Another packed evening of Blues, Folk, and Acoustic Rock.
Resident Host: Roger Nuttall, (Folk and Acoustic Rock).
Special Guest: Bob Thomas, (Blues and Steel Guitar)
Supporting Artist: Martin Vogwell, (Folk and Contemporary)
One or two spot guests will also be appearing during the evening.
This month's Special Guest is well respected on the circuit as a great performer and entertainer. If you haven't heard a steel guitar at it's best you really need to see Bob.
Our support artist this month is Martin Vogwell. This is really a preview of his full set at Folk at the Oak in November.
Please note that we are starting at the new start time of 8:00 due to a packed schedule for the evening.
You do really need to arrive early, it could get busy!
Following on the success of the Open Mic night last month The Royal Oak will now be holding a Music Night every month.
A change of structure this month heralds the start of a regular monthly event.
I will continue to act as host and am joined by Salty Dog who made a suprise appearance last month, captivating the audience with a great set.
This has allowed me to do something that I believe will be welcomed by many. A lot of people have seen Rich Howie before, in short bursts as a host for open mic nights around Cheltenham of playing with his old band, 'Snog the Dog' But it is very rare for Rich to play a full set in his own right. This will be the one NOT to miss!
Music will comprise of a mix of acoustic, blues, folk, roots and contemporary.
Please note that this is not a karaoke event although there will be a short 'open mic' section after Rich's first set. Anyone wishing to play should register early as time is very limited.
What a brilliant night the first Open Mic at The Royal Oak, Bishops Cleeve turned out to be.
Things started of quietly with a short set by myself followed by another from Rich Howie, (right). Within 30 minutes the room was beginning to fill and people were congregating outside the door. When Rich started his set, there was quite simply a lot of jaws dropping. It was electrifying.
I was really pleased to welcome Joe Griffiths and Nicole Warfield, both from 'Krush' in the audience.
Then Steve Parkes, (below), turned up, guitar over shoulder having just ridden in on his push-bike from Cheltenham. It wasn't long before he was up doing his first set. Scary following Rich!
Nonetheless he carried it off well and was well received by everybody. Despite being concerned how his voice was coming over, I can assure you Steve, it was bloody good.
While Steve was playing, we were joined by Alan Jones, (right), who had WALKED it from Cheltenham! Thank's Alan, that was really nice of you.
Again a great set which went down well, lots of contemporary stuff and a great, distinctive voice, made Liam Gallagher sound a cheap imitation. No names but one young lady was shouting, "Your my favourite, I'm your biggest fan". I had to smile as her husband was sat besides her. I do like your style Alan, always look forward to you playing.
During a short set by myself I was pleased to be joined by Joe on Sax. What a privilege for me. Certainly improved the numbers having the sax filling it out with a couple of solos from Joe.
Everybody came up and did another set ending with a bit of a jam with myself, Joe and Rich, (right). Boy, did I enjoy that!
A longer set by Rich just had people on the edge of their seats. Rich plays loud at times, but it was nice to see that people were listening and not talking, in fact it was like that for most of the night. One good reason for having it in a separate room.
Getting towards 10:30 and three chaps who had been sat in the top bar earlier came into the room. One asked if they could get up and do a couple of songs. Forgive me lads, but the first thing that went through my mind was that they thought it was Karaoke and I wasn't sure what they were going to do. So I said, "Ok, just the one". It was therefore a pleasant surprise when one asked if they could borrow my acoustic and another my electric. But even then I had no idea what was to come. What I didn't realise was that this was "Salty Dog". Halfway through the first number and I was in the bar negotiating an extension, which fortunately they agreed to. What a great time the lads gave us. Everybody was grinning like Cheshire cats. Wow, what a night this was turning into.
Salty Dog were the surprise of the night.
Just when we thought it was all over, with Rich doing a couple of closing numbers, we were in for the treat of the night. He started playing "Smokestack Lightning" and was joined after the first minute by the harp player from Salty Dog. Things like this don't happen too often these days.
Rich ended the night with a superb version of Black Sabbath's "Fairies Wear Boots", How the hell do you hit those notes? Awesome.
Yes, it was a great night and one for which I was so proud to have been part of. What astonished me, was at the end, everybody was shaking everybody else's hands. Audience and musicians, musicians and musicians, but amazingly, the audience were congratulating each other! What a success. Thanks to everybody. It really was a dream come true for me.
Let's hope that the landlord lets us do it again.
The Prince of Wales, Cheltenham has just changed hands and scrapped the Open Mic night.
So Rich Howie quickly reorganised an impromptue Open Mic at the St Paul's Tavern. Now nobody could suggest that there was a big crowd, given the short notice, but that didn't stop eveybody having a good time.
I really enjoyed playing and listening to the rest of the guys. It was good to have an acoustic bass backing me too, considering the odd keys I was playing in, it was an impressive jam.
So well done to, Rich, Alan Jones and Stephen Parkes, (forgive me I can't remember the bass player's name), I hope you can all make it to the Royal Oak on Wednesday. It would be great to hear you all again.
That looks like it could be a very busy night if everybody who says they'll come, do so.
Brilliant news. Darren, the landlord of the Royal Oak has given the go ahead for an Open Mic night on Wednesday, 21st, July.
The first night will be a 'pilot' but I am sure that it will just be the first of many.
Rich Howie will be assisting me on the night and I'm sure that fans of Rich will be excited with the new venue. Rich is well know around Cheltenham and is the resident host at The Prince of Wales in Portland St.
The night will be a mix of music ranging from Folk, Blues and Rock. Experience has taught me that acoustic sets can't easily follow a rock set, especially when Murry or one of his mates is on the drums.
Also, I am keen to give newcomers a chance to air their stuff and to pick up some tips from the 'Pros'. Therefore, there is an hour put aside for them before the main event and before the public arrive.
A rough timetable for the evening is as follows:
7:00 - 8:00 Beginner's Workshop.
8:00 - 9:30 Acoustic and Unplugged. (Yes, electric guitars can be used but no drums and bass at this time).
Allan Francis Smethurst (November 19, 1927 – December 23, 2000), aka The Singing Postman was an English postman and singer.
Born in Bury, Lancashire, (where incidentally, I was born), the son of Allan and Gladys Mabel (nee Curson), Smethurst was raised in Sheringham, Norfolk. His mother came from the nearby village of Stiffkey. He later moved away from Norfolk.
A real life postman, Smethurst hummed tunes on his daily post round for many years, writing and singing songs in his native Norfolk dialect in the 1950s. An audition tape sent to BBC Norfolk Radio earned him a spot on Ralph Tuck’s local radio show, and Tuck recorded Smethurst on his own record label, “The Smallest Recording Organisation in the World” based in Lowestoft. A four track EP made the EP charts in 1965 and after another EP release by Ralph Tuck and an album The Singing Postman’s Year he was signed to EMI who re-released earlier songs and recorded new items. He made numerous live and promotional performances, including Top of the Pops but was afflicted by nerves and stage fright.
In 1966, the Singing Postman’s best known hit “Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy?” won Smethurst the Ivor Novello Award for best novelty song of the year. The hit knocked the Beatles from the top of the East Anglia hit parade and remained in the charts for nine weeks. Rolf Harris recorded a cover version without success. The song had a small comeback in 1994 when it was featured on a television commercial for Ovaltine.
He quit the music business in 1970, later admitting he had an alcohol problem and that he’d spent all his money and was penniless. He spent his last few years living quietly in a Salvation Army hostel in Grimsby where he died in December 2000.
Words to “HEV YEW GOTTA LOIGHT, BOY?”
I have seen a lot of attempts to produce the lyrics in a Norfolk dialect.
However, I believe that many are interpreting Allen’s pronounced lisp as a heavy dialect, when in fact, his accent is not pronounced at all.
I have therefore ‘cleaned’ up the lyrics and checked against the recording to produce a more manageable version. (Roger).
I had a gal, a very nice gal, down in Wroxham way
She were whooly nice to me in the ole school days.
She would smile all the while, but Daddy didn’t know all
What she used to say to me behind the garden wall.
Have you got a light, boy? Have you got a light,
Then one day, she went away, I don’t see her no more,
Till by chance, I see her down along the Mundesley shore.
She was there, twice as fair, would she now be true?
So when she see me passing by she say ‘I’m glad that’s you,
Have you got a light, boy? Have you got a light?’
Molly Windley, she smoked like a chimley,
But she’s my little nicotine gal.
Now you’ll see her and me never more to part,
We would wander hand in hand together in the dark.
Then one night I held her tight in the ole back yard,
But when I tried to hold her close, she say ‘Now hold you hard!
Have you got a light, boy? Have you got a light?
Molly Windley, she smoked like a chimley,
But she’s my little nicotine gal.
By and by we decide on the wedding day,
So we toddle off to catch to hear the preacher say:
‘Do you now, take this vow, to honour all the time?’
Afore I had the chance to stop her, she begin to pine:
Have you got a light, boy? Have you got a light?
Molly Windley, she smoked like a chimley,
But she’s my little nicotine gal.
Now the doctor tell me a Daddy I will be,
So when I ask him ‘What’s the score?’ he say ‘There’s only three’
So, here I go, cheerio, to see how she do fare,
I know what she will say to me as soon as I get there:
Have you got a light, boy? Have you got a light?
I’ve been messing around with my Christmas present, a Line 6 UX2 USB interface for the guitar and Mic. Effectively, a small recording studio with Cubase 5.
This is my first attempt.
The backing is Santana, the guitar is myself.
(You can probably tell!)
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
I’ve just started putting together some songs I have done. I know that they are not world class so are simply offered as my interpretation of a few songs I enjoy.
I hope that you do too.
First offering is ‘Crazy’. This is an acoustic version of the song made popular by Gnarls Barkley. However, this version in more like the Ray Lamontagne version but with my own guitar arrangement.
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
I had called one of my clients, Andrew, who owns Millennium Music in Cheltenham. I know he sells ‘LAG’ guitars because that is where I bought my electric from. He hadn’t got one in stock but arranged to have one in on Thursday for me to try. Wednesday afternoon he was on the phone telling me what an incredible guitar it was. He was completely blown away by it.
Karan drove me into town on Thursday and I got my first look at it. The immediate reaction was how small it was, then how light it was. I am used to playing a 1965 ‘EKO Ranger VI Original which weighs more than I do!
My big fear was that it was going to loose out on the bass due to its size. Not a bit of it. Crystal clear and a full range of tones. (I had it restrung with ‘Elixir 10-47 Extra-Light strings before I left the shop and it lost nothing). It was so responsive that I could sense a whole new world opening up.
It has a built in pre-amp that I was eager to hear. I have started doing a lot of recording and I wanted to be able to get a very clear sound plugged straight into both my ‘Slagg’ amplifier and my PC. Millennium stock Slagg so I was able to test it on the right kit. Apart from a dodgy lead in the shop it was amazing. It was a no brainer and I bought it there and then.
The real bonus came when I got it home and plugged into my own amp with my own lead. Now this was REALLY an incredible sound. Using low settings on everything with a slight touch of ‘spring reverb’ it gave me exactly the sound I have been looking for. My style involves a mix of finger-picking and strum. When I strum, I tend to use the pick to play melody along with the rhythm. I also now only use the very small ‘Dunlop Jazz’ picks. This allows me to ‘deaden’ the strings to add punch. It’s a bit like what they term a ‘throwdown’.
This is quite simply the best acoustic guitar I have ever played!
A blast from the past! 20 years ago playing Bass for Ricochet.
I’ve been digging around and found a couple of crude recordings of Ricochet, my old band.
They were all done in the main hall at Gloscat on a tiny little cassette player, hence the really poor quality. On top of that, they have been lying in an old trunk for 20 years!
The first one was our ‘signature’ tune, and I’ve forgotten what we called it. (So I have just called it ‘Ricochet’). It was the first number we wrote and the live version was an audience favorite. This was a rehearsal version.
The second one is ‘Raymonds Road II’. You can get the influence from Beggars Opera here. Again, a rehearsal version.
Finally, Jailhouse Jazz was just a Jam we did during rehearsals and kept it in the set. More to come…
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
About the only people who may remember this are Rich, Loo and Karan.
It was Ricochet playing at the first ‘Red Nose Day’ held at the GlosCat campus in Gloucester.
Amazingly, Ricochet went on to enjoy some moderate success, playing a few times at the old ‘Malt and Hops’, a Bikers pub in Gloucester. One night in particular, the landlord was so concerned that a fight had broken out he nearly closed the pub. In fact, it was all the crowd stood on their seats cheering a guitar solo from band guitarist, Phil Webb! The return night put Ricochet as the highest paid local band at the time.
The full line-up was, Tim Nelms, (keyboards & vocals), Mike Poyner (drums), Roger Nuttall (bass, acoustic and occasional vocals). Phil Webb was the lead guitarist and vocals for some 9 months but left when he finished college early.
Music was a weird cross between ZZ-Top, Genesis and Beggars Opera, honest! The ZZ-Top influence came very much a showcase for Phil’s amazing guitar skills. The Genesis influence came from Tim and Beggars Opera came from myself and were both an excellent vehicle for Tim’s keyboard skills. Having said that, 90% of the music was written by Ricochet and only took influence from others. The exceptions were ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ and ‘Rough Boy’ which remained in our repertoire from day one.
If there is one sad note, it is that an amazing ‘live’ recording of that night at the Malt and Hops was given to a friend of a friend for copying; we never saw the tape or the friend of a friend again. If anybody has some decent cassette to MP3 setup, I’ve got a fair few tapes and wouldn’t mind resurrecting them
It’s all well and good being back home, but there’s only so much Jeremy Kyle the brain can take in. I am itching to get on with things but I am still blowing hot and cold at the moment so I have to take it easy.
I tried playing my old EKO acoustic this afternoon and it’s far to heavy for me to use at the moment, so it makes sense to get a new one sooner than later. I have been making a mental list of stuff to sell on eBay in order to justify me buying the new LAG Tramontane 222 acoustic I’ve got my eyes on. (Click the image to see one seriously nice guitar!)
I am looking forward to being able to relax a bit more with Karan over the weekend, instead of her having to run the business, shop, clean and look after me. D & S are coming round for tea & bickys tomorrow evening for a while and that’s something to look forward to as well. I hope to catch up with Ivan on Skype sometime too.
A lot of people have been asking about the band, ‘Krush’, who played at my Birthday bash.
So I have just posted an excellent video of Krush, courtesy of those nice people at ‘Furry Feet’. Click here for the Krush Video.
I’ve got a new toy that displays, karaoke style, the words of any tune playing in WMP or iTunes. It’s called ‘MiniLyrics’ and can be found here.
Just download it, install it, and it pops up whenever you listen to music. You can take my word for it, there’s no adware, spyware, or anything like that. It’s free and apart from a nag to register when you run it, there’s no restriction.
What makes it so good for me is that it comes with an editor which allows me to change the timings for ‘cover’ backing tracks.
A bit of tweaking, and I can add the chords and any notes to display as the track plays. Because it scrolls, I don’t have to keep turning pages or balancing the book.
In the normal course of events, nothing would drag me to a Simply Red concert. Nothing except, that is, Karan likes them, so I went.
The shock was that this was probably the best concert I have been to in some 35-40 years!
The band was awesome, but Hucknall’s voice was unbelievable. At times his mike was down at waist height and he was still filling the whole of Westonbirt.
I’m not going to rabbit on too much, I wouldn’t know how to explain it. Great Atmosphere, great music, great venue.
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The Prince of Wales, Cheltenham has just changed hands and scrapped the Open Mic night.
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In the normal course of events, nothing would drag me to a Simply Red concert. Nothing except, that is, Karan likes them, so I went.
