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Hors d’oeuvre Andrea Ferguson Main Course Colin Holland, Richard Bircumshaw, Steve Cooper, Arnie Wheeler, The Shantymen with Toby Harris Bob Cairns, Mike Steele, Sam Harrison Dessert Karl Svarc & friends This is the last GEOM of the year, so perhaps a little recap of the story so far may be appropriate. It was back in November last year on a quiet Sunday lunchtime that our darling landlady Tracy first mooted organizing a regular open mic session, an idea that was greeted with a positive yet tempered nod of approval. Tempered, because there are, in general, two types of open mic. The first is a loose jam session, which, while requiring little effort or expense on the part of the licensee, rarely attracts any non-performing punters. The second is a properly organized affair. This requires a great deal more effort and incurs the expense of a compère and a sound engineer but usually rewards with its quality and longevity and perhaps more importantly can greatly enhance the name of the establishment. Many a pub regular will bear witness to how damned hard Tracy has had to fight to get where she is today and admirably having a preference to see things done properly, she understandably favoured the latter. Earlier this year she had the good fortune to employ Andrea, an acclaimed and experienced events organizer, as compère and she in turn brought along Paul as sound engineer, so nearly all the pieces of the jigsaw were in place for the grande première on February 6th. The opening night was a relatively quiet, intimate but wholly enjoyable affair which seemed full of promise. It was mused in these columns at that time that trees can grow from the smallest of seeds and happily, thanks to the efforts of Tracy and Pete, – who surely must feel that their hard work has brought its just desserts – Andrea and Paul and all the valiant regulars who have supported us throughout the year, the GEOM is now firmly rooted in the local music scene and its reputation is blossoming sweetly. So Andrea sets sail on our final voyage of 2007 with Gillian Welch’s “Caleb Meyer”. She continues with her own melancholic but gorgeous ballad, “You Forgot To Say Goodbye” before finishing off with “Five Years”. For further proof that the reputation of the GEOM is growing, we now have the pleasure of welcoming Colin Holland for the first time down here. For those of you who don’t know, Colin is a stalwart of the White Hart Folk Club in Nettleham and also forms part of Ploughman’s Bunch. He also seems to have studied at the same school of affability as Steve Jackson. Steve can’t be here tonight as he has a prior commitment in Hemmingby, but you may be interested to know that he hosts an informal open mic session here between 12 and 2 on the third Wednesday of every month. Steve has also just released a new solo album rather sardonically entitled Songs In The Key Of B Natural. Copies are available behind the bar so why not pop in for a pint and treat yourself. Jam-packed with 20 original compositions, it will arguably be the best five pounds that you’ve spent this year! Colin’s style is strictly traditional folk, so he kicks off on accordion with “New York Girls (Can’t You Dance The Polka?) He then follows up with a Morris dancing tune, “Buttered Peas” before rounding off with “Waiting For The Day”, which gives rise to a traditional GEOM sing-along. Colin seems at home here so hopefully he’ll be back. Richard tried out a new song, “Christmas At The Blue Motel” at Steve Jackson’s The Write Note at the Central Library the other Wednesday but apparently it went a bit wobbly. Having spent all week honing it to perfection in order to introduce it to us tonight, it all goes pear-shaped again. Poor Richard looks frustrated. That’s Sod’s Law for you but you can be sure he will be boss of that before too long. Understandably he falls back on his “Taylor’s Revenge” before launching into Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup Of Coffee”. Listen carefully to his delicate guitar work. You can just imagine how many hours he spent perfecting this. Richard then sounds off with his own, “Just Another Day”. Steve Cooper made an impressive debut at the last session and seems the type to become a popular regular down here. He’s in fine voice as he begins with his own “Leaves” and then continues with a bluesy original, “With A Tear In My Eye”, interrupted by a mobile message which, much to the amusement of the audience, actually causes him to stop playing in order to read it! Well, it takes all sorts. Arnie’s becoming quite a regular down here too and tonight he’s brought along what is assumably his own guitar. It doesn’t have a pick-up so Paul sorts him out with a mic as he treats us to an untitled original. A talented singer/songwriter, Arnie’s got lots of potential if he sticks at it. As if to prove the point, he takes us to the break with a well-written attack on politicians (admittedly, an easy target), tentatively entitled “Back To Reality”. Tracy and Pete’s generous hospitality and the warm welcome of the Golden Eagle bar crew have played a major part in the success of the GEOM and while we tuck into another sumptuous spread, a perusal of the Beer Menu reveals a rich choice of real ales. From the low gravity Saltaire Fuggles and Tring’s Side Pocket For A Toad – Cheryl’ll have kittens if she misses this! – through the medium strength but delicious Hadrian and Border Farne Island to the high octane Castle Rock Admiral and Saltaire’s delightful Chocolate Stout, surely there’s something to suit everyone’s tastes. A bit like the GEOM itself, really. Steve Lealand’s otherwise engaged tonight so Toby steps in on bongos as the ever popular Shantymen kick off the second half with an instrumental featuring John on Appalachian dulcimer and Steve Allen on bodrhan. Unusually, Steve’s a bit tongue-twisted tonight as he delivers the inevitable “Barley Mow” before the boys round off with a medley of World War One numbers. Next we have the rare pleasure of welcoming Bob Cairns down here. Those of us of a certain age remember Bob in the early seventies as rather a lone wolf when his father, Al, hosted Ye Olde Crowne on Clasketgate. A lot of water – and beer! – has passed under the bridge since then and after having spent a considerable time in London, Bob returned to Lincoln about three years ago. Now a guitar virtuoso, an accomplished singer/songwriter and generally considered to be Lincoln’s compère without compare, due to health reasons, Bob’s unfortunately not too often to be seen these days, although he does host a renown open mic in town every Wednesday. Bob sticks to a couple of 12 bar blues numbers tonight, “Down To Size” and “Bad” before finishing with the classic “Thunderbird”, but he does possess a cluster of gorgeous ‘weep in your beer’ mellow gems in his musical treasure chest and hopefully next time he’ll treat us to one of those. To continue the upbeat mood, Mike follows with “Three Steps To Heaven”, “Restless” and “Werewolves Of London”. Mike’s a Francophile so perhaps we can entice him into performing une chanson française sometime in 2008 and of course, there’s still that duet with Andrea to come. Helped along by a positive response, Sam’s another performer who goes from strength to strength. Laudably sticking to his game plan that variety is the spice of life, he starts with a fine cover of Lennon and McCartney’s “Things We Said Today”. Joe Brown’s “Wonderful Picture Of You” follows, before Sam rounds off with an equally fine rendition of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”, a strangely popular song considering that Reed’s solo material never held a candle to his work with the Velvet Underground. There could hardly be a finer artist to lead us out of 2007 than the spiritually inspirational Karl Svarc. A few months ago, Karl retired from his post as a ‘guitar doctor’ to concentrate on teaching guitar techniques and writing more of his own material, the fruits of which we have already reaped with “The Dance” and “Solace”. He begins tonight with yet another beautiful, poetic composition, “The Last Embrace”. Andrea then joins him on “Don’t Take Me Down (Sweet Surprise) before an ensemble of Karl, Bob, Steve, Andrea, Arnie and Sam close the evening with “Rock Me Baby”.
It’s been a super year. Let’s stick together and make 2008 a year to remember too. |
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