March | 2012 | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Launching My New World Tour of Open Mics in Melbourne, and Introducing the Open MIc Podcasts

March 15, 2012
bradspurgeon

Last night I played at the old and venerable open mic at the Great Britain Hotel in Melbourne (Richmond), and launched the first of my latest tour of the world’s open mics. This is the fourth year that I travel the world with my guitar as I report on the Formula One races for my newspaper, but moonlight in the bars and other shady places of the world where open mics take place. Every year I have launched a new project in conjunction with the trip, and this year I have a couple in mind, although I will mention only the one you will see on this blog.

Podcast interview of James Fitzpatrick, MC of open mic at Great Britain Hotel in Melbourne, by Brad Spurgeon:

That is my decision to do podcasts with the MCs – and sometimes musicians and spectators – of all the open mics around the world that I visit. I will try to keep the podcasts as close to 3 minutes long as possible, in order to not try your ears, patience and download bandwidth. Last night I failed at that, having my inaugural interview podcast with James Fitzpatrick, the MC of the Great Britain open mic for the last 10 years, go on for seven minutes. Still, it was fun and he had some interesting things to say.

The first year of my adventure I began writing a book about the journey – which is almost finished – and the second year I began the blog. Last year I worked on doing a film, which I am now editing. This year, I have an idea I do not yet want to mention as I’m unsure it is reasonable (!) and I will introduce the podcasts.

I will also continue to put up videos of the open mic performances, as I travel the world – this year I will do open mics in 22 countries – including my home of France – and all the continents except Africa and Antarctica, in what will be a record year of travel for me.

The Great Britain was a very cool, English pub type of place, with a back room with a lovely stage. And James is by profession a sound engineer, so he was hard at work on the vast sound controls at the back of the room, and the result was very good, clear, excellent sound for the spectators. It was very laid back, and at the same time, well-run, with a variety of musicians. I will definitely return – if I get to continue this quest and adventure for a fifth year!

From a Quick Brad Concert to a Quick One with Le Mépris and The Agency

March 11, 2012
bradspurgeon

Three concerts to report on, one being my own: Friday night I had a sudden concert to do at a place called Evidence Bar, in Paris’s funky 20th Arrondissement. After learning that the bar was minuscule and that the sound system was even less copious, I got really worried – only to arrive, set up, realize that thanks to the small size of the bar I could perform without a mic and not lose my voice… and so it not only all worked out okay, but the atmosphere was fabulous, the layout of the place was super cool – spectators could listen inside at the bar or outside on the terrace and hear just fine – and the biggest icing on the cake was having Félix Beguin play along on lead, and add chorus vocals. We had a GREAT time.

And thanks also to my friend Chloé, who offered to make some videos of the gig, although I should have switched on the “night” lighting control, as it is very dark, and the sound of my voice is somewhat cancelled out by the ambient noise…but still…. Thanks also to Calvin McEnron who passed my name on to the bar talent coordinator for the show…. All in all, it was a wonderful Friday evening on a night where I had nothing planned….

I DID have something planned for Saturday night, though, and that was the very special concert introducing the new band of a couple of the members of the French band called Neimo, which has recorded a couple of albums and is working on another – having recently signed with Sony Music for a new album. Neimo’s high moment of the last few years was recording an album called “Modern Incidental,” at the Shangri La label in the U.S.

But now Bruno Alexander, the singer, and Camille Troillard, the Neimo lead guitarist, have put together a band with a drummer and bassist called, Le Mépris, and last night they tested their music for the first time in a concert. It had quite a different feel than Neimo, who I saw in concert last year, and there were some nice inventive things to this. It was a little like seeing some well known band that plays its new music when you’re used to the old stuff – you’re not entirely sure what you think of it, even if you like it. Which I did.

And now, having listened to it on the recordings that I made on my Zoom Q3 HD, I find it is sensational stuff. Really great. I must confess that having to stand next to the speak to record the stuff, I wore earplugs last night to preserve my hearing – my brain does not have the automatic level control that the Zoom has….

I first met Bruno and became aware of Neimo more than three years ago at Earle’s open mic at the Lizard Lounge, and there I also met the members of and became aware of the music of another band, The Agency, which has been building up its style and repertoire steadily ever since. Last night they played after Le Mépris, and it sounded like they had taken yet another step forward since the last time I heard them, sometime last year.

Oh, and to step back a little, that brings to mind that last time I saw The Agency was at the Maroquinerie last year when another of the bands was Natas Loves You. One of the songs Natas played on that night – and one they often sang at open mics – was King Crimson’s haunting, “I Talk to the Wind.” I was floored last night to hear Le Mépris doing the same song – this very cool song that has come out of the deep dark passages of my memory from my youth to young bands today in Paris…. It’s hardly a rock standard, but it bears resemblance to the sort of stuff that recent bands like the Fleet Foxes do….

This evening concert with Le Mépris and The Agency was, by the way, organized by a small, independent record label in Paris called, A Quick One, which specializes in producing vinyl albums for a large number of the top new groups in France. It also sells the music on its Quick One Internet site. The concert took place in a small room called Studio Campus, in a place that looked almost like a community center – I thought I’d arrived at the wrong place….

Jamming Time at the Mazet and Don’t Miss My Concert Tonight!

March 9, 2012
bradspurgeon

This is a double post, two for the price of one…. I attended the Mazet Pub open mic last night and it was being run by a different man, as David Oxxo was off somewhere else. The result was a different vibe, of course. But it was a fun and interesting one, much more about jamming and a free-for-all on the stage with some fabulous musician friends of Raphael Moraine, the replacement MC.

I played a few of my songs, there was a man doing rap, an electro duo, and Raphael and his band and friends. I also got to play as part of a little trio with one and then two wonderful women singers, reminding me that it was my second night in a row of that after the Highlander. A real pleasure, and once again because it was such a pleasure and I was so active playing or putting new strings on my guitar, I got very little video footage. I will only put up one video, in fact. But you get the idea. Wait around long enough with that video to hear the singer’s fabulous voice….

Meanwhile, I am in a rush to get of here as I have a gig tonight in Paris and I will play with my lead guitarist, Félix Beguin, of the Burnin’ Jacks. It takes place at:

Evidence Bar
132 bd de Charonne
75020 Paris
Métro : Alexandre Dumas (ligne 2)

In principle I will play for an hour somewhere between 8:30 and 10 PM. So don’t hesitate in showing up and joining in, before you head off to some other more nocturnal affair in Paris on a Friday night….

Full Moon Craziness at the Highlander

March 8, 2012
bradspurgeon

There may or may not have been a full moon last night over the Highlander open mic – I cannot remember having noted the fact on the way there – but the atmosphere was clearly insane. And fun. Despite there not being an absolutely packed house, those who were there were full of wildness….

I will not go into all the details, suffice it to say that some spectators were really enthusiastic and then quite nasty; while others were so enthusiastic that they took to the stage themselves to join in various choruses and whatnot. I was one of the lucky ones to benefit by that aspect, as I had a couple of gorgeous women join me for my songs. Well, one for three songs, and another for two songs – oh, to say nothing of another standing in front of the “stage” and singing along.

Of course, sensing the madness in the air, I decided to focus only on cover songs, and ones that either make no sense – “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” by Dylan – or ones about our crazy world, like “Mad World” and “What’s Up!”

One of those who joined me was the fabulous Adele, who did her own set a few slots before mine, and she played ukelele and sang in her superb and emotional voice. Adele is studying opera singing, but I think she could do pop if that fails! (And probably any other style….)

I wish I had my set on film this time!! But I got some of the other good stuff, including Thomas Allen and Ninouche Johansson playinig for their first time at the Highlander. I had met them at the Baroc a few weeks ago.

Too Much Fun at Bonheur to Write About It

March 7, 2012
bradspurgeon

I had so much fun, such a great evening at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic last night that I stayed far too late, got home too late, got up too late, got to the office too late, to have the time to write about it here before I rush off to tonight’s bit of bonheur. No chance. Not a good sign, no doubt, to say that if I have THAT much fun I can’t write about it.

In any case, I DID take videos of the night and will put them here as a record of the evening – much of the fun of which happened AFTER the open mic in conversations in the bar on the ground floor. But the open mic itself was equally fun and held me. I am heading into the area of verbal whatever, so will stop now and rush out….

Postpartum Holiday Blues at Paris Open Mics

March 6, 2012
bradspurgeon

You’d think everyone had the postpartum blues after the school holidays ended in Paris and the pub crawlers and musician students who all crowded the open mics last week returned to school and did not return to the open mics. It was a quieter than usual night at both the Tennessee Bar open mic and the Coolin pub open mic last night. But that was completely to my liking, as it meant singing more and have a more appreciative audience.

In fact, both venues had a nice atmosphere and enough musicians to bring variety, and just enough customer to have a decent sized audience in each – without having the madness of the week before.

I enjoyed the audience participation at the Tennessee, and the several different combinations of duets and trios at Coolin was a real pleasure. And for the first time last night at Coolin I got to see this guy I have been hearing about from several sources for several weeks: Paddy Sherlock, who hosts the only other regular live music night at Coolin. Check out the video of Paddy on the horn and vocals along with a guitarist.

Henry and I, after practicing the Dylan “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” a couple of times in jams at Coolin, decided to do it behind the mic yesterday. Someone caught a bit of that on video for me – picking up at the point where I had just thoroughly failed in my effort at playing lead.

We again had a post-open-mic jam session around the table, which again I enjoyed too much to make too many videos of, as I was too occupied playing myself (not with myself).

Of a Vintage Kararocké and Crossing Paths

March 4, 2012
bradspurgeon

It was the first Saturday of the month again last night, and so I made my way over to the Bus Palladium to check out Nicolas Ullmann’s Kararocké. There are open mics that happen once a month that I forget about because they are only once a month; the Kararocké is one that I never forget about, but rather wait for impatiently. Last night again brought its fun and surprises, and personal thoughts about the crossing of paths through life….

Three years ago at Earle Holmes’s open mic at the Truskel I saw a fabulous group called Gush, and I had a great, wide-ranging conversation with one or two of the musicians about pop and rock music over the generations. These guys, like a few other groups in recent years – Natas Loves You, Fleet Foxes – make use of vocal harmonies and have revived that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sound – among other ’60s groups.

Gush has gone on to have a pretty good career, playing some very interesting and big venues, and they just returned from Japan. So anyway, after half the band appeared on stage last night at the Bus Palladium, I went up to the singer – who had just done a very convincing Stones song – and he immediately recognize me – although he could not remember precisely where or when we had met.

That was cool, but it was not the only such meeting last night, or crossing of paths. There was also, for instance, another of the performers, Sigalit Rossignol, whom I first saw last year sometime at the Anthracite open mic – where singers also sing with backing by a house band – and who I have seen performer nowhere else.

And then there was the star of the previous Kararocké, the riotous man from the Philippines, who calls himself Bong Jovi, and who really milks the crowd – after what appears to have been years’ worth of playing in karaokes around the world.

At least one of the Burnin’ Jacks was there, and a few other familiar faces. So what all of this means, and got me to thinking, was just how the musical world sometimes criss-crosses, blends in, faces resurface, careers grow, fade, and there is a kind of web that develops, and we all gravitate eventually to the same musical poles.

Now, what does all that mean? Fuck all! (But I wanted to see if I could find some kind of theme to write about another Kararocké…. Shaggy dog story? Maybe….)

Derailed by a Burlesque, Enchanted by….

March 3, 2012
bradspurgeon

I was just about to do my nearly daily post last night when a friend sent me an SMS asking if I wanted to join him to see a friend of his do her Burlesque show at the Alcazar in Paris, near the place de l’Odeon. I have my priorities, so I dropped everything to go and see Louise de Ville. I would write about my evening at the Mazet open mic later, like now.

I had heard about the Alcazar for years, but never went. I did not regret it. It was a vast, two-floor restaurant with a stage in the middle where both floors could see the performance. Louise’s performance was memorable, and just totally spell-binding – as she says, “people pay more attention to you when you are in your underwear.” We met afterwards, and spoke along with my friend, and I learned she is from, Kentucky, has lived in Paris for a few years, and works in Burlesque in several venues around the city. She loves the Crazy Horse, but is less hot about the other well-known venues for exotic dancing in this city that does not exactly specialize in the genre.

Anyway… not much to say that will not sound like my tongue was hanging out….

So, to back step a little, I must say that I was in enraptured on Thursday night as well. Again with a woman – no, actually two of them. It was the open mic at the Mazet and soon into the evening two women took to the stage, both on guitars, one on vocals. It was Vanessa and Emilie, and the latter played cool lead while the former sang. They looked not only like sisters, they looked like twins. They were not related. It turned out that one was the sister of David Oxxo, the MC of the evening.

I learned that after I had decided which one to propose marriage to, but it turned out to be the wrong one. I did that with Emilie – well, okay, I did not quite propose marriage, but close – after she played lead with me for several songs, “Crazy Love,” “I Shall Be Released” and “Just Like a Woman.” A Bob Dylan medley, almost. And she was wonderful: Check out her site. It was soooo cool to have a woman lead guitar player, and especially one who with the other woman – Vanessa – looked like Kate and Anna McGarrigle, or maybe the Patti Smith twins.

Speaking of medleys, it was also a treat to see and hear Mary Catherine and then her father, who did a medley of some pop rock standards.

Then, later, James Iansiti had a couple of members of one of his bands there, and they did a great rendition of Stairway to Heaven, and James pointed out it was the 40th year anniversary of that song.

And to top it all off, I got given a copy of David Oxxo’s recently released album. There is some good stuff on this beautifully produced and recorded album in French and English, but I especially loved the song “Corps en laisse,” which felt like Jacques Brel in some ways.

Can you ask for a better two days?!

Marianne Bp Gives Me a Jazz Lesson

March 1, 2012
bradspurgeon

I grew up with jazz in my home. My dad was a jazz lover, I ended up seeing live performances by people like Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Keith Jarrett. I heard and met Gene Krupa when I was seven, in a jazz club in Toronto. Later, I sent myself to concerts by people like Weather Report, and Jaco Pastorius in solo…. I have NEVER tried to play or sing jazz, considering it impossible. Last night over dinner with the beautiful and talented Marianne Bp, I had an important lesson in what makes up a jazz standard, and it actually changed my idea of what jazz is.

Basically, the wide-ranging conversation – Marianne writes poetic texts, songs and she is just finishing a book – ended up leading into talking about her debut music video that she just released a week or two ago. I told her again how much I loved the video, and how cool it looked and sounded. But I also sort of spoke aloud a thought I had on my mind for a long time, even before she did the video.

She had told me a couple of months ago that one of her projects was to take the lyrics from jazz standards and to put them to music and just completely turn them on their head, modernizing them and doing them her own way. The first video, in fact, was one of those songs: “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You.”

She not only uses original lyrics in English, but she also throws in some French lyrics. The whole is very inventive, and I loved both the idea and the execution. So in dreaming aloud about it last night, and thinking about the potential of the song, I said, “One of the thoughts I had about this was that it seems too cool to have not been tried before, this idea of taking the lyrics of a jazz standard and doing it completely your own way, sort of improvising out something new.” And I was thinking that I was wondering just where that could fit in with the acceptance on behalf of jazz lovers and jazz musicians.

Before I said anything about that latter bit, she said: “Oh, but that is exactly what doing a jazz standard has always been about. Taking the old song and completely reinterpreting it and doing it your own way.”

Huh?

“The history of jazz music is made up of that precise thing: Taking the original and changing stuff, adding stuff, dropping stuff, doing your own music, improvising.”

Really?

“Yeah,” she said, “check it out on Wikipedia, if you want.”

The English wikipedia item on Jazz Standards does not emphasize that aspect, but the French wikipedia item on Jazz Standards certainly does. And so does a site devoted to jazz standards. In fact, all I had to think about was also how John Coltrane completely transformed “My Favorite Things….” (Even though he did not use lyrics.)

So suddenly I realized that not only was Marianne right about that, but that her interpretation of Gee Baby was not only one that I loved and thought very cool and far out, but it was actually super acceptable as part of a tradition of making standards new and different and personal.

Thanks for the lesson Marianne, and for the music.

P.S. By the way, Marianne also told me some interesting things about the filming of the video. There are parts where she seems to be walking in an odd way. She is: She filmed herself and a chauffeur walking backwards, and then the reversed the film in the video so it actually appears as if they are walking forwards…but weirdly. You see the cars behind them all going backwards. Just as original as the sound of the music.

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Monthly Archives: March 2012