Piccadilly Circus

Several issues conspired to make tonight less than ideal for a folk session at The Bridge. The pub was very busy, apparently a wake, the window was missing from the door of the function room and the main ladies' toilet was out of action causing our room to be a bit like Piccadilly Circus with "ladies" rushing backwards and forwards through it to use the alternative facilities.

A couple of people had left by the time I arrived - and I wasn't that late. The rest of us spent the time quaffing our drinks, engaged in pleasant conversation, and waiting in case anyone else turned up. Maggie seemed quite upset that the folk club couldn't go on as usual; I assured her that it wasn't her fault and it wasn't the end of the world.

Topical songs

Bob Dylan

Three unofficial, topical themes emerged through the evening this week.

In memory of Drummer Lee Rigby, who was killed in Woolwich this week, Pat sang The trooper cut down in his prime. There seemed to me to be echoes, intentional or otherwise, of the same theme in Dave's "Mother get up and bar the door".

Derek picked as his theme the recent reports that the strain of potato blight that caused the Irish famine has been identified. He went on to sing The praties they grow small and later "Eileen O'Connor" (also called "The Irish Exile").

Tom - Profile

This article is one of a series on regulars at the club.

Tom has been coming along to the Dragon Folk Club since about 1981. In those days it was held at the Lamb in Iron Acton and the pub shut by 11pm. Tom would rush back into Bristol to the Stone House which stayed open until 1am, with every artist imaginable dropping in on their way home from gigs - it was like a folk collage. Tom was able to learn from the best, including Fred Wedlock to Loudon Wainwright III.

More brief than recently

Al Stewart

Apparently my reports have been too long recently. No, not a complaint from the Dragon Folk club, but at home. You see, I try to complete the report after getting home from a session and a long report can mean very late to bed, especially after checking up all those song references. So, this will be shorter than recent reports and I may carry on that way. It just means I'll only mention songs which had stories attached on the night and I'll risk not mentioning everyone who was there. Sorry in advance.

Mike kicked off the evening with Sam's Gone Away. Derek sang The Four Marys. Apparently there are other titles to this song but Derek explained why he always uses this one. He was at a folk club and talking to a lady who said she was not feeling too good. It was because she had drunk four bloody marys the night before, so Derek began to sing "There were four bloody marys...".

Letter from BUST

As reported on this blog, we had a charity concert in aid of BUST on 12 April 2013. Maggie has received the following letter of thanks for our donation.

Dear Maggie, We would like to thank you very much for the cheque for an amazing £150.80 raised at your club from the raffle and your members' generous donations! We are thrilled and grateful that you would like to make this an annual event. Even though you say that you are a small club, you are obviously inspiring people to help raise funds for BUST. Everything counts to help us support Southmead to be a centre of excellence for diagnostic techniques in breast care. Thank you once again Maggie, from the Breast Care Team and the committee members of BUST. Warmest regards Sheonagh Scott Treasurer BUST

Richard in charge

John Jacob Niles

Mike and Maggie were absent from this week's session as planned, so Richard was in charge. Officially there was no theme but "A song what (sic) Mike sings" seemed like a good idea, and about half of us took part.

Richard kicked off with The Holmfirth Anthem. Derek and Simon both followed on with more songs from Mike's repertoire.

I woke up on a May morning...

The Bristol Shantymen
including our own Mike and occasional visitor, John

I don't think there was an official theme this week, but quite a few people had at least one offering relating to May. Mike opened the evening with Hal an Tow.

Hal-an-tow

Jolly-rum-ba-low

We were up

long before the day-o

To welcome in the summer

To welcome in the May-O

Summer is a coming in

and winter's gone away