Being the 27th of June 2008

In the embers of a dying Friday you drag yourself upright in your fetid ditch near the gloomy asbestos works...
Wrap your careworn emaciated frame in noisome rags...
Then, with an energy borne of compulsion, begin to lope, knuckles scraping the coarse earth, toward a dim light flickering in a dark and forbidding building...
Reaching the building, whose stench is bettered only by that of your own besmirched corporeality, you fling the door open wide...
Welcome to another evening at the City Folk Club...!

Here's the evening's soundtrack:

The Bottom of the Bottle (David)
The Hand Weaver & the Factory Maid (Colin)
By the Green Grove (Mave)
Sweet Dreams of You (Paul/Bill 1)
Rag Picking (Mick)
Sunny Afternoon (Berry)
I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (Brenda/Berry)
Listening To Old Songs (Ray)
Edward (Bill 1)
The Bergen (Colin/Ken)
Under Oxford Street (Roger)
Matty Groves (David/Bill 1)
We Dreamed Our Dreams (Colin)
Harbour Lights (Ken/Berry)
Now I Have to Call Him Father (Mave)
La Vie En Rose (Gigi)
Autumn Leaves (Paul/Roger)
Teddy Bear's Picnic (Berry)
All Gone Away (Ray)
Pop Goes The Weasel/Off She Goes (Bill 1)
Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor (Roger)

This weeks highlights...?
The return of Bill 1 & Jenny who have been to long away...
Paul and Roger's stunning version of Autumn Leaves...
Which no body should have been able to follow...
Step into the breach..
Berry! Keyboard tinkling Teddy Bear's Picnic...

Truly cursed are those who were not there...

Being the 20th of June 2008

Hello there,
This week, whilst having a nerve calming gasper in the ally at the back of the club, I saw the biggest stag beetle I've ever seen...
I knew you'd all be thrilled...!
Here's the list of what happen this week (excluding the banter, joshing & death threats)...

I Don't Want To Know: David
Love Minus Zero / No Limit: Ken
Effervescing Elephant: Mike
It Ain't Me Babe: Maggie
Lively! : Paul
Kiss The Children For Me Mary: Colin
My Flower, My Companion & Me: Eddie
When The Green Man Walks The Forest: Mave
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child: Roger
Silver Dagger: Anne
Honey Don't: Berry/Ken
Butterflies: Mike/Yvonne
40 Shades Of Green: Eddie
(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care: Paul
See Me Run: David
Blackwaterside: Anne
Good Love Gone Bad: Berry
When I Was A Young Girl: Maggie
The Hole In The Elephant's Bottom: Ken
My Mother Said "Always Look Under The Bed": Mave
A Tree Song: Colin
Farther Along: Roger

On a sad note...
The pigeon that had laid an egg in the ally at the back of the club has been evicted...
Bum...

Being the 13th of June 2008

Friday the 13th? Pah! We laugh in the face of fear and superstition...
A well attended rumbustious evening filled with comely wenches and jocund swains...
errr...?
O.k. the same bunch of derelicts, drunks & ne'er-do-wells looking for somewhere safe to be until they'er rounded up again and put back in the secure unit....

Oh! How we made our own entertainment as the world crumbled around us...
Here's the list:

Fare Ye Well Dearest Nancy (David)
Banks of Sweet Primroses (Colin)
The Last Thing On My Mind (Les)
Drift From The Land (Eddie)
Love In Vain (Sheena)
Creole Girl (Ray)
The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood (Anne)
The Wonder of You/Blueberry Hill (Berry)
As Time Goes By (Brenda)
Adieu To Old England (Mavis)
The Future Mrs. 'Awkins (Ken)
Unsure Love (Maggie)
If You Loved Me Let Me Down Easy (Paul)
One Fine Day (Lynda/Paul)
I Know Where I'm Going (Lucy)
Willie O'Winsbury (David)
Farewell, Farewell (Colin)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Les)
I'll Lay You Down (Eddie)
Sentimental Journey (Anita/Sheena)
Smackwater Jack (Sheena)
Little Bitty Tear (Ray)
Swallow Song (Anne)
Hey! Baby (Berry/Ken)
Are You Lonesome Tonight (Brenda/Berry)
I'll Go No More A'roving (Mave)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot (Maggie)
Peggy Sue (Paul)
The Air That I Breathe (Lynda/Paul)
Da Do Ron Ron (Lucy)

Highlights of this week:

Mave singing a lewd ditty...
Berry confusing Sheena's guitar tuner with the lights of Las Vegas...
Brenda's final flourishes...
Les picking some top sing-a-long songs...

So, should we be spared the arrival of the 4 Horsemen of the apocalypse or the Beatles reform, same again next week...

Being the 6th of June 2008...

Yet another successful evening of chums huddled together, singing to keep their spirits up...

Here's the set list:

Black Rabbit of Scar House/The Fallen Moon (David)
Flying High (Mike)
Molly Malone (Eddie)
Unsure Love (Maggie)
I Live Not Where I Love (Colin)
The Wife Of Usher's Well (David)
Please Don't Call Me Louise (Mike)
Waltzing Matilda (Eddie)
Learning The Game (Paul)
Let It Be (Lynda & Paul)
La Vie En Rose (Gigi)
That's No Way To Say Goodbye (Lucy)
Lilac Wine (Maggie)
One Night As I Lay On My Bed (Colin)
All Tomorrows Parties (David)
Just A Simple Love Song (Mike)
The 40 Shades Of Green (Eddie)
A Little Bitty Tear (Paul)
And I Love Her/Him (Lynda & Paul)
Fields Of Gold (Anita/Gigi/Lucy)
Thank Heaven For Little Girls (Gigi)
I Will (Lucy)
It Ain't Necessarily So (Maggie)
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy (Colin)
The Drowned Lovers (David)
Whiskery Bob (Mike)
The Night Is Young (Eddie)
Things We Used To Do (Paul)

Some aspects of the evening that filled me with joy:
Seeing Lucy return to the fold
Eddie finding his wedding ring (it was down the side of the sofa at home)
Lynda's "some sort of tango" ring tone
Having to explain the phrase "looking for the golden rivet"

So, back to the shelter till next week...