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A Nutty French Woman Production!
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I put the little framed picture of my beloved friend
Gordon Shears by the computer to give me inspiration and I enjoy Norman’s
introduction… Just a little warning to those who haven’t been
caught in “volunteering” to do a spot of MCing or write a review
not to cross my path… Why?
First, we see the return of our dear Rockin’ Bob, with one of
his greatest hits “Pretty Baby” welcomed by a well-deserved round
of applause! With a capo on the 5th
fret, he delivers a rockin’ version of “I walk the line” of
his second number… By then, everyone seems nicely settled at their
table with drinks and glowing candles… one can even hear John
Stafford’s harmonica in the background.
“ lady with immense talent?” says our
MC… That must be Jo-Jo!
Well I dare say our MC has real talent for this role… Talent she has
indeed as she delivers “oboe Jo” acapella with no flaw! She
leaves us wanting more… What? Only one number!
This session turns out to be rather special as
Bernie and Maureen take to the stage to give us a set of tunes with
concertina and guitar! It’s lovely to hear them again and I’m
even starting to wish for a domestic!!! They haven’t lost their magical
touch and soon get the room tapping and clapping along…
Our Mc is so impressed by our next performer that he
nearly loses his words!
Luckily,
“guitarist extraordinaire”,
Trevor Barham makes it to the stage with his hat on! Definitely one
of the gifted songwriters we have. “Somebody New” is the title of
his first number, another foot tapping number with some clever chord dynamics
and a catchy chorus that gets everyone singing along. Trevor dedicates the
next song to me (thank you Trevor), “until next year”, and I am
told by the other Trevor to mention the beat boxing that Trevor B uses as an
introduction to the song.
The working man writer and poet re Bill Pardon starts his floor spot by apologizing about
repeating a number he performed on Wednesday. A different version of
“Where have all the flowers gone?” is the right song for this
time of year of remembrance. A classic Greek tale about Icarus is the base
for the theme of his second song “This one’s got a
chorus!!!”… If only he can remember the tune! The legend of Icarus
served by Bill’s twisted and quirky mind! He even managed to include
Posh, Becks and George Clooney in it!
Is Paul Steel
trying to escape again? Rockin’ Bob, sitting at the front, gets warned
against possible projectiles??? Well according the past reviews Paul
hadn’t done that one before so he gets into another excellent
heart-felt number served by excellent finger picking and a distinctive
voice… an excellent version of “always on my mind” follows
and I’m sure Elvis would feel honoured.
Multi instrumentalist Lady Formby cannot sing but she is happy entertaining us
playing “The Saints go Marching in” on her harmonica and gets a
huge round of applause for it. She tries “Annie’s song” on
her whistle for her second tune and gets the same rousing encouragement from
the audience.
After a lovely break where everyone has time to fill
their glasses and get their updates of gossip we are ready to start
with…
The notices…Well, that’s me…
Reminder
that you should notify us if you choose to attend Gordon Shears’
tribute next week. Also, make sure you put 16th December in your
diary as it is the FaB Club’s Christmas Party and my leaving party.
Norman, our MC, is also a great performer, he gives us a
funny number about eating vindaloo. That’s definitely the type of
(toilet) humour I can cope with plus I have learned that “tongue”
rhymes with “madras”! Obviously the crowd wants more!
Joe Migdal is next and starts by challenges me to bring FaB Club
to America
once I’m there. He delights us with tuneful ballad “the girl who
dances”. Apparently Kathy will be playing along to Joe soon but not
today. This does not stop him from giving us another enchanting number
“I am a Sailor”.
The Tone Deaf
Leopards let us into their
research secrets as they wrote a new song about what seems to be an obscure
theme: the British car industry. “Goodbye to Austin, Goodbye to Wolsey!”
Sue’s snare drum is ready for action while
we’re all waiting for the spot lights to come on! A song by Mumbling
Len Turner I’m not quite sure what about(a love song maybe?) but surely
entertaining with some unmistakable drumming from Sue and the right amount of
whistling from Trevor. I spot a few smirks on the faces in the room.
Up next is Mark
Reed and carries on with the theme of cars. His was a dodgy car for
sure as his first number is a funny song about a three wheeler! A powerful
strum, some clever lyrics and some great guitar playing bring his second song
(“Lightning Dance”)
to life
while Jo-Jo shakes along to it.
Alan Neville went to New York and Ellis Island for the first time last year and got some
inspiration from it as he explains before performing this new song of his
about an Italian immigrant. It reminded me of Pete Morton’s
“Shores of Italy”…
a song about the difficulty of moving to another land and meeting unfulfilled
promises there.
A chunky rhythm opens his second number. A story about
fireworks, bonfires under the rain and losing one’s girlfriend in the
crowd: “There’ll be fireworks if you ever come home”. Great
addiction from John Stafford’s harmonica, the club would not be the
same without him.
Indeed… And that is why I let him(John Stafford) borrow my guitar
so he can play “The House of the Rising Sun” in his unique style
and with some “Phatt B’stards” inspired heckling from the
audience.
After that, we enjoyed another song or tune from all
the performers above and it concluded our afternoon around 5:45pm.
Review by Claudine Le Moal
Photos by Linda Bloomfield
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