Galway Pub | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

From an Australian MC at the Galway Irish Pub in Paris to an Australian MC at the Bridie O’Reilly’s Irish Pub in Melbourne

March 24, 2011
bradspurgeon

Monday night I should have stayed home and packed for my flight the next day to Melbourne, Australia. But that would have meant missing two open mics in Paris. So I said to hell with it, and I went to the Galway and listened to Stephen Prescott, the Australian MC from Melbourne play his tunes. Then I played mine, did a duet of “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” with Tommy Player, and listened to one or two other people.

Then I did go somewhere. I went home, failed to sleep, got up at 4 AM, packed, slept two hours, got on the Singapore Airlines A380 and slept most of the way to Singapore before changing planes and flying to Melbourne. That was a couple of days’ worth of travel. Arrive in Melbourne wiped out nevertheless, but HAD to check out the local bars in South Yarra, the area where I’m staying and where they said there was a great nightlife.

I did not find exactly a great nightlife, but my ear was suddenly accosted by the sound of a musician playing live music in an Irish pub on Chapel Street. It was one of those typical massive Texas whorehouse-like so-called Irish pubs that you find all over the world. I went in and found Stephen Prescott’s counterpart playing some pop songs, including the usual stuff, Oasis, The Beatles, etc. This guy, like Stephen a few months ago, and like James Iansiti the American MC of the other Monday night open mic in Paris, at the Tennessee Bar, had a Mohawk haircut.

This guy, I would learn was named Matt Bradshaw. And he had a very good voice, some nice emotion came through, and he could play very competent guitar. The guitar, an Australian one, sounded fabulous.

I learned that Matt plays several bars around the city throughout the week, and he has played at the Bridie O’Reilly’s for around three years every Wednesday.

But here was the thing that REALLY made the world feel small and all of a piece. Readers of this blog will remember that I frequently sing Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” They will perhaps know that I sing the Chapin version, as opposed to the cover version done in the 1990s by Ugly Kid Joe. Readers of the blog may also recall the duet I did a couple of weeks ago on the same song when Felix Beguin began singing it at my Sunday Brunch at the Mecano bar. Felix knew of the song through the 90s version, but he has begun doing it in a version a little between that one and mine.

Well, last night Matt had a request from the audience that he do that song about Cat’s Cradles and silver spoons… and I knew what was coming. He did a version very squarely in line with the Ugly Kid Joe version, though.

Sometimes the world just feels soooooo smallll….. Hit the right chord and you connect everywhere….

Video Show of Little New Things from Brunch and Tennessee and Galway

February 15, 2011
bradspurgeon

Just getting ready to go off to the Ptit Bonheur la Chance and Ollie’s open mic, I realize I have posted nothing for the last couple of days. But as I await the news to see if my scheduled visit to Bahrain will happen in three weeks for the first of my world travels this year, I thought I should just put up the bits of new stuff I noticed at my brunch on Sunday at the Mecano, the evening at the Tennessee Bar open mic last night and at the Galway Pub open mic.

Trying not to go over too much familiar ground here, I want to simply say that the brunch was another resounding success, with more musicians than ever, and a wonderful atmosphere and a great brunch. I will not put up all the musicians, but just the little twists of difference. Pierre Doucet showed up for the first time, with his violin, and I was delighted to be able to play with him, for several songs. Pierre often plays with Stephen Prescott at the Galway, and yesterday was our first time playing together. I started with “Crazy Love,” and it is the only one we got down on a single video. I would have preferred to get the “Mad World,” which went much better, and which we again played to resounding success last night at the Galway. But I’m putting up the “Crazy Love” for the hell of it, even though it is not my best rendition of the song – but the violin gives a bit of a different dimension.

The other videos below all have some new aspect to them – like the different kind of singer at the Tennessee, Tory Roucaud singing her own French song, or Stephen Prescott singing about where the wild roses grow, which I had not heard him sing before, and which I was too far gone over to do a proper recording of…. (no prepositions at the end of sentences, please….) Ayse Ayhan singing in her native Turkish, Martin Rahin finally visiting the brunch and singing his own French songs and a great cover about being 20 years old….

Great Use for Crap Guitar and other NEW things

February 8, 2011
bradspurgeon

martin travel guitar

At the Tennessee bar and the Galway last night I spotted some new things to write about: First was the great use of one of the worst guitars that exists in the world. When I started travelling around the world two years ago playing music I decided to check out all the travel guitars, and I quickly concluded and discovered that it didn’t matter what size the guitar was, the airplane would let you on board or not. So I stuck with my regular guitar, my Seagull S6. But one of the guitars I had tried was a piece of shit, and I could never understand how anyone could buy one for the crap sound it gives off…until last night I saw someone at the Tennessee doing a fabulous thing with it: Slide guitar. Check out the video. And the most mystifying thing about this piece of crap is that it is a Martin!

Then after that came Rony Boy playing this jazz standard on his Godin electric – same company as the Seagull – and he did a mighty fine job of a song that I know well for having been played by Lenny Breau on an amazing recording as a young man, at 20 with Levon Helm on drums and Rick Danko on acoustic bass – both of whom would later make up The Band and play with Bob Dylan.

After that, over to the Galway where for the second time that night Ollie Fury played his wonderful new song, and both he and Stephen Danger Prescott for a change played Dylan, and did it in their own ways, as you can also see from the video. All in all, a satisfactory “new” night.

By the way, Rony Boy will be playing on the same bill with me in his band The Romantic Black Shirts, at the Disquaires on 27 February in Paris when I perform with my little band of gypsies for the first time, and Calvin McEnron will also play a set.

Holy Shit! Three Amazing Discoveries in One Night!

February 1, 2011
bradspurgeon

I am rushing out the door to get to another open mic tonight, and it has taken me hours to upload my new videos from last night since the new Q3HD is heavier in data weight. But last night was an exceptional evening at the Tennessee Bar and the Galway Pub. But all three of the exceptional performers played at the Tennessee, then two moved on to the Galway.

I have to write a minimum here, but I have to write something:

This is so rare in an open mic night to find three completely different but exceptional acts, that I have to get it down here, and the videos too. So in order of their appearance, but not their style or level, was Garrick Davis from Redwood, California. On a visit to Paris, this guy Garrick Davis just milked the audience with his hard hitting guitar and great vocals.

Second was Paula Y Francisco and her band from South America. Paula is from Chile, the others, one was from Colombia and the other I forget! But this took me right back to Sao Paulo with the bossa nova beat on the first one, and then the Lullabye of Birdland took me I don’t know where.

But how am I expected to survive the third one? Janet Labelle was just out of this world with her music. And she is also literary, with an interest in writing stories for children, and in Henry Miller and the Paris of the 20s and 30s and in Anais Nin. Not to mention Shakespeare studies…. Janet lives in New York City – originally from New Jersey – and plays and writes this original music that sounds like a cross between pop, country, folk, rock and I don’t know what all else. She has a thunderingly beautiful singing voice and shines most while playing piano and singing. Her album, Moon Songs, is a gem. And it is deceptive; you think at moments that it sounds familiar, then you say, “No, this is new and different.”

Coupla Discoveries – Mia Johnson – and Reunions – Black Butterfly – at Paris Open Mics

October 12, 2010
bradspurgeon

I absolutely hate to admit writing yet again about the Paris open mics of the Tennesse Bar and the Galway Pub, my usual Monday night haunts when not in an airplane or another country. But last night, yet again, the two venues did not let me down, especially at the Tennessee bar where I met up with a group I know and love, and with a singer from a group I do not know, but who knows someone I know…. Let me just try to untangle that:

Got to the Tennessee early and waited hours to get up. Got to play FIVE songs! Loved it.

But the real fun would come later. First, a group from Philadelphia, led by the Philadelphia singer songwriter Mia Johnson. I enjoyed their stuff, with Mia singing and playing guitar, a guy on piano and another woman on guitar. They played cover songs, but then Mia came back later to do her own songs, and they were very strong. It was an interesting mixture of country and folk, and when I spoke to Mia afterwards I was not at all surprised to hear that she also played in a Johnny Cash cover band and that she sang the parts and played the role of June Carter.

But as soon as I heard her music and that she was from Philadelphia, I immediately said to myself, “She MUST know EJ, Pierce and Maggie,” or whatever order those names are supposed to be in. I met the brothers from Philadelphia last year in Oxford when I played several open mics, and found them at both the Half Moon pub and at Bookbinder’s Pub. This year again I met up with one of the brothers at Bookbinders.

So I went to speak to Mia and told her I had met some musicians from Philadelphia, EJ… and she finished the phrase. She has known them since 1995, she said.

No surprise, small world, cool meeting.

I did my five songs later and then went over to the Galway and did another four songs, listened to Bernard steal one I planned to do, “A Change is Gonna Come,” and then I went back to the Tennessee. There I found one of my favorite young groups in Paris, Black Butterfly. I had not heard them for several months in an open mic, and they told me they were mostly in the studio working on some recordings. Can’t wait till they come out. Also, Kareem played some very cool stuff on the guitar as usual…..

Reign Morton Reins ’em in and Tears ’em up at the Tennessee Bar in Paris (as does Karim)

September 21, 2010
bradspurgeon

Okay, real fast now, because I HAVE to get this down. (But I had a very busy day playing, lunching and preparing for Singapore.) Normally when I write about the Monday evenings at the Tennessee Bar and the Galway Pub, I start of with some little thing about the Tennessee and then go into some long thing about the Galway. This time is different. I stopped off at the Tennessee, found too many people there and did not play, went on to the Galway, found few people there and played soon after my arrival; did three songs, and then decided to show a friend the Tennessee Bar.

So we returned to the Tennessee and there, that’s where all the action was last night, and it was a night I won’t forget soon. I got to play immediately upon arrival – as it was close to midnight – and I did three songs: “Just Like a Woman,” my own “Since You Left Me,” and Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” I sounded out the audience first to make sure there were not that many people who had already heard me sing the songs. The Galway had worked as a warm-up stage for me, so I was in full swing at the Tennessee. And good thing for that. When I got off the stage I was warmly greeted and applauded by an American who, it turned out, would go up right after me. And thank goodness for that.

For when I saw and heard this guy go up, I said, “What is this? Joe Williams has come to Paris? Or maybe little Muddy Waters or something? Or is it Stevie Wonder?” In any case, it was clear that the man I would learn was named Reign Morton, has a great talent, and he feasted us on it last night. It was only tonight that I learned that he is an actor, singer and a man on a world tour mission of some kind, and that I suddenly remembered probably passing Reign Morton in the street once in the Latin Quarter playing to enraptured audiences.

We exchanged names and emails, and that’s how I managed to look up this Reign Morton actor from General Hospital and musician sans paire…. (is that French? don’t think so, but as I said, I’m on the run to go out and play again somewhere tonight).

Anyway, the jam with Reign and a very cool guitar player named Karim was also superb. And it was Karim who closed off the night with a performance of the Satriani kind that you find occasionally on the Internet, one of those absolute technical wonders who just marches up and down the guitar neck like a three star chef chopping onions and bringing tears to our eyes.

Afterwards I said to Karim, “You play in a group?”

“No.”

“Oh. What’s your name,”

“Karim.”

“Where do you play?”

“In my room.”

Okay, if you’re reading this and you’re a guitar player, just like go quit guitar after you’ve watched the video below of Karim dancing up and down the guitar neck.

In fact, I had a video made of me playing “Jealous Guy” at the Galway, but I’ve decided not to put it….

Three ways to whip an open mic audience into a fever of excitement

September 14, 2010
bradspurgeon

There are three ways to send an open mic audience into a fever of excitement. The best way to illustrate these methods are to be seen and heard in the three videos below, which were made last night at the Galway Pub in Paris, by the Seine River.

1) The first method is that exemplified by Les DeShane: Make sure the audience has drunk enough alcohol and then take an old standard pop song that the entire audience knows and sing it fabulously, milking the crowd at every moment. Check out his style in the first video below, and note the arrival of new listeners from the street, and jolly making dancers in the pub.

2) The second method is that exemplified by Stephen “Danger” Prescott: Make sure the audience has drunk enough alcohol and then take a song that no one knows but that the entire audience thinks they know and sing it with great fun and gusto without an instrument, milking the crowd at every moment as they try to sing lyrics they do not even know but think they are getting the hang of, or think they should know. Check out his style in the last video below.

3) The third method is that exemplified by Brad Spurgeon: Make sure the audience has drunk enough alcohol and then take an old standard pop song that the entire audience knows and screw it up entirely, inadvertently milking the crowd at every moment as they try to sing for you. Check out his style in the last video below.

(I have to add here that Stephen just surprises me EVERY time at the Galway. The song he sings here is written by Stan Rogers, a Canadian folk musician from the east coast who died in a burning aircraft in Cincinnati in 1983, and the song is obscure on the international scene, and even in Canada. But Stephen came out with it. I have it on one of only four or five of my remaining LPs, two of which are Stan Rogers. I actually saw Rogers perform in a bar in Ottawa a year or two before he died. A wonderful voice, this man.)

Highlander Meets Galway, Another Mid-August Night in Paris

August 12, 2010
bradspurgeon

On Monday I said thank goodness both the Tennessee Bar and the Galway Pub were holding their usual open mics despite the August holiday in Paris where the French disappear. Another of the stalwart open mics continued on Wednesday, with the Highlander Pub remaining open and entertaining with its open mic.

It was a usual evening at the Highlander, with a good mixture of crap and great stuff. One of the problems with the Highlander open mic is that it is so popular that you really have to get there at close after 8 PM to be among the first performers on the list and not have to wait until after midnight to play. I dragged my feet so badly last night at home that I ended up not getting to the Highlander until around 10 PM. I thought I was doomed in terms of when I might get a chance to play. Then, much to my amazement, Thomas Brun, the organizer, came up to me within minutes of my arrival, and he said, “I’ve had someone pulling out at the last minute, so you can go up next if you want.”

Wow! I had just bought a pint of beer and the shot of adrenaline was so strong that I said “yes” very quickly and then drank as much of the beer as I could as quickly as I could, since I knew that I had only about one more song to listen to of the performer who was singing, before I would have to go up and sing. It was so rushed that I was not mentally prepared. Needed the beer to calm the nerves. But I’d rather that than wait until nearly 1 AM to play.

The other down side, though, was that the singer was Etienne, whom I mentioned a few weeks ago played at the Galway and was fabulous. And here he was blowing them all away at The Highlander too, with high adrenaline, hard played chords and sandpapery voice striking right to the heart. What the hell could I do after that overdrive performance? I elected to go soft and cool, and sang “Jealous Guy.” Then did one of my own, then another of my own. I survived, the audience did too. All was well.

I then spent until midnight or afterwards listening to most of the other performers, so in a way I didn’t really save myself much time after all. But I enjoyed it, and there was a kind of a feeling of a theme here. For while Etienne was the first, he was far from the last of the performers that I saw at the Galway, again playing here. For example, there was the Dutch (and French) woman I have mentioned – and showed a video of – in my Galway post recently (which she asked to be removed years later). And after her, by the time I got near the end of my stay there, it turned out that even the MC of the Galway, the Australian from Melbourne, Stephen Prescott, decided he would go up and play a few songs for fun. In fact, his fun was so much fun – carousing fun – that while I was recording it on video in stealth behind a pillar near the door so neither he nor anyone else would really notice the candid camera, Stephen stopped singing for a moment and turned my way and said, “Brad, don’t put this up on your blog, I’m….”

Well, all right, I left the last word out. And I have decided not to. But I’ve got the evidence, Stephen. So next time I go to the Galway, if you don’t want the world to see it – let me on early there too, no matter what time I show up.

But seriously, I love it when I see an MC from an open mic show up to do another open mic two days later, as a performer. This is devotion, passion, fun.