Acoustic Anarchy in August

Last year, in May, Shirley and I sloped off for a family wedding and, very kindly, Ross stood in to be MC for the Open Music Night at The George, Kilsby. He only agreed on the proviso that it would be an acoustic punk themed night, and so it was. The feedback was great and I was sorry to miss it. It was such a good idea that it happened again and the August Acoustic Anarchy Night has entered the calendar.






My first song of the night was a bit of Iggy Pop, 'Passenger' featuring my favourite chords, Am F, C, G and E. The wig was hot and itchy, the gloves made playing quite difficult and the padlock and chain sat awkwardly with the guitar strap. In the second half my Canary song. I had originally planned on Sid Vicious' version of My Way, but I wasn't comfortable with the language. Sid Vicious My Way (Contains strong language) For next year I am going to have a couple of Sex Pistols songs ready.


We were delighted to welcome Ray back again, and he began with a rolling stone themed first half, starting off with Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' and then the Rolling Stones' 'Brown Sugar'. His second half was The Naked Rambler, sung to  tune of the Kinks' Dedicated Follower of Fashion. The descriptions of male genitalia had me in stitches. How do you follow that? Whatever he chose it would be it would be 'Norfolk 'N' Good'.


Lew Bear didn't read the email (again) but it was great to see him and listen to his delivery of Show of  Hands 'Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed'. Lew was promoting his CD, Love Light Dark and Death, the progress of which I've been following on Facebook, and from it came The Wanderer The Wanderer  follow the link for a reminder. It is a cracking album and well worth the £5. In the second half of the evening he sang 'The Tramp' by Joe Hill and much more familiar to us 'Devil You Know', the opening track of the album.

Nigel Lewis got a punk pin, not for his songs but for his t-shirt. His almost punk Tenpole Tudor's 'Swords of a Thousand Men' went down very well, as did his own composition 'Day Dreamers'. I'm not sure if he chose the order of his second half songs deliberately, but there was a logic to their order. The first was 'I'm Not Sure Any More' and that was followed by 'Gotta Be A Reason'. I hadn't clocked it on the night, but noticed when I heard him playing at The Royal Oak, Crick, at the monthly Folk At The Oak. I suppose either order would have done, and they are very lovely songs.

Sandi & Tugrul Began with a shanty we've heard from them before, 'The Bonnie Ship The Diamond Goes Fishing For A Whale' before providing what was the best anachy song of the night. To the tune of 'All I have to do is Dream', they sang 'All I Have to do is Scream, Shout, Curse, Spit. It was perfect and the angst was palpable. Apparently it only took them a few minutes to write; truly punk at its finest. In the second half they were much more restrained, singing 'Nothing But Blue Skies' and 'By The Banks of The Ohio'.

Mike Newhouse was without his regular partner John, so I provided guitar accompaniment. I tried to look suitably surprised at the right moments but no one does that quite like John. Mike played it safe with his selection for the night given our lack of practice, his first the well known parody on Bob Dylan, 'Knockin' On Evan's Door' and the very old classic that almost everybody knows, 'House of The Rising Sun'.

Pete and Marian got in to the new wave groove with Julian Cope's 'World Shut Your Mouth' and Pulp's Common People. Pete also reminded everyone of the September Fete at Clifton on Dunsmore on Saturday 15th, 12pm - 5pm.
South Road, Clifton upon Dunsmore. CV23 0EF.

John Hill was back again, He also failed to read the email, but that wasn't his fault, he didn't get the email from me. We were aiming for the 70's but John was strictly 50's
The Girl of My Best Friend and Half Way To Paradise

Allan Birkett was in good voice tonight offering Donovan's 'Universal Soldier' and to bodhran accompaniment, Steeleye Span's 'Black Leg Miner', In the second half he sang the old Irish folk song 'The Spinning Wheel' and finished with Rita MacNeil's 'It's A Working Man I Am'.

Paul Fox was playing with Jamm, the letters of their names, Jackie and Andy but the Ms are still a mystery. They started with the Clash anthem 'London's Burning', followed by a very gutsy Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer'. As they were the top band of the night with the biggest sound, it was appropriate to let them finish which they did in style, The Sound of The Suburbs, The Jam That's Entertainment and a splendid Won't Get Fooled Again.

MDF went blonde, or should that be Blondie with 'One Way Or Another', It wasn't a bad effort for a first time out with little practice. It might just get added to the MDF repertoire. We were on more familiar territory with the rest of the evening following Debbie with The Traveling Wilburys' 'Handle Me With Care'. In the second  half there was another recent addition, 'Baby I Love Your Ways' and the well known Kirsty McColl classic 'There's a Guy Works Down The Chip Shop'.

We are back in September with George's Birthday Bash on Friday 7th September. We'll have the full PA and lights though the use of a smoke machine is purely speculatory.