Clive's Film Folk Fun

 September 19th. 2017

        For some of us who are members of the team who help to run the club, the evening began earlier than usual, with us sitting round a table in the bar ( with a beer ), having 'A Meeting' to plan the events timetable for 2018.     Yes !!    We are so very well organised, that we actually plan for the following year in advance!     -- What's that I hear you say?   --    You wouldn't have thought so ??            How dare you !            Simon is the brains behind all the forward planning and the website, and in fact I would go as far as saying -- Simon is the brains.   (Full stop).

                  Tonight was one of our famous 'Theme Nights'.               We feel that it's a nice idea to have the occasional  one, and they are meant to encourage players to venture out of their comfort zone and  try something that they might not otherwise do.       Sometimes they work well.  

                 The chosen theme this time was 'Songs from Films'.      Well, -- whose silly idea was this one ?      -- Ahh  - it was  mine, wasn't it!          I thought it would be a very good subject for a theme.   There have been countless good films over the years with great soundtracks, and a wealth of songs to choose from.        So we began.

                As host for the evening, I started up with a change of plan to what I had intended to sing.   It would have been something from the film 'Easy Rider', but I found out earlier that there would be a couple of other numbers from the same film, so I chose instead, 'The Rose', from the film of the same name.     Starring Bette Middler, the story is (loosely) based on the life of Janis Joplin.  

                It's difficult to choose a 'Favourite' film.    Can you have lots of favourites?    - I have lots.    My second offering was from the soundtrack of 'Local Hero'- the story of big industry being stopped from developing in the west of Scotland.
Music for the film was composed by Mark Knopfler, and I did  his song which Gerry Rafferty sang,   'The way it always starts'.


 No one ever really wants to be second, but tonight, Simon actually volunteered to be.   He told us he needed to get away early because he was suffering with a 'Man Cold'.   Not as serious as 'Man Flu', but still needing sympathy.    He is obviously a fan of children's films, as he gave us 'You've got a friend in me', from 'Toy Story'.       In contrast to that, from the tough film 'Cool Hand Luke', we had ' Plastic Jesus'.    Even with his blocked sinuses,and his nasal tones, his voice sounded just as good as ever. 


Ruth, who has played at the club in the past, came on at number three, and said that usually she played keyboards, but is now on guitar as well.  (not at the same time).      She sang the sad 'Sweet Old World' by Lucinda Williams, followed by 'Boulder to Birmingham'.           -- That is, Boulder Colorado, and Birmingham Alabama, - not our Birmingham.


Next up was our chief sound desk expert Chris, surrendering to the theme night, and playing a couple of covers of someone else's compositions.    'Born to be Wild' by Steppenwolf  from' Easy Rider', and then 'The Young Ones'.     I'm pretty sure that Chris was not a fan of the film starring Cliff Richard, but more of a fan of the other 'Young Ones' -- Ric Mayall and Adrian Edmondson.  Chris played both these numbers with his red hot guitar with distortion effects and tremolo.   He tells me the make of guitar is 'Shadow', made in West Germany, and he's had it for 30 years.   


Manus always gives us something to concentrate on listening to, with his excellent jazz guitar work.  This time he gave us a medley of three songs from films of the same name.  --Eponymous!
'On a Clear Day', Days of Wine and Roses', and 'Autumn Leaves'.        Then we heard a great instrumental  number, which I've forgotten the name of. -Sorry!


Ella had said that she would not have time to stay, but  actually she did stay for the whole evening,even though she didn't play tonight, and she waited patiently to help pack up at the end.
 Thanks Ella.


Mike was next up, and he told us of this song which has been featured in a number of films, some dating back to the 1940s (and earlier)?   I don't remember that far back !!  -- But I do recall it being in the film 'Oh What a Lovely War', and 'Me and my Girl'      The song ?   -  - ' When You wore a Tulip and I wore a red Rose'.       Mike's second number was 'Que Sera Sera'  from the film 'The Man who Knew Too Much' starring Doris Day and James Stewart.


We were visited tonight by Frank Xerox who took to the floor and gave us his take on a couple of songs.    First, was the 'other' one from 'Easy Rider' - 'The Weight', followed by Bob Dylan's 'Just like a Woman', with a nice harmonica finish.      -- Ah, but was that ever featured in a film ??


Roy Champion, who had been waiting patiently through all of the evening, kindly took to the piano to give us a dose of culture, with a piece by Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856).   It's not just modern musicians who die too young. 


 And that rounded off the night nicely.     We could have had a bit of time to fit in a quick second song each, but we decided just for once to finish at a more sensible time. 


Thanks to everyone as usual, and see you next time we hope.


Clive Woodman

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