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FaBclub review 6th December 2009 written by Clive Meggs The torrential rain this morning discouraged Bernard and Maureen from travelling to the Sweeps Festival at Rochester, but their loss is our gain. Fortunately the rain stopped late morning and the sun came out. The strong winds have blown the clouds away and I am sure we are in for a good time. Sue has volunteered to be our compere this afternoon and begins by doing a duo with our Ken ( after a struggle with the music stand that is). What a brave lady she is! They start with an old Bernard Cribbens comedy song - Right Said Fred - but not as you know it. This is followed by My Old Man's a Dustman - not a great deal of harmony in this one I detect. Ken then reads a short Spike Milligan Poem - Little Boy Blue. Ben is called upon next because his name rhymes with Ken. If rhyming is the criteria I would be happy for him to do ten. He starts with an instrumental called Slow Barn Dance. He follows with a second instrumental and apologises for not singing because he has a cold. Ben gets better and better by the week. I could listen to him all afternoon. Following the logic of our host, Ben should be followed by Bill and so it was that we were entertained by Bill Pardon. Little Weed is absent at this stage, but will she appear in one of his songs (15 times a night)? Bill starts with an old favourite - Cakehole Presley Is My Friend and completes his spasm with The Man From The Pru. Great stuff Bill!! Bernard is flying solo today. He plays us Amazing Grace on an instrument he knocked up in his workshop one afternoon. He calls it a bowed psalter and as you can guess from the name it is a stringed instrument played with not one but two bows. He continues with Shannondoor (not sure of the spellin). This is the first time Bernard has played with his instrument in public and his set is greeted with rapturous applause. Dennis Homes is asked to give us a couple next. It is a long time since we have seen Dennis at this club, and he confesses he has not been to a folk club for about 3 months due to his voice problems. He starts with a song unknown to me called The Flowering Rose. As far as I am concerned his voice is as good as ever. He follows this with another new song to me Under Angel Wings. Nice to have a bit of quality Dennis, who points out that his name also rhymes with Ben and Ken and Len. Len returns from the bar and, having been standing with cold glasses for a length of time while our host tells us a story (from memory), is asked to play us a couple of songs with cold fingers. He starts with a Warren Zeavon song called Accidentally Like a Martyr, another new one to me but a great song. He follows with Cousin Jack, a Show of Hands song, and one of my favourites. I hope his beer hasn't got too warm. After Len Reeder we have an artist who is known to play instruments with reeds (connection a little terse) our own Joe Migdal. The only downfall with this connection is that he is playing his guitar today. He gives us a song that he plans to perform next week at our Christmas Party, a B. Bransfield song - Harps in Heaven. A beautiful song, and very appropriate for this time of year. He follows with Rip It Up Joe, a self penned song about a person called Joe who rips it all up. You shouldn't have had all those sausages Joe. Maureen is called upon to give us a couple of funny stories to take us to the break, where we have the opportunity for some relief and to buy some raffle tickets. There is ping and pong in this raffle. Tone Deaf Leopard start us off in the second half with a gospel song, as it is Sunday. Called In My Time Of Dying it was loud enough to bring anyone back to life. They continue with a pirate song called The Last Bucaneer and finish their set with a song written by Trevor after a visit to Broadstairs this year, when he happened to walk into a hurdy gurdy workshop where at least 9 of the said instruments were being played - IMAGINE!!! Called The Hurdy Gurdy Hurdy Song.surprisingly, Trevor changes to his mandola for this song because of its drone. It has a great chorus that involves a musical instrument, I leave you to guess what that is. I give a couple of jokes that do not appear to offend anyone for a change and am followed by Len who gives us The First Cut Is The Deepest, the well known Cat Stevens song. Bill then gives us a pirate song - Paradise Island and Dennis is not allowed to get away early with less than two songs. First he sings a song that he says he has never played at the fabclub before - The Accordian Man. I have never heard it before but I know what I like and I like this. As his voice is on the way out he follows with a medley of old music hall songs which we all join in with. Thank you Dennis. Joe is next with a Christmas song - Boxing Day Blues, which tells us all what we have to look forward to. He follows with 3 verses of a carol just to redress the sentiments of the previous song.- Gloria In Excelsis. Right - we are all ready for Christmas now. Bernard is next with his bowed psalter and gives us Skye Boat Song. Maureen gives us another dirty story and Len finishes us off (so to speak) with a bluesy number Love in Vain which gives us all a chance to show our prowess on percussion. It is our Christmas Party next week so please try to come along, armed with a plate of food to share, and have a great time. Don't forget, if you wish to perform please contact Sue and get your name on the list to avoid disappointment. I'll see you there. |