Hosted by Heather

​“Songs of War & Peace”
So we come to sing so many songs
And read poems that make the heart bleed
So we take comfort in laughter and light
And in the face of such tragedy this is our need
 
So we make peace in the face of such adversity
And the poems they still fell any sword
So we are human after all and simply carry on
And this is for you and whoever is your Lord . . .
 
Jason, Poet

The Mad Hatters of Chiddingly:
A Tale of Great Musicianship and a “Best Hat of the Night” Competition

The length of this blog title is matched by the length, depth, and breadth of music: 18 separate acts! That’s not counting the announcement of who won the “Mad Hatters of Chiddingly Prize 2024”. But I’m getting a-hat of myself here – all in good time.

Opening this intriguing night, Host Helga played a tuneful, classical flute piece (Eric Satie’s Gymnopedie Nr 1), in order to calm down the bubbling excitement over what the hell this hat thing was about. Those in the know had read the email, inviting musicians and audience alike to come wearing a hat. Others had no idea (yet!) how best to fit in, whereas real pros – like Terry Lees – just smiled and nipped out to the carpark: he always carries a spare hat in his car!

Rounding out the opening, Hosts Lisa (tut tut, no hat) and Helga were beautifully accompanied by Jason’s electric guitar in their interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love”.

Then Lance hit the floor, not just with one, but with two thumps. His self-penned “Chicken Song” - a radical expose of the barbarism entailed in eating chicken meat – and the brand new “Patches of Wet” - a hyper-realistic account of the sexual trials of a middle-aged couple – left the audience gasping. “I think I’ll go vegetarian and practice celibacy” one audience member summed up the impact of Lance’s songs. Maybe his non-street-cred cap shouting “Vote Trump” was meant to be ironic? But then, is a cap a hat?

On with the music. Kat on keyboard followed, with two beautiful love songs which she had composed, and was playing to an audience for the very first time. “On my Own” was particularly moving. She literally pulled her hat out of a brown paper bag, creatively decorated with coloured pencil markings and a pair of neon-green sunglasses. She deservedly, later, received the “Mad Hatters of Chiddingly Prize 2024 Runner-Up".

Songwriter Chris hoped to win the Mad Hatter Prize by pointing out that his colourful woolly hat had been knitted by Host Helga. His rendition of “Xeroxed” was masterful. Manus’s beautifully jazzy interpretations of well-known tunes came out best in “Trouble in Mind”. Kat Black and Mr White (wearing a hastily knotted-at-the-corners white serviette on his head) got everybody to their feet with a roaring rendition of the Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant”, with much roaring of “I’m vacant” along with them. Very lively number!

Heather’s approach to showcasing her wide-brimmed hat, lined beautifully with fragrant roses from her garden, was to invite everybody in the audience to smell her headware. Interesting. Everybody liked her slow rendition of “Every Move You Make”. Nelson’s foot-tapping contributions were enhanced by his Wyatt Earp hat, which – however – was upstaged by Susan’s floppy cat-sitting-on-her-head, legs and tail attractively dangling around her face.

​Lisa and Jason were joined by Simon on washboard (!) and Tambourine Laura, with the sparkliest hat of them all. Lisa’s kazoo innovation strengthened the percussive impact of “San Franciso Bay”. The Steelyard Hobos did a great Americana job on “Why Worry” and “To Go to the Sea Once More”. The first of the night’s Three Terrys, Terry O’Brien, delighted the audience with “Bulldozer Blues”.

Frank goes to Chiddingly was ably supported by Tambourine Laura and Flautist Helga – making a great hat duo – in “Live & Local” and “Walk on By”. Neil’s heart-breaking rendition of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” had everybody singing with him. He was then joined by Jim on Fiddle, and Simon. Simon then gave us a lovely interpretation of Tom Petty’s “Walls”. The second of the Three Terrys, hat pro Terry Lees delighted us all with Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice”, followed by a beautiful Celtic instrumental. “People Get Ready” rounded out the incredible line-up of the evening, performed by the last of the Three Terries, Terry Daly, and Becky.

So, who won the “Mad Hatters” prize? Adding drama to the nail-biting moment of announcing the winners, it turned out that the two frontrunners – Susan’s fluffy cat and Heather fragrant roses – were in a tie! But all’s well that ends well! Neither of them drinks alcohol, so they decided to donate the winner’s bottle of wine to the next raffle to support the Folk and Blues Club. What a night!

Hosted by Ella
​This evening began slowly as performers and our small audience gradually arrived. Some regulars were not with us for various reasons, but I eventually opened the evening playing Norah Jones’s ‘Shoot the Moon’ incredibly badly on keyboard. (What became of all those hours of practice I ask myself!?!) What a lovely forgiving group of people the Six Bells Folk and Blues Club are…….but at least I managed to perform my second song with far greater dignity. It is a song that I wanted to sing for Chris Mansell, who founded Six Bells F&B way back in the 1990s. He passed away last September. Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel’ (In the Arms of the Angel) is such a beautiful song.

Simon followed me with two very different songs, assisted by Lisa on washboard. Turns out that Lisa has an absolute gift for playing washboard, having never handled the instrument before. The first was about ‘Precious time slipping away’, obviously a serious washboard piece. Having recognised the value of Lisa’s accompaniment, Simon decided to give us ‘Too Much Snow (if you get my drift)’ giving further scope for percussive interpretation. We loved it. Hooray!

Chris, the drummer and a newcomer persuaded Manus to accompany him with a couple of blues songs: ‘Got my mojo working’ and ‘Bo Diddly’. With no practice, Manus was doing a stalwart job and Heather also joined in with some chords on piano filling out the backing.

Manus remained at the mic to perform Jackson C Crank’s ‘Blues Run the Game’ from the 1965 album of the same name, with his usual very skilful guitar interpretation. His next song ‘Murray’s Bar’ was self-penned and reminisced over his early musical years.

Chris (CJM) announced that he was due to become a pensioner the following day and sang ‘It’s only Time’, a retrospective, melancholy song about the past. ‘Leaf’ followed with the contemplation of a leaf caught in a spider’s web. Becoming a pensioner is obviously a major turning point, but with all endings come beginnings.

Our resident duo Lisa and Jason, performed ‘Tale of the Tapestry’. They always interweave both voice and guitar so beautifully. Going back in time, they then performed Jason’s dad’s song ‘The Glory of Love’, which despite the weather and the somehow discombobulated feel of the evening, (or maybe that was just me?) captured some real Mid-summer spirit, I felt. Lovely stuff.

Heather sang her song ‘Body Bound’ which voiced her concerns about physical limitations that come with the passing years, but that her spirit is free to fly. Woohoo. Setting an AA Milne poem/story she continued with ‘The King’s Breakfast’ adding music….. the king ‘likes a little butter on my bread’.

A Native American proverb was Brenda’s starting point, and a very valid one it remains: ‘When the last tree is cut, the last fish caught, when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realise, too late, that you can’t eat money’. She followed this with a poem about ‘the Little things in Life that mean a lot’, encouraging gratitude. She completed her performance acapella with the gospel song ‘Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)’ an African-American spiritual first printed in 1899.

Mike followed with some blues on guitar ‘Worried Life Blues’… Lord , lord, it hurts so much for us to part… a blues standard originally recorded by Big Maceo Merriweather in 1941. He rounded off his spot with American soul singer Sam Cooke’s ‘Bring it on Home to Me’, released in 1962.

Nelson noted that the tone of the evening was reflective. His performance, with lots of reverb on the guitar, was more upbeat: everybody wants, everybody dreams, ‘To be Elvis’. From his latest album he then sang us ‘Waterfalls’.

Emma was telling us that she has been complaining about the weather most of her life and compiled a collection of poems called ‘A year in Scotland’ reminding us that the weather has been quite bad enough here but that it was worse in Scotland. Her song was about cats: ‘I’m Minded to Murder your Moggy’ which ended on a postscript to remember to look down your cat-flap. She always makes us laugh.

The room became even more sparsely peopled, but there was a third song from most of those who remained.

​Manus sang ‘For You, There’ll be No More Crying’, .. For you, there’ll be no more crying, For you the sun will be shining…’, a Fleetwood Mac song.

Chris sang ‘The Last Song’ : ‘.. should be a sad song but not for you and me.’

Lisa and Jason were facing up to yesterday with some lovely harmonies and guitar work in their beautiful song ‘ Song of Silhuoette’.

Heather’s final song had us in a cowboy saloon sitting on bar-stools, but the song that had the potential of a ‘sing-a-long’ was falling on a rather empty room by this time.

Nelson completed the evening with a song whose title I cannot decipher from my handwriting, taking us out on a strong note. Apologies Nelson.

Despite it being a rather ‘odd’ evening and a bit thin on numbers, we nonetheless had the pleasure of a lot of very good musicianship, singing and speaking with abundant good humour and affability. The Six Bells F&B is a treasure and we owe our thanks to Jason for his continuing promotion of the club, setting up, taking down …. And also to CJM and Manus for stepping in to operate the sound desk when Jason was out front performing.

​Thank you everyone. See you soon, Ella

Hosted by Chris

Poem and Blog  by Jason:
Songwriters of the World unite
Hosted by the cat in the hat
Songwriters of the darkness and the light
Life’s Rich Tapestry and all of that
 
Another great night at the Six Bells, hosted by Chris, we enjoyed performances by Manus, The Whale & The Dragonfly, Mike, Lisa & Jason, Frank, Helga, Laura, Heather, Emma, Simon, Nelson, and Terry.

Hosted by Helga

A Night of Hats, Newcomers, and Great Music
For years – in double figures - I have been a regular player at the Bells, but this night was the very first time I was hosting the open mic all by myself (standing in for Tambourine Laura). Understandably, I felt a bit nervous. So, I came in my black jazz hat with red, orange, and blue feathers, which immediately gave me extra confidence and a ‘new persona’. Terry and Chris also wore their performance hats, which was great!

Noteworthy also is that we had three newcomers: Paul with tuneful Fisherman’s Songs; Will with impressive versions of Tougher than the Rest (Bruce Springsteen) and Fulsom Prison (Johnny Cash); and Lynn – singing publicly for the first time - who gave us a beautiful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. A special welcome to you and we look forward to having you with us again!

Summer, Sun, and Seasons were a strong theme of the night, not surprising after such a long, cold, schleppy winter! We enjoyed interpretations of Summertime (George & Ira Gershwin, DuBois Heyward), Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone (Bill Withers), Shine on, Harvest Moon (Nora Bayes & Jack Norworth), Hotel California (Eagles), Diamonds in the Rain (Jeannie Riley), Sunrise, Sunset (Jerry Bock). Thanks Jason, Helga, Mike, Heather, Frank, Hugh, Manus, Nelson, and Steph!

Current Issues and General Problems were ably addressed in Running out of Time (Bells’ songwriter Chris), Insomniac’s Dream (another Chris song apparently inspired by the actor and comedian Robin Williams), Human Beings are not very Bright and Southern Water Pollution Calypso (Bells’ songwriter Emma with sardonic wit), It Ain’t Me Babe (Bob Dylan), Born Under a Bad Sign (Albert King), and Miss this Sweet Old World (Lucinda Williams). Thanks Chris, Emma, Frank, Helga, Hugh, Manus, Terry, and Simon!

Finally, Positive Future Visions made an uplifting final theme: Simple Smiling Face (written by Jason), Black Lives Matter and White Socks (Bells’ songwriter Lance), Down the Highway (Bert Jansch), I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton), Chance (written by Nelson King), Ticket to Paradise (Bells’ songwriter Simon), and a Traditional (Robert Burns). Thanks Jason, Lance, Hugh, Manus, Mike, Nelson, Simon, and Steph!
A raucous Blues in E Jam brought this great evening to a crowning finale. Thanks Mike, Jason, Helga, Frank, Terry, and Will!

I look forward to my next open mic hosting! It would be great if you can try and wear a hat, Helga

Hosted by Jason

“Collaboration Night"
​
We start with the hammer
Flute swaying, swinging with the Blues
Sunshine ain’t but shining
When a man loves a woman is news
 
Dancing to the end of love
With Sebastian a story of a life
If you see him, say Hello
He might be longing for a wife
 
Cool breezing in from the South
They sing of their love under the moon
And with the art of the Botticellis
Such musical beauty is over all too soon
 
Rocket fires into the night sky
As we love the simple prairie town
Silent sounds never helpless, but hoping
Even Blues can lift you when you’re down
 
Summertime is coming, as it always will
Sunny afternoons abound for us once again
San Francisco Bay be where we found our love
Songs we sing and let us never refrain . . .
 
Jason, poem, May 2024
Thank you Helga, Lance, Mike, Manus, Hugh, Kat, Andy, Frank, The Botticellis, Simon, Ella, The Low Profile, and my wonderful Lisa for singing with me yet again. Another lovely evening of music and friendship.

We welcomed our dear friend Nelson King as our latest new host at the Six Bells and what a great job he did. His original songs are always a delight and he performed with his usual energy and charisma. We also enjoyed wonderful performances by Lance (who also did a great job on the sound desk), Manus, Frank, Lisa & Jason, Mike, Emma, Terry, Simon and Penny. There were the customary collaborations between fellow performers which all made for another great night of music and friendship. Thank you all for being a part of this great scene. Until next time . .

Tonight we welcomed Kat Black and Mr White as our newest hosts. They did a wonderful job of making us all feel the love. Their harmony as a duo is a delight and they give new life and meaning to any old favourite song they cover. We also enjoyed fine performances from Steve, Simon, Manus, Chris, Mike, Heather, Lisa & Jason, Terry & Becky, and Derry. Until next time . . .

Hosted by Lance

The evening started at 07:40 with everyone singing 2 songs each
 
Lance kicked off proceedings as host with Mr Tamborine Man and Like a Rolling Stone
 
Manus and Hugh were up next and performed Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours and Don’t Think Twice           
 
Ella brought along her keyboard and sang  2 Bob songs….from the Bob Dylan album ‘Modern Times’ Ella sang ‘Thunder On The Mountain’ and from another Bob Dylan Album ‘Standing In The   Doorway’                   
                                               
Alchemy followed with renditions of ‘To Make Me Feel Your Love’ and Nina Simone’s ‘I Wish I Knew How It would Feel To Be Free’
 
Frank was up next and  performed the Bob songs ‘Hard Rain and ‘Just Like A Woman’
 
Kat Black and Mr W  sang ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue and  a song written by Joan Baez about her relationship with Bob Dylan, ’Diamonds and Rust’
 
Lisa and Jason chose these 2 Bob Dylan songs ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Her With You’ and ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’
 
Terry O’Brian and friends followed with ‘All Along The Watchtower’ and ‘Forever Young’.
 
Mike Osbourne performed Carol King’s song ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow and Bob Dylan’s ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’
 
Simon Watt was up next wit the 2 Bob Dylan songs, ’You Ain’t Going Nowhere’ and ‘Shooting Star’
 
Jacob finished the first half with ‘The Times They Are A Changing’ and ‘Johnny Cash’s song ‘Folsom Prison Blues’
 
We went round again.  Anyone who wanted to perform another song could do so.
 
Ella returned with ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’
 
Alchemy returned to perform ‘Suspicious Minds’
 
Terry and Friends followed with ‘Helplessly Hoping’
 
Kat Black and Mr W  sang ’Sound Of Silence’
 
Frank followed with Bob Dylans’ This Wheel’s On Fire’
 
Jason and Lisa were up next with ‘Girl From the North Country’
 
Finally, Mike Osbourne closed a pleasant evening with ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’