Fannying About On A Yacht…..
This is me performing a version of Rio by Duran Duran from the recent Songwriters Cafe event at Birmingham’s Orange Studio. The event was a reunion show for a much-missed former fixture of the Birmingham music landscape….
In 1997, when Buick 6 was but a mere twinkle in my eye, I was a regular performer at Paul Murphy’s “Songwriter’s Cafe” - a bi-weekly Sunday afternoon music event held in Birmingham city centre bar that saw performances from local artists and singers as well as visits from some more well known folks such as PP Arnold, Simon Fowler (Ocean Colour Scene) and Alan Tyler (The Rockingbirds, Come On Down & Meet The Folks).
The often chaotic nature of the events were trundled along nicely by Paul’s back-of-a-fag-packet approach to any sort of performer running order and in particular the (at the time) relatively novel concept of being able to get roaring shitfaced in the pub all afternoon on a Sunday. The Songwriters Cafe that took place on Easter Sunday 1998, following just days after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, was a particularly happy and rawkus affair. Happy days indeed.
It was a damn shame when SWC closed down at some point in 2000, although I’m glad to say that Paul and I have remained in touch - he played at our album launch party last year, in fact. When he called some months back asking me to play a set at his reunion show I jumped at the chance. As with the old shows on Bennetts Hill, I had a 15 minute slot and got to play some songs to a lovely, appreciative audience and the slightly daft version of Rio seemed entirely in keeping with the SWC spirit.
It was just like old times.
x
Read more about the recent Songwriters Cafe event here in the Spaghetti Gazetti Review.
