Bloggin Good!

An open mic blog for Glasgow's a great idea. Looking through the posts, I was struck by the sense of a musical community. It's great the way we spontaneously form temporary "bands" to back each other. It's also really encouraging when our original stuff starts to form part of the general sing/play-along - I'm thinking of songs like Joe's "Good Day" or Jer's "Bob Treetop" which regularly attract audience harmonies and impromptu percussion (yes, I know I hit the table too hard!). You get to know the regular non-musos too - I'm sure we're all wishing Frank Fernand well for his op this week.
The Kindurco photo gallery is looking good too - nice pics!
See you Monday, hope you enjoy Willie's gig - a great guy and a fine musician with a huge repertoire (which he'll sell you pictures of under a plain brown wrapper - Ice T? Not that kind of rapper, you fool!). All the best,
The Outfitter

Clutha Open Mic 22nd November 2006

Sandy Watson got the ball rolling as usual, with a couple of quiet ballads 'Texas Borderline' and 'Love hurts' then the first person to get up was Alex Mack with his banjo and he did a couple of songs 'Come travelling with me' and 'Venus'.
Sandy Watson
Alex Mack

Next up was Willie 'Jukebox' Mathews and Fraser Lindsay who gave us a couple of blues numbers 'Rock me Baby' and 'Messin' with the Man' which were both well received.
Willie Mathews & Fraser Lindsay
Sandy then had another lovely ballad 'Everything Flows' before handing over to Gerry McDade who sang two of his own compositions 'Unsinkable boat' and 'Vicki'.
Gerry McDade
Elspeth Durkin & Bob Leslie
Duncan Adams
Bob Leslie was next up and gave us yet another original song, from his album Tales from the Mine, 'First man on the moon'. Elspeth Durkin then joined him for the harmonies on 'Dixie Chicken' which got everyone tapping their feet again.
After them came Duncan Adams singing 'The one I love' and then 'I don't care if you love me anymore'.
The ever popular Joe MacAtamy then gave us his rendition of 'Ride on' followed by Kevin Young singing 'What in the world has come over me and his own song 'Sad song to see'.
Kevin Young
Robert Walser
Next up was our corriefisted player[ left handed for the non-scottish readers]Robert Walser, gave room quietening renditions of 'Wooden Chair' and 'Storm'!
Dennis 'the menace' followed Robert with two songs 'I cried last night' and 'I can see clearly now'. Then Bob and Elspeth got up again and sang 'I'll never fall in love again' and 'Take another piece of y heart' much to the delight of the audience, who were joining in with the choruses.
Duncan got back up and gave us his signature tune of 'Where am I gonna live?' followed by Alex singing the Monkees song 'I'm a believer' on banjo! with strong participation by the majority of the audience.
Joe MacAtamy
Sara Hunter
Joe Mac then gave a lovely renditionof "My bonnie heilan' lassie".
At this point Sandy invited up Sandra Hunter who, rather than singing, gave us a wonderful poem she had wrtten about the life of the singer Donovan called simply "Don's song"
Last performers of the evening were Willie Mathews with Fraser singing 'The will has gone'.
There then followed an accoustic session whilst the equipment was put away,
with the bar staff eventually managing to move everyone out by removing any drinks which were not finished in time!!

Monday 20th November 2006 Phoenix Bar

This evening was fairly busy despite the yet again foul weather. I am sure the driving rain and gale force winds did much to deter many sane folk from venturing out in the evening, however a few brave souls arrived at the Phoenix and had an enjoyable evening .

Big Bob started the evening off, as usual, with 'Handbags and Gladrags' and 'The thrill is gone' . [However he was having trouble with his guitar as the small battery for the electric pick up was extremely low, and therefore the sound was becomming more and more 'tinny'. He managed to race out and find a late night store where he could buy a new one later on when Willie Mathews went up to sing.]
First singer of the evening was a young guy Boyd Drumond, who had brought his keyboards along and gave us three songs : 'Mrs Robinson','Money for Nothing' and 'Don't look back in anger'.

After Boyd, Bob got Elspeth Durkin up to harmonise with him on the Little Feat song 'Dixie Chicken', after which she sang 'After the Goldrush', after which Bob gave a rendition of 'Love the one your with' before inviting Willie 'jukebox' Mathews up to preform.

Willie was asked if he could do a David Bowie number by some Finnish visitors, so he did 'Starman' for them, followed by Sweet Sixteen and then the Cat Stevens song 'Wild World'.
Then Bob did a version of Sally free and easy,
then got Frank Fernand up to sing 'Where do you go to my lovely?'

Next to perform were the couple Frank and Anna Chambers who sang their own composition 'Only so many things' which was very well received after which they sang an Emylou Harris song 'Love and Happiness' Unfortunately they then had to rush for their train!!
Andy McGarvie was next to get up and sang 'Go now' and then and asked Willie to accompany him in the Dylan song 'All along the Watchtower'.

Bob then gave a rendition of 'My old friend the blues' before getting Elspeth up again. his time she sang 'I'll never fall in love again' followed by an accapella song 'The quiet joys of Brotherhood'. which were both well received. Willie Mathews got back up and did a Jimmy Rogers song 'Blow, wind blow' after which he and Bob did an excellent rendition of 'Who do you love'.

Andy then got up again and gave us 'Let me feel your love' and his rendition of 'Blue Suede Shoes'. Finally Bob gave a rendition of the Who song 'Substitute' , which Elspeth added harmonies to and then they finished off the evening with the favourite 'Love hurts'.
There was then a short accoustic session whilst Bob was putting away the equipment.
An enjoyable evening aided and abetted by

Jamie the assistant manager

and Maria the bar assistant.

Outfit Gig at 1901, in Pollokshaws: Sat 18th Nov 2006

Last night, I went along to see THE OUTFIT
[ Big Bob , Johnny 'T' , Alex Mac and 'Young' Davie ] at their gig inthe 1901 bar, in Pollokshaws. They were in excellent form and rocked the night away.

They did several original songs, mainly written by Bob Leslie, such as "Mara" and "the Devil is a friend of mine"as well as quite a few well known covers such as "Born to be wild", "Handbags and Gladrags", "6 Days on the road" and "Sweet Home Alabama" which was sung by John. Unfortunately for him, the fuse in his amp blew right in the middle of the song, and he couldn's fix it until after finishing his song - but I think he looked quite laid back about it!!

They also invited a few people to join them 'on stage' : Elspeth Durkin was asked to sing harmony on the cover of Little Feat's 'Dixie Chicken',

and Joe Kidd





did a couple of his own songs, as well as Davey McNeill and Tony, a regular at the bar, sang a couple of songs.

I will need to learn how to 'download' my short videos snaps of peple in action, so that you can get a flavour of the evenings.

15th November 2006 Clutha Vaults

Clutha Vaults
Stockwell Street/Clyde Street/Bridgegate corner
15th November 2006

This was an excellent evening despite the heavy torrential rain outside!

It started a little late, as Sandy had been held up by the weather and road conditions,as he had been travelling back from Edinburgh. However things soon got into the swing, and the music started to flow.

As usual Sandy started the evening off.

The usual suspects were there and got up to perform,

Joe Mac,

Duncan

and Gavin,[whom I unforunately do not have a photo of!]
along with a few 'new' visitors.

Chris, from the band Dr Bliss

gave us an tune & we also had

performances from

Yvon Lemercier from Paris,

and Gottfried Baumgartner from Vienna!

Joe Kidd, accompanied on Bass Guitar by Johnny 'T' Miller,gave a lovely rendition of his newest song "Don't talk, listen" which was well received by the assembled throng.

We also had some 'visitors' through from Edinburgh.

The Workmans performed a few songs including a cover of 'Copperhead Road'.

Bob Leslie, accompanyed by Johnny 'T' Miller on Bass and Elspeth Durkin on harmony vocals, gave an excellent performance of the Little Feat song 'Dixie Chicken'.

The audience at the Clutha Vaults Open Mic appears to be predominately musicians - or musical people, and quite often they will join in when the songs are well known and well liked!

We also had a Champion in our midst, if the huge form of Ron Simpson, Scottish, UK and European Weightlifting Champion, who had just returned from the WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIP having gained second place. He gave us a rendition of 'Willie McBride' a gentle ballad thinking about the horrors of war, and received a rounding cheer at the end.

Brian McLachlan the lead guitarist from the Vagabonds also appeared, later on in the evening, and with Johnny 'T' Miller on the bass, joined Willie Mathews and later Gottfried, for some sets.

To round off the evening, the effervescent Ian Adie
gave a slightly altered version of 'Pocahantas' which
made everyone laugh and end the evening with smiles

A wonderful, 'jumping' session, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Sunday 12th November 2006
Clutha Vaults 5.00 - 7.00 pm
Willie ‘Jukebox’ Mathews and friends
Not technically an Open Mic but……. A good early evenings entertainment. Willie gave a sterling performance going from Blues to Rock & Roll as smoothly as silk. He is well known for his performance of the J J Cale song ‘The Breeze’ and true enough gave a good performance of that and other J J Cale numbers.





He was joined by percussionist Alan Lindsay and his son Fraser Lindsay, an exceptional lead guitarist. There was another friend who was a ‘harp’ player whose name I’m afraid I have forgotten.


During Willie’s break, he got a couple of
guests up to play, Fraser and his friend
Richie did a couple of songs and then
Jerry McDade got up for a couple of songs too.

A very pleasant way to spend an early evening, and I can thoroughly recommend this act to anyone.

Big Bob’s Open Mic Night, Phoenix Bar, Glasgow

Monday 13th November 2006
Phoenix Bar, [Near George Square],
Quite a quiet night - probably due to the atrocious stormy weather and practically horizontal rain which had been prevalent all day! However, there were still a few good musicians who turned up.

Big Bob Leslie runs this Open Mic and usually starts off the evening with some blues and rock numbers.

A young student - Adam got up and sang a couple of ballads of his own as well as a couple of James Blunt songs - “You’re Beautiful” being his best rendition of the evening.

Alex, a member of Bob’s band ‘The Outfit’ then arrived with his banjo, and gave us a couple of tunes, and later did some duets with Bob.

Joe Kidd also turned up and gave us some soulful renditions of his own songs ‘Good Day’ and his newest song “Listen - don’t talk”.

Bob also got Elspeth Durkin up do a couple of songs “Autumn Leaves” and “Lyin’ eyes” and she also joined Bob in a duet of his song “Different World”, as well as providing some ‘backing vocals’ on a couple of other songs such as the Little Feat song “Dixie Chicken” towards the end of the evening. After the ‘mic’ session had ended the musicians had a small jam session whilst Bob was putting the rest of the equipment away, and were joined by a young man Ian McLeod who had a fiddle with him and surprised them all by joining in on a couple of Rod Stewart numbers they were all singing. All in all it ended up being an enjoyable evening.

Clutha Vaults Open Mic nights

I decided that it was time to publicise some of the musicians who come along to play at some of the Glasgow Open Mic nights which I attend. Any information which anyone else would like to send along about other nights in Glasgow will be welcome [content checked first naturally!!]

I first started going to Open mic's a few years ago with my then fiance Joseph Durkin, who was a musician, and I have been going along ever since. I meet such really nice genuine people who care about music and just want to play and sing for their friends and anyone else, in a pleasant atmosphere.

I will try and post any good photos which I take of the evenings, and perhaps a review of any new singers/musicians who turn up as well as some of 'the old faithfuls' who can be relied upon to turn up on a regular basis.