Tonight’s Open Mic was hosted unexpectedly by Willie Hitchell. It turned out that today was Sandy’s birthday, and his pals had arrived and ‘kidnapped’ him to take him for a meal, and they had arranged for Willie to fill in for him!
Many Happy returns Sandy!!!
Unfortunately, I had forgotten to check that I had my digital camera with me before I left home, so I am afraid there are no pictures to accompany this particular review.
Willie started off with a couple of songs ‘Change is gonna come’ and the Elvis classic ‘Caught in a trap’. Willie’s first guest up was George Campbell who sang ‘Don’t think twice’, followed by his daughter Cheryl singing a couple of songs including the Neil Diamond classic ‘Hello my friend, hello’. Then we had a young chap - whom his friends called Daniel “O’Donnell” who sang for the first time in public -very scary thing to do at the best of times. Willie then got ‘The Queen’s of Country’ Annie and Marlene up who gave a spirited rendition of ‘Will the circle be unbroken’ joined by Willie on the guitar and in some of the harmony vocals. The tambourine was also heard in the background. Next up was Willie’s younger brother Martin Hitchell who gave us the ‘Ballad of Tom Dooley’ looking like a very young Johnny Cash!! Michael James gave his rendition of ‘Psycho killer’ and then some of ‘Come on Light my fire’ Bob Leslie then gave us his song ‘Mara’ and then accompanied Elspeth Durkin on ‘Autumn Leaves’. Andy McGarvie then sang ‘Forever Young and ‘Go Now’. Michael Fagin then performed a Paul Simon number followed by the Beach Boys number ‘God only knows’ - dedicated to his sister Annie who was celebrating her birthday with us all. Willie snuck in and sang some backing harmonies. Willie then announced that Jer McDade then gave a stirring rendition of his songs ‘Bob Treetop’ and ‘Down the Road’. Gavin [with Johnny T on Bass] sang 'Pass this way again' and then a Neil Young song [long may you run]. Then Willie and Johnny did a version of ‘Long Tall Sally’, whereupon quite a few folk got up to dance and boogie. Unfortunately the mood was broken by Willie getting Barrie, from Ireland, who then sang a very slow version of ‘Carrick Fergus’. Willie then got Martin Hitchell back up and with Johnny T on Bass and Willie on ‘harp’ gave us a spirited version of ‘Fulsome Prison Blues‘. Then Willie sang ‘Bring it on Home to me’. George was then invited back up and he gave us his version of ‘Ruby Tuesday’ followed by ‘the Cod liver Oil and the Orange Juice’ song. Then his daughter Cheryl was back up and gave us a Paul Simon song ‘Slip sliding away’ which was joined in with gusto by the majority of the rest of the pub!! Michael James got back up and gave a very short rendition of ‘Don’t think twice’ but was too much ‘under the affluence of incahol’ to complete the song. Joe Macatamy then welcomed us all back to Scotland, with an interpretation of ‘Broom of the Cowdenknowes’ followed by Marlene and Michael Fagen singing ‘Sally, free and easy’. Annie was then asked up and gave her signature song ‘Ramona’, before a FINALE of Willie on acoustic guitar and vocals, Johnny T on Bass, Michael, Annie Marlene and young Martin giving a rousing rendition of ‘I saw the light’.to finish the evening at 12.00!! a little later than normal.
There was not enough time for quite a few of the more regular singers to get up and perform but perhaps sometime in the future the Clutha will get a late license and stay open until 1am, it is certainly popular enough on a Wednesday night now that the clientele would stay, and because of the performances not very many people get inebriated , unless they are not performing!
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