Auld Lang Syne

      I've spent some pretty crazy nights in the past greeting a New Year in the company of musicians. Quite the most surreal was playing with the Folk variation of Black Parrot Seaside once,high up in a Minstrel Gallery in the company of some Go Go dancers. It was the ancestral seat of some rich millionaire who I found out later was an honorary Laird. We got paid by his Heavies,as he actually never arrived,despite having invited us. Someone said his helicopter had been delayed .No-one heard much except us, perched up fifty feet above the Revellers,but we didn't care much. Too far gone.

      So I confess I had my doubts about NFC on the First Wednesday of the month falling on New Years Day. But The Crew's lCaptain Rich Burlingham was made of sterner stuff and he suggested going ahead. He was to be proved right. I'd seen Green Man Rising and/or their constituent parts at various venues,and I knew if we put them together with Drunk Monkey we'd have a fine cross section of genres that night. Greenwood were soon on board too and so I began to suspect we'd have a good time anyway.

         Craig Sunderland,Bob Brooker and Andy Jones were added to the mix and everything seemed in fine fettle as the artistes began to arrive. It was pleasing to see that an audience turned up too,despite counter attractions elsewhere and the continuing onslaught of Norovirus and Winter Flu'. In fact,it all went rather well. There were tins of sweeties out on the tables,a rich Church End Festive beer on tap and some lovely raffle prizes. It all seemed rather festive. 

           Drunk Monkey or rather Nunc (no John The Base) kicked off proceedings with "Sitting On Top of The World," "Angel from Montgomery," and "Perfect." Our Sound check in contrast to a few others,consisted of thirty seconds of grinning at each other,it went well. It was a little contemporary,but as I keep saying on the wireless programme, Folk is a broad church nowadays and we like to Nunc all over various genres. 

             It fell to Bob Brooker then to take up the baton from us, a responsibility we lay upon him often. But that's because we love him and we know he's a reliable pair of hands to let loose on the audience. Knowing Bob I suspect he'll grumble about his trio of songs,saying the Bouzouki was upside down or he played bum notes in the instrumental,but it all sounded groovy and mellow to the rest of us. He gave us a couple of ballads including a Luke Kelly homage,and finished with a fine set of tunes that got the whole hall tapping their feet and pounding the tables. or perhaps it was the other way round There were still a few hangovers in the room.

              Andy Jones followed Bob. Andy is a game lad whose last appearance was with Cor Cymraeg. We greeted each other in Welsh because we can and then he confounded a few newcomers with a Welsh Christmas Carol. In Welsh. Always one to extend boundaries,he followed this with a Gregorian chant and then inveigled a reluctant and slightly apprehensive Wes Hall up to accompany him on a...well on a knocking thing with a stick, whilst Andy played the recorder. Well received,although again a few gnarled eyebrows remained furled. Folk is a broad church Folks,remember. Some of this music was 15th Century and even Des Patalong isn't old enough to recall that firsthand. 

            Andy had brought along a camera thank goodness,as most of our regular snappers were missing. Presumably lying snoring on a snooker table somewhere,waking up in the sidings at Fort William or (more likely) lured away by the siren call of a new Dr.Who episode on BBC. His camera was later to take some incoming fire from spilt beer,but Andy just smiled benignly,being the nice chap he is. Some of the work here is his. If there is a malt filter on some of the snaps,apologies. 

            We'd moved heaven and earth to lure Greengrass away from the Sylvan climes of Rugby and elsewhere and over to Tory Heartland. A few false starts previously but it was well worth the effort finally,because they were sublime. A lovely version of "Crazy Man Michael " was the highlight for me:lovingly arranged,beautifully played and with just the right balance from three talented musicians.  

           Follow that Craig Sunderland! And he did. With consummate ease. Like Andy Jones he is never one to duck a challenge,so  he introduced us to two more songs to be added to the extensive Sunderland repertoire including a Nic Jones one. Proving the rumours that his pony tail is actually a clip on he also performed wild and free. No he wasn't naked,but he did wear his hair long. (Yes you're right mate. I am jealous because I haven't got any). He also did a Peter Bellamy song particularly well. Besides a good singing voice and a great guitar style,Craig has an intuitive ear for a song regardless of the generation it came from. Although I'd threatened to introduce him with a stream of Severn Trent jokes I watered that down a bit and tapped into another vein completely. He didn't tell me to pipe down and his set was a fountain of joy:a torrent of goodness: a cascade of delight and a watershed for the rest of the evening.

              With the audience whipped into a frenzy (or in a couple of cases into a torpor) it was time to introduce Green Man Rising. As with Drunk Monkey they were not all there (although some allege that this is a permanent state of mind in Steve's case.) But they were more than prepared to take on an NFC crowd,with two fiddle players, Andrew Wiggleswoth seated inscrutably like a hairy Buddha behind them all,Steve unchained and his trusty right hand man Richard Sullivan the paste that holds them together as engine room. They whisked us  through a brisk shorter first set before retiring so we could have a brief interval to catch a breath and sell raffle  tickets.

            Before you could say "Steve Earle" we were back off again.  As the tickets were folded,Drunk Nunckney launched the second half with our newest adaptation, "Landslide" and followed it with the Neil Young segue "Freedom/Ohio." The reverb on "Landslide" at the beginning was a little more melodramatic than anticipated,but otherwise,that went well. The raffle,drawn next, was an education. Never in an NFC raffle previously have I seen the CD's go first,leaving bottles of Shiraz and Prosecco to go last. (A sign of excess the previous evening perhaps?) Bob Brooker (he who constantly complains loudly that he never wins anything), won yet again. GMR didn't do too badly either. Leaving conspiracy theorists to mutter darkly about fixed raffles. As if!           

         Our supply of reasonably priced Folk CDs from Rope Walks' HMV store went first. Enjoy them incidentally, as that source has now dried up. (See my rant about that in the previous Blog post). For the rivet-counters among you,our last HMV sealed prizes were albums by Christy Moore,Fairport Convention,The Dubliners and The Chieftains. Hold on to them Folks-they are Collector's items. 

             The Green Men (and Women) then rose back to deliver a rousing second set. As in the first half,they employed a dizzying plethora of instruments to beef up what was already a powerful sound. Steve waggishly suggested that Rebecca had brought her plumbing along. It was actually a Bassoon and she played it rather well. She also played fiddle:the two of them together was a brilliant effect. Jen Waghorn's fiddle playing is the perfect counterpoint to her rich soulful voice. I was rather hoping she'd drag the big groany thing (no not Steve Bentley) out again,but apparently  it had misbehaved itself first half. It sounded good enough to me.  I think it might have been a Hurdy Gurdy though I'm not good on terminology. 

       It was nice to see Steve getting in touch with his feminine side by introducing some more subtle percussive strokes into his stage presence. Oh, he still kept whacking that bloody great drum whilst  capering and prancing about the stage like the Pied Piper on Angel Dust. But occasionally, he would pause and strokel his fingers delicately along a very rinky set of chimes, like some effete Pete Doherty. Or he would produce stormy windy sounds,not from his bright red striped trousers,but from a peculiar device somewhere between a megaphone and a moog synthesizer. The ultimate showman, he also made a very nice speech about North Warwickshire's Folk Clubs and quite rightly defended The Crew,tilting at the small group of music snobs who continue to boycott it because they feel it perhaps doesn't match their middle class preconception of what a music venue should look like.  

         GMR work very hard and exude energy. From Steve primarily,although Jen flicks up her skirts and kicks her heels sometimes! They are a good tight band whether performing new variations on traditional songs at breakneck speed, or playing instrumentals that really do make you want to get up and dance. There were plenty of headaches out for a walk last night,so there wasn't much of that going on.  I did see Bob Wilkinson slip involuntarily as he made his way out to the Gents. It could have been a complicated five toe heel and step. More likely just confused by the swing door.  Jen did persuade the audience to do Jazz Hands during one number though.
          I recommend the GMR CD highly. There's only one album as yet and its about time they did another,but much of last night's excellent material is on there. I've played it loads on Anker Folk. if you missed GMR you'll find "Winter Winds" is on the December "Listen Again" page. 
          As often happens, something for everyone last night. Including raising our glasses collectively to the late Angus Ellis. We don't have candles in bottles,there are rarely fingers in ears except to extract foreign bodies, or when Bob Brooker is singing),and we embrace all kinds of music from every era and every origin. But someone likes us. Thanks for coming everyone. You made it a special start to a new decade.