Wednesday 1st April 2009

- Sandy’s Open Mic at the Clutha Vaults

Sandy's new hairdo

- for April Fools Day!!
Sandy started the evening with a chorus of Happy Birthday to Elspeth who was celebrating yet another year on the planet.

He followed this with a few nice gentle ballads, ‘I will promise you anything’, ‘Mr Mud and Mr Gold’ and ‘Flying shoes’ before handing over to Elspeth, who was accompanied by Bob Leslie - on acoustic guitar, and Johnny T Miller - on Bass. They did a cover of the Eagles favourite ‘Lyin’ eyes’ followed by ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’.

Bob and Johnny stayed on stage and played one of Bob’s songs ‘It wasn’t down in Texas’ and then Bob sang another of his originals ‘Cordelia Jane’ by himself.

Next to the stage was Joe Kidd, also with Bob and Johnny, singing his own songs ‘Grass don’t pay no heed’ and then ‘Good Day’.

Ally and Maria had then arrived and got up to sing ‘You’ve got a friend’ followed by a Jazz version of ‘No regrets’, after which they left the bar.

Sandy then decided to follow them with an excellent rendition of the Walker Brothers version of ‘No Regrets’ with some help from the audience on the chorus.
Next up was Brendan who gave us his version of ‘Moon River’ which had quite a few people joining in.

Brian McGinty then got up to the sing ‘Love makes me feel blue’ and Bob & JT joined in along with Elspeth on the tambourine. It was very popular so he sang another somg in a similar vein ‘Nothin you can do’.

Johnny T stayed onstage to sing ‘Help me’ by Sunnyboy Williamson.

Stuart and Jenni through from Edinburgh then got up and sang ‘Sweet Home Alabahma’ followed by ‘I remember you’ and then ‘The Eirie Canal’.

Final singer of the evening was Ian Adie who had just arrived after being at the big football match at Hamden, [Scotland 2 - Iceland 1 I believe]. Sandy(acoustic), Bob(acoustic), JT(Bass) and Elspeth(tambourine) all joined in with Ian on ‘Go Bonnie Scotland, Go’.

The evening finished with a jam session at the birthday girls table!!

Patch, Elspeth's dog who has now been banned from the bar as the new owner does not like dogs!!!

- and all Patch ever did was sleep under the table and through most of the music !

Sandy’s Open Mic 17th December 2008

Sandy started the ball rolling with a couple of songs - ‘Dollar Bill Blues’ and then ‘Snow on Route one’

First up to the stage this evening was Bert with his dobro guitar with a blues song ‘Fallin’ off a rock’ followed by a slide blues song ‘Walkin’ blues’.

Davy was next on stage with the Beatles song 'Hide your love away’.
Sandy then asked Elspeth Durkin up to the stage with Bob Leslie on acoustic and Johnny T Miller on Bass. Not having had any practise together at all she sang ‘Santa Baby’ [slightly marred by Bob and Johnny missing the Bridge and key change!!] followed by ‘Have a Merry little Christmas’ which none of them had done before either!! Still it was definitely in the spirit of the evening, especially with Elspeth dressed in red and white!

Bob and JT then performed Bob’s song ‘It wasn’t down in Texas’ then a Leapy Lee song ‘Don’t’ let me go’ merging into ‘Run,Hide’.

Jo then took to the stage singing ‘2 more measures’ and then ‘Love cats’ along with Bob and JT.
Alexander White then came to the stage and sang ‘Whisky Town’ and then ‘Come pick me up’ with some backing vocals from Sandy.

Martin was next with a couple of songs including ‘Someone like me’.

Joe Kidd was in the house and he performed ‘Good Day’ with Bob, JT and Sandy on harmonies. Joe MacAtamany then got on stage to sing ‘A Powerful Song’ and then ‘Lily of the west’ in his own inimitable style. Stevie Osbourne along with Bob on acoustic, Carl Bridgeman on Bass, Pam on small drum, Elspeth on Tambourine and Sandy on harmonies then sang ‘Eastender Blues’ and then his own song ‘Good to be Alive’. Jer McDade was present and he decided to sing his songs ‘Bob Treetop’ which had everyone singing along on the chorus, and ‘On that Day’.







LP George then got to the stage to sing his own unique version of ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ followed by ‘Oh, oh when I’m dead and gone’

Duncan Adams had joined the throng by this time and was invited up to sing his anthem ‘Where am I gonna Live?’.

Carl Bridgeman then took to the stage with his friend Miguel on tom toms singing his own songs ‘Things I’ve Seen’ and then ‘This could never happen’.

Willie Mathews then joined them on stage along with Bob and performed ‘Everyday I’ve got the Blues’ and a Bob Marley classic ‘No woman no cry’.

Final act of the evening was Ian Adie (the landlord) who, after giving a little speech about good the Open Mic evenings are [ I think the term he used was “the best in Glasgow” ] and how Sandy made the evenings so good and what a fine job he did, he invited everyone to the Christmas Eve and Hogmany evenings with JT and his band, at which there may be a few Open Mic performers invited up to the stage during the evening. He then performed an Eagles song ‘Take it easy’ along with Sandy, Bob and Carl to finish the late night off [ It was a 1.00 a.m. licence].

Wednesday 10th December 2008 Clutha Vaults

Sandy’s Open Mic
I arrived a little late, so a few people had already been up . Kirsty was up on stage singing ‘Lost child’ followed by the Nina Simone classic ‘My Baby just cares for me’. Johnny T Miller was next up on the acoustic guitar singing ‘Take what you need’ followed by ‘Down to Louisiana’. [He and his band will be entertaining the customers on the 24th December and on Hogmanay in the Clutha this year]. Joe Kidd was present and sang a couple of his own songs ‘ Good Day’ (or as the regulars call it - the EBay song) with Bob Leslie on accompanying acoustic and Johnny T on Bass, and a new Christmas song which I didn’t hear the title of clearly. Stuart Workman then took Joe’s place in the trio and they performed ‘Cocaine’ and then the Leonard Cohen song ‘Manhattan’. Denis then got up with Sandy [& Bob & JT] to sing ‘Another Saturday Night’ which had lots of people in the audience joining in, and they were joined in the chorus by Frankie on a tenor Saxophone! Stevie Osbourne then joined Sandy, JT, Bob & Frankie to sing ‘The Eastender Blues’. Sandy then played the music for one of the audience ‘Tony’, to sing ‘Romancing’. Next up was Kate McGee who sang Autumn Leaves with Bob and joined by Frankie. Bob Leslie then took the stage and sang two of his own songs ‘It’ll last another day’ followed by ‘The Devil ain’t a friend of mine’ with some assistance on the Bass from Spam. Elspeth Durkin then joined them to sing ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’ followed by ‘Santa Baby’ - complete with festive season red cowboy hat!!. Jo then performed a couple of songs with her friend Miguel from Caracas who had his tom tom drums with him. I didn’t recognise the first song, but then she sang a version of ‘Love Cats’ which had everyone joining in with the chorus. Stuart, Jenny, JT, Bob, and Frankie then all got together to perform ‘Eire Canal’ followed by ‘Smile’ a Doris Day Song!. Bob & JT stayed to help Stevie O with his own song ‘Good to be alive’ about former drug addiction. Duncan Adams then took to the stage and sang a Travelling Wilbury classic ‘End of the Line’ with some help from Sandy on the chorus lines, which he followed with his ever popular ‘Where am I gonna Live…’. Joe MacAtamany was the penultimate performer with ‘Powerful song’ and then ‘Up the Northern Water’ before relinquishing the stage to Carl Bridgeman who was joined by Miguel on the drums. Carl performed two of his excellent songs ‘This never could happen’ - which was about racism, followed by ‘The things I’ve seen’ about some of his experiences of living in a scheme [Drumchapel]. An excellent evening, full of good music and good company.
Unfortunately there are no photos as the battery had run out in my camera………..sorry.

Thursday 31st July 2008 = Bob Leslie and Friends

Bob Leslie had started the evening off as usual with a fine collection of songs.
His first ‘guest’ was Hugh Who sang ‘It couldn’t be better and then Parchmont Farm. Carl Bridgeman was present and he got up to perform his own songs ‘Depend on You’ and then ‘She’s an angel’.
Davie Martin had dropped in at this point and he sang ‘Handbags and Gladrags’ with Bob. Bob then asked Elspeth Durkin up to the stage to perform ‘Summertime’ - yet another variation - they never do it exactly the same each time, and then that was followed with a Neil Young song ‘After the Goldrush’. Alan Stewart [from pubjamsessions] was in the house and got up to perform ‘Take you away from here’ and then one with Carl on his Bass, [of which I unfortunately did not hear the title]. A couple of newcomers then got asked up to perform - Martin and Christopher, (with Hugh or harp) then did an excellent cover of an old Lindisfarne hit ‘Hey Mr Dreamseller’. Carl then joined them and they did their own version of ‘Leyla'. See a few seconds of video on Youtube[ - link to it at the side of the blog - kindurco’s you tube].
Joe Kidd had arrived by this time and Bob asked him up - he performed his own songs ‘If you were my girl’ and then ‘Down the line’. Duncan Adams was also in the house by this time and he got up to perform ‘Keep it Country’ and then went straight into ‘Mamma’s got a squeezebox’!!
To finish off the evening Bob asked Carl , Elspeth and Hugh to join him in a rousing finale which included ‘Gloria’; ‘Bar-room Blues’; ‘Piece of my Heart’ and ending with ‘Dixie Chicken’.
A very pleasant evening all round.
And I did spot Sandy Watson [lead singer of the Vagabonds who perform at the Scotia on Thursdays] pop his head in the door around 10.30pm - to see how Bob was getting on!!

23rd June 2008 Bob’s Open Mic at the Clutha

Bob had started the evening off as usual, singing a medley of sings and finishing with ‘Caledonia’

First performer of the evening was Joe Kidd who gave us a new Neil Diamond song ‘Pretty Amazing Grace’ then a couple of his own songs, ‘Good Day’ and ‘Don’t talk, listen’.

Next up were Kate and Linda McGee. They started off with an old Eurhythmics song ‘Here comes the rain again’

and then Linda sang ‘Killing me softly’ with Kate playing guitar. They finished off with a Blue Nile song ‘Tinsel town in the rain’.

Next was Trevor with his version of ‘Don’t think twice’, and then the Byrd’s song ‘Down in the easy chair'.

His friend Willie was next with a truncated version of ‘Fire and Rain’ and then one of his own ‘Get out of my life’.

Bob then got back up to sing ‘The thrill has gone’

before getting Elspeth Durkin up on stage. Elspeth sang ‘Fields of Gold’ and then Bob played ‘Autumn Leaves’ which she managed to sing part of before breaking down at the line ‘since you went away ..’ -having to leave the stage rather emotional! Bob said that it "was the anniversary of her man's death and she's a bit fragile!" [it is actually four years since her husband , musician Joseph Durkin, had died.]

However Joe MacAtamany filled the spot and sang ‘Lily of the West’ and then ‘Jock Stewart’.

Carl then took to the stage and played a couple of his own compositions for the bass guitar and vocals ‘Leave it alone’ and then ‘she’s an Angel’ which he composed to the rhythm made by some broken windscreen wipers!!

Joe Kidd then returned to the stage to sing ‘Cherry Baby’

followed by Kate singing ‘Valerie’

and then Joe Mac singing ‘Ride On’

Finally Bob and Elspeth got Carl to join them for ‘Dixie Chicken’

and then a finale of ‘Gloria’ which Trevor also came up to the second mike and joined in with!. The evening finished at 11.45 and there was still a glimmer of light in the sky to the west - as the sun was skimming the edge of the horizon at this point of ‘high summer’. The solstice is past and the nights will slowly be getting longer from now onwards but the light of community within the Clutha will keep shining out!!

view from the Clutha front door; to the West along the River Clyde.