Niece Sian had asked for some muso performances at her Doctorate party and
I had willingly agreed to join in. I
came prepared with a small PA and my Levinson Blade Strat-a-like. Bar
Humbug has a small function room and Carl from the 'Controversials' set up a
small (looked like Behringer) PA.
Claire's boyf' Nick (a BBC Sound Engineer) helped set it up soundwise
and I plugged the guitar in to get a muddy sound. Nick reported a dodgy tweeter, so I switched in the top-boost pre-amp on the
Levinson and 'lo and behold' there was
an acceptable Strat sound albeit at lowish volume - but enough for the gig! After a few beers, I joined in the 'Sanders
Band' (Joey Cahon, Paul Acoustic
Guitar, Roy Harp and Simon Vocals)
playing Robert Palmer's "Doctor Doctor" to open the proceedings. We followed with "Hoochie Coochie
Man" and then "Rescue Me" featuring a young lady called Liz. Then I did 3 of my selection with Joey: "Alright
Doctor" (a version of 'alright mama'),
Guitars Cadillacs and I got Simon up to sing "Brown Eyed Girl"
with me a la my own party in 2013. Next
up was Carl and Matt from the 'Controversials'
Matt had a tasty Yamaha APX 700 11 12 string and the aim was to do some
Beatles songs. I found out that Matt is
a real Beatle enthusiast and plays them in the original keys so I joined in on guitar
and harmonies on "One After 909, Can't
Do That, Love Me Do / Should Have Known Better (with Roy on Harp)". Next they did a "Teenage Kicks" by
the Undertones. I just checked chords
with Matt and joined in that as well. Once
in the swing we carried on with "Sunny
Afternoon, Saw Her Standing There and finished
with A Little Help from my Friends"
I reckon I got 90% of the chords right but had to sing most of the harmonies
low 'cos the Beatle keys are so high! We
carried on drinking to midnight then got a taxi back to Roy's house. We had a slight hangovers the next morning
and we set off for Bury after a big fried breakfast. Got home about 5pm and was tired for a few
days!
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