Musical Celebrations at 60

A very special person who has been a Newport Open Mic stalwart over the years turned 60 this week and was back where he belongs on stage at the Royal Naval Association with his trusty amp and in addition, a First Aid kit and bus pass kindly made for this important occasion by Jez  Price the bar steward.  Artists in the charts 60 years ago included Les Paul and Mary Ford, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Frankie Laine and Dean Martin but the man on Tuesday night’s Open Mic billboard was Dave Sandford better known as Dave Blu to Open Mic regulars who opened an evening of live music with a great blues set accompanied by drummer, Steve Black, and Andy Clarke, always grinning, on bass. A couple of self penned songs interspersed with Robert Johnson and Eric Clapton gave us a taste of Dave’s prowess as an outstanding blues player.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen young Claire Shaw from Donnington but what a treat to hear her once more. An outstanding voice and guitar playing from Claire who writes a lot of her own material which included “Heavy Heart” and “I Don’t Wanna Be”. It always amazes me how such young people can compose songs with such heartfelt lyrics. Her voice was suited admirably to songs by Joni Mitchell, The Lumineers and The Kooks. A great set from Claire.

Rich Evans got up to sing Happy Birthday to Dave Blu in his own inimitable style and the production of a zimmer frame had Dave cavorting around the dance floor looking more like a teenager with Cath Butler producing cheese scones as an alternative to her splendid chocolate cake. Dave’s scratch band for the evening was aptly named 60 Year Old Swinger (and friends) who were Steve Black and Andy Clarke once more and another Open Mic stalwart, Harry (Woolleydog) Woolley. Dave’s birthday present for his 60^th was a telescope (he’s a bit of a stargazer I believe) and Harry reminisced that on his 60^th birthday he had a 60 minute flight from Halfpenny Green Airport.  Birthday’s thereafter have always been pertinent to his age he said and this year he is quite excited because he is going to be 69. Harry’s version of JJ Cale’s “Call Me the Breeze” always goes down well and of course the evening would not have been complete without Lonnie Donegan’s “Diggin’ My Potatoes”.

Rich Evans delighted the crowd with a lovely acoustic set starting off with “In the Ghetto” and then the great Jagger/ Richards song “Sweet Virginia” before being joined on stage by his father, Clive. Indeed a rare occurrence but a delight nonetheless to hear 3 instrumentals by Fleetwood Mac followed by The Shadows, finishing with Clive, centre stage, singing Lead Belly’s “Goodnight Irene”.

Dave Blu was in fine form playing us out with a jazzy version of “The Wind Cries Mary” and a song he wrote 17 years ago called “Was It You” before being joined on stage by his friend Mike Daffern on bass, Steve Davis on drums and Ben Garrott for a last jam followed by “Folsom Prison Blues” to finish off an evening of quality live music.

Don’t forget there will be Music in the Square in Newport on Saturday 17^th May from 10am and anyone wishing to take part should turn up with guitar, any kind of musical instrument or just a voice to celebrate Live Music!!

Jude Paton