So all is back to normal in the world. Germany beat Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup, politicians entering and leaving through the Tory cabinet revolving door and huge conflict in the Gaza Strip. Amazingly though, I am not talking about this year….this was 1990! The World Cup in Italy gave us the unforgettable Gazza tears and Margaret Thatcher had one last cabinet clear out before she lost her job. Without getting to political, I wonder if David Cameron has noticed the symmetry?
The years seem go by on our local music scene at the same great pace, and our ‘youngsters’ from just a few years ago are now veterans. Tuesday night at this week’s Newport Open Mic had a very nice mix of raw young talent and several performers who could be described a s a little longer in the tooth!
First up Jay Harris and Liam Anslow performing as Late Addition are
definitely in the former category. Both aged just 11 years they bring a
confidence and attitude to their performance that belies their tender
years. This week they collaborated on a couple of tunes, from The
Editors and Guns & Roses, before both playing a solo spot…..Liam
with a classic from the Eagles and Jay with a Boyzone song for his
Mum,,,which brought a large ‘Aaahh’ from the audience.
Steve Davis hasn’t been around for a while, but I know he has been
busy supporting his local Open Mic in Manchester. It’s always a pleasure
to hear his soft vocals and melodic guitar and in a great short set he
paid tribute to famous songwriters from the West Midlands. A lovely
acoustic medley that segued seamlessly from Robert Plant in the form of
’Stairway to Heaven’ to an almost reggae version of ‘Paranoid’ by local
hero Ozzie Osbourne was well appreciated by the audience.
It’s always nice to welcome new faces to the club, particularly if it
is musical cross pollination from other Open Mics. Andy Appleby and
Martin Jacks are regular players on Thursday night at the Navigation Inn
in Gnosall, but with the addition of multi- instrumentalist Ben Garrott
and stand up Bassman, Neil Wells, they have formed a great band, Dream
Ticket. Not sure about the name, it sounds too American presidential
for me, but the music is first class. Imagine a smoky scene in Ronnie
Scott’s Soho club (before the smoking ban, obviously!) a soft tenor sax
and an almost jazzy arrangement and you get close to the picture. Don’t
be misled though….there is a jazz feel to this band they are not in that
category. A superbly varied set managed to mix Elvis Costello with Van
Morrison and even the Jackson5 with The Police. A quite brilliant debut
performance from four very solid musicians….hope to see you back at the
club soon guys.A little bit of busking now as the aforementioned Steve Davis, this time on bass, and drummer John Freestone recruited yours truly as vocalist to rattle through a crowd pleasing set that had David Gray, Paul Carrack and Bad Company…always a pleasure to play with experienced musicians like these.
‘I Wish I was Punk Rocker with Flowers in my Hair’ was the debut
single of Scottish singer songwriter Sandi Thom and became the fifth
biggest selling single in the UK of 2006. Our very own singer songwriter
Melissa Walford put her own slant on this and it was one of the most
original things I have ever heard. Singing A cappella she utilised a
plastic cup a rattle and a table to add percussion and the audience was
mesmerised. Interestingly, Melissa finished her set with the song that
knocked it off the top spot in June of that year, Gnarls Barkley’s
‘Crazy’…an interesting and very entertaining set. 
The last few weeks have seen John Major finishing off the evening
with a couple of Oasis songs on guitar rather than his usual keyboard.
Although clearly lacking a little bit of confidence, it didn’t matter to
an audience who know how difficult it is to get up on stage in front of
a lot of people. A good reception to his short set brought another
evening to a close.Our club relies quite heavily on a number of helpers at the beginning and end of the evening, and now that we are getting in to the holiday period, these have been a bit thin on the ground.
We urgently need someone on the sound desk for a few weeks as well as the usual humpers and dumpers.
If we don’t get the volunteers, there is a good chance the club will have to temporarily close throughout August, so if you can help, please make yourself known!
Keep it live folks.
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