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.