OK Joanne Butler , here it is and I hope it was worth the wait .... Every space station has a guitar in it . An interesting fact I learned on Friday morning whilst driving my automobile to an appointment . That cheeky chappy and fellow ginger Chris Evans had an astronaut on his show and he was explaining what it is like to live on a space station . Why a guitar ? I hear you cry - the answer being that psychologists know that music is essential to human beings positive mental health. Something that we all probably feel we know , but have never heard it explained from a scientific point of view . This furthered my belief that raising money for Strummerville was a worthy cause as that is what is at the core of that charity . And so my mind wandered to Saturdays Strummer Night 3 , what would happen , who would come , would it run to time , would all the equipment arrive , would it all work , would I remember to play my three chords in the right order , would Newark Patriotic Fund approve or be embarrassed by my best intentions etc , etc And so the day arrived . I woke Saturday morning with that horrible butterfly in the stomach feeling and told myself , if I live through this I am never , ever doing it again. I wrote a very long check list and worked through it all morning and got to the RAFA club for 3.30pm to start setting up and let the very helpful PA guys in . Bit by bit the room took shape , all the bands were in , the PA up and running we were ready just waiting for the audience to arrive . A trip to the chippy was a useful distraction and upon our return the room was filling nicely . First up were our friends Chris Hopper , Carlos Crypt & George ag Hugill known collectively as Dead Like Zombies , all the way from the East Coast punk scene known as GRIMSBY . In The Mighty Kahuna story , Grimsby and its fine people are central to it .A friendlier and more generous collective I have yet to find . Something has to be clarified here , before I go any further . To be in a covers band you have to be a better musician than one in an originals band and one of the reasons I have never joined one - I am not a good enough guitar player . Dead Like Zombies play at break neck speed and jump from song to song before you cant count 1,2,3,4 .Ramones style and tighter than a camels behind in a sand storm. I filmed their first three numbers and was pleased the room was with them because they were delivering in big style , I can still hear the bass rumble of Warhead reverberating in my head . But my mind was still racing about all the possibilities of the night , so i was totally shocked when Mr Chops not only name checked me but also said I was to join them for a few numbers . We had briefly discussed it some days ago but I dismissed the idea on the grounds that I cant sing in tune and have never sung an entire song in my life , just thrown in the odd shouty backing vocal . But now I was challenged and had nowhere to run other than in the direction of the stage , blind panic was about to descend . I nervously asked Chopper What songs are we doing ? , his calm reply was Dont worry , you will know them and with that they launched into London Calling and we were off . I was mainly watching Choppers lips to get the right line and joined in when I knew where we were . It was a case of shut your eyes and jump . The voice in my head was saying You cant sing in tune , you are ruining their set , get off so I didnt make eye contact with anyone just followed Choppers lead and bellowed into the mic hoping I was low in the mix but looking ok . The first song ended and before I had time to gauge the reception we were smack bang whallop into I`m So Bored With The U.S.A , I survived that and thought , right I`m off , not one to push my luck . But no , Tommy Gun struck up and I was committed to another lip reading memory jogging adrenalin fueled 3 minutes of great musicianship . They eventually let me go after another refrain of I`m So Bored With The USA and I scuttled off to the safety of the side bar and a refreshing lager . I was physically shaking but reassured by life long musical partner Jay Parkin , that I wasnt an embarrassment to anyone and it had actually brought a tear to his eye . He never confirmed whether it was from pleasure or pain , but i would like to think pleasure . Next up was the walking legend and regular show stealer Bruce Tality . Bruce is his own man , owns the stage and always goes down a storm , never disappoints . Last night he was on fire . Then there was us , The Mighty Kahunas . After a few early technical difficulties , cured by Bruce , we were up and away .From the feedback we got I think we did ok . We all enjoyed it , one of my favourite nights . Where do you start with The Activators ? Great people , great band , everyone was up and dancing to them and the room was full of smiling faces and a lot of laughter . Back to my earlier point - music is essential to positive mental health . If you had entered the RAFA Club with the winter blues last night , you certainly didnt leave with it . Big thanks to Robert Bloggs Macrae-Clifton for being my anchor man at Newark Patrioitic Fund / RAFA Club and his lovely wife for taking a longer than expected shift on the door and generally being a diamond . Thanks to all the bands that played and gave their time for free , the bar staff that were mainly volunteers and the good will of the audience for turning up and making the night a great success . Both charities will be £130 better off for your generosity . I will be quiet for a while now , my rock & roll days are coming to a close in January and I will be handing over Kahuna guitar duty to a good friend . Thanks for a great run , its been a blast , met some wonderful people I would never have met if it wasnt for The Mighty Kahunas . I wish you all the very best for you and yours and hope 2015 is a great year . Kind Regards , Smithers.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 13:57:29 +0000
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