As it was Wendy,s 18th birthday…. We all had muffins.

But before that we had John,  who started with Richard Thompsons 1975 great, Dimming of the Day, followed it with a song from CCRs Willy and the Poor boys, and then went back to Richard Thompson, finishing with Ride on the Wall of Death from 1982. Don’t these dates make you feel old!

Tom and Linda then did  three songs, starting with Geoff Hollis,s  Past the Point of Rescue, (or was it Mick Hanley?) followed by Linda Ronstadt,s Waiting for the Times to get Better.   Linda then let us all have a good Rhyl howl, when she finished with The Northern Planes.Tom then gave us a gospel song on guitar….(with some very high notes!)

Tony Grant then took the stage, starting with the song from the film The Thomas Crown Affair,  The Windmills of your Mind, ( we see too many windmills from the front on Rhyl!)  following it with the poignant Sam Larkin song Mirabeau Bridge,  and to take us to the break he finished with a Houghton weavers song, (I ,ve  forgotten the title!!).

We then had our short break, and helped Wendy and Richard eat lots of muffins to celebrate Wendy’s Birthday. We also had the raffle, after which, Linda and Tom came back on, finishing with Carolina Star.

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Wendy then came back, and started of with a song by one of our favourite artists Edwina Hayes, Leave a Light on for Me. And finished with a special request, Grandpa.

Our compare Neil then re-introduced John, for the old cowboy song Ghost Riders in the Sky, And then Richard with Tom accompanying him, first with his slide guitar, for a Wailing Jennings song, and then with his Mandolin for Little old Wine Drinker Me.

The evening was almost over, just time for Tony to give us a few more songs to send us home and keep us happy until next week, Starting with the Irish folk ballad, The Fields of Atenry, followed by Save the last dance for me. And finally, everyone was shouting for The Red Rose Caffe, So he did it! And that’s it until next week, and remember, from next week there is a £10 fine for anyone who is absent without a good reason!

There were a lot of Wolves at Rhyl tonight,or it sounded a lot when Linda and Tom sang The northern Plains…

Over 30, some of our regulars were still on the festival trail, or taking holidays, but we had lots of performers and a large audience to cheer them on.Richard asked Tom to accompany him on the mandolin, and they gave us Brady,s Electric Car, and that old Dr Hook weepy Silvia,s Mother.

Stuart then came on and  started of with The kinks Waterloo Sunset, and a Bee-gees song To love Somebody…Followed by John,Who  sang the old cowboy gambling song, and The Games People Play.

Colin then came on, told a joke, waffled on for 5 minutes,  forgot what he was going to sing, waffled for a bit longer and remembered he had learned a new song to play us, which was I Can,t Let Magi Go.  (Better Known as the Nimble advert, not my favourite bread, not enough calories!).   After waffling some more he eventually  sang a very appropriate song, I,ll Get there in the End, the old Herman’s  Hermit’s song, or was it Freddy and the Dreamers? He,s got me waffling as well now!It was now time for our old cowboy Terry to take the stage, he started by giving the wifes present a short lesson in behaviour. The song started Put Another Log on the Fire. Vera didnt,t look too impressed, perhaps she was thinking guitar instead of log?  I think he managed to smooth things over with his next song Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, by Willy Nelson, or was it Hank Williams? now I,m starting to waffle too.Linda and Tom took the stage and Linda gave us Another lonesome  Morning, followed by Don Williams Don,t you believe.

After the raffle Colin 2 (not the Colin that waffles) came back on and sang a Freight train song.Mike Whitaker then sang Love is everything, don’t ever change. What a nice song, and so well delivered, Mikes got some lovely songs.Wendy and Richard then came back on, Richard sang Dream, and Wendy sang Older Ladies.

Richard and Tom sang the mavericks song All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down, Stuart sang the old Peter and Gordon song World Without Love, John finished his night with the Animals song  Don’t Let Me Be miss-understood.  Colin 1 came back on, didn’t waffle too much, and sang The Girl From (that place I cant spell,and it’s too late tonight to Google it!)

Near the end now, Terry came back on and sang a John Prine  song, think it was about someones  dog dyeing or their wife leaving them! But it was good.

Linda and Tom finished of with The Northern Plains, and everyone howled, (Why don,t they ever howl in Ruthin?)   And Tom did a Blue Grass song to close the night.A GOOD NIGHT WAS HAD BY ALL, SEE YOU ALL NEXT WEEK.

A very enjoyable evening…..

About 33 members, some old, a lot new, here for the first time. Also some we have,nt seen for a short time. Proceedings started as usual, Niel was compare and his good lady Barbara was bouncer on the door, as the night proceeded, it came to Kevin’s turn to entertain us, it was noticed that he had a very shiny, and very new (and very pretty)  Gibson J200, on which he played club favorites Geronimo,s Cadillac, and Joey White, (obviously breaking it in gently for his next spot).

He was followed by a club first timer, Donna, who, did a great job of her first 2 songs, with a lovely pinky red Ovation, a bit like Colin was playing

Colin was next up with his Ovation, and gave us Bobby McGee, and Last thing on my mind.

He was Followed by Geoff Hollis, who did a song a capella (no gautar!!!)   My Name is Jock Stewart,  and Amelia Where You Bound To.

We then had a duo who we hadn’t seen for a while, Nathan and Steve, better known to us as Hope. Most of what they play are their own compositions, and the two they gave us were Big Wheel Girl, (All the Fun of the Fair),and a new one we hadn’t heard before, Take It Slow.  Come back again soon, we miss you!.

Tom and Linda then gave us Blue Grass Music, quite appropriate as they had been at the Conway Blue Grass Festival last weekend!

Speaking of which, tom had a nice new instrument with him, a six string Uke???Hard to imagine someone pulling the wool over Toms eyes and selling him that, it didn’t look anything like a banjo!

It did sound good though.

Colin (2) then came back on and did Rod Stewart’s

George Boy,  followed by Anna, who as well as having her squeeze box with her, had the

third new instrument of the night , what looked like a steel recorder, first time I’ve seen one,

will have to ask her what it is.

Kevin Then came back on , to really try out the new Gibson with the Steve Earle classic Copperhead Road,  And Did it rock…..

AND YES HE DID ACTUALLY ‘THUMP’ THE NEW GIBSON!!! IN COPPERHEAD ROAD.

We then had  The Kinks Sunny Afternoon, and Labbie Siffrie,s  Must Be Love, sang by Stewart. After which, Mike came back on and sang one of his own compositions, No One Will Love You Like I Do. A beautiful song, and very well written. (don,t let Simon Cowell hear it!)

Donna then bought her pink guitar back on stage, and blew us all away with a really good rendition or the Steve Nicks, / Fleetwood Mac song Rhyanna, third song at Rhyl and she’s got rid of her nerves already!! Hope your there next week.

Colin (the hat) came back on and gave us a couple of Beatles songs,

Followed by Geoff  Hollis, who again went a capella with the Utah Philips song (or Rant!) All Used Up.   Lets hope he hasn’t scared away any of the new members!!

With the absence of the bar, Geoff drank a lot of Red Wine!

The evening was closed by Hope, (Nathan and Steve) who did a rare (for them)  and very good cover  of the Johnny Cash Version of Hurt. I really thought Stuart would be more of a Nine Inch Nails man.!

Perhaps Rhyls not ready for the original version. Come back soon Nathan and Steve.  Lots More Fun Next Friday, see you all there.

Clapton  comes to Rhyl… Well if Ruthin can have  Joan and Bob, we can have Eric.

Anne and Bob came to visit, and bob treated us to some blistering guitar playing, I love his playing but I’d never buy a used guitar of him!Well, after a quiet week last week, Friday was packed with performers and non-performers. As usual I was a bit late getting there (waiting for the slow-coach from Chester to turn up), so first on for me was our favourite old cowboy Terry, who in Geoff,s  absence, sang us two sad songs, Old Flames, and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.

We were then treated to some traditional Scottish tunes on the violin, by John,including The Black Isle. It was his first visit to the club, lets hope we see him again soon.

Tom and Linda Then entertained us, with Love is all Around, and the Falling leaves,

Then we had our own Neil Diamond (Tony Grant), who sang two favorites, Willy Nelson’s Angel Flying to close to the Ground, and Neil Diamonds Girl you’ll Be a Woman Soon.

And speaking of Neil, our regular comedian and compare Neil was back, together with Barbara, our regular bouncer on the door, after about six festivals back to back, luckily no one had to be taken to hospital through laughing too much this week .

It was then time for Anne and Bobs first spot…. which was first, a Tracy Chapman number, followed by the Bob Dylan song Catfish.   followed by our beer-break, and raffle, which again was fixed, Barbara doesn’t come for six weeks then she wins the raffle?   kicking of the second half we had Richard who sang the weary hobo song Followed by  Wendy and Richard. Richard couldn’t be with us last week, he had to go on a pub crawl, but well done Wendy, we couldn’t see any bruises or lumps on  him, your a true pro.

NOT A BRUISE IN SIGHT!

ATRUE PRO, WITH THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL

Richard sang the Jim Reeves Classic  He’ll  Have to Go   (or did Wendy say that?)      Wendy sang the Edwina Hayes song My Love. always one of everyone’s favorites.  Our old cowboy Terry then sang a sad song (someone died!)  about Caroline

Everyone then got excited as Anne got her Marrakas out…and we all know what that means, we were treated to the great version by her and Bob do of the Lenard Cohen song That’s no way to say Goodbye. After all that excitement, Roland gave us a Lonnie Donnigan song on the uke,  Tony then gave us a couple of Rock and roll medelys,

And Tom closed a perfect evening  with a couple of George Formby foot-tappers on The Queens favorite instrument,  his Uke.

THATS A FUINNY LOOKIN UKE?

That’s no way to say Goodbye

SYRACUSE VISITS RHYL!

Syracuse Visits Rhyl

Club night on Friday was marked by a rare visit from Syracuse the elephant, (well not really ,but…)  a couple of our good friends from the Ruthin all Styles came over, Harry and  John Bass, and John was persuaded to pick up his beautifully grained acoustic guitar, and treat us to a couple his favourite songs. Syracuse the elephant is a rarely heard song these days , originally recorded in 1972 by the group Stackridge, and tells the story of an elephant living in Bristol Zoo… If you missed it ask him to sing it again next time he comes.

lady Eleanor

He then finished with the 1971 classic Lindisfarne song Lady Eleanor, no one needs  an explanation to, or has not heard of  that song, though it flopped on its first release in 1971, it was re-released in 1972, after the release of Meet me on the Corner, and went to no.3 in the charts.  

John Had a busy night, as well as performing a lot of songs with Tom Dick and Harry, he also played a fine bass line to Harry’s excellent rendition of the Gillian Welsh song, taken from her first album.

Annabelle

  As well as having his exotic looking acoustic with him, he also had his recently extensively  re-worked bass guitar,

colour  correction on these Nikon lenses is pants

the bulbs gone again.

he was a friend of mine

Other highlights of the night included Terry doing  T for Texas, A Merle Haggard, and other old cowboy songs

Bam

Bam made a welcome return after a few weeks of absence, and entertained us with  speed trap town, waggon Wheel, and Mary don’t you weep. We hope to see you again, SOON!

Also with us was Kevin, who gave us three of the best, finishing with a White Buffalo song,

Mike Whitaker, who finished of with Sea shells.

And Roland, who started by singing a very sad, self penned song about having to tell a little girl that her mummy had just died of breast cancer, then on a lighter note, apple of my eye, and Arms 1000 miles long to finish his set.

The raffle was fixed, Linda won again

And tom 2 did a very good set finishing of with Twist and Shout

Don’t Tell Geoff!!  In the absence of  Geoff Hollis, our own Neil Diamond, Tony, took the opportunity to sing us some sad songs, including a Gareth Brooks, the poignant  Beth Neilson Chapman Sand and Water, and the John Wright great Hold On. (watch your back Tony!!)

Any one seen Geoff?

Tom 2 came on again and did a Glen Hanson song, Say it to me now.

Well by now we had all had a bit to drink…… so the evening was closed by the Tom, Dick and Harry band, doing a number by George Jones

The last song…