Live performances from 2014
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2014 - 68 live performances:
It's been a great year musically, with loads of recording and plenty of live performances. I've been able to test and develop my new songs, whilst enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the local live scene.
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16/12/14 - 134: The Blackboys Inn, 2 songs at Open night
- Spiders and Snakes
- I like to be sad
Two worlds collide: It was the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club's Christmas Pub Night crawl and we rolled into the Blackboys Inn as our fourth out of five pubs - it was also their Open mic night. John Oddie kindly leant me a guitar and in my club kit, I performed a couple of tunes, whilst my cycling mates had their first experience of the local open mic scene! We then hit the road for the Star at Waldron. I got home at 1:15am!
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09/12/14 - 133: The Six Bells, Chiddingly2 songs at Open night
- Life ain't been easy
- Guardian Angel
A final outing at Chiddingly in 2014 - it was the Six Bells Folk & Blues Club Christmas Party. I closed the first set with two of my old songs, written back in 1990. We then had the Skalettoes play for the rest of the evening. They are a great band and I really enjoyed their set - I went back to the Bells on Friday to see them entertaining a packed house.
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07/12/14 - 132: The Green Man, Ringmer 4 songs at Open night
- House of the rising sun
- Norwegian Wood
- Me and my Uncle
- Knockin' on heaven's door
It was quiet when I arrived and I decided to play covers. My version of 'House of the rising sun' has eight verses and I sang the first and then asked for the lyric to be passed round the room and different people to sing each verse - it worked really well. I finished with 'Knockin' on heaven's door' and got everyone to join in on the chorus. A very relaxed and chilled evening.
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02/12/14 - 131: The Blackboys Inn 6 songs at Open night
- I like to be sad
- Sorry
- Scrapheap Blues
- Wrong place wrong time
- Spiders and Snakes
- Sanity
A good evening at the Blackboys Inn. I must thank John, who joined me for 'I like to be sad' & 'Sorry', Lisa, who added some great BVs on 'Scrapheap Blues' and we completed the full line-up, with Helga (flute) on 'Wrong place wrong time'.
A little later I did my version of 'Spiders and Snakes' solo - Lisa & Helga then helped me out with 'Sanity'.
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16/11/14 - 130: The Green Man, Ringmer3 songs at Open night
- Life's a race
- The Man
- Wrong place wrong time
Once a year, my bike club (Lewes Wanderers) ride an event called the ESCA Reliability Trial (53 miles) - as I'd done it that morning, I wanted to play my cycling song, Life's a race. Banjo Dave joined me on The Man, which I'd remixed with Rupert earlier in the week. Helga (flute) along with Jayne & Dave (BVs) then joined me for a version of Wrong place wrong time.
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11/11/14 - 129: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs at Open night
- Norwegian Wood
- Wrong place wrong time
It was Beatles night at the Bells and it was Armistice Day. I did a version of Norwegian Wood and then played my song Wrong place wrong time, which is an imaginary conversation with a soldier from the First World War. Rupert joined me on both songs, adding some magic with his trumpet.
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04/11/14 - 128: The Blackboys Inn
Blackboys5 songs at Open night
The Man
My mum, Alzheimer's and the Care Home
Can you see the future
On Paper Wings
Mendacious Cowboy
A couple of relaxed sessions and a chance to play a bit more than the traditional two-song staple diet.
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02/11/14 - 127: The Half Moon
Cade Street8 songs at Open night
On Paper Wings
My mum, Alzheimer's and the Care Home
All of the time
Inside of you
Fun of the Fayre
Knockin' on heaven's door
Black magic woman
Johnny B. Goode
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28/10/14 - 126: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs at Open night |
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19/10/14 - 125: The Green Man, Ringmer 4 songs at Open night |
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14/10/14 - 124: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs at Open night
- On Paper Wings
- Scrapheap Blues
A second chance to try out my latest song (On Paper Wings), which I'm recording tomorrow (Wednesday 15/10/14) and then a bit of fun on Scrapheap Blues, with John, Jayne, Banjo Dave, and Helga.
See Chris Mansell's Blog from the Six Bells Folk & Blues Club website - 17/10/14.
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09/10/14 - 123: The Underground Theatre
Eastbourne2 songs at Open night
- On Paper Wings
- The Last Song
A chance to try out my latest song (On Paper Wings), which I'd only written earlier in the day. It worked, and I will now record it next week. It's my eleventh (and the final) composition towards the new album, The Last Song.
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07/10/14 - 122: The Blackboys Inn, Blackboys 5 songs at Open night |
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05/10/14 - 121: The Green Man, Ringmer 3 songs at Open night
- Insomniac's Dream
- Scrapheap Blues
- Fun of the Fayre
I'd taken a break from the local open mic scene for a few weeks and it was good to be back at the Green Man for a relaxed evening of song. Lisa, Banjo Dave and John Oddie joined me on a fun version of Scrapheap Blues.
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07/09/14 - 120: The Green Man, Ringmer 4 songs at Open night
- Diary
- The Last Song
- Music of the Road
- Spiders and Snakes
I'd written three new songs over the last couple of weeks. Tonight, I got a chance to play them in order and tell their story. A good, fun evening.
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02/09/14 - 119: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs at Open night
- Diary
- The Last Song
A chance to play my latest two songs. I recorded Diary last week at Rupert's studio and will be laying down The Last Song at his studio tomorrow night.
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25/08/14 - 118: The White Horse, Bodle Street 2 songs at Open night
- Insomniac's Dream
- Johnny B. Goode
It was 'Old Fashioned Rock n Roll' night at the Horse, so I did my new Lou Reed-esk tune and closed with an acoustic (one guitar) version of a Chuck classic.
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17/08/14 - 117: The Green Man, Ringmer 6 songs at Open night |
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14/08/14 - 116: Underground Theatre
Eastbourne2 songs at Open night
- Insomniac's Dream
- Tree
'Insomniac's Dream' is the 71st song that I have written & recorded, whilst 'What happened to love' was the second and was recorded back in 1988.
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11/08/14 - 115: The White Horse
Bodle Street2 songs at Open night |
05/08/14 - 114: The Six Bells
Chiddingly2 songs at Open night |
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The Open mic staple diet of two songs per evening is ok, but it was good getting a chance to play a few songs at the Green Man and it was probably the last time I'll play the Cliff song!
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03/08/14 - 113: The Green Man, Ringmer 3 songs at Open night |
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03/08/14 - 112: The Half Moon, Cade Street 4 songs at Open night |
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After a bit of a break from the Open mic scene, I decided I needed a busy day. I had a nice bike ride in the morning and then played at The Half Moon in the afternoon, before heading down to the Green Man for the evening. Same as it ever was!
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I've decided to take a break from the local Open night scene for a while. As a general rule, the audiences and performers at these events are covers orientated and although I now do the odd light-hearted cover, it's not my thing and I want to focus on my songs. I have an idea about running an acoustic songwriters evening in a cafe style format, but appreciate turning this into a reality will be a lot of work. I need a suitable venue, players and an audience!
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11/07/14 - 111: Die Smuggies, Seligenstadt, Germany 6 songs at Open night
- Spiders and snakes
- I like to be sad
- Scrapheap Blues
- The young ones
- Ghosts
- Sanity
Helga had arranged a road trip to Germany, with accommodation generously provided by her friends and a Friday evening performance at Die Smuggies in Seligenstadt.
Along with John & Lisa, we had a wonderful trip and we were made very welcome. I played six songs, ably assisted by my three companions and I joined in with some of their material.
On Sunday, along with several hundred very happy local youngsters we watched Germany win the World Cup Final.
Thanks to Helga, John & Lisa and special thanks to our hosts, Roman and Elker. x
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08/07/14 - 110: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 3 songs at Open night
- Fun of the Fayre
- Quiet Man
- Sanity (with Helga on flute)
Chris Mansell was back at the helm and I gave my latest two tunes another go in preparation for my first ever German Open mic night coming up on Friday. Whilst I was playing, Germany were scoring lots of goals against Brazil!
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28/06/14 - 108: Music Party at Helga's
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06/07/14 - 109: The Green Man, Ringmer3 songs at Open night
- Quiet Man
- Fun of the Fayre
- Funked up Country
A particularly relaxed and mellow evening and a chance to try my new songs out. We had ten performers and five of them did original material, which for me was great and preferable to usual emphasis on covers.
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24/06/14 - 107: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs and I'm was the MC again!
- Funked up Country
- I like to be sad
Impresario again! I did a bit of a report on the whole evening and added photos featuring most of the players on my Facebook page.
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15/06/14 - 106: The Green Man, Ringmer 4 songs at Open night |
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10/06/14 - 105: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs and I'm was the MC!
- The Young Ones
- Mendacious Cowboy
Impresario! Chris Mansell had asked me to run the Six Bells night as he couldn't make it. Fortunately, Rupert Cobb was there to do the clever stuff and sort the sound.
I opened the evening (helped by the Santana-esk percussion section of Alison & Bart) with my (non-Cliff) version of 'The Young Ones', in memory of the late Rik Mayall.
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I was then joined by Rupert on trumpet (and piano!) for my second song. It was a really good evening with some wonderful performances in a variety of musical styles.
On the previous Thursday, I was late getting to the Cross in Hand night. This was down to my duties at the Lewes Wanderers Road Race event over at Laughton, but I still got a chance to play five songs which I enjoyed.
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05/06/14 - 104: The Cross in Hand, Heathfield 5 songs at Open night |
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01/06/14 - 103: The Green Man, Ringmer3 songs at Open night |
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27/05/14 - 102: The Six Bells, Chiddingly3 songs at Bob Dylan night |
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25/05/14 - 101: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 3 songs at Beer Festival
- Mendacious Cowboy
- Little red car
- Spiders and snakes
I played my 100th Open Night at the Green Man and did my version of 'Knockin' on heaven's door' with Helga on flute. This was probably the first songs I ever learned with my band, Live Evil way back in 1976. In those days I was the bass player!
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I then got to play outside in the sunshine at the Six Bells Beer Festival to several hundred people, which was something different and a bit of fun. I was back at the Bells a couple of days later for Bob Dylan night. I've also been trying out two new songs, 'Tree' and 'Mendacious Cowboy'.
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18/05/14 - 100: The Green Man
Ringmer5 songs at Open night |
13/05/14 - 99: The Six Bells
Chiddingly2 songs at Open night |
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04/05/14 - 98: The Green Man, Ringmer 2 songs at Open mic night
- My mum, Alzheimer's and the Care Home
- Scrapheap blues
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Another three great open nights After playing at the Six Bells on 15/04/14, I didn't attend any Open nights for the following two weeks, this was mainly down to all the work I was doing in getting the new album, View from a window finished and ready to release.
I then attended three Open nights in six days and really enjoyed them all. First up at the Six Bells, I played two of my older songs, including Little red car, which is one of my more upbeat numbers! Lisa and John Oddie helped me out at the Cross in Hand. The Green Man - it's been 2.5 years since my mum died (4/11/11), so I played my mum song, which is always difficult, but therapeutic. I was then joined by Jayne, John & Lisa on the more upbeat Scrapheap blues. I also joined Helga on her version of Me and Bobby McGee. Three fun evenings with some great players and performances.
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01/05/14 - 97: The Cross in Hand
Heathfield3 songs at Open night |
29/04/14 - 96: The Six Bells
Chiddingly2 songs at Open night |
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15/04/14 - 95: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs at Open night |
I'd been in the studio during the day finishing off the final parts of my new album, View from a window - so, I thought I'd give my own songs a rest as I've spent loads of time just focusing on getting everything sorted for mixing. Therefore, I decided to play a couple of old tunes that feature on my favourite live Grateful Dead album - I was joined on my second number by Alison on drum and John on slide. It was a really good evening - with loads of great performances and it was a relaxed escape from obsessing about the new album.
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Three nights, great musicians and top performances It kicked off at the Six Bells, followed by an excellent night at the Cross in Hand. I wrote 'I can't make it shine' in the mid 90's and this was the first time I've ever played it live (there was a special reason for this). For my final song of the evening I decided to do 'House of the rising sun'. I played the rhythm and Chris Mansell sat in on lead, I sang the first verse and then the lyric sheet was handed round the room, with seven different people singing a verse each, before a big sing-along on the final verse.
To finish the week we shut the doors (to keep the pub noise out) at the Green Man and I really enjoyed the evening. I'd done a bike race in the morning that had gone past the Green Man, it was a two-up time trial and I'd ridden it with Tony Sinnett, who has a made a puppet of me when I was 18 to be used in a film we're making to go with my new album (View from a window). During the race, two of my club mates had crashed and had been carted off to hospital battered and bruised and one had a nasty fracture to his clavicle. I therefore had to start my set with 'Life's a race'. With all the guest musicians who featured on the recording of both 'Scrapheap blues' and 'Tick tock' in attendance, it was a joy to do the two songs live and I even brought the Metronome along to help out on Tick tock, only problem being, I didn't stay in time with the tick tocks!! A real laugh and a great week all round.
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06/04/14 - 94: The Green Man, Ringmer3 songs at Open night |
03/04/14 - 93: The Cross in Hand, Heathfield4 songs at Open night |
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01/04/14 - 92: Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 songs at Open night |
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18/03/14 - 90: Six Bells, Chiddingly2 songs at Open mic night
- Ghosts
- Scrapheap blues
I was delighted to be joined by Rupert Cobb and his wonderful trumpet - Rupert plays on the opening track (Ghosts) on my soon to be released album, View from a window. Thanks to Lisa Jackson who helped out on backing vocals and John Oddie for playing slide on Scrapheap blues.
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I filmed it (the sound is a bit iffy) and put it on my Facebook page. The photo makes me smiles, as both John and Rupert are hidden by the old oak columns that hold up the Six Bells ceiling! Thanks to John, Lisa & Rupert, along with Jayne and Banjo Dave who have all helped me out on the new recordings.
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24/03/14 - 91: The White Horse, Bodle Street 2 songs at Open night |
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16/03/14 - 89: The Green Man, Ringmer 4 songs at Open night
- Ghosts
- Run
- The Man
- Sanity
Relaxed evening at The Green Man and a chance to try out my latest song, The Man, with help from Lisa on BVs. Jayne & Helga also helped me out on some of my tunes.
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04/03/14 - 85: Six Bells, Chiddingly2 songs at Open mic night |
I wasn't happy with my version of Paul at Sunday's Green Man night, so I gave it another go and I still wasn't happy - will need to give it some thought before trying it again at an Open night. Ghosts is going to be the opening track on my new album, Stories to be told, so with some help from Jayne on BVs we gave it a go.
A good evening at the Bells, with some great performances, including two top Dylan songs (She belongs to me and Buckets of rain) to open and close the night from Chris Mansell. Perhaps I ought to give star ratings for the Open mic nights I attend. This would be a ★ ★ ★ ★ score for the evening in general and just ★ for my own performance.
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11/03/14 - 88: The Blackboys Inn, Blackboys3 songs at Open night
- Run
- Inside of you
- Guardian Angel
No music stand at the Blackboys, so I had to do songs I knew and could perform without the prop of a lyric sheet!
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02/03/14 - 84: The Green Man, Ringmer2 songs at Open mic night
- Paul
- My son, from baby, child to man
I played two of my more personal songs - this was probably a mistake, as there was quite a lot of background noise, which is not ideal for my chosen material. It was good fun helping Helga out on her first outing as a solo singer.
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10/03/14 - 87: The White Horse
Bodle Street2 songs at Open night |
06/03/14 - 86: The Cross in Hand
Heathfield3 songs at Open night |
24/02/14 - 83: The White Horse
Bodle Street2 songs at Open night
- All of the time
- Ghosts
Jayne Ingles joined me on my two songs.
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19/02/14 - 82: The Horam Inn
Horam4 songs at Open night |
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18/02/14 - 81: Six Bells, Chiddingly 7 songs at Open mic night
- I like to be sad
- Guardian Angel
- Sanity
- Life's a race
- Life ain't been easy
- Wrong place wrong time
- Tick-tock
Something a little different - Chris Mansell had given me an extended slot and I'd asked my music friends who featured on my album 'Stories to be told' to help me out.
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It was an interesting challenge putting together an extended set of my songs - Bart, John Oddie & I did three rehearsals at John's and I had one rehearsal with Jayne. I made quite a few mistakes on the night, but enjoyed it and am very grateful to my music friends for helping out. I filmed it and put up an edited version on my Facebook site. There is also an album of photos from the evening on my Facebook page. Chris Mansell gave us a generous review on his Six Bells Blog.
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16/02/14 - 80: The Green Man, Ringmer 5 songs at Open night
- Wrong place wrong time
- I like to be sad
- Guardian Angel
- Bad moon rising
- Sanity
A really good evening - Helga joined us on flute for Wrong place and Bad moon, whilst Jayne did lead vocals on Bad moon and backing vocals on Wrong place, Guardian Angel and Sanity. I actually got people singing along with Guardian Angel and probably got the biggest cheer I've ever had at an Open mic night after finishing 'I like to be sad'! Next up, it's my extended set (7 songs) at the Six Bells on Tuesday, where I'll be joined by John Oddie (lead guitar), Bart (cajon, percussion & backing vocals), Jayne Ingles (backing vocals) & Helga (flute).
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Like last week, I did three open nights on consecutive evenings and what did I learn. Well, it's a long night if you only get one song and that's what happened at the White Horse on Monday. Jayne joined me for You're gone and I filmed it and put it up on my Facebook site.
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12/02/14 - 79: Wheatsheaf Inn, Willingdon 3 songs at Open night |
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11/02/14 - 78: The Blackboys Inn, Blackboys 5 songs at Open night |
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The Blackboys Inn open night is new and run by Dave Backley and was very enjoyable with both Jayne & John Oddie helping me out on some of my songs. Wednesday and the Wheatsheaf, where to be honest, it's a busy pub, but virtually no one was listening and I asked myself why I was doing it. One of the main reasons for venturing out over the last couple of weeks is to toughen up in anticipation of my extended set on 18/02/14 at The Six Bells. I have been rehearsing a seven song set with John & Bart and working on some backing vocals with Jayne. I think in future I'll only attend evenings where you get to play a bit and where people are interested in listening.
10/02/14 - 77: The White Horse, Bodle Street1 songs at Open mic night |
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06/02/14 - 76: The Cross in Hand, Heathfield 5 songs at Open night |
Three Open nights on the bounce - first time at The Woolpack Inn and I got Jayne Ingles to help me with the vocals - A good evening at Cross in Hand with Jayne again helping out on the vocals.
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05/02/14 - 75: The Woolpack, Herstmonceux 4 songs at Open night |
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04/02/14 - 74: Six Bells, Chiddingly 3 songs at Open mic night
- Do you see the future
- Bad moon rising
- Sanity
A really good night at the Bells with some top performances. My brother had bought me a GoPro Hero 2 camera for my birthday and I used it to film my set. See Do you see the future on my You Tube page - the picture is great and the sound quality ok, though not brilliant.
We have lost a lot famous musicians (JJ Cale, Lou Reed, Phil Everly & Pete Seeger to name a few) over the last few months and have celebrated some of their material at various local open mic nights.
In reality it's time to leave the stage is a line from my song, Do you see the future, which I'd written back in 1998. I like exploring my back catalogue of songs and decided to give it a go in memory of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
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I made a bit of a hash of Bad moon rising, which is a little embarrassing as it only uses three chords, but it is vital you play them in the right order!
Towards the end of the evening I did a version of Sanity with Helga on flute and John Oddie on lead guitar.
In two weeks' time (18/02/14) I've got my extended set at the Six Bells. I'm hoping to have support from some top open mic desperados, though; we are leaving the rehearsals to the last minute! Please come along and give us some support.
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31/01/14 - 73: The Hope Inn, Newhaven 3 songs at Open mic night
- Life's a race
- Sanity
- Guardian angel
Another biblical night on the weather front! John Oddie drove us down to the coast for our first outing at The Hope Inn. John joined me on my material and I asked (Tony Still) one of the two available drummers to sit in. I meandered my way through three of my songs and must thank John & Tony for helping out. Another friendly venue with some great performances.
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29/01/14 - 72: Wheatsheaf Inn
Willingdon3 songs at Open mic night
- Guardian Angel
- Life's a race
- Bad moon rising
I did my first Open mic night at the Wheatsheaf on 30/01/13. It was Philip Rackley's idea, I'd met Philip at the Stables Studio whilst I was recording my album 'Me and my Martin' and at his prompting, we did a few rehearsals and agreed to play some of my songs at the Wheatsheaf.
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One year on and I thought I'd return for my 72nd Open mic night at the same venue - I even played 'Life's a race', as it was my opening song first time out. It's been an interesting year, I've met some great people and expanded my music knowledge listening to the huge variety of performers that attend these events.
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19/01/14 - 71: The Green Man, Ringmer 3 songs at Open night
- View from a window
- Social media
- Scrapheap blues
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First up, I played my two newest songs on my own - I had a few ideas for another song on paper and spent the evening (listening to the other players and) sorting out the lyrics and structure. So, when I got back up to play I'd asked a few of the other musicians (Chris on string bass, Banjo Dave and Terry Lees on lead guitar) to help me out. It worked out quite well and I now plan to fine tune the song and record it on the new album.
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Scrapheap blues - A great pick-up band help me out - I'd written the song that evening.
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16/01/14 - 70: University of Sussex, Falmer3 songs at Open night
- Guardian Angel
- View from a window
- Sanity
Something different - Helga had invited some of the local open night players to perform at an event (Towards a Better Childhood) at the University of Sussex. Four of us (Glyn, Banjo Dave, Lisa and me) set up in the reception area. We jammed along with each other's songs and Helga joined us on flute for a couple of numbers, including my song Sanity. Wine and buffet - An enjoyable evening.
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07/01/14 - 69: The Six Bells, Chiddingly 2 + 2 songs at Open night
- Sweet Jane - with Eagu
- Walk on the wild side - with Eagu
- I want to learn
- What happened to our love
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Tonight for me was something rather special - I'd recently joined Facebook and have been talking to a few people from my music past.
Mark Eason (or Eagu, as he was and is still known) and I were friends back in 1976 and we hadn't spoken since 1977, so I suggested he came along to tonight's Six Bells bash. He played guitar and I did the vocal on a couple of classic Lou Reed tunes. I'd also been in touch with Louise Gough, who had done the vocals on my first proper recordings - In those day's I went out under the name The Rock Hoppers. I decided to play two of my songs recorded by Louise back in 1989 for Rock Hoppers 1. An amazing evening and who said nostalgia ain't what it used to be hey!
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Two photos with Mark Eason (Eagu) seperated by 37 years! |
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05/01/14 - 68: The Green Man, Ringmer3 songs at Open night
- The future's so vague
- All alone
- Ghosts
A mellow night and not quite as busy as normal. I've been talking with some old friends on Facebook and decided to play two songs that I'd recorded in their Brixton based studio back in 1995. I came back on a little later and finished with one of my new songs that will feature on my next album.
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02/01/14 - 67: The Cross in Hand, Heathfield 6 songs at Open night |
A small crowd for my first open night of a new year. I'd been recording vocals during the day in the studio on Ghosts and Leaf, so started with them and then did my third new song, Tick-tock. For my second set I did a couple of songs off my album, 'Stories to be told' with Jayne helping out with some BVs and to finish I played an unrehearsed (would have been a little better if I'd run through it a couple of times) version of Little red car, which I'd written way back in 1991 - I dedicated this to Michael Schumacher, as I know quite a lot about ABI and head injuries after my own close encounter with mortality back in 2005.
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