Beating the odds without a full set of digits.

 Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead lost two thirds of his middle finger at the age of 4 when his older brother accidentally chopped it off with an axe. Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt lost the use of his third and fourth fingers at the age of 18 as well as receiving serious burns over half of his body after his caravan caught fire.

 Dr. John severely injured his left ring finger at the age of 21 after intervening when his friend and bandmate was getting a pistol whipping by putting his hand over the gun barrel! He gave up playing guitar after that and concentrated on the piano instead. Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath lost the tips of two fingers at 17 on his last day working at a sheet metal factory before embarking on a musical career. Thinking he would never play again he was inspired after his factory foreman insisted that he listen to a recording made by Django Reinhardt.

 Why am I telling you all this? Because our open mic friend and musician from Manchester, Steve Davis, has just had 8 stitches in the middle finger of his left hand after an altercation with hedge cutters. A cautionary note for us gardeners. Fortunately it has not affected his unique singing style although the accident may have made his vocal range even greater temporarily.

Open Mic at the Navy on Tuesday saw all the performers ranging from 11 years old to 69 and 4’ 10” to 6’7” tall with full sets of digits and in fine musical and vocal form.

A splendid blues jam with Remynie-Kiah on drums, Andy Clark on his favourite 1968 bass, Dave Blu on lead, Harry Woolley on vocals and rhythm guitar and the multi-talented Ben Garrott on tenor sax set the tone for the evening.

Young Jay Harris at only 11 invariably brings new songs to Open Mic with many from the sixties but tonight’s set from Jay brought us right up to date with songs by Jake Bugg, Beady Eye and Conor OBerst. I like to think I am fairly up to speed with the music scene but have to confess that I had never heard of this American singer/songwriter before tonight.

 Our photographer for the night, Laurence Gale, was persuaded to put his camera down and gave us a real treat with a Beatles’ medley which met with a resounding cheer from the assembled crowd. A great set tonight from Loz.

Dave Blu doesn’t often play solo but he held us spellbound with his acoustic slide blues guitar sounding sweet on the club’s recently refurbished Epiphone. One of his own songs was followed by “Brown Sugar”, “Let’s Work Together” and Ry Cooder’s “Why Don’t You Try Me”. Such a great musician and supporter of Open Mic.

Young Dan Walton’s opening song was one to get us all in a good mood entitled “Girlfriend in a Coma” by The Smiths. Radio 1 refused to play it when it was released in 1987 and Morrissey commented, “You’re not really supposed to like those songs. They’re very depressing and not supposed to be played on radio.” Great to hear it played at an Open Mic session however. By complete contrast Dan had feet tapping with a Buddy Holly and Elvis segueway finishing with the “Ballad of John and Yoko”, the Beatles 17^th and final British number one single from 1969.

 Tuesday night’s song mix was quite outstanding and none more so that Dylan Evans’ choice with “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, Glen Hansard’s “Mind’s Made Up” and the Ambassadors “Forever”. Everyone agreed that Dylan has a superb voice with the ultimate compliment coming from Harry saying “Even with my ears I can tell he’s good!” Harry recently had one of his hearing aids pecked from his ear by a passing seagull in Llandudno which, with the thieving of his wife’s ice cream by another seagull acting as a decoy, proved to be an expensive day out for the Woolleys. Joe Rose then joined Dylan to sing “School is Fun” before the 6’7” Tom Miles took to the stage with songs from Blink 182, Jack Johnson’s “Washing Dishes” and a jazzy version of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness”. Even seated this young man is quite a presence on stage. Joined once again by Joe Rose the set was nicely rounded off with Take That’s “Back for Good”.

John Minor finished off a wonderful evening’s entertainment on keyboards with McGuinness Flint, Queen and The Beatles “I’ll Get You”. Instead of the usual maul into the loft the equipment was loaded into Ade Morris’s trailer and transported to the Phez for this Sunday’s musical bonanza.

Be there and KEEP MUSIC LIVE!

Jude Paton