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FaBclub review 26th April 2009 written by Liz Montgomery And its Kath's birthday…. Yay.. so we are all set for a super special FaBclub buffet…with lots of party poppers and balloons and banners… The room is full - and the atmosphere is very riotous - must be the summer blue skies and bustling beer garden outside as well as the party. Margaret is in command - and swings straight into the party mood with "Somewhere over the rainbow". Accompanied by Clive on his mini drum kit from time to time. She's in an experimental mood today as she performs "Pay me my money down" for the first time too… And into some traditional concertina tunes from Bernard. Jolly and bright and the "Worcester Hornpipe" and a tune to celebrate the London Marathon to follow "When my blue moon turns to gold again" is the opening number for the inimitable Rockin' Bob and he gets the FaBclub choir singing along to "Pretty Baby". Lovely to see Helen - she performs "The Nature Reserve", which she wrote herself. A pretty tune and evocative lyrics. Especially for Kath, "Fields of Gold" is her second number. Bill has a song about mutiny and piracy and stuff .. this song is on Roy Mette's Pirates CD and one of the best tracks. Great version Bill. More party requests with Essex Boy.. always makes us all laugh and sing OomPaPa Some skiffle from Norman with a Lonnie Donegan number "Jimmy Brown"… rearranged for the ukulele. And some rock'n'roll "A Whole lotta Shakin Goin On"/"Nothing but a Hounddog" - needed some jiving really. JoJo has a lovely poem for us "See your face" which she wrote 20 years ago, but has never performed before. Lovely and really quite sad. Len is really giving us some lovely guitar work nowadays but is also into some sad love songs - and starts off with "Hang on to a Dream" and follows this with "Learning the Game". Time for the buffet all… Liz is up next with a bit of poetry… "A Subalterns Love Song" by Sir John Betjeman. And then the self penned "Shoes" as Kath likes this. "Miss Sackville's Fancy" is our birthday present back from Kath accompanied by Joe - a hornpipe…almost baroque as Kath says. Joe performs a love song he wrote for Kath a little while ago - "River of our dreams" - a beautiful liquid rippling tune that suits the words so well. And Mick Brown with us today too, who has borrowed Len's guitar. He kicks off with a Buffy St Marie song…"Universal Soldier" then a great version of "The Queen of Chesapeake Bay". YES we have Debbi Ann reciting a Joyce Grenfell sketch "Going home time"…. Super - the various nursery school characters created by Joyce Grenfell are fully reanimated and Mrs Binton, Sidney, Dolores, David, Peggy and Neville and others come flooding back to us in 3D. "Ethel" is a great rhyme about an early female football hooligan and how we change between normal life and the terraces… Claudine is back with us today, and starts off with "Texan Lee", about a veteran friend who ended up on crystal meth as a result of his war experiences - but is now fully rehabilitated. Claudine is in fine voice with "Fly with Me" . While the cake candles are being lit, Clive gives us a quick joke…involving an unlikely game of golf… Yummy cake and the excellent FaBclub raffle are enjoyed by us all… And our last half hour with second helpings from Bernard, Margaret, Rockin Bob, Helen, Bill, Norman, Len, Joe, a first from John Stafford (a rousing version of Swing Low Sweet Chariot), Debbi Ann, and to finish off the afternoon, Claudine… So how do you convey the general anarchy, the cacophony of various percussion instruments (some in time), John S on harmonica, the accompaniment of the FaBclub choir? .. yes it was a lovely crazy happy afternoon.. Happy Birthday Kath. |