Hosted by Lance
John Stephens had arrived early (17:00) to set up the sound system and I arrived at 18:00 with everything in place with just an issue with the monitor not working correctly. It was a quiet evening with only 4 performers initially. Luckily a few other performers arrived a later and it turned into a lovely evening. I kicked off with ‘Sadie’ and “Gardeners World’ and was followed by Jacob who sang the Johnny Cash song “Folsom Prison Blues’ and Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. Chris Mansell was up next and sang ‘Midnight Special’ and ‘It Takes A Lot to Laugh and A Train to Cry’ John Stephens got us going a bit with covers of Steve Harley’s ‘Come Up and See Me’ and Phil Collin’s ‘Another Day in Paradise’ Mark, who has been to the 6 Bells before was up next and sang his own compositions ‘The Girl on the Northern Line’ and a football song all about Brighton FC called ‘Seagulls’ Chris Shepherd was up next with Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright’ and his own composition ‘Step Forward You May Find A Life’ Having done our 2 songs each I was up again as we all sang 2 more songs each. I sang ‘Dog Poo’ and ‘The Chicken Song’ After me was Jacob who sang 2 covers. Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ and another song not by Nina Simone called ‘Times Are Changing’ Chris Mansell was up next and performed ‘Crossroads’ and ‘Trouble in Mind’ Mark followed Chris and performed his own song ‘ Cruising On The River’ and ‘Crazy Man Michael’ a Fairport Convention song Emma was up next and read a poem she wrote called ‘The Unloved Song’ all about not finding love….. Chris Shepherd was up next and played piano and sang Norah Jones ‘Carry On’ and a Mitch Russell song ‘Then Again’. John finished off the proceedings with Rolling Stones ‘Ruby Tuesday’ and an Eric Clapton in spired ‘blues in E’ John and I put everything away and left the building at just after 22:30
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There were some very welcome new acts this evening as well as many familiar friends; there was even a smattering of audience. The variety of genres and topics on offer was spicy indeed.
I opened with Mean Old Frisco, a song I learned from Eric Clapton’s 461 Ocean Boulevard and haven’t played since my 1980s blues days in London. Lee, a newcomer to the club, but not to the Six Bells, came up to do two of his own songs. Lee has played in the much heavier Friday and Saturday night sessions, but came to the club happy to be able to do his own stuff. His original subject in 29/5/53 was the ascent of Everest, told at epic length and from memory. He then picked up his admirable 12-string to do a same-sex love song for a sailor. A great wordsmith and very welcome to come again, just like the next new act up, Anna. Anna read an epic poem – a fantasy based on a conceit of Eve having a dinner date with The Devil. She read from her pamphlet with language which varied from the exotic to the erotic, with lots of gourmet food and drink thrown in. Anna can be seen at an open mic in Lewes. Lisa, unusually performing without Jason, who was prevented from singing by a cold, performed The Bolt from the Blue in her wonderful soprano voice. She was joined by Laura, her tambourine-wielding twin, for Let Your love Flow, originally by the Bellamy brothers. Lyric sheets were handed round and Laura’s infectious enthusiasm catalysed a good old sing-song. Manus, the resident jazzer, paid a tribute to Jeff Beck with Charles Mingus’s Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Jeff, who was a resident of nearby Wadhurst, can be seen playing the song on You Tube. Mingus wrote it on the night he heard that Lester Young had died - tributes within tributes. I did my best on the jazz chords under Manus’s bluesy plucking. We went on to do I Ain’t Superstitious, a much less taxing three-chorder. Chris Martin, the prolific songwriter, sang his own Tick Tock, with Laura on Tambourine. Followed by a satire on blues playing ‘Scuse Me While I Play My Scrappy Blues. Emma writes laconic lyrics to die for. Strumming on her ukulele, and declaiming in a low register sprechgesang, she dealt admirably with dogs and doggy poo. We were very amused. Another newcomer, Nancy, walked on clad in clogs. We hastily assembled a rhythm section to back her, made by Helga on flute, Laura on Tambourine and Moi on guitar. We managed to cobble (!) together a kind of appropriate backing as she danced a reel and then a march. Let no one say there is not variety at the Bells. Helga was up next with flute. A free improvisation in the Dorian mode with Manus on guitar. She then called me up to do my own Baby Steps, which has plenty of space for her beautiful melodic lines. Heather, now with many songs and recordings under her belt, delved into the world of civil engineering, specifically concrete, with a catchy little number Granular Sub-Base Type 1, which even managed to include a kind of singalong chorus. She followed up with her song of relationship-related obliviousness Yes Dear. Jason, wielding a new solid-body electric, performed his own tribute to Jeff Beck, using many of Beck’s techniques. At the end Brenda announced ‘That was serious guitar playing!’ Oh yes. It was Brenda’s birthday and we had a special short break to eat the cakes she’d kindly brought and, of course, to sing Happy Birthday. Having managed to reassemble the throng from their conversations (probably the reason we don’t usually have breaks) she performed a political poem Empathy about the attitudes of the rich towards the poor. Oh yes, again. She then turned to a story of unrealised love Aspects of Love. Steph, with her unique haunting voice, sang Don’t Leave Your Husband in Winter, a song about how it’s never the right time to leave someone, but ending on the positive note: ‘just run for your life.’ She then did the pop ballad You Say it Best When You Say Nothing at All. John played a very convincing opening to McCartney’s Band on the Run, getting the very individual tone of the guitar track just right, and then launched into Hendrix’s Hey Joe. Thanks to John for patiently waiting his turn as the audience progressively thinned, and the same to the very last act Frank. With great drive and enthusiasm, as always, Frank played Carmelina and finished off the evening with Dylan’s Love Minus Zero, No Limit. Thanks to Jason on sound and those who set up and dismantled the PA. It really was an exciting evening, with lots of new faces, much original material and a thoroughly engaged audience. One of those evenings when you remember why you do it. Keith Willson It was a pleasure to see so many people turn out for this first Singers Evening of the New Year. The dark evening outside was full of pummelling wind-blown rain. But inside, the room had been set up by Jason and Simon earlier on. It has to be said, that if some generous souls didn’t regularly offer their time to do this, these evenings would likely start with some degree of chaos or worse. Jason ran the sound desk with Simon standing in when Jason was under the spotlight. I eventually got things moving, beginning with ‘Long Time Traveller’, a traditional song from across the Atlantic, and Kate Rusby’s ‘Walk the Road Together’. As usual with my performances, there is always room for improvement, so I was very pleased to have Bob Melrose swiftly moving things into far more confident and competent territory. He sang John Martyn’s ‘Jelly Roll’ (Mr Jelly Roll Baker), then in a far softer style, the Beatles’ ‘Once There Was a Way’. The volume went up somewhat as Frank took the stage with his impromptu band which included Helga on flute and Laura on tambourine. I believe his first song was translated from the Spanish meaning ‘Spanish the Loving Tongue’ which was followed by ‘Mr Bo Jangles’ . This song was originally written and performed by country artist Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968 but covered by many artists including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bob Dylan, Christian McBride Big Band, Brendan Grace, Sammy Davis Jnr, Nina Simone and doubtless many others. Helga provided flute solo and accompaniment and Laura provided some vigorous percussion with the tambourine. Brenda stepped up with some poetry, ‘Return Us to the Light’ (I didn’t catch the name of the poet’), but it was a cry from the heart to return to simpler ways to save and restore our precious planet. The last of three poems by her elderly neighbour Tom Riley, had a Christmas theme and spoke of wide-eyed orphan boys enthralled by a table piled high with toys. This was called ‘The Tram Conductor’s Set’, reminiscent of times when tickets were issued by the ‘conductor’ walking among the passengers in the carriage taking money and issuing tickets from a ticket machine hanging over his shoulder. I would imagine a conductor’s hat may have been involved. To the boy it was definitely exciting. Jason took his seat at the mic to sing a New Year song ‘Another Year, Another Song’ and sang about standing up strong and taking the pain….. ‘loving you once again’. Lisa joined him for the next two songs, after re-organising the performance area somewhat, with their own song ‘Leave the Light on for Me’. Their second song, self-penned had them happy at home, solving the world’s problems: ‘Where on earth would we rather be?’ Wearing a cap, Chris (CJM) sang ‘Hair’ about being ‘follically challenged’ and then a song about singing and performing, among other things: ‘What’s in a Life’. He is not keen on people who hold up proceedings whilst tuning guitars and concluded this piece with the observation ‘For pluck’s sake tune up before you go on’, adding that this comment was not directed at anyone in the room. We were fortunate to have Terry Lees with us and he played us an instrumental inspired by a combination of the Allman Brothers and other musicians: ‘Little Martha’. He then sang Bob Dylan’s ‘ She Belongs to Me’….’she’s got everything she needs, she’s an artist…’. Terry mentioned, as he introduced his songs, that he had performed his first gig in 1965. Well here we are now well into the twenty first century. It’s a different world in many ways, but the open mic and live music definitely lives on. Simon followed Terry and was not excited about being in that position, but managed to sing a couple of songs anyway. The first, very sad and haunting, was ‘Magnolia Wind’, a country song by John Prine: ‘I’d rather die young than live without you’. Magnolias do have a rather lovely scent, especially the evergreen ones. He livened up the mood a bit with ‘I don’t look good naked any more’. The song attracted a variety of remarks from the audience. We had the pleasure of hearing Mark Basford play Irish music on mandolin. He had come along with his wife Ruth all the way from Hong Kong, having recently returned to the UK and now settled in Eastbourne. Irish music is unlikely to come to mind when thinking about Hong Kong, but apparently Mark played in an ‘Irish’ band there. He linked two jigs and it was a treat to hear. There was a lot of keen foot-tapping. He intends to return and we look forward to it. Heather sang her own song of recollections: ‘Lady by the Shore’ …. ‘at last you’ve come to take me home’. ‘Resolution’ was written as part of a song-writing group this time last year. She delivered both with confidence and some obvious satisfaction, since she had remembered all of the words and not needed her lyrics on the music stand. Helga created an opportunity for flute by getting Jason to play ‘John Henry Blues’. She had already invited Terry to play ‘All Along the Watchtower’ and he was joined by Jason and Bob also on guitar, and Frank on piano. With this jam, we had arrived at the end of ‘the list’ and there was time for those who wanted, to sing a third song. Bob came to the mic and gave us ‘The Man with the Child in His Eyes’, released on Kate Bush’s debut album ‘The Kick Inside’ in 1978. Beautiful, romantic and soft-focus. Far less romantic was Frank’s final song of the evening ‘Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner’. The contrast with Bob’s song could not have been more sharp. Helga and Laura supported and embellished this song too. (The Tommy Gun, was originally invented by US Brigadier General John T Thompson to break the stalemate of trench warfare in WWI but was not finished until the end of the war. It became notorious as the readily available weapon of choice during the Prohibition Era in the USA. It was used by both the police and organised crime syndicates and later widely used in WWII, where ‘Headless Roland’ made his appearance). Chris returned to the subject of ageing playing his ‘Acoustic Blues and Me’. We were moving very nicely onward then with Terry playing ‘The Roving Gambler’, a traditional American song apparently first recorded and released in 1924 by Samantha Bumgarner. She was the first female Country recording artist. The song has been recorded by many other artists since. Foot-tapping was engaged again, but rather more restrained than earlier, for Simon’s version of ‘After You’ve Gone (and left me crying)’. This too is a song with a very long history and an even earlier beginning, having first been recorded in 1918 by Marion Harris. It has since been re-recorded by all manner of well-known singers, from the 1920s with the likes Sophie Tucker and Bessie Smith, through every decade since including Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and coming forward through Nina Simone, Loudon Wainwright III and Jamie Cullum to name but a few. Heather went very Country and Western with ‘I’m Gonna be a Country Girl Again’ from the album of the same name by Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte Marie released in 1968. Foot-tapping resumed and there was audience participation in the choruses. I wound up the evening singing Patty Griffin’s ‘Truth’, a song made famous by The Chicks. So an evening of great variety, some great musicianship and songs to match. There was a general sense of well-being and feeling somehow as if we had been sitting around a glowing fire. (There was a fire that gradually faded having warmed the room earlier.) The ambience remained even though the fire had turned to ashes. It was a great way to begin a new year and registered a commitment to continuing in a similar vein over the months ahead. Wishing you all peace, more peace, lots of love, some joy and outbreaks of contentment maybe, even financial reward? See you again soon, Ella For videos I would recommend a search on YouTube:
Lisa Jackson and Jason Loughran, Terry Lees, Bob Melrose, Simon Watt, Chris Mansell, Keith Willson, Manus McDaid, Helga Dittmar, C J Martin, Heather Curry, Frank Xerox, Lance Maleski and others whom I cannot immediately call to mind, who also visit these open mic evenings. With apologies to anyone I have omitted. I was not a very regular visitor during 2022. “Midwinter Folk Together”, a poem by Jason Loughran in thanks
Singing from the window above This one is for only you, my love Not a bear, but a poet of Green Ruperts’s scarf it did complete the scene Let’s sing the tale of history’s great artists Living life beside a race course’s fast twists So all humanity in the Big Apple it does thrive While we wait for all the family to arrive “La Bamba” the cry from the Spanish plains Bleak Midwinter flows through our blood blue veins Suffering in this world should give way to peace Leadbelly’s howl bring forth the Lord to release Dogs they bound through seasonal snow Leaving their presents for Father Time, a warming glow Hotel you can check out of, but can never leave With letters L-O-V-E, a rich tapestry you can weave Come up and see the Rock Legend of Cockney charm Leading a blues full of love that no bad mouth can disarm . . . Thank you to Rupert Green, Simon, Brenda, Rob & Julia, Emma, Clive, Helga, Lance, Ella, Keith & James, John Villiers, Frank, Ian Roland, John Stephens, and Lisa & Jason. Wonderful performers all of you. See you next year for more great times. It was a busy evening with some people visiting us for the first time…It was a bitter cold evening and the car displayed -1C part of the way there and it was -2C all the way home. As I was hosting the evening I kicked off with ‘This Is War’ and the ‘Chicken Song’.
Steph was up next and sang Bonny Port More’ and ‘ Ellen Vannin’ Both songs were centuries old!! Clive Woodman was up next and performed ‘The White Dress’ and hugely entertaining alternative version of the song ‘Summertime’. He called his version ’Wintertime’ “Wintertime and the kitchen is freezing” Very, very clever!!! Brenda was up next and read out 2 poems written by her 86 year old neighbour, the poems were called ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’ and ‘Resilience’ Chris Martin was up next after having eaten a delicious meal and sang ‘Place Called Home’ and ‘Sanity’ both his own compositions. Heather Curry was up next and started with a poem ‘King John’s Xmas’ and ‘Songbird’ in tribute to Christine McVie who sadly passed away last week. Frank Xerox Frank being Frank gave us a wonderfully unique rendition of ‘Where Did You Go To My Lovely’ with a French accent and the ‘Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ in an English accent. Simon sang his own composition ‘Too Much Snow If You Get My Drift’ and recited a poem ‘A Piece Of Wood’ Helga performed a piece of music with Chris Mansell playing guitar ‘Blues In G’ and another song with Keith Willson…….we had a 5 minute comfort break and Jason and Lisa opened. Jason and Lisa Jason and Lisa did 2 songs together, firstly ‘Blues On The Run’ and secondly, again in tribute to Christine McVie ‘Songbird’. Rob Mason. A newcomer (at least to me) Rob performed 2 songs ‘Winter Song and the Alan Hull song ‘The Ark’ Rupert Green Up next, another newcomer, Rupert Green who read 2 poems. One was called ‘Seven Days in A Week’ and another poem he’d written earlier on during the day that did not have a title. Chris Mansell Chris received a warm welcome and performed ‘Trouble In Mind’ and ‘Come On In My Kitchen’ Terry Lees was up next and treated us to ‘Early Morning Rain’ a Gordon Lightfoot song and an instrumental that he said he’d recorded around 40 years ago. It’s title was not written down by me, unfortunately. Nick and Dave collectively known as Moonwood Green sang 2 songs, ‘Mayfly Time’ and amusingly a song about mushrooms called ‘My Celia’ Nancy recited a poem about a child in Birkenhead and told a joke about a dog walking into a bar. Keith Willson our final performer sang and played ‘Baby Steps’ and another song ‘Don’t you ever let nobody drag your spirit down’ was the final song of the evening. Lance Yes, once again we had an Irish night. Sadly, Clive was unable to run it as planned and so when I arrived Chris Martin gave me the list and gleefully told me I was to have the honour. So gleeful was he that he had completely forgotten to add Heather's name to it, thereby suffering a major loss of Brownie points. I'm not smirking, honest. I started off with a classic Irish ballad by Planxty Van Morrisson 'Brown Eyed Girl' followed by the 'Mountains of Mourne', Having got things underway I announced Oliver. Oliver sadly only had one song for us but it was a good one - Gold Watch Blues by Mick Softley. At the end of the evening Oliver kindly gave me a copy of his CD entitled 'Vol 1'. Oliver was followed by Chris Martin posing as The Edge and so not surprisingly we had the U2 song 'With or Without You' followed by his own composition 'The English Way'. Steph (doing Irish songs properly) sang for us the traditional ballards 'Oralee' and 'Bantry Girl's Lament'. That's more like it! Brenda gamely attempted 'Paddy McGinty's Goat' a tongue twister at the best of times and then read us a traditional Gaelic blessing. Lovely. Then Frank with his harmonica embraced 'Whiskey in the Jar' and 'Copper Kettle'. Sing up Frank, some people in Heathfield missed the odd note. Never mind Heathfield, you can probably find it on YouTube. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnCPNBptGEZMDKI34q1V3mKJ-doJXA9YK Time for quality, Tash & Terry a really great folk duo. Natasha sang 'Raglan Rose' and then 'The Night Visitor' accompanied by her penny whistle, while Terry tried to break the 'notes per minute record' for the accoustic guitar. Wonderously, all his notes were in the right order! Outstanding. Heather next, (having realised what Chris had done I had added her to the list) with a couple of serious political songs from the 'troubles' Boolaville and 'The Soldier' by Harvey Andrews. Harvey Andrews at a concert, mentioned that one of his lyrics formed part of an 'O' or 'A' level English syllabus, how many other folkies can say that? Time for Jason to leave his trusty sound desk and give us his U2 number 'One', this was followed by Van the 'Man's 'Brand New Day'. Jason has mastered the sound desk and the only times he struggles now is when singers sing too far away from the mic. Don't do it folks, our mics like you up close and personal. Erica must have been about four times now and is very welcome. I like her autobiographical lyrics and her American country style. Her songs were 'Momma ain't got no time' and 'Alberkirky night' er...... maybe that's 'Albuquerque Nights', something like that. Next up was Vicky, new to the SBF&BC and a great first performance it was (on a borrowed guitar too). First song 'Grace' then 'Wild Mountain Thyme' and lastly, 'The Sick Note' (You know, the one about Paddy and the barrel of bricks). Very enjoyable. It was nice to see Rusty again after an absence of many years, not surprising as she now lives in Derbyshire. Accompanied by Terry she sang for us 'The 'Gallway Shawl' and 'Black Velvet Band'. Rusty was great then and she is great now. Chris Mansell popped in, he said, for a half on his way back from a fish supper and found himself performing in the first time for a while. He sang for us 'She moved through the fair' a lovely song and always one of his best. That ended the evening and we all dispersed into the night. Thanks to all those that remained and helped pack up the gear. May Irish eyes smile upon you. 8 November 2022
It was dark. It was very blustery. There were torrential downpours. There was a full moon somewhere behind the clouds. The room had very kindly been set up by Simon earlier, but it was quiet and empty. A little spooky, even though Halloween was last week. I was expecting that maybe a few of us would be sitting in a circle singing to each other for the evening. Then people started to come through the door with their smiles and instruments, exchanging their greetings and settling themselves into their favoured places around the room. It took a while to get a sound person in place at the desk, as Jason was unwell and unable to be with us. Simon and Keith took the position. I wrote performers’ names on my playlist as they arrived, so at least that was in place, apart from a couple of later arrivals. How very satisfying things were already looking. We had new people among us too. So I opened the evening on bouzouki singing Joni Mitchell’s ‘Urge for Going’ which suited the season very well. I followed this with the traditional ‘She moved through the Fair’. The evening was up and running. Brenda had come by taxi to join us and read some poetry. The poem was written by an elderly gentleman of eighty eight called Tom Riley and was given to Brenda forty five years ago. He was taken into an orphanage at the age of eight in the late 1800s. ‘The times they are changing’ spoke of ragged infants down by the dockside, looking for coins or sweets…… ‘I don’t recall getting old… Love is commercial, let’s have a fling,… but hold on just now ….’ The poem obviously meant a lot to Brenda, and she communicated it very clearly: ‘I’m fine thank you or …. I’m very well for the state I’m in’ and ‘Old age is grand I’m told, as I crawl into bed’. She read another short piece which I didn’t get the title of, but it was not from the pen of Tom Riley. I hope that Brenda will visit again with more poetry. Manus came to the ‘stage’ and gave us a little bit of history about the song he went on to sing. ‘The First Time ever I Saw Your Face’ was written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl, a political singer/songwriter, for Peggy Seeger who he was having an affair with. At the time he was still married to his first wife Jean Newlove. Ewan and Peggy sang together in folk clubs around Britain. They were later married. The song has been covered by many artists, and perhaps most famously by Roberta Flack in 1972. She accompanies herself on piano in an absolutely beautiful, timeless way. Manus sang his version, accompanying himself with the rich tones of a baritone guitar and his usual complex and accomplished style. Using a different guitar Manus went into John Martyn’s ‘Solid Air’, bypassing the apparent difficulties with sound reproduction. Given Jason’s absence, Lisa went on to sing one of her own songs ‘Just for a While’, solo. She had recently replaced her guitar strings with Tommy Emmanuel ones, and was finding them more hard work than expected, but the sound they produced was very rich. Given the apparent instability of the new strings, she sadly gave up on re-tuning for her second song (not that anyone in the audience minded the wait). This was unfortunate, because we had all enjoyed the first, given with her usual intricate finger-style and confident delivery. Helga had brought her keyboard-playing friend Ally with her and together they launched into a jazzy ‘Fly Me to the Moon’. They have been playing together at Ringmer Jammers for a couple of months. It sounded very accomplished to me. Continuing their jazz style, the next number was ‘Black Orpheus’ by Louis Bonfa, a Brazilian composer. It was the theme for the 1959 Portuguese film ‘Orfeu Negro’ (Black Orpheus). Laura joined Helga and Ally here playing tambourine. I always enjoy the sound of that piano, and Ally had it singing. Our newcomer Terry, started his performance with that captivating ‘Detectorists’ theme song by Johnny Flynn, a British actor and singer-songwriter. This is a lovely song and was very nicely delivered. Thank you Terry. His second song was Dylan’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ referring to the Paul Weller version (without the three sirens). Some other voices and instruments volunteered as backing singer substitutes, from around the room. Laura’s tambourine skills were in evidence as she joined Simon for his version of Dire Straits’ ‘Six Blade Knife’. The song is from their first album ‘Dire Straits’ of 1978. My how the years pass. (Brenda added to the nostalgia by dancing along to this). Simon’s second song was a weird 1960’s song by John Betmead which he usually plays at Halloween. I missed the name of this very 1960s weird song with its very weird and disconcerting words, and it was weird and disconcerting:’ She stained my sheets blood red, now they are her shroud’ and ‘I burned her in her dirty sheets for being so unkind’. Simon offered no explanation for the content of the song beyond it being 1960s weird stuff. I can see how it could suit Halloween. Keith completely changed the vibe here with his own song ‘Telescope’ which took us across the starry heavens, as well as through the experience of astronomy in the back garden: ‘Planets, stars, constellations and the landscape of the moon’. What an appropriate subject for the full moon, in a very different way though, from Simon’s earlier ‘weird’ song. (That was definitely loony moon stuff.) Keith then went into foot-tapping style with the earthy song from the heart: ‘Like a Real Kiss’. Roy decided to play piano for us tonight and gave us a very gentle version of ‘Smoke gets in Your Eyes’, from the American songbook. We got to hear the piano again. How delightful. There were several people in the room quietly singing along. Frank played next, accompanied by Helga on flute and with Laura producing some very demonstrative tambourine playing. His was a ‘meandering theme of consciousness …:’I bought some good rope, you tied it to the sky….’. Then moving on from the ‘walls shiny like the rats’ he sang a jolly song about viruses and infections. Emma coming to the mic next was a total change of style. She sang/spoke along to her baritone ukulele in poetry which made us all laugh. She hovered on the punch lines like a pro, casting her eyes around the room. Her first piece was about weight awareness: ‘When I see food I have to try it … My bathroom scales are quite obviously wrong’ and ‘I’m just out-of-proportion … it’s a feminist issue .. I’m not fat, I’m too short for my weight’. The audience found her hilarious. The laughter and humour kept coming with her next piece ‘Bexhill Pollution Calypso’. She was indeed playing a calypso and referring, in no uncertain terms, to the recent disgusting sewerage spills into the sea at Bexhill beach. With various to references to effluent, in many lurid ways, she again had us falling about in the aisles. This was Emma’s first visit. We loved her and certainly hope she will join us again. We had two very different poetic styles going on this evening. Chris played for us next. I haven’t been joining these evenings regularly recently, so am unsure of his last visit, but he does sometimes turn up. We were very pleased that he did. Chris has a very distinctive and accomplished guitar style as well as a strong singing voice. His first song was ‘Run Maggie, Run’, - this Maggie being a dog. His second song was a strong performance of another Dylan song ‘Don’t think Twice, it’s Alright’. The end of the evening coming into sight, I had considered how to use this last section, everyone having sung the ‘allotted’ two songs. (It’s a system that appears to work well here). Still seated at the mic, I asked Chris to play one more and this was ‘Joy of my Life’. We like to see newcomers, so Emma and Terry were obvious choices. Ally was the last of our newcomers and I invited her to play us out. Terry sang us the Irish song ‘The Parting Glass’ acapella. (He had just torn his ‘picking finger’). Lovely stuff. Emma had another gem in her ‘Take on Brexit’: ‘Can you tell me how to get an Irish passport?’ for forty years she’s been a European and now Britain’s gone ‘walkies’. Her words expressed her ‘nightmare’ but her humour was not reflecting quite what sounded like some kind of quiet despair As if out of nowhere, a young man called David, volunteered a song. He had been sitting in the shadows throughout the evening. We were all very pleased that he did. Without taking the mic, he stood to the side and sang, unaccompanied, ‘I’m a Rover, seldom Sober’. Very nice indeed, thank you David. I wonder if David will return. It seemed that his friend may have joined him in a song, but I am not sure, and sadly, this was not the time to find out. The evening was closing and Ally did indeed play us out, together with Helga on flute, with another old favourite: ‘All of Me’. What a good evening that turned into. How wonderful that these good folk, including newcomers, should venture out on a rather tempestuous night like this, and fill the room with their good nature, their songs and musicianship. Good fortune was mine in being the one hosting this evening. See you soon, Ella 18th October 2022 And so the ladies have their turn Their notes they wrap themselves around And so the tambourine it gets caressed Those belles within the ‘Bells they do sound And so the white boys sing the blues For it is there for us all to share And so the black guitar it sings again “Good Morning” I bid you if you dare And so brothers from across the world They come together for just one night And so their rock n roll dreams live on Their album bearing T-shirts oh so tight And so we welcome more new friends Into our midst they do wander And so the old guitars they keep making Music that’s not to be cast asunder And so the glamorous sister she does dance Accompanying all with her fullsome rhythm And so all are welcome to join in this fun We must accept one another, that is a given And so we move on along life’s single road Please let us put this conflict away And so the music it should only unite us Let’s try and make the most of every remaining day . . . 27th September 2022 .There was a certain ambiguity about how I’d specified the evening as Vintage/Goodtime. However, I thought I knew what I meant, and everyone else thought they did, so we were all on message in some way. Having been in London all day, I just managed to arrive for the 1945 start and many thanks to the kind soul(s) who started to write the playlist before I got there. Also of course thanks to the merry humpers Simon et al who set up and dismantle the kit, and Jason on sound with Lance’s help. I quickly tuned my guitar (more of this later) and launched into Diamond Ring Blues, a jug-band song of the 1920s or 1930s which is one big long enormous double entendre. Simon Watt started with Love is the Sweetest Thing, from 1932, written by Ray Noble and recorded by Al Bowly. It seems that a lot of these vintage bittersweet songs chug along nicely on a cycle of four chords with interest provided by which chords they are. However, Laura got up and raised considerably more interest than the harmonic analysis with her tambourine-slapping dance, which has become a featured part of Simon’s act. Laura, in case you missed it, is Lisa’s twin sister, not so long ago returned from distant Italy. Simon followed with Try a Little Tenderness, another Ray Noble recording of the same year, which emerged in The Commitments film of 1991after Otis Reading had made a soul hit version in the 60s. Brenda has become a regular over the past months, both here and at the White Horse Folk Club – which is to move to the Bells on alternate Mondays starting on 3rd October. She read, as a poem, the lyrics of an Alan Jackson song The Older I Get which produced looks of recognition on several faces and then did a short poem of her own. Brenda is also one to get up and dance, and did not disappoint later on. David and Pam arrived on stage next. Last time Pam danced while playing the accordion (is there no end to this dancing madness?) but this week was relatively static. They performed a 50-year-old Dick Powell song Water Bound followed by two segued instrumentals Staten Island and Shenandoah Fore, all with great, good-natured, competence. Lisa and Jason dipped into the Great American Song Book with Hoagy Carmichael’s Georgia On My Mind, and then surprised us all with a folky version of the King’s (Elvis that is, not Charles) Don’t Be Cruel. They have become very good at re-interpreting the genre of famous songs – I remember their sweet harmonies on Leadbelly’s Old Cotton Fields Back Home a few months back. Jane Ingles very rarely misses either the Bells or the White Horse. The Great Divide is part of her standard repertoire and fitted well tonight. In the true spirit of the vintage vibe, she came up with Dream a Little Dream of Me all the way from 1931. It was recorded by Wayne King and his orchestra in more innocent times and has been recorded by The Beautiful South and Mama Cass among many others. Jason returned for his spot and came up with some genuine goodtime smut with Diddy Wah Diddy, which he reckoned would have earned him a clip round the ear from his dad, Gerry, not for the lyrics but for his extended ragtime guitar solo, which sounded great to me. Diddy Wah Diddy was recorded by Blind Blake, among many others. The last time I heard it was a heavy electric version by The Blues Band at the Rye Festival a few years back. In the 1980s I played stand-up bass in The Brockley Brothers and we performed it every week during our residency at Bunjies. For his second song Jason called up Lisa and Helga on vocals and flute respectively for a cool enchanting version of Summertime. Clive hit another four-chord cycle in Blue Moon a real classic by Rodgers and Hart from 1934. He followed with Try to Remember (the kind of September….). I was surprised to find it was a musical song from the 1960s. Perhaps I’m conflating it with all those other earlier September songs – September in the Rain, September Song etc. Any way the songs were certainly in the spirit intended. Steph applied her mellifluous voice, and her sure knowledge of which chords lead to what, to the 1973 hit by Tony Orlando: Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree and the 1939 song by Sheldon Harlech and Eric Ashworthy A Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square. ‘A bit of romance before the lights went out’ she told us. I suspect there was even more afterwards. Terry Lees arrived with some more Blind Blake – Blind Blake’s Rag – which he remembered Jason’s Dad Gerry playing when they did a gig together back in the day. He then came up with an excellent version of Dire Straits Juliet. Chris Martin did two of his original songs from 1989: Get Yourself a Good Time and Guardian Angel. You can’t argue that there’s not an implication of feelgood in those titles. One of the good things about the evening was frustration of expectations about how old, or young, the well-known songs were, where they came from and who wrote them. Heather performed Shine on Harvest Moon, which dated all the way back to the Ziegfeld Follies of the early 1900s and The Autumn Leaves or Les Feuilles Mort as the original Jaques Prevert version was known. Lance’s idiosyncratic songs are often about specific local characters (including quadrupeds) and local events. His first song Man’s Best Friend dated back a couple of years to neo-covid times when local Jack Russell Monsieur Hulot howled all through one of Helga’s songs. I was so lost in reminiscences of that wonderful era that I forgot to write down what his second song was. Sorry lance. Last in the cycle was John Stephens who went back to the 1960s to perform Paul Simon’s April, Come She Will and Leonard Cohen’s So Long Marianne. Thake you back to the times of huddling heartbroken and profound over Dansette record players in bedsits, little knowing the joys of the emerging Blue Nun era. I started round two with When Did You Leave Heaven, learnt from a Big Bill Broonzy EP in 1960-whatever. I asked Helga to join me in that easy jamming key but it turned out that my guitar tuner was actually a semitone flat, which meant that Helga had five sharps digging into her fingers. Sorry Helga. I tuned and we did it again. Much better all round. The 1960s and 1950s were well represented in the last round. Lisa and Jason: Wonderful World; Jayne Ingles: Big Yellow Taxi; Terry Lees: California Dreaming; and the anthropomorphic love song from Flanders and Swann: Mud, Glorious Mud. Does anyone know the difference between anthropomorphism and personification? It’s probably important. Chris Martin’s song from the late 80’s Life Ain’t Been Easy was intended for female singers with big voices but sounded good from him. Heather did Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out and I finished with a sing-song on Irene Goodnight. Which it was. Keith Willson |
AuthorThe person that runs the evening writes the blog Archives
February 2024
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