Another Ding Dong at The Bell

    Good to be back in the welcoming arms of The Bell Inn for another Sunday Night "Sly Old Dogs" ( and friends) session over the weekend. The Sly's were pretty well at full strength, with only Nigel Ward missing. Paul Kelly was missing to start with, but arrived late,  making  a spectacular and noisy entrance.

 

  Supplemented by various other musicians, we ran (barked?)through three halves of mostly (but not exclusively) traditional music.   Aside from the excellent and mostly ribald SOD's repertoire, Rob Halligan, Banjo Dave Paterson, Cheryl, and myself added a few extra numbers. Highlights for me included Bob Brooker's  emotional performance of  Eric Bogle's classic "Waltzing Matilda"-poignant for obvious reasons, with Gallipolli fresh in everyone's minds. I always admire  too, Richard Ryder's epic long sustained single note on his tuba  and I also enjoyed an enlightening and educative rant by John McIntosh, who railed (quite justifiably) against Stratford Council's pernicious attempts to derail the excellent and benign Long Itchington Beer Festival. ( I've been to them-there is no disorder! Except when John has forgotten his house keys). Another high spot (obviously-he told me to say that) was The Bell landlord Paco, expertly playing the spoons during a couple of numbers.

    It was good to see Mick Stanley and other Comharsa members in the audience. It was Mick who was seriously injured in an RTA outside Nuneaton Folk Club last November. Mick has already ticked off The Larder, Atherstone Folk Club and Beduff on his long road back to full mobility, and he has made one of his convalescence targets getting up the stairs at The Crown for Sean Cannons debut (and Comharsa's) there  in July.    

 

   Thanks to my Minders, Steve and Martyn, I was able to enjoy the full evening without having to leave early. I sang "Raglan Road" and at last had a chance to air "Lord of The Dance" there. I continue to practise this song solo before it is added to Nunc's growing repertoire. I was honoured to be invited to conclude the evening by leading the Company in a rousing version of  "Black Velvet Band." It is always a pleasure to warble this song accompanied by a substantially gifted Folk orchestra and an enthusiastic audience.  We even had time to add on " Go Lassie Go," leaving (nearly) everyone toddling home happy.

Sweetness and Light

      It's been a while since I've blogged, owing to other commitments beyond music and the fact that since April First (when I went to two), although I've visited music venues since, I haven't always been invited to sing at them. It was a full house at Bedworth Rugby Club last night for another Bedworth Festival Fund Raiser.  Always happy to oblige there if I can, as, along with Banbury and Market Bosworth, these three are the only two I am ever permitted/invited/allowed to attend.

      A star-studded line up assembled to play support to new Midlands Super Group Three Peace Sweet. Bedworth Folk Club Hosts Malc Gurnham and Gill Gilsenan were joined by the irascible Dave Webb- "Webby" to his friends. Making it less like a three piece suite and more Two Comfy Old Armchairs and a Commode.  With a joint age of well over 200, they combined the wisdom of Methuselah, the wit of Michael McIntyre and a back catalogue going back well before the Napoleonic Wars. ( Which, as Malc often points out, Webby remembers fondly, being a young lad when they first broke out).  

    TPS  finished off a most enjoyable evening, made even better by some thunderous chorus singing from the audience, and some stellar floor spots. Joe Roberts, Dave Parr, myself, Phil Benson, Brian Phillips, Jan and Campbell, Thrupp'nny Bits and Jan and Terry Wisdom all added to the entertainment. A highlight of Phil Benson's contribution was watching him struggle beforehand as he realised the battery on his iPad was giving up the ghost.  Never seen a pen move so quickly. I hadn't really thought about singing, but it's rude not to if invited, so I did "Cold Haily Windy Night" and "Black Velvet Band," as the audience seemed keen on chorus songs.

     I must single out Brian Phillips for an absolutely wizard version of my favourite Fleetwood Mac song," Never Going Back Again."  Brian has Lyndsey Buckingham's hugely underrated guitar picking style nailed.  With Dave Parr and Terry Wisdom both senior axe men present too, that is some accolade. Mind, such a crowd had gathered in front of me whilst Terry and Jan Wisdom were performing, that I couldn't see much. I know Terry got a huge cheer after one fine solo-but having seen a different side of him (a naughty one) at Nuneaton Folk Club's Comedy night three weeks ago, that could simply have been because he'd suddenly taken his trousers off. Terry has a very fine taste in shoes, incidentally. We were comparing each other's footwear during the interval.

        With the  interval over,  the raffle safely concluded, and Webby's many toilet breaks completed,  it was then time to settle back and enjoy the TPS set.  They had a few minor initial ticcups over pitch, starting notes and words, prompting Gill to give the "Boys" (and I use that phrase in its broadest sense) and The Assembled Company some severe, School-Marm'ly looks. But Dave Webb was the glue that held them together during these few sticky moments. Literally, it seemed, as  at times, he had his hands thrust so deeply into both his pockets that I thought he might tear them. TPS ranged through a whole collection of shanties, whoops, hollers, wassails (I lied about that one), and Hunting Songs. Punctuated by the occasional dog impression from Des Patalong-a talent I never realised he had. (Looking forward to the album, Des.) There was a second cameo guest spot from Phil Benson, Folk Music's Alan Sugar, who joined them to briefly make up a foursome. (Mmmm.)  A sort of Occasional Table to their three piece suite. A deserved encore saw the punters finally toddling off home happy. Humming their individual earworms and with an additional sum added to the BFF coffers.

    With there being five Wednesdays in April, and the Nuneaton,  Black Bank, Atherstone and BRFC sessions already concluded, there is a free Wednesday next week. So it's all out to Gill's I understand, for an impromptu concert in the back garden.  

Food for Thought

£175 and several bags of produce are on their way to Nuneaton Food Bank this morning, after ribald scenes upstairs at The Crown  in Town last night. Another full house forgot the worries of the strange world outside and pending elections. They had a damn good laugh at a startling variety of acts and material instead.

    First up was The Oldest Swinger in Town, Joe Roberts, making his NFC debut. Joe doesn't give a damn quite frankly, and even though we gave him The Graveyard Slot, he swung his pants mysteriously and hysterically through songs we later thought might have included "My Old Man's A Dustman." Truly unbelievable, in every sense of the word.

    Dave Webb brought some decorum to the proceedings and included the Labourer's building site anthem about pullies ropes hods and wheelbarrows going alternatively up and down with the hoist operator  at the hands of gravity. A still slightly poorly John Neal followed, giving us three chuckleworthy ditties including a clever one about nothing coming from what you thought might be its original country of origin.



Folk music-it's all doom and gloom isn't it!

     Finger In The Jar became Two Fingers as Phil was also poorly (though gamely still in attendance) and then Dave Parr commenced songs about Dogging, Molecatching and general misrule. The Good Taste bar was being firmly set at zero, but fortunately Thrupp'ny Bits emerged from the back of the room and entertained us with three witty, erudite numbers including a topical song about hunting for Christmas Puddings. (More humane to inoculate them, quite honestly?).

   Terry and Jan Wisdom concluded a riotous first half, Jan as promised, wearing a very fetching purple afro wig. I had warned people beforehand that this lovely and charming couple also had a sideline in slightly naughty songs, and Terry's autobiographical musical tour of his early days in Folk Music demonstrated most ably that I had been telling the truth.

     Malc Gurnham and Gill Gilsenan kicked off the second half. I'd like to say that they raised the tone a little, but that would be misleading. Malc was obviously in a mood for Inappropriate Touch, and after roping me up for a Richard Digance song about our emerging Bromance, Max and Marilyn Wright were then involved in a needless and rather worrying ditty which would have had the licence revoked immediately had the City Watch been in the room. ( Brenda, we have photographic evidence, if you'd like to see him put away for a Seven stretch).

    John Kearney  then had the audience hissing atmospherically for his classic version of "The Boxer" in which a few words had been amended, and by popular request, finished his spot with "Jolly Boys Holiday."     By this time, the upstairs roof was bouncing up and down, the audience were in great voice and the Pot Collectors were being kept busy.

John Kearney getting in the mood

    For a Finale, songsheets and musical instruments were distributed, and The Mac Awe On Tour Big Band took the stage. Almost off its foundations, as it happened. Malc Gurnham, Dave Parr, Sue Sanders, John Kearney and Geoff Veasey whistled us through a hasty pastiche of Novelty songs. With four  ex-Parrots (like ex-Pats but with beaks) up there, it was never going to be seemly or well-organised.

   Nonetheless, with all onstage clearly enjoying themselves, " The Odeon, " and "On Bedduth Bank" got the audience going, and "The Whistler " ended up like a badly run School Assembly ." The Di Di Song " probably vied for Jolly Boys with the night's earworm, and "The Bold Pirate"  ( a request!)  socked it to Risk Assessors and H. & S. Inspectors everywhere.   We had to finish with " What a Folking Liberty" and the stage was literally shaking as the House Band thundered through it. A sumptuous end to a corking evening. Folk music can be FUN. It's official.

     Thanks to Tom for once again doing a brilliant job with the sound, to everyone who gave up their time to play for free, and to a tolerant, bemused but very eager audience. Thanks also to Julian and Sam for their continuing support. Some very needy people will benefit from what we all experienced together last  night. No-one goes to Folk Clubs any more nowadays do they? (See picture below) 

Claire cannot believe what she is seeing