Fab Club
Anyway, October 2 dawns cold and clear, and it hasn’t improved much by the afternoon – yes Autumn is on its way, the thin sunshine has the place in half darkness, and the weather has done something horrible to the Club’s attendance - we’re just on the dozen as Debbie (our compere for the day) gets us under way, saying that we’re aiming for quality not quantity today, and then waiting while Claudine stops taking the money at the door long enough to pick up her guitar.
Claudine – having just celebrated her tenth year in this country (hooray!) - is wearing her magic jacket – apparently it always has 5 plectrums and £10 both before and after she’s been out drinking. She starts off with a song in French and in the key of E – une belle petite chanson mais je n’ai pas compris toutes les mots. Margaret apparently does know the words but she always does! Claudine’s second song is a pop song she’d learned many years ago - Forever Young – well I’m not going to make the obvious comment but someone else can.
Claudine
Gordon Shears
Mike Parrott
Mike and I then get to play our version of a musical relay, where we have a solo piece each and then fill in on each other’s songs. My half of the race consist of a rerun of my paean to stage fright The One Place I Don’t Want To Be, and a few memories of 2000 with Midnite at the Grand, while Mike delivers an original (and a very new one at that!) Thinking Of You, and finishes by covering one of mine, Starstruck. It is a very odd sensation to hear one of my own songs being sung by someone else – but a very good cover.
Margaret Brown
That’s enough acoustic rock for a while and Margaret Brown fires up her ukulele banjo (it’s a day for varied and/or unusual instruments), swinging along with Has Anybody Seen My Girl and following up with Travelling Light. Margaret’s style is always infectious (I think that’s a compliment) and lifts the mood in moments
Rockin' Bob
At this point I briefly think there’s a storm gathering but it’s only Claudine taking pictures again – the same pictures that are punctuating this review (or is it the other way around?).
Our man Rockin’ Bob is still disputing that title, and maintains he only rocks when he’s had a drink! He brings us Pretty Baby – which suits his easy strumming and unique voice. Bob has a distinct style where he almost seems to wear the song rather than sing it – he delivers the lines flexibly and the strumming even more so but it all comes out right in the end. He follows up with Only You – and again makes the song live (rather than the over-arranged and orchestrated version that we’ve all grown up with)
Joe Migdal 
Next comes Joe Migdal, introduced as Just Say Joe, who starts off by unwrapping an 8 string Greek bouzouki and singing a song called Home (which he promises will have different words another time.) The 8 strings have a resonance like a 12 string and pack a punch – sort of
He changes up to a guitar synth which delivers a very credible piano sound – these things need very careful and clear finger-style playing and that’s what it gets – on Handsome Meadow Boy
Jem
Jem is next up – apparently he took his guitar on the back of a motor bike and almost took off with the air resistance but comes back to earth with a Leonard Cohen song Travelling Lady – a gentle and reflective piece with more movable chord shapes. He moves onto Sammy’s Bar, an unaccompanied sea shanty type song – and as usual the regulars join in on the chorus/refrain with that ghostly resonance which grows stronger as they grow more sure of themselves – but only those who feel brave and confident enough (and you can guess which camp I fall into!).
Hello, the mood is going down again – and it’s getting murkier outside
The Cheeky Gulls
Time for one song from the Cheeky Gulls (Girls? Gals? Gulls? I’m confused) – as they launch a strong assault on I Drove All Night, previously hammered by Cyndi Lauper, Roy Orbison and Celine Dion. Margaret’s midrange and Claudine’s higher voice blend well and give the lie to their claim that they don’t know it and as usual the CG’s are never less than (a) enthusiastic and (b) entertaining
Half Time – quick adjourn to the bar!
The Belly Dancers
The second half starts off in a very cultured fashion with Barbara giving a brief lecture on what we rather crudely call ‘belly dancing’ whilst looking as if she’s imbedded a stage sabre in the top of her head. The dance form is far more than the ‘cabaret/Carry On’ version that we have in this country, and derives from a folk dance in the
Barbara ends the lecture by demonstrating the sabre dance and manages to perform the movements without dislodging the sword balanced on her head – full of exotic and rhythmic movements (and more so when she starts brandishing the thing). Not only exotic but also extremely dangerous – not to be contemplated after anything stronger than three shandies!
Then we have a troupe of four performing a less drastic form of the dance – very uptempo and (after some technical problems – well, the tradition DOES predate CDs!) accompanied by music which is drum-heavy and has a male vocal. To be honest he could have been reciting the
Mark Reed
Somewhere in here is the usual raffle – noticeable this week because even Claudine’s beret has changed colour for the autumn! – and it is DEFINITELY getting colder in here!
Next Mark Reed is pressed into service – he’s spent most of the day up to his elbows in brake fluid but takes over Claudine’s guitar and is immediately asked to avoid gloom, death, despondency and so on – which does after all wipe out 95% of the average folk repertoire! He obliges with an original (but old) song called Goodbye – back in the minor key again – but then ramps up the laughs with a parody of Wild Thing. This particular Wild Thing apparently did his cooking, “making everything tasty” – well that’s the FaB Club slogan for this week.
Anyway, Debbie introduces a reprise of Rockin’ Bob, “our very own wild thing” – and he obliges with an old Fats Waller song “My very good friend the milkman said….”. Frankly if Tescos started haranguing me about my domestic arrangements then I’d be off to ASDA before you could say “loyalty card”, but times change…
I’ve left the guitar safely aside to deliver one of my epic poems The Ballad of the Stiletto Kid, which is a sort of cautionary tale about trucks and American Diners and waitresses somewhere down the wrong end of the old A12.
Mike comes and replaces the music stand, apparently regarding it as an essential piece of safety equipment (that is, something to hide behind) – and gives us My Kind of Girl, a rather sad little song about a man who is far from home and contemplating the barmaid (it sounds cruder than it is and is quite sad really!)
Jem returns with a suicidally high capo (8 frets up) with no room to move any further up the neck – but delivers a memorable arrangement of the W B Yeats poem Down by the Sally Gardens
Margaret’s “encore” is Streets of London – very odd to hear this delivered on the ukulele/banjo without the usual carpeted fingerstyle guitar – which after all is over 30 years old and the basis of an awful lot of singer/songwriter clichés in the meantime. Those who are brave enough sing along and we’re teeing up for the big finish.
Mark Reed comes back to finish the afternoon with The Ghost of the Clipper Laverne – confident and driving as ever – and if you’re on the circulation list then watch your email for details of his band’s next gig!
And that’s about it guys and gals – adding to the credit list our first time compere (Debbie), our indefatigable organiser (Claudine) and the audience too (16 by the end) - hope to see more of you at the next one!
Gordon Shears
The Rockin' Sultan and his Harem !!!