Being The 19th of September 2008

Ah, the seasons they are a changing yet things carry on in much the same way in the small, but perfectly formed, microcosm that is the City Folk Club...
Now let's hand over to the delightful Channel Five newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky to introduce this evenings listing...

Good 'eavens an all innit...?
So I turns round like an I says you wanna watch it you do cos you is a proper caution an no mistake an she's like turnin' round an goin' 'you wanna watch you mouth an' all less it get you in trouble wiv my fist and you is getting a slap for that innit...?

Bottom Of The Bottle: David
Butterflies: Yvonne/Mike
Lullaby: Mike
My Flower, My Companion & Me: Eddie
Hardtimes Come Again No More: John
Song To A Stranger: Jane/Dave
I Just Want To Dance: Jasmin
Landslide: Mike
Seashore: Mick
World Without Love: Brenda/Berry
D In Love: Berry
Dainty Davie: Lynda
Wild Mountain Thyme: Jane
While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping: Sue
Sweet Thyme: Colin
I'm A Loser: Paul
Look What They've Done To My Song: Maggie
Positively 4th Street: David
Halcyon Days: Yvonne/Mike
Grey Funnel Line: Eddie
As Tears Go By: Jane/Dave
Rag Picking: Mick
Rose Marie: Brenda/Berry
Lucky Lips: Berry
Annie's Song: Lynda
Geordie: Jane/Colin
Rout Of The Blues: Sue
Come Write Me Down: Colin/Jane
Boulder To Birmingham: Paul
Summertime: Maggie
Everynight I Play The Bohran: Mike
?: John
The Parting Glass: Sue

I think I speak for everyone present when I say that Jane and Dave's rendition of Song To A Stranger was the highlightyest highlight in an evening of highlightfulness in highlight land...

Fotheringay

Did someone ask, "Who is Sandy Denny?"
Here she is:



Greatly missed.

She Moved Through The Fair...

The increasingly barking Sinead O'Connor (isn't she a Pope now...?) singing (and how...!) She Moved Through The Fair...

Wow...!

Beresford Greene Speaks (second fit)....

Der banded ist disbanden! So sorry 4U who work so hard. Been there done that!

Maggie is not a Turk after all, nor is she a Fronchie. The genuine immigrant is keeping a low profile, especially those from Central Europe. This is because these guys would show us all up when it come to plucking. (The strings I mean). Then there are those who would let us down by not playing when they appear and appearing not to play. This is dis-pick-able in a guitarist. In a singer it is unsung, and in a pianist it is piaNOla. These are new words to add to my existing dictionary of previous BLOG. Upon which glad to find Ken didn't understand it & Colin is ducking & diving under various disguises.

So where do we all go from here? Some of you will be going no-where at all. Others will be toying with a Winter break from our Summer weather. If they choose the right airline they won't actually have to go, even though they have paid to go. This inarticulation of the aeroplane is a new scientific phenomenon newly discovered in the early part of the 21st century. It goes along with a lack of gas & electricity that is the fault of CERN (LHC) - the thing in Switzerland that is set to discover where the smallest ever particle has gone. Were it to be brain particles that they were trying not to discover, I could help by directing them to - oh you've guessed ... ! I have heard that some folk, having only a fragment of the particle - have tried eating old guitar strings. It certainly hasn't harmed them - even if it hasn't worked.

QUIZ : Musical direction is under the control of Sidney who appears by arrangement with Maurice Winnock. Ken will explain, I can't possibly comment more than to say that it is musical.

HINT:- Sometimes when I want to play in the key of Eb I get help from a proper musician. If it Bb I tighten the strings a little bit & act it out more as a natural, and if C# I take Phillosan and do it in C anyway. There are better more musical keys such as Gb & F#m, but they often spoil the narrative. (New word). The squashed man who fell down a mine shaft {A flat minor}, is known to most musical buffs. What is not so easily acquired is the elusive key of Cb. Although difficult to find I can assure everyone that it does exist. It's rather like those quarks & other atomic fragments really.

Tip of the week & key to performance: - Be natural.

Regards, Berry

P.S. - As a person who has so much trouble learning words, I was particularly interested in what David had to say about his methods. What a pity such methods don't work for me! I can take it on the chin,... yes I am thick & handicapped. Even songs that I really love will not stick. A few that I learnt years & years ago, like God Save The King, are in there, but generally, I just can't do it. In fact I am so embarrassingly bad that I have to use a safety net crib-sheet at all times. Not the only snag to this is that you also LEARN to need that crib-sheet.
I also resort to being spiteful towards those who can retain oodles of songwords & seem to think they don't need a reminder. When they break down & founder I laugh at their embarrassment and wonder if perhaps, I do have it right after all. The point is often made that one cannot "EXPRESS" the song when reading. I say that you certainly won't be expressing anything if you lose the words completely. For those who think this in itself can be turned into entertainment I have a message: - It can't! To have any chance of doing that you will need a very good story or joke up your sleeve. This is what has turned me into a small time comedian!
As a matter of truth, it is also the case that most people can't do in live public performance all that they can do in the privacy of their own home. I have come to accept that this will be the case and would only say that it won't get significantly better until you get the song "out there" and start to believe that you CAN do it - live. Repetition in the chosen environment is the key. The kitchen is not a complete substitute. Nerves are born of uncertainty (in my view), and that will be the case until - well it isn't - anymore.
Whilst on this subject, I will just say that while our audiences are mercifully forgiving, it does begin to rankle if one perceives a throwaway attitude or an act that has had no rehearsal whatsoever. This is only because so many of us have spent hours & hours getting nowhere I suspect. BJG