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Menu Hors d’oeuvre Andrea Ferguson Main Course Rocking Bob, Richard Bircumshaw, Mike Steele Bob “Easy” Reid, Arnie, Sam Harrison John Ecob, Steve Jackson Dessert The Shantymen It’s that sort of damp, dismal November evening that drives many a potential customer to park theirselves on the sofa with a couple of tinnies in front of the fire and no doubt several pubs on the High Street tonight will be resembling the Marie Celeste. However, here at the Golden Eagle, there’s a grand turnout of performers and punters alike and there’s such an air of warm conviviality and togetherness that you can almost touch it as Andrea gets us off to a lively start with Julie Matthews’ “Digging Holes”. She continues in upbeat fashion with “Joey”. The little duck obviously noticed how much we enjoyed this Concrete Blonde song a few weeks ago so she decides to treat us to it again. Andrea then rounds off with a standing dish on her set list and a favourite of many, “Who’s That Girl?” Next up is the Elvis impersonator, Rocking Bob. Unfortunately, Bob’s brought his karaoke machine with him tonight which is hardly in keeping with the spirit of an open mic, the idea of which, of course, is to allow artists to either showcase their own creations or use their musical ability to interpret other people’s work. Bob hardly helps his cause by singing hopelessly out of tune and constantly bursting into fits of laughter. Very disappointing and with all due respect to our darling landlady Tracy, her face told the story far better than any words that could possibly be written here. Happily, normal service is quickly resumed as Richard gets us back on track with his own “Rod’s Rag”. He continues with Eric Clapton’s “Lonely Stranger” before John joins him on slide guitar for a thunderous “Motherless Child”. Mike starts off with a cracking rendition of Tom Russell’s “The Eyes Of Roberto Duran” and then Steve joins him on lap top for “He’ll Have To Go”. Mike finishes off with Carl Perkins’ perky “Restless”. Easy treats us to Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me” and Willie Dixon’s “Built For Comfort” before taking us to the break with his own “Blues Man”. Andrea opens the second half with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”. Unfortunately, she forgets the words of the second verse which rather throws her off course. However, when you bear in mind that she has a repertoire of over fifty songs, the odd blip now and then is only to be expected and it’s a game effort anyway, given that it’s the only the second time she’s performed the song in public. There are some quite audible “Oohs” and “Yeahs” as Andrea immediately bounces back into Kristina Olsen’s “Your Little Brother Sure Can Dance” before she finishes off with her own “No More” which she dedicates to a departed friend, George. Sam steps up to accompany Arnie on John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” and then Arnie continues solo with his own “Apart From Their Hearts”. Sam opens with a brave but successful attempt at “Georgia On My Mind”. Next he invites Andrea to join him on a jolly duet of Debbie Harry’s “Maria” and then rounds off with a variation on a theme of “Big Yellow Taxi”. John has borrowed Mike’s guitar tonight and makes a bright start with his own “Procession Man” before continuing with two old favourites, “Snowy’s Birthday” and “A Long Way To Heaven”. Easy and Steve L. accompany Steve as he kicks off with Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” interspersed with “Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette”, a song covered by many an artist but originally written by Merle Travis and Tex Williams. Knowing that Andrea loves his ballad “You” –she’s not alone there! – Steve invites her to do a duet and being the gentleman that he is, he’s even brought her a copy of the lyrics. They alternate the verses and come together on the chorus like, in Steve’s words, ‘a kind of hybrid Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris’. The Shantymen begin with an Irish tune and continue with a ragtime instrumental. It’s getting late now but there’s still time for the boys to bring the curtain down with a medley of World War 1 songs. |
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