 |
| Not another drummer, surely ? |
Hopefully, today is going to have a few less problems ?
First job, take out all the gear from the back of the
steward’s marquee which backs onto us and get the stage set up before Al gets
here.
It doesn’t work because he’s as ready to start as we are
and turns up ten minutes later, which only goes to prove that ‘many hands make
light work’ because we accomplish it in record time.
It’s going to be an interesting day today as we only have
one lot of out and out noise-niks, and they are second on the bill and
replacing an already booked act.
Having said that, they’re as good as anybody else and a
lot better than some booked on other stages.
The rain has stopped and it seems as if it’s brightening
up somewhat ?
Unfortunately, the ground is completely soaked underfoot
and is beginning to turn to that horrible liquefied mud in some places on site.
I’d hate to think what it’s like over by the main stage ?
That was appalling last night and with another probable
twelve thousand people expected today, is only going to get ten times worse.
Still, that’s their problem, our stage isn’t as bad.
It’s not good by any means, but it’s not as bad as some
of the others.
It’s a toss-up between whether we play a few African acts
on cd while we wait, or go for something more ‘weird’, as my festie’ music is
called, sometimes ?
 |
| Haddy, taking a break |
Screw it.
Fatoumata Diawara gets the vote until Lee gets here to
soundcheck.
The rest of the crew turn up by eleven.
Sarah’s daughter Charlotte has now swelled our ranks, but they’re all past masters at this sort of thing now, and by 11.25 we’re all set to go.
Sarah’s daughter Charlotte has now swelled our ranks, but they’re all past masters at this sort of thing now, and by 11.25 we’re all set to go.
The camera is in position, the desk is working, and all
we need is an opening act.
Before we get one, I get a ‘phone call…
It’s Joe Davin from Red Maxx who played yesterday.
Apparently he left his guitar in the marquee in our ‘safe
store’ and it’s missing, presumed stolen, so can we please keep our eyes open
for it ?
We can do that.
‘Frank, while we’re waiting can you go through ALL our
stuff in the safe store and see if you can find anything, cheers mate ?’
Ok, so Lee’s here and ready to go.
I’ve only seen him once before playing an acoustic gig as
normally he’s a bit loud.
He used to live four doors away from me in the family
home until they moved away, and now he seems to be based anywhere from
Hertfordshire to the South Coast.
His electric outfit were named ‘The Righteous Ones of The
Rockets’ or somesuch, and they played a sort of jamming, psychedelia inspired
rock.
When the words were sung, you actually realised that
there was some intelligent thought behind them and they had never let me down
at any gig I’d seen them, so I’d been intrigued when Joe Davin had recommended
his acoustic set.
I’d seen him just the once, but that was enough for me
and I’d booked him there and then.
It’s a thankless job starting things off on the Sunday,
but Lee had been up for it and was happy to be involved.
He’d also got quite a few friends turning up to see him,
which was always good, and… Today we are starting on time and thank Christ for
that.
All we have to do is wait until the religious service
finishes from our nearest neighbours at St Mary’s stage.
St Mary’s is run by the local vicar, Michael, but don’t
let that fool you into thinking he just puts on twee and nice acts, that would
place you totally in the wrong ball park.
Michael used to be a ‘rocker’ before holy orders
beckoned, and he’s still known to strap on a guitar and rock out with the best
of them.
His stage tends to cater for the smaller ‘world’ acts and
the same type of acts as us but without the ‘attitude’.
That’s not to say they are boring and ‘nice’, they’re
not.
They ‘kick ass’ with the best of them.
We’ve always said that what makes ‘Rhythms’ is the fact
we have the sacred (St Mary’s) and the profane (Arcadeclectic) side by side,
and we get on.
But Sunday morning service is Sunday morning service and
since he’s on site, he holds it in the stage he’s responsible for, and it
works.
Those wanting to go to church still get to sit in a church
pew because he’s had them all moved onto the site, it’s just in a large marquee
instead of a church, that’s all.
And what could be better than a non-denominational church
service that brings different religions and faiths together at a festival that
celebrates different music from around the World ?
I don’t know, but I have the feeling that when God calls,
then Ol’ Father Michael is going to be classed as one of the good guys, despite
his predilection for out and out Rock and Roll ?
Mike Roden rocks !
That’s all there is to it.
So Lee Clayden gets us underway…
Intelligent and thought provoking songs with some very
nifty fretwork in places.
Yes, I think that about sums up Lee’s set ?
I could have added very enjoyable, but that goes without
saying and it really is a perfect opening set.
Neither too loud nor too soft, but with something for
everyone AND… He plays loud enough to challenge Al on the soundesk which is
good as it keeps him thinking and he doesn’t go onto autopilot.
While Lee is keeping us all entertained, one of St Mary’s
security guys wanders over and ask me if any of our lot has lost a guitar, as
he’d seen a guitar case at the bottom of the river by the bridge, had waded in
to rescue it, only to find the guitar was still in it.
 |
| The bridge, beneath which was Joe's bass guitar... |
He’d then done the proper thing and taken it to ‘lost
property’.
Shit !
I bet it’s Joe’s ?
Two minutes later and it’s confirmed…
It is.
Now what fucking bastard is going to steal a cased bass
guitar and throw it in the river ?
Hmmm ?
Safe store, eh ?
And all because we had that problem with security…
We’d been promised that the back area of the stewards
marquee was safe to leave all our gear, AND, for the artists to leave theirs.
It turns out that has not been the case.
It’s not the best start to a festival I’ve ever had.
The next act is going to be loud.
I know that because I have never, ever, seen him do a
quiet set.
It was going to be Mark Astronaut and Joe Davin, but Joe
has relinquished his place in favour of Dom’, the Astronauts guitarist, as Joe
had played yesterday with Red Maxx and will be playing again, later today, with
POG.
Share and share alike.
It’s just as well Joe isn’t playing now as his guitar is
totally waterlogged, still, there are enough bands for him to borrow one.
Al comes to the rescue, despatching Maria to go home and
pick up his, which he says Joe can use until he gets something sorted out,
either by insurance or otherwise ?
That’s why I love my crew…
They’ll basically do ANYTHING for their friends and
colleagues if the unfortunate happens to occur, which in this case, it most
definitely has.
It’s conduct above and beyond what is expected of
anybody, but they don’t give out medals for it.
Sometimes I honestly think they should ?
Mark and Dom’ blow the loudest set of the weekend so far
on the Arcadeclectic Stage, and I’m quite surprised we haven’t set off any
decibel meters, but it seems ok, nobody is rushing over with orders to turn it
down, so that’s good.
Bob comes over to see us while he’s on.
Bob was one of the originators of this festival.
The original gig, now over twenty years ago, had been done on a flatbed truck in the town centre as a fund raiser for Oxfam where people had collection boxes.
It seems to have grown somewhat ?
Now, here we are on The Priory, at the edge of town but
still central to everything that is going on.
I have to admit I much prefer it ‘on site’ rather than
being in the town.
The town centre had serious problems with drunkenness,
the local police, who wanted paying for most of Hertfordshire’s overtime that weekend,
plus, the local council’s insistence that we paid to clear up the complete town
rather than just the bits we were actually involved in.
Basically those two organisations screwed the festival
for every penny they could get out of us, and that does tend to cause a little
resentment.
Now we were on our own site, there is no reason for
either to do so.
It still doesn’t stop them trying, however.
Anyway, back to Mark and Dom’
To be fair, it was quite an experimental set for Mark.
He does tend to do this every so often.
I’d actually been to one of his gigs when he only played
one number…
It lasted for a good twenty minutes and ended with
screaming feedback when he walked off the stage.
The crowd, expecting the usual Astronauts set, had been
totally mindblown, but that was all in an evening’s gig for Mark, who has never
been one to take audience considerations onto a stage.
Mark Astronaut does what Mark Astronaut does, and if he’s
lucky, he’ll have people in the band who share his sometimes slightly out of
kilter view.
With Dom’ and Joe he’d definitely got a pair who were up
for challenging the preconceived ideas of what ‘Rock Music’ and a rock
performance, is.
It makes for a challenging set, but once you’re into
them, you never lose it.
They are, by far and away, one of the best bands around.
We’d had as many of the original band still upright last
year, when they played their very first album ‘Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs’ in
its entirety for the first time ever.
Now they were back with half the current incumbents.
What the hell, they’re different.
Bloody good, but certainly different.
They’ve brought a good sized crowd to see them, which is
just as well, because we have a poet on next…
Joy T. Chance.
My stage partner for so long, I’d forgotten how many years
?
Since my heart attack I’d slowed down somewhat, and
wasn’t now up for doing three gigs a week and promoting another one every month.
As far as I was concerned, those times had now gone, Joy
on the other hand, was still up for the gigs,
and so she was doing a ‘featured’ spot of her own at
Rhythms.
She’d asked for the Saturday off from her usual compering
duties and so I’d got Grant to fill in.
Now, today, she was back to her usual compering with
Grant and occasionally with me.
People do ask me about that, but as the festival gets
bigger and things get more involved I do what I can, and to be honest, if I’m booking
the artists and stage managing as well, then there really is too much to think
about.
I’m very lucky in that I have two like-minded friends and
colleagues that I can call on to take some of the load from my shoulders.
It helps, let’s put it that way.
And so Joy takes the stage…
As usual, she’s thought about the set in advance.
It ebbs and flows and everything comes quite naturally
one after the other, and…
It certainly makes you think, which, let’s face it, is
what poetry is supposed to do ?
Let’s digress into poetry and how it’s ‘performed’ these
days for a bit…
Since Pam Ayres and John Cooper Clarke popularised the
art of ‘performing’ poetry in the 1970’s it seems to have gone from strength to
strength ?
Now I’ve been called a ‘Punk’ poet.
I’ve been called a ‘Peoples’ poet.
Neither are particularly accurate.
Nowadays, it seems that everybody with a penchant for
rhyming is a poet, but that is most definitely not the case, and in some ways
it has been made worse with the advent of ‘Rapping’.
People call rap the poetry of the streets, but is it ?
Most of it seems to revolve around telling others how
cool you are, how much pussy you’re getting, and how much you’d like to kill a
cop ?
If that’s poetry then my dick’s a fucking kipper !
When I was a teenager I got into a guy named Lord
Buckley.
He was a white American guy based in Chicago who laid
these ‘jazz raps’ down, basically inventing his own way with language, most of
which he took from the slang idioms that he’d heard when jazz musicians spoke
to each other.
But it was inventive, it was thoughtful, and it was
downright laugh out loud funny in places and eye wettingly tragic in others,
but he told it how it was.
Lenny Bruce, a so-called ‘dirty comedian’ whose power cut
right through the bullshit of the times he lived in.
When you heard Lenny on record you knew that what he was
saying and the way he said it were sheer poetry, you couldn’t really call it
anything else.
Listen to his Carnegie Hall gig if you don’t believe me ?
They were the first of my ‘poetic heroes’ if you want to call them such ?
Then I heard a guy named Gil Scott Heron…
A black guy with an incisive wit, that spoke volumes to
me about black culture and the problems of the world, and who also used music
to back what he was laying down.
Roger McGough and Adrian Henri from Liverpool, both of
whom used music, either in The Scaffold or Liverpool Scene ?
These were artists I heard in the late 1960’s.
In the 70’s came Pam Ayres, who was so funny she made me
howl in fits of laughter…
John Cooper Clarke, who literally came out of the ‘Punk’
revolution and made me laugh again.
Linton Kwesi Johnson and Benjamin Zephania, who told of
the West Indian experience and who used the rhythms of reggae to drive their
points home.
Attila The Stockbroker, John Hegley… These were
performance oriented poets.
And the one thing they all have in common, the one thing
that unites all of these people under one roof whether they be white, black,
British, American, West Indian or even Martian, is their ability to observe,
and to translate their observances into words that people can understand when
they are waxing poetic.
Poetry does not have to rhyme.
It can be free verse or whatever pentameter you wish, it
can have choruses like songs, it can be stylised like sonnets or haiku but in
the end it’s all poetry.
Nowadays, anybody who can rhyme is called a poet…
All you have to do is criticize the government or their
policies in rhyme and I find that quite sad because there is definitely a time
and a place for it.
I’ve done it.
Probably from every conceivable angle, and every
conceivable government, too ?
They’re not usually the best things I’ve written, even if
they do tend to please the crowd at the time.
Joy, on the other hand, is most definitely a poet.
She observes, she ‘feels’ and she translates those
observances and feelings into words which have a power, a power to make others
feel what she is feeling and what she has seen, and she’s an absolute natural
performer on stage.
Every time she does her own set at Rhythms, she seems to
get better.
Every time she brings something new to the table, either
a phrase, a chorus, a feeling of ‘Hell… This is different…’
In my opinion (and I’m probably a bit biased because I’ve
worked with her for years) she really is THAT good.
And that’s why she ‘performs’ poetry.
Books are all well and good, but where are the nuances of
speech ?
Most poetry is taught in schools as an archaic form in
that those who ‘wrote’ poetry are all dead and gone.
From Shakespeare to Wordsworth, Byron and Keats, Verlaine
and Rimbeau.
They are all dead.
Remembered for what they did in their time, but dead
nonetheless.
There are no nuances, no sly reminders that a living,
breathing soul wrote those words.
They are just ‘there’.
Pages, in a book that you are forced to learn.
Why ?
Poetry moves with the times, constantly in flux,
constantly in transition, constantly developing and constantly in motion.
We all have the ability inside us, it’s just a question
of harnessing it and developing your own style.
Which is one of the reasons I don’t give a rats arse what
people think of my stuff ?
I really don’t care.
If people don’t like it, then they wouldn’t keep coming
to the gigs and, more to the point, promotors wouldn’t book me, so you work it
out…
And so poetry moves on through the years, and with people
like Joy, it’s in safe hands.
She blew an absolutely cracking set.
Humourous, indignant, moving and classy…
The girl did us proud.
 |
| Haddy & Joy T. |
Changeover time and The Finger Choppers are on next.
This lot were going to surprise a few people.
Normally, we have a problem with blues artists because
they want too much money.
They will happily play the local pub for a few pounds,
but when we want them to replicate their sets, then they tend to charge us a
few hundred instead.
Screw ‘em !
Bloody greed heads.
Now, we’d got a band who don’t tend to play pubs but
clubs, and it’s a different world.
Their frontwoman, Hazel, had been on the local scene for
a few years and she always played a quirky but interesting set and I’d always
been happy to give her a chance on stage, but this outfit was something
special.
Bruce, their lead guitarist had also done the same, usually
in an out and out rock band.
Now they’d teamed up with bass and drums and were playing
a blues based style that had more in common with cabaret blues than sweaty
clubs.
It was an absolute eye opener when I’d first seen them.
I was all for getting a free cd, but my wife had actually
paid for one…
(Note to self… Teach Haddy about ‘blagging’)
And I’d booked them as soon as they’d come offstage.
They were definitely going to impress the crowd, and the
beauty of having Hazel on the bill was that she was a consummate ‘networker’.
If she was booked for a gig then hundreds if not
thousands of people would be told about it.
The first thing you notice when the band hit the stage,
is that Hazel is not exactly dressed for the weather.
Alice in Wonderland perhaps, but not a music festival on
a drizzly day in Hertfordshire ?
But she looks absolutely fantastic, like a cross between
Tom Petty, The Mad Hatter and some dame from an old black and white film noir
from the 1940’s.
God knows where she got the idea for it, but it’s just so
typically Hazel ?
And the music matches the style.
Were they good ?
Do bears shit in the woods ?
Is the Pope Catholic ?
Yes, they were good.
They were actually more than good.
They started with probably about fifty people in front of
the stage.
And the longer they played, the more people turned up.
The Finger Choppers played an absolutely brilliant set.
I’d been surprised at how well Bruce had fitted in ?
He’s a very good guitarist, but in the past he could
definitely be accused of committing ‘fretwank’.
Now, he’d reined himself in.
His lead lines were tasteful, short and to the point, and
fitted into the songs like they were born to be there, and his harmonica
playing was top-notch.
With a rhythm section that underpinned everything that
Hazel played and sang and Bruce played, this was one mega-good band.
The shouts for more when they’d finished, were quite
deafening.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be done.
They definitely deserved an encore, but we didn’t have
time on our side and so I tried the next best thing…
I asked the crowd whether they’d like to see them again
next year ?
I couldn’t promise, but I could make a covenant.
If Hazel didn’t change the band in the meantime, then I’d
make the commitment in front of the crowd as witnesses, to bring them back next
year.
They deserved it, and it was the best I could do given
the circumstances.
The crowd roared it’s approval, and I’m glad…
THAT had been one very special set.
So special that the band completely sold out of their cd
with about twenty something people who were going to have to wait for the
second pressing.
Now that’s the mark of a well played set.
I was on next, along with my compatriots from Parnassus Performance, Sarah, Grant and Graeme.
Unfortunately the poets that I’d booked had to cancel
with one week to go before the event, so we weren’t billed in the programme,
but that’s ok, poetry is poetry, and it was timed as a poetry set.
I’d known Graeme was going to be in the audience and the
others were part and parcel of the crew, so I’d known we were all going to be
around.
It made sense at that short notice to do it ourselves,
rather than try and book somebody else from outside or even involve the rest of
the group.
It was unfortunate, but there are considerations like
parking passes to which we were oversubscribed anyway, and stage passes which I
might have been able to arrange at short notice, but I would never have
guaranteed ?
That was the reasoning behind the decision to put us on.
I’d told everyone to bring five poems and we’d each
probably have to drop one each in the thirty minutes we had on stage, and it
seemed to work.
Basically we played it as a ‘Slam’.
All four of us on stage, and ‘slamming’ them out one
after another, taking it in turns at the mic’.
We could have added Joy as well, but she was content just
to do the introduction.
Well, two of us did four and two of us did five and then
the thirty minutes was up.
At least those in the audience got a representative
selection.
Sarah got the loudest cheer after attempting to sing one
about the comic store where her daughter Charlotte works, and it was probably
most deserved.
All in all, there was a reasonably good reception to the
poems we read, which, at events like this, is quite gratifying.
Ok, we’re off, and POG are on next.
POG are based in Brighton.
Fronted by a guy named Paul Stapleton who I’d first met
when he’d filled in for a missing ‘Fish Brother’ a few years ago.
I’d been listening and watching them on Youtube, and now
Joe Davin had joined them I’d figured ‘What the Hell ?’
They were a forever changing line-up of between three and
eight and it just depended on who was about as to who turned up to play ?
Recently there had been a few babies and so the female
members had tended to be stay-at-home’s while the men went off to do the gig.
We’d ended up with four guys, Paul on guitar and lead
vocals, Joe on bass and accordion, Deacon on keyboards and Roger on drums.
Any backing vocals were shared around.
POG write jaunty little poppy folk type numbers about
being really miserable and the problems of making a living in a world that they
are not suited to.
Catchy choruses, intelligent lyrics and lashings of
humour abound, plus… You can dance to them.
So what’s not to like ?
There must be something because we’re being visited by an
officious guy with a db reader who tells
us we’re upsetting everybody with the sound.
Is he having a laugh ?
Apparently not…
He’s got to be out of his fucking mind, these guys are
quieter than The Finger Choppers and definitely quieter than Mark and Dom’ ?
But… We get ordered to turn it down or they’re going to
turn off the power ?
Ok, we’ve turned it down, now you can’t hear it properly
thirty yards away…
This bloke is one fucking twat !
I think he’s one of Ross’s blokes, so I’m not going to
tell him to fuck off, not just yet anyway.
It’s a shame because the band needed that extra punchiness and now they don’t have it.
It’s way too fucking quiet.
So quiet that the punters in the crowd start complaining, and so I ask them to make their complaints official by going to the official rhythms office and to definitely write in, afterwards.
 |
| Joe, with Al Richardson's bass guitar |
So quiet that the punters in the crowd start complaining, and so I ask them to make their complaints official by going to the official rhythms office and to definitely write in, afterwards.
How to have a positive outlook without ripping the
earphones off him and chucking him and them in the river is something I’m
definitely going to have to work on...
He spoilt a damn good set.
He spoilt a damn good set.
Al doesn’t have a choice on sound.
He just has to go with it.
Ok, let’s see what transpires a little further down the
line ?
POG do a Finger Choppers and sell out of cd’s after they
come off stage, which I’m pleased about.
I actually took the deal they were offering and bought
four of them for their discount price.
Nice one guy’s (and I’m still playing them).
While Lika Sharps are getting ready, we get our following
act too.
Is there any chance he could go on before them as he’s
just heard his Mum is feeling a bit poorly at home and they want to get away as
soon as possible afterwards ?
I think we can do that ?
A quick explanation to Jon, Jo and Graham and it’s
sorted.
Strange how things work out ?
I’d actually wanted them in that order in the beginning,
but I’d come up against Steve’s (The programme director who books the other
stages) intransigence over the acts on St Mary’s where he’d already played.
It had been a nuisance because it had blown a big hole in
the ‘flow’ of music.
Try and think of it this way, and I’ll try and explain
what I mean ?
You have a starting position, obviously.
From there you build within two or three acts to a
climax, then you change things totally, ie by putting on a poetry set in our
case.
Then you have another start and you build again.
Do it three times and you’ve got a balanced stage without
every artist trying to top the previous one, and it seems to work like a dream
?
I’d had that, but I’d been the one who was asked to
change the running order to accommodate another stage.
I wouldn’t have minded, but it was me who recommended the
act to Steve in the first place, and now, it’s all gone back to how I envisaged
it in the first place.
Still, these things can’t be helped.
Illness is illness, so let’s try and accommodate people.
If you’ve read any of the blog previously, then you will
know that one of the dates on my yearly calendar is the Cropredy Festival in Oxfordshire
every August.
Known affectionately as The Fairport Festival, as it’s
run and booked by Fairport Convention.
At last year’s festival I’d seen this lad on stage and
I’d immediately sent a text to Steve to try and get him for Rhythms because a.
He’s THAT good, and b. If we wait, then his price will definitely be going up.
Thankfully Steve had taken me at my word, made enquiries,
seen the bloke once, and booked him.
Success.
His name was now being bandied around in Folk music
circles as definitely somebody to watch.
And we’d got him, and managed to get him before Hitchin
Folk Club, and they are a seriously well established venue.
While he was on at Cropredy, he’d sung a cover of Richard
Thompson’s ‘Vincent Black Lightning 1952’ and he’d actually done it as well as
Richard usually does.
This was somewhat astounding to us RT fans, but then we
do have an affinity for that song as the Vincent motorcycle company was based
in Stevenage, the town that I, and a lot of my Cropredy cohorts actually live
in, and which is about three and a half miles away from the Rhythms site.
So what was the first thing I asked our guest ?
‘Are you gonna do Vincent Black Lightning…?’
‘I didn’t play it on the other stage, so I could do, why
?’
And I told him.
‘You were at Cropredy ?’
‘Half the audience waiting for you to go on were at
Cropredy including me and the wife who will be taking pictures of you during
your set… I can name them all for you individually if you like ?’
‘Wow ! Ok, I’ll do
it…’
What a nice lad he is…
‘Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Arcadeclectic
welcome to Mr Blair Dunlop…’
Was he worth the effort ?
He was spellbinding.
An absolutely brilliant set of his own songs, classic
folk songs and the odd cover version.
The cheer that went up when he announced Richard’s song
was absolutely deafening.
So deafening that when I looked around it was to see Ross
and his freaking minion haranguing Al to turn it down or be turned off…
One guy and a guitar ?
One guy and a guitar ?
Fuck this !!!
It’s time to create a disturbance…
‘Steve, get your arse over here now… Ross wants to turn
off Blair Dunlop…’
That was it.
Any niceness has now gone by the board.
It’s not fucking loud, in fact in places it’s quieter
than POG after we’d turned them down so somebody better tell me what the fuck
is going on ?
Apparently we have an official db meter about twenty feet
from the side of our stage.
They are kidding, right ?
No… They’re not.
What fucking plank stuck it there ?
Do any of the other stages have one that close to them ?
Apparently not.
Right, then you can fuck off.
I know why they’ve done it, it’s because we used to face
the hill where a lot of the complaints come from, but we don’t now.
What a bunch of cunts !
I know who’s behind it, and it’s not Steve and it’s not
me…
The sooner we put the ‘festival sound’ out to tender, and
get rid of ‘mates’ of committee members who get paid for their efforts, then
the sooner we’ll get a little more respect from the festival going audience.
Unfortunately, this sort of takes precedence over Blair’s
set, so I managed to miss the last part.
Steve has basically told Ross that there is no way that
this is too loud, whatever his meters say, and thank Christ for that.
What a fucking twat !
That has seriously pissed me off.
Blair has thankfully missed the shitstorm going on around
him, but his manager hasn’t…
He finishes his set to absolutely thunderous applause
from the crowd and I seriously hope it took that bloody meter into the red
again.
Good, time to get back on stage and get him a well deserved encore, which he graciously did.
Good, time to get back on stage and get him a well deserved encore, which he graciously did.
More thunderous applause at the end of that.
Now we really do have to work like lightning as both our
next acts do like to have perfect sound.
Thankfully, I’d managed to build that into the
change-over times.
Al, stick a Judy Henske cd on while we do the
change-over… I think we (the crew) need cheering up…
‘My God ! I
haven’t heard her in years…’
‘Oh, you know her stuff, then ?’
‘She was very popular when we were a lot younger…’
‘My stepdaughter has an expression she uses… A good song
is a good song… I’ll echo that, and she did tend to record good songs… She says
it about one you’re on as well, Percy’s Song from Unhalfbricking… And she’s
twelve…’
And Ashley Hutchings grinned.
Ashley, for those who don’t know, is Blair’s Father.
 |
| Blair & The Guv'nor... |
He’s also his manager, and he seems to be guiding his son
pretty well as far as I can see ?
He was also a founder member of the previously mentioned
Fairport Convention, and can be found on, or sometimes offstage at Cropredy
every year.
But it wasn’t only Fairport, he founded Steeleye Span AND
The Albion Band, of which Blair is now a member in his own right.
‘So what was happening with the sound…?’
I wish he hadn’t asked that.
But I told him anyway…
‘It’s a nuisance, but what can you do…?’
At least he understood the problem.
I understand the problem, but I can’t see how Blair or POG
could have been judged too loud when The Damned and JuJu weren’t ?
Something is definitely going on behind my back and I’m
not party to it.
Still, at least it’s occurred now and I know about it,
and knowing about it I can do something about it.
Whether certain people like what I intend to do remains
to be seen ?
Blair and Ashley are still selling cd’s and signing
autographs when the next act hit the stage.
Jon, Jo and Graham…
Collectively, Lika Sharps.
These are one of my favourite bands from the local scene.
Musically, they’re very rhythmic and are comprised of
guitar, bass and vocals.
Jo sings, Jon plays guitar and Graham plays bass guitar.
It sounds so simple, doesn’t it ?
But it isn’t.
The musicians are rock solid on rhythm, but Jo’s voice is
used as another rhythm block rather than as a solo instrument and so they are
quite difficult to describe.
It’s not so much singing as chanting, but even that does
not do Jo justice.
They are VERY visual, because Jo dresses up for every gig
she plays and never the same way twice.
Ok, she’ll use maybe the basics, but there will be
differences.
Jo is an artist.
That’s what she does for a living.
That’s what she does for a living.
She creates works of art and people buy them.
In my time I’ve actually modelled for her…
And you can stop laughing, because it’s true.
Not only that but she asked for me specifically, and
because we’re mates, I’d said yes.
And the outfits or stage clothing she wears are never
quite the same twice.
There will always be a difference on successive nights.
Jon is currently in three bands, but is hopeful that it will be dropping to two soon, as he is finding three a bit much to cope with.
Graham is just rock solid.
Jon is currently in three bands, but is hopeful that it will be dropping to two soon, as he is finding three a bit much to cope with.
Graham is just rock solid.
Well so long as Jon doesn’t ditch this one…
It’s hypnotic just watching them.
Actually, mesmerising is probably a better word and they
sort of creep up on you, musically.
All I know is that I love them and I really wish they
were closer to finishing their first cd, but it will come when it’s ready,
trouble is, it’s not ready yet.
Being at a Lika Sharps gig is an experience.
Being at a Lika Sharps gig is an experience.
It’s not just a gig, it’s a visual feast, an aural feast.
In fact it’s a feast for all the senses.
Hopefully you’ll get what I mean if you play this clip
from Youtube ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHa6DuwSa4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHa6DuwSa4c
I’ve no idea what you’re going to think of them, but I
have to say that I really like them.
They don’t sound like anybody else I’ve heard, and that
to me is a definite bonus.
Are they commercial ?
Well, yes and no really…
I suppose it varies with the individual ?
Anyway, whatever they are, they are never less than
entertaining, and in their own way, they rock.
And I love them, so what more can I say ?
 |
| Shakey, Jo, Annie & my original bass player in Bass Relief, Mark Bailey |
Which leaves us with one more band…
Or duo, to be a little more accurate.
Spandex Ballet.
As soon as I’d booked them I knew that they were going to
top the bill, basically because there isn’t an artist on the planet who could
follow them.
It wouldn’t matter whether it was Bob Dylan, Neil Young
The Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, you follow these
two at your peril.
It’s not just that they are both quite good musicians, it’s because they are funny…
It’s not just that they are both quite good musicians, it’s because they are funny…
In a very ‘adult’ sort of way.
Their programme notes included the following lines…
‘…had over 20,000 hits on Youtube and more importantly,
offended thousands of people with their vitriolic humour…’
I’d booked them six years ago as a headliner and they’d
been brilliant.
Mind you, they had been helped by one of the local wasps…
No, not a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, a flying insect.
They both have a serious phobia with wasps.
How the two people in the locality with the same phobia
had got together to form a duo is obviously one of those crazy things that only
occurs in films…
Except that in reality and actuality, they had.
And with their tiny helper that had scared the shit out
of the pair of them, they had produced a set to die for.
The next time I’d had them, I put them on before the
official headliner…
Mistake.
Everybody wanted more Spandex…
Now they were going to headline again in their own right
and a lot of people were looking forward to seeing them.
Whichever way it goes down, these guys are seriously
going to make an impression ?
And they did…
It just seems crazy for me to talk about them when you
can Google them up and watch and listen to your heart’s content, so I’ll stop
the writing for a bit and you can click on this link…
I warn you now…
IT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN, AND NEITHER IS IT
SUITABLE FOR YOUR MAIDEN AUNT OR ANY RELIGIOUS NUTTERS...
You got that ?
Ok, here’s the link…
And that’s what we ended with…
A few thousand people laughing their socks off and
joining in with Leon and Chris on stage
Absolutely brilliant.
Everybody had smiles on their faces.
Musically we’d had a great day.
Yes, we’d had a few problems over the weekend of which
the rain was only one, but musically we’d had an absolute blast.
Take down the stage and get the p.a. ready for collection
and the same with the lights and we’re nearly done.
It’s the interminable waiting around after the event that
tends to drag, but finally, an hour and a half after we’ve finished pulling out
wires, everything that should be collected has been collected and we can
finally go home, where I’m going to bed and if I get up before Monday lunchtime
it’ll be a miracle on the same scale as Moses and The Red Sea…
Looking at the site before we leave, we’re all struck by
the state it’s in.
The rain, which has been light all day, is now beginning to pour down...
The rain, which has been light all day, is now beginning to pour down...
I have a nasty feeling there will be a few ramifications
further down the line ?
Oh well, tomorrow is another day…
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