Saturday 3 October 2009 saw another
Open Mic Night taking place in the Avebury Social Centre.
I met Andree and Lawrie as they were leaving their house.
We lit the candles as other people began to arrive. The
event got underway around 20:00 and I was first up -
playing my nine singing bowls. I then moved into the
first 80 lines of the Misnomers poem. I was followed by
Steve on guitar and Catherine on keyboards and vocals.
They performed one number together before Catherine moved
to vocals only and Sharon joined on thumb piano - for a
cover of Tainted Love. Former Bard of Avebury Jim
Saunders was next, performing his Lammas song and then
part of Arthur’s Song (or What Shall We Do With a
Drunken Druid?) Terry came up next to play a couple of
songs, one using two guitars that had been thrown out!
After a bit of time away, Anouk returned to play a lovely
cover of Coldplay’s Fix You, followed by the Nanci
Griffith song Ford Econoline. Sandy was also debuting
tonight and he performed two songs at this point for the
audience. Will returned with a whimsical song about
getting old and another inspired by his grandfather. And
Lawrie rounded off the first part of the night with a
couple of covers. First the Stephen Stills song "Four
and Twenty". Alistair then joined him for Eric
Capton’s "Tears in Heaven".In the break the candles were lit on a strawberry birthday cake for Mike’s 50th birthday. After blowing out the candles he was presented with a card that had been signed by many of the people in the room. Andree then cut the cake and distributed it around the audience. Neil started the next section with a poem about a pitbull terrier. He was then joined by Alistair on a song about a school associate who had passed away - “My Friend”. Alistair then took the stage in his own right and performed an amazing work of highland music on guitar and foot percussion. In his second work he used the bodhrán to drum the sounds of Earth and beyond. Birthday boy Mike came up next and talked about his life in music and played passages to go along with the story, as well as a song about the passing of time. Terry returned with his mandolin for a cover of U2’s "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. " Steve then took the stage in his own right with a cover of Jackie Deshannon’s "When You Walk In The Room". Followed by the Tom Waits song Time. Mark from London debuted this evening with some songs inspired by his locale. Alistair drummed for him during part of the performance. Will returned with another whimsical number - a love song for people of his age. This part of the evening rounded off with a jamming session with Lawrie on guitar and vocals, Mike on bass, Will on piano and Alistair on drum.
It was Paul’s birthday around this time as well. A coffee cake had been made for him and this also went down well, even though Paul himself had not been able to attend. A card was also signed for him. I opened the final part of the night with another session on my nine singing bowls. This was followed with lines 81-160 of the Misnomers poem, which had debuted two weeks earlier out in the stones at the Autumn Equinox. Sandy then returned for another song. Gordon took the stage next for a couple of songs, one cover of which was only just receiving its first public airing. Mark from London reappeared for another performance. And the evening ended with a final jamming session of Lawrie on guitar and vocals, Mike and Steve swapping between bass and piano, Alistair on drum and Mark on guitar and percussion. This was an excellent night of entertainment and as always thanks to Andree and Lawrie for all their hard work and enthusiasm in making these events possible. Thanks also to Jane, Kes and John for contributing photos, especially as my camera's batteries ran out towards the end!
