Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club

We had a relatively quiet night in an otherwise empty pub, but a good time nevertheless. For some reason, Karen kept people chatting for a while at the start. Eventually, Dick started things off with Daddy Fox, and followed later with Let Union Be.

It was nice to welcome Tony for his first visit. He played a nice mixture of English and French tunes on his concertina. Let's hope he pops in again when he's next in the area.

Dave joined us for his second visit, with his excellent guitar playing and singing. His selection of fine songs included Ship of Fools (Grateful Dead), No Man's Land (Billy Joel) and Sunset over Morecombe Bay (writer not remembered by Dave).

The new pairing of Karen and Roger gave a first outing to Where are You Tonight, along with Dimming of the Day (very different to the Karen and Steve version). Roger played 'Waltz in G' from the Hardy Manuscripts on guitar and led the country dance tune Jack Robinson on harmonica.

Rosie's songs were the White Stripes' Got Her in Your Pocket and In the Jailhouse Now from O Brother Where Art Thou. She and Alan played a few of their usual Irish tunes. Alan shared how pleased he is not to have received a yellow card for having an untidy desk at work.

John joined later on, in time for The Rare Old Times and Sloop John A.

Proceedings were drawn to a close with mass singing of Ride On, led by Karen and Roger, followed by I've Waited as Long as I Can, led by Rosie and Alan.

What a great evening.  The atmosphere and the company was fantastic.  We had a great mix of songs and tunes and a great collaborative parody of Fiddler's Green from Tim and Roger.  Everyone was on top form and we all went away extremely happy.  Amanda sang wonderfully as usual and Eddie did some great numbers.  Steve and Karen managed to do OK with their new songs, Sun Coming Over the Hill and Oh Cumberland.  Roger M sang an amusing number and played Ride On amongst other things.  Simon led some great tunes as did Alan and Rosie, and Rosie sang Carole King's lovely So Far Away and others which I'm having trouble remembering titles of.  Vicky alas only sang one - which was beautiful, she has such a lovely voice we want to hear more.  Dick treated us to Man in the Moon and more.  If I've missed any one out I'm really sorry...!

Thanks so much to Tim Brooks and Roger Rowe for coming such a long way, to Simon from Marlow, Roger Mills from Henley and to Eddie and Amanda for joining us.  We are wondering if any of you would come regularly if we moved to the Old Ship?  Please leave comments if possible. 

There is some uncertainty about TJ O'Reilly's as they may have new people taking it on eventually and it seems The Old Ship would be happy to have us.  The only drawback is that we would be in the bar so if busy it could be noisy, though both evenings to far have been great.

Sorry to be a bit brief but I have just got back from Bedworth Folk Festival, also attended by John and Geraldine, where John sang Limehouse Reach which I guess he wouldn't at MBAC!  (Dick's song)

Our best evening for some time, with just the right balance of:

- 'regulars' and 'occasionals'
- traditional and contemporary
- songs and tunes
- familiar and new

It was nice to see and hear Robin again, even if his 'Vladimir' song about an Essex girl who gets caught up in dubious activities was somewhat disturbing…. A song to compare and contrast with Ian Dury's classic 'Billericay Dicky'. His version of 'Black is the Colour' is very different to the one we usually hear from Bob. He also  sang Farfallina, which you can hear his Myspace.

Dave (guitar and vocals) was accompanied by Simon (melodeon) on a fine selection of songs and tunes, notably Dave's own 'Island of Steel' which was admired by several of us. Simon was somewhat louder when leading the tunes! We hope to see them more often.

Roger led a few tunes on guitar, including 'Seven Stars' and 'Canal en Octobre'. Alan followed the latter's theme on mandolin with 'The Pernod Waltz' – a tune in the French style, written by a Scotsman, learned from an Irish woman and played by Englishman.

Dick, who is so much part of the furniture that he sometimes gets forgotten in this blog, sang 'Let Union Be in All Our Hearts' and 'The Miller and his Lass' with, as always, the massed ranks joining in on the choruses. 

Bob had left the guitar at home, so we had 'Peggy Gordon' and his own 'Hamster in a Wheel' on bouzouki. On the other hand, Vicky did bring her guitar and accompanied herself on 'The Good Man' as she continued her progress through the Kate Rusby repertoire, newly armed with the latest songbook and new hair colour. 

Karen and Steve came up with some songs we hadn't heard before ('Louise' and Matraca Berg's 'Oh Cumberland'), a couple we've heard a lot ('Great Divide' and 'Green Hills of Antrim') and one we don't hear enough ('Island').

Early on, Rosie led the musicians and egg shakers in rousing versions of the Kerry Polkas and the A minor jigs. She also sang 'Almaz', which attracted everyone (i.e. one person) from the other bar to listen.

The sing-along finale was 'Black Velvet Band' and 'I'll be Your Baby Tonight' from Steve, sandwiching 'In the Jailhouse Now' from 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou' from Rosie.

As England are playing at home next week and TJ's expects a large and noisy crowd, we're playing away. So we'll be at The Old Ship at Cadmore End on 21st November. It's a fine pub with beer straight from the barrel. Why not come along and join in, or just listen?

Another friendly Wed with songs ranging from home-grown e.g. Patrick's songs of places he has been, to Trad (e.g.Turkish Men of War) to Contemporary (e.g.Dido, Bowie) to 60s (e.g.Times they are a Changing) to parody (Les barker).  Also tunes from Alan & Rosie & some joinyiny numbers at the end ably helped along by Steve and Bob and the Shakers.

My favourite songs of the night have to be Graham Miles's My Eldorado from John, and Sun coming Over the Hill which Karen & Steve sang for the first time, with Karen trying hard to slow Steve down - he does get carried away!  Richard Thompson probably made it as most featured songwriter - he seems to manage to do that a lot! and Vicky pushed Kate Rusby into most featured singer.

The evening was, as usual, punctuated by some strange occurances, Jennifer strangling Steve with the dog lead while looking after Monty as Karen sang unaccompanied, Bob singing "Old Brown Dog", Karen trying on Vicky's boots, etc etc  Lots of fun as usual!