29th June 2007 - Cambridge Folk Club

A really busy weekend of music. Rob and I have been doing a lot of work with Tam Lin recently, entertaining at barn dnaces and the like. So, Thursday was a rehearsal and Saturday was a ceilidh. But on the Friday, we were given a huge honour, namely, to finish the evening at the Cambridge Folk Club.



I think as I have said elsewhere in this blog, Cambridge is a really excellent club. Extremely welcoming, with great floor acts and all done with a lovely sense of humour. Again, we were assisted right royally by the legendary Doc Houston who organised the p.a. very well for us and, being cheeky and seeing her in the club, I put in a request for Karen Johnson to sing Scribbled in Chalk by Karine Polwart - which she did, plus a Clive Gregson song as well. Karen is a great singer and it was a thril to hear her perform again. However, there were also some wonderful guitarists playing that night as well. So, to be asked to finish the night off was a buzz and a half.

I think we acquitted ourselves very well. It took us a couple of numbers to get into our stride and then we were rocking by the end. We continue to weave new material into the repetoire - including the Danza Prima from Tejedor - but, by and large, we stayed with material that we have been playing a lot recently because we wanted Cambridge to hear us doing what we do well.

We next play Cambridge on the 14th September when we are one of the featured bands there. It will be a great pleasure to return. However, next time, I will take a bottle opener with me. We don't dirnk when we play, but whoever isn't driving does when we're finished. Playing last rather puts the kibosh on that - so, in those circumstances, when I am passenger I usually take a couple of bottles of Innes and Gunn (if you haven't tried it, you must..except leave some for me..) with me. So, there I am, settling back into Rob's car for the return journey, slavvering like one of Pavlov's dogs at the thought of a nice drop - only to find that I'd left the bottle opener at home. Needless to say, necessity was the mother of invention and eventually, after ten minutes wrestling, the top flew off and the prize was mine! Somehow, the second was much easier to open, and (dear reader) the journey home simply flew by.