16th August 2022

 
Oh well, my Odometer turned the 100,000 milestone on the way over. As host for the evening, I started 1-minute late in deference to this clockwise omen. So, I wasn’t exactly prepared to “party-like-it’s-99” and you can’t turn it back can you. However, there was a bit of a party vibe going on in there. It was a very nice summer’s night; kind of loose and uninhibited – resourceful.
 
I sound checked in with a bit of Duke Ellington material and picked up the pace with some R&B to be followed by Simon [c/w Elvis, whose Odometer was being celebrated intermittently, the anniversary of his death still on the clock]. After that, some folk music by Steph including a lovely ‘Dropped D’ instrumental Irish piece on guitar. That’s an expansive tuning and it permeated through the humid stillness of this rather atmospheric evening. Helen put us back in the 60s prior to Lisa & Jason with a couplet of duets [like a summer breeze] before being joined by Helga on flute at this point [when I seem to have dispensed with taking notes by giving them instead as a resident “Blues Guitarist”.
 
With the addition of Keith panned right [acoustic] and me on the left [electric], it sounded quite good as a Blues/Jazz soundscape.
 
Okay, having had a cup of tea, I refer to my somewhat less than chronological, scrawled out list. Oh yes, Heather & C J Martin started, out of necessity perhaps, to sound like a consolidated duo as they pooled their resources before turning it around into ‘Chris & Heather’ [recollections may vary at this juncture], you see: ‘resourceful’ is good! As is ‘’Tilsmore’, a good duo consisting of John & Bev. And another good duo consisting of ‘Charlie & Lucy’. Then it was time for John Stevens with his PRS Electric Guitar [a performer’s rights must be upheld in this society] and the Songbook of Covers; Party 99, it may not be, but the spirit was there. Keith, the consummate visionary, put us back to some original material through the literary lens of his metaphorical ‘Telescope’ - analogous to his in-the-moment miked-up guitar [Keith’s a wordsmith].
 
The surprise of the evening, though, was BRENDA! She sat, she danced, she plucked up the courage to get up with it and sing for us. More, very well supported, ELVIS ensued – it woz emotional!
 
Penultimately, Ian came on to conclude really. With his unique 12-string sound being conducive to his well sung, well expressed songs of natural environments. Starting locally. he produced some touching imagery for the mind and the soul; the man delivered …. After Ian kicked Dim Tim [me] to the curb ‘The Stereo Soundscape’ resumed for some steppin’ out blues, for people to walk out to as the Ark disembarked leaving us to clear its hollow deck for the next turn of events.
 
And my old Fiat 500 hummed all the way home – “Shall-we-do-it-again?”
 
Manus

2nd August 2022

Chiddingly Skyline we hear a song of Cat’s Cradle
Within my soul I did feel a spark
Music then takes us to West Ireland
Lament for a great thespian who made his mark
Chiddingly Skyline we celebrate our grand-children
Truth and beauty remember the river man
Music bring us together again for one night
With you all kinds of blues we play whatever we can
Chiddingly Skyline up Blueberry Hill and Dixie Down
The lark ascends above the lowly folk lands
Music can tell tales of strange walling Bungeroosh built by the mason’s hands
Chiddingly Skyline takes in a Northern coal town
Moon dancing as a blue moon to the glory of love
Music for the dead and for the ever young
A summer of swimming and the song of the dove
Chiddingly Skyline brings family histories
From mining the earth in which we lay graves
Music for the dead towns, the dead sea and its fish
We suffer the darkness from those big waves
Chiddingly Skyline give me flowers and brightness
Let me banish the black dog forever
Music can lift us out of the mire Depression is something we can all sever
Chiddingly Skyline waiting so long for our Queen
She sings with such joy that still shines through
Music once again has brought us together
Whatever rights and wrongs I’ll spend life with you
Chiddingly Skyline in sight of Sussex hills
Adonis Blue weaves all around their flowers
Music made of each and every breath we take
Wild horses we shall ride through eventual showers
And so Chiddingly Skyline you brought us together
Once again we all shared music and love
For this life is but one life not lasting forever
Or can we be born again just like the one dove ?

“Chiddingly Skyline”, by Jason, dedicated to all the lovely folks who turned up to perform and to listen and who created a wonderful evening.

Thank you Steph, Paula, David, Manus, Helen, Terry & Natasha, Jim & Josie (AKA Milton Hide), Phil, Helga, Chris Neale, Simon, John & Beverley, Pat Langridge, Tony Parry, Jayne, Pete, Ian and John. And thank you once again to Lisa for singing and playing with me.