Flaming June

Kudos to Steve Bentley for first floating the idea past me of inviting Benji Kirkpatrick to come to Nuneaton Folk Club. Having persuaded me to give it some thought and then putting us in touch with each other Steve left us to arrange a booking and so it was that last night we welcomed this extraordinary musician and very likeable guy to Nuneaton Folk Club for the first time. To be honest I was sure we would not be able to persuade him to trek across the A46 from Leamington but I was wrong. He was very keen to come along. I'm so glad he did. As you can see in this candid snap by John B. Smith Benji had miscalculated the road distance between Leamington and Nuneaton, though. 😀

Having checked out Benji's recent You Tube clips and realising that being Warwickshire based he was actually a local lad (!!) I didn't need much persuading. His pedigree of previous bands tended to suggest that as a solo artiste he would be both versatile and entertaining. So it proved.  One of Benji's other exploits has been as part of the Bellowhead Legend. As soon as we booked him, I started ragging Bob Brooker over his uncompromising opinions of Bellowhead. With the full intention of eventually getting Bob on that stage the same night. Like Benji, Bob Brooker is an expert in the correct playing of the Bouzouki. (Pete Willow who has been giving us a lot of background help with NFC promotion actually billed this as a night of 1,000 Bouzoukis on the excellent fliers he has been helping us with. So no pressure). 

It became evident  early on as we raided the storage cupboards for more chairs and tables that it was to be another bumper audience. Benji had attracted a fair sprinkling of admirers from South of the County which meant we had quite a few newcomers. We also had a few ex-regulars returning after a long break away so that was gratifying too. Folk Clubs look and sound so much better when the spaces are filled.  We'd been a bit low on our usual crop of excellent photographers recently but last night we  John B.Smith, Ray Buckler, Max Wright, Paul Monks and Sue Sanders (to name a few) adding shots to our Facebook page. 

I think most people are aware by now that I have left Nunc and that they have split. So, shorn of all musicians, and having the additional burden of a throat infection,  I needed someone to fill the vacant "House Band " slot as the evening's proceedings kicked off at 8pm. Craig Sunderland stepped in to help (as he often does nowadays). He admirably filled the vacancy by thrilling the early audience with some dazzling guitar work. Deservedly a popular turn at all our local Folk Clubs, Craig performed a trio of opening songs. Here JBS captures a rare shot of Craig with his eyes open. 

I was compering the show from the floor using my own personal hand mike for two reasons: (a) I did not want to contaminate anyone else and (b) I was too weak to climb the steps up to the stage. It was one of the few times I have ever compered an NFC night in either venue without inflicting my limited vocal skills on anyone else and it felt distinctly odd. 

Bob Brooker had survived the embarrassment of my mischievous initial introduction to Benji with uncharacteristic charm and dignity. Following Craig he proceeded to demonstrate that he knew his way around a bouzouki too. Not only that but on the guitar as well.  He did a selection of his self penned tours of Whitby songs before bringing Craig back on stage to conclude his spot with some nifty jigs and reels. Quite why the North Yorkshire Tourist Board haven't so far recruited Bob to do their promotional videos I'll never know. This stylish photo is courtesy of Ray Buckler.

Yonderland is a fine niche t.v. programme set in a world way beyond ours. I'm a great fan of it, as I am of Jane Moss and Paul Monks, who constitute the duo currently carrying that name. Jane kindly performed her excellent version of "Turn Of The Tide " which deservedly put her in first place in a Coventry Singer Songwriters competition. Paul added some of his songs including the atmospheric title track from his most recent album "Fairground." All of which added to a most entertaining interlude before Benji began his first, shorter set of two. Here  are Yonderland frozen in time by Sue Sanders. 

Benji strode onto the stage as if he owned it which effectively he did, after a couple of powerful opening numbers. Strong vocal style and incredible fretwork soon had the majority of the audience gasping. Those of us who had (like me) only ever picked up a guitar, made a noise on it and then put it back down again as quickly as possible were mesmerised by it. Certainly for me, the highlight of the evening was what he did with Jimi Hendrix songs. 

Benji has recorded a whole album of them. On the Bouzouki. Hendrix was sometimes unfairly  stereotyped as a flashy noise merchant. He was simply one of the best guitarists ever. Amply demonstrated by his solo album Blues where he played beautiful, soulful music alone on acoustic electric and semi acoustic guitars. Benji takes this to a higher level by tackling some of the more notorious Hendrix material such as "Foxy Lady"  and "Purple Haze."  Paradoxically he also takes the seminal Hendrix Blues Red House and rocks it up a little. You'd need to be there to believe it but this actually works. It's neither derivative nor plagiaristic. It's damn clever and you have to love the man to be able to reproduce his work so technically brilliantly like that. 

Craig added a couple more numbers to kick off the second half and then Benji bounced into another energetic second half. We had acoustic folk. We had unaccompanied folk. And we had more Hendrix. Benki Kirkpatrick is a confident polished performer. I recommend most highly that you try to get so see him "live." and buy some of his material asap. A most original gifted and innovative musician. 

So the NFC audience figures are slowly climbing back upwards. It's been a long hard slog getting back on track and no-one should rest on any laurels. It's still use it or lose it and in a music pub with fine traditions like The Crew the latter does not bear thinking about. Next month the Guest spot is shared. There's a longer chance to admire the skills of Craig Sunderland and a welcome return to NFC for Coventry songstress Kristy Gallacher. Also appearing next month are local duo KC Jones-again no strangers to NFC. Other names are still to be added-but please do come along and if you were first timers last night-spread the word.  As always a final thank you to The Crew staff especially Rich for his continuing support and interest. Including always having Church End Real Ale on hand pulls upstairs for every NFC night. And also to Ross, always there to help out when needed and running a tight ship from the Mixing desk. Here he is with Bob applying the jump leads and getting Craig under way. Photograph by Paul Monks.