Mac Awe On Tour

       This Blog is actually named after a near organic institution-not such a band as an event. A floating personnel occasionally step up and provide entertainment for the sort of gig previously occupied by the erstwhile (and long defunct) Black Parrot Seaside. (See the link there?). Belatedly,and by popular request,here's a brief review of our adventures last Friday night when we did two forty five minute sets at the invitation of ray Buckler, a gentleman who has lent a lot of support to several of North Warwickshire's  Folk venues. 

      Festivals (and particularly Beer Festivals) are one particular (and very enjoyable) example of occasions likely to tempt The Mac Awe on stage. Nuneaton and Bedworth CAMRA's annual “Thirst and Last " Festival for instance. The event is held each June in The Co-Op Hall in Nuneaton and it really is a lovely venue. A HUGE concert room with a HUGE stage (and apron), it is a pleasure to play.

        Last year The Mac Awe started recruiting for this event well in advance and rehearsed a set list that had worked for us all separately elsewhere. As the June 2015 event approached, one or two musicians began to drop out, whittle away, provide a doctor's note etc. By the Friday night, this richly talented and diverse ensemble had whittled down to the Kearney Boys, Malc Gurnham on base, and me. With Gill Gilsenan operating the P.A. Could History repeat itself this year? Read on: a definite pattern is emerging.

    The 2016 event was scheduled for Friday 17^th June. No Malc or Gill this time-they were busy at Alcester Folk Festival. There was an early plan to draft in a recovering Sue Sanders on fiddle, but that proved impossible. But we recruited David Parr on guitar and Jon Harrington on harps, adding them to John And Brendan Kearney. Flossy McDougal was to join me on vocals. Unlike last year, we never did all get together for a run through, but a few of us had a really good rehearsal the week before, and the Kearney Boys did a weeny rehearsal of their own. This turned out to be extraordinarily useful,as they often sounded like they actually knew what they were doing. What we did do in rehearsals was a right mash-up, with some good chemistry going on in the Parr-Kearney guitar department, and some mind-blowing arrangements including a Robert Johnson-Beatles Segue and a seamless medley of Stones and Beatles stuff.

      Matt Mallen Allen, the (very!) sound man from Nuneaton Folk Club was drafted in to run the desk this year so there was a very strong NFC flavour about proceedings. We began to set up for the gig late afternoon, and hit the first major snag. Poor David texted us to say the Paramedics had carted him away to A & E with a heart problem. Such is the effect an impending Mac Awe on stage can have. But there is more.

     Jon had let it be known that there was likely to be a delay in him arriving from work, and with true Rock and Roll panache, Flossy was travelling in by train. Our sound check therefore was a little thin on the ground and we delayed the start as long as we dared before starting minus David and without Jon. The line-up then was John Kearney (guitar), his son Brendan on electric bass,and Flossy sharing vocals with me. Although it has to be said that both John and Bren had amassed a fine collection of percussion items and Flossy had a tambourine. The first half went well. (We enjoyed it, anyway!). The set list was:

How Long Blues :Cold Haily Windy Night Vigilante Man :Shame Shame Shame: Black Velvet Band: Standing Round Crying: Down Our Street (The Di Di song) : Love In Vain: Over the Hills and Far Away: Downtown.

Jon finally arrived but as we returned to the stage to start the second half, Flossy turned green and appeared to be in serious discomfort. No-one ( I do mean no-one) had been looking forward to this gig more than she, but virtually doubled up as she was, she just had to leave. A recurrence of a previous problem. Flossy had left the building, in some distress. Then the Cavalry arrived in the form of a beaming Flossy announcing that her illness had (literally!) passed. Boy did we have some fun then!

        The Second half set list was:

If I had Possesssion: You Can't Do That: Jolly Boys: When I get to the Border: It's a Sin : I saw Her Standing There: Its all Over Now :Bring It On Home : Rave On: Everyday: Folking Liberty :Help Me Make it Through The Day: Down Where The Drunkards Roll : Don't Worry/Wild Rover : Perfect :We Shall Overcome.

     We had been billed (in National press!) beforehand as a Folk/Blues outfit and as you can see, there was a generous and eclectic mix of material. Highlights for me were Brendan's perfect Glockenspiel solo on Buddy Holly's “Every Day,” John's remarkable blend of “ The Wild Rover” and Bob Marley's “ Don't Worry,” and a Festival Beer named after one of my own songs-Church End's Folkin' Liberty. Jon's harp work and percussion add-ons really lifted the sound so that “Bring It On Home” and other Bluesy numbers were...well..bluesy.

      The audience were understandably concentrating very hard on their drinking-tasting,assessing,ticking, marking, etc and it proved quite a challenge to get them going. But finally, there was some dancing-and some good chorus singing. As an encore we sang ”We Shall Overcome,” a late choice, delivered movingly by JK and dedicated to events in Batley the day before.       

Crowning Glory

         Another  momentous Wednesday night. After spending a sad afternoon at a friend's funeral, it was good to be upliftedand cheered up  in the evening by another big audience at Nuneaton and some fine individual performances at The Crown. My old bass playing friend from Black Parrot Seaside Rock days Martin Smalldon surprised me by turning up in a BPS tour jacket! I  hadn't  seen him for over thirty years!  Known then as Mandrago Proudfire, and with Vance drumming, they provided a powerful platform for our six piece in many midlands venues including an early Godiva Festival outdoors in The Memorial Park!   

       When we arrived, the place was a little disorganised. Jules and Sam had rushed out to greet their newly arrived grandson (Congratulations Kadee!). The room upstairs thus had a Marie Celeste look about it and it took us a while to locate all the chairs and tables! Blessed with not one but TWO young and enthusiastic Sound Engineers, we continued experimenting with using NFC equipment only, with the eventual target of not having to drag Jules away from his tea every time we need to set the stage up!

    Despite a lot of sound checks to get through, we started on time. After Nunc had opened with " Down Where The Drunkards Roll" and " T'was on an April Morning,"  Matt Mallen Allen made his debut. Operating from behind the mike (as opposed to behind the mixing desk, we had cruelly fazed him by opening with his second intended number. He did an excellent version of Fairport's "Walk Awhile" and then hurriedly shunted an alternative forward from his own set list.    

     Two more Nuneaton virgins made their debut next-Campbell and Jan Perry. Welcome aboard!  In rapid succession we then had excellent spots from Brian Phillips, Malc Gurnham (solo!) KC Jones and Dragonhead-who I have to say got the joint literally rocking.

     Daisybell (great name) then calmed things down a bit with a set of great quality to finish an epic first half.. Mellow, well-crafted harmonies and thoughtful, beautifully constructed songs.  Well done, ladies!

      Second half, running very late,we had to deprive Crown Regulars of a special treat pre-planned for them. Dragonhead and Nunc had intended to combine on a second half starter featuring a Buddy Holly medley. Oh well. Another time, hopefully. We had a monster raffle to draw, thanks to generous donations, and it was imperative to give people a generous helping of John Kearney. The man in the floral shirt did not disappoint as he drew a tremendous evening to a close. Simply the best I have ever heard or seen him. Brian Phillips and John are fortunate enough to be able to be fine musicians but are also both excellent stand-up comics. (God help us all if they ever get together!).  

       John has the enviable gift of being able to swap from outrageous, witty comic songs to haunting lullabies and ballads. He held the audience entranced with "Tiny Lights" and a lullaby, then got them roaring along with "DownTown," his Irish Reggae, and the anthemic "Jolly Boys."

      Another massive audience (thank you Nuneaton), and another super night. (Thank you Performers). How do we top that? Next month is only WINTER WILSON! 

Sunday Shenanigans

      Sunday provided a busy double-header, with an afternoon feature spot at Drapers in Coventry,and an evening session with The Sly Old Dogs in their new home out at the quaintly named Willey.

        Drapers is a bar I've liked for a while. As "Brown's," like many other customers  I boycotted it  because of a discriminatory dress code and an unpleasant atmosphere. Under new management, the food is good and the beer selection is  eclectic. The interior design is fantastic. Its central position is without rival: within view of  the Old Cathedral quarter and handily placed for Coventry University and surrounded by Council Offices. It has always been busy when I've dropped in for a meal or a pint. Probably few youngsters in there realise that among previous uses it served (immediately post-war), an annexe for the Herbert Art Gallery, and it has also functioned previously as an underground public convenience!

       The divine Kristy Gallagher, a tireless champion of good acoustic music in the city, has been organising Sunday sessions in there for a while now. They have proved to be very popular, with a mixture of Open Mic slots and longer feature sessions. Our original invitation was for Nunc to play unaccompanied there, but as there is nowadays quite a bit of co-operative work between John Kearney and myself, we dragged the Cork Nightingale himself along too,so I suppose for that afternoon, we were Junc.

Nunc plying their art at Drapers  in a beautiful bar setting.

          Amongst the floor spots preceding us were Kristy in person, Wilson Wright and Glyn Finch. Kristy was as professional as ever. Hilz and John also  just seem to get better and better. I take some credit for persuading them to appear more often together as a duo. Individually they are both solid performers. But together, they definitely have an extra something.
       Glyn Finch I had not seen before and I very much liked what he did. " She moved through the Fair," is not an easy song to do but he did it great credit. The three of us in Nunc were impressed. Strong, confident vocals and very tasty, bluesy guitar work. Hopefully we'll lure him out to The Crown soon  I think our audiences would get him.    Spiros preceded us. He had a  percussive guitar style and a very powerful voice with a broad range. He employed it to great effect in a series of strident and powerful songs.
        Nunc/Junc finished the session with a 25 minute slot. Usually performing a capella, it was a challenge to adapt part of our current set  to musical accompaniment,especially having only rehearsed together once. But we warmed up with "Cold Haily Windy Night," and then followed it with "When I get to the Border."  By the time we did "Bring It On Home," people passing the open windows outside were stopping and peering inside, Hopefully for a good reason. Our Buddy Holly medley went down well, and a few people started singing along with us. More of the general public stopped to listen and a few came in! We added another Richard Thompson song "Down Where The Drunkards Roll " and then Flossy finished with her party piece with Eddie reader's "Perfect."  A great afternoon and very enjoyable. Thank you, Kristy. 
   A highly recommended venue for audiences and performers alike. It was only afterwards I discovered that they had my beloved Beavertown on tap there, but at 7.2% it is probably for the best that I left it alone. Especially as being the incredible Rock and Rollers we are, Mr. Kearney and I were soon back off on the road again. With his son Brendan and the redoubtable Sue Sanders, we went out to The Wood Farm Brewery Tap for an evening session with the Sly Old Dogs there.
      The usual night of three halves followed, with a depleted Dogs leading and a plethora of floor singers following the pack. ( See what I did there?). We were spared Tool's awful joke telling, as he is currently regaling the unlucky residents of Kefalonia with them. Paul Kelly was missing, too. This did not detract from the usual spirited assortment of rousing traditional songs, with choruses righteously and loudly echoed by another large audience.
       Among the guest performers were Maria Barham, Cheryl Ning, Campbell and Jan Perry and Allan Birkett. Plus two lads whose names I did not quite catch,but both of whom did songs with an Irish or traditional theme-very impressively. Sue Sanders fiddled along right merrily with a lot of the general stuff and also did a couple of excellent solos herself. And the talented Kearneys interchanged guitars and ukes with a dazzling display of family dexterity. Me? I did "Drunkards" again (seemed right in a Brewery?) and then,my vanity  flattered by requests, I rolled out Di Di De Mascio and his Red and Yellow Vans. I was tired by this time, and forgot the words-leaving the Postman and the Pools man out of  the second verse, but nobody seemed to mind!