturday are £20, again from the box office on 01258 475137.

Moving on, and The Decade The Music Died was  a terrific but also heart-breaking documentary on Sky Arts over Christmas and well worth checking out if you missed it while out galavanting.

George Michael, Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Lou Reed, Whitney Houston and Prince were just a few of the icons who went to the great gig in the sky over the past ten years.

But it’s arguably the greatest and most influential of them all who is the subject of a unique and interesting evening coming up Dorchester Arts Centre later this month.

Bowie, Berlin and Beyond explores the theoretical adventures of Bowie during his stay in the German city in the mid to late 70s and the experimental music he made on the albums Low and ‘Heroes’ with Brian Eno is re-interpreted  in a jazz style  by the Delta Saxophone Quartet.

There’s also a series of short films and archive newsreel footage to enhance the occasion which looks a must for jazz fans, Bowie casualties (er, me?) and anyone with a sense of adventure and the bizarre. (Again, me…)

Tickets for the show, which is on Thursday, January 30, are £14 and available from the box office on 01305 266926.

And finally, remember a pub is just not for Christmas and the New Year:It’s there all year round so support your local, support live music and let’s keep it live in 2020, okay?

If you’d like your live music events featured in the Echo Gig Guide, email your details to echogigguide@ outlook.com.

Till next time…

(PS: The other one was Kiki Dee…)

FRIDAY 3

Stevie P (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Speedway Snails (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Leanne Jackson (Black Dog, Weymouth)

Zoe Schwarz and Rob Koral (The Square, Corfe Castle)

Compass (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Micky Biggs and Friends (Three Compasses, Charminster)

SATURDAY 4

Toxic Fish (Finn’s, Weymouth)

Matt Wallis (Weymouth Conservative Club)

Owen and Darren (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Surfing Birds (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Moondog (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Karen (Black Dog, Weymouth)

Stereoironics (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Compass (Punchbowl, Portland)

SUNDAY 5

Ansell and Gretal (Tom Brown’s, Dorchester) Marking ten years of Jamie and Jack’s duo. From 3pm.

Ricky Solo (Sailor’s Return, Weymouth)  From 3pm.

Sunday Jam Session  (Belvedere, Weymouth) 4-7pm.

Leanne Jackson (Black Dog, Weymouth)

MONDAY 6

Americana Jam (Drax Arms, Bere Regis)

Acoustic session (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Tim Andrews (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

TUESDAY 7

Aaron Carter (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

WEDNESDAY 8

Dave Bowen and Jazz Friends (Three Compasses, Charminster)

Wessex Folk Night (Sailors Return,  Weymouth) Acoustic folk, here every Wednesday.

Rich Cooper (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

THURSDAY 9

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Traditional Tune Session (Cove House Inn, ChiswelI, Portland)
Ukulele Sessions (Sailors Return, Weymouth) Strum on down from 8pm.

FRIDAY 10

Tatterdemalion and Anglea Laycock (Dorchester Arts Centre)

Jaki Graham (Exchange, Sturminster Newton)

Chief Lazarus (Finn’s, Weymouth)

Wiggie (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

The Shakespearos (Club Bambooza, Weymouth)

Toxic Fish (Belvedere, Weymouth)