Okay … come 8pm and we were still a bit thinned out along the benches with those empty cushions, laid out ready, grinning through. So we busied ourselves getting a sound-check with me and my minimal paraphernalia nonetheless beginning to wonder if perhaps I was being a bit precious with my own little tonal-centre going on; Chris worked on the monitor whilst handing the rig over to Clive for the evening and the missing links slotted into place. And it felt right as I opened with a couple of James Taylor songs to proffer some open-handed, contemporary-folk, sort of vibe before introducing Lance up to perform a couple of his own songs, laterally -- 'Space Traveler …' and 'A Very Hungry Caterpillar' setting the scene for a couple more originals from Chris. This time it was: 'Another Lonely Man' and 'Life Sentence Past' before he was joined by Heather on 'Norwegian Wood' and then moved over by 'A Million Dreams' on which Heather played guitar, in full flourish; pink-on-Pink in a picture of health whilst recuperating from a recent op – nice to see.
 
Another male/female duo ensued, quite different this time: Bob and Cristy-Lee with their own thing which, although difficult to define, was very interesting in that, once again, it proved to be another case of you never know quite who is going to turn up at these creatively open spaced, contemporary and often eclectic, evenings – so I'll be candid. Bob announced their first piece as 'Penultimate Song' so I don't know what it was called but whilst it was very long, it was also very, very good in its fastidious attention to detail in a gently applied kind of club soft focus. And we were silently captivated throughout. Obviously enough, 'The Second Song' followed on … some evocative imagery befitting this close humid summer's night ensued, taking us through previous eras of Havana and Guevara revolutionary chic, tempered by an underlying cold-war fire-and-ice subjective muse. Okay, I was flagging a bit by then but it left an aftertaste which carried over to the next day.
And as I write this, reflectively, their performance was still very much with me, leaving me wanting to be immersed in more of the same as if I'd just got back from Ronnie Scott's the night before [and I've been doing that, on-and-off, since I was 17 in the 60s so the more I think on it, it was somehow transcendental with the atmospherics and time-and-place parallel realities]. But, time out, I don't want to be over-analytical about it as I hope they will come back soon having whetted our collective appetite for imaginative their otherness [consensus].
 
Time to get Mark settled in and slope off for some much needed filter coffee. When I got back from the bar he was singing Jackson C. Frank's 'Blues Run The Game'; another atmospheric piece so I went for a splash [not a typo …] returning, refreshed and up for it: Neil Young's “The Needle And The Damage Done” – well, there you go, stimuli revisited.
 
And then some reassuring maturity in continuum as Clive preceded Simon in the chill-chain of frisson and eventualities; Zerox [alter-ego], in his patronizing cognitive dissonance often used to make a point of willfully confusing these two men until he finally realized that people were beginning to blank it out as just more self-aggrandizing white noise. Out-of-toner … it was unfair. However, there are the similarities of simplicity, in a good way, with these guys. Clive gave us 'Summertime Blues' and a nicely Mediitteranean uplift with 'Non Ho L'eta', so there was absolutely nothing nominally predictable about him all at all, tonight. And Simon, also on a slight detour, gave us 'Lifetime Blues in “C”' as penned, shelved and resurrected from the pen [bin] of wife Leslie, after 'Meet Me On The Corner' in which he had dialed down the charisma [simulated reverberation] happy to let the room run the game on his own bluesy English terms.
 
The next leg of the journey began with Jason and one of his favourite guitars [Lisa's Martin] playing 'Any Major Dude Will Tell You' from 1973s Pretzel Logic – classic early Steel Dan preceding Chris Martin's documented 'AJA' 'T' shirt chronologically [as worn by Chris last time] – It's an incredibly well structured song, beguiling in its simplicity as a harbinger of what was to come from them as a studio band; songwriting duo with a team of regular great session-players upping the musical arrangements. Joni Mitchell followed this template and I LOVE all of it!
 
Jason was joined by Lisa to sing Jimmy Page's 'Tangerine' and 'Georgia …' before Keith came up with Helga and her flute for their arrangement of Keith's 'Baby Steps' and another, this time more rhythmic/less rubato, original in 'I'm in Love With This [Scottish] Island', affectionately rendered as it was, it sounded great with its reggae undertones. Helga was then joined by Lisa returning with the reclaimed Martin guitar for Sandy Denny's 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes' – indeed. Very near the end, Ella arose from the wings with her acoustic guitar to give us a couple of [pre-73] Joni numbers; 'Chelsea Morning' and 'Creasy' I think it was entitled [I'm not familiar with that one so forgive me if I misheard it], it was, in any event, nice to hear these uncluttered, naturalistic era Mitchell songs from the Montreal-through-Greenwich-Village coffee bars era of the early singer/songwriter era across the pond but so nicely intoned to the swinging 60s of London – Often, I feel that I was born to misplaced geo-politically, but I got it from a distant TV and I was here in the second-person-narrative of it!
 
Anyway, by happenstance, Fred the poet was on hand in a very timely ultimatum – Fred recited his true story about ‘not knowing [he] could fly until he had to [fly]’, to see us out concluding with Cooper-Clarke's existential 'Suspended Sentence' – Democratically tongue-in-cheek, I think they should make Fred our new foreign ambassador to Don.
 
Okay; CD slotted in, windows wound down – lights! I hit the road happy in the knowledge that the chill-chain had indeed been more than adequately checked out in its linkage to that night in what turned out to be a joined up, eclectic evening for all concerned.
 
Nice!

25th June 2019

I was a little bit late arriving, and was worried that everyone would be waiting,but when I got to the room, I found the door was locked, and nobody there yet!   -- So I was ok.   I was still ahead of everyone!    Manus was next to appear, and we managed to get Richard to unlock and let us in.   Simon had of course, been in earlier to set up all the equipment, and for security reasons, it becomes a no - go area, and locked until we arrive.     The others did arrive, and all was well.


I began with a little bit of a history lesson in the form of the story of the battle of Cropredy in the English Civil War.    This week is the 375th anniversary of that event in 1644, so I thought it would be worth a bit of a mention.     Ralph McTell's  composition, 'Red and Gold' tells the story well.   The song features on Fairport Convention's album of the same name. 

I chose to do one of my own songs as my second offering.    'Burning in my Heart' describes the feelings of someone yearning for a missing love.    The guitar on this song is played in mandolin style, and has some interesting changes of tempo.    For those who might want to hear my songs, you can search my name ( clive woodman ) and find them all on something called  - 'Amazon'.    
 
In second position came Jim and Pete, - The J P's.     They gave us their story about The Bomber Command air crew with their song 'Scampton'.    They followed this with 'Ordinary Bloke', about Albert Pierpoint the executioner who likes a laugh and a joke.  The two guitars worked well together, and with some nice lead notes from Jim.

Jason Loughran and Lisa Jackson always bring us a lovely pure sound, and their guitars also work well together,and with both instruments and both  voices in harmony, they never disappoint.  Jason played some very nice lead notes tonight as well.    They did their take on Willie Nelson's  'Funny how Time Slips Away', and Mick and Keith's 'Wild Horses'.  ( Sounding better than Susan Boyle). 

Then, sounding better than Barbara Dickson, Paula sang 'Caravans', written by Mike Batt (of Wombles fame), followed by her own song 'Empty Chair' -- "Thinking about you- -- - Coffee doesn't taste the same without you." 

We had a new visitor tonight, in the shape of Thomas Ballantyne-Dykes.   He gave us his take on 'Buddy can you spare a dime', written by Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney.  He played some nice country style picking on this, and on his next song as well, 'Don't think Twice, written by someone called Bob Dylan. 

Simon Watt took his place on our famous bar stool, and pleased us again with his humour and his still appropriate and topical dig at Kim Jong Un.    'Rocket Man' , one of his many compositions, is just right. ( Nothing to do with Elton John).    Following the recent thunder storms and heavy rain, it was also appropriate that next, he chose 'Calm before the Storm', by Eliza Gilkyson.   

Terry Lees  also had the recent weather on his mind.   He had been deluged by water at home in two different ways.    Water was coming IN through his conservatory roof, and water was coming OUT of his washing machine.    Oh dear!      Terry dived in to the American traditional story of 'Stagolee', the cruel bad man, who shot Billy Lyons.    He went on to give us a  John Renbourne piece, 'Watch the Stars'.    -- " See how they run at the setting of the Sun" -

Next on the list was Manus, who had been waiting patiently, and he took on the sound of Eric Clapton's 'Change the World', written by Tommy Sims/ Gordon Kennedy/ Wayne Kirkpatrick.     Of course, Manus gave the song his wonderful Jazz style, which is always great to hear.    His second piece was one of his own creations, an instrumental with the humorous  title 'Boaty McJazz Face'.         I wonder what Sir David Attenborough would say? 
  
 Tonight, Ella had brought her keyboard with her, and it was nice for her to be sitting facing us, rather than playing on the old rusty piano with her back to us.  This proves to her,as she can see, that we DO  sit attentively and listen  to her while she plays and sings.     Also, her keyboard sounds much better than the 'honky tonk'.   She gave us  'He played Real Good for Free',  from Joni Mitchell's 1970 album 'Ladies of the Canyon'.
 Ella has a lovely new grandson named James, so in celebration, she has taken to singing James Taylor's 'Sweet Baby James'.     " Thinking of women and glasses of beer" - will be some time ahead for him I think.

Lisa and Jason came back to the floor for a second time just for a while, for us to hear Lisa's own song, 'Just for a while'.   She gave a tribute to the late Chris Liddiard, who she says, helped her with the song and gave her some advice.   Then came 'The Glory of Love',written by Billy Hill.  ( Not Benny Hill ).     

We had time now for  some second helpings, so first up was Paula, to sing Leonard Cohen's 'Halleluiah'  with Terry giving some nice accompaniment on guitar. 
  Terry stayed in place, saying he needed to run through a quick rehearsal for his next gig,and he did Woody Guthrie's 'Do Re Mi'.    ( Nothing to do with Julie Andrews).  

This was followed by another "Alleluia" , with Manus putting a nice jazz flavour on Ray Charles' -'Halleluia I just love her so'.   This word can have several different spellings.

Thomas -- the rhymer-- came up again to do 'San Francisco Blues', by Jesse Fuller.  This was Thomas's first time with us tonight, and we enjoyed his sounds.

Simon played a number from  Bob Dylan's 'Nashville Skyline' album.    He told us that when he bought the album, he complained to the record shop about the short running time of it.   -- As if they could do anything about it !   

I'm sorry, but I didn't catch the title of Simon's song.   This is one of the reasons I came up with the idea of  Singer/Performer/Information/ Exchange/ Service.  (S.P.I.E.S ).  This is where each player would write down or tell the Blogger their song details.  It is easy to get confused about everyone's songs during the running of the evening, and we don't want to give false facts or fake news.      -- It's just an idea.  

Anyway, thanks to all who came tonight, and to Simon for being in charge of the sound desk.      We had three of our team unable to come tonight.     Keith Willson emailed earlier, and I think Chris Martin was helping  Heather Curry, who has just had a 'hip op'.      She will be playing 'Hip Hop' music.     We wish her a speedy recovery. 
    
Roy -- yes- Roy, very kindly played us out at the end of the evening, on the piano, with the romantic piece by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish, 'Stardust'.    
                               --"And now the purple dusk of twilight time" -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
                                     "High up in the sky the little stars climb."

                                                            Goodnight !
Clive Woodman

When I arrived at the Six Bells, a man spoke to me about the jam nights asking about how good the musicians were. I explained that the folk club open mic nights were different to Chris’s jam night and that everyone was welcome no matter how experienced (or not) they are as a performer. He was unsure whether he could pluck up the courage, so I suggested he come along to listen and see whether it was the right place for him to start with.

I then had the opportunity to chat with Mark, before kicking off with the evening’s proceedings. We spoke about the sad news that Open Space Lewes had closed and Mark wanted to find out what other local open mics offered that same level of respectful and encouraging atmosphere. We both agreed that The Six Bells Folk and Blues Club (SBF&BC) suited us both for those reasons and more. However, I remember when it was a hugely intimidating place to perform at. The first time I came along (many years ago now), it was packed full of people, audience and great musicians – standing room only! I was trembling from head to toe and am still amazed that I even managed to get through the first song, let alone two!

And, whilst we now feel that we have a great balance at the club (we’re welcoming and friendly; there is humour and banter; we are supportive and encouraging; we have a great sound system for people to learn what it’s like to plug in, etc, etc), there is still a perception that the SBF&BC is ‘Folk’ in the traditional sense. A perfect number of performers arrived for tonight’s open mic, with a wide variety of styles and songs and abilities. It’s what we do well now. But one or two people said that they didn’t consider themselves falling into the ‘Folk’ category and weren’t sure whether our club was for them, or even that they would be welcome. And that is something we perhaps need to address.

“There’s only your guitar between us” was how I kick started the evening. And that’s all there is between us all really in a metaphorical sense! A self-penned song in open G tuning with a double drop D for extra twang, on my pixie-like Martin (suits me, sir). Jason (one of my favourite guitarists) joined me for a revisiting of the traditional ‘Black is the Colour of my True Love’s Hair‘. We rarely get to experience Jason’s guitar prowess, so tonight we had a glimpse of just how well he can play his dad’s Ovation, a guitar that could tell so many musical stories.

Lance, who I first heard at Open Space Lewes, thankfully is cow coming along to the SBF&BC regularly. He is a source of inspiration. His songwriting always surprises. Tonight, he advised us to eat all our veg or we won’t grow, which was accompanied by much tittering and joining in. A change of mood after this, with his brand new song ‘Who Can See the Wind’. This was thoughtful and moving, with a lovely chord sequence in the chorus.

Mark gave us a sensitive rendition of ‘No Frontier’ by Irish folk singer, Mary Black. I’ve included a video below of Mary’s version. Mary is a major recording artist in Ireland, but sadly, perhaps not so well known over here. Mark’s second number was an untitled instrumental of his own composition which had a rhythmic melody, which showed us his talent. Much enjoyed by us all.

Our resident prolific songwriter and soundman Chris Martin is on a mission to sing all one hundred of his songs this year. He gave us songs 76 and 77: ‘Falling from Glory’ was described as an acoustic version of a big rock number. The ooh oohs were indeed big and sassy! ‘Skeleton’ was next. Beforehand, however, Chris decided to show Manus how to play jazz chords. Brave man! 

Indeed, Manus was up next. ‘Leyla’ was fascinating. I say that because Manus has a style of playing that keeps me guessing, I do enjoy watching his fingers explore the frets. They never stay in one place for more than a second! His own song came next which he has creatively based on an African chant ‘Ba Hi Shani Sa Ha’:

Gimme the means
to fulfil my dreams
Put me on stream
Pour in the cream
Coffee and toast
On the Ivory coast
Nya Ma Ka Lah……

“How do you follow that?” asked Heather. But she did, by giving us beautiful renditions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Bird on a Wire’ (Take a listen to Joe Bonamassa’s version below!) and ‘Borne on the Breeze’ by Harvey Andrews, who I had not heard of and will be exploring more of.

The best guitar of the night goes to… John Stephens! His gorgeous Gretsch just looked wonderful. John braved Pink Floyd’s ‘Breathe’ and to my amazement, as I have never witnessed anyone tackle a Joe Bonamassa song at an open mic before, he played a version of Joe’s ‘Drive’. We all sang along to Floyd and tapped our feet to ‘Drive’. I’m looking forward to hearing him play that guitar again soon. John told us that Sandra’s video of him performing made him think about giving up! No, no, no, John. You were great. Bring back the Gretsch and never ever give up!

Debbie and Steve hadn’t been to the SBF&BC for seven years. I was thrilled that they came along. I’ve seen them perform many times over the years, but it has been a while and they didn’t disappoint. Debbie’s voice is like velvet, or strawberries and cream, or Cornish vanilla ice-cream. And Steve’s under-stated guitar playing accompanies her perfectly. ‘Entwined’ indeed. They performed Joni’s ‘Both Sides Now’ and a Civil Wars number ‘Oh, Lord what have I done…’

It’s so good to have Jason back, he has a controlled sensitive command of the guitar and a beautiful voice. He performed a touching softly-sung original, entitled ‘To the end of the Waves’. I then joined him for our own duet arrangement of Bruce’s ‘Tougher than the Rest’. Jason always tells me that he goes into the ‘zone’ when he performs. Perhaps that’s what I need to do - I wouldn’t make so many mistakes!

Simon Watt was joined by Simon the Sax for Willie Nelson’s ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’. Lovely to hear this again, as I used to sing it with Glynn. Strangely, the country take of this song worked brilliantly with Simon’s jazzy saxophone. Simon W then performed Willie’s ‘Good Time Charlie’, which I always thought was an Elvis song and didn’t realise that Willie Nelson wrote it. However, t’internet tells me it was written by Danny O’Keefe!

Clive told us about all the new builds in his area of Crowborough and wished that houses were being built in the right places, not the wrong ones. His song ‘Open Fields’ reflects his views on the spoiling of the countryside. Clive gave us a lovely rendition of Huw Williams ‘The summer before the war’ in recognition of the recent D-Day celebrations, both sensitively sung. 

Keith made me cry. Well, his self-penned ‘Requiem’ would make the hardest of hearts melt and if anyone has experienced being with a loved one whilst they pass away… what can I say. His second song ‘Sometimes’ again was just lovely. Keith his in the middle of recording an album and told me that he wants it to be as natural a production as possible. I can’t wait to hear it.

It was so good to see Simon the Sax return to the SBF&BC. He has been missed. Hallelujah! I just love her so and ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’, accompanied by Heather on the piano. It was magic and a fabulous way to end an evening of eclectic music choices, at the best open mic night in town!

See you all next time. Lisa

28th May 2019

So this was ‘Folk’ evening. There was a lot of discussion about the nature of
folk: What is folk? It’s a good question that gave rise to a variety of
interpretations, but by the end of the evening everyone had sung some very nice
songs and the Folk Police were not there to judge.

As host, I opened the evening playing a very sad traditional song ‘I am stretched
on your grave’ involving the personal loss and tragedy theme, followed by Joni
Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ from what I would call her folk years, written in
1970. This song takes one of the other apparent roles of the folk song and
makes a political statement, in this case and ecological political comment
about the planet being trashed. Shocking to know that this song was written
nearly 50 years ago and those things she sang about have only got worse and
worse.

Collin took the next spot and sang a song written in California at a Supergirls
surfing event ‘Whatever I do I’d still choose you’. He followed this with ‘The
Devil Said’ having observed a man on a bench with ‘pennies on his eyes’. Nice folky songs.

With no folk content whatever, Roy finally got to the piano and gave us a version of
‘Smoke gets in your eyes’ that he had originally prepared for the American
Songbook evening that Manus had run. It’s just great music, sensitively played
on an instrument that can be unpredictable. Hopefully he will summon his
courage and play for us again.

Manus followed with a song not written to be accompanied, by Ewan MacColl,
(folksinger, songwriter, communist, labour activist, poet, playwright and
record producer who influenced theatre and broadcasting, apparently. A busy
man). The song was ‘The first time ever I saw your face’ and the guitar
arrangement was strongly influenced by the Bert Jansch version. Manus went on
to talk about Dobell’s record shop in Charing Cross Road (1946 -1992) where it
was possible to buy a huge variety of music on vinyl that was just not
available anywhere else. These were the ‘old days’ before the internet and
local record shops would mainly stock records by performers of popular and ‘Top
Ten’ music. (Yuk!) It was also the age of pirate radio which was responsible
for transmitting some great music. I went to this shop also at some point. It’s
where I bought an Elmore James LP and probably hugged it all the way home on
the train. Manus also sang ‘The first time ever I saw your face’ a Tom Paxton song,
to some complex work on the frets. Tom Paxton is an American folk
singer-songwriter who is still very prolific and apparently touring here in the
UK for the 53rd year.

Mark then presented us with ‘Angie’ by Davy Graham, a folk guitar player’s ‘standard
of accomplishment’ which he said he was still trying to get right after 40
years. It sounded good (and familiar) to me. Davy Graham was a British guitarist
who had a huge influence on the British Folk revival of the 1960s. Fancy
fingerstyle. He also played ‘City of Stars’ which comes from the film La La
Land which I confess I have not seen. It worked well on guitar though and
suited the evening.

Chris played two of his favourite ‘folk’ tunes on an acoustic guitar with a clip-on
pick-up. He also sat to perform, which is unusual. The first was ‘Dangerous
Moonlight’ which had associations with his dad and a spitfire pilot and it
included a quotation from Bruce Lee, Van Gogh’s last words and ‘Sine, fine’ in
Latin which implies ‘without end’. A complex song. He was particularly pleased (which
included smiles) to be joined by the audience in the chorus of his second song ‘Excuse
Me’. Some very nice, spontaneous harmonies came through here.

In the true vein of folk music as a communicator of tragedy, Heather sang a very beautiful and poignant song about the drowning of ‘at least 21’ illegal Chinese immigrant cockle pickers in Morcambe Bay on 5 February 2004. The song ‘Morcambe Bay’ was written by Christy Moore, and with the soft Irish accent his performance is heart-breaking. Heather isn’t Irish, but without the accent, it was still heart-breaking. There’s a sense of a reluctance to applaud a song such as this, not because of the performance, but because of the subject: ‘Never try to race the tides on Morcambe Bay’. Beautifully done. Heather’s second song ‘The Weald and the Sea’ was written to be performed a capella, but tonight she accompanied herself on guitar again: ‘And if you don’t want to, I’ll go on alone. I will still love the views and I’ll search for a home…’

It was purely by chance that Lance followed Heather and sang his song ‘This is war?’about
the picture of the little boy that appeared in the national press, who was
washed ashore. The three year old Syrian boy turned up on a Turkish beach following his family’s attempt to escape Syria and get to relatives in Canada. These songs of tragedy are the very stuff of the folk tradition, offering, as they do, some way of expressing outrage,
anger, disbelief, grief, or whatever horror, giving some shape to feelings of
distress. In a traditional political folk vein, Lance sang his song about ‘Some
Peoples Lives’, venting his concern about dishonesty and focussing on how ‘some
people’s life is so damned hard…. So deeply scarred’.

With more stories of misery, Jason sang ‘Nobody loves you when you’re down and out’,
a song written by Jimmy Cox in 1923 from the point of view of a millionaire who
loses everything in the Prohibition Era in the US, reflecting on the fleeting
nature of wealth and the friendships that come and go with it.

The atmosphere in the room did not reflect the very serious content of some of
these songs. I hadn’t really noticed at the time, but in the midst of these
tragic stories, we were having a very good evening. The misery and sorrow was
channelled through the music. We didn’t need to cry.

Jason was joined by Lisa for one of their beautiful duets and sang about the ‘Cotton
Fields’ in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana, Surrey. This was written by
Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) and was first recorded in 1940. Like many ‘folk
standards’ this song has been sung and recorded by a huge number people. I
would consider it to be ‘Folk’ whether it’s from the US, UK or anywhere where
slavery, or virtual slavery, goes on. Lisa took the lead in their next song ‘Careless
love’ with Jason providing some bottle-neck accompaniment to Lisa’s delicate
guitar playing. This is another song from the early 20th century in
the US by Buddy Bolden. It has also been sung and recorded upteen times as a
jazz, blues and folk standard by the likes of Bessie Smith, Pete Seeger, Fats
Domino, Eartha Kit, Leadbelly, Odetta, Dylan and Siouxie Sioux (!?) Another
sheet of paper please, this is a very well-loved and muchly performed song.
You’re in very good company Lisa. Beautiful musicianship and harmonies, as
always.

Some very authentic traditional folk was delivered by Simon. As ever, Simon tells us
a good story about his innocent involvement as a young man, in a very serious,
bearded-man folk club in Winchester. (He didn’t mention any bearded ladies. Perhaps
they would have been unwelcome in this traditional context) The delivery of the
pedigree of the songs was apparently an essential and lengthy process. Simon mentioned
Cecil Sharp who is considered the founding father of the folksong revival of
the early twentieth century, collecting thousands of rural English songs as
well as songs from the southern Appalachians in the US. Sharp was also
responsible for reviving English country dance and actively promoted Morris
dancing. (Simon had looked this folk group up in later times and found that the
‘Young Tradition’ had actually made recordings.) In the traditional style, he called a line and
we, the audience were required to give a response, in his first song ‘Hanging
Johnny’, a nineteenth century windlass song. Travelling further back in time,
Simon sang us a version of Henry the Eighth’s ‘Greensleeves’. For our total
amusement he finished with Stevie Wonder’s ‘Moving On’, written in 1966. Simon
took his guitar and sang the song but the ‘beardies’ at the folk club never
spoke to him again.

Clive’s songs weren’t wrapped up in a story, but folk songs they definitely were. ‘Hard
times of old England’ was the first. This song came from the British folk
revival rock band Steeleye Span who were, like Fairport Convention,
commercially successful and still continue to tour. Most of their early music
came from traditional sources, like the Child Ballads, songs from England and
Scotland and their American variants collated by Francis James Child in the
late nineteenth century. Clive completed his spot with ‘The water is wide’ (or
O Waly, Waly), a sad love song published in Cecil Sharp’s Folk Songs from Somerset 1906.

Keith brought the evening to a close with his contemporary‘folk’ songs. Brighton Rock,
with lyrics that spoke of ‘cheating all through like Brighton rock’ called for
some chorus singing. His other contemporary ‘folk’ song was ‘Baby Steps’ a slow
and gentle song with Keith accompanying himself again on acoustic guitar.

It had turned into a rich and diverse expression of folk music, many lovely and
sensitive songs and a very nice vibe going on in the room.

As usual our thanks go to Simon for setting up in advance of the rest of us getting
there, or as he put it: Whack fol-di-diddle-o my dearies, the room is ready,
the traditional apparatus is in place, and to Chris and Clive for operating the
sound system.

Thank you one and all for coming along and singing your songs, and for staying to
listen to everyone else singing theirs.

See you next time when Lisa will be running the evening, Ella

This was one of those evenings where the usual suspects turned up to play, thirteen performers in all, plus a couple of audience. I started the evening with a Danny Schmidt song Firestorm followed by Lucinda William’s song Sweet Old World. The title I have given this evening comes from a Danny Schmidt song, but I think it describes the evening’s company very nicely.

Next up was Clive with the evergreen, Green, Green, Grass of Home made famous by Tom Jones, unlike when the great Tom sings it, nobody in the audience fainted and to the best of my knowledge no knickers were thrown – you are going to have to try harder Clive. He followed that with Diamond Avenue.

Heather followed with a poignant and soulful version of the famous Scottish folk song Annie Laurie and the Black Jack David as performed by The Incredible String Band. This song also has the traditional feel of a Scottish reel. Nicely done.

Paula has been a regular visitor to the Six Bells and she started with her own composition Borrowed, and then a beautiful Lee Ann Womack number I Hope You Can Dance. Paula is really expanding her repertoire and playing the guitar with real skill now, no doubt due to the coaching of Terry Lees.

Terry just happened to be the next performer on the list. He started with the classic Church Street Blues “I’d string up this old Martin box and go and join some band” played on his old Martin box.  He followed this with a Ragtime Medley that really highlighted his expert guitar playing. Needless to say, we all marvelled at his skill.

Most people play a couple of numbers when they come, in Chris Martin’s case quite literally. In this instance he played No. 66 and No.67, painting by numbers is well established – playing by numbers is new to most people. The names of these self penned tunes were Tomorrow’s Children and Stories to be Told (just in case the PRS want to check up on him).

We then came to the Lisa, Jason and Helga part of the evening. Lisa and Helga started off with Lisa’s own song Music Is All Around Us, a song that included some great whistling by Lisa and improv flute from Helga. Lisa and Jason then did “Bobs Song”, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You. Magnificent harmony and it is nice to see Jason back again. They followed this with Handbags and Gladrags. Then it was Jason on his own singing There was a Young Man Named Me which as far as I know he wrote himself.

Keith was next up and sang us two of his own songs, An Acorn in Each Hand which is one of the best illustrative story songs I have ever heard and Terrible Portrait. We should count ourselves lucky because the calibre of the songwriters we have at the Six Bells is really impressive.

Manus then took to the microphone brandishing a home made effect box. This sadly suffered a technical problem and had to be abandoned so we will await its next outing with interest. He came up with a couple of real classic’s What’s New and Lovely Day.

Ella, on electric keyboard this evening, started with a slow rendering of The Nearness of You in the style of Norah Jones and lastly Woodstock with a funky organ accompaniment, reminiscent of that Hammond organ sound that became ubiquitous in the late 60’s.

Helga said she would like a spot to herself and elected to play a second song with Lisa, this was Lavender Blue, a Lisa arrangement with a haunting flute melody played to accompany her vocals and guitar. Helga has been away from the club for a while so it was nice to see her back.

Next it was Sylvie’s turn and she sang for us her own composition called The Cleaning Lady about an ex-ballerina who while being “Oh, so very neat” was hopeless as a cleaner.

Lastly, to remind everyone that Ella is hosting a traditional folk night next time I played Here’s to the Feet and insisted the remaining audience join in – fortunately for me, they did. See you all next time.
Simon

30th April 2019

The shifting sands of the performers’ list brought some exiting new acts to the Bells, like Suzzane and Keith Drake, and made us miss those stalwarts like Ella, Jason and Sylvie who weren’t able to make this time. However there were enough regulars and new faces for two pieces each, and a second round of a single song.  We even had a sprinkling of audience.

It seemed that the lyric, both spoken and written, predominated this evening, alongside some beautiful, and sometimes complex, playing. There was a goodly proportion of self-penned stuff, together with competent covers.

I opened with a poem: The Jazz Drummer. My chosen fast bop tempo was too fast for me and I had to bend the speed and timing to get it all out - a sign of age.
Aging certainly featured in Lisa’s Mid Life Crisis, her feelings about the menopause accompanied by great guitar work.

“Midriff’s hanging out of my jeans / everybody’s making me angry / … / getting too old to play silly games / ….”

“Something men know nothing about” Lisa declaimed which, of course, started some provocative comments, particularly about disputes over central heating as far I could make out. Ah! The joys of thermoregulation!

Bluebell Knoll, her second song was pastoral and reflective and calmed the febrile atmosphere of sexual politics. A mildly jazzy groove crept nicely into her guitar playing.

I’d hoped that Manus would be there to represent jazz. He did so, in a surprising way, with a version of Singing the Blues (any one old enough to remember Tommy Steele and the rival version by Guy Mitchell?). Incredible playing - it really swung. He then did Hoagie Carmichael’s timeless classic Georgia on my Mind - even lovelier chords. Between songs, surprisingly, he switched between two identical guitars with capos at different frets. Cheaper than roadies I suppose.

Chris Martin is on a mission this year to sing all of his 100 songs registered with the Performing Rights Society. Number 62 was Dream from his Standing Room Only album and 63 was Mask, written in 1994.

Simon Watts is an old friend whom I met at the Bells as long ago in 2002, when we accidentally stole each other’s guitars, having similar taste in cases. He writes many a comedy song laced with gentle and dry humour, but tonight his country persona played. A song by the Lonesome Brothers All Around You  and then a Mark Knoppler song Ticket to Heaven, about a telly evangelist. He played a 12-string guitar which was so accurately-intone it sounded like a six string. Don’t know how long it took him to tune it though.

Keith and Suzanne Drake, a performance poetry duo, were on next – and perform they certainly did. I’d invited them after having seen them many times at the Poetry Cafe in Eastbourne (late of the Underground Theatre but currently at the Vinyl Frontier nearby). They started with more sexual politics - a dual between female and male voices declaiming many improbable and wittily-rhymed reasons why one gender or the other is best: I Outrank You! Then came Ban Milk! introducing us to an even more improbable universe of anti-milk agitation. Great entertainment!

Clive is one of our very regular regulars. He sang an appropriate May Day song from Padstow. “Unite, unite”, came the cry. Then he introduced his own lyrics, one of the first songs he had written, If You will be my Friend. The intro and outro were long, but the middle was worth waiting for. “If we can talk about it / if we can try hard / if you say you will – say you will! “

Heather covered Cat Steven’s How Can I Tell You that I Love You and then introduced Leonard Cohen’s Hey that’s no Way to Say Goodbye as not a love song but really as a way of dumping someone whilst telling them not to cry.

Good to see Paula back for a visit. She has been a supporter of the White Horse Folk Club for many years, from its original incarnation at Bodle Street Green (run by the legendary Chris Liddiard), to its latest venue at Deanlands in Golden Cross on alternative Mondays. Paula started with her own song, Hesitate, which commented on too much rushing about in general: “Busy people everywhere / it can’t last / take the lead/ kill the speed / hesitate – look around”. Hear hear! Her second piece was an instrumental.

John has been to the club before but it was the first time I’d seen him. He had a clever electronic box that produced an electronic drone (based on sampling his sound) to accompany his ably-performed traditional songs. The first was a whaling song: “fifty-six sons sailed on board/ fishing for the Humpback Whale.” He followed this with Maggie: Arise and pick the posies/ the lily-white pink and roses”.

I finished the first cycle with Baby Steps, which I’m planning to record later this month, and a song from Calmer Waters: The Worst Thing

So we started the second round with one song each. Unfortunately Suzanne and Keith said they had to leave early to comply with the Bexhill curfew on elderly folk.

Lisa’s second set song was Jeanie’s got a Fancy Man, followed by Manus with a bossa nova: Masquarade written by Leon Russell and recorded by George Benson. Chris Martin took a breather from his sequential mission and played a song he’d already sung this year: Little Red Car from 1990.

Simon co-opted Sylvia from the audience to play a tambourine on Wagon Wheel. Heather’s third was her own setting of The Owl and the Pussycat - a love song that breaks interspecies barriers. Paula performed Campion, a song about bluebells and a Canopy of Leaves.

John did Ralph McTell’s song Maginot Waltz, which starts off cheerily with a trip to the seaside, with Albert and his banjo prompting sing songs. But then comes the chilling surprise: Albert and his pal are off to fight in World War 1 the next day, with all the misplaced optimism of that time.

I finished off the evening with a blues, The Slow One. Thanks to everybody that played, sang, set up the PA, ran it, watched, laughed, heckled and generally made for a chirpy evening.

For my videos this month I’ve chosen two by the Jazz vocal/trumpet legend Chet Baker and a rendition by Lianne Carol of A Little Mercy Now.

Singer/Songwriters’ Night.- April 16th 2019
This was Chris Martin’s Big Event:  his chance to encourage other musicians to come prepared with their own compositions, and a chance for singer/songwriters to share their creative talent. The Facebook notice apparently reached 760 people which is brilliant, but only 13 people came and some of those weren’t aware that it was a singer/songwriter night because they don’t use Facebook.  So perhaps we need to try to spread by word of mouth a little more?  Posters? Ideas?

Still, we had some lovely writing and really excellent performances, and as usual, the sound from the beautiful PA was a pleasure.  Thank you Chris and Clive.
Chris started off with 2 of his own compositions: ‘Fade and Disappear’ and ‘Journey’.  I hadn’t heard him perform ‘Fade and Disappear’ live before and Chris gave a lovely performance with plenty of fading on the hook lines.  ‘Journey’ is a lovely song with some very pretty and gentle guitar runs and Chris does perform this more often.  His precise picking style really brings out the beauty of this composition.

Personally, I find I do enjoy people’s own songs more once I get to know them a bit.  I hear Chris’s quite a lot, and really grow to enjoy them more and more. So, stick at it Song-writers.  It’s not a bad thing to repeat performances of your own songs!

Jane was up next with her slide guitar on her lap and her foot on her box.  I do love the humour in Jane’s lyrics and also listening to a different sound from a different instrument.  She started with The Broken Leg Blues.  This was 2/3 written by a young man who was an excellent sportsman, a skateboarder, I think?  Jane wrote the 3rd verse from her own life experience.  She followed this with a lovely song she wrote called ‘Road to Santiago’ which she’s moved from a major to a minor key, which really did suit the tone of the song far better.  It was written from her own experience, with sections in Spanish and expressed something of the feeling of isolation you can have when travelling alone.
‘If I can speak in all those tongues,
Then why can’t you talk to me.’

Simon was up next.  He often performs his own songs and I really do enjoy his dry sense of humour and topical wit.
He opened with ‘There’s a black hole in my Garden’
‘Black Holes are really useful,
I don’t need a wheely bin’
Excellent sentiment, and a very interesting idea….although I know I’d worry about my dog or Grandchildren falling in!
Simon’s second song was ‘Take my Hand.  He was asked to write a religious-style of song that was spiritual rather than actually religious.  That’s a bit of a tall order, and he did very well. It had exactly the right musical nuances for a free church, religious song, but the words were carefully non-secular.  And it sounded good too.

Then came Keith, with his guitar this week, playing Brighton Rock Blues.  I do love Keith’s guitar style.  It’s rich and expressive, fluid and natural.  Actually, I’m rather jealous but hey!
And his lyrics are clever too.  Grr.
‘Life’s like a Brighton Rock.
You make the Politicians richer by paying them more’
Then came ‘Terrible Portrait, which was not Keith’s usual style, more of a ballad, about a man who thinks he can be a painter just because he’s going through the mid-life crisis and having an affair. He finds his painting in the attic many years later, and although it looks nothing like his loved one, he just can’t make himself throw it away.  It was a lovely song, and as Keith explained, because of his jazz background, he had to give a simple 3 chord song at least 9 chords.  It worked very well.

We had a newcomer next.  Sophie had been encouraged to come by friends who sometimes come to listen.  Sophie always sings her own songs, she told me, and I really had no idea what to expect.  She played ‘If the World’ and ‘The Darling’.  What a beautiful voice, and what lovely songs; almost Joni Mitchellesque, accompanied by a simple, effective rhythm/slap guitar style.  I think we all wanted to hear more and we did later on.
Sophie was followed by Manus.  His first song was ‘One Man’s Flood is another Man’s Wave’ inspired by a leak in the ceiling at The Elephant and Castle.  It was written and played in Manus’ distinctive jazz style, with a good tight rhythm, which made it easier for me to enjoy.  I’m a bit of a pleb and can get lost with the jazz thing sometimes. Topical lyrics: ‘Money like Raindrops falling on the Few.’  Then Manus played Handing it Over, which he has recorded in the past.  He’d rewritten the introduction which he felt really improved the song.  I did really enjoy both of his performances, and songs.  More really clever playing!!

I followed Manus.  Not easy that!  I’d decided to bring my keyboard because a lot of the songs I’d written this year were for keyboard and I chose two I especially liked.  However, my sustain pedal decided to play up.  It was working back to front which totally flummoxed me.  I battled through ‘Missing you’ which sounded very odd to me with the detached ‘harpsicord’ effect.  So, I turned around to play ‘Mum Song’ on the in-house piano which felt a bit better.  But not brilliant.  I do love these songs and I feel cross with myself when I don’t feel I do them justice.  I think we all feel like that!!

Then it was back to taking photos and making notes for The Blog, and Lance was up on the Hot Spot. 

Lance is another song-writer I really enjoy.  We really do have some excellent talent around.  ‘In a Gardener’s World’ came first.  I could really identify with that because I love my garden too.
‘In a gardener’s world,
We follow the Seasons,
And live them one day at a time’’
He had some whistle breaks too.  Chris upped the reverb and it sounded amazing!.
His second song was very different, and rather sad.  ‘The Fault in our Stars’ was about someone dying of cancer. Beautifully poignant.

Then came Clive.  I always enjoy Clive’s choices.  ‘All of the love will remain’ came first.  This was a touching song about sad goodbyes with a really well-formed walking bass.  I do love a good walking bass.

‘I want you.  I need You.  I love You’ came next.  Apparently, Clive’s wife never reads the blogs so I can say that Clive said the inspiration was generic and not actually all about his wife, although she thinks it is and it earned him Brownie Points’.  Either way, I think we could all identify with the sentiment if we ever have been in love with anyone!

George and Mary didn’t know it was Singer/Songwriter’s night and quickly adjusted their set to open with a song with lyrics written by Chris Liddiard that George had put to music called ‘Green is the Shamrock’.  It was played in a gentle Country style and worked well with George and Mary taking turns to sing the lead vocals. They followed that with Dylan’s ‘If Tomorrow’s such a long Time’.  George really has quite a crooner’s voice and it sounded lovely with Mary, who seems to have changed her register recently to sing far more strongly and balance George’s voice very well.

Becky and Terry were the last people to come up.  They really didn’t know it was a singer/songwriter’s night and don’t really have any of their own material.  It’s always a pleasure to hear Becky’s lovely, resonant voice though, and Terry holds it all together with his guitar.  Becky lets him sing a little on occasion, but not this time!  They treated us to ‘You’re no good’, Linda Ronstadt, and ‘Promise Me’ by Beverly Craven.

Chris came up to say thank you to everyone and played ‘Mr Preacher Man’.  He was obviously feeling a bit more relaxed now the evening was nearly done, the world hadn’t caved in, and the sound had been beautiful.  So, he gave a lovely clear, faultless performance with excellent guitar and vocal work.  He’s on a mission to give each of his 100 songs an airing this year and this was number 58.

By consensus, new girl Sophie was asked to finish the evening with another of her songs.  So, she came up and treated us to ‘I used to cry in my Sleep’ wonderfully performed in her distinctive style and with her beautiful voice.  Just lovely.  Thank you Sophie.

P.S.  Everyone’s photo has already been put up of the Facebook page, but I did want to include these two.  They boys seem to be upping the anti with interesting and unusual shirts, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for more to add to this collection.  Girls too if you want!!!

By Heather

2nd April 2019

Clive and I started jotting down the running order of performers, as they arrived, in lieu of Jason, whom was the billed host for this evening but had been unavoidably detained – However, he's back in the game and busy at the day job so that's good news in itself in the scheme of things. My list totaled up at 13 but as Jason never made it, we ended up as 12 in all and Jamie, at No-2 was thereby brought forward, moving up the list to a new beginning, reborn and backed-up by Martin. L on bass with supportive introductions by Clive whom was by now keeping a tally of who was doing what having already helped Chris in assembling the PA as Simon had delegated this over to other key-holders due to a bout of flu; there will be lots of colds and snivels to come now he's a grandad ... #2 I’m now informed and he’s graduated to Man-Flu to boot.
 
So, Jamie and his guitar kicked off with 'Nutshell' by Alison James and 'Plush' by Stone Temple Pilots. Then it was Chris, ascending up the running order from the desk to follow on from that. But he didn't seem to mind filling the second slot – it's never bothered me either as it happens and he started with 'Outta Here' as a solo then bolstered in his second original singer/songwriter piece by Martin on bass again with 'Martinette' vocals by Lisa and Heather on ‘Scrapheap Blues’ – all of which, in an it's-all-in-a-name sort of way, reminded me of a great little pre-Brexit/New Labour novel I once read entitled 'Martin Martin's On The Other Side' – an unavoidable mnemonic slip: there’s a Martin in it and I couldn't help it, sorry ... Anyway, in the here-and-now, a man called Mark was also invited up to complete this ensemble with his highly polished metal slide guitar [in lieu of John Oddie’s resonator of old, we were told] and there sure woz a lot of deputies at work tonight!
 
Then Clive introduced himself again and proceeded with 'a jaunty 'High Heeled Sneakers' by Tommy Tucker and another song called 'Dark Eyed Molly' before introducing Heather to recite a poem, 'People’ whilst her guitar-tech man sorted out her instrument c/w partial-capodastre, which sounded rather interesting to my ears with an open top 'E' string ringing out its dissonance [which I like] but which had to be appropriately readjusted for her rendition of Joni Mitchell's totemic 'Both Sides Now' – I've seen life from both sides now … contemporaneous indeed on both sides of the pond, in limbo, hanging on it. I bet Joni is pleased to be of Canadian descent … I know Heather and Chris had attended Joni's 70th celebration concert recently and were still buzzing from it – Heather concluded the set with 'The Town I Loved So Well' from Phil Coulter.
 
Mark, c/w slide guitar, came back on his own terms with Muddy Waters's [blues singer] 'Can't Be Satisfied' of the transatlantic Jagger/Richards Rolling Stones era [I Can't Get No ************] Blues Packages of the 60s. He brought us up-to-date with his own tautology in 'The Shining Sun' – a very long piece on a very shiny guitar with a blurry bottleneck breaking over the fingerboard of frets like metallic rays, and hotspot f-holes resonating to the rising mercury of the Delta atmospherics going on under the fan [inactive this time] ….
 
I had to follow that!
 
So I took a leaf out of C J Martin's playbook and invited Lisa and Heather back up, joined by Ella this time, to support me in the refrain of a couple of rhythmic vamps I'd built in to 'True Colours' since recording it recently – there was an extended coda to do with rainbows and they positively shone on that, too. It was like a triple sunshine beating down on the, you know … beats. Ahem, I did a brief medley comprised of 'Ain't No Sunshine/Summertime' but that's another sunny story altogether so I won't go there, then.
 
It was definitely warming up, though, as we had duo spot coming on with Kat Black and Mr White [but he doesn't know why …?] From Peacehaven-on-Sea, Kat and Andy played 'Stay' and Dylan's 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue' which was nice to hear – there was more Bob to come, ultimately from Oliver but now it was time for the ebullient Lance to perform, uniquely, his own songs: 'Every Day' and 'Get Up And Dance' with which he had me jiggling on the stool with his sunny disposition acting as a bit of a livener.
 
More Joni now, this time from Ella in a stand-up performance with her flat-back bouzouki strapped on to provide a nicely twangy backdrop [Ella felt that there may have been a bit of a tuning problem here but it has to be said that, up to a point, a little variance in each pair of strings on these type of steel-string instruments can add a modulation of its own that can be effective, expansive even – like a chorus pedal would simulate, and people pay good money for such paraphernalia – subjective though it is, it's worth taking a chance on it I would vouch] as she played 'Carrie' and 'I think I understand' – replete with ‘like stepping stones on sinking sand’, what a line to tread … what a line to write, eh? Straight ahead, all good here!
 
What a lineage to follow? In a nice bit of programming of opposite numbers tonight, it turned out like the roll of the dice to be Lisa's time to come back up. Also in solo mode, she sat down on the high stool and gave us her interpretations of 'I Have To Say I Love You In A Song' from Jim Croce and 'Song To A Siren' by Tim Buckley as a nice offset to what had preceded her reflective performance.
 
John Stevens covered an off-the-shelf version of 'April Come She will' ... well he got that right. It was Paul Simon whom had ascribed a gender to this month of months that we find ourselves in whilst he was working with Garfunkel, in harmony; Simon being the preeminent songwriter. But then [after a nice, harmoniously sunny March, mostly …]. Star Man.
 
Oliver: 'Gold-Watch Blues' and the other Bob Dylan song of this long night – “She Belongs To Me” which had enough gravitas to act as an apt conclusion within the atmosphere it seemed to generate, just like any good folk club at its best – my inner Sun-God was turned back on again and fully appeased.
 
So, looking forward to Chris Martin's, on the other side of songwriting night coming up next time, as a platform for all singer-songwriters with hearts, and minds, and songs of our own [as opposed to the singer-songwriter genre at large, as a general theme]. But, on the sunnier aspect of things, I don't know which gender I would apply overall to 'Summertime' and other covers anyway, which is just as well because I'd probably get booted out for being so subversive, and rightfully so!
 
Manus/Clive XX

Okay, we started fashionably late which was good as Clive, our last regular on the list, made it just in time not to miss anything [he was followed by another couple: Becky & Terry as a bonus] which gave me an active opportunity to waffle on about last summer's “A Love Supreme” festival over at Glynde – a nice message co-opted from John Coltrane of 1964 set to a wayward take on “Woodstock” of the era, by me [cos I used to be an Existential Impressionist but I'm all Post-Modern now …]. All of which seemed to free me up to stretch out a bit on the ballad “Autumn Leaves”, as a very loose instrumental. I hope this didn't come across too indulgently but it seemed to fit; it felt right and Chris had set me up nicely with a stereophonic rig through the sound desk, so it was kind of airy and transparent as an improvisation on the written chord changes [which were adhered to].
 
Chris then followed me in reflective mood with his 'Something To Believe' circa 1976'  and enhanced by Martin on the amplified Uke-Bass. It had an effectively recurring Sus-4 chord right there in the fabric of it [in a 'Rock' way] but tempered by a Maj-7 vibe, I thought. But the next song from Chris, 'Inside Of You' with Simon [Farmer] on soprano saxophone, was definitely of that kind of tonality [: C Maj-7/E Minor :] and the soprano floated over that as of a wash [in water colours]. Jazz is a cliche but we were all atmospheric thus far [yeah, I know – I used to be synaesthetic too but I'm better now … blah, blah …]. They concluded with 'Farewell My Love' – supremely!
 
Simon stayed on backed up by Heather at the piano [I would say as an accompaniest but I can't spell it so hitherto it will be deemed as 'comping' all the way]. Dial 'M' for Merger, there was nuance; it was “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” followed up with a nifty switch to Alto by Simon for “Fly Me To The Moon” and I comped on that one. It was in 'C'. Heather sang “April Come She Will” and “Carolina On My Mind” – there is something aptly shrewd about the guitar playing of James Taylor, it permeates through all of his work. I mean it is mildly syncopated in a way that always seems to leave space for bass and/or electric pianos, even when they are not there – It's implicit. Happily, Heather was playing guitar on this one and the bass seemed to be much more transparent in the lines that Martin was playing there, rather than merely comping [or 'jamming' on it]. I think it's an American thing. Mavis Staples's band had all of that over at Glynde, on it at the festival last year. Her man on the Telecaster was supremely in-and-out of it, turning-the-beat-around and really digging into the grooves that they created – it was truly inspirational [and expensive for me: I had to start acquiring Teles again, forthwith on the strength of that – will I ever play them again?] Hmm ….
 
Rhetorically, I digress. Simon, on guitar, followed them with a Cliff Richards pop song entitled 'Wind Me Up Let Me Go' – The BBC certainly wound Cliff up, of late didn't they – poor man … this light rendition was much more pleasant and euphorically conveyed [as Simon was a provisional Grandad throughout the duration] after which he took us on an odyssey through Canada with a song phonetically described as 'Ooh-ter-cheen-ia' – a pronoun I believe [Although it’s spelled like this: Ootischenia and is by the ‘Be Good Tanyas’]. We do get around don't we …? From there it was The Grateful Dead – “Ripple” so here’s a toast to the newborn.
 
Time for 'One-Woman-And-Her-Guitar' Lisa Jackson, with a couple of originals; in the true sense of the word, the second piece 'Mid-Winter Mist' struck me as an original song-form per se with its open-inversions over the static bass pedal [E-natural] which must have felt like a gift from Heaven for the actual bass-player, Martin again providing subtle enhancement with that fret-less sound-scape with those little black rubber strings [yep]. I must add, and hope, Lisa won’t feel patronised in any way by all of this purple prose of mine but any of her many facebook friends whom will have surely seen her consistently vibrant nature photography, enough to realise the tangible ‘in-tunefulness’ of her body of work will get it. And, these things do, in fact, crossover sometimes – I've been trying to achieve it for years but sometimes just being 'aware' is enough. Like, maybe it did, maybe it didn’t – it’s Art. And I don't mean to overlook Lisa's first piece, either. It felt like a prelude taken altogether -- these ramblings are of course entirely subjective.
 
Another person who often appears in a duo, but solo tonight, is Mark Lynch. From Danehill, he played and sang 'Lost Little Girl' from The Doors’s “Strange Days” followed by Trent Raznor's, 'Hurt' – it was relatively painless! So, Ella turned the electric piano on with “Lone Star” and “Love Me Like A Man”, Influenced by Bonnie Raitt. It was a slow-burner eventually moving me off the stool on the corner, getting up there with it to plug in and cause something of a chain-reaction with bass and then, additionally, Simon on saxophone – it's a blues in 'G' by John Prine.
 
At this point Clive kindly offered to move over in order to accommodate our guest duo, Becky & Terry thus giving them a platform on which to perform three songs, consecutively; “The Touch Of Your Hand” and “I Will”, both by Alison Krauss and then “Like Diamonds” by Patricia Conroy followed on by Mr Woodman and his pre-tuned acoustic guitar with a lead dedicated to itself, for 'Seven Golden Daffodils' and Greg Lake's 'Lucky Man' all of which was very lyrical and assured in performance – very reassuring within the arc of the proceedings – the problem with being of a jazz sensibility, like me, is that you never know what the time is when you really should when watches become like capodastras and other add-ons [wedding rings, mirror sun-glasses, A&R men, i-pods etc ….] it just all gets a bit irrelevant to the fundamental cause of enjoying it, sometimes. So I got up again to play an impromptu Herbie Hancock medley of “ Cantaloupe Island” c/w an almost-segue into “Chameleon” -- with its attendant bass-line picked up on, and indeed embellished ably by Martin on that quirky, but very reliable little bass instrument over there in the wings: Bom-Bom-Bom-Boom – Bom-Bom – Bom-Bom-Bom-Boom-Bom-Bom it went. It was like having an engine in a room behind a pub in a village.
 
It had to end ….
 
And who better, coming up to opus-50 [in reprise], but Chris J. Martin returning ultimately to do the honours and play us out with full ensemble for 'Toast for One' – I like that!
 
 
Manus X

Before  the evening  began,  there had been   four email  messages  sent  through.      These were from  four of our regular  music - makers,  each one a member of our Six Bells  'committee' and each of them saying that they would not be able to come  tonight. 
 
" Oh Dear"  I thought  to myself.  ( to put it politely )    That means that we will be  a bit thin on the ground tonight, and maybe the evening  will be a bit disappointing and turn out to be as flat as a pancake.    ( One of us had to make that joke, didn't we ? )

 Anyway, as usual, it was not disappointing, and we ended up with an enjoyable night. We were a bit late starting, because I had been held up on my journey with the road being completely closed at Halland for repairs, and had to follow a diversion.   Also, I had trouble with a guitar lead that I hadn't plugged in properly, which caused a bit of a technical glitch.   I blame the guitar lead, not myself.

I got going with The Doobie Brothers' song 'Listen to the music' written by Tom Johnston.    My second one was Paul Simon's 'Take me to the Mardi Gras'.   This song had to be sung tonight.    It's funny how 'Mardi Gras' is a much nicer name than 'Fat Tuesday'.     As for me, I don't just do Fat Tuesday.  -- More like every day of the week.

Mark Lynch has played here several times now, and tonight he was joined by John Budden, and together they gave us 'Till there was you' written by Meredith Willson, from 'The music man',  and followed by  The Beatles number 'Things we said today'.     Mark and John live at opposite ends of the county, but they obviously get to rehearse together sometimes, because they make a good sound.

Chris Martin took time off from the sound desk tonight ( but still stepped in to help here and there),and now, stepped up to the mic to give us not just two, but three of his own compositions. (With permission)!   'King of the flies', 'It's only my time', and 'Standing room only'.   Chris tells us that he has performed every one of his 100 songs at Open Mic Nights, and he is now re-singing them all , in numerical order, song by song.  Tonight was number 33, 34, and 35.   We've suggested that next time round he does them in alphabetical order.
Chris told us that someone else was unable to come tonight.  -- This was Simon Farmer, the brilliant saxophone player who has been joining us for the last few months.   He had  apparently been feeding honey to a wasp and the wasp didn't like it so it stung him !     I've always found that wasps prefer beer.

Our other Simon, Mr Watt, came up next to entertain us with two of his own  very clever and humorous songs, both of them very topical still: 'When Brexit Comes', and 'Rocket Man'. ( featuring Kim Jong -un.)   Simon says The Brexit song will be out of date after March 29th.    I'm not so sure.   And how long will Rocket Man last?    Jong-un could be a long-un.

Manus ( 'Jazz') McDaid, was number five  on the list, and despite having a bad throat, was able to play us, in his great style, 'Song bird' written by Christine McVie, made well known by Eva Cassidy as well as Fleetwood Mac.    Although a bit early in the year, then came 'Autumn leaves', written by Joseph Kosma and Jacques Prevert.    We noticed a bottle of something strong sticking out of  Manus' pocket.  he says it's cough linctus.    Huggh Hum!

Taking to the floor next we had Heather Curry with her take on another song done by Eva Cassidy, 'Fields of gold' written by Sting. ( Gordon Sumner).   Then we were taken back to our childhoods with 'The owl and the pussycat' song with lyrics by Edward Lear.    I think we've got a runcible spoon somewhere in the cutlery drawer.

 A guest that we haven't seen for a while is Dave Dyke.   He started up with 'Don't leave me this way'  - The Ricky Nelson song from 1958, (not the more recent one by The Communards) followed up by Gordon Lightfoot's 'Early morning rain.'  Very nicely done, with some fine finger picking.

 Very patiently, Sylvie had been waiting, and she took the mic to give us a couple of her witty songs, this time with Scottish nursery rhyme themes.    Never sit in the front row when Sylvie sings.   - She'll make you join in with the choruses which you don't know!  

There was now time to carry on into the second round, with Mark Lynch coming back to  give us 'Jenifer', a song by Bert Somner, who  was one of the lesser - known musicians who played at Woodstock in 1969.

John Budden then returned, this time playing on our old piano, making it sound good with a nice  number from the band  Heads Hands and Feet.    Every time I think of them I can't help thinking of 'Heads shoulders knees and toes'.  Sorry !

Chris appeared again (with permission) to do a fourth song of his own 'What happened to our love'  This takes his list up to number 36.

Simon stepped back in to do a very nice take on  'It never rains in Southern California'  by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood.

Following this, Manus launched into 'All the things you are' by Jerome Kearne and Oscar Hammerstein.    Always classy stuff from Manus.

Another piano piece next, this time with Heather, and a nicely done song by Phil Coulter, 'Scorn not his sympathy'.
   
I thought it would be nice to let Mark and John finish off the night, seeing as they seem to have travelled the farthest to get here.  -- Mark from  the dangers of Danehill, and John from the worries of Worthing.   So, back as a duo again, they sang The Korgis' 'Everybody's got to learn sometime', with some very nice guitar playing. 

                  Thank you to all who came and sat and listened
                  And those who sang and played,
                  And to those who enjoyed it, all through the evening, and stayed.

  So there goes another Tuesday night !    Now where have all those pancakes gone ??
               See you next time.
                 Clive Woodman