A Good advert for music at The Navy!   Words: Dave Whiteman, Pictures: Laurence Gale

This week saw a rather unusual anniversary…….it is exactly 60 years since the first television advertisement appeared on our screens. Yes, on the 22^nd Sept 1955 a black and white image of a toothbrush inside a huge block of ice morphed into a lady brushing her teeth with ‘New Gibbs SR ‘ and TV advertising never looked back.  My personal favourites were the Guinness advertisements, which always seemed witty and clever, but who can forget ‘Beanz  Meanz Heinz’ or the Cadburys Smash Martians? How then, would we advertise Tuesdays at the Naval Association? We would have to copy the Ronseal advert and say ‘It does exactly what it says on the tin’ ….which pretty much sums up our weekly Open Mic.

What better way to start than with a few crowd pleasers from Oasis, courtesy of John Minor.  Normally a keyboard player, John has been entertaining us on guitar for a number of weeks now and although relatively inexperienced, he is improving week by week. A nice start to the evening.

Another terrific supporter of our weekly Open Mic is Laurence Gale, who often provides the photographs for these articles. Without his usual musical partner Rob Bryon, Lol was persuaded to put down his camera and get up on stage….even though by his own admission, he hasn’t played in quite a while. Our audience at the Navy are a very forgiving bunch however and joined in enthusiastically with opening number ‘Let it Be’ before an excellent version of Harry Chapin’s ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’……good stuff Laurence, and great pictures also!

I have been away for a number of weeks and one thing that always amazes me when I return is the improvement that some of the youngsters have made in such a short time. It seems like just a few months ago….but is actually around six…. that an anxious looking Richard Heywood took to the stage. Visibly shaking on his first public performance, he gave an understandably nervous performance that was nonetheless warmly applauded by the crowd. Fast forward to this week and his improvement is there for all to see. The nerves are no longer on view and he is very happy to take on quite complicated numbers, from artists such as Noel Gallagher and Radiohead. Lots of potential in this likeable young man.

One of our more experienced vocalists is Alex Ash, normally lead singer with local band Vinyl Tap. He is a larger than life character who brings humour and fun to the stage as well as a wide repertoire of songs. His mixture tonight included covers from Lionel Ritchie and Chris de Burgh before finishing with one of his favourites, ‘Walking in Memphis’….complete with high kick which the crowd always enjoys.

Badly Drawn Boy, real name Damian Gough, was a singer songwriter from Lancashire who had some success in the nineties, but seems to have disappeared without trace. Around three years ago a bunch of musicians from Penkridge,  Perton and Wolverhampton got together and visited the club for the first time as ‘Badly Overdrawn Boy’….a great name for a band. Sadly that didn’t stick and they later re-emerged as The Nameless. Nice to see a few of the boys back this week, getting up on stage as ‘Tuesday Night’, to give us a nice variety of stuff from Neil Young, Bad Company and Green Day.

Just time to assemble a small Scratch House Band for the evening finale, and Alex Ash recruited bandmate and bassist Jude Paton and resident soundman Jonathon Newton to play us out with a couple of classics from Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Beatles, before  wrapping up the night with the ever popular ‘Mustang Sally’.

Deja vu? I have been away around six weeks and it feels as if I have never been away!  Sadly the attendance was only around forty; quite a bit down on recent weeks…..perhaps the others were at home watching adverts on the telly!  The Open Mic has now been running for around thirteen years, surely some kind of record, so if you want to see what all the fuss is about come down to the Navy on Tues night from 8pm.

 Don’t forget this Friday 25th September sees the increasingly popular Soul Nite at The Navy, from7.30pm-1am, £4 at the door. 

Till next time….keep it live!