Davey Graham: what a waste

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: GUEST,Ian cookieless
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 03:59 AM

Thanks for posts, folks. It's sad to know I am just the next mug to have the experience of an incapable DG. I knew he had a reputation for being unreliable (not turning up for gigs or even a whole tour) and for being stoned. I just thought that, since he was touring again and had a new album out, he had probably straightened himself out. I was wrong.

At the beginning of the gig I looked at the half empty venue and wondered why a legend like Davey Graham hadn't filled it. One minute after DG appeared on stage I stopped wondering: obviously many others already knew what I had to find out out for myself.

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: Dave Masterson
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 03:23 AM

I remember back in the 70's he turned up at the Coach House, Farningham with Diz Disley, and was so stoned he could hardly put two notes together. It wasn't improvisation, it was just plain awful. Not much seems to have changed.

Sad indeed, but at the end of the day we're all big boys and girls and must take responsibility for our actions.

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 03:00 AM

Are you sure that's what happened? Even when he was good, this guy was weird. Like everyone else, I saw the tv documentary and I could see he'd taken his eye off the ball a bit.

I saw him a few times in the 1960's. There was always something a bit disquieting about his style. It was never quite what you were expecting off the records - more improvised, less structured. At some points he just seemed to ignore the original theme and go 'free form' - as we called it in those days, or he'd say 'this is in 15/17 rhthym' and who the hell was counting?

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 11:31 PM

I have in thepast year or so been to watch two gigs of relevance here. One was of an electric band that I used to love to pieces, and the other of a seminal acoustic guitarist.

Both were a huge disappointment. The notes were there in order, the words were there in order: but the fire, the passion of performance was gone. IMHO they were just going through the motions to collect their pay cheque. I feel in a way that that is a greater betrayal of the artist's patrimony than getting legless.

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: Barry Finn
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 11:23 PM

It's a shame that it's such a great waste & it is a pity & entirely self-inflicted too. I'd be rather pissed if I had paid that much to see a drunk perform poorly. His handlers may be party to blame for poor managment but he's the one giving them the OK to exploit. I'm sure that word will pass & venues will no longer book him but his people shouldn't be premoting him while he's in this stae. It's only more humiliting to himself when he wakes up & he stirs from his s/blunder. Had they told him to get fixed first they might have helped & at least he would have the face, if he did succeed in getting dried up, to make a decent comeback. Everyone loves a winner freshly back fom the grave but no ones loves to watch loser when they're on the slide going under.

Barry

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 08:24 PM

Davey's not the first great performer in the folk world who's been cursed with drinking problems, and he won't be the last. Matt McGinn wrote a great song about it :

I've been sailing through troubled waters
That knew no calm.
The wind was wailing o'er those waters
And my sorrow knew no balm.
Troubled waters, troubled waters, troubled waters in my soul.

I've been drinking troubled waters
To ease my mind
But in those waters, troubled waters
No solace could I find
Troubled waters, troubled waters, troubled waters in my soul.

Srorm clouds gather o'er those waters
No haven had I
I wandered o'er those waters
No love had I
Troubled waters, troubled waters, troubled waters in my soul.

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: GUEST,Tom of Bedlam
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 08:19 PM

I saw Davey Graham play just under a year ago and had a very similar experience. I found it rather difficult to watch.

However, I would perhaps qualify the statement that his condition was 'self-inflicted'; I think some of the blame for his state, on stage at least, can be laid with his current management, the individuals involved (I won't name names) certainly don't seem to help matters and the most commonly expressed feelings I have heard across when the topic of Davey comes up are of concern. It all appears to border rather closely on exploitation, both of the fans and of Davey himself.

A very sad state of affairs.

Tom

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: GUEST,Ian cookieless
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 07:42 PM

Why would I feel sorry for him? His state is entirely self-inflicted. Either he, his management or his friends should have the good sense to prevent/talk him out of going on a stage. But mostly, he should have the good sense to say no. He is personally responsible for what he puts into his body and professionally responsible for putting on a good performance. On both counts he scores zero.

I am reminded of Amy Winehouse's father: don't buy my daughter's CDs or go to her gigs, as you are just feeding her drug habit. I wonder how drunk I have helped Davey Graham get?

Subject: RE: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: BanjoRay
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 07:36 PM

How about feeling a little sorry for the guy?
Ray

Subject: Davey Graham: what a waste
From: GUEST,Ian cookieless
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 07:31 PM

Tonight two friends and I saw Davey Graham in Worcester. I don't want to name the venue because what I want to say has nothing to do with the excellent venue, but entirely the responsibility of the performer.

Now I know there are other threads at the moment about paying singers and musicians their due respect and appreciating the effort they put in, even if they aren't, in the opinion of the listener, very good. I wholeheartedly agree with all of that. It's a different matter, I think, when the artist shows a complete lack of respect for themself or their audience, as is the case here.

Davey Graham arrived on stage at about 9.30pm after two support acts. As he stood by his case to get his guitar out, I thought I saw him totter. At first I dismissed this, as he's hardly a youth any more and one can get less steady on one's legs in 'senior' years. Then he sat down to play and he was slurring his words. The first piece was awful: lots of fluffed notes and his timing was all over the place. By the end of the first piece he was dribbling, and this continued. In the next few pieces his timing got progressively worse, and increasingly notes were not just fluffed but plain wrong. I was sat in the front row, only about 15 feet from DG, and by the third piece I could smell the alcohol. More and more I noticed how leaden his eyes looked, his eyelids opening and closing in slow motion. His speech became not just slurred, but incomprehensible. I found myself looking into my lap and shaking my head in disbelief. Nothing I can write here can convey just how bad it was.

After about 20 minutes the three of us walked out and went upstairs to the bar, unable to take any more. We were not the only ones to leave early. It was embarrassing and maddening to think we had paid £17.50 for this. I can go onto the streets of any major city any night of the week and see people drunk and incapable. And I wouldn't even have to pay for the privilege. But I don't count that as entertainment.

But it got worse. 10 minutes later, after only half an hour of Davey Graham dribbling, talking incomprehensively and playing appallingly, a steady flow of people came into the bar. We thought they had all walked out en mass, but no: Davey Graham had finished his performance and left the stage. We were soon in conversation with a steadily growing crowd of angry and bewildered people who could not believe they had witnessed a drunk and incapable man on stage, performing for little more than *half* the time of the main supporting artist (John Smith, who was great, by the way). A crowd of us went to the MC to complain, knowing it would make no difference, but also knowing we would feel better if we said our piece. So we did.

I will still play and enjoy Davey Graham's old albums. I still appreciate all he has done for guitar playing. But I am afraid I have now lost all respect for the man as he is now. It is obvious he has no respect for himself or his audience. What a waste.