OMC July 16

When a quiet night doesn't mean a quiet night.

Shirley and I arrived just before 7pm to start setting up, and when at almost 8pm the only other person to arrive was Tony, bringing his new guitar with him we thought it was going to be a quiet night.

Just as we were thinking that like Belgium, Welsh football had us beaten, in came Steve, Ken and Roland.  So in that order we proceeded to rotate, thinking that we'd stop when we ran out of songs. However, that wasn't to be.

I opened at ten past eight with 'City of New Orleans', MDF style then acknowledged the death of Scotty More, with Elvis Presley's 'Maries's The Name'. It seemed like no time at all before I was back at the mic, Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young', and my own compositions, 'Simple Life' and 'Spade'. After a short break I returned with Lonely Man Blues, Ashley Madison and Sugar Love. One each to the end, Under the Patio from me,



Next up was Tony who gave
us a sales pitch for the open mic he is running at The Boat Inn, Birdingbury Warf, Stockton, next weekend before launching in to Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band's 'Urban Spaceman' and Leonard Cohen's 'Halleluja' on his ukelele, without the aid of his reading glasses.
For his second appearance at the mic he sang a Five Penny Piece, 'Down Our Street', and a short anonymous arrangement, 'Four Aces and a King' and George Hamilton's 'Abeline'.
Tony unleashed his beast 'Down in the fields where the buttercups grow' His song about public displays of affection which went down so well at the Night of Lurve in February, 'Love in Hand'
Follwed by Bob Dylan's 'Make You Feel My Love'

 It had been a while since we last saw Steve, and the runner up of the Night of Lurve love song contest had lost nothing of his smoothness. His opening song was Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', followed by Boxcar Willie's 'King of The Road', and Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here'.
We've had that song on two consequtive months from two different performres, for many years that song was on an unofficial open-mic black list because of its popularity. It looks like it is making a comeback, and I can't say I'm sorry about that. On Steve's return, Otis Reading's 'Sitting on The Dock of The Bay' including a marathon whistle, Willie Nelson's 'I'm So  Lonesome I could Cry' and the very mellow Kris Kristofferson's 'For The Good Times'. After the break, Steve performed Led Zepelin's 'Stairway to Heaven', Pete Seeger's 'Where have All The Flowers Gone, the only reference of the evening to the 100th anniversary of the begining of the Battle of The Somme and then lightened things with a bit of Donovan, 'Jenifer Juniper'  The Sound of Silence from Steve, though as Shirley left me turned off on the mic it was the sound of silence from both of us.

No Strings Attached began with something gentle, the Fox Hunter's Jig follwed by Mason's Apron, which they then repeated in a faster bluegrass style. Then they provided us with A Slow Barn Dance, Soldier's Joy and the Scott Joplin and Arthur MArshall ragtime 'Swipesy'.
Then, a Folk At The Oak favourite, Phil Coultr & The Fury Brothers, 'Steel Away', Another popular No Strings Attached piece is 'The Evercreech Hornpipe', and this was the best I think I've heard them play it. The last song of the night went to Ken and Roland as No Strings Attached and 'The Sanfransisco Bay Blues'.

Shirley had her first go on the sound desk which resulted in everyone being put through the PA except me; oh the irony. It was a quiet night for me after all.

Apologies if I missed any tunes or identified them incorrectly.

Flamin' June

Flamin' June

This year has flown by and I can't believe we are over half way through it already. It has been such a busy month that I wasn't able to complete my blog in time for the July night invitations. By the time we gather again, the nights will have started to draw in, and we can start to look forward to the seasonal events in the autum and early winter months, notably George's Birthday Bash in September, the Halloween Warm-Up in October, November's famous Bangers and Mash Night and the last OMC night of the year, our Xmas Warm Up.

June has gone down in the annals as being memorable for the weather, which apparentley turned into the wettest June ever. It started optimistically and it was very warm and humid as Shirley and I put the stage set together and prepared for the evening; and what an evening.


Proceedings began as usual, by me, with the first outing of the new guitar proving slightly problematic. I kicked off with 'Sugar Love' and completly messed up the key change at the end of the song. I made the mistake of carrying on in the new key all the way to the end of the song. I've never played it like that and I couldn't think how to end it. Onwards and upwards! In the second half I asked Ross to sing 'Wild Thing'.

Wild Thing! But who was wildest?

No Strings Attached were on jigs, reels and horpipe duty, getting the feet tapping again, even though a holiday had got in the way of practice time; Ken had barely unpacked. There was no need to worry, once they were under way, it was another fluent performance. Fisher's Hornpipe and then Turlough O'Carolan's 'Hewlett'.

For their second  half they were without strings altogether. That old favourite, Cadwith Anthem got some lovely harmonies from the audience.

It was good to see  Dave Pepper  again. Dave entertained us with his signature Flamenco, and despite the subsequent wetness of the month, there was an appropriateness to his George Harrison, Beatles classic, 'Here Comes The Sun'. Sadly it wasn't to be, but that's no reason to stop singing it.

No 'War Cry' from Mike, John and Ross.

 In the first half of the night, Mike and John were joined by Ross, to keep them both in time. Their first offering was a Bob Dylan classic, Rainy Day Women, and John remarked that when it was recorded Bob asked for the sound of a bad Salvation Army Band. I won't comment on the quality of the recreation.
Mike has a very distinct vocal sound, and some songs suit him incredibly well. In the second half we had a superb version of The Moody Blues 'Nights in White Satin' along with a very brave and well executed whistling of the instrumental.



Nigel Lewis brought some musical muscle with him in the form of Andy Buckley, Darren and Hedley. Their set comprised TRex's 'Life's a Gas', Bob Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door', and Ben E. King's 'Stand By Me'. Andy's time on stage was interrupted as he was summonsed by the Landlord to move his car.
Nigel's last of the evening was a self-written 'Day Dreamers' in which he seamlessly (nearly) dropped his pick, carried on playing and then recovered his pick courtesy of Gina.

MDF delivered their standard repetoire with their usual wit, starting with Ewan McCall's 'Dirty Old Town', "in a key I've not decided yet."This was followed by Tom Waits' 'Long Way Home' and second half of the evening Pete St John's 'Fields of Athenry' and Guy Clark's 'Baton Rouge'. Mark is settling in to MDF. There has clearly been some practice and the accordion solos add so much to the quality of their performance.




Again it was good to see our old friend from Napton, Andy Rogers. He'd brought Martin with him and together they provided a diverse range of tunes, starting off with the Irish folk tune of The Belle of Belfast City, 'I'll Tell Me Ma', Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here and the Pete Green's Fleetwood Mac blues 'I Need Your Love So Bad'.


Andy was on his own in the second half and we got another glimpse of his writing talent with his own song 'Friday Salvation'. Then returning to more familiar territory he sang Bob Dylan's, 'Don't Think Twice' and The Rolling Stones 'It's All Over Now'.

  

 

 The highlight of the evening was without a doubt......

 

They're Headlining The Crick Music Festival

 Ruder Than U

 But we saw them first.

The highlight of the evening had to be a visit from 'Aitch' Bembridge, John Hogg and Gina Goode, some of Ruder Than You. I don't think we've heard anywhere near enough Ska and Reggae on our music nights. There was absolute silence while they played as it was a genuine treat to have performers of their calibre to play for us.

Their set was made up of Bob Marley's 'Redemption Songs' and 'Three Little Birds', the UB40 reggae version of Neil Diamond's 'Red Red Wine',  and a terrific Rude Boy medley including The Specials' 'Message To You Rudy', Desmond Decker's '007', and John Holt's 'Tide is High'.

Aitch sang and provided percussion, Gina sang backing vocals and John borrowed my guitar for their set, and if I can get to play it half as well, I will be thrilled.

If you thought they sounded impressive, and they did, you should get along to The Crick Music Festival on Sunday 10th July when the rest of the band will be with them.
Crick Scarecrow and Music Festival

Here's a link to their website.
Ruder Than U or 'like' their Facebook page
 Ruder-Than-U Facebook page




We were all a bit starstruck this evening, but someone had to go next. Well done MDF! The evening finished with an ensemble of The Proclaimers' '500 Miles'.