July | 2012 | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

A Boat on the Quay, Three Down-and-Outs and a Coolin Definitely Not Dry

July 31, 2012
bradspurgeon

I made my way back from Budapest yesterday to Paris and then crossed town to the Batofar open mic, which happens so rarely that I decided I had to attend despite it being on the evening of the great Coolin open mic. Oh, and I must not forget to mention the last night in Budapest: Again I saw how open mics and open jams are such ephemeral things that from one year to the next you never know if they will still exist. The great and wonderful and extraordinary open jam session that ran on Sunday nights at Szimpla Kert in Budapest is no longer running. I went to Szimpla and met some musicians from Greece – one with an oud on his back – and they told me the jam no longer exists thanks to noise. They have to stop the music at 10 PM. These musicians, one of them said, had taken the jam slot for their group and they play there on Sunday nights. Anyway, back to Paris.

I was very happy that I made the most of my time at Becketts on Saturday, but I was really looking forward to playing again, having not played on Sunday. So I went to the Batofar, that great boat venue on the Seine, only to discover it was closed…but that the terrace of the Batofar located on the quay opposite the boat hosted the open mic. Or rather, it was the genial Vincent Lafleur on keyboards and vocals who hosted the evening.

The sound was clear and strong as I approached, and I found a nice duo of women singers with Vincent on piano. I bought a beer, then went up a few minutes later and played several songs, had a guy doing tambourine along with me, and one of the women singers joining in occasionally. Then I listened to a few more bits, including Vincent, and then I left for Coolin.

Oh, not far down the quay three clochards who had heard me playing and liked it, asked if I could sing them a song. So I sang, “Miles From Nowhere,” by Cat Stevens, which seemed appropriate, and then “Jealous Guy,” which was not appropriate, but they wanted a Beatles – and that was the closest I could come.

Took a cab to Coolin, listened to a few acts and then did my own. Just when I was certain Coolin would run out of steam and customers – it being right in the middle of the summer – I found the place just buzzing and jumping with customers and musicians. In fact, it got more and more raucous as the night went on, with people dancing all around the pub by the end. And for some reason, after they said the open mic was finished, someone then pumped up the house music and everyone continued singing and dancing to the recordings…. Another cool’un at the Coolin.

Playing at Becketts Pub in Budapest

July 29, 2012
bradspurgeon

John Murphy was as good as his word from the day before, and last night I took to the stage in Becketts pub in Budapest and played two sets and a total of seven songs. Even better, I played with Murphy and his Hungarian lead guitar player, the dynamic Daniel Kovago. It was a fabulous evening, even if Becketts was not quite as full of audiences members as it was the last time I played there, in 2009.

But for me the most important part of the exercise – aside from having fun – was to continue recording myself playing with local musicians in every country I visit this year, and once again I got that chance. My only regret was that I played only cover songs, and none of my songs. But playing along with Daniel on lead and John on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, with me on another acoustic guitar and the lead vocals, was definitely cool. Especially since the only song I had rehearsed with Daniel was “Mad World.” And it also turned out I was not the only guest to take to the microphone, as a new client at the bar, Winnie, also sang some songs. She recently moved to Budapest from England, although she is from Northern Ireland originally.

John Murphy has been playing in Becketts for at least seven years, both solo, and with his full band. He has an exceptionally good voice and his rhythm guitar playing is forceful. The ambiance of the pub is very much the Irish pub thing, and the place once rocked to the sounds of Eddie Jordan’s drumming – Eddie being a former Formula One team owner. Apparently, before the financial crises hit, Becketts was a central meeting place for Formula One people, particularly from the Jordan team.

Lately, it has become more quiet in that area. I met one colleague there last night, although he left before I played. What has happened in Budapest at the same time as the financial crises are the opening up of several far out bars and pubs of the Szimpla kind, with multiple bars, rooms, activities and a massive young people population. They are the equivalent of the Berlin kind of place, although apparently with fewer rules…. In fact, John is persuaded – and I suspect he may be right – that Budapest has overtaken Berlin in cool nightlife for the young.

We visited another of these bars – Instant and Szimpla being others – last night after the music at Becketts, and found the place rocking. It was called An Kert, and is located near Szimpla. Kert means a garden or courtyard, and that is where most of them are located, mainly in abandoned buildings. The closest thing to them in Paris that I have found are the squats that have opened occasionally in recent years, and closed within weeks each time…. Yes, Budapest is booming, culturally. Even if there are not that many open jam sessions and open mics….

Tiny Scene Setter for Budapest Jams – I Hope

July 28, 2012
bradspurgeon

I have not updated the blog in a few days not out of laziness, but because I did not attend any open mics or do anything spectacular in the last few days. That said, I flew to Budapest and spent my first two nights either seeking or dreaming about where I would find a place to play music here. My two previous best experiences were at an Irish pub called Becketts and at the extraordinary Szimpla Kert, a wild alternative world of a bar complex.

So last night on my first real free night – after I attended a dinner on Thursday night – to go and chart out future territories, I decided to check out both Becketts and Szimpla. In fact, I had not been to Becketts since 2009, and I feared it might not even exist anymore. Thinking I might be wasting my time going there, I almost did not go. Thinking I had dinner at a place closer to Szimpla, I decided first I would check out Szimpla first.

Then I said, “no, try Becketts.” It was the kind of decision that may have made all the difference to the success of the weekend, as I arrived just at 22:00 and found a jam session on the terrace just ending. I managed to film the last two words or so of the song, and I watched as the guitar player and singer ran into the pub as if seeking shelter.

I decided to follow him, and when he re-emerged from the back of the pub I realized it was John Murphy, the very man who had given me the microphone in 2009 for a full set of my music, on the break that he had taken with his guitarist. John has been living in Budapest for something like a decade now I think, and he plays music regularly at Becketts. He invited me to return tonight where he may be playing in full band mode, and where he said I could probably play a song with his Hungarian guitar player as part of my effort to play and record with a local at every country I visit this year.

Imagine if I had arrived two minutes later? I’d never have recognized or even seen John Murphy, no doubt.

Well anyway, from there I went to Instant, another bar, and checked it out, but found no music. Then on to Szimpla, where a man behind the bar confirmed that there would be a jam session on Sunday night as there was last year. But his English was so bad, I am not convinced I will find a jam.

So after two nights in Budapest, I keep my fingers crossed that this will not be the first country where I fail to find a place to play….

Interpretation, Interpretation, Interpretation on My Mind

July 25, 2012
bradspurgeon

Gotta go through this real fast since I have an meeting to meet in 45 mNs. But as I listen to Michael Hedges do All Along the Watchtower and before that a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and before that a Bruce Cockburn… oh, yes, that brings me full circle. It all started with Timothee playing a Dylan with his own personal and unique interpretation… and after that, Dan doing his Bruce Cockburn interpretation, which led me to Cockburn and then to the great and dynamic Michael Hedges.

So the accent last night at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic was for me INTERPRETATION. When I heard Timothee’s version of the Dylan song I had to ask him where he got it from … it was his. Bravo!

Then Dan did his Cockburn and as he is Canadian, Dan, when I heard that, it brought me back home.

But I started thinking about Interpretation again, and how we not only sing other people’s songs, we should do them OUR way, and interpret them, and try to make it as true to ourselves as possible – and hopefully it will be different from the original. That, in a nutshell, is what interpretation is. But as I said to Da, for me, what one might call my interpretation of other people’s songs I simply call my own inability to sing them the way THEY do. Some kind of accident, as it were, and incompetence as an impregnator.

All for now.

All Round Good Time at the Open Mics, for Paris in July

July 24, 2012
bradspurgeon

By Paris standards it was another relatively quiet evening at the open mics last night. I somehow managed to drive back from Mannheim, eat a meal and get to the Tennessee Bar’s open mic session in time to play there and then to go on to Coolin’s open mic after that. By the standards of most other cities in the world – like Mannheim! – it was a bustling night at the open mics.

I had been singing out loud in my car for several hours a new song I wrote, in an effort to a) memorize the song, and b) not get bored during the drive. So because it was a smaller, intimate audience at the Tennessee bar, I decided I could try to sing the song for the first time in public without the lyrics in front of me. And I still managed to forget a few lines….

But for me the standout act of the night at both joints was that of Brislee and Virginia. I realized what a wonderful voice Virginia has through the great sound system at the Tennessee bar. I had seen them perform once at Coolin; but the sound system there tends to mask the finer details of a voice…. As it turned out, Virginia did a better job at Coolin of the song that Brislee wrote for her, so that is the version I put up here.

Brislee also blew people away with his songs at the Tennessee, and because there were fewer people, the MC of the night, James Iansiti, entertained us with several songs and accompaniments – including with Brislee.

A good evening, all things considered….

Recording Music in the Paradeplatz in Mannheim

July 23, 2012
bradspurgeon

paradeplatz mannheim

Thanks to an initiative by Tonio, the classical violin student I met on Thursday in Mannheim, I ended up having a great time in Mannheim on my last night there, and doing a mountain of recording of my songs and covers with him playing and beat boxing along. I had decided that I had done enough in Mannheim, musically, and I’d just have a quiet last night. But Tonio sent me an SMS suggesting we play. So we met in the central Paradeplatz at 8 PM – also his suggestion – and there we played for probably an hour or more, in public, sitting on a bench by the fountain, entertaining the public – and receiving a little money in appreciation.

As regular readers of the blog will know, my personal challenge this year is to record myself playing with local musicians in every country I go to for the Formula One season and my holidays. So far I have succeeded in the 10 or more countries I have visited, and I had recorded one song with Tonio on Thursday. I was foolishly satisfied with that. In fact, we went over so many of my songs – Lara, Lara; Borderline; Crazy Lady; Memories; Except Her Heart and maybe one or two others, plus cover songs like What’s Up and Mad World, plus some jamming based on chords Tonio suggested I play – that it was an enormously fun and learning experience.

Here is one of the recordings of the many we did, this one being a cover song:

And I recorded it all on my portable studio, my Roland R-26, complete with the sound of the water fountain and occasional applause. A huge, high moment, followed by a meal at the cool student pub we went to on Thursday. Really, I never expected such an amazing musical adventure in Mannheim when I set out, but it all happened because I saw Tonio with his violin – they are apparently inseparable, and that since the age of 4 or so – and asked him if he knew of a place to play.

German Youth Festival Against Neo-Nazis

July 21, 2012
bradspurgeon

One thing leads to another and that is how we weave our lives together; I’d never have ended up at this interesting little festival in Mannheim had it not been for meeting and playing music with Tonio the day before. Tonio and his friends invited me to see their improv show at a theater on Friday night, and I got stuck in so much traffic leaving the race track that I missed the improv show … but found Tonio and his friends attending this very cool little festival in the same locale: It was a student-run festival that has been going for around a decade and is meant to fight against racism and neo-Nazis.

I found it very inspiring, and in fitting with most of the stuff on this blog, there was lots of music – in fact, most of the festival revolves around the music, an evening of four concerts by local up-and-coming rock bands. There were also tables full of merchandize and printed material, books and tracts against racism, T-shirts and other objects as well.

Brad Spurgeon interviews Antonia Hauth about the anti-racism, anti-neo-Nazi festival in Mannheim:

It was refreshing to find all these young people getting together to fight the scourge of hate and hate crimes. I decided to interview one of the organizers of the festival, Antonia Hauth, a young woman who has just passed the equivalent of her high school diploma, or A-Levels. I made it part of my series of podcasts that I have been doing with open mic and jam session organizers.

This may not have been an open stage, but I felt I might have been able to ask to play a song. Ultimately, however, I saw no real point in intruding. I was happy to attend and to make this felicitous discovery that I would never have known about had it not been for stopping Tonio in the street the day before because of his violin case!!!! But this was a real, true, interesting cultural experience. Listen to the interview and look at the videos to get the feel for it, and the intelligent response to hatred by a portion of today’s German youth. Or if you understand German, check out the organizing group’s web site about their activities against racism and neo-nazis in Germany.

Recording Music in a McDonald’s in Mannheim

July 20, 2012
bradspurgeon

Man oh man oh Mannheim, I never thought I’d find myself playing music in a McDonald’s in Mannheim, recording “Crazy Love,” with a German violin player with the Italian name of Tonio. But that is exactly what happened last night just before midnight, and just before we got kicked out….

Thing is, Mannheim is a crap place for open mics and jam sessions. I stayed here a couple of years ago while attending the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, and I did managed to find one odd bar to play in and then a down moment in a karaoke to do my guitar and singing number. But arriving here yesterday, I felt quite demoralized, and after a nice dinner of schnitzel or some other pork-based delight, I walked out of the restaurant to find a young man looking at the menu and with a violin on his back.

My “opportunity” lights flashed brightly and I asked – with my guitar on my back – if he knew of anywhere to play in an open mic or jam. Tonio – as I would find was his name – spoke perfect English, and he said, “Heidelberg.” Yes, Heidelberg is next door to Mannheim, but there were no hotels available when I looked. So then he said he would ask some friends in a pub across the street, and each one he asked answered: Heidelberg.

Mannheim ain’t manly in the way of live music. So anyway, Tonio also told me that did like me, when he traveled, he looked for people to play music with. He had just returned from Amsterdam, where he had joined some buskers playing in the street.

Feeling somewhat defeated, I thanked him and left. But as I made my way toward the bar where I had played last year, I suddenly realized I had let slip the most important chance of my whole four-day trip to Mannheim. My project this year on the never-ending worldwide open mic and jam musical adventure is not simply to find and play in an open mic or open jam. It is to play with a local musician in every country I visit, and to record the playing. So far I have succeeded in every one of the 10 or so countries I have visited since March.

I suddenly realized that there was an interested and willing, classically trained violin player who liked pop and jazz as well as classical music, and that I had actually walked away let down. Without even asking him to play. So I ran back to my hotel, picked up my recording device – which I had forgotten there – and returned to the pub across the street from the restaurant where I had eaten. There I found Tonio again, about to eat his meal, with his sister and friends.

I arrived and told him my goal for the trip, and he said he would love to play some songs with me. So he ate, I socialized with him and his friends, had a beer, soaked up the atmosphere in this fabulous, popular, student pub, and then said: “So where should we play?”

We decided to head for the main public square, but by now it was so late it was likely to be considered a public disruption if we played there. Tonio suggested we try the McDonald’s restaurant just off the square. We arrived a bout 20 minutes before closing time, we were the only people in the McDonald’s – Tonio and two of his friends – and we ordered coffees and sat at a table. I turned on my recording device and we played “Crazy Love,” me on guitar and vocals, Tonio on violin and doing great mouth drumming sounds and then ad lib lyrics. Got through all but the final verse, and were then kicked out by the manager.

But I GOT my recording of me playing with a local!!!!! Couldn’t believe it! And in a McDonald’s of all places…. Thanks Tonio.

Earliest, Quickest, Thinnest Ever Report on Open Mic

July 18, 2012
bradspurgeon

I went to the Highlander a few hours ag – I’m writing this at 1:21 AM – and found I was around No. 121 on the list of performers for the evening. So I stayed and listened to a few acts and then decided “I really must be on my way,” to quote a line off a Jimi Hendrix album that appears in a song about earthlings and space aliens….

Anyway… realizing that I have to get up early tomorrow and drive to Germany for the weekend, I was certain that I would never get the videos and report up about the Highlander, and I really wanted to mark my territory on that one – even if I did not hang around to perform.

So it occurred to me to put it all up tonight before I spend the day driving tomorrow. This will, therefore, have been the earliest, quickest, Thinnest post about any open mic I have ever done…. the thing at the Highlander is most certainly still going on as I write these final words – they must be up to performer No. 110 by now….

Drop in over the next few days, and I hope to have some musical news from Germany….

Variation on a Paris Open Mic Theme – Three Down, Back to First

July 17, 2012
bradspurgeon

It’s really summertime in Paris, and the fish are jumping out of the open mics and into the ocean beaches and elsewhere. Some open mics are closed down for the summer in the capital, Paris, but those that stay open and honor the musicians who stay in Paris do an even bigger favor to themselves by giving a place to play music to all the visiting tourists that crowd the city in the summer. Having said that, last night was a pretty quiet one from one open mic to the other – with all three of the main places in the Latin Quarter showing slower than usual business. One rose above the others, however.

I started off, late, at Coolin and I played early, as the musician population was low. I decided not to hang around, as I really wanted to see if business was jumping more in the other venues. So I tripped on over to the Tennessee Bar and found a weird and cool banjo player on stage and a much thinner audience than usual at that time of night – around 23:20.

So I just cut out of there without playing, went on over to the Galway Pub, and found it to be low on musicians too – although one who was there was there thanks to finding the place on my open mic list on this blog, a tourist with his guitar, Clinton Tavares – and I played my set immediately upon arrival. (Well, another guy did one more song.)

So I drank only a half a Kilkenny there before deciding to go home. Then I thought, nah, double back and check out the action at Coolin again. So although I had to force myself – since I suddenly had the prospect of an early rise today – I returned, and found the Coolin just buzzing and jumping as all the fish had discovered it was the best environment on this Monday night in July for a bit of wild musical letting go.

I listened to a number of musicians, danced with a beautiful woman, then played one last song of my own before leaving absolutely fulfilled. Summertime can still be nice in Paris – even if I prefer April, which here, is not the cruelest month. Better stop there before I butcher and more prose (or is it pros?)….