OMC at The George, March '16

Music blog march 16

After all of the excitement of February's 'Night of Lurve', I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of numbers attending,
but I needn't have worried. In spite of the very unpleasant weather, biting cold and icy roads, there were plenty who
came to play, though when almost half of the assembly
seemed to be MDF, perhaps it was no surprise.

I was later than usual in arriving, and as we were a bit behind
in setting up, we left the lighting gantry in the van. It is much nicer for me to have everything in place, to check sound levels
and make sure everything is working before the first arrivals.
I felt slightly on the back foot all evening and was reliant on
some helpful sign language from the back of the room.

I understood vocal mic up, and vocal mic down as they were mimes of singing familiar to those who watched Lionel Blair
on 'Give Us A Clue', but the single finger raised and waggled about was a mystery to me.

I opened this evening with the first performance of a new song about the quantity of sugar in some well known high street coffee outlets, 'Twenty Spoons of Sugar'. My second song was also a recent addition to my collected works, previously only performed at Napton. It still has no title, but is about the struggle to break out of destructive behaviours.

Torgul and Sandi were on their own this evening. Torgul playing guitar and Sandi on recorder and vocals. Their first contribution was Tim Hardin's, 'Last Thing On My Mind' and 'Champion of Keepin' 'Em Rolling'. The guitar and recorder worked so well together that I wished that they'd had time to do a few more.

Next up were the mighty MDF,  with Ross on Harmonica and vocalsfor Dire Straits' 'Walk of Life', Ross needs a mic on his harmonica so I don't have to worry about keeping the volumes up as he dances around and then getting them back down for the vocals. Tracey took the mic for Bad Moon Rising. Complemented by Mark's accordion, MDF are growing in confidence, cohesion and developing a very full sound.

John stayed put on stage, but swapped his banjo for an acoustic guitar as Mike gave a good account of Katie Meluha's 'My Aphrodisiac Is You' and Bread's 'If a picture paints a thousand words'.

Last month's worthy runner up Steve Edgar was still on good form, very capably delivering Cat Steven's 'Sad Lisa' until the paperwork

slipped from the music stand. “It's got clips on to stop that happening.” said Steve before completing the song. His next offering was Snow Patrol's rock standard, 'Chasing Cars', which translated well to his acoustic guitar.

Paul was accompanied by Hedley and Torgul for a couple of blues numbers but he abandoned Peter Green's 'Need Your Love So Bad' after a dodgy start. We've all been there! He was on m
uch safer grounds with the the familiar Stormy Monday and Drifting Blues, but I look forward to him having the full measure of the Mac classic soon.

Paddy brought the first half to a humorous end, with his song about how to make tea I think the title is 'All I want is a decent cup of tea', with all of the faux pas apparently occurring in real life, and then closed the session with his delightfully funny song about a band member's efforts to come up with a name. Hopefully non of the events described in this song actually happened.

I opened the second half, but my attempt to update with contemporary references the Facebook song, 'Thief of Time' fell over. Some of the phrasing was far too busy and a lot more practice was required. Though the Facebook post of Mr Lover Lover, the dildo with a face on it, has subsequently been completely blown out of he water. Perhaps it will get a second airing at Crick on the second Thursday of march. Being a bit tighter on time for the second half I handed over to Sandi and Torgul and urged everyone to make quick changeovers, which slowed everything down.

Sandi's recorder had grown a bit since the first set and they used it to good effect on The Beatles', 'When I'm Sixty Four', and they then gave MDF a lesson in how to play The Kinks' 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion'; though I didn't experience the same thrill when the nylon panties were pulled right up tight as I get when Ross sings it.

We are going to need a bigger stage when the full MDF are in the house. There is only just room for them and the various guitars etc. Still, for their second half Tracey nailed the Kris Kristofferson classic, 'Bobby McGee' and then Ross rocked us like an Old Crow Medicine Show's 'Wagon Wheel'.

Mike and John weren't stuck in the middle with anyone tonight, but were 'Stuck in Lodi Again' 

There second song which sounded like it was called "Everybody Needs Somebody", but certainly wasn't that one.

Hedley and Paul gave us 'Deep River Blues' and a very soulful 'Summertime' and then Paul on his own ended with an instrumental version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.

Paddy has some favourites that we get to hear from time to time and this evening he gave a beautiful rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's 'If You Could Read My Mind Love'. Had he been here last month, at our 2nd Night of Lurve, and sung it like he did this evening, I suspect the results might have been a bit different. The last song of the night was his first 'dog' song, 'No One Kisses Me When I Come Home'.



Next month's meeting coincides with April Fool's Day, so no doubt there will be some fun; though it is worth noting that the evening kicks off after 12pm. The only rule for the night is no song without a joke first. I'm looking forward to it already.

Performances begin at 8pm, so if you need to do any setting up or sound checking, you should aim to arrive by 7.30 latest.