Friday September 21st.
“I’m sorry”, says the guy at the garage, “but it isn’t a spare part anymore, we can only replace the entire cylinder head, which is more than the car is probably worth”.
It’s going to be a busy time in Bognor this weekend. It’s the SouthDowns Music Festival, and the news that the car I drag all my various clobber around in is potentially beyond life support probably couldn’t have come at a worse time. Still, as the Freddie Mercury sang, the show must go on.
It’s 3pm at the Performance Marquee, outside what’s left of the Regis Centre. My ukulele group, ‘Coustics’, is on from 3.20 for 40 minutes and I scout around the tent, having a quiet count up of the number of performers I’ve got in my group. Three are sitting outside. When most ukulele groups are about thirty strong, four of us is going to be a bit of a change of speed. I look closer.
Fortunately, many of my lot play in other groups too, so more than half a dozen are already on the stage with the preceding group. More loiter in the audience. I don’t mind being potentially the smallest group, it enables us to do some more technically challenging songs with which larger groups might struggle. Ukulele groups have historically been much of a muchness in terms of dynamic. It’s getting better. Groups now incorporate more and more percussion, basses and the like. I’ve heard some argue that that’s actually pushing further and further away from what the ukulele band concept should be, and I understand that but I think it’s all good really. It’s about community, joining in and having fun.
Anyway it’s our turn now. To their credit, the organisers have laid down some rules this year about actually allowing people time to get on and off of the stage before getting stampeded by an oncoming group. I know it’s exciting, people, but it’s a common courtesy to all the other players that most people seem oblivious to.
We clamber onto the stage, and begin to arrange the forest of microphones to suit our needs. There's not jostling exactly, but everybody likes their own place on the stage, whether it be up the front, off to one side or hiding at the back. Once everybody's settled we crack on.
Our setlist is thus:
Don’t Bring Me Down (ELO)
Pictures Of Matchstick Men (Status Quo)
Bring It On Down To My House (Trad)
You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
Whistle For The Choir (Fratellis)
Come Up And See Me (Steve Harley)
Heart Of Gold (Neil Young)
Tickle My Heart (Joe Brown)
Losing My Religion (REM)
Route 66 (Chuck Berry)
Crocodile Rock (Elton John)
I’m not going to lie to you, it was hot up there. It doesn’t tend to worry me too much but looking around me I could see some people flagging. Forty minutes is a pretty good length for these things anyway, it gives you the opportunity to demonstrate what your group can do without having to be overly repetitive.
And just like that, it’s over. Thank the organisers, plug the ukulele workshops I’ll be running over the weekend, take the gentle mickey out of the MC and it’s off for fish and chips. I think everybody in our group did really well this year. That makes it sound like sometimes we don't, but the fact of the matter is that if you take these events in the spirit in which they're intended, even the most obvious of fluff ups simply don't matter.
This weekend the festival will have me running two ukulele workshops, one on alternative chords, and one on strumming. I’ll also be playing a set at The William Hardwicke on Saturday night with The Alabama Stills, and a gig on Sunday night with REMbrandt at the RAFA Club. I know these things have happened now. Point is I’m going to break up my remaining festival weekend into two more blogs, the gigs and the workshops, so you can choose which ones you want to read about.
Now where are those fish and chips???
Want to join Coustics??? We'd love to have you along! We meet on the fourth Thursday of the month from 8pm - 10pm at The Friary Arms in Bognor. At the time of writing, that's this Thursday September 25th. We take a voluntary donation on the night, and we charge to photocopy books or provide pdfs, but anybody is more than welcome to come along and share a book for a few months to give a go.
Email me if you've got questions : jonwh33ler@gmail.com
or visit our facebook page, www.facebook.com/coustics
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