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

19th February 2019

I thought it was going to be a quiet night and arriving to an empty room, I figured it would be an early night too. I was welcomed by Simon the Sax and Paul the Publican and immediately felt the golden glow of our Folk and Blues and burgeoning Jazz club, warm my cockles. And then you all started to arrive and those very same cockles made me feel alive, alive oh (there’s a song in there somewhere…).

Lovely opportunity for me to sing a couple of my own ditties to start off the music. Just for a While is a song that our dear Chris Liddiard helped me out with on the chords for the chorus. He actually sang it on a couple of occasions - a beautiful Chris interpretation that made me ache with pride to hear. Thank you to our much-missed Chris. My second song was the ‘Lala Song’ about music surrounding us wherever we go.

Manus took the dreaded second spot and performed a wonderful interpretation of Bob’s ‘Don’t think twice…’ Manus’s accomplished folk guitar picking was a joy. He then showed how versatile his Fender (and his fingers) are with an improvised Jazz Blues in E. A delight.
Keith was joined by Simon for an extraordinary performance that I will always remember.

Touching, heartfelt, original, magical. A recitation of The Weary Blues by American poet Langston Hughes written in 1925, during segregation and the Harlem Renaissance. Keith sang sections of the poem too, while Simon played the sax throughout, both creating an atmospheric and mesmerising few minutes for us all. Keith then changed the tone entirely with his interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s Heartland, played on the keyboard.

Well, what a great start to the evening. It continued from there, with Simon the Sax jazzing it up on All of Me and Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock. Simon is adding a wonderful dimension to the club with his playing. A joy to hear.

And then, to show off how versatile and eclectic the performances are at the Six Bells, John Stephens performed David Gates’ Everything I Own and Black Velvet (originally recorded by Alannah Myles in 1989), giving me and Clive a chance to join in with a few quiet harmonies. Well, how can you not with those two songs!

Simon Watt sang Kate Wolf’s Here in California and an Irish number The Mountains of Mourne, two beautiful songs, movingly and sensitively performed. Jayne then took to the stage, performing her own song Mama Used to Say followed by (as Chris Martin wasn’t here) Summertime. But what a delightfully original version she played. Whatever anyone might think of this overplayed oversung song, it is an iconic one and hearing it interpreted so originally by Jayne was just lovely.

Clive sang two of his own songs which were so enjoyable to hear: Is it Summertime So Soon and Gonna Take a Chance. And with the bonkers warm weather we are having at this time of year, ‘Skylarks in February’ rather hit home.

Kat Black and Mr White (AKA Kat and Andy), the first time with us as a duo, delighted us with their harmonies and arrangements of Simon and Garfunkel’s Kathy’s Song and Sound of Silence. We couldn’t let them go without hearing another song, so they gave us Chris Isaac’s Wicked Game. Two lovely voices together with some terrific musical interpretations. I do hope we hear more from the Black and White twosome.

Next was Ella’s turn at the piano. I’ve been badgering her to sing James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James as she is now the proud Nana of a real baby James, and she did just that. It’s always a joy to hear Ella, but tonight she only gave us one song – always leave them wanting more, said Al Jolson…

Sylvie ‘s renditions of The Valentine’s Song written by a friend of hers and Drink, Drink, Drink, from Beggar’s Banquet brought back memories of me singing my heart out in Strauss’ Pink Champagne back in my previous! But I’ll keep my warbles to myself!

Early on in the evening I hatched a plan. Now it was time to put it into action. I invited our jazz men up, Manus, Keith and Simon who gave us an impromptu Autumn Leaves. As host of my own folk club some years ago, it was always hugely satisfying to encourage collaborations that would then go on to become exciting duos and trios etc. I hope that we will hear more from this Six Bells trio. Eat yer heart out Ronnie Scott!

To finish off our evening, Jayne sang Killing the Blues and John gave us a rendition of Space Oddity so we could end on a bit of a sing song. I had recently listened to Bowie’s 1967 solo studio album: a collection of Anthony Newley inspired ‘entertainer’ songs. Two years later when he was just 22, he had written and recorded Space Oddity. Where does talent like that come from!

And we had talent by the bucket load tonight. Thank you everyone for making it a pleasure of an evening to host.

Lisa

22nd January 2019

This is my grumpy face, I thought I would share it with you. It is because we started at 6 minutes past eight, yes six whole minutes late! We can and must do better than this. Next time we will start at seven fifty-four to make up this lost time. Ella, please note.

My first song, sung over the sound of people talking, walking about, opening guitar cases, standing with their back to me and (not that I am complaining) generally ignoring me, was aptly “I’d rather be lonely” by Louden Wainwright lll, I followed this with Gillian Welch’s “Annabelle”.

The evening went downhill from there and when I tell you that Chris Martin (yes, Chris Martin) had to tune his guitar before he could start you can see what a pitiless hand I had been dealt. Anyhow, Chris growled his way through “Ghost” and followed this with “Tick Tock” this time with a metronome making the tick-tock sound. The highlight of his performance was Simon on his sax – don’t take my word for it you can see it for yourself on the new YouTube channel – here.

Keith Willson then stepped forward with a very funny poem about “Athletes Foot” – all the reasons to avoid swimming pools you will ever need, set to rhyme - more of Keith later.

I don’t know what our swimming instructress Heather thought of the poem, she wisely didn’t say. Instead she played us Jim Croce’s “Time in a bottle” on her mellow nylon strings. She also sung for us “So far away” by Carole King.

Mark is fairly new to the 6 Bells and made a terrible mistake – he sat right at the back where there is no heating! This meant playing Rudy Toomes’s “One scotch, one bourbon, one beer” with frostbitten fingers. He then bravely attempted a guitar piece during which one of his frozen fingers detached, fell through the sound-hole, and rattled irritatingly throughout. Never mind Mark, we have all made this mistake at some time or another.

Then came the turn of John with a couple of songs by Bob Fox, “The year will rise up again” and “Virginia”. I don’t know about the rabble but I was seriously impressed. This is a man who can really present,  sing and play - so I don’t suppose we will be seeing him again (but we can hope).

Lance is another song-smith honing his skills and he came up with two great songs “My dad” and “Happy new year”, both were well executed and interesting. At this point I thought we were on a roll and then George, Mary, Helen and Roberto decided that an hour and forty minutes was too long to wait to play, and left, leaving a big hole in my list and the audience. What can you do?

Fortunately Natasha, who we have not seen for a while is more patient and, as always, produced some great traditional ballads “When first I came to Caledonia” and “Barrack Street”.

Time for the Lisa & Jason combo. Jason started with the Doors,” Wishful , sinful” and was joined by Lisa singing one of his father Gerry’s songs which, if only they had remembered the new policy of emailing the song list to the blogger, I could name. Then “Into the white” by Cat Stevens.

More poetry now from Sylvie. Rabbie Burn’s “My heart is in the Highlands” and his famous “Dormouse” – you know, the the one about the “wee timorous beastie”.

Talking of beasties, Keith and Simon returned for a little cooool jazz. “Take five” followed by a very moody “Over the rainbow”. Keith on keyboard and Simon again on sax, both pieces sounding as if they had practised for weeks although I know this was not the case. Ah, if only I had their musical intelligence (or any other form for that matter).

Up next was the late night coffee guzzling Manus. Considering the temperature in the room “Light my fire” was a great (or grate) choice. He then surprised us by saying he would play a Country & Western number – no, I couldn’t believe it either. Hank William’s “Your cheating heart” – with lots of sharps and flats in it – who knew?

Finally and gallantly came Clive who has patience down to an art form (give him a good spot next time Ella). Clive did indeed send me an email to say what he would be playing it read; “The Letter” by American band The Box Tops from 1967, written by Wayne Carson Thompson and “Love minus Zero” by someone called Bob Dylan”. He was worth the wait.

Lastly, I finished the evening with “Bring it on home to me” by Sam Cooke, accompanied on sax by Simon. I have to say, I really enjoyed Simon’s sax backing – he is a great asset to the fun of the evening.

I hope you enjoy my selection of videos, some great performances starting with Mary Gautier supported by Mary Elizabeth on violin. If you don’t know J D Souther, he is a singer songwriter and had collaborated with many big names and bands, most notably, The Eagles. Neil Young is always a joy but I think this unplugged performance is especially good – I love his backing singers.

Thanks to Chris for running the sound, Heather for the photo and to Lisa for sorting out the jug.

Next time Ella is running the evening. Don’t forget, get to the Six Bells early, coats off (or on if you sit at the back), guitars out of their cases and in tune, drinks bought, sitting quietly in your chairs ready to start at seven fifty-four – I know she will appreciate it. Thanks for coming, and for those who did,  staying. I will be running the club again in May – can’t wait!

7th January 2019

The new mood of punctuality was in evidence as I asked Simon what time the club started. “Fifteen minutes ago.” came the stern reply. I’d brought the electric piano and it was well set up, so opened with Albert Collin’s Too Many Dirty Dishes. Saw Albert in the Eighties at the Town and Country Club in London. He had a very distinctive guitar style, sharp and indeed cutting, - a Telecaster with a capo way, way up, I think on the 12th fret.

Simon was cajoled into doing the first spot and showed a soft spot for people in Hard Times. Then a tale of Chris Liddiard. Apparently, Chris had asked Simon out of the blue “Are you going to write a song about me when I’m dead?” So, Simon did - and a very fine song too: Now that the Songwriter’s gone. He said he played it to Chris, who made no comment, so we’ll never know what he thought of it.

Heather took up her guitar and did one of her childhood favourites, when she grew up in Scotland: Annie Laurie and followed with The Seekers’ the Carnival is Over.  That brought back childhood memories for me also of my Dad singing Island of Dreams, with my Mum on piano and my Brother and me on guitars.   

Manus did Little Sister famously covered by Ry Cooder on his Bop ‘till you Drop album and indeed King Elvis himself, but actually written by Doc Pamus and Mort Schuman. He followed with Tired of Talkin’ by Robben Ford. Manus certainly knows his way around those frets.

Good to see Mark and John, new faces at the ‘Bells, who did some unashamed pop on acoustic guitar and mandolin including Crowded House’s Fall at Your Feet. The etcetera in “The Six Bells Folk, Blues etc. Club” was becoming more and more evident.

Jason was next up with his own Another Year Another Song. Then Lisa joined Jason for a song written and recorded by Jim Croce in the early 1970s but released posthumously: I Have to Say I Love You with this Song. The poignant Handbags and Gladrags, known as the theme music to The Office, and covered by Rod Stewart among many others, showed off their perfectly matched voices and perfect timing together. It really was a beautiful sound. Lisa finished with the Carpenters’ On top of the World.

It was great to see Helga again after several month’s absence. She joined Lisa’s last song with her magic flute and then stayed on at the microphone in her own right. I stepped up to the piano for what began as a Blues in E but we soon escaped the chord structure into a much freer improvisation.

Chris Martin, performed two self-penned songs You're gone and Sanity. Simon Farmer, who is a very recent addition to the Six Bells Jamming Ensemble and very welcome too, joined Chris on the second song with his soprano sax, which he plays on Chris’s latest CD.

Simon Farmer then took the limelight switching to Alto sax as I stayed at the piano for Billy Taylor’s I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free, better known as the Film 98 (et seq.) theme, followed by Lover man, Billy Holliday’s iconic song, but, according to the Mighty Interweb, written by Jimmy Davis, Roger ("Ram") Ramirez, and James Sherman (who they? ED.) and covered by so many other greats.

It seemed that the ‘Bells was rapidly turning into an outpost of Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express or Jazz After Dark. The Etcetera was gaining supremacy. However, the blues fought back and Penny Payne, stepped up to do her gutsy stuff. Simon was drawn back by the blues force field and we had a trio. Penny sang Stormy Monday and CC Rider. She’d been at Deanlands in Golden Cross the night before, backed by the amazing Terry Lees on guitar. With adequate performing space and a mobile microphone Penny’s personality knows no bounds.

Jane came up with her guitar and did a flawless rendition of her own song I’ll Go Anywhere with You, ably supported by Helga’s Zauberflöte, followed by Paul Simon’s Cathy’s Song. I think Jane has the largest repertoire of any of us.

John Stephens did Hotel California accompanying himself on guitar with some basic chords from me on piano following a cheat sheet. John finished the evening off with Talk to me Baby, for which Simon Farmer once again speeded the Alto to the front for a jam.
The sound system being switched off and being packed away and the audience gone, we fired up the acoustic piano for a short jam of Take 5 with Manus on Guitar and Simon on Sax. We made an un-passible stab at the chords in the bridge but that’s the way of Etcetera - the new musical Genre ably premiered this evening.

For my vids this time (on the Club homepage) I’ve put up firstly the most beautiful piece of choral music: O Magnum Mysterium by Morton Lauridsen, a magnificent living composer. Is it my imagination or has more live footage of Leadbelly been discovered/posted recently? I couldn’t find anything a few months ago, but here’s Take This Hammer, performed by the man himself in 1945, as my second offering. Thirdly, Judy Collins talks about and performs her song My Father (missing out the second verse). I listened to her Who Knows Where the Time Goes? Incessantly in 1971; an amazing folk rock album with notable tracks: Pretty Polly, First Boy I loved and a country version of Leonard Cohen’s Bird on the Wire complete with pedal steel guitar.