Born on this day: John Calvin, J.M. Whistler, Arthur Ashe, Virginia Wade, Arlo Guthrie,

Well, summer’s here: wellies out, umbrellas up, pullies on and all the old dears bemoaning the weather in the hairdresser’s today should know better by now – after all they have endured many more of them than most of us!!!!

Totally unplugged tonight ‘cos the sound man is off on holiday tomorrow, thankfully we’re not too busy so we don’t have to sing up.

Neil started us off with Easy Street tonight – back from a holiday meant it took him a good phrase or two to remember the words, but hey ho, who cares! He started the next set with I Wish, a song about the way you might like to have misspent your youth.

Dez gave us the gentle self-penned melody, I’ll Be Waiting – a lovely choice for the evening and we’ll all be waiting for his return from holiday eight days from now. The Debt That We Owe was his parting number as he prepared to drive off down to the…. deep south…….

Drew gave us The Tale of Jessie James followed by Can’t Stop Lovin’ You – Leo Sayer’s number - after the break.

Kris managed to find a guitar whilst on holiday (sad!) and she spent much of her time working out the chords to Do Something – from the Eagles Road Out Of Eden CD, which she duly played tonight. After the break we got Diamonds and Rust

Ken played an instrumental of the Tudor melody, Greensleeves accompanied by Drew, which was absolutely wonderful. We all sang along to Sloop John B under orders from the maestro himself.

Graham played a self-penned swing-style song called About You. Graham gave us another catchy tune after the break called It’s Up To You

Matt promised us a short song and launched into a five minute tuning session just to fill in the time – zzzzzzzzz - when we’d filled our glasses he played a self-penned number called Beautiful Machine. Karen’s World came after the break.

Keyna then performed The Wind That Shakes The Boy – reminding us all that that was one of the weather elements we HADN’T experienced this last few days. Sonny Jim was her song for the second half.

John toyed with telling us a few jokes, then, realising that his audience were none-too-intelligent, went on to play Stranger On The Shore on harmonica – which we did appreciate. Musicians are a funny bunch!! In a parallel world to doctors, we make a bad audience. The Ash Grove followed in the second half.

Terry chose to play his own melody, Re-Incarnate – and very nice it was too. He played Dreams after the break

Julian took to the stage – avec his comfy stool - to give us Cat Stevens’ Father And Son, braving a barrē chord for the first time in public: a true guitarist’s milestone – akin to a birthday. He gave us Bad, Bad Leroy Brown after the break

Peter on treble recorder, gave us three tunes – two of which were mazurkas, one not a mazurka – and it is great that there is such a variety of both styles and instruments at our folk club. Taking us on a swift explanatory excursion, Peter finished up by playing and singing Rapping the Back, a mining song.

Robin played a song from his latest CD called Reach – inspired by the long distance nature of his closest friendships. Rueing the absence of our M.C. last week, he launched into I Don’t Think She Heard and finished the evening.

Raine closed the first half with her Mediterranean Mix on mandolin.

Summer Sessions 2008

June 19th at the Green Man

Review by Kris

Born on this day: Kathleen Turner, Salman Rushdie, Wallace Simpson, James I.

 Humid tonight – yet breezy. All the old familiar faces, and ones from as far afield as Australia. Neil has materialised, giving no reason for his absence last week – will have to get his his mum to send in a note.

Neil started the evening with with his own version of Tequila Sunrise, ably assisted by Graham on harmonica and Dez on harmonies. In the second set he gave us You Can Tell

Dave played us a number he had composed with Neil, Rhino Willy, and they both gave us their ‘drunken lads night out’ version tonight, followed by Cousin Jane, recorded by The Troggs and written by Dave himself, after the break.

Ken gave us the gentle traditional song, An English Country Garden, and got us all singing along to the refrain, likewise with Pub With No Beer after the break when John accompanied him on the harmonica.

Kris continued the mellow mood with Gentle On My Mind accompanied by bass line notation played on the top string as she strummed the rhythm on the guitar. Mesmeric! An acoustic arrangement of Desperado followed in the second set.

Graham gave us Ticket To Ride and the mixed harmonies were provided by a well lubricated audience. After the break he gave us McCartney’s My Love

Nigel gave us a Joe Brown song, That Wonderful Picture Of You, reminding some of us about our youth.

Dez, also in gentle mood gave us the self-penned Wherever You Are which celebrates its one month birthday, followed after the break with a subtle switch of mood to the slightly depressed, and Are You Up There.

Terry, our visitor from afar, treated us to an Eagles number, Saturday Night from the Desperado Album and followed that after the break with Garden Party

Chris Payne  played On My Way Again, the range of the melody suiting his voice very well, as did Wonderful Tonight after the break

Pam wrote a poem about her job and for the first time, after many months of listening to us singing she got up and read The Lesson

John has recently had a problem with his hearing, but as is his wont he used this temporary disability to his advantage and would have us believe that the song he played for us on the autoharp was what he heard from the frogs that had made their home in his strawberry patch. It was just the ears wasn’t it John? He followed this with his own song, Waves, after the break

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Chris Sweetman also sang a new song this week about a catholic priest who was a POW  during the second world war- Maximillian Colby. He followed this with another thought provoking song after the break.

Robin played a number off his new CD called Freedom – no mean feat distilling a complex arrangement down to a single acoustic guitar and voice.  Bored On A Thursday Afternoon (but never on a Thursday night) followed after the break

Corinna reminded us all about the bitter irony that is free will, with a self-penned song called Bitter Sweet Woman. Arbour Low followed after the break.

Stuart and Corinna then gave us a duet of Stuart’s song Fragments – great synchronised guitars, sweet harmonies.

Peter, on flute, gave us a lovely arrangement of The Keel Row – a well known traditional melody on the subject of boats.

Raine brought along her mandolin tonight and gave us a medley of melodies which included Begin The Beguine and Save The Last Dance For Me.

Rick, arriving rather late after a wander round the local geography, gave us Padstow Bay 

Summer Sessions

June 12th at The Green Man

 Review by Kris

Born on this day: Anne Frank, George Bush Snr, Anthony Eden, David Rockefeller, and Vic Damone.

Our resident MC, Neil, went AWOL, so we muddled through as best we could: Graham declined the honours – wanting a quiet night, Dez started the evening off, but quickly decided he too wanted a quiet night, so they were left with me and my complete lack of tact to run the evening!! So….

Dez started the evening with his own quality song, I Cried Inside. Later he joined forces with Kris, and together they gave us Still Got The Blues – lead and rhythm guitar arrangement. Later still, Graham made up the trio, bass and rhythm guitars and harmonica, to give us Sentimental Journey – the three part harmonies taking us back to a gentler era.

Graham gave us a lovely self-penned song called The Tide’s Not Turning Anymore, relaxed, smooth and polished performance as ever.

Nigel gave us Old Kentucky Home with a gloriously unapologetic Brummie accent, followed in the second set with Bad World and You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away. Great entertainment, lovely sing-a-long atmosphere.

Rick sang Memories Of You first off. During the performance, a well timed extended car horn sounded just as he was singing the following line: I stopped the car……priceless! Later he gave us Blackwater Estuary and Bedsit Town. Rick writes all of his own material and performs it with a complex guitar accompaniment and a talking/singing style that is unique to theis guy.

Gene treated us to a visit tonight and gave us an American traditional song called The Lone Pilgrim followed after the break with The Lily of The West and then a piece written by himself called A Place Called Liberty. This guy plays a mean guitar, but the range and quality of his voice are what makes us sit and listen in absolute silence….and he writes his own memorable songs too…….life is so unfair!

Mick had to follow Gene, but his version of Woodstock was easily up to the task, as were the If I Were A Carpenter and Barricades after the break.

Robin debutted his newest song for us tonight, a little number entitled Cowboys and Indians and the first song after the break was a collaboration practised over the internet with Dez (!?) called I Had A Gun followed by Tennessee Place sung solo. He was giving away free copies of his CD all night, and thus became Mr Popular – tight bunch that we are!! Having listened to it I can recommend it.

Corinna got Stuart to tune the guitar before she gave us the self-penned, When Dreams Are Lost, followed in the second set by Height Of Heather and Not About You – both self-penned. The magic is in the words, the charm in the understated delivery.

Stuart, who only ever sings his own brilliant songs, played Paragon to begin with and then, courtesy of Julian giving up his second slot, he gave us Natural Like Rain and Bitter, Angry. The mystery is in the words, the humour in the ‘rabbit in the headlights’ delivery.

Julian played Cheryl Crowe’s If It Makes You Happy and The Wizard with style and aplomb

Tony entertained us with Reviewing The Situation from the musical Oliver, acting out the words brilliantly as he sung them

Raine played us a medley of tunes, including Abba’s Fernando, on the mandolin.

Summer Sessions

May 29th at The Green Man

Review by Kris

Born on this day: John F. Kennedy, Bob Hope, Isaac Albeniz, Charles II.

The ‘Do’ over the bank holiday is behind us now and people have been very kind about our part in the festival. As always, after a busy musical weekend, a kind of anti-climactic apathy has emerged and I, for one, hope that tonight will lift us out of it. We were thin on the ground at eight o’clock, but that didn’t stop the talent emerging, as the evening relaxed into the night, from this select group.

Neil roused us from our various conversations and gave us What Can I Say, even though he was suffering terribly with a cold and sore throat. Filling in for badly timed absences from our later arrivals, Neil recited Bare Knuckle Fight. After the break he recited Batman’s Not In Gotham City

Dez played his new song, Where Ever You Are. Must be something about the evening mood, but tonight he was so much more laid back than last week and the song seemed mellower.  Second public outing and all that may play a part too. Before You Accuse Me was his ‘throw away tune’ after the break.

Gosher was more laid back than usual as he gave us with much use of picked strings and thirds followed in the second half by A Soft Place To Fall and Johnny be Good with Neil after the break

Kris sang Streets of London, followed by the instrumental, Signe after the break.

Terry sang a Damien Rice song, Lonely Soldier followed after the break with Paris In Summer, a song about a moment captured in time with his wife.

Graham gave us Ain’t Misbehaving – he protesteth too much methinks – in his easy, sing-a-long, swing style. The trombone solo by Jonathan Sweetman was a great addition. What A Wonderful World on harmonica, with Kris messing it up on vocals and guitar followed after the break.

Stuart, after reclaiming a long lost plectrum (shades of violins and grand romantic slow motion reunions), gave us his own song Burn Me Alive followed in the second half by Almost Perfect

Corinna, as unassuming as ever, gave us a lovely version of Where Ravens Feed followed after the break by Arbour Low

Chris P, ensuring he put his capo at the right fret, played Dolphins and later gave us Positively 4^th Street

John, armed with autoharp and harmonica, gave us Maggie and followed it after the break with an instrumental on the autoharp written by Hisself, called Waves

Chris and Jonathan Sweetman, guitar and trombone, gave us I Got Music and Jarda. Why do acorns never fall far from the tree? I would hate to witness a difference of opinion in this highly talented household!!!

Peter, on recorder gave us two melodies, each entitled Bonaparte Crossing The Rhine followed after the break by a pair of country dance tunes. Mister Fast Fingers indeed!!

Robin played a self-penned song called Annie And Me, but he just wouldn’t be drawn on just who Annie was. Intriguing. After the break he descended to the depths of typical folk despair to bring us (We’re All Going To) Hell.

Julian, making a welcomed return to playing at the club after an extended break, played Maggie May, followed after the break with Feel Like Makin’ Love.

Dez and Kris played Runaway to close the evening.

 

Spring Sessions

May 22nd at the Rising Sun

Review by Kris

Born on this day: Richard Wagner, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Aznavore and Herge (Belgian cartoonist).

Well, the bank holiday weekend is upon us and many of us are nervously anticipating our performances in the Willington Arts Festival, whether that be being involved in the Music In The Air events, or the Sunday evening concert.

Usual waifs and strays first, followed by those with things to finish before they are allowed out to play!!

The RMC Band started the evening with a couple of the numbers they intend to play on Sunday: Daydream with Dez, Graham, Neil and Kris, and He’s Not There with Dez, Graham and Kris.

Drew then gave us the gently played Kristofferson number, Sunday Morning Coming Down, followed by Where Do You Go To My Lovely after the break.

Maz and Ken teamed up, vocal and guitar, to give us that perennial Beatles favourite Yesterday. followed by Scarborough Fair after the break.

Gosher played a Clapton classic Wonderful Tonight – great arrangement on the introduction and laid back delivery to follow.

Terry tells us a joke about a reunion of sorts and then played Blue Wing He definitely plays a mean song, and the least said about the jokes, the better. He gave us Under Tow after the break

Keyna sang sweetly about The Farmer, entrancing us all within the spell she weaves every time she sings. After the break, she and Neil performed a re-arranged version of Neil’s song No Man’s Land

Mick played a lerv song (his pronunciation) called Run. which he proceeded to run down and then surprised us all by producing a song that was really quite listenable to. He and Maz duetted in the second half, adding complex rhythms on the bodrun to Mick’s hypnotic strumming.

John cleaned up a joke that he’d filched off the internet and finally did what he does best: played Gershwin’s Summertime on harmonica – complete wit h his trademark modulation.

Chris Payne, he with the golden basso profundo voice, gave us Handle Me With Care after delivering a one-liner that had us all groaning.

Stuart, avoiding any attempt at a joke, gave us Believe – another well-crafted self penned number.

Corinna sang a gentle song she has written about her dad called Taken She just gets better and better

Rick tuned his guitar so professionally we thought it was his performance (new nylon strings are a real nightmare – especially in the summer) but he went on to perform Blackwater Song

Rob gave us a recitation entitled The Bird In The Cage and got us all thinking about what we do with our lives, followed by The Door – another thought provoking observation centreing on our preconceptions and biases.

Robin played The Optimist – a semi-cheerful song by his standards and after the break One Day, both written by this talented visitor to our shores.

Cecelia and Michael, on hurdy gurdy and clarinet – a rare mix of instruments -  sang a beautiful Hungarian folk song. Cecelia’s voice is well suited to the songs she chooses to sing and her hurdy gurdy had such a beautifully mellow, mature and well-rounded sound.

Raine played us to the break with Good Things To Think on the mandolin.

Dez sang a new song for us this week, Where Ever You Are, which possessed a touch of swing and a smattering of mellow jazz in its timbre and delivery.

Graham, taking time from his band duties, gave us the self-penned Wait Until Spring

Kris gave us the reflective Now And Forever classic from Richard Marx

Spring Sessions

May 5th at the Green Man 

 Review by Kris

Those born on this day:Karl Marx, Tyrone Power, Michael Palin, Tammy Wynette, Emperor Justinian.

Well, I reckon summer’s here. By 7:30 it’s still light and it’s warm enough to walk around without a coat on. You can hear the children still playing outside and the traffic is still heavy around that ridiculous double roundabout that serves as traffic management in this village.

We couldn’t switch off the light to signal the start of the music, so Dez switched it on and off again!

Neil played a self-penned song, One Little Girl all about those news stories that have a morbid fascination, to start us off – put us right there in the mood for a folk evening! Another homespun song, Easy Street started us off after the break, followed by You Can Tell

Robin came in extraordinarily early tonight for him, so on a whim, I decided to call on him to follow with a song called Blue Sky that he’d written - on a whim. Another cheerful song about angst – but very good! He gave us Magenta Boulevard and I’m Just a Teenage Dirt Bag after the break.

John  quickly made a few hurried attire adjustments, much to the humour of the crowd, to give us My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean and Waves (a song he’d written himself) on the autoharp, by way of a melody medley. With a Girl in Your Arms and Grandfather’s Clock followed the break

Kris, Dez and Graham, with Neil on harmonica swung their way through a Sentimental Journey – rather like the journey we all make every Thursday to get to the Real Music Club. Kris sang Sweetest of All and Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue in the second half.

Graham remained in the desk lamp light (actually, three stolen from someone’s desk and taped to a roof truss) to give us the easy listening melody, Til There Was You. Wait until Spring and She’s Just Like You were the songs he played after the break

Dez gave us a gently sung and deftly picked, When You Need Someone, a song written by himself. Up A Mountain – dedicated to Stuart and Corinna – and then, livening it up, with Real Music after the break.

Keyna continued the gentle theme with The Farmer – sung in her haunting acapella style. Her voice on a summer’s evening has a charm all of its own. The Bitter Boy and When I Fall In Love followed after the break

Drew played Streets Of London, equally as gentle as the preceding songs – and elicited mixed harmonies around the room. Gift Of A Brand New Day and Just a Little Rain were the songs he gave us after the break.

Matt gave us an assured performance of one of his best songs, Wind In My Sails– lots of light and shade and contrasting dynamics adding to the interest. In the second half he gave us The Thing That Never Was and recited Pot Pies and Puddings in Pitmatic dialect. More of that please Pet!!

Stuart, after a ‘massive re-tune’ at the top of the stairs, played a song we all know very well here at the RMC, Fragments. We don’t see much of Stuart these days….probably down to the fact that his student days are over and he’s joined the workforce. The Silence and Forgotten followed after the break.

Corinna played Not About You and Height and Heather after the break – both songs written by herself and very gently delivered.

Rick delivered his self-penned Pictures in a style reminiscent of Peter Sarstedt  – musically full and half spoken. To close the evening he gave us two more songs, but I didn’t catch the titles!!

Raine, on mandolin, played a self-penned melody called Jungle Bird, and took us to the break

Spring Sessions

April 24th at The Rising Sun

Review by Kris

Born on this Day: Barbra Sreisand, William i, Shirley MacLaine, Karl Rothschild, John Williams,

The night started early – it wasn’t even dark when I drew the curtains!! There were a whole gaggle of rehearsals going on when I got here. And nearly everyone was saying how hot it was – ‘Why don’t they switch off the radiators?’ exclaimed Dez.

Neil did his weekly practice as Drew adjusted the PA settings and then he started us off with Nobody Loves Me Now, just to get the sympathy of the audience.  

Ken and Drew gave us Paddy McGinty’s Goat. It sounded really good even though Ken wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as they finished because he thought it went ‘a bit quick’.

Dave gave us a lounge melody by the title of Mr Song Writing Man – autobiographical then! In the second half he gave us his comical Mr Universe

Maz  then gave us an acapella performance of her own song, Melody. You’d never know it was the first time she’d used the microphone – well done. Maz and Dave joined forces in the second half to give us The Last Rose Of Summer

Drew took time away from his sound engineer duties to give us Searching For Soldiers Brave. He always chooses interesting and tuneful pieces.

rew and Keyna then teamed up to perform If I Needed You – a lovely mix of voices and guitar that got lots of us joining in.

Chris Payne gave us an easy listening classic, Who Knows Where The Time Goes? Gentle guitar strum and Chris’ characteristically resonant vocals. He gave us Days after the break.

Graham then treated us to one of his own songs, The Tide’s Not Turning Anymore. Soft, relaxed and full of meaning.

Dez and Kris gave us Runaway, mixed guitars and two part vocals. Kris fumbled the odd (very odd) note or two, which gave rise to Dez’s eyebrows!!

Gosher gently played his guitar to Cardboard City – lots of descending bass notes and subtle ligados on top. Finished off with what Neil calls an ‘air tremelo’

Terry sang a moody melody from Paul Weller by the name of Wild Wood. He gave us another song in the second half, but typically he announced the composer, but not the title!!

John regaled us with a tune on the autoharp which he didn’t know the title to, so what hope have I got?? I have to be told the title of almost every song played by almost everyone!! It was very nice though….. Danny Boy.

Alex and Beth, guitar and vocals, sang Volcanoes. Well phrased and great contrasting vocal styles, and went on to give us Inner Circle.

Mick gave us a hypnotic version of Learned the Sea. Mick and Maz played Love Come Back To Me with guitar and tambor after the break.

Chris Sweetman delved back into his childhood prodigy days and gave us an instrumental piece called She’s Funny That Way, that his old physics teacher had sabotaged the first time around. Good job Chris isn’t the sensitive kind – otherwise we’d never have enjoyed his guitar playing!! A Chris-style syncopated Blackbird was played after the break.

Robin gave us a gentle song about his childhood home - Tearing The Neighbourhood Down

Rick took to the stage, and borrowing Graham’s guitar gave a virtuoso showing of guitar playing which accompanied his unique way of sing-talking a song. Great. Somewhere In England was his second half offering

Hugh started the second half on the piano accordion with a medley of reel-type songs and got us into the swing again.

Raine played us to the break on the mandolin with a self-penned number Ice Cube

Dez then played his beautiful piece about the Boxing Day Tsunami. My own personal favourite melody written by this talented guy.

Kris sang The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face after the break, and forgot one chord - all the way through – at least she was consistent!

Another hugely busy night. It remains for me to thank those of you who come along week after week, not to play or sing, but to listen to the varied musical talents that grace our club. Without you all, it would not be the same.  

Spring Sessions

April 10th at the Rising Sun

Review by Kris

Born on this day:

Joseph Pulitzer, William Booth, Omar Shariff

This evening we were thinner on the ground than of late, but as you will see, the quality was not missing.

Neil sang two self-penned numbers, No Longer Lovers and Daily News. Lovely songs, great performer.

Drew gave us Surfer Girl and There but for Fortune. He has become one of us regulars and the quality of his music never disappoints. He was also chiefly responsible for operating the PA all evening.

John, on autoharp and harmonica gave us Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring and on harmonica only, Danny Boy.

Dez gave us a self-penned song, Time Stands Still and later duetted with Kris to perform Killer Queen. He also set up and dismantled the equipment at the venue. Kris’ other song was Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.

Chris Payne sang No Regrets and a Simon/Garfunkel number starting with the words A Winter’s Day possibly entitled I Am a Rock.

Graham gave us a little swing tonight with I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself a Letter and Ain’t Misbehaving.

Mick sang a self-penned song, Someone Else’s Game and Long Way From Here To There.

Keyna sang two songs accapella: Last Thing On My Mind and Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

Chris Sweetman gave us two self-penned numbers on a new guitar, Welcome Home Son and Mark and David, despite a sore back.

Robin also sang two self-penned numbers: Whole Lies and Half Truths and Stage which had some great chord sequences.

Peter gave us Jerusalem Ridge on his flute and another melody in the second half that I didn’t catch the name of.

Dave travelled from the Scragg End club to give us two self-penned songs: Two Apple Trees and You Were Always There.

Rick using the nylon strung classical guitar and played two self-penned numbers: Strangers In The Forest and Above Padstow Bay

Paul, all the way from south Leicestershire gave us two self-penned numbers: Punch and Judy Man and Running On Empty. Lovely voice, great songs. Come back soon, you will always be welcome.

Raine sang her own song, Step Out In Style accapella because there was no piano in the room tonight.

We had a large proportion of good, self-penned songs this evening which speaks volumes for the amount of talent we pack into the room on a Thursday night. It is great to know that many, many people out there are willing to keeping music live and travel to The RMC on Thursday. Thank You to every one of you.

Finally, this review is short and sweet due to lack of time – it won’t happen too often!!!

Spring Sessions 2008

April 3rd at the Green Man 

Review by Kris

Born on this day:

Marlon Brando, Eddie Murphy, Doris Day, Richard II, Helmut Kohl, Alec Baldwin, Leslie Howard.

Well, April Fool’s day and it’s flying penguins have been safely consigned to the annals of history (my dear old mum was well and truly taken in, and having missed the reveal, will be eternally convinced of it’s veracity – ta very much BBC – do you not realise the almost gospel status your words assume to a section of your audience.)

Neil brought us to order with a self-penned number, William James’ Funeral – a great poem set to lovely music and played with consummate ease. After the break he gave us Daily News

Drew gave us the gentle classic Kathy’s Song, played and sung softly and with feeling, followed by Catch The Wind in the second half.

Graham continued the gentle mood with a self-penned number called She’s Just Like You. Our own resident Bacharach.  followed this after the break with Ticket To Ride which gave us all a chance to join in

Bob gave us a self-penned song with a mixed beat entitled Pictures In My Mind. Lovely guitar playing, lovely song. In the second half he gave us Dancing In The Snow written for an absent Gemma

Keyna sang Somewhere Along the Road and we were glad to be in the room listening to her rather than somewhere along the road to Burton! She told us all to Turn Around after the break because some of us had got to Brum!!!

Chris P, he with the Robeson voice, gave us the Dylan classic, Blowing In The Wind, ably assisted by the audience. He gave us his syncopated version of Lyin’ Eyes after the break.

Liam, on his first visit to the club, played James Blunt’s latest release, Carry You Home. You’d never guess he only heard it on his way home from work tonight! He gave us Uncomfortably Slow after the break

Kris stunned us into silence with her rendition of Joan Baez’s Diamonds and Rust

John read us a joke from his piece of paper…….and then entertained us with Stranger on the Shore played on harmonica and after the break, There’s a Kind of Hush

Chris S sang a song to his wife called The Weakness of Me Accompanying himself, in his usual accomplished way, on a sweetly played guitar. (sorry about the language play folks). After the break he sang a self-penned number, I Should Like to Hold Your Hand

Julian gave us a new song tonight, Lady In Black by Uriah Heap –another great song and performance. Lovely to see you playing for us again. After the break he gave us Stealin’ – in the inimitable style only Julian could get away with. Magic!!

Dez went for it tonight with his brilliant version of Stairway To Heaven – and that is just where he led us! He continued the mood with I’ll Be Waiting after the break.

Robin played us a reject from his latest album called Perfect and the irony of the situation is that the song was about how the female population seem to reject him! Hmmm….poetic justice or what? But there was Hope after the break!

Maz took us to the break with an acapella performance of A Bunch of Time.

Hugh, dry as ever, observing that not many of us could speak Gaelic chose to sing Sine Bhan, a Gaelic song. Lovely.

Terry sang a Steve Knightly song, Poppy Day. Always does a good job does Terry.

After telling us a joke about a dog, cat and fox, Raine played Good Things to Think on the mandolin. Both were equally entertaining.

 

 

Spring Sessions 2008 

 March 27th at the Rising Sun

Review by Kris

Born on this day: 

Romulus (Rome’s founder), Wilhelm Rontgen (X-rays), Henry Royce, Michael York, Cyrus Vance.

We knew we were in for something special tonight when the room started to fill early and quickly – old faces and many new or occasional visitors. ‘Must be a bad night on telly’ someone was heard to say immediately before he was silenced – forever! We packed a record number into that little room tonight, thinking how ‘cosy’ it might be across the road.

Neil was hard pressed to quieten the conversations around the room but using his quick wit (sarcasm) and stage presence (inappropriate abuse of the mike) the night began. He sang Easy Street and this week the whole audience joined in with chorus, which was just as well because he actually forgot the words! Of course the audience helped out – mainly with abuse and sarcasm….Ahhh we are definitely in for a good night. A faultless performance of The Blues Come For Free after the break and his slick links between acts all night did more than redeem his awesome reputation as M.C.  and performer extraordinaire.

Ken continued the audience participation with a carefully executed and greatly appreciated Streets of London. Ken approached Neil at the start of the evening to ask why he had never felt the sharp side of Neil’s tongue when he was being introduced – oh dear me what a gaff!!

Gosher gave us a self-penned soulful number, Spirit of The Night, full of string bends, vocal glissandos and his signature waving guitar on the last chord.  

Drew and Graham on guitar and harmonica gave a great performance of Nights in White Satin avec the massed RMC choir. Drew went on to sing Darcy Farrow in the second half.

Dez then gave us a stonking performance of a self-penned number called When You Smile, following with The Debt That We Owe after the break.

Graham gave us a soft and gentle self-penned number called All The While, leaving the audience full of the mood of the ‘summer of love’. He sang The Closest Thing to Crazy after the break.

Kris, playing solo bass sang Midnight Blues and after the break returned to her beloved classical guitar to play Nobody Loves You When You’re Down And Out.

Mark treated us to a self penned number called Once In A Bright Blue Moon – lovely relaxed vocals accompanied by tight picking – a mix that always wins over the critics. After the break he gave us another home spun number Everything Leeds to This

Kristopher, a 13 year old talented young lad, gave us two John Denver numbers, This Old Guitar and Alaska and Me. He had the audience hanging on his every note and even though his voice is lovely to listen to at the moment, hints of a future rich and powerful bass register made their presence felt during his performances.

Chris Payne, our bass vocals specialist gave us a moving version of The Green Fields Of France and after the break, Down Where The Drunkards Roll, (RMC choir gave a fair impression of a drunk as they identified with the subject of the song)

Phil, Ian, Giles and Simon gave us two self-penned numbers, the first being an homage to Mr Sinatra’s birthplace Hoboken, the second an ode to a season that feels a long way off – Summertime. With various instrument configurations they entertained us brilliantly and I hope we see them again soon.

Rick maintained his high standards as he gave us Heal Me Now. He really does make it seem easy.

Eve, accompanied by Phil and Simon? Made her debut with us as she sang Only Love Will Break Your Heart. This young lady has a very unusual, not to be missed, voice.

Dave gave us a Formby-esque performance of a song written after a particularly trying holiday, called Family Holidays by The Sea and had us rolling around in laughter. He topped this in the second half with his comical lyrics to a Presley classic melody, variously known from herein as In The Gateau/Ghetto. Marvellously funny

Keyna gave us Fire Thief from Corinne Polwart and delivered it acapella with flair and style

John came in with the biggest box I’ve ever seen for a harmonica. Mind you, this harmonica had keys and buttons and bellows and goes by the name of piano accordion (what else can he get a tune out of???) and suited The Old Rugged Cross perfectly.

Harry impressed us all with his emotional performance of You’re Beautiful – so young, so talented, so unfair!! Seriously, make it a rule never to miss this guy’s performances, they just get better and better.

Andy was the only one in the room who could follow his son because his quirky style and choice of music doesn’t need to compete – it just IS!!! He gave us Black Jack David.

Mick shuffled off his chair, gave us his ‘thought for the day‘ and sang Paul Simon’s Dangling Conversation accompanied by his usual guitar rhythm.

Chris Sweetman, like Dave, chose to make a Presley classic his own. In early Billie Holiday-style he reworked Train, Train. Stylish, classy……….comatose!! You can pull into the RMC station any time you please.

Robin sang a self-penned number he called Breathe – a permanent record of the post-operative agonies of a back problem he had. All I have to say is that you can tell he is a man!!!

Dave Matthews made a welcome return to the club after workload and shoulder injury problems to give us his classic Lady Nicotine. How any one can cough so convincingly to order is beyond me.

 

 

Spring Sessions 2008 

March 20th at The Green Man

Review by Kris Spencer

Those born on this day: Ovid, Henrik Ibsen, William Hurt, and Michael Redgrave.

Well, winter is threatening to return on this Maundy Thursday, the last official day of the winter. It’s cold and it’s raining and I really don’t know if many will turn out tonight.   

Neil brought us all to order and opened with Red Haired Girl, which characteristically, had a chorus that the audience could join in with – and once again we hadn’t had enough liquid refreshment to do him justice. The Blues Come For Free, a gentle, comfy-cosy song, started the second half. 

Gosher and John gave us a gentle song called Angel of Love on guitar and harmonica. After the break he played another laid back song, this time accompanied by Neil on harmonica, Through The Morning and Through The Night.

Drew drew the short straw as the train rattled past just as he started to play Rickie Valence’s Donna. He played a eurovision entry, Are You Sure, after the break. You can always rely on Drew to play a sing-a-long! 

Graham re-wrote an old melody of his and re-named it, She’s just Like You especially for us down at the club. A momentary memory loss was suavely played through – talk about Mr Smooth! We got a chance to sing-a-long with Graham after the break too: I’ll Follow the Sun, by the Beatles  

Dez sang one of his dark songs, Lost Soul – very moody, very heavy and very complex musically. A Nick Drake classic, River Man, after the break, reminded us that Dez can really play that thar guitar! 

Chris P told us another of his jokes that always raises ……. a silence (the impromptu discussion about the delivery of jokes that followed, pretty much sums up the calibre of the above attempt at comedy) and then played Rising for the Moon. He always pulls a good song out of the hat – he really did it justice tonight. He followed this after the break with a warning about kamikaze frogs crossing the road in droves on a road he uses…oh, and he sang Who Am I? 

Maz sang a self-penned number, in accapella-style, called Gateway. A lovely traditional-sounding melody sung very softly and sweetly. Excellent. Robbie Burns’ Robin Adair was sung in the second half. 

John, our modulation master, gave us, appropriately for him, World of Our Own on harmonica – in various keys because the range of the song went beyond the instrument - with, of course, a modulation to finish it off. He always manages to pull it off. To try to convince himself that he really IS looking forward to going sailing in the snow this weekend, he gave us Summertime after the break (with modulation, naturally). 

Matt really played a mean guitar as he accompanied a self-penned number called Ellery Sunday.  

Kris got the audience joining in with Streets of London and John helped out with his harmonica and Neil added the harmonies. After the break she tamboured Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. 

Robin also sang a song written in a dark period of his life called Never Good Enough. Once again, the musical and lyrical talent of this young man shines brightly. In the second half he played She Made Me Love Her. He can play guitar too! 

Mick, adopting his hypnotic rhythm on guitar, sang a song about refugees called You Stay Here. Finishing the evening, he gave us a happy song (Mick said) She’s The One 

Gemma bravely dispensed with her guitar and gave us an accapella performance of And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Sadly, she left at the break so we didn’t get a second song this week.

 

Raine told an excellent joke while Neil tuned her mandolin, and then she played her own composition The First Of Spring.

Spring Sessions 2008

March 13th at The Rising Sun

Review by Kris Spencer

Those born on this day: Percival Lowell, Ron Hubbard, Eugene Cernan, Neil Sedaka and two-ton Tessie O Shea.

Well, what a night we had on Thursday! A brilliant mix of talent that can be compared to our solar system: we had the inner planets (those who seldom miss a club night), the outer planets (those who come down when life gives them a free night) and then we had the comets (they swing past every so often and brighten our evening). 

A warm, new year welcome to Stuart, Corinna, Martin and Chris Sweetman – the comets! 

Our resident MC, Mr Neil Dalton, kept order and was initially complimentary with his introductions, but a couple of drinks later (for all of us) he characteristically ended up putting his foot, heel first, into his mouth! Very entertaining - as were the two songs he selected to play for us, The Simple Life and Mackie McConnell, both penned by this versatile old trooper (Oops, foot in mouth syndrome strikes again). 

Drew gave us an old classic, Mr Bojangles and then, accompanied by John O on harmonica and the audience as backing vocals, he sang Lindisfarne’s Mister Dreammaker. 

Graham, on harmonica – with loads of vibrato, played What a Wonderful World first and then a self-penned number called Good Old R & B in his casual laid back manner. Don’t be fooled though – there is no way that his obvious musical ability is the result of kicking back and taking things easy. 

Terry gave us the debut performance of a song he had just completed – tentatively called Frown – and an old favourite God’s Country. 

Ken brought his latest challenge along, The Ellen Varnen Tragedy which had the audience joining in the chorus, and later, with John O on harmonica, the tragic story of The Pub With No Beer. 

John O’s solo spot saw him playing Annie’s Song, complete with a final modulation to a higher key! For the rest of the night, he kept popping up here and there, rather like a rabbit caught in headlights, accompanying other people both on and off stage. A right ‘You hum it, I’ll play It’ guy!  

Chris Payne was in good – when is he not? He gave us Goodbye Again and Song to a Siren. 

Mick’s hypnotic guitar playing was turned to good effect as he played Long Shadows and Daisy Darling – and his impeccable timing with his self-deprecating humour had us rolling in the aisles. 

Stuart making a welcomed return to the club, shuffled up to the stage and gave us two of his classics, Paragon and Raven. 

Robin gave us yet another two of his self-penned songs, Telephone Line and The Best I Can Do. Always worth a listen to. 

Keyna sang beautifully, giving us Lay Me Down Gently and All Things Are Quite Silent. 

Martin, returning after a long absence, gave us a wonderful version of Annan Water and Mary of Dunloe. Excellent guitar work. 

Chris Sweetman returned tonight and gave us Smoke on the Water and I Only Wanna Be With You. Both songs were given the Sweetman treatment. Exemplary. 

There was so much talent in the room that the following people only got time to give us one song: 

Corinna performed her own song all about her aunt’s accomplishments since Jeff left. 

Bruce borrowed a guitar and gave us a great performance of Living Doll. 

Rick sang the self-penned Blackwater Song, inspired by a trip to the area one year. 

Dez sang a song he’d written about man polluting the environment called, I Want To Come Home. 

Kris picked her way through Gary Moore’s Still Got The Blues. 

Raine played a medley of Irish Jigs on the mandolin for St Patrick’s Day

Winter Sessions 2008

February 21st at The Green Man

review by Kris Spencer

Born on this day: W. H. Auden, Nina Simone, Robert Mugabe, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (the guy responsible for bringing down the Alamo) and the aptly named Auguste von Wasserman who devised a test for (what else) syphilis!

Well, after a dodgy start to the new year, I’m back on the case and ready to rip into our performing guests (in the nicest POSSIBLE way – of course). The night was uncharacteristically warm and dry, as were, thankfully, the audience! Our reputation is spreading because we had people from Saltburn to as far away as just across the road in the room, and a poor, unsuspecting first-timer who turned out to be remarkably talented – more later.  And never let it be said that we at The Real Music Club don’t make a difference to our environment, because when it came to having to wend our merry ways home, we discovered that we had made it rain!!!!!! Good eh? 

Any road up, Neil opened with an excellent song - with a ‘refrain,’ called Ship’s Cargo: a number in the true tradition of the story-telling ballad. And an eager, talented, and otherwise enthusiastic, but sober audience failed to join in! After the break, undeterred, Neil gathered the audience back together and performed a lovely, laid back bluesy number, Easy Street  

Gosher followed, promising us a tune and delivering one with words called Oh My Celia, which at the back was being heard as Oh My Seagull (hopefully the medication will clear the deafness!!) and later gave us an instrumental version of Summertime in the style that only Gosher can achieve. A1. 

Kris, finally returned to vocal if not aural ability, invited us to Dream A Little Dream Of Me and after the break assured us that You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – just make sure my glass is never half empty.

Drew gave us Mr Tambourine Man and Hallo In There (after the break) and deftly proved to the audience that accomplished guitar work and confident delivery is absolutely not related to volume and show. Excellent. 

Dez then gave us the moody Fireside Love (probably still lethargic after enjoying a real good nosh at Matt and Gemma’s last Friday) and then went on to wake us all up after the break with a rocky Time Will Come. Both songs written, naturally, by hisself. 

Graham – always the show man, tuned to his audiences’ requirements and limitations. got us all singing along with a swing version of Things We Said Today and after the break, Peaceful Easy .  Don’t you just hate songs that leave you with too many words for the music??. 

Ken brought a new song along for its first airing tonight and he nailed it brilliantly, sound effects and all. But…. I’m a little scared that printing its title will tempt fate, so let’s say that it was a number that explained what might happen if a drinking establishment ran out of its primary commodity. You know the tune, don’t you? 

John amazed us with his multi-tasking as he played Grandfather’s Clock on both autoharp and harmonica – sometimes both together, but due to modulation technicalities, he could only manage a lovely harmonica solo of The Ash Grove after the break. Audience participation for both songs was irresistible. 

Keyna gave us a lovely, He’s Young But He’s Growing, which left many a tear in the corner of an eye around the room. 

Chris Payne invited us to Light My Fire which, given his smouldering voice, wasn’t too much of a challenge. I liked the way he slid into some of his chords. I missed the title of his number after the break – sorry Chris 

Peter played two tunes beautifully on descant recorder; Blackbird and With All My Heart. Lovely, controlled playing. I’m beginning to suspect that if an instrument needs to be blown, then Peter will be able to play it. 

Mick made a departure from his usual hypnotic rhythms to give us Little Boy and after the break slipped back into Mick-mode to give us his extremely accomplished version of Halleluya. 

And then there was our first-timer, Robin, who, despite claims to the contrary, showed no nerves or hesitation when he delivered Vicariously – a lyrically and musically well-crafted piece of music, and went on in the second half to better it with another self-penned number Happy Birthday Just For Me. 

Terry gave us She Likes To Go Walking, a homage to someone called Jack Hudson and followed that with a relaxed delivery of Canadian Whiskey which may have been due to the effects of a Scottish Whisky. 

Matt gave us a full tour of St Martyr’s Town in the first half – where does he find the time to write so many good songs? – and then dueted with Gemma to give us That’ll Be Me, a Stuart-inspired song. 

Gemma, another composer of many songs, sang a song about Moses, Down The River and after the break she gave us Nan’s Song (sung to her by her Nan) and When I Was A Kid – about her Teddy 

Raine breezed in and sang/spoke her song-poem I Need A Life. 

Neil and Julie visited us after a long break and played out both halves: they sang of how they Sold All My Love On E-Bay, and remonstrated with us to Remember Your Hopes and Dreams in the first half on accordion and guitar, and in the second half roused the appetites of the audience with Chicken Tikka Blues – knowing full well that even the chippy was closed by the time we emerged into the damp night air……

Thanks one and all for a great evening’s entertainment.

The Valentine's Day Session

The Green Man 14/2/2008

If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.

(Big Bill Shakespeare)

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No Neil tonight so Dez kicked us off with I Will Wait Forever. With no skilful and amusing link-up play by The Dynamic Dalton and with Rob acting as a poor Kool-Kris substitute we moved quickly through the remaining 12 performers.

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The half-time break came just after nine. Hence the second-half was half as much again as the first-half but managed to contain twice as many songs.

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Dez started the 2nd and longer half with For No One by The Beatles and All Take and No Give by The Preston himself. No sweet and sickly here with both songs displaying a slightly bitter aftertaste.

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It is St Valentine’s Day isn’t it?

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Bill enthusiastically presented his songs in a no-nonsense almost punk style as he re-energised the Animals classics House of The Rising Sun and Bring It On Home To Me. His first song I didn’t know unfortunately with Boom-Boom-Boom being the only lyric I can remember 24 hours on.

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Bring back that lovin' feeling,

Whoa, that lovin' feeling

Bring back that lovin' feeling,

'Cause it's gone...gone...gone.

(The Righteous Brothers)

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Drew, softer and more lyrical in his approach, gave us Donavon’s To Try For The Sun, Tom Rush’s No Regrets and the classic traditional love song to beat all love songs Maggie

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The violets are scenting the woods, Maggie

Displaying their charms to the bees

When I first said I loved only you, Maggie

And you said you loved only me.

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But what’s this… the final verse is

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Our hopes they have never come true, Maggie

Our dreams, they were never to be

Since I first said I loved only you, Maggie

And you said you loved only me.

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So still no happy ending!

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How about you Gosher, any love in your soul?

Gosher gave us Tragic Story of Lilly, a self-penned song about a prostitute in Pigalle and the blues classic Stormin’ Monday and another bluesy song I missed the title to.

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So the message is loud and clear. All the romantics are absent, preferring instead to frequent some red-balloon-decked restaurant which, for only £40 per head, is providing a special Valentine meal for two (which was £15 per head yesterday without the plastic heart-shaped basket).

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So here comes Graham to save the day. The Beatles number Till There Was You starts a ripple of a sigh and Graham’s own song About You seals the mood.

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Love Is In The Air! 

(John Paul Young)

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Rick sings Give a Little Loving To This Lonely Heart, and supported by Terry & Pam on percussion You Won’t Have To Wait and When You’re Gone.

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Terry continues the mood with You Could Always Pull Me Through and then Grace Marshall shares her delightful song, My Reason For Love.

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But before the soppiness could really take hold Grace gave us a monologue about snoring spouses and Peter gave us a traditional scottish song about a soldier with syphilis. Peter you really know how to kill a mood!

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So Chris Payne was Leaving His Nancy O and Terry Wood Died Of A Broken Heart after singing Billy Joel’s classic The Piano Man

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We’re sharing a song they call loneliness,

But it’s better than drinking alone.

(Billy Joel)

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Thank goodness for Johnny O’s harmonica, with Greensleeves, English Country Garden and Beautiful Dreamer being far more in keeping with the occasion than syphilitic soldiers and prostitutes.

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Peter then took the safe path along the Rocky Road To Dublin to meet Rory In The Hills, two beautiful traditional tunes.

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Lynn Marshall shared her poetry about Bright Comet (her horse), Lilly In Her Prime (not the prostitute this time) and one about a word that means something to do with polishing armour and sounds like Effluent.

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Raine played two atmospheric organ tunes and sang an amusing song about writing an Opera.

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Chris Payne sang Restless and proved it by finishing the night with Sainte Marie Buffey's Until It’s Time For You To Go.

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So no Real-Music Club Love-in this year, but as The Beatles once said

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Treasure these few words

'till we're together,

Keep all my love forever,

P.S., I love you.