Thursday, May 30, 2013

Being Friday the 24th of May, 2013 ...

 
 
 
"Where is everybody?"asked Moseley.

Well, Berry turned up as MC.
He demonstrated these accessories ...



A guitar pick ...
 
 

A capo ...



A baby bath ... ??!


By 2037hrs.37secs. we were ready to entertain ourselves.


  • Berry began proceedings from his back passage ... catalogue.

  • Paul regretted the passing of adolescence.
 

Suzanne led us in choral, harmonic whistling,
including counterpoint!


Molly drank tea.



 
 
Berry was permitted to caress Elsie.
Actually, Elsie is Mick's pretty, new guitar, described as
'a parlour jumbo'.
 


Mick fiddled for the ballroom.

 
 
Fortunately, this notice was not regarded
as an instruction.
(Thank you, Nigel.)
 
Parish notices ...
I Love my Village Festival.
That's at ...
Manor Farm, Church Lane, Eastergate.
2.00pm - 11.00pm.
  • The Guide Hall will be available to us every Friday throughout June and July.


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Being Friday the 17th of May, 2013 ...

 
 
Here's the latest wall-hanging, of uncertain significance.
 
 
This was another cosy gathering off 11 bodies, MC-d by Angela, fresh from her Way out West gig with Paul in Washington (UK).
Objective accounts indicate that the gig went well.

 
This is the shirt that Angela
bought in a charity shop
for that event.

 
 
We asked, “Did you get paid?”
There followed an interesting and indignant observation from Berry that organisers of ‘open-mike’ sessions capitalise on performers … who get nowt. 
 
The early proceedings had the flavour of a respiration workshop.
Everyone agreed that breathing air was quite a good thing.
Here are the graphic instructions...
 
 

Only occasionally did Paul forget.

 
 

We talked about history, demographics, health and money.
Berry commented, “We’ve got all these supermarkets and people are obese.”
Molly observed that people in their 70s appear to be stronger than those 10 or 20 years younger.
Dogsbody resolved to grow up!
 
Between all this irrelevant banter we were encouraged to perform songs and music.
 

 
Look out, Rangers,
those redskins are coming!
 
 
 
Roger builds a railroad.
 


"Come along, Johnny,
it's time to go home."
 
Roger asked about ‘Claudy Banks.’
Some commentators claim that the song refers to the River Clyde.
Others, however, observe that there is the village of Claudy in Co. Derry, Northern Ireland. It lies on the banks of the River Faughan.
Now, that makes sense ...

 
 
Cumber Bridge crossing R. Faughan at Claudy, N.I.
 
 
Berry sang a song addressed to his mother ...
 

Why should this be so?
Was it because the lyrics refer
to kissing?
 
 
Apart from all that there was the customary death-count, one talking bird, references to love, something about the Romany community and ... at least ... TWO trains!
 
 



Thursday, May 16, 2013

70 years ago ...

It's an anniversary today.
I intend no disrespect, but this is for ukulele lovers ...


 
BOMBS AWAY!
 
 

Despite it's regrettable function, the Avro Lancaster was a particularly beautiful piece of British engineering ...
 
 
No, this is not my Airfix model.
 

 



Monday, May 13, 2013

Being Friday the 10th of May, 2013 ...

Songs of ...
  • domestic violence,
  • divorce,
  • addiction to illegal substances,
  • at least six human deaths,
  • two lost limbs,
  • one small dog’s funeral and
  • an exploding goat …

what more light entertainment could you possibly desire on a Friday evening?

 

You could, of course, have stayed at home to listen to Friday Night is Music Night on BBC Radio 2.

10 of us didn’t, and enjoyed one of those cosy evenings of music and banter at the City Folk Club.
 
The new table-illumination was explained, discussed, admired and criticised … nobody got burnt.

We welcomed Elayne's friend, Rosie, who sang to what, in Dogsbody's humble opinion, is one of the finest folk melodies ever composed ...

 
 

No, we didn't have a brass band.

The obscure conundrum for the week was, “What did Sylvester say to Sweetie-Pie?” Paul replied in tongues, before yodelling something that had recently been described elsewhere as 'truly dreadful' with Angela.
It wasn't dreadful, at all.

Elayne managed to include the word 'effluvium' in a song.
 
Pearl of wisdom: “Symmetry is everything.” Mike said that … not sure why.
 
 
Look out, ladies, here comes Gomez!

 

 
In life I belonged to Mr. MacGinty.



"I am going a-walking by
yon clear crystal stream."
WHOOPS!


No, they are not ice-creams!



Thursday, May 9, 2013

May-time at Evershed ...

 
Some of us congregated at this establishment to await transport...
 


Others, arriving a little later, yet still on time, discovered two minibuses, (not the anticipated luxury coach,) waiting for us across the road in the market car park.


Our transport wasn't like this!


We embarked on the most delightful journey through the Sussex countryside in the evening sunshine.

Mrs. Dogsbody went to sleep!


We arrived in Billingshurst by 7.00pm, and we were warmly welcomed by Stuart, Jan and Jane to the Evershed Unitarian Chapel.

 



We consumed food, generously provided by Jane.
Only Max complained that there wasn’t a bar!

Then we had music.
Oh, wow! … did we have music?!


Here's Stuart ...




... and Mike...



Then we heard Bang on the Ear. They were rather good ...



 
 
[Further video footage awaits editing and permission.]
 
Then came Angela and Paul ...
 

 
 
Stuart's generous account with Anthony's still images can be found on the Evershed blog.
 
On the return journey our driver tuned the radio to Classic FM, and we all relaxed to Rodrigo's Concerto d'Orange Juice.
Jane went to sleep again!
 
 
Now, what follows is personal, but I know my thoughts are shared ...
Thank you, Stuart, Jan and Jane for the invitation, the warm welcome and Jane for FOOD!
The musical contributions were outstanding, and I felt privileged to be part of the event.
I was immensely proud of everybody who came along to represent The City Folk Club.
THANK YOU. 

Loads of people said thank you to me.
Well, err … thank you for saying that, but I'm an 'umble being who doesn't easily receive gratitude
... all I did was organise the transport!

The evening was memorable because of the wonderful people who came along.
You were all truly remarkable.
 
 
 
 



Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Being Friday the 3rd of May, 2013 ...

Dogsbody was in the chair to facilitate.
Now, to ‘facilitate’: there’s an interesting verb.

Is it some sort of rustic metaphor?
Is it legal?
Does it mean …
  • ‘... to make things easy’, as it were from the French?
  • Or could it be, according to OED, ‘having a superficial and simplistic knowledge’?
  • Then there’s ‘… ignoring the true complexities of an issue; superficial …’
  • Other dictionaries come up with words/phrases like: ‘trivial,’ ‘unsubstantiated opinion,’ ‘commonplace,’ etc.


Ignoring such facile nonsense, 13 people came along to make sure that we had an enjoyable evening of music.
We couldn’t ignore that we’re in May-time …

 

Hail, hail ...
 
 
 

What a bonny moorhen.
 
 
 

Mick's tune of dubious origin ...
something to do with lead.
 
She walks these hills ...
 
 
On being the ploughman's joy.

 
Did anyone notice that we now have low-risk luminescence?
 
 
You don't have to blow them out
... and they're COOL!


These cost the club less than £1.00 each, inc. batteries and p&p from here.
With 80 hours battery-life, we should be OK for a few weeks.

Would anybody like to buy some redundant tea-lights?
Please make a reasonable offer to Dogsbody before I advertise them on EBay.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Whatever happened to the First day of May?

That's the festival of Beltane in the Celtic calendar: a holiday when wiccans and pagans would perform strange rituals to protect their crops and livestock.
  • Folk donned their finest outfits and would parade and sing in the streets.
  • Cattle were decorated with May blossoms.
  • Fair maidens danced around poles. This was an innocent, intricate and collaborative effort that has nothing to do with pole-dancing, nor eastern Europeans being the centre of attention.
  • Daring males built bonfires and demonstrated their courage by leaping over the burning embers. Such dangerous activity was believed to encourage growth and fertility.

It all went downhill from there.

In 1973, Robin Hardy directed the disturbing, X-rated film The Wicker Man, (not for the faint-hearted!)

Then came 1977.
This was number 2 in the UK pop charts ...





 
 

Good tune, though!
Stirring stuff, eh?