Club night. 17th June 2016

We all thought Colin had bought the Rock Band bass guitar in from his Sony Playstation to the club, but it turned out to be an electric bass uke.

It did sound like a base guitar, and he did accompany a few other artists with it, they probably wont replace full size bass guitars, but it was interesting and entertaining to listen to. He also kept busy with his other uke, amongst other songs: Early morning rain, I’ll Follow the Sun, and Buddy Holly’s It’s raining, as well as accompanying other artists with his bass uke.

Malcolm, a First timer at the club, sang a song based on the beautiful (I thought so when I was 9!) 1963 Peter Paul and Mary classic, Puff The Magic Dragon, which inferred that Puff was not a heterosexual dragon.

Come on Malcolm, some things are sacred, it was bad enough when people said it was a reference to taking drugs! some people even laughed! (well, most did really..), he then carried on in his acapella mode with some sea shanties.

Chris Birchall from the Ruthin club sang the Joe Cocker version of Unchain my Heart, Eleanor Rigby, and the Christy Moore version of Black is the colour of my true loves hair, which he dedicated to someone in the audience?

We also had a visit from Penny from Denbigh, (not heaven!) Who was looking very happy, think it was something about work! She sang about fish swimming and getting drunk, and old people getting forgetful, and shopping in Marks and Spencers

Penny, with a smug smile contemplating her future!

Glyn then led us in some community singing, including Dona Dona Dona, and Hard times come again no more. She also looked happy for Penny.

Later Penny accompanied Glyn when she sang The Balimore Fiddler, some people even tried to sing the chorus!!!

Mike Whitaker sang a song about a Choo Choo, with Colin assisting on bass, and Colin Campbell entertained us with several songs, including The Weary Hobo Song.

Richard did some numbers with Tom and Colin, including The Pilgrim Song, and Me and Bobby Magee.

Other highlights of the night included Tony Grant singing the Windmills of your Mind, the Red Rose Caffe, and the James Taylor classic You’ve Got a Friend.

We all know what he looks like, this is his guitar.

Linda and Tom worked hard all evening, Linda also compared as Neil was away gadding about with Barbara, we really will have to remember to get Neil to lend Linda his book of Christmas Cracker jokes, it’s just not the same without them. Linda and Tom finished the evening with the Gibson brothers song That Blue Grass Music.

See you all next week.

By Ron Lester|June 22nd, 2016|0 Comments

10th June 2016

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

By Ron Lester|June 14th, 2016|2 Comments

Clubnight, June 3rd

We all can’t come every week. But due to Folk on the coast, holiday and other commitments, and 60th birthday party’s! we only had four performers, so they had to work three times harder than normal, Wendy also acted as compare, Colin helped out by doing a set, finishing with what seems to be his favourite band, a Beatles song… I,l Get You in the End

Richard gave a Stellar performance and also helped Colin out with city of New Orleans… he seemed to spend more time on stage than sitting down.

Wendy was up and down, comparing and singing many of our favorite songs and medleys, she was sadly by herself on stage as Richard was of somewhere getting drunk!!! (not only does she sing country and western…)

Tony gave us a lot of variety from Windmills of your Mind, to the Red rose Café. he even tried to liven it up with a medley including Blue Suede Shoes, Whole lot of Shaking, Honey Don,t, and roll over Beethoven. Bit no one really felt like dancing!! He finished that spot with Bad Moon Rising.

WHERE IS EVERYONE…

He Also closed the evening for us in fine style, finishing with the Neil diamond classic beautiful Noise, (and it was)

Please remember, singers and non-singers, this is our club, it needs both people to perform and an audience to enjoy them, we all can’t come 52 weeks a year, but if we want to keep meeting through the summer,try and attend.

O, and Mike Hughes won the raffle, don,t think it was fixed this week as he came with me, and the odds were not great, probably why he won!

By Ron Lester|June 9th, 2016|0 Comments

CLUB NIGHT. 27th MAY 2016

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…

By Ron Lester|May 30th, 2016|0 Comments

Club Night 6th May 2016

Ochty- Nochty….. Wear the Fox Hat.

This was the advice (According to Harry) that Prince Charles’s mother gave him at breakfast one morning, when, after asking him what he was doing that day, he told her he was going to open a new library at Ochty-Nochty.

Fashion never was one of Charles’s best traits!

We had several visitors from Ruthin to entertain us last Friday, Harry and John Bass, who joined with ours and Ruthin club’s Tom and Richard, to play as Tom, Dick and Harry (and John).

As there was hardly any room on stage John played from the table at the front.

Amongst the several songs they gave us were ‘Wagon Wheel’, ‘My Old Friend the Blues’, ‘Delia’s Gone’, ‘A Mess of Blues’, ‘Drift Away’, ‘Gone to Shiloh’, and the John Prine great ‘Speed of the Sound of Loneliness’.

Chris Birchall also came across, and amongst other songs, gave us Van Morrison’s ‘Into The Mystic’, ‘Whiskey in the Jar’, Doctor Hooks ‘The Eyes of Lucy Jordan’, (I still prefer Marianne Faithful version to Doctor Hooks!) .

Linda and Tom took us ‘Past the Point of Rescue’, through some ‘Greenfields’ , and for ‘A Walk In The Irish Rain’. Linda also compared the evening for us.

Wendy and Richard also sang about rain, with Nancy Griffiths song ‘I Wish It Would Rain’, (well now it has!), Also Edwena Hayes’ ‘My Love’, ‘You’re My Best Friend’, and of course an obligatory Jim Reeves! Keith entertained us with a medley of Sea Shanties.

Tom 2 (Tom Goodall) again blew us away with his brilliantly self-written ‘Mothers Hugs’ (When you are famous Tom, remember to send us tickets to your concerts).

We need to make this viral!!!

Tom also did a great version of Hit The Road Jack, Glen Hansards ‘Falling Slowly’, and an awesome cover of the Prince song ‘Where Doves Fly’.

It was a memorable night, with good friends.

John Bass

By Ron Lester|May 11th, 2016|0 Comments

Club Night 29th April 2016

Richard and Tom performing ‘Don’t Think Twice’

There were about 25 happy souls gathered for the pre Mayday singers night, amongst them Gerard, (Toms brother), and Chris and Jayne from the Ruthin Club.

In the absence of Neil and Barbra, Linda had to compare as well as keep Tom under control! Colin started the evening of with 3 songs (2 of which Richard had also planned to sing, that’s the beauty of being first on.) ‘Sea of Heartache’, ‘500 Miles’, and ‘You Can’t Do That!’, followed by Des, who sang two of his own compositions, ‘The Fall Out’ and ‘Child Food Money’, and the Steve Earle great ‘Copperhead Road’.

Terry then came next with the classic Willy Nelsons ‘Yesterdays Wine’, ‘Take Your Time’, and the John Prine song ‘Unwed Fathers’, (He finished of in the second half with ‘T for Texas, V for Vera’, so probably spent the night in the shed!)

Richard performing ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’

Richard and Wendy then took the stage, Richard started by singing a number to sadden us men about wedding bells, and finished with the all time Jim Reeves favourite, ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ (probably trying to score some points with Wendy). Wendy then did 3 numbers, including the beautiful and poignant ‘1917’ and finished her first spot with ‘Older Ladies’.

(She doesn’t qualify yet!)

1917

Richard and Tom then gave us a selection of songs, finishing with ‘Don’t Think Twice’.

After that ‘Now for something completely different’, Toms brother Gerard gave us a selection of humorous sometimes deep poems he had collected,

Keith then did 3 numbers, the first by the old 60s group ‘The Band’, changing hats in the true Rhyl tradition to finish in a Deerstalker, singing about Lady Chatterley.

Chris Birchall

Chris playing ‘All Along The Watchtower’

Our friend and frequent visitor from Ruthin Mr. Chris Birchall (as Linda would say) then took the stage, and entertained us with a Paul Simon song on a borrowed 6 string, followed by Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watch Tower’, and a Merl Haggarg to finish.

It was then time for the Raffle, which I didn’t win.

After the beer break Tom and Linda had their spot, Linda starting with ‘Love Is All Around’, and finising with the Linda Rondstadt song ‘Waiting For The Times To Get Better’

Everyone then did one more song, but I gave up making notes by then, and started on my second lemonade.

Don’t forget, next week, same time, same place. (bring a friend). Ron

By Ron Lester|May 1st, 2016|0 Comments

Club Night 15 April 2016

Hello again. Well, despite the heavy rain Thirty One people came to the Rhyl Football Club last Friday including Eleven Performers.

Tom Degney started us off again this week with ‘Autumn Leaves’. George Stanley Evans was next, singing Help & Pretty Woman. Richard and Wendy entertained us with A Town This Size and Wendy did a song written by Donagh Long ‘You’ll Never be the Sun’.

The audience then joined in to a couple of numbers by Richard Davies and Tom Degney ‘Me and Bobby Mcgee’ and ‘Galway to Graceland ( Richard Thompson). Kevin Wardman then sang ‘Arrogance Ignorance and Greed’ (Steve Knightley) I think that’s the first time it’s been sung in the Club. Nice one Kevin. Nice to see Bill Conde in the Club tonight showing us the Ukulele he’s just finished. He also played ‘Freight Train’ on his Guitar & later did ‘ I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now’. Keith was in the mood for a couple of Ewan McCall songs ‘ Farewell to the 30 ft Trailer & Dirty Old Town’ and later ‘Have you Ever’. He was in good form. Colin Masterson managed a couple of songs one of which was ‘Lesson too Late for the Learning ( Tom Paxton).

I sang a old number ‘Swift Recovery’ which was written by Paul Darby, who was part of a duo called ‘Winfall’ along with Anthony Griffiths on Guitar. They performed three times at the Bee Folk Club in the mid to late sixties. Mike Whittaker from Llandudno was next and one of his songs was called ‘Don’t Ever Change’ which he wrote. He has written many songs himself and we are just getting to know them now. Linda & Tom Degney finished the first half with two songs one was ‘Don’t you Believe’ and nothing about the rain but of course it already was raining.

Other songs in the second half included Kevin with ‘I Be Your Baby Tonight’:- Wendy with I’ll Carry You Home ( James Blunt) I did Utah Phillips’ ‘All Used Up’ & Linda and Tom were next with ‘Carolina Star’ before Mike came on again to finish the night with another one of his songs called ‘Good Night choo choo’.

A good night was had by all with a good mix of of songs and Tunes ( Bill )

All the best for now. Let’s do it again on 22nd April 2016

By Geoff Hollis|April 18th, 2016|0 Comments

Club night 8th April 2016

Well what a night it was this week! Seventeen performers turned up & 16 listeners as well. Mike & Chris came all the way from Anglesey. Mike started & finished the evening playing tunes on his Flute, Chris then joined Mike to sing Scarborough Fair. Linda & Tom Degney started the rain on the roof when they sang ‘Crying in the Rain’ and then the rain pelted down even harder when they did Wet Wet Wet’s version of ‘Love is all around’. Tom then sang Autumn Leaves. It was lovely to see Jane Williams had made the trip to see us & did three excellent songs, the last one I think was called ‘You’ll Go Away’ I think . Roland gave us 2 good songs but he didn’t do his Budgie song. Phil from Canada was next . I heard him sing at the Oak in Hendre last October, he did a good version of ‘ Don’t let the Sun Catch you crying’. Colin Campbell & Mike Whittaker from Llandudno came to see us again after Mike’s holiday and did us proud with some good numbers. Colin Masterson sang a Fourmost hit from the 1960’s. Colin also runs a session in the White Lion at Llanellian, Colwyn Bay on Wednesdays starts around 8.00 pm.

Other songs were performed by Chris Birchall with his 12 string Guitar with only 9 strings or was it 8. Richard & Wendy Eastwood, Geoff Hollis, Keith, Vin and Annie & Bob. Bob did a nice version of ‘Angie’ on Guitar. I was running out of paper by this time so apologies for not remembering all the name of the songs done tonight. I think from next week I will leave a list for people to write the name of the songs/tunes performed.

It was a Barbara’s birthday and a big chocolate cake suddenly appeared & of course we all sang Happy Birthday.

Aye it were a grand night.

We can do it all again next week.

Geoff.

By Geoff Hollis|April 10th, 2016|0 Comments

Club Night 1st April 2016

10 Performers turned up on a cold night & entertained us with a good mix of songs. Tom Goodall started proceedings with a couple of good songs. Followed by Tom Degney on his own first then Linda joined him after. Wendy & Richard Eastwood came next, Wendy did Brown Eyes Blue (Crystal Gayle) and Richard sang Distant Drums (Jim Reeves).Raphael also sang a couple of songs one of which I hadn’t heard for years ( Blues in the Bottle). Richard Davies then performed Me & Bobby Mcgee. It was nice to See William & Benjamin Roche & they sang some good songs. William was in the West End of Derby trying to find the King of Rome. Thanks to all who attended last week & to Neil for hosting the evening, who told a joke where most people laughed. Just as well Chris Birchall wasn’t there or he’d have pinched it. See you all next on 8th April 2016 All the Best.

By Geoff Hollis|April 8th, 2016|0 Comments

Club Night on 11th March 2016

A quiet but enjoyable night with good company last week with some very good songs. There were 19 people in the Football Club of which there were 10 performers. Linda & Tom Degney started proceedings followed by Colin Masterson, Colin Campbell, Richard Davies, Mike Whittaker, Geoff Hollis, Tom Goodall, Chris Birchall and Andy Gallagher.

It was great to hear Richard sing ”Sea of Heartbreak” a song we used to sing together in the Bar at the Bee on Saturday Nights back in the late sixties. It was good to see Andy Gallagher on a welcome visit to our Club. Thanks also to Neil for hosting the evening.

let’s have some more Fun next Friday on 18th March 2016.

All the best Geoff.

By Geoff Hollis|March 18th, 2016|0 Comments