Category Archives: Open Mic

Trip to Liverpool

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Well, I spent Wednesday to Friday last week in Liverpool staying with my old school friend Nev, and what a fascinating place it is. Apart from visiting the International Slavery Museum for a short time several years back it is the first time I’ve been in the city. I don’t know why really. What with the Beatles and the sea and the docks and the culture I should have been there lots of times, but I haven’t. Time to make up for it now!

First impressions were good. Nev picked me up from the station and took me back to his house where I settled in pretty quickly. We then went to the Casbah Coffee Club which according to Trip Adviser is the number one attraction in Liverpool. This may come as a surprise to many Liverpudlians who have never heard of it!

Casbah Coffee Club

Casbah Coffee Club

It was not that easy to find and it looked like it was closed but we finally managed to attract someone’s attention! Roag Best, the brother of Pete who was the original drummer of the Beatles, gave us a highly entertaining tour of the club which closed in 1962 but is remarkably well-preserved. It is where the Beatles first played and many of the paintings and decorations were done by them. A truly remarkable place.

An early picture of the Beatles at the Casbah Club. Not enough room to swing a cat!

An early picture of the Beatles at the Casbah Club. Not enough room to swing a cat!

As the Beatles got more popular a bigger stage was built with security rails!

As the Beatles got more popular a bigger stage was built with security rails!

Ceiling decorated by John Lennon. Fake Egyptian style!

Ceiling decorated by John Lennon. Fake Egyptian style!

It is amazing the amount of interest the Beatles attract worldwide. They truly were a phenomenon and fifty years later they are even more popular than they were then! It’s almost unbelievable.

Anyway, I bought a tee-shirt from the Casbah and went back to Nev’s where Francine cooked a fantastic pasta dish. Mmm, delicious. The rhubarb crumble was also pretty fantastic! Here’s a picture of the table with fruit.

Table with fruit. Very colourful!

Table with fruit. Very colourful!

That night we all went out to discover the live music scene. First stop was the open mic at Bier bar. It was busy with a mainly young crowd. Nice atmosphere and I did three songs early on that went down pretty well AND I got a free beer. Jolly good!

View out the window of Bier bar.

View out the window of Bier bar.

We then went to another bar Osqa’s Arena Bar where the Everyman Folk Club meets. This is a club that has been running for years with a mainly older crowd. The music and singing were really good and I did two songs there. Very enjoyable.

Next day we went to town on the bus and had a look round town and saw an interesting exhibition of Beatles photographs (you can’t get away from them!) and had a fantastic trip on the Mersey ferry. There are some amazing views of Liverpool from the ferry reminiscent in some ways of the New York skyline.

Liverpool from the ferry

Liverpool from the ferry

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A bit like New York from the Hudson!

That night I hit town on my own and went first to the open mic at the Lomax. I walked past Mathew Street on the way and had a look outside the Cavern but I didn’t go in. Seemed a bit commercial and by now I was suffering from Beatles overkill! The Lomax is a live music club that reminds me of the Shed in Leicester. The open mic was in a basement with live groups upstairs. There weren’t many in but I had a good time and got a free drink. The life of a star!! I then crossed town and went to Pogue Mahone. This was pretty good until it got invaded by a student pub crawl. Ended up doing loads of Irish singalongs which was fun but not what I was really looking for!

Pogue Mahone pub.

Pogue Mahone pub.

Pogue Mahone open mic

Pogue Mahone open mic

Next day I booked a guided tour with Eric Lynch of the Liverpool Slavery Trail. This was both fascinating and disturbing. He made it quite clear about the importance of the slave trade to Liverpool and how many of the landmarks referred to it. Slavery is a very emotive subject. It’s hard to be objective about something that is so abhorrent and inhumane. Eric Lynch often used the phrase “arrogance of power” in his talk. I know what he means but what came to mind with me was the phrase “banality of evil”.The merchants who were involved in the slave trade just saw things on a business level. All they were bothered about was making a profit. They approached slavery in a similar way to the Nazis exterminating Jews; in an efficient and business- like way. This is what is so terrifying about it!  It was a very good tour that I would recommend.

African children holding bags of gold representing the wealth of Africa on a bank building!

African children holding bags of gold representing the wealth of Africa on a bank building!

Streets named after slave traders

Streets named after slave traders. There are many more than this including the famous Bold Street!

Monument at the Exchange showing French prisoners of war. They built Albert Docks.

Monument at the Exchange showing French prisoners of war. They built Albert Docks one of the main slaving ports. An inscription on it says “England expects that every man will do his duty” a quote from Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar.

Lullaby of Birdland

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This is a cover version of me playing jazz classic Lullaby of Birdland by George Shearing featuring Jenny Carter on violin.

Kenny Wilson Live at the Criterion Part 1

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A Week in Florence

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Pensione Ottaviani where we were staying. Excellent and friendly small hotel in the heart of the city.

Here we are. First day on a trip to Florence staying at a delightful little hotel called Pensione Ottaviani right in the heart of the city. The beautiful church of Santa Maria Novella is just across the road and the Duomo is a short walk away. The weather is good but not too hot. Perfect weather for sightseeing. The only problem is deciding where to go first. It’s Sunday so there may be problems visiting churches unless we attend mass. No, I think maybe the best thing is to visit the Piazza del Duomo and then to the Ponte Vecchio and across the river to the Boboli gardens and the Palazzo Pitti. Yes, that’s a good idea.

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Palazzo Pitti. Grim palace that looks a bit like a prison. Home of the Medicis at one time. The Boboli Gardens behind are very nice.

The Palazzo Pitti is a pretty grim looking place that was the residence of one of the wealthy dukes that dominated Florence. It looks a bit like a prison from the outside and there are no benches or chairs to sit on in the square in front. They obviously still want the peasants to suffer! The Boboli Gardens in the rear are very pleasant and afford a very good walk if you can afford it. The reason for going inside is to view one of the best exhibitions of Renaissance art there is with works by Raphael and Titian and many others. They are hung in the way they would have been presented originally and so give a different perspective to the paintings than in a normal gallery. There are some excellent pictures in there but also quite a few that I would consider mediocre. In some ways I found it quite a depressing litany of images of the rich and powerful who don’t really deserve to be remembered. They stare blankly from the walls and you feel they are trapped forever in their own conceit. The whole experience is like a homage to a vacant and meaningless materialism. The religious pictures sit uneasily with the portraits. Why did they want pictures of the dieing Christ on their walls? The sheer scale of the opulence of the palace scream out against any kind of humility or charity. This is a truly bizarre experience and one that is quite tiring because there are so few chairs and benches inside as well. Time for a nice cappuccino I think.

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Florence, place of great cappuccinos!! Or should that be cappuccini!

OK, time to move on. The Duomo is a truly astonishing place. It’s size is immense. Apparently, it took over a hundred years and the genius of Bruneleschi to work out how to put a roof on it without it falling down. It represents an amazing ambition to create something that had never been done before. This cathedral dominates the city of Florence and is clearly visible from all the vantage points in the surrounding hills.

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View from Piazzale Michelangelo

Another view of the Cathedral and the Campanile. Astonishing buildings and so big!

Florence is a lovely city and is very self contained. The people are also very friendly even though it is packed with tourists, even in October. It is easy to walk to all the main attractions and the restaurants are also good. It’s a bit on the expensive side but I suppose that’s to be expected. Next stop is Ponte Vecchio which is truly remarkable lined mainly with jewelry shops.

Ponte Vecchio

The first big exhibition we went to was at the Palazzo Strozzi called “The Thirties. The Arts in Italy Beyond Fascism”. This was a fascinating exhibition that demonstrated the variety of artistic expression that was taking place even under the cultural,totalitarian restrictions of Fascism. There were some disturbing examples of Fascist and Nazi art alongside experimentalism and expressionistic work. Things got really bad in 1938 though when Italy enacted it’s own racial law under pressure from the Nazis. The holocaust had reached Italy! This is what the curator says about the exhibition:

“The Thirties. The Arts in Italy Beyond Fascism comprises 96 paintings, 17 sculptures and 20 objects of design and tells the story of a crucial era characterised by an extremely vigorous arts scene in the years of the Fascist regime, against a backdrop that included the embryonic development of mass communication in Italy – radio, cinema and illustrated magazines – which stole numerous ideas from the “fine” arts and transmitted them to a broader audience. This retrospective illustrates an era that profoundly changed the history of Italy. The 1930s also witnessed the increasing mass production of household objects, which led to dramatic changes in people’s lifestyle, allowing ordinary families to live out a dream of modernity surrounded by designer objects, a practice that continues to this day”.

I would recommend this exhibition if it comes your way.

Programme for the exhibition

Palazzo Strozzi

Josephine Baker.

Crude propaganda using Futurist techniques with a touch of Art Deco!

Dream Complex No.1

It’s a hard slog walking around exhibitions (but in this case worth it). Time for a nice sit down and a rest outside the Santa Maria Novella church.

Santa Maria Novella

Sue outside Santa Maria Novella

Nice caffe!!

Beautiful cloisters at Santa Maria Novella.

Mmm, Special Effects! That’s what that button does!!

The church of Santa Maria Novella is beautiful and contains many astounding frescoes. Unfortunately they don’t allow you to take photos ( a common thing in most museums and art galleries which I think is a bit mean really). The stand out feature though is the crucifix painted by Giotto. It is a sublime and beautiful piece of work.

Crucifix painted by Giotto.

We spent two days travelling round Florence on an open top bus. Fortunately, the weather remained good for most of the time although there were a few heavy showers at times. The view from Piazzale Michelangelo is breathtaking and it contains one of the many copies of David, the sculpture of which Vasali said that once you’ve seen it you’ll never need to see another sculpture. The original is in the Accademia which we visited and it really is breathtaking. The hands and feet look like they might start moving any minute! It is enormous and seems to be alive!

Michelangelo’s David

Thursday night we went to the open mic at the Irish pub “The Fiddler’s Elbow” on Piazza Santa Maria Novello. Not many people there but had a really good time. Was asked to play at a Bob Festival to be held next May. That’ll be fun!

On the last day we went to Pisa where we were flying from. Spent the afternoon having a meal with the leaning tower in the background. Very nice!

The leaning tower. Nice hat!

The cathedral at Pisa.

Related articles

Busking in Nottingham

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Haven’t blogged on this page for a while. That’s because I’ve been busy writing “My Life in Music” page and that’s taking up a lot of my time. It’s getting very long but it’s really good reflecting on my past life, what I can remember of it that is.

Am sitting in a Nottingham Wetherspoons at the moment making use of their free WiFi and enjoying a pint of Abbot Ale. Very civilised! Have just finished busking because of a downpour, which is a shame because it was going really well. Lots of people taking an interest and stopping for a chat. It’s my third busking trip and I’m really getting into it now. Went to Melton Mowbray last week with Steve Cartwright and that was really good as well. It’s easier to create an atmosphere with two people. It’s not just about making money although that helps, it’s about creating an event on the streets and meeting people I probably never would otherwise. Playing in bars is OK but there are a massive number of people who never go to them. Busking cuts out the middle man and sets the music free!

To find out how my music developed from an early stage go to “My Life in Music” page. It’s still being written and edited but there is plenty there to be getting on with.

Reflections and Recollections

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Have been back a week now and have decided to write about my feelings about visiting New York.

The reason I went was to fulfil a long ambition to visit a place that figured large in my imagination and was a place where many things happened that were an influence on me. In my mind at times it was a place I should have been. But I never went and, in fact, never visited America until now. Why was that? Well, chiefly it was financial. I simply couldn’t afford it. But I am sure I could have found a way if I had really wanted to. Money never stopped me from doing other things I wanted to do. I think the main reason was fear of disillusionment. That it would not live up to my idea of what it was. That all the things that I found attractive were not there any more or that I would not find it or fit in to it. And also fear of leaving my comfort zone and what I was familiar with. In many ways all these fears applied to me on my recent trip, it was just money that was no longer a problem!

I spoke to a friend last week who was enthusiatic, perhaps too enthusiastic, about my recent trip. He said I was living the dream. He’s the second person who has said that. He was raving about how I had done what Bob Dylan did and how I was an inspiration to him. I know this is quite a compliment but it is not really true. When Bob Dylan went to New York he was young, poor and ambitious. I was old and relatively well off and not ambitious in the same way. I wasn’t seeking fame and fortune, it was more an act of redemption! At the same time I think I probably felt some of the things that Bob felt. It is a scary thing to go to a big city where you don’t know anyone and you have no idea what is going to happen.  On the other hand, we were both driven, in our own way, to do this. I’m very glad I did. The experience has been better than my most optimistic scenario. I met lots of nice, interesting people and felt I achieved something special doing the rounds of open mics and jam sessions. In fact, I felt accepted in a way I never expected to.

Another more recent influence was reading Patti Smith’s book “Just Kids”. I thoroughly recommend this book. In it she chronicles how she went to New York in a similar spirit to Bob Dylan. She slept rough and on subway trains and eventually had great success as a poet and singer. Inspirational. I can particularly relate to her description of visiting Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris. I’ve done the same thing. You’ve got to step out of yourself to find yourself.

The New York scene is not the same as it was in the 60s or 70s. The same focus is not there. But, I think, that is the same everywhere (as far as I know). Music has become far more diverse and there is not the same audience for live music as there was. On the other hand, interest and desire to play and write music is possibly even higher than it was. New York is full of great musicians and song writers and other acts. There is a vibrant poetry and spoken word community. In fact, you can find more than one place to perform any day of the week. On top of that busking is accepted in parks and subway stations. The general standard is pretty high! There is also a strong community feel amongst performers, they are supportive and interested in each other. From my first open mic spot onwards I was invited to many events and was even offered a job in a band as a lead guitarist! I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

There are many places to play. Bars and cafes offer one hour slots through the night. There tends to be no official pay but a bucket is passed round at the end of the set. Where there’s a decent crowd people tend to be generous and it is possible to make a reasonable amount of money. People are also more inclined to buy CDs than here. I took thirty and came back with none. Should have taken more!

My favourite place was Penny’s Open Mic on St. Mark’s Place. There was an amazing variety of acts and they were all incredibly good (well, nearly all). I’d go back to New York just to go there! But there are lots of others. Path Cafe is good and that is where I made most of my contacts. It was also, conveniently, just round the corner from where I was staying. The spoken word event on 116 MacDougal Street is worth going to. I was the only musician but they liked my song so much they videoed me and put it on their web site. They were very encouraging and the poetry was brilliant. Paddy Reilly’s and National Underground were good for jam sessions and I also made lots of contacts there. By the end of my time in New York I felt like a part of the local scene which like everywhere, considering the size of the city, is really quite small.

One of the good things about New York is the public transport. For $29 you can buy an unlimited ticket that you can use on any bus or subway train. This can take you to any part of the city including Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx, and they run all night. The Staten Island ferry is free! No excuses not to go anywhere. There are many places and things I didn’t see but I had such a good time I’m sure I’ll be back.

Jewish Museum, Skyscraper Museum and Penny’s Open Mic

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Time is flying by. Can’t believe I’m going back on Monday. I feel like a New York native now. I even sound convincing when people ask me for directions.

On Tuesday I decided to go to the Skyscraper Museum only to find that’s closed on Tuesdays as well. Across the road is the Museum of Jewish Heritage so with some trepidation I decided to go there. I say trepidation because it turned out to be what I was afraid it would be, Zionist propaganda. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as appalled as anyone concerning the atrocities of the Nazi era and it is a lesson to us all about the dangers and evil of racism but the exhibition provides a very narrow and not very perceptive view of this. It inevitably leads, in their view, to the importance of the establishment of the Zionist state. It is a propaganda exercise that does a disservice to those who are aware of the momentous events that occured at that time and why we should all be vigilant about resisting the rise of fascist and nazi ideology.

Museums in Berlin that I went to dealt with the subject much better. The “Topography of Terror” exhibition shows what it was like to live in a terror state ruled by a ruthless SS and Gestapo. Without making excuses it shows how ordinary Germans were as much victims of Nazism as anyone else. Any show of resistance and they suffered the same fate as the gypsies and Jehovahs Witnesses who, incidentally, are only mentioned once in the whole exhibition. The Jewish Museum constantly refers to what the “Germans” did without acknowledging the fact that it was Nazi ideology and a ruthless, efficient state apparatus that created these atrocities. Add to that an all consuming wave of propaganda and you can see how it could happen in any country and, in fact , to a lesser exent does. Look at American propanda justifying wars of aggression and, indeed, Israeli propaganda justifying the appalling treatment of the Palestinians.

Interestingly, where it deals with prominent Jewish artists and intellectuals it includes Leonard Cohen, who makes much use of Christian imagery and symbolism, but no mention is made of Bob Dylan. I’ve got a feeling that’s because he changed his name to disguise his Jewishness, a particularly heinous crime according to the Museum. It’s a shame because there is a very important story to tell which serves as a warning to us all. This Museum is a wasted opportunity.

On a lighter note, went to Penny’s Open Mic again and had a brilliant time. Even better than last week. There were some brilliant acts and I was welcomed as an equal. Makes me feel very good and has done wonders for my self confidence. Had a good time at the Red Lion afterwards apart from the fact I got a taxi driver who knows his way round New York worse than me. Could have walked it quicker! Penny is perhaps the best open mic host I’ve ever seen. She’s funny and a good performance poet and keeps the pace up all night. Very encouraging to all the performers and there’s a really good jam in the middle where everyone gets up  and dances. Definately the place to be on a Tuesday night!

Was going to go to Ellis Island today but when I got to the pier the queues were so long I gave up. Went to the Skyscraper Museum instead which was very interesting.

Caffe Vivaldi. Great piano

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