Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club

Wednesday's return to our roots (blog entry from Karen coming soon!) seems to have been judged a success by everyone who came. Ollie, the chef and manager, was pleased at the number of attendees and enjoyed the music.

Ollie is planning to put on live music on Wednesdays and has agreed that we'll take one slot per month. This will usually be the 4th Wednesday. However, because he 's booked someone on Februrary 25th, we'll be there on 11th February instead. Let's hope we have as good a turn-out and as enjoyable an evening as we did this week.

The re-jigged calendar is on the top right.

As usual at the Old Ship, we filled the dining area. Then more people arrived, so we all breathed in and managed to fit them in. We had a lovely evening and heard some songs we hadn't heard before or for some time.

Many of us had had the pleasure of seeing Richard Thompson's fantastic 1000 Years of Popular Music show on the Monday. We couldn't quite manage 1000 years, but did cover a few centuries with our usual mix of traditional and contemporary songs and tunes. Unlike Richard Thompson, who'd sung in English, French, Italian and Latin, we only managed English and Scottish.

As always, the evening started with Dick - this week with Drink Old England Dry. With its mention of Wellington, Dick's version of the song probably dates from the Napoleonic era. There have apparently been later versions from the Crimean War and the Second World War, with words adapted to the foes and heroes of the times. As a contrast in more ways than one, he later sang WC Fields' Fatal Glass Of Beer, from 1933. The full original film is now available online. His other song was Ben Hall, probably 19th century.

John from Norfolk had parked his lorry on the A404 and was taxied to and from The Old Ship by Karen. It was great to hear his 3 songs, finishing with Bill Caddick's Cloud Factory, which I think was written in 2006. The cloud factory apparently refers to Ironbridge power station.

Not having been at our Xmas celebration. Fred sang Numba One Day Of Xmas - a Hawaiian version of Twelve Days of Xmas that came complete with hand actions. One version of the song can be found here. He later amazed everyone again by playing another complex tune on his willow flute.

Stuart had spent some time recently discussing drilling projects in Aberdeen with some Scottish cementers. This doesn't sound like compelling conversation and, as Stuart said, having it conducted in a foreign language made it especially 'interesting'. Reflecting on this, he sang a Scottish song about friendship. Perhaps as an antidote, Delia followed with Adieu to Old England and later added Generations Of Change.

For the second week following, Steve sang a new song. This time it was the unaccompanied Unison in Harmony, which he'd learned from Coope, Boyes and Simpson. It's a really good song that suits Steve voice very well. I suspect he's hoping for harmonies at some point. As he was somewhat restricted for space, his guitar also stayed by his side for Country Life.

At Karen's request, Dave F sang his own song Gone Too Long For Returning. This is a tremendous song that we don't hear often enough. His first song had been Master Kilby, best known by Nic Jones. Simon sang A Calling On Song (see Simon's comment) and The Year Turns Around Again. This is from John Tams' music for the highly recommended production of Warhorse currently playing at The National, but transferring to the West End in March. Unusually, Alison stuck to English for The Good Old Way. Rosie and I think this talented trio needs a name. We suggest Fenner-Diegan-Fenner with reference to the Motown greats Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Richard was tucked away in a corner, and waited patiently for his turns, at which he sang Ramble Away and The Parson & The Suckling Pig. At a break in the proceedings he was accompanied by Roger in an impromptu rendition of the slip jig The Kid On The Mountain.

Rosie and I tried out You Go To My Head, best known from Billie Holiday's 1938 version. This gave a rare outing to the dusty end of my fretboard. We moved forward a few decades with Joan Armatrading's The Weakness in Me from 1976. We also played The White Petticoat (a tricky 18th century jig) and Out On The Ocean. As these weren't a great success, we fell back to the 'easy polkas' (Teahan's Favourite/Maggie In The Woods) next time around.

Roger is lining up a St Patrick's event in Henley, so Karen and he dug old The Rare Old Times, having started with Where Are You Tonight. Roger also led the musicians in the Seven Stars.

Monday's 1000 Years show had missed out a notable songwriter - Mr Thompson himself. John C remedied that with Down Where The Drunkards Roll (1974). He finished the evening request with another request for Karen - Kris Kristofferson's Casey's Last Ride (1970).

We're at The Pegasus next week. This is the same place as TJ O'Reilly's but has relaunched as a gastropub and reverted to it original name. The food and beer are both excellent. We'll be in the main bar and the TV will be switched off! They plan to put on music in the bar on Wednesdays and, if this week works, we'll make this a monthly venue. Please try to come along and make the evening a success.

In attendance at The Prince Albert in Frieth on Wed 14 January 2009:

Dick, Stuart, Delia, Steve, Jennifer, Karen, Roger, Martin, Alan, Rosie, Simon, Richard, Andy, Gerry, John

Songs & Tunes, spanning many genres:

Bring Us A Barrel
Fair Rosamund
Man in the Moon
Daisy – with concertinas
Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound
From A Distance
Santa Claus
Medicine Wheel
Waltzings for Dreamers
Heartbeat
Needle & Thread
The Cockney Medley
Off to California
Watercress Girl
The Year Turns Round Again
Bonnie Light Horseman
7 Drunken Nights
Cats in the Cradle
Mon shadow
Till There Was You
Rig-a-jig, Another Jig Will Do
Galway Girl
10 Penny-bit, Rakes of Kildare
New England
Gold Watch Blues
Old Kent Road
Don’t Take my Moonshine Away (Parody of you are my sunshine)
Any News of the Iceberg?
Old Maui

Apologies if this is somewhat brief - please add comments if you were there!

Next week we are at The Old Ship at Cadmore End.

We're called Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club because we used to meet weekly at TJ O'Reillys in Marlow Bottom. As the future of TJ's became uncertain, we found other venues and now enjoy being a wandering club.

TJ's has been renovated and has now reopened under its orginal name of The Pegasus. It has really good food and excellent Green King IPA and London Pride straight from the barrel. We've agreed with the new landlord/chef, Ollie, that we'll return on the 28th January and use the main bar (with the TV off) at our usual time of 8:30. If this works out, we hope to make this a regular fixture. This would suit those of us living in Marlow Bottom very nicely.

So, our schedule for the rest of January is:

14th: The Prince Albert, Frieth
21st: The Old Ship, Cadmore End
28th: The Pegasus, Marlow Bottom

As we say on our web site, we welcome all styles of acoustic music. This week, it showed. Whether it was because we have mics, amps and a bass guitar at The Belle Vue, or because of the particular combination of attendees, we had an eclectic selection, much of which could not be classified as 'folk music' (whatever that means). In particular:

Gerry: Layla (Eric Clapton)
Rosie and Alan: That Ole Devil Called Love (Billy Holliday), Across the Universe (Beatles), If Love Is A Red Dress (Maria Mckee)
John the melodeon player: American Patrol (Glen Miller)
Martin: Top Yourself (The Raconteurs), Rock and Roll Nerd (Tim Minchin)

Probably for the first time at the club, someone sang the song currently at number one in the singles charts: John C with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Rumour has it that John is auditioning for the next series of the X Factor, perhaps singing Sloop John A, his other song of the evening.

At Karen's request, Steve sang his own song Santa Claus. This was timely because it isn't a Xmas song at all - its theme chimes nicely with 2009's 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and this week's launch of the Atheist Bus.

Closer to 'folk club' territory, we had the following:

Dick: Let Union Be, Limehouse Lass, Dido Bendigo
Karen & Roger: Follow the Heron Home (Karine Polwart) Give Yourself to Love (Kate Wolf)
Karen, Roger & Steve: Lowland (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) - this one with Steve too
Roger: Boys of the Bluehill & a planxty I didn't catch the name of
Steve: West Coast Highway & Talk To Me When I'm Listening (both Nanci Griffith),
Rosie and Alan: Valse Eric Rocher
Rosie, Alan & Steve: Keep On The Sunny Side
Gerry: The Wind (Cat Stevens), Bonnie Please Don't Go (Jim Ed Brown) - another fine but unfamiliar song
Martin: Goldwatch Blues (Mick Softley via Donovan)
John: Centenary March

We're at the more intimate Price Albert next week. we'll be without amplification but, I hope, with the variety to which we've become accustomed.