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A Nutty French Woman Production!
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A
friendly and fun-filled session which everyone seemed to enjoy. John Stafford made his debut
as compere and MC, and as to be expected he opened up the session in his
usual eloquent way with typical sophisticated Sunday afternoon finesse as he
spoke of high class lavatories, posteriors, derrieres, goolies and hi-tech
machines that replaced toilet paper. I don’t think that I need to
proceed along that road any further! But after the jokes and laughter he
grabbed hold of his guitar and went into one of his favourites from his
repertoire, the old spiritual number “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”
which he does in a very bluesy style with lots of hammer-on strumming and
getting everyone to join in.
I followed John with two of my own songs,
“Rolling Hills of Southern England”, a celebration of one of my
favourite parts of the country, the stretch of countryside from the Kent
Weald and across the South Downs through Sussex. My second song was “District
Line”, a song about a busker on the London Underground.
Paul Steel was next on. I’d seen him at the Orpington
Club but never before at the FaB. I don’t know if this was his first
time here. He has a very distinct and effective guitar style which adds a new
dimension to the songs that he performs. He opened up with the old Bob Dylan
number “I Want You” and then followed on with Tom Petty’s
“And It’s Time”. Paul has a deep, gruff voice that reminds
me somewhat of Chris Rhea and he always packs loads of emotion into his
singing.
It
was Jo-Jo’s turn
next. To show her versatility she treated us to some instrumentals on her
grand Casio Keyboard. The first was a reggae version of “The Guns of
Navarone”. I can remember buying a Ska version of this tune back in the
mid 60s on an old 45 rpm vinyl by the Jamaican band “The
Skatalites”. I hadn’t heard this piece in years so it was real
nostalgia. She followed this with something very, very different, a self
penned instrument called “Doo Dah’s Tattoo” which Jo-Jo had
dedicated to her father. Very Scottish in style with synthesized drum and
marching effects. Extremely evocative.
Although
this club is classed as a “folk club”, this afternoon’s
session encompassed so many styles of music, none of which could accurately
be described as “folk”. I suppose that it would be more accurate
to say that we are a platform for acoustic music. And just to prove that with
cater for all styles Norman
came on next with three very different songs. First was the old George Formby
classic “TT Races”. It always amazes me how Norman gets such a big full sound from such
a small instrument as a ukulele banjo, and he makes it look so easy. He
followed on with the Lonnie Donnegan song “Does your Chewing Gum lose
it’s Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight?” which quickly has
everyone joining in. He then switch to guitar for another old Lonnie Donnegan
song “Jimmy Brown”
It
was then Bill Pardon’s
turn. After hearing my song about Southern England
he decided to dig out one of his old songs that carries further along the
south but going westwards. The song is called “Lines”, and is
about the lei lines of the west country that have been the source of
mysticism from the druid right through to the hippies and new age travellers
(Stonehenge, Glastonbury Tor, etc). He followed on with a Cyril Tawney song
about doom and gloom called “Nicotine Ceiling”. What is so
enjoyable about watching Bill perform songs and monologues is the great way
in which he acts them out. He is tip top on timing and really great on
expression.
Two
very contrasting songs next from Mark
Reed, both his own compositions. The first one was “Shadow
Dancing” which Mark had written several years ago but this was its
first live performance. Lots of clever intricate rebounding bass riffs that
linked the verses. He followed this up with a simple, but highly effective
ballad called “We Found Love”.
After
the break Paul came back on
with the old Buddy Holly favourite “Everyday”. Some very nice
guitar work as he went up and down the keyboard in it’s G tuning with
harmonics and ringing notes from the open strings that added real flavour to
the song. He then did the Bob Dylan song “Blood on the Tracks”.
Jo-Jo came back with another keyboard instrumental, this
time “Rose Marie”. I always regard this as a Sunday song because
when I was a kid Slim Whitman’s version of this song seemed to be
played almost every Sunday on Two Way Family Favourites on the Light
Programme. (For the benefit of the younger folk, the Light Programme pre-dated
Radio 2).
Mark came back for two more of his own songs,
“You” a gentle ballad with some neat guitar picking and
“Walking Man” a much more upbeat and up tempo composition.
It
was then my turn for a
couple more. The first one was a nostalgic look at daytrips as a kid to
Southend, and then a song called “Jennifer Proctor” which was
about someone having an infatuation for their GP !!!
Trevor, who was venue manager this afternoon had so far
not performed, so we were then treated to an extended spot of four great
songs from his ever-growing songbook. The first was “Wonderful
Year”, a very melodic number with good lyrics. Trevor has great skill
in marrying up words and music in great style. Next was a very pleasing song
that he wrote for his daughter called “My English Rose”. He then
did a fairly new song called “Guiding Star” and finished his set
with “Je ne sait Quoi”. (What!!!!!! French at the FaB Club!!!!)
Norman then got everyone tapping their feet and anything
else they could find with two great old George Formby numbers, “Wigan
Boat Express” and “Leaning on a Lampost”.
The
afternoon then finished with John
leading everyone in the good old skiffle song “It takes a Worried
Man”.
Dennis Homes
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