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Now it can be told
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Subject: Now it can be told...... From: DaveA Date: 30 Nov 03 - 08:16 PM Reading through the "Favourite Folk Reminiscence" thread, it struck me that there are probably some "Oh my god, did I do that" type stories we have kept hidden for a few years. Maybe it's time to let the cat out of the bag so to speak & share the wealth. I'll kick it off with a separate post Dave |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: DaveA Date: 30 Nov 03 - 08:35 PM Back in the early 80's, I took some overseas friends to the Port Fairy Folk Festival (4 hours drive from Melbourne, Australia) to hear some real music. This was prior to it being the huge commercial success it is now & more a gathering of a few thousand fans rather than the 25,000 tourists it now gathers. On the Saturday night, we had consumed many beers & heard a great gig from Eric Bogle who had really impressed the visitors. As we drove back to the motel, I played a cassette (genuine bootleg) of a gig he had done at The Troubadour the previous Thursday which pretty well duplicated what he had just sung. It sounded just as good so when we got back to the motel, we left it going & sat there listening. After a bit, I went to the boot (or trunk) of the car to get another round of beers from the cooler. As I was opening it, a well remembered scottish voice said "Dave, how about that beer you were promising me last Thursday". Ghastly moment..... Thinking fast, I handed Eric a beer, reached into the car & shut down the stereo, making some remark about a live album & then got the others (+ Eric & John Munro & Brent Miller) into the motel and let the party proceed. I woke up next morning to a room littered with empty beers & a bad hangover. So I got dressed & thought of heading down town for coffee etc. Woops - no car keys!!!! This was going to be a real problem as I was working for a certain German car company & had as my company car a brand new 300E. But those keys were not in my room. In the end I went down stairs & out into the street where I had parked. Yep - it was still there!!! And what's more, it was still there with the keys in the ignition & all the windows down!!!! So I wound up the windows, locked it and pocketed the keys & (up till now) kept my mouth shut. Twenty years on I can still feel those two moments of terror - once when Eric materialised at the car, and again when I saw the keys in the ignition. Still it did do one good thing - I don't think I've made a bootleg tape since. Dave |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Jeri Date: 30 Nov 03 - 09:08 PM I once told Brian McNeil he sounded exactly like a guy in the Battlefield Band. An earlier time, I considered the songs a guy was singing and asked "Have you ever listened to Dr. Demento?" someone else present informed me "My Dear, he IS Dr. Demento!" I've got big feet, and they STILL both fit in my mouth. |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Leadfingers Date: 30 Nov 03 - 09:29 PM My best one was doing a variation of the song the guest was going to sing as his opening number -- AND he is still a mate of mine !! |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 30 Nov 03 - 09:53 PM Ah! the dreaded "Blackboard Contest" - get in early - that's teh secret! I once heard a couple earlier on the list do an instrumental version of Ashokan Farewell - with hammered dulcimer and autoharp - I think - so I went up a few turns later and did my prepared instrumental (wuz gunna be my star finishing number folks!) version on the piano accordion! We chatted after, and we both agreed that really, our versions sounded so different from each other anyway (but they both DID sound like the song!) that neither of us felt any real problem doing the same number. Robin |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: GUEST,Boab Date: 01 Dec 03 - 02:31 AM Showing Ian Macalman a grand place to park his vehicle outside the concert hall, under a tree; and being given the pleasant task of scooping more than a few kilos of starling shit off the roof at the end of the show.... |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: George Papavgeris Date: 01 Dec 03 - 03:32 AM It happened last Saturday night at Bedworth festival: The "Voices" concert was 10 minutes from finishing at the Arts Centre Theatre, while an organised singaround was taking place at the theatre bar, separated from the main venue by two pairs of double doors. To close the singaround, the guy that "ran" the singaround said (jokingly): "Right, let's finish with a chorus number to show the Voices next door what we can do". So far so good. But the next person that sang launched then into Dave Webber's "Parting Song". And we ALL knew (including the singer) that Dave and Anni were headlining the Voices concert next door. And that Dave would probably want to finish with his "Parting Song". So we "showed" them next door - what prats we were... |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Rapparee Date: 01 Dec 03 - 09:11 AM I don't remember what I said, but I do remember making an ass of myself talking to Paul Stookey. It's embarassing to this day. But to change slightly -- I once had dinner with R. Buckminster Fuller. He was a lousy conversationalist and so full of self-importance that I'm surprised he could find room for food. |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Dave Hanson Date: 01 Dec 03 - 09:14 AM Getting pissed before playing a floor spot at the local folk club, I was playing ' Three Score and Ten ' while the rest of the band were playing ' Fiddlers Green . eric |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: s&r Date: 01 Dec 03 - 10:18 AM Fred was a member of our ceilidh band. He played the guitar with enthusiasm, but not a lot of skill. But he was a great guy. so we never plugged him in and everyone was happy. One day we were playing a newish number, so we warned him that we were going to play it and to listen for it. We played the next number, and said OK Fred, this is the new one. Oh said Fred, I've just played that. And no-one noticed |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: GUEST,Sarah Date: 01 Dec 03 - 10:26 AM My worst moment has got to be this Saturday - doing the last encore of a gig for howdenjones band live recording and going down with the mother of all coughing fits just after my first fiddle break. You know that moment when you realise you can't stop coughing - you just make it worse by trying not to. I dived off to try and shake it, dived back on to handle the second break. Off again to deal with total apoplexy, and back again for the last break, tears streaming down my red face. Heard the playback yesterday and miracles never cease, I must have got far enough away from the mic for it not to show. I hereby crown myself Queen of Jam! Cheers Sarah |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 01 Dec 03 - 03:55 PM Well, eric the red, maybe it sounded like a different sort of harmony - you WERE in the right KEY at least... weren't you? :-) |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Skipper Jack Date: 01 Dec 03 - 04:36 PM I was singing in a folk club at Port Talbot, quite some years ago. I used sing with my eyes closed, but not with my finger in my ear! Anyway, at the end of the song I opened my eyes to discover that I was facing the back of the stage!! I don't sing with my eyes closed now. How well I remember my very first visit to a folk club back in the 60's! I sang a sea shanty which I had learnt from a "Sing Out" magazine. It was performed in strict tempo. When it came to the refrain, I was expecting a rousing reaction from the club audience - nothing was heard and I saw them looking at each other in an embarrased silence, except for one or two sympathetic members who endeavoured to join in. I didn't get through the song and I wished that the floor would open and swallow me up. |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: allanwill Date: 01 Dec 03 - 11:54 PM Doing an instrumental break in a song and hit a glaring C# instead of a C - we use capos so often, I sometimes forget where I am. The point of the story is that the mistake was so bad, and brought such laughter from band and audience, I sometimes do it deliberately now to bring back old memories. Allan |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Charley Noble Date: 02 Dec 03 - 12:42 AM No, I think I'll wait another ten years for this story! Charley Noble, still blundering around in OZ |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: JennyO Date: 02 Dec 03 - 01:35 AM Aw Charlie, do tell.... |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Amergin Date: 02 Dec 03 - 05:09 AM Rapaire, whatever you said to paul stookey couldn't have been that bad...I always thought of HIM as a kind of arse anyways...well an ego filled arse... |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: Dave Hanson Date: 02 Dec 03 - 05:15 AM Well Foolestroope I knew I was doing something wrong, at first I thought I was in the wrong key, we usually played Three Score and Ten in D so I tried G and C but it just never sounded OK. eric |
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Subject: RE: Now it can be told...... From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:58 PM Actually, eric the red, Piano Accordion players probably have lots of those stories up their sleeves. You see, the Stradella Bass is not arranged like a keyboard, but each line of buttons is set a relative fifth above the one to its left. Now certain "home" keys, one of them being C have indents in them so you can find your way around - you can't see the buttons at all if the bellows are extended. Now if you are playing "straight", it's not too bad, unless there are big jumps around, when you can lose you way. The problem is when (especially without rehearsal!) playing with capo addicted guitarists from printed sheet music or cheat sheets with words and chords marked "up three" etc - one then has to transpose "on the fly", and then work everything back to relative chord positions I IV IV VI, etc (so as to find the relative chords in the chord progression of the key you are playing in!), while trying to remember that you are not actually playing in one key while thinking in another -------- oh, and then there's the right hand which has to be simultaenously transposed up three semitones - juggling black and white keys to replace each other in the scale.... Lose your (unseen!) place on those left hand buttons by accident, and you just might as well stop and wait until the next verse... :-) One could always take a sip of drink or something to make it look intentional I suppose... Robin |
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