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The Drayton Court. Tuesday 23-06-2009
Hello friends and strangers. A quick round up of events as they happened last Tuesday. To be honest, we are still underpowered in the old audience department and whilst not wishing to upset or disrespect any of the loyal followers of the jam. Where have all the punters gone?
Good to see Alan back with the House Bandits for a ‘one night only’ appearance. Great backing from Jerome and Alex as ever allowed us to get some good grooves going. Another first was Hank Williams ‘Lonesome Whistle’. Pretty good.
The Pierce Hogg Allstars treated us to their special version of 60s rock.
New boy Lee showed that he had as tasty chops on guitar as he does on drums (and bass too he tells me).
Highlights?
A great solo set from Rick the Slide.
Low lights?
A mysterious drummer who tried to crash the solo set and had to be shown the edge of the stage pronto. Not quite Pete Townsend / Abbie Hoffman at Woodstock but close.
Highlights?
Chester, Graham, Alex and Tim mounting an assault on one of the higher peaks, Cream’s ‘Spoonful’ in the style of the LP, ‘Wheels of Fire’
Lowlights?
Chester, Graham, Alex and Tim mounting an assault on one of the higher peaks, Cream’s ‘Spoonful’ in the style of the LP, ‘Pete Beale’s A Liar’.
It all depended on your taste.

Verdict?
Another good nights music courtesy of Rich, Tim, Jerome, Chester, Alan, Lee, Joven, Rick, Graham, Alex et al but not many people there to see it all go down.
Go tell your Ma, go tell your Pa, Cousin tell your Cousin, Sister tell your Brother, Brother tell your Sister.
Till next week.
Toodle Ohh
Graham G

Drayton Court Hotel. June 9th 2009
So, we are still looking at the question of where does the time go. A few answers are coming through but nothing that I can really get my teeth into. For instance, we still revere the music played at Woodstock in 1969 but did the musicians that played there all adore the music of 1929? It’s 33 years since the Sex Pistols played at Central St Martins, 33 years before that would have been 1943. It’s 42 years since ‘Sgt Pepper’ was released, 53 since ‘That’s Alright Mama’ by Elvis. Where does the time go? It’s now 21 hours since I played with the House bandit’s at the Drayton Court, but was I thinking of the music created 21 hours before then? Oh, it’s all too much for me to take.
So back to House Bandit business. Always a pleasure to welcome Stephanos to the stage along with Jerome and Alex. MP3s sent, received and listened too plus the traditional ten minute rehearsal still made for (in this humble reporters opinion) a great set of tunes. Please don’t ever, ever think that I am blowing my own kettledrum when I write these reviews, I am the lowliest player on the stage, but I do chose the material and get the lads to listen to it, they do the rest! All good tunes that included our new segue of Billy Cobham meets the Isley Brothers in ‘It’s Your Red Baron’ and a sweet rendition of Merle Haggard’s ‘Sing Me Back Home’ with a sweet sweet solo from Stephanos.
First band up was a ready mate combo that blasted through some Hendrix and own material, nice stuff and well played. Sadly, once they had played their set they split the joint. Not a trait that I particularly appreciate or would recommend to would be jammers, I know that loads of us stand around smoking baccy outside but we are still on the premises and wander back in to hear our favourite guitar gods. Playing and going just says “Fanx Ta Ra”.
Fist real jammers band was Rick Slide, Andy Falconer, Jack Bass and Rich on drums. Not too sure who was leading whom but it all hung together better then a DeMob Suit on a show room dummy. Great version of ‘Little Red Rooster’ and a terrific, nay, stunning slide solo (he made me say that) from Rick. One day we are gonna’ give that boy the round of applause that he so rightly deserves.
Ralph B entered the ring next with his aides, Marc on guitar, Graeme on keys and Chris ‘Mr BeBop’ Martin behind the kit. Great versions of ‘Help Me’ and ‘I Don’t Need No Dr’ made for a mighty fine set. We salute you Sgt Ralph.
Chester mounted the stage (?????) with Stephanos to deliver a subtle version of the great Lowell George’s ’20 Million Things To Do’. That done, Eddie, Jeff, Alex and Victor joined in to make some thunder. Muddy’s ‘I’m Ready’ and ‘Cissy Strutt’ both made the cut with plenty of space to spare.
Last band up was GeMo or is that MoGe? Moby and George plus Jerome and Alex. Great version of ‘Use Me’ (Q.How do you make a duck into a soul singer? A. Stick him in the oven until his Bill Whithers!) and ‘Have You Ever Loved A Woman?’, a question I shall refuse to answer for fear of incriminating myself. I’m in enough trouble with the wife already.
House Bandit’s plus Rick Slide,Jeff and Graeme topped out the evening with a rousing version of ‘Not Fade Away’. All good clean fun. Thanks to all who appeared and ya-boo-sucks to all of you that stayed away.
I’m off to check the time.
See y’all.
Graham

The Drayton Court May 26th
Hi ya friends and family.
Apologies for the lateness on this review but where does the time go? I don't know. If you do know, just pop your answer on the back of a post card and send it to me, c/o Globaljam.
'Who knows where the time goes competition'
So lets get down to business in a 7/4 time.
An interesting set from the House Bandits that included Take 5 in 5/4 time. It's Your Thing in 4/4 time and a couple of George's solos that took a hell of a long time.
Good to see Bhavesh found the time to come back to the jam, always good to see him around. He was up on stage in double quick time to play with Jack Bass, Ric Slide and Dr Saal. Nice version of 'She Took The Katy'.
Baring Alan's instructions from a few weeks back to mix it up a little more on the group selections, he found himself on stage with Eddie A, the excellent Dan on drums and bandanna and Jack Bass on bass. Some fine soloing from both guns up front including one real 'show stopper'. It was Alan that was playing a real blinder and the band must of decided that no more could be said after his staggering extrapolation. So they just stopped. Dead.
Moby, Phil, Paul and Alex made a pretty sound with hard assed versions of 'Unchain My Heart', 'I Don't Need Dr No' and 'Rock Me Baby' replete with Phil's version of George Benson's siungalongaguitarsolo technique. Don't try this one at home kids!
Stefanos put in an appearance with both Alan 'Watermellon Man'and Eddie A to play 'Cissy Strutt'. Some fine guitar twangin' from all.
There were a few more acts to follow, including a chap (Jack) doing 'Overdose', an ACDC number on acoustic guitar. Liam playing some drums. More Stefanos and George, a man with a spinning tennis racket in his pocket, two sisters called Rosie who did a balancing act on a table, a blind mind-reading priest and a reggae flower arranger from Preston.
But I don't have the time to tell you all about it.
Till next time.
Tempus fugit.

The Drayton Court. May 12th 2009
Hello to all you pop pickers, tastemakers, gentlemen of science, dancing queens and outré musicians. It feels good to get behind the keyboard and crack the fingers once again after Andy’s recent outage on the website.
A fair amount of fun to be had last Tuesday at the Drayton, home of the Ho Chi Min burger, and hopefully not so many cases of tinnitus the next day either.
I picked up a fair few comments that my last attempt at running the evening had allowed the volume to become down right stupid. With that in mind (and the fear of a lawsuit) the House Bandits started off at a sensible volume and pretty much managed to keep it there for most of their set.
A couple of new numbers were slipped into the set, Leadbelly (and Nirvana’s) ‘In The Pines’ sung less as a lament to a cheating woman than as a 19th century whaling song, don’t ask why, that’s just how it sounded to me. And a longish, but hopefully worth sitting through reading of Dylan’s classic, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.
The older I get the more powerful that song becomes. George, Jerome and Alex pounded it into submission and seemed to take great pleasure in the true majesty of rock that it is.

First change brought Saal and Tim to join George and a new face at the jam, Dan on bass. He looked the part, all leather and long hair and he was really solid right from the off. A great version of ‘A Good Fool Is Hard To Find’ and another Leadbelly song, ‘Easy Rider’. Top notch entertainment chaps.

Dan the bass stayed on and was thrown straight into the deep end as he was now going to back Nick on guitar, vocals and emoting. Rich got behind the kit and Dan 2 joined on second guitar. That’s because Nick is always first guitar. There is no one else. ‘Born 2B Wild’ (that’s the text version) was followed by ‘Whiskey In The Jah’. A version that was truly so far out as to have left the building. The three gentlemen who came downstairs to investigate and left within a minute could not have worked out what they were witnessing, for if they had, they surely would have stayed. Some people find Nick a bit beyond normal audience comprehension, but I, and I guess a few others actually really like what he does. He is hellishly difficult to play with (you think John Lee Hooker wasn’t?) and can be very frustrating, but I harbor a strange idea that if he had been recorded 70 years ago and was only heard on a few scratchy 78s and had died the death of a low down dirty snake, in a gutter, poisoned by bad whiskey and beer, beaten by life’s woes, owing thousands in bad IOUs, having fled town after getting the sheriff’s 15 year old daughter pregnant, been riddled with unmentionable diseases, served time in Fort Worth for killing a man in a bar room fight over a hat, crossed state lines with the FBI, CIA, IRS and local hoods on his tail, stolen horses, cars and cattle, made moonshine in Canada and stood naked in the desert high on Peyote, and drunk muddy water and slept in a hollow log. We’d kind of like him and think he was great!
After Nick came Rick, same band, wholly different vibe. Back on steady ground. Like finding your front door after a night on the lash. Nice one Rick. Home at last.

Mr Moby got out his box of tricks and proceeded to get down to some serious playing with messers, George, Jerome and Alex. It was jazzy but with just a touch of death metal. Nice.
Igor was in the house and joined Graham, Tim and Alex for an attempt at Brubeck’s ‘Take 5’. Never the easiest of songs to play there were moments where all four players managed to find themselves in the same place at the same time and it hung together. Not too bad for a non rehearsed piece. That led into ‘Sex Machine’ and some Dancing Queens. Yes girls gyrating. Always a bit of a rare site at the Drayton but just goes to show, given the right groove.

Rick came back on stage for a hot version of ZZ Top’s ‘Tush’, all slide and grunge.
Moby was back for a little House Bandit’s duty (thanks George, ever the gentleman) and the evening was taxied to a safe end with ‘Don’t Let Go’, all stops, starts and punctuation in it’s right place. Too bad we had to spoil it all by playing something stupid like……………….3rd Stone From The Sun. Oh what a mess, what a carve up, what a travesty of a farce. 2nd Kidney Stone From My Bum more like.
And on that shameful note the evening’s merriment was brought to an end.
Must try harder.
Till the next time.
Anchor’s away, I’m off whaling.
Graham G

Aye Curramba, what a night. Liverpool 4 - Chelsea 4. No hang on a moment, that wasn’t the most stunning result of the evening. Well it was if you are a follower of Guss’s Cheque Book Army but not if you were one of the 10’s of people that attended the ‘All West London Blues Jam and Jazz Rock Shindig’!
What the hell’s going on? Number’s are on the floor but musical quality is going through the roof. I don’t get it. It was one of the best nights I have had the pleasure of having participated in and listened to and yet there really were not that many people in attendance.
The atmosphere was helped kept fizzy by a posse of dancing hep-cats who gyrated around their table and mobile cameras all night. I don’t think they were that fussed about what was coming off the stage but they seemed to be having a good time.
The House Bandits were augmented this week with Stephanos filling in on guitar and the Mighty Neil P on drums. Cripes! This was like putting a Merlin V8 engine in to a Smart car. Even in rehearsal, Alex and myself were stunned by the power of a practice drum solo. A fab set was played with special praise going to said players for supplying a real punch.
First of the jammers were Ric, Saal, Rich on drums and Young Alex, effective and tight versions of ‘The Sky Is Crying’ and ‘Call Me The Breeze’ were laid on the throng (and the Happy Clappy Dancers) and all was good.
You always have to have a ‘limp’ bit in even the best of an evening (well that’s what I tell my wife) and fortunately we arrived at ours fairly early on with a stinky set from a few chaps who cut Alan out so much from their set of Hendrix material (like he doesn’t know it???) that he got up and walked. Normally I sneer at behavior like that but in this situation I can’t say I disagreed with him.
Still, Alan was straight back up with Saal sharing guitar chops, the return of Bald Headed Tim and Alex. A cracking set full of great playing and support for all. Nice version of The Door’s ‘The Cars Hiss By My Window’ topped out a really tasty session.
A short spot from a guy called Jay was well received, the boy did a good job. On and off sharpish, two chords and a vocal but he made it sound like it was more then it was. Just goes to show you can still do a good set with the bare minimum of fuss.
Slide Man Ric made a return to the stage aided by Guitar Graham, Alex on bass and the super fine drumming of Top Man Dan. ‘Little Queenie’ and a brace of R’n’B numbers were dispatched with relish and a little HP Sauce.
A late appearance from Moby fleshed things out and the last set was a tag team match of Stephanos, Alan, Viktor, Saal and a new chap called Matt on guitar. Great playing and all in a low key, laid back kinda’ way.
All in all a great night but where are all the people? Football, other jams, boredom, a night in regritting the Tropical Fish Tank…….Hello, hello….is there anyone out there reading this……..hello…..?

The Drayton Court Hotel.
Stardate March 17th 2009.
Travelling passed Uranus, Captain’s log. Oh ‘er missus, none of that cheap stuff around here!
Funny old night at the Drayton last week, what was so funny about it? Well there was hardly anyone there for a start. Not a good feeling when you are the host of the jam. Imagine throwing a party and no one turns up. It’s got to be one of those nightmare visions like going to work with no trousers on or meeting the Queen and letting a really ripe one go. Anyway. So there we are, House bandits on stage and ready to go and there is hardly anyone in the room. Well being the true pros that we are we had a great time and played a cracking set. Hats off to George, Jerome and Alex.
A few bods sauntered in and we managed to get a band on stage. Marc P on guitar and not bass this time. Boy can he play, and what a set of pipes. He was singing so loud that I had to take shelter behind one of the pillars to stop my ear drums bursting. Neil B on drums and Alex on bass gave him good backing on some rather eccentric versions of ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘Mercury Blues’. Marc headed for the exit promptly after finishing which I took as a judgement on our playing but actually he had another gig to make and he was really happy with his performance.
We were so strapped for people to play that the chance of a mini showcase from newcomers Tom and Jade was too good an opportunity to miss. They played a few songs and very good they were to.
Bhavesh made an appearance behind the drums backing up Guitar George and his pal Kostas with Alex and the man with the bow, Jan. ‘Comfortably Numb’ was despatched at a slightly uncomfortable volume level but it hung together nicely.
The next set was a bit wobbly and I wish I had a picture of Bhavesh’s face. It kind of said it all!
The room was still not exactly heaving but more muso’s were drifting in and it was about now that the evening really took off and went stellar.
Strangely, the last jam the House Bandit’s hosted was good but there was an absence of ‘jam’ on stage. I remember thinking that it was just an evening of solos. Not bad in its way but nothing to really make you think, hey, this is getting interesting. Well tonight was the 180 degree opposite of that.
Joven teamed up with Neil B on drums and Stephanos on guitar. I had chatted to Neil beforehand and we had decided that we would do a Billy Cobham number. Either Neil forgot or was hypnotized by Lord Love the bass player because no sooner had we assembled ourselves on stage then Joven threw down the opening sequence of Weather Report’s ‘Teen Town’. Oh mama! Neil got it and was all over it like a rash. Stephanos found his bearings and I suddenly got that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was like walking up the middle lane of the M1 with a map in one hand that was upside down and a compass permanently stuck on North. I could not find a way in and had to look on helpless as the other three guys ripped through the song. I did the descent thing and retired to the edge of the stage, watched and at the earliest opportunity hailed a passing Moby and got him to take my place. That was much better. He seemed to know immediately which way was up and he had a fine old time. The music from here on in (this was 11pm) was in this writers view, some of the best music I have ever heard at any of the jams I have been to. Jan the Man joined in and it was red hot from start to stop. Not just endless solos but great listening and impro going on as tracks morphed and segued into each other.
Jerome got up to play, I had another bash at a song (it was the Billy Cobham one) which was great fun and the evening was brought to a close by Kelvin giving it the full large on his version of ‘Push, Push In The Shepherds Bush’. Definitely one for the jazzers and funkateers but there were absolutely no straight ahead ‘blues / rock’ players in the room.
I got the whole thing down on CD and have been playing it constantly this weekend. It was that good.
Anyone want a copy. Drop a line to the site and I will pass one over next time we meet.
“Live long and prosper”.
Graham

Drayton Court Hotel
March 3rd 2009

It may have been raining cats and dogs outside but by golly you are a hardy bunch. Yes, Tuesday night at the Drayton and we still managed a busy and packed out night. This happy breed, this band of mothers.
After his debut last week, the toast of the town and the man most likely to take up stage space in a jam near you is ‘Jan The Man’. I had a chat with him during the evening and he explained the intricacies of his instrument. Get this. The body of the violin is made from a Blue Whale’s jaw bone, the strings are spun maidens hair, the tuning pegs are hewn from the horn of a unicorn and the bow was fashioned from a tree that is over 3000 years old that was burnt by lightening. And the rosin that he uses on that bow is made from the boiled down tears of a gypsy child who cried for a hundred years. Wow!
The House Bandits played one number and by the second one Jan was up and as Pete Townsend used to say, he ‘fiddled about’. Great playing all around from Victor on drums and Alex on bass. The volume did get slightly crazy and there was a distinct lack of jamming, more soloing then interplaying but that’s no bad thing. The quality was pretty good.

First band of the evening was SeaSick Saal, Moby, Bhavesh (very tasty) and Chris on bass. Great playing all around on a slow blues and then a really stylish reading of Tom ‘La Petomaine’ Petty’s ‘Freefalling’. Great choice. Which leads me to another thought to ponder. Oft discussed but rarely mentioned on these pages.
Could some of you jammers please learn some new songs. There is a bit of a rift developing between the ‘new materialites’ and the ‘same old materialites’. Lets get with the programme.
As mentioned in the comments section already, Rick’s twin brother showed up and led a spirited set with Alan, Chris and Chris Martin (that’s Mr Rich to you) on ‘I Hear You Knockin’ and a Feelgoods number.
Dan and Matt plus Mr Rich and young Alex turned in a nice set of instrumentals and this was followed by a short turn from Alex’s band. ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and ‘Come Together’ were both very well played but this was merely the warm up for a great little two song cycle from that Troubador of Taste, the Sartorially Besuited troubler of the ivories, SeaSick Saal. Sat centre stage with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a pile of talent he delivered a beautiful version of ‘Jesus On The Main Line’. It went down so well that we all insisted that he did another, and he did. A shot of John Lee Hooker, ‘I Love You Honey’. That’s the name of the song not some strange quote from me!
Time for the man with the violin and Woytek to get on with the show, joined by Guitar George, Chris on bass and Paul on drums they played a fabulous slow, smokin’ blues. Nothing fancy but plenty of room for all to stretch out.
Just time to fit in Swansea Phil and Dan aided by not one but two drummers, the second of whom turned out to be a demon in disguise. Welcome to the Drayton, Neil 2. Yes we have another superb drummer named Neil. This man has the power. As luck would have it he ended up staying on for the next band (bit of a mix up with a left handed drummer, no time to start shifting the kit, that’s probably the last we will ever see of him) which had Chester and Moby. A stonking version of Sonny Rollins’ ‘Tenor Madness’ and then a quick change for Jan and Graham to get up and see the night out.
All in all a good night. No jamming, I think the Muse got washed away in the rain, but plenty of solid rockin’. No complaints there.
Til next time.
Graham

Have you ever seen a dog walk into a garage and order a full set of white wall radials for a 59 Chevy?
Ever see a coin with the Queens head on all three sides? What about a man fire himself out of a cannon and land on his feet? A cod smoke a pipe of Turkish tobacco? Well I’ve seen all these things and more. That’s right, Alabama Sweethome here and I’m a liar. I get to review this weeks Jam at the Drayton Court Hotel. You may have seen me on my late-nightly show on French Living TV, “L'Alabama à la Maison Doux”.
The House Bandits had yet another sticksman behind the traps this evening. Welcome Victor. The usual rehearsal technique was put into place. A CD of potential songs supplied the week before, a twenty minute run through on the night and boom-boom, out go the lights. Victor was terrific, he funked it in the funky places, rocked it on the rockers and swung it on all the swingin’ cats and chicks in the audience.
The first surprise of the evening was how empty the joint was at the start of the evening but glad to report that by 10.30 there was a reasonable amount of musos and audience to spectate and by the end of the night there were at least fifteen thousand people crammed into the tiny space, it was unbelievable.
The second surprise of the night was Rick’s set with Des Man Bass and Rich on drums. Yep, Mick Taylor, ex John Mayall and Rolling Stones, dropped into add some of his trademark licks on ‘Honky Tonk Women’, who’d have thought? Real nice.
Anyone up for a four piece power trio? No. Well we had to do with three. Chester, Chris Martin and Alex rocked out on ‘Stranger Blues’ and a classic version of Stravinski’s ‘The Rite of Spring’. Awesome guys, truly outta’ sight.
Restraint and order were put back into their rightful place by the appearance of Dapper Andy Falcon.
Joined by Gary The Voice, Jerome on the drums and Graham on guitar and saxophone for their first number, ‘Mama Get The Hammer, There’s a Fly On The Babies Head’. Graham was swiftly booed off stage and replaced by Guitar George who demonstrated the lighter side of his ‘trilling’ methods on ‘Hoochie Coochie Girl’ and ‘Flap, Flap and Fly’.
I know from a letter that Neil Pierce sent me recently, that he has always wanted to see ‘Igor on chains backed by his baying hounds’. Actually, I haven’t a clue what he is talking about but I did spot Igor on stage with Joven and Stephanos, and there was a chain placed over one of Victor’s cymbals.
Is this what you meant? They played a blinder of a set. Two great instrumentals that Joven later told me were called, ‘I Dump In My Sleep’ and ‘All The King’s Daughters’. Fantastic.
A return from the wilderness this week for the newly moustachioed Lally. Hustled up on stage with a borrowed guitar, he wasted no time in cracking out those familiar chords to ‘Has Any Body Seen My What’s New KittyKat’. Also back from the snowy deserts of France was Monsieur Alan. The band sounded great, Alan took a vocal on the second number and Tim played a thunderous solo. I tip my hat to you sir. Ginger Baker was sitting behind me and actually asked who you were and did you give lessons. True!
Chester remounted the stage accompanied by his pal Hugo, a drummer of world renown.
Fact. He was going to be the original drummer for Peter, Paul and Mary but had to drop out as he was sitting his 11+ at the time and the UK did not have a reciprocatory arrangement with the American MU at the time. Fab playing all around, Pony Tail Alex (as great a barista as a bass playa) and Stephanos joined in on the session and after playing the Meters ‘Cissy Strut’ for the second time (The House Bandits had nailed that one earlier) they opted for the Stones ‘Little By Little’. Chester dismounted the stage and George and Paul the drum slipped on. A jazzy, free form number started to take shape which the lads very wittily titled, ‘A Chicken Supreme’.
One more surprise to come. Monsieur Alan and his mate Francois snuck up for one last gasp. They said it couldn’t be done but it was. Tim and Des clinging on, and with a curt 1.2.3.4 ‘Ca Plan Pour Moi’ spurted across the stage like an aroused elephant. Hearty applause and many a tear wiped away from the eyes and trousers of members of the audience. It was that funny.
Not much left but for the House Bandits to get up and take the evening home. ‘Not Fade Away’ which I am told by Igor was fantastic. Plenty of jamming, space and feedback. Certainly Graham looked very happy with the outcome as he blew kisses to the audience and threw his evenings wages at them.
So remember to tune into my TV show and thank you for letting me guest write this weeks review. And as I always say. ‘A lie isn’t a lie unless you can prove it to be false.’

Well things are certainly very comfortable from where I am sitting, or reclining to be more precise. What’s that? Do I want the cracked Lobster or the Crab? Later, can’t you see I’m busy!
Some of you that stayed a little late on Tuesday night at the Drayton may well have seen or heard a helicopter take off from the back garden of the pub and yes, I was on it. Straight to Luton where I hopped on an Easyjet plane to Cannes, ferry to Corsica and then private yacht out to the Med where I am Wirelessing this review to you. Temperature is a moderate 37 degrees as I swelter over a hot keypad.
Now how is that cold snap taking place? Tuesday night at the Drayton, cold snap, schmold snap! We wuz cookin’!
The House Bandits back up to full strength with Jerome back behind the kit, Alex and George letting loose and Graham just clinging on for dear life. Fantastic set lads. J and A funking up The Meters mega mix of ‘Tippy Toes’ into ‘Cissy Strut’ and George catching fire on ‘Don’t Let Go’.
Volume set at a lusty 9.5 (and no complaints from Landlords Dave and Tom, fair play lads) it was time for the first band up Saal (dressed as a farmer complete with green wellies!) joined by Lord Byron on Harp, Ric the Slide, Uncle Rupert on guitar and shirt, Young Alex and Paul bringing up the rear (??). ‘Stop Breaking Down’ and ‘Jumping At Shadows’ set the bar at a reasonable height. Good start.
Next up, Moby teamed up with that man of words, witty aphorisms and rapier like pithy one liners, Stan. Saal changed from keys to guitar but retained a look that said ‘one more song and then it’s back to the cows for me’. Good to see the other Alex on bass this evening. A fine version of John Mayer’s ‘Slow Dancing’ sounded pretty dam good from where I was sitting.
Dave and Rog (that’s what it said on the notes) got up for a speedy tribute to Jimmy Hendricks backed by Bhavesh. I’m thinking of doing a tribute to Jimmy Young next week if anyone wants to join in.
Bhav stayed up and was rejoined by Young Alex and a few old faces from the jamming scene, John Griffin and Nicolette. Crikey I haven’t seen them for donkeys and it was nice to hear them again. They through down a curved ball that was so left field it appeared on the right. No announcement, just straight into James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good’. Fiendish. Alex was there and Bhav pretty well was but it was a hard call. Nevertheless, they got through it. ‘You Don’t Love Me’ got the full treatment and they left the stage to some good applause.
Chester and George teamed up with Tim and Joven for some fine playing on what is now becoming a regular at the Drayton, ‘Because We’ve Ended As Lovers’. Fabulous playing from all, a real treat. Next up was their tribute to the head of the 1973 Arab Oil Cartell Syndicate, Sheilk Yarmoneymaker. Nice touch.
Some fancy changes made sure that a few musos got another bash, Moby, Nicolette, Johnny G, Rick and Tim all managed second helpings. Rick, Tim and Joven delivering a blistering version of ‘Tush’.
The House Bandits wrapped things up with a cookin’ version of ‘Sneaking Sally’ and that was that.
A top nights entertainment I think you will agree, well done to all who played.
Nothing left to do but pack up, pocket the loot and wait for my ride out of there.
And that’s how I came to be floating across the oceans’ wave whilst the UK froze.
Til next time.
Hoy Hoy.