All I want for Christmas is Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

The Xmas Warm-Up at The George, Kilsby, is one of my favourite nights of the year. Radio 2 has begun playing the Christmas songs; well all except that one. It is a bit early for the office party, but there is a sense that the festivities can legitimately get under way.

After the usual welcome, I settled down to open the evening's performances with a couple of my songs. The first is my second Christmas Song, 'Santa Never Looked So Good' and then a reflection on finding myself in an old and familiar place that feels very different with the passage of time. This one was called 'Old Town Blues' and was written towards the end of this year.

Getting the Fender to hold its tune was a nightmare. A long day in the back of the van meant that once in the warm it moved all over the place. The Martin, which I'd ony brought along for playing with MDF, was unaffected, so it became my instrument of choice for the evening. In the second half I sang a seasonal 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and Neil Diamond's 'Solitary Man'

Our next performer was Steve Edgar, now an established feature at The George. If anyone is going to get away with a bit of Beatles, it is Steve, who carries off the vocals with ease. Tonight we had a bit of George and a bit of John with 'Isn't It A Pity' and 'Imagine' before ending his first set with Neil Young's  'After The Gold Rush'. His second half offerings were Jeff Buckley's other song, 'Song To The Siren' and 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' Steve's being a cross between Isreal Kamakwawiwo'Ole and Eva Cassidy


Paddy Wex was third up on stage this
evening and entertained as usual with a range of songs from the sublime to the ridiculous. His own compositions topical as ever dealt with the season, 'Good King Whatsislad', the political 'You Chose Trump Voluntarily ( to a tune by Purcell) and 'Speciesism' a guide to political correctness that encompasss the feelings of all sentient beings. The sublime components were written by others, Tom Paxton's 'Last Thing On My Mind' and Ralph McTell's beautiful 'Nanna's Song'.

It was a pleasure to welcome back Brian and Alan. They were meant to be second up, but when I looked in their direction to call them to the stage Alan was just tucking into his dinner, and Steve stepped in. Still, they were worth the wait as they entered into a shared double slot.

Between them across the two sets they sang and played 'The Rocky Road To Dublin 12345', The lovely Alan Bell 'Windmills', 'The Black Leg Miner', is well known to The George audience, it being one of the MDF regulars, but Alan's vocals and frame drum accompaniment gave it a menacing feel; 'The Flower of Sweet Strabhane', 'It's A Working Man I Am', 'Dance Oh Dance Kate O'Neil', 'Spancil Hill' The Rout of The Blues' and one that involved a lot of 'whack fol de do foll de diddly I de day' but the title of which escaped me once again.


The Greengrass lineup this evening included the fabulous voice of Lauren. Their first song 'Wild Goose' gave my goosepimples.
Their second song I missed the title of, but it was a moving song. I tried to google the lyrics without success, so when I see Keith or Kate in the New Year I will be asking.
They ended their first half set with a rousing 'Old Salty' and the goose pimples were back in the second half with the Fairport Convention
'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' and 'Dance Me'

Roland had come out for an evening of audience participation, little realising that leaving his guitar at home would offer him no protection.
He borrowed my guitar for his ragtime medly 'For The Folk At The Oak' and gave us a couple of a cappella songs. 'The Dark Eyed Sailor' and the amusing 'Rottenstall Annual Fair'.

MDF were very light this evening with Ross, Mark and myself.
We performed Fisherman's Blues, Mud's 'Lonely This Christmas' and the evening's finale was an MDF favourite, 'Wagon Wheel', which we delivered enthusiastically with a little help from our friends.

Keep your eyes peeled for the review of 2016 and I look forward to welcoming the start of a new year with the February open music night, our famous 'Night of Lurve' love song conpetition, Friday 3rd February.

Bangers and Mash

There was standing room only again at The George; this time for the celebration of our 3^rd Bangers and Mash Night. The consumption of Maggie's delicious bangers and mash interrupted the normal proceedings. No one wanted to be called to the stage whilst they had a face full of sausage, or gravy dribbling from their chin, so the order of performances was chosen in order to catch performers before their dinner arrived, or wait until they had had time to digest. Fortunately one or two had come along early so we didn't have long to wait between performers. The greatest difficult was getting too and from the stage area because of the diners.

I kicked things off with a new song
about marital disharmony; a song that
acknowledges the impact of those two little words, 'Don't Start!'. This was followed by old favourites (well mine anyway) 'Under The Patio', requested by my good friend John and 'In The Woods (Like Bear Grylls)'.

'Dangerous' Derek Mayer demonstrated how and why he gained his sobriquet by bringing down the back cloth, which never recovered its previous taughtness but remained resolutely droopy for the whole evening, and then crashing his pa equipment into the overhead

lighting gantry as he tried to leave quietly without drawing attention to himself. Still his time on stage was well spent, and we enjoyed his mastery of the technical wizardry. He opened with the first part of Queen's 'Bohemian Rapsody', but stopped, expecting us to be relieved that he wouldn't be hogging the mic for the next ten minutes, but I think that we were all a little disappointed and had readied ourselves for helping him out with the 'Gallileo Gallileo Gallileo Figaro.…..'. Instead he channelled his inner Freddie and gave us a 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', followed by Brian Adams romantic 'Baby I'm Amazed By You'. You've been married two months now Derek, you can stop now, you're making the rest of us look bad. There's been an increase in the appearance of Bob Marley on the set lists at The George and Derreck joined the ranks with his cover of 'Three Little Birds'. Audience participation was essential for the 'der der der der der der der'.

Nigel and Darren were back again, but this time they were accompanied by Hedley on violin – Nigel started with a cover of T-Rex's 'Life's A Gas', Darren was singing for Bob Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door'. Their final offering of the night was another Sterophonics cover, 'Hangbags And Gladrags'. A couple of months ago, I introduced Nigel as Lewis, he was very gracious about it. Tonight, I introduced him as Martin, the make of his guitar. He was very gracious about it. Next time Nigel!

It was the first time we had seen traditional folksters Brian and Allan. I didn't have time to introduce them properly as once the sound was deemed ok Brian was off and into his first song. I

didn't catch the title, but it contained many 'foll diddles'. Their second was much more familiar, 'Spancil Hill', and then a lively 'Rocky Road to Dublin 12345', a song guaranteed to drain the breath of all but the most skillfull singers.

Allan, to just the sound of his own drum accompaniment, sang the song of The Dirty Blackleg Miner; his accent and demeanor lending a brooding authenticity to the performance. In 1844 a national lockout was brought down by 'Blackleg' miners, and it hardly seems thirty years since the NUM dispute was ended in a similar fashion.

Tonight we had two Steves; the first was our regular performer, Steve Edgar, who declared his songs would be full of teenage angst. His first, 'You've Got Your Troubles I've Got Mine'. This was follwed by Frank Sinatra's 'My Way', but not the angry Sid Vicious version. His final song was the lesser known Kinks B-side 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else' Bar The Kinks it was a bit light on the anst in the end, but well delivered and much enjoyed non the less.

It as great to see Peter and Shirley again. This evening they asked to be introduced under the name of Stained Glass Bluegrass, and they were joined by Keith, who used his double bass to dramatic effect. I love their pace and harmonies, especially when they give familiar songs the bluegrass treatment. They began with Gordon Lightfoot's 'Redwood Hill', 'Sea of Heartbreak', Alison Krouse & Union Station's 'Too Late To Cry'.

Roland goes Cob Coaling

 

The other Steve, Steve Bates, is a regular performer at Folk at The Oak, Crick I wish I was in Carrick Fergus, his own David Bowie tribute, which I think was called 'Put on Your Red Shoes and Dance The Blues' and the touching story of his meeting with his son, years after he emigrated to New York called 'Thirty Years On'.

Roland was on his own this evening singing 'Ain't Nobody's Dirty Business', and then playing a ragtime medley called 'For The Folk at The Oak'. Finally, he put down his guitar, to sing an old Lancashire Bonfire Night song, 'Cob Coaling', with considerable support from the audience during the chorus.

Crow's Feet were next up.  I've finally come to terms with the Greengrass/Crow's Feet distinction. Even though there are the same people on the stage there is a difference in material and sound. Ian is the principle vocalist I aint ever satisfied, Moon Over Memphis, It's Not Unusual, Country Girls, Paranoid "It is a rock club after all"

The battery pack decided to die on Ian's skeletal guitar, so he borrowed my accoustic, unplayed up to this point this evening. For some reason, it was as quiet as his had been post battery death, but a quick twiddle of the guitar's volume put things right. I had turned it down when playing with MDF at Yelvertoft Marina. A problem with the sound deck set up meant that my guitar was the loudest instrument on the stage. I had forgotten to turn it back up.

With a little bit of time left for a few more performers it was Brian and Allan that stepped up with Brian giving us a couple of delightful Irish songs, 'Dance Around The Spinning Wheel', and 'Martha, The Fower of Sweet Strabane'.

Allan then finished with The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, our only Remembrance Day related song of the evening. Kate provided a timely finger, to scroll the song up on the tablet.

So as not to end the night on a sad note, we played out with an ensemble, and in the absence of MDF, took a couple from their song sheets and we sang 'Baton Rouge' and finished on 'Wagon Wheel'. There's a bit of video footage of this if you'd like to see.

Rock me Mama like a . . . . .

I hope you can join us for our last evening of the year, as we begin the warm-up to Christmas. The first event of 2017 will be February's 'Night of Lurve', a chance to blow the dust of those romantic ballads, love songs and smut.

Rocktober at The George

The October Open Music Night could only be quiet by comparison following The Birthday Bash, but not as quiet as I'd thought, with six performing combinations.

My No.1 Roadie was absent for the setting up, so Narla helped as best she could, and I set up as much as she would let me.














It was great to welcome back Bluegrass duo, Pete and Shirley, our old friends Torgul and Sandi, Keith and Kate (Greengrass lite) MDF (also lite) and Paddy (full fat version).


As is customary for the open mic MC, I opened proceedings, starting with my song 'The Canary in The Coal Mine Isn't Singing Any More'. Having sung it a couple of times it has become well enough known now that there was a very satisfying contribution to the chorus from the assembled audience. Ross was then invited to give me some rythm and accompany me on the cajon for 'Spade' and then 'In The Woods (Like Bear Grylls). Strumming on the electric guitar is still a bit problematic for me and I inadvertently switched pick-up part way through a song. I have no trouble in knocking the lever down, but haven't been able to move it back without distrupting the performance.

The second half was kicked off by Ross on vocals and cajon, with a short harmonica intro, and John (Grandad Banjo) on banjo, with a single song; William Elliot Whitmore's 'Diggin My Grave'. It was the first time I'd heard them perform it, so don't think it was well rehearsed, but it was very nicely delivered. I won't be sorry to hear it again. Ross stayed on stage to help me with Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young' and Neil Diamond's 'Solitary Man'.


Next up was Torgul and Sandi. They went Old Skool, singing 'Side By Side' and the jazz standard 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby' before hurtling forwards to the nineteen sixties with The Kinks, 'Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon'. Their second half performance consisted of a slice of 'Appalachian Mountain Pie' and the Beatles 'When I'm Sixty Four'.

Its was lovely to have Pete and Shirley with us again. There is something about the harmonies in bluegrass that gets right under the skin, and this evening, these pair were bang on the money. Tonight, they had the added benefit of being joined by Keith on his double bass; and while he was difficult to spot, his presence on stage was certainly felt. They gave us a taste of things to come with a late soundcheck, so we knew they'd be good. Their opening was 'Gone To Carolina', Neil Sedaka's 'Breakin Up Is Hard To Do' works really well in the bluegrass style and then the more traditional 'Blue Trail of Sorrow'. Their second half performance included the spiritual 'I'll Bear My Cross' and after Pete had a brief game of hunt the capo they finished with 'I'm leaving town'.

Back on stage with MDF, my lack of recent practice was apparent. Sorry chaps (and Tracey). There was just Ross, Tracey, John and myself tonight and we opened with Sea of Heartbreak, described by Ross as possibly the slowest ever performed by MDF. A bit more on the money was 'Bad Moon Rising, and then we
finished our first set with Tracey singing There's a Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis. Our second half was better, not because Tracey had to leave after the break, but a much more familair pair of songs for me, starting with 'Long Way Home' and then Keith and Kate joined us for a rousing 'Waggon Wheel'.

Ive missed Paddy, who hasn't been around much over the last couple of months, and he was as delightful as ever in his irreverence. Donald Trump's performance in the American
Presidential Elections continues to give 'Donald The Demagog' to the tune of Nelly The Elephant mileage, relevance and new lyrics. This song just gives and gives. Somehow, even after the election, which he might still go on and win, I don't think we'll have heard the last of this song for years to come. His second offering was a critique of the advice given by health experts and so-called nutritional advisors; 'Instructions From The Food Police' and his final offering of the set was a song inspired by Theresa May and The Brexiteers ( a good name for a band that); the chorus being "Bullshit is bullshit, it's just a scornful metaphor, we seldom mean it literally as a pile of bovine poo, but sometimes things aren't so clear, so is it true Prime Minister,does Brexit mean Brexit or is that just bullshit too"

The performance of the evening had to be Paddy's second half set. His 'Let's like call the whole thing off', was a beatiful song about the distance between generations and the language that separates them, a subject I know only too well, and then his parody of Neil Diamond's 'I'm a Believer', 'I'm a Retriever'. 


Keith and Kate (Greengrass lite) brought the first half of the evening to a close with  Townes Van Zant covered by Don Williams and Emilou Harris performed beatifully. Dance Me their hippy anthem Alternative Routes, Nothing More and they ended the evening 'Summer Fly' and  a lively 'New York Girls'.

 Next month is our 3rd Bangers and Mash Night, with selection of sausages and choice of mash.

Birthday Bash

We were nice and early for setting up for 'The Birthday Bash' at The George, Kilsby. No.1 Roadie, Shirley, and I were planning on getting all the kit in place, and then sitting down for one of Maggie's delicious meals. While we were surrounded by bits of cable and un-erected stands, Dave Pepper wandered in, though he wasn't able to stay for the Birthday Bash, he did call in, and was the first to offer me a pint and wish me a happy birthday. It was very thoughtful, and much appreciated. I did go and look for him in the other bar once we'd finished setting up, but he had gone. Cheers Dave! It was a very welcome pint.

To say it was an evening of two halves would be wrong, as the first part extended until well after ten. Some of the performers had to slip away before we got thrown out so it was more of an evening of two thirds, one third. I opened the show with two new songs. The first was 'The Purslow Show Song' , written for the Purslow Show with the organisers in mind and it harked back to some of the earlier days of the show, now celebrating its platinum aniversary. While it was well received at Purslow, in The George, it lost some of its context. The second song, 'The Canary', was only finished on the day before and lacked a bit of practice. It was more of a reflection on our society and the madness that seems to be overwhelming it. I finished with a cheeky third song, possibly setting the precedent for the evening, with a slight reworkiing of my Mid Life Crisis song incorporating the joining of a band, namely MDF; but since non of them was paying any attention, they missed it completely.
Purslow Gynkhana, Sports and Show

I don't remember a night when The George's back room has been so full, and it was great to have so many players and audience in attendance. I was moved to comment that if a certain Danish brewer was to organise a birthday party it would be just like this one.

Zoe had her boots on tonight.

We were blessed with some of our regular friends and a couple of people who were playing for us for the first time, and what a musical feast they served.

Last month, you know, the 'quiet night', Greengrass blew us away, and they came back tonight, bringing with them Andy, who sang and played beautifully. It was good to see half

Andy brought Fire and Rain to the party

of the band 'One More Night', Simon and Zoe. They're on at The Squirrel in Rugby on Saturday 17th. Well worth hearing them in their full glory. Finally, Mark, who'd been once before brought his daughter Alice along with her violin.

House Martins?

Nigel Lewis was second up. He very
graciously failed to correct me when I introduced him as Lewis, I suspect he put it down to my increasing age, and he treated us to a couple of self penned songs.

Later in the evening he persuaded Darren to join him and together with a brace of Martins they Knocked on Heaven's Door and declared Life's a Gas together. At the end of the night they'd identified themselves as Two's Company.

Tony was up next, dedicating 'A Dedicated Follower of Fashion' to me. Possibly because I had scrubbed up especially and was wearing my 'party' shirt. It wasn't to be Tony's night, we've all had them' and he was beaten by The Beatles, but undefeated he was at the front for the final melee.

A fashionable performance byTony

No Strings Attached Alexander's Hornpipe. Such was the noise of people enjoying themselves that their first offering was unappreciated, but a quick request for quiet and a little
explanation of why meant that their second piece, The Politician and Tobin's Favourite was heard by all. They were up on their feet later Over The Hills and Far Away.

Steve was in somber mood, singing the Nine Inch Nails song, later recorded by Johnny Cash, 'Hurt' and the cheeful ditty about waiting for the gallows, 'Twenty Five Minutes to Go'. It was heating up in The George and the fire door had to beopened. Steve must have been quite warm as he removed his hat; fitting for his part two contribution, Rolling Stones Don't Play With Me Cause You're Playing With Fire.

Mark and Alice didn't worry about a thing.

We haven't had any Bob Marley since Ruder Than U paid us a visit until Mark and Alice put that right and then finished with a folky flourish.  It looked like a late night was not an option so we didn't get to see them again this evening. I hope they come back again soon.

It was good to have Andy with us. It was his first time to The George, and I hope we'll see him again. He gave a great performance with James Taylor's, 'Fire and Rain', Paul Weller's 'You Do Something To Me', and David Gray's 'Babylon' in the second part of the evening.

Simon and Zoe Ain't Nobody Loves Me Better, These Boots were made for walking and a delightfully upbeat and unexpected Disney number; no, not Frozen, but from The Jungle Book, 'King of The Swingers'. Sadly an early start on Saturday meant that they were unable to play again that night. Did I mention that they are playing at The Squirrel on 17th September.

A full compliment of MDF took up all available stage space, not helped by the enormous array of guitars and other instruments that filled the stage area and made a pretty good job of 'Star of The County Down', the Travelling Wilburys' 'End of The Line' and  Kirsty MacColl's 'There's a Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis'.

They sounded great unplugged, but Greengrass through the PA sounded awesome. They lead us towards the end of the evening and were joined by one or two more as Ross took the vocals for the obligatory birthday salutations and then rocked us like a Wagon Wheel. I unreservedly apologise for the assault by Wagon Wheels that he was subjected to, and promise not to do it again. Still, at least the wagon wheels were edible, unlike the pants that Tom Jones receives.

A very happy birthday to me indeed! Thanks everyone that took part and came along to listen.

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Sunshine on a Rainy Day - Mediterranean Knees' festival appearance,

Singe rock The Folly

With an early start, a long drive and a long afternoon of performing before driving back, it would have been sensible to have a little practice and get an early night. However a text message informing Shirley that Singe were playing at The Folly meant that the early night went out of the window. That and a few of pints of Shagweaver made the six thirty a bit difficult to face.

There are two main reasons why I stopped going anywhere on August Bank Holiday. The first was the volume of traffic. Nothing was more infuriating than being sat in a massive queue breathing in exhaust fumes and getting nowhere fast. The second, was that the weather seems to have got it in for this particular weekend. Accepting the invitation to perform at The Purslow Show meant breaking the habit of many years standing. The M40 and M42 were almost empty, and the most traffic we saw was in a steady stream of cars moving into Kidderminster. Either the weather on Saturday and Sunday, which was much more typical, had put people off or they had done their travelling already.

The preparation for The Purslow show was a bit more thorough than previous events, with a bit more attention paid to the set list. I still managed to take more things than I really needed. The van was loaded the day before, packed with everything except the guitar. When that was squeezed in, along with Shirley and the dog, it was agreed that I needed a bigger van.

Early arrival on site meant I got to put up my own gazebo, and the one for the puppeteer. I was sandwiched between a jazz band and a puppet show, and we were all sharing the same electrical supply; a generator, which hadn't arrived yet. Annie, the organiser, had made me a sandwich board, or more accurately, turned the one promoting 'Strawberries and Cream' inside out and painted it black. It was still a few hours short of its curing time, making the application of chalk a bit tricky. Still I got my name up on a board in the end.

I'll add that to my to do list in case I get invited back.

So as not to be competing with each other, Anything Goes, Mediterranean Knees and Treasure Trove Puppet and Magic Show negotiated a twenty minute set each, each hour, which was pretty well observed and meant that for the whole day, there was something taking place.

 

The jazz band, 'Anything Goes' are a long standing contributor to The Purslow Show, and having performed on some of the wettest bank holidays on record, were

deserving of respect. It was good to see them sat out from underneath their rather substantial marquee sized shelter basking in the afternoon sunshine.

I was pleased with my performance, the show song was well received and some of my songs, Under The Patio in particular, went down well, but the star of the show was Steve the puppeteer.

I wish I had some video footage of his marionette dancing to Guy Clarke's 'Baton Rouge' at the end of the show.  Steve's details www.teasuretrovepuppetsandmagic.co.uk

Narla eyes the chip and evaluates the chances

Dusk found us sat at the side of the road upon Clee Hill, looking out over the Clent and Malvern Hills, eating fish and chips. Thank goodness that here are some chip shops that never close. If you are passing through Clee Hill, do
give them a try.

Here's a bit of footage of the show song, and below are some lyrics if you want to sing along.

Purslow Show Song

Intro Full chorus

G Am G

Come along now, let's all go

G C Am

Down to the farm in old Purslow

G Am G

May the sun shine bright And cool beers flow

C D7 G

At the Purslow Gymkhana Sports and Show

It's the sixty ninth show It's the seventieth year

And the sky above is/isn't blue and/or clear

All kinds of weather have been endured

And the only year cancelled Was the one insured

Chorus

Some of the fun and variety

Have become the victims of health and safety

No more shire horse racing or archery

But there's still the dog show and agility

Chorus

For the sportingly inclined there's the famed hill race

The young, fit and hardy set the pace

You can see them in the distance approaching the crown

And they go much faster when they run down

Chorus

You can't find a needle in a stack of hay

or so the adage would have you say

But one activity that never fails

is a rummage in a bail for Lucy's Golden Nails

Bridge

D 

It's a wonderful way To make communities thrive

Am 

Keeping the skills And traditions alive

D 

A year in the making And it's over so soon

D7 

 A picture of old England in an afternoon

Chorus

G Am G

It's an annual event and a bit of a do

G C Am

It's been run through the years By just few

G Am G

Ron Mould was in charge for the very first one

C D7 G

He showed the rest How it should be done

Chorus

Harry Collins gave the reigns up to his peers

after horsing around for years and years

a job on the committee is for life it appears

No.1 Roadie

Big Jack is still at it after forty years

Chorus

Bridge

Chorus twice + repeat last lines and finish by playing out full chorus chords.

© George Houguez, 2016

Now it is time to start preparing for the birthday celebrations, starting Friday night with the Open Music Night at Kilsby, before heading back to Shropshire for a family gathering, camping weekend.