March 2017 Open Music Night

After the excitement of February’s ‘Night of Lurve’ love song competition, March’s Open Music Night seemed a much calmer affair; and with some of the regulars away on holiday, and the legacy of this Christmas’ lurgy still evident, it was good to see a couple of returning faces.

I opened with the first performance of a new song, ‘I'm Not Ready For You’.
There is a difference between singing at home and performing something in public, and I’ve already made a couple of tweaks following its outing. My next two were more familiar, both to me and the audience. They were ‘Old Town Blues’ and ‘Simple Life’.

Nigel Lewis was next up and, with a little help from Hedley on violin, Torgul (hiding) on percussion and Sue adding a very effective bass, performed Bob Dylan’s 'Knocking On Heaven's Door', followed by another classic, Ben E. King’s 'Stand By Me'. His last was a self-penned song. 'I'm Not Sure Any More'.

Folk at The Oak regular Steve Bates was back again. Tonight he nailed REM's 'Losing My Religion', and provided a couple of self-written songs. The first was 'You Make My Day' and the second was the very sad 'The Phone Keeps Ringing'; inspired by a personal experience.

Dangerous Derrick Meyer brought his own studio with him; with more pedals than a church organist would know what to do with. The effect of the effects is to give Derrick's performances the feel of a band, and an accomplished band to boot.

Derrick is so comfortable in his performances that he adlibs and tweaks the songs; and his comical asides can be delightful or infuriating depending on how much you love the song being performed. Tonight's offerings were The Eagles, 'Take It To The Limit', X Ambassadors 'Renegades' or Lemonade, (Derrick and Tracy's in joke), and Derrick's last song was the Lionel Ritchie classic, 'Easy'; with the audience, after a little coaxing, providing the 'ah ah ah!' Tonight he managed to make his exit without any drama, possibly because I’ve replaced the uprights to the lighting rig with longer ones, increasing the headroom by at least a foot.

Paul, Sandi, Torgul and Sue, AKA ‘ShudBBand’ were in the mood for some Creedance Clearwater Revival tonight. Starting with 'Stuck In The Middle With You' and followed by 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' and then they covered Bob Dylan’s ‘Don't Think Twice, It's Alright'.

Tonight's performance was a bit shaky and it was apparent that it was clear on stage too. Whether it was the introduction of Torgul's Telecaster with amp at the back of the stage made it more difficult for the rest of the band to hear each other or not, it identified the urgent need of some monitor speakers. I’m on it! Having been in a similar situation with MDF at a recent gig where the sound system was supplied but not set up properly, I know how difficult it can be.

Mike, who hadn’t been sure if he would make it this evening, having just shaken of the worst of the lurgy, and John were next up. Mike is usually in strong voice, but tonight he wasn’t, as they say, on song. While their Cat Stevens' 'Moonshadow' was excellently performed, their Brian and Michael ‘Matchstalk Cats And Dogs' proved a bit of a stretch and Mike was defeated on The Fields of Athenry, as his voice began to deteriorate quite rapidly. It didn’t help when John produced a different version from the one they rehearsed. Hopefully, Mike will be back to full strength by Thursday’s Folk at The Oak. Sadly, John won’t be able to make April’s night so he got his joke in early.

MDF was barely recogniseable this evening, with no D, and no F;
but we did have an M, with Mark on accordion. John (Grandad Banjo) played banjo and guitar and I played guitar and stood in for Ross on vocals. I didn't do too badly, but not well enough for Ross to feel in any way threatened.

We kicked off with a well-known 'Wagon Wheel'. Well we would have had Mark got the right accordion strapped on; and he would have had if John put the songs on the stand in the right order. There’s nothing like looking professional. The Bob Dylan / Ketch Secor song was followed by The Waterboys ‘Fisherman's Blues’, which we seemed to do really, really slowly. The last song of our set was Woody Guthrie’s ‘Worried Man Blues’. The list of artists that have covered ‘Worried Man Blues’ is full of legendary performers. I’ll leave it there.

As always, Paddy delighted the assembly; this time with his Brexit based Christmas song, ‘The Turkey's Referendum’. It should remain topical at least until 2019, possibly much longer if the negotiations drag on as long as some suggest they might. His second was ‘Sing Like Johnny Cash’, in which he did sound remarkably like him. You can find this one on Youtube, but to save you looking, and I’m sure he won’t mind, here’s the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3RCbiFLygo

His last song of the set was ‘Fun With Birds’; a salutary tale about the apparently good ideas formed while under the influence of alcohol. It doesn’t matter how often I hear these songs I can’t help laughing.

Last but by no means least was Andy Rogers, who must have enjoyed himself
last month because he was back, travelling all the way from Napton. He treated us to a couple of self-penned songs. The first was ‘Friday Salvation’, and one written for his daughter when she was a baby ‘Don't Be Afraid of the Dark’. In between, like a cover sandwich, was Newton Faulkner’s ‘Dreams catch me’. As always, Andy’s delivery is flawless, an excellent ending to the first part of the night.

Balancing the number of performers, the number of songs and then squeezing them all in to the nominal three hours is one of the challenges of running an open mic. When folk arrive a bit late, the list is already drawn up and I don’t like having asked people for three songs to then reduce the number, especially when the early acts have had their go, so tonight the first half took us to half past ten, only enough time for a few more songs, but not from everyone. I think in future I’ll create
a list based on a finite number of slots so that early arrivers get more than those that slip in after the evening has started.

After some pretty dark and heavy tunes in the early part, the evening ended on a lively and up-beat note. Steve Bates accompanied once more by Hedley performed ‘San Francisco Bay Blues’. The only thing missing was a kazoo. ShudBBand continued their Credence Clearwater Revival revival with a rousing ‘Proud Mary’. Paddy, once more in jocular mood, provided dietary advice in his ‘Instructions from The Food Police’; a fabulously satirical side swipe at the nanny state’s attempt to encourage healthier eating. MDF were back with Guy Clarke’s ‘Baton Rouge’. To finish off the night, Paddy, Mike, Steve and Nigel came up for an impromptu 'Wild Rover', with Paddy in the driving seat and the rest of us trying to keep up.

Time is flying by this year, so I’m already starting to prepare for April’s Open Music Night. I say preparing, I need to find some jokes.

Thanks Shirley for taking the photographs.