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Hors d’oeuvre
Andrea Ferguson
Main Course
Steve Cooper, Mike Steele, John Ecob, John Pape with Steve Lealand & Toby Harris, Gary Rudd, Tom Taylor, Leon, Sam Harrison, Kat Eaton
Dessert
Karl Svarc Band
After the birthday bash the other week, it would have been of no surprise if tonight’s affair turned out to be little quiet. However, on the contrary, it’s as busy as ever with no less than eight different artists than at the previous session. God help Andrea if everyone decided to turn up the same night.
So, dolled-up in a pretty black dress which would grace a Dixie Chicks’ album cover, Andrea gets us in the groove with Julie Matthews’ delightful bopper, “Lonely Morning Blues”. She continues with “Star Of The County Down”, another Julie Matthews’s song, “Diggin’ Holes” and “Who’s That Girl?” before finishing off with her own “Dangerous Woman”.
It seems to have become awfully noisy as our good friend Steve Cooper kicks off with a cover of “Purple Rain”. He then follows up with a self-penned ditty about the Christmas market. One or two of us are looking at each other in astonishment as he actually makes the event seem a rather attractive proposition. Steve then rounds off with Bon Jovi’s “This Ain’t A Love Song”.
An old musician friend used to remark that those who want to talk loud and have no interest in the music always stand right in proximity of the performing artist. We have a similar scenario here as Mike has to battle against a wall of babble. Introducing “Carey”, Mike recounts a tale about a holiday he and Carol spent on the island of Crete. Having hired an old Cretan jalopy, he perused a local map and spotted the name of Matala.
Matala, of course, was the hang-out of Joni as she spent the summer of 1970 living amongst the hippie cave commune. Anyway, Mike and Carol drove into Matala and, lo and behold, spotted the Mermaid Café but whether they stayed until night fall and Mike played some scratchy rock and roll beneath the Matala moon remains unclear. Mike follows that up with a gorgeous rendition of Walter Hyatt’s “The Georgia Rose” before going out with a bang on Chuck Berry’s “Nadine” to complete a well-balanced and superbly executed set which he had obviously put a lot of thought into.
As you probably know, John Ecob is moving on to pastures new (metaphorically speaking) as he leaves to begin a new life in the North East. However, this is no time for sad farewells, rather a time to celebrate all the good times we’ve shared. John begins with gusto by playing one of his favourites, the traditional “Things Have Changed”. He follows up with his own “Burn Your Bridges” – now just how pertinent is that? - before inviting his sister Kathy to join him. Ewan McColl wrote “Dirty Old Town” about his birthplace Salford but Kathy punches out the lyrics as if were her own.
So we bid au revoir to John who will hopefully keep in touch and grace us with a visit when he can. He’ll be greatly missed, not just as a musician but also as a friend. We all wish John and Liz lots of future happiness.
Opening the second half, John Pape is accompanied by Steve and Toby on laptop and spoons respectively before John treats us to a fine rendition of “Old Man’s Tale”, an Ian Campbell composition based on the traditional Scottish folk song, “Nicky Tams”.
At times, Gary seems to share the same downtrodden sense of humour as Tony Hancock and Hywell Bennett. As he introduces Tom Waits’ “Blue Valentines”, he recalls the sorry tale of his well-intentioned romantic Valentine’s Day which ended with him going to bed with a headache. If we were rolling in our seats the other week at “Osama Bin Laden”, we’re nigh on wetting ourselves tonight as Gary recounts his experiences of a BT call centre. We’ve all been there so it’s easy to relate to.
Gary’s story inspires Andrea to tell her equally humorous tale about the time she applied for a job at the BT call centre only to be rejected on the pretext of being too nice. But be honest! Can you really picture Andrea on the super-bitch course?
Next a welcome visit from that man with the songbook, Tom Taylor, brings covers of Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains In California” and James Morrison’s “You Give Me Something”.
Whatever you may think of the University and the City Council’s policy of throwing the vast majority of the taxpayers‘money at it at the expense of everyone else, it is undeniable that it has brought a previously unimaginable wealth of artistic creativity. We’re lucky to have two shining examples of that amongst us, the first being Leon.
Leon is fairly new on the local music scene but he has wasted no time in establishing himself as a ukulele-playing reggae singer and he gives us an example of his style with “Waiting In Vain”. It’s curious the thoughts that pass through your head on a train journey. Travelling home the other week, Leon mused over how Coldplay’s “Fix You” would sound reggae style. It seems an unlikely concoction but it works a treat.
Sam opens with Gomez’s “Whippin’ Piccadilly” and continues with an original before finishing off with a fine cover of “Hey Nonny Nonny”.
The second of our guests from the Uni is Kat Eaton. She’s in her second year now so has quite a bit of experience of open mics. Kat fronts a band called Badge in her home town of Sheffield and tends to sing a cappella when performing solo.
“The Fiddle And The Drum”, a heartfelt plea for peace and sanity in a world that seemed to be falling apart at the seams, was written in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War when the US government hawks regarded any criticism of their regime as paramount to treason even though Joni was anything but a traitor. There’s almost an eerie silence amongst the audience as Kat’s haunting vocals fill the room. Quite simply beautiful.
Unsurprisingly, ‘Blue’ features quite regularly in these columns. Kat’s next number, “A Case Of You”, which contains the immortal line ‘I drew a map of Canada with your face sketched on it twice’, was allegedly written after the collapse of Joni’s affair with fellow Canadian, Leonard Cohen.
That just leaves time for the superb Karl Svarc Band to close the evening. It’s been another cracking night and the sheer joy of it all is written all over Andrea’s beaming face, and so it should be as the GEOM continues to exceed our wildest expectations. |
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