A whole lotta Folk

How many people would turn up with a kazoo? Indeed how many would turn up at all? The answer was ‘A lot!’ and it seemed pretty well each of them wanted to play something too. It seemed as if the wide grin on John Harrisons face was limited only by the amount of space he had to grin into  as Bonn Folk Club had its busiest evening yet.

It had all started so differently. When I arrived at 6.40pm the door wasn’t even open. I was wondering if the rain and cold weather had led to people prefering a warm house and a TV screen – or were they terrified at the thought of mass kazoo blowing? In my case they had nothing to fear. In the preceding days I barely got a whimper out of my instrument and quickly abandoned all hope of doing an impromptu ‘God Save the Queen’ floorspot.
But then the people started coming in, and coming in and coming in…

Barry got the evening started ‘Down in the Valley’ with the tune of that name on piano and a quick blast of the kazoo (to remind me of the noise mine wouldn’t make). After that it seemed as if there was as much movement onstage as there was movement of people coming in through the door.

I really couldn’t name all the people who floorspotted. Partly because I could no longer get back to the coat-rack where I’d left my notebook, and partly because, when I finally tried to crib the names from John’s running list later it was like trying to read a London Underground map printed on the back of a matchbox.

I think an early act was named ‘Ich und Ich’ only as there were three of them (Andreas, Sabine & Gaby) I could be wrong. I enjoyed hearing ‘If I were a Carpenter’ and indeed I also enjoyed the lively discussion over the exact lyrics beforehand: Is it “Would you be my baby” or “Would you have my baby”? There is actually a female version by Joan Baez called ‘If You Were a Carpenter’ to further complicate matters so I think we’ll let that argument go.  By the way Barry, your guess was wrong, it wasn’t Peter, Paul & Mary but Bobby Darin who made the song famous.  Being before your or my time I had to ‘Wiki’ for the answer!

Whilst everyone was worth their spot and added to an enjoyable evening some were particularly special.
An early runner for most memorable act was Thomas Steffens.   Well how can you not like a German taking on ‘Donald where’s your trousers’? I haven’t heard that one since Ed ‘Stewpot’ used to spin it on radio 1’s ‘Junior Choice’.

Apologies to Thomas but after he’d stolen the show it was again stolen from him, by a diminutive girl with a divine voice – Greta Larsen on guitar/vocal with Paulo on harmonica(s). Relying on memory I think she did ‘Once I had a sweetheart’ and certainly did Donavans ‘Catch the Wind’. Both with an energetic style and relaxed stage presence that (I hope) had John writing “Invite back again” on his notepad.

Nadine with David on Piano were also a surefire hit and, like Greta, Nadine seemed born to be in the spotlight. Her act was a very pleasant journey into jazz vocalist territory. I won’t reveal her setlist, other than to say she had amazing grace and left me thinking what a wonderful world this is.

…and I haven’t mentioned all the acts that made it such an enjoyable night, particularly the pure blues of Mr Harrison and Paulo. But I will mention ‘Nobody Knows You’ with it’s lead vocal switch that sounded well rehearsed but John insists “No, we just got up and did it”. Similarly, Paulo had only agreed to back Greta with his bluesharps when they met that evening. I’ve said it before I know, but that’s the secret of the Folk Clubs growing success in my book: no-one knows exactly what will happen, even the artists themselves. All they DO know is they intend to have a good time.

John Harrison had his work cut out counting heads and ‘guesstimated’ about eighty people. Of all shapes, sizes, ages and denominations. Having had time to see the available chairs before the evening started, I would recommend getting there before eight. I think the popularity took the new owners of the venue a little by surprise, but visitors to this site know better. Folk is great, beer is good and people like a good time…

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Official Bonn Folk Club Website:
http://folk-club-bonn.blogspot.com/

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