Thanks to all who made it a memorable experience Upstairs at The Maudslay last night. With the heat wave on and even with the windows open, it still felt more as if we were playing Lousiana rather than urban Coventry.
The room is a good one for acoustic and semi-acoustic music, and we had stimulating sets from everyone. Norman Wheatley started us off, expertly compering and singing a selection of pleasantly summery songs. LazyManzFlute followed, and they were really excellent. Maggie Coleman provided the first solo spot of the evening, with some thoughtful and typically tuneful renderings.
Tanza finished the first half, and they were a revelation. B.P.S. were due to appear with them at the cancelled Blue Pig gig in February. We must re-arrange this, for we’d be good on a bill together. They did a wide selection of very broad material which complimented the more traditional material very well. Good musicianship and splendid vocals. Excellent!
During the Interval we had the draw for the most lavish raffle I’ve ever seen at a Folk venue. Very different to the tongue in cheek Mock Raffle we conduct at the end of “At The Septic Monkey”! (When we get most of the prizes returned by an embarrassed and slightly flushed audience!Many thanks to all those who donated such lovely prizes.
Norman kicked off the second half, and he was followed by Phutnote. We knew all about them, having seen them many times at Bedworth Folk Club. They did not disappoint. They also brought along Declan, a prize winning Irish dancer who had appeared in Riverdance. Declan’s routines were an appropriate background to Phutnote’s set, and they all received a rapturous ovation! Phutnote finished (at my request!) with Eric Bogle’s “Willie McBride.” What a haunting song that is!
Then it was time for a Rod Felton slot. A True Legend, Roddie was enigmatically Roddie. He refused to use the stage or the P.A. and sat instead, cabaret style, on a chair at the front of the hall. Which was fine for those at the front. He opened with “Thighs” (at least I think that’s what he said!) and included typical examples of Feltonesque humour and one-liners during his set. He finished with my favourite Roddie song “Curly”-another of my requests. To my surprise he performed this unaccompanied-forsaking his beloved guitar. Some inspired singing by all those present who knew the song-it’s about his baby daughter-who’s a very grown up lady now!
And then it was time for Black Parrot Seaside to close the evening. One of Judith’s last wishes before she died in February was that B.P.S. should continue to play together after her death. So it was apt that I think we played a rousing and varied set. We opened with Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm.” And followed it with “The Bonny Black Hare,” accompanied by a much longer instrumental finish. Time then for a (semi) Parrot song after that. “Albert Balls” has very quickly proved an audience pleaser wherever we have done it-and the choruses were simply roared out! “ Wee Midnight Hour” was a simple low-tempo blues, and then it was time to lift the hilarity again with “ The Bold Pirate,” and its shock ending. (The HSE ring us and get it stopped during the 4th verse). (Honestly..) We finished with “ D.I.Y “
Finally, we got the whole company up to lead them in a frankly spine tingling version of “Go Lassie Go.” Which seemed somehow a kind of emotional closure. Singing so moving, it brought people up into the room from outside, to ask what it was. (One of whom was a music producer, interested in recording it-but that’s another story!).
We all had an ace time despite the miserly input of landlord Ambrose. Having previously promised us a bar, he promptly closed it, after less than an hour of the concert. His rationale for this? Not enough people were drinking, apparently. Despite the fact that almost 70 people turned out to raise funds for Myton Hospice, and to pay tribute to Judith. You might think that kind of turnout on a Sunday night might please a landlord who we had once thought was sympathetic-but apparently not. The audience and performers had to traipse downstairs thereafter, where (oddly, given the fatuous excuse for closing the bar upstairs, considerably less than 70 people were sprinkled around in corners of the Maudslay’s less than imposing lounge.
Finally the thanks. To Norman Wheatley and his partner Viv, for the immense work they put into the event and into organising the raffle To Norman for compering as expertly as always, and for superb advice and moral support. To Tanza for installing, providing “driving” and dismantling the P.A. To Jill Gilsenan who brought along a donation from Bedworth Folk Club and helped out selling raffle tickets. As always with Jilly, she also provided encouragement for the performers by her beautiful accompaniment of backing singing.
Thanks to the audience, of course, for turning up. Some had come from as far away as Bristol! The audience was a really eclectic and responsive mixed bag-of young and old. Many familiar faces from the clubs we’ve played since reforming-thanks for that, folks!
Thanks to Pete Willow who gave the event a great write-up in Friday’s Coventry Telegraph. Thanks to all those (including Pete), who had hoped to help out but had other commitments on that particular evening. Kristy Gallagher, Malc Gurnham, Pete Grassby Chris Tobin and Keith Donnelly to name but five. There’s always next time!
Finally, thanks to the performers, who gave up their time or for free. Ladies and Gents you were all superb. I salute you. We must do all that again some time. But possibly, not at The Maudslay.
We think we’ve raised over £200 for Myton Hospice-I’ll make public the final total.
