Monday night was a wonderful Galway Pub open mic again, as the year begins to move into gear and leave behind some of the slow nights there and at the other open mics in Paris as well. Unfortunately, I did the Galway, then went home and promptly got a terrible cold that I am still trying to recover from, and I cannot sing! So no open mics for me last night or tonight, and probably not tomorrow either. But in the meantime, here are some videos of the fun times on Monday at the Galway.
Stephen Prescott has only two more nights hosting the Galway open mic before Romain of the All the Roads moniker takes over. But on Monday there was an atmosphere of fun and celebration at one of the best open mics in Paris – especially from the Swedish a cappella contingent….
It was a wonderful return to two Paris open mics last night for several reasons, not the least of which personally was the absence from behind the mic for four nights for me…. But I have a little news and a little observation to make. Oh, and I was clearly not the only one to be happy to get to the open mics again: There were lots of people at both the Tennessee Bar and the Galway Pub.
The bit of news I learned last night at the Galway was that Romain Bretoneiche, who performs under the name of his band All the Roads, will be taking over the MC job at the Galway Pub open mic every Monday. Stephen “Danger” Prescott, who has been doing it for three years is leaving the country. It is a sad moment in that regard, but great that Romain is taking over, too, as he is a great singer, a nice guy and very enthusiastic. So it will be very interesting to follow…. I got a couple of videos from last night of each of them, one with Stephen doing a Dylan duet with Julia Lins-Gordon, who works behind the bar – and is also a writer – and another of All the Roads doing a Damien Rice song, really well, as usual….
I found myself having fun when an Irish spectator sitting at the bar in front of the stage made a request to me during my set: “Do you know any Christy Moore songs?” Wow! I couldn’t believe that for once I could actually fulfill a request, and this time on a performer who is not obscure, but not mainstream pop, rock, folk either. Or rather, pretty much a mainstream kind of guy in Ireland in the folk area, but a million miles from being a household name elsewhere in the world. He was the singer with the band Planxty, and part of the traditional folk revival of the 60s and 70s. Unfortunately, I was so stunned by the request that it took me a while to find a song I should do, and I missed the most obvious one. I started by trying to do his own beautiful “January Man,” but I forgot the lyrics, which I have barely ever memorized. I then realized that although he did not write the “Raggle Taggle Gypsies,” he certainly sang it with Planxty, and so I did that one, which I have done for years. It was only after I left the pub that I recalled that I should have done “Only Our Rivers Run Free,” which Moore did, although it was written by Mickey McConnell, and I also do it occasionally.
At the Galway we were also treated to a performance by Tory Roucaud, who was on a Christmas visit to Paris from her new home of Switzerland, where there are not enough open mics for her in Zurich….
At the Tennessee I was immediately treated to two songs by James Iansiti, the MC, who when I arrived was playing one of his own songs – This Next Song – with his bass player. Then he joined another guitar player singing a song by the Police.
There were a lot of interesting bits going on at the Tennessee but the one that probably took my attention more than any was the combination of two people I met separately but who have written some songs together and travelled together and developed into an interesting and cool duo…. This was Zoe Kelly from Australia and Jamie Turner from England. They travelled in Ireland and wrote a song about being stopped on the highway by the police – and they wrote another song together as well. It was nice stuff, and very cool to see how open mic relationships can develop into something. Unfortunately, Zoe is about to return to Australia after many months in Europe….
One of the things I like about Stephen Danger Prescott’s MCing at the Galway Pub open mic in Paris is that this young punk not only sings down and dirty dark punky mean songs with a deadly look in his eye, but he also does some classic Celtic trad songs. And he does them with real belief, not just a show for the Irish pub atmosphere. Last night, for instance, he did “The Wild Rover,” a classic. Of course, even the punky Pogues did that one, so I suppose there is a link between the down and dirty punk and the classic Irish thing….
Unfortunately, for the second week in a row I walked out of my home with my guitar, but without my Zoom Q3 HD recording device. So all I had to capture the video was the iPhone 4, and it may do a decent image, but the sound does not compare to the Zoom. So I have only a small amount to show of that song mentioned above. There were other acts, and I played around six or seven songs, but all I managed to get down was the “Wild Rover”…. Oh, yes, I must add, it is important to get to the Galway as often as possible in the coming weeks, as I heard a rumor that Stephen will be leaving the country to live elsewhere very soon….
I’m sitting at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris and I board my flight for Sao Paulo in 15 minutes. I noticed that clients can now have 15 minutes of free Wi-Fi access through the Paris airport, so I thought that would be just enough time to put up the blog item I could not get up last night. It also reminded me of Andy Warhol’s statement about 15 minutes of fame, and I realized that with the Internet today EVERYBODY is famous – you just have to search a little harder for them. This means, of course, that the airport is offering me 15 minutes of fame before my flight.
Rather than waste that time mouthing off about all the details of my open mic visits on Monday night, I will just mention that I went to the Tennessee Bar and the Galway, and I got to play at each place. I was delighted at the Tennessee when James Iansiti asked if I would mind being joined by a flute player. Of course not, I would love it!
So I played two of my songs and two others, and it was very interesting, although I think my favorites were my own “Memories” and “Mad World.” “Jealous Guy” did not work at all.
There were other interesting bands and singers too, and at the Galway I played twice, so that was nice.
Now, my plane boards soon and I want to get on quickly to put the guitar in the overhead luggage with no fuss.
I’ve been back from Abu Dhabi for more than two days now, although only two full nights. And I have to admit that for once, after such a trip, I’m whacked out of it. I did find the strength to go to two open mics, one on Monday night and one last night. But for once, I don’t quite have the strength to write detailed reports. So I’ll just put down a few main points, and a few videos, to tell the story.
First, it was a pleasure to be bag in Paris and go to the Galway on Monday night, and especially and above all, the Ptit Bonheur la Chance last night. That was the first time I had been there for many weeks, due to all the travel and the illness after India. So I was amazed to see that there had been a massive renewal of people at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance in just a few weeks. It was as crowded and full of musicians as it ever has been – Yaco is keeping the ball rolling – but the majority were new people I had not seen before. There were some wonderful regular faces, though, including a visit by the extraordinary group, Natas Loves You, and I had to record their King Crimson again.
But the most fun thing for me was doing something I had never done before quite like this, which was to accompany my friend Marianne Bp who did her piece “Bombe Lacrymoj’aime“. She’s Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg all in one, since she sings/recites and writes…. I had a real, real fun time doing that one, and hope to do more with her.
I was dissatisfied with my Gibson at the Galway, and felt pretty much bummed out of the whole performance, but I suspect it had to do with the difficulty recovering from the night flight from Abu Dhabi. Just one more trip till the end of the year, Sao Paulo next week. Looking forward to it, and to the post-trip period of life in Paris for a couple of months, grounded in one sport.
When I awoke at 3 P.M. Sunday in Singapore I knew I was going to have a long haul of a day and night on my last night in Singapore; the travel back to Paris; the open mic at the Galway. But I had no idea just how rich and full it would be, and that it would range from what amounted to a personal gig at the Crazy Elephant in Singapore, to a jam with Formula One team personnel at an all-night restaurant in Singapore, to a great open mic at the Galway with a family feel to it. All without any sleep to speak of….
I had only one musical venue still to do in Singapore and I had decided I would forego it and go directly to Actors’ bar to jam some more with my friends there. But walking along Clarke Quay I passed in front of the Crazy Elephant bar where the jam takes place every Sunday night. Last year I had played one song there, but it was primarily a blues jam, so I did not really fit in. Passing by I noticed there was no music, but lights still lit up the stage and instruments. So I went in an asked if the jam was still going. John Chee, the organizer of the jam, who also plays in the house band, asked me if I wanted to go up alone with my guitar and play some songs. I just leapt at that opportunity. And through his encouragement and audience encouragement, the 2 to 4 songs initially envisioned turned into a full set probably close to 1 hour long and with maybe 10 songs.
I was in heaven. I mean, here it was in Singapore, 1 AM, got all my day’s work done, had myself a gig! Nice audience reaction, and this wonderful bar with an open front out onto the quay, a good sound system. What more could I ask?
Well, outside on the quay I met several musicians from the house band and others who jam in the jam, and I interviewed them for my open mic and jam film. I also filmed another guy who asked if he could use my guitar to sing after me, which I let him do, and he had a great voice. I think his name was Rama….
I went on from there afterwards to the Actors jamming bar, but arriving at 2:30 AM, I found it closed and none of my friends around. So I went around the corner to have a dinner at a nearly all night restaurant where I had eaten on the previous night. There I met personnel from a couple of Formula One teams, and we ended up eating the meal together. I was asked to play a song for them, and that would eventually turn into a jam amongst us all. I played the guitar, we all sang, they used chopsticks to beat the rhythm on the table. And soon I noticed at the next table were a couple of the guys I interviewed at Crazy Elephant. It was particularly funny that they were the drummers, and here we had this whole bunch of Formula One personnel playing drums on the table with chopsticks.
We all went over to the Chijmes bar after that and then at 5:30 AM I returned to my hotel, showered, packed and took the MRT to the airport and caught my flight to Dubai, then Paris, where I took the RER to the Galway Pub and arrived there at 10 PM just as the open mic began. There I met my friend Calvin, and of course Stephen ‘Danger’ Prescott, who MCs the open mic. He introduced me to his dad, Ged, and his sister, Hannah, who would go up and sing with him. They are in Paris from Australia, for a holiday. The evening turned out to be a reunion amongst many other Paris open mic musicians, including Ollie Furey, who has left the MCing job at the open mic of the Ptit Bonheur la Chance for a life in music and acting in Berlin. But he just returned for a bit, and sang this Van Morrison song I love and did a great song.
I did five or six songs, and could not believe that I could hold a tune after nearly 40 hours without sleep at that point. But it was all worth it…. I let out my breath and returned home and slept soundly for 8 hours….
A few days ago I wrote about the absolutely mad time at the Highlander Pub open mic, with a massive crowd like I have never seen before, loudness, etc. Last night, it was the turn of the Tennessee Bar to have its open mic soooooooooo full of people there to listen and play that it was impossible for many to do both or either of those things. Once you were in you could not get out, and if you came a slight bit late, you could not get in. It was actually extraordinary; I loved it. But not for all the time.
I managed to play last of the night, and I also managed to slip in a Galway Pub open mic before that. The best news, though, was having Greta accompany me on my song Memories, on her cello. I had been wanting to do that for more than two years, after someone I respect had suggested cello on the song.
I now have no time to write any more just as I had no time to make many videos last night as I could not see the performers much, locked out by the crowd as I was.
Sorry for the horibble prose, but I have to run to catch an airplane to Singapore, and I wanted to get a few words and videos up anyway before I left….
Summertime is definitely over in Paris, as the Tennessee Bar open mic seemed to have as many people attending last night as through the entire month of August. I enjoyed a brief visit to the Galway as well. But there were so many musicians at the Tennessee that despite arriving fairly early, I decided I probably would not get a spot until too late for the Galway. So I left the Tennessee, went to the Galway, played several songs there, and then returned to the Tennessee, where kindly, James Iansiti allowed me to go up and do one song, since I had been there earlier and would have gone up by then. But I was lucky. I chose “Runaway Train,” which was basically the only song I really wanted to do anyway.
I wanted to do that with the nice crisp sound of the system there, and a little reverb, and it worked out well. But what was more interesting were the other musicians I saw there, especially a young new duo that live within around 20 minutes walk from where I live, and who have excellent musicianship, stage presence and a sense of performance and humor. They call themselves “Peanut,” and I’m probably going to put up three of the videos I did of them, so cool were they.
There was some cool duo consisting of a piano player with an interesting voice and a lead guitarist, were also rather cool. And then there were the three young women with sunglasses and classic songs from the Beatles and elsewhere.
Altogether a good evening, as I prepare to go to the musical wasteland of Milan later in the week. (Sorry, lots of opera in Milan, just can’t find the open mics and jams – so if anyone has any idea, let me know please….)
It was a little world weary that I was last night as I returned to the open mics in Paris in the middle of the summer, not having played in an open mic since, could it be, more than a week, and Budapest? The trip to Brussels set that up, and a return to Paris on a quiet period for open mics. So I felt off center going to the Tennessee Bar and the Galway, my regular Monday haunts. But it was with a great sense of suprise and pleasantness that I entered the Tennessee Bar to find Jesse Kincaid on stage doing his number. Jesse, readers will remember, was in Paris a few weeks ago and delighted audiences with his compositions, and songs from the New Rising Sons. He had so much fun here, it seems, that he returned early from a stay elsewhere in Europe.
There were some unusual things happening on stage at the Tennessee, with the gold medal being taken by a French white guy dressed in conservative bureaucrat clothes and haircut, who brought his own canned music and did a few rap numbers. He had been there before, it seems, and it was with great acclaim that the audience requested he do his rap in Japanese. You can see just why when you look at the video. Didn’t catch his name. But if a video of him doing this – mine or someone else’s – does not go viral, I do not know what will!
I played four songs, starting out with four of my own songs, and making a mess of “Lara, Lara,” which I had not sung in a while and for which I suddenly forgot the chords. But I managed to get through it, and two others and then I decided to lift the joy level a little by doing “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.” But I forgot the words on that one and then suddenly felt really foolish and pointless playing such a cliche Dylan song in an open mic, so I stopped in the middle of the song and left the stage – in good humor. It was, after all, an open mic. I try my hardest, give my all, but the open mic allows for caprices too.
The Galway was ticking along well as well, and I tried a few more songs I don’t usually do, like Marc Bolan’s “Catblack the Wizard’s Hat,” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” by Hank Williams. But then I felt the urge to do my usual “Borderline,” and it seems it went down the best. I also did “Only Our Rivers,” the Irish sort of protest song.
Jesse came along there too and regaled us with a fabulous rendition of Autumn Leaves on my guitar, which made me feel even more massively deficient – but it was great to hear how good my guitar can sound.
After a couple of slow weeks for me at my two favorite Monday night haunts in Paris, the Tennessee Bar and Galway Pub open mics fired up my imagination and fed my own musical needs quite well last night. It was uncharacteristically quiet for a while at the Tennessee because of the summer holidays, but it was as busy as usual at the Galway. The Tennessee open mic became very interesting with the music of Kensuke Shoji, a violin player from Tokyo who plays some mean bluegrass as well as other interesting stuff. In fact, the high point there was certainly when Jesse Kincaid of the New Rising Sons invited Kensuke up on the stage to play with him while he did some of his songs.
Prior to that Jesse made my own night there and later at the Galway as well, when he played harmonica and lead guitar with me on some of my songs. But we were all blown away by Tony, the 88-year-old vaudeville-like performer from England who occasionally shows up at the Paris open mics. He did his usual guitar bits, his pianos stuff and his harmonica number. Tony is a consummate showman, old time. But he never fails to get people laughing and enjoying his abilities and dreaming about if we will ourselves be so bold and active as to do the same at his age – if we even make it that far.
