25th March FaB Club
Get a Floor Spot Session
with Special Guest Adrian Nation
Be afraid…..be very afraid…..the first people to take the stage on this special afternoon were the Tone Deaf Leopards.
They sang just one song called “World Rabbit” so as not to overtax the patient audience….No, not really, they decided to do one song to kick start the proceedings, and then another later on, to start the second half. Good idea!
Wysiwyg came next. Until today that name was a bit of a mystery , preferring to call the gentleman Don, which is much easier, but it was explained today that it stands for “what you see is what you get” which probably is very fitting.
Wysiwyg sang two songs written by Maureen Jones. The first one was called “When the
Sonia came to the stage next, and when she does you always know you’re going to hear some beautiful singing, as she has a really good voice. Her two songs were “Somewhere over the rainbow” and “Pio Jesu”. (Is that the correct spelling, Sonia?)
Winnie really did wonderfully well to hold the attention of the audience. She recited two poems (Les Barker-ed note), and apologies as we did not catch the name of the first one. The second was about a dog and it was all about “go, stay” and other commands…..Good to have some variety – words make a change from song and music, and we are lucky at the Fab Club to often enjoy poems and stories quite often.
Apparently Trevor B’s identity is under threat…! People have mistaken him for one half of the Leopards…! Well, have they? It happens that he is called Trevor and he has the same guitar as Leopard Trevor…..fair enough, but there the similarity ends. Trevor’s first song had a French connection (as has this Club..) and it was called “Je ne
Of course, today was a special afternoon, and that’s why we were out in the bar, electronic equipment and all…! The big event was the visit of Adrian Nation.
Then one of his own songs called “Balance” written in
The Leopards started the second batch of floorspots by doing another song, which gave them the opportunity to show off some incisive harmonica playing, in addition to the usual rhythmic percussion…. This time it was “The Camera never lies”.
Lady Margaret Formby has been mixing with the great and the good, having just been to Vera Lynn’s birthday party! Well, what next, Margaret? Today she had to make do with us, and sang us two songs with her usual enthusiasm and vigour, accompanied by her ukulele. They were “I feel lucky” and “Tifferon” (?? or this another we’ve got wrong??..) Enjoyed them, anyway!
Talk about enthusiasm and vigour…..what can you say about Fab Club regular Ken? He sang unaccompanied today. Well, unaccompanied except for his shaker. Grays seems to have its fair share of good singers, and today, Ken sang “What’s it all about, Alfie” and did an “Elvis” with “Are you lonesome tonight”
At this point you could have been forgiven for thinking that we were in a pop festival. The crowds were going mad, chanting for the next star……give us an L….give us an E…..give us an N... LEN!! Len didn’t disappoint. He sang two real favourites from the golden sixties. They were the Beatles “Norwegian Wood” and Donovan’s “Catch the wind”.
Talking about local talent from Grays itself… Next on to the stage came Paul, a Fab Club “virgin” who sang two of his own songs. He has a strong and confident voice,and he made good use of it. The first was called “She was a loving girl” which he accompanied with Sue’s bodhran (watch out, Sue, looks like you’ve got competition!!). The second he accompanied with his own harmonica, and it was more political in nature. We think it was called “Eco-fire” but I’m sure Paul will correct us if we’re wrong. By this time Paul was rather enjoying himself on the stage, so he went straight into a third song, which was Donovan’s “
Next up was our very own Joe Migdal, who today was suffering from a busted eardrum (ouch…! sounds really painful…) In the circumstances, brave of you to come this afternoon, Joe! And we were glad you did, as we enjoyed both of your songs. The first one “The flies crawled up the window”, and the second “The train is in the station”, were both his own composition. The latter, about death, made quite an impression..
Bill Pardon is also a Fab Club regular, and will be making his debut as compere next week. Today he started off by singing about sexual repression, we think.. He likes audience participation and is very good and getting everyone singing the “tooroolarays” or clapping rhythmically, which we all did to his second song which had an X certificate, so we won’t even try and give it a title!
Alan Neville thought the Leopards had been singing about him. “The camera Neville lies” might become the title of his next CD which he is apparently working on (did we get that right?). Today he sang “It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it”, and another great “golden oldie” – R. Dean Taylor’s “
We haven’t seen Mark Reed for ages! Good to see you today, Mark! And good to hear your songs again. The first one was “Goodbye my best friend”. The second one he used to sing at the Orsett Cock, and how could anyone forget the “Toilet song”? We’re not sure if that’s the title, but it’s all about sitting on the toilet, anyway….what else can we say? The song speaks for itself!!
In fact, this review is getting longer and longer…..Fifteen acts, in all!! Trying hard to get to the end by now, as we’re fast running out of time – this has taken an age….Well, stop complaining, Nora, and keep typing.
Mikanora came next to give us a rest from scribbling. We sang a traditional song called “Sam Hall” and another golden oldie from the sixties – “Bad moon rising”, after which came the raffle!!
All that was left to round off a good afternoon was to invite our guest, Adrian Nation, to take the stage again, as everyone was obviously looking forward to hearing his second set after such a good first one.
His songs had lovely lyrics, including phrases such as “I am just a dreamer, you are just a dream” and “No idea how high I was till I begin to fall”. This last one was given to
Then came a song about dreams again. “In my dreams” was followed by “No place left to hide” and then “Sunsets”. His next song is the title track of his new CD, which by this time was selling like hotcakes - “Sowing the seeds”.
– a moving version of Dylan’s
“With God on our Side” rounded off a truly memorable Fab Club guest special.
Mick Turner and Nora Kelson
