Just a quick note to mark the territory. Went to Earle’s open mic at the Mecano last night, and left the place in the throes of a Bacchanalia.
I arrived at 9 PM and handed over my guitar and someone went up and played a few cover songs, including a Rolling Stones thing and I don’t know what all else. Then Martin Rain went up and did something of his own and some new cover songs, including a new Leonard Cohen. Martin has been going regularly to Earle’s, and it was there a couple of months ago that he met Julie and the two of them got together and started making some of the coolest music I’ve been hearing between a man and a woman in Paris as “The Rain”. The wonderful mixture of Julie’s unique higher pitched vibrato and Martin’s deeper, Johnny Cash like sound, is just beautiful.
I went up and played a few of my usual songs, and got the impression I was putting everyone to sleep, until three young women came in from the street and looked like they were really bopping to my version of “Year of the Cat.” So I then went into “Father and Son” and then “Just Like A Woman.” I felt I had an audience here. And then my satisfaction was increased massively when two of these young women got up after me and blew us ALL away. I recorded their wonderful “St. James’ Infirmary” with my Q3, and I’m putting it down below. All I know about them is that they do NOT have a group, and that they come from Toulouse, in the South of France – I’ll try to do better next time.