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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2019 9:05:40 GMT
Just caught up with this thread, Loved the music at the time, remember going to see Lew Lewis and the Reformers, great harp player and I loved his "Save the Wail" and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers - Bongos Over Balham, still played on my lists. Great Times
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Post by twang1 on Feb 23, 2019 10:33:40 GMT
I lived for five years in London. As Deuce was saying in the late 80s and early 90s in London many pubs had band playing original music. There were thousands of bands trying to play originals and maybe get signed. At the time, as a foreigner, I thought that the main difference between british players and "other countries" players was that as soon as a brit knew 3 or 4 chords he would soon try to make up a song out of it. Less guitar solos and more songs! And apart from pubs there were many venues where I played and they only wanted originals: The Powerhouse, The Mean Fiddler, The Town and Country 2, and others...And there were some very good musicians busking! I used to hang out a lot at this very special place called the Station Tavern in Latimer Road (no pub rock, mainly blues), a pub with live music EVERY DAY of the year!!!!! Frank
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 23, 2019 11:01:51 GMT
Frank, In the late 80s my band were regulars on a Friday night at the Station Tavern. It was called "Bob's Goodtime Blues". They had a festival there in the summer and stage was under the railway arches. (The Station Tavern was across the road from Grenfell Tower). I was also a regular at the Mean Fiddler, in fact I probably played there more than anywhere else at the time. We played the T & C 2 a couple of times, but don't remember ever playing at the Powerhouse. Damn....were talking about a period between 27 and 31 years ago!
Shine On Michael
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Post by twang1 on Feb 23, 2019 15:28:05 GMT
Michael, I saw you playing at the Station Tavern a few times and once we were introduced to each other by (as far as I can remember) Big Joe Lewis or his harp player. But I was a shy foreigner... :-) I jammed a lot in that place, sunday afternoon jams and sometimes with Big Joe, once with Paul Jones, or this guy from Detrot who was also a regular. The majority of musicians there(apart from a few geezars) were open to playing together and just blues lovers. And years later you couldn't make it to a festival in Italy and so...I was the one playing in your place...! (Sorry for derailing the post) Frank P.S. In early 90s I was living in Hackney in a rough estate and burglars broke into my flat 7 times in 6 months. Out of my small record collection they stole 2 records: your "Diving Duck" and Danny Gatton's "Unfinished Business". The bastard(s) did have good taste!
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 23, 2019 16:18:50 GMT
Frank, WOW! ....So you were there around that time. If it was Joe's harp player it must have been Little George Sueref. I haven't seen Joe for maybe ten years, but I saw George a couple of years ago. Indeed, your burglars did have good taste. I'm impressed! The festival - was that Madame Guitar Festival in Udine? I should really dig into my scrap books and photo drawers, because I have stacks of stuff from back then. Shine On Michael
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Post by twang1 on Feb 23, 2019 16:36:00 GMT
Still have the T-Shirt!
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Post by bonzo on Feb 23, 2019 17:16:57 GMT
Great venue, didn't go as often as I should! Remember Howlin' Wilf aka James Hunter? If I remember a change of ownership put an end to it. Nowhere in west London like it now as far as I know.
Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 23, 2019 18:05:26 GMT
Bonzo, of course I remember the very talented Howlin' Wilf / James Hunter.
The Station Tavern was a great venue. It changed ownership in 2000 I think. I stopped playing there back in the early 90s because it was a free entry venue and it started to affect my relationship with venues that were not free entry and paid higher fees to artists.
Shine On Michael
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Post by creolian on Feb 23, 2019 19:24:48 GMT
I think the change is relatively recent. In the 90s I would go and see 'pub rock' (which may be a little different from MMs definition), but it was mainly original music played by competent / decent musos you'd never heard of. Nowadays, not only do the punters want more and more covers, but many pubs are playing it safe by only hiring cover bands, or worse, tribute acts. And the decline is accelerating: - you now have 'tribute festivals', and awards for best tribute acts! Not sure if it's Simon Cowell's or spotify's fault, but someone's gonna get it one day... TT Hi TT all The other now famous pub in nola is tipitinas. When it opened in the mid 70s originally as the 501 club, it was a tiny low celieng room in the front of the building. Professor Longhair played solo a couple times a week and the crowd consisted of the original 19 founders and a few friends. The " reel " music scene in town was dead other than the clubs in the french quarter. now the club has expanded to the entire 3 story building, has New Orleans and all kinds of music that didnt make heavy rotation on the radio. Over the years I remember seeing this new guitar phenom SRV with maybe two dozen people in the audience, Tabby Thomas with his son Chris, The Meters, The Neville Brothers and on and on... the reality in the mid 70s was that everyone was in the discos. I worked at another more jazz oriented club a couple blocks away, Rosy's ... we had some of the biggest names in jazz that many nights played to empty rooms. Roland Kirk, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Pat Martino. We also had some big draws like Robert Palmer and Richie Havens... still the scene for live non cover music here languished for a few years. I remember well how we talked about how New Orleans should get more recognition and possibly become a hub for blues, jazz and funk... like nashville with syncopation. these days joints like the Maple Leaf and Tipitinas are so crowded on the weekends I havent been in years... the city has at least 35 clubs that have live music as the draw. The vast majority are showcasing blues, jazz, roots, world, and other music that I think is getting its due appreciation... always a bit sad thinking of fess, he passed the week his record "crawfish fiesta" was released. this was a hella windy way to explain this link to the site..... link - tipitinas.com/gallery-2/im not proud of much of America right now.... but at least we have some great music in the pubs ! jeff
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2019 20:00:55 GMT
My experience of American pub rock is mixed. I once had a free day in Seattle,I think it was, and went to a really funky bar with some chums and saw a wonderful little blues/R&B band in the mould of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and drank English beer--they even warmed it up for us. Some two years later I was in the same town with different colleagues and enthusiastically suggested we should visit this great bar (which was around a 3/4 hour cab ride from our hotel). On arrival my ears immediately alerted me that something was not quite right. In the interim period the bar had been decorated to resemble a dungeon and the most awful band--in the style of an amateur Motley Crue tribute act--was purveying their sonic diarrhea to a bunch of guys I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. If looks could kill! Guess who paid for both the drinks and the cab fare back!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2019 20:02:12 GMT
Milt Jackson? Very cool! I lived in Westbourne Park in 1990. I was forever trying to find decent venues / clubs, but time-out was not particularly helpful. I wish I'd known about about Bob's Station Tavern thing. TT
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Post by twang1 on Feb 23, 2019 20:44:26 GMT
Hey TT, at the time I was always walking around with a guitar (and I couldn't live it home), the "A to Z" and Time Out...! Through Time Out I found that on a monday night Albert Lee was playing at a pub near Finsbury Park, and that pub was...round the corner from where I lived. 3 quid to get in! Lot of music in many places if you had time and a travelcard...
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Post by vent on Feb 25, 2019 11:51:03 GMT
I can confirm that pub rock, the genre that was around London in the late ‘70s, still exists – along with some of its finest exponents. I headed down Sunday to Whitstable for a free afternoon gig at the Duke of Cumberland – a great pub with a proper stage, Shepherd Neame ales etc. Went to see Bill Kirchen, the nimble-fingered Telecaster twanger from Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, fronting a cracking trio. Paul ‘bassman’ Riley from Chilli Willi, Roogalator, Rockpile etc and Malcolm Mills laid down some solid backing. Their two sets went down a treat and Bill announced he loves playing a pub. There’s hope yet! Catch him in UK / Europe in the next couple of weeks. Incidentally, while in Roogalator, Paul Riley sported the first Hawaiian shirt I’d ever seen ‘in the flesh’... Danny Adler of Roogalator was some guitar player too with a keen sense of mischief. The tale of shenanigans with Flyright Records over a ‘legendary undiscovered bluesman’ can be enjoyed here. www.charliegillett.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3111
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2019 13:05:44 GMT
Vent--I well remember bassman and his Hawaiian shirt. He was engineer at Nick Lowe's UK Pro studio (or perhaps it was his own studio,I really can't remember) in Shepherds Bush. I once drove Paul to a gig he was playing at the Bridge House in Canning Town. (birthplace of Iron Maiden as it happens) In keeping with the hedonistic activities of the period we all got wrecked during and after the gig--the fact that I was driving notwithstanding. We were about to set off back to Shepherds Bush when I spotted Paul's Precision bass (he hadn't bothered to bring a case or perhaps he didn't have one) lying on the pavement and about to be left behind,doubtless never to be seen again. Almost a sad end to an enjoyable evening.
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