Patti Smith at Bath Forum, October 1st 2021.

It has been nine long years since Patti Smith last played at Bath Forum, and six years since we witnessed her awesome performance at Glastonbury 2015 when none other but the Dalai Lama joined her on stage. Finally, after several postponements due to Covid, the high priestess of punk was returning to Bath. This is what happened. My friend Sasha arrived at mine at 6.15, a taxi took us to the station and we caught the 6.29 train to Bath. My sister Margaret and her partner Wayne got on the train at Bradford-On-Avon. It was only 7.00 when we arrived in the fine Georgian city of Bath which gave us ample time to repair to the Lion & Lamb pub for a couple of drinks before the show. (This is the pub where Patti accidentally ate somebody else’s lasagne in 2012, but I won’t go into that story again now) It was a nice October evening, if somewhat chilly. 

At 7.45 we made our way to Bath Forum. This venue doesn’t look much from the outside, but the beautifully restored 1930s art-deco interior is a sight to behold. We were right at the front in row A. After a short delay Patti and her band took the stage. Patti looked great in a white cowboy jacket, jeans, and boots. Halfway through the show she had a quick costume change to her more punky garb. I didn’t catch the names of all the band, but Lenny Kaye was certainly there, and Jackson Smith and her song-writing collaborator Tony Shanahan. They were all great anyway. 

Patti said it was nice to be back in Bath for her first indoor gig in 19 months. The first song was called Grateful which Patti originally recorded in 2000 as a tribute to Jerry Garcia. The second song, the reggae flavoured upbeat Redondo Beach Patti dedicated to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry who passed away recently. Patti played guitar for the uplifting My Blakean Year which I really enjoyed, and it reminded me of my Blakean experience of going to the William Blake exhibition just before the Covid darkness descended upon the land. “Keep the vision”, said Patti, “Everything is before us!”. Ghost Dance was fantastic. It is about Hopi Indians but applies to all communities. “We shall live again, shake out the ghost dance!”. The great Dancing Barefoot followed, and Patti gobbed on the stage. A Patti gig without spitting wouldn’t be the same. A highlight of the evening was the rendition of Stevie Wonder’s song Blame It On The Sun which moved some in the audience to tears. I wish I had filmed that song. 

Under The Southern Cross was dedicated to all those who didn’t make it through this stinking pandemic. I loved the frenzied guitar play towards the end of the song. The recent death of Charlie Watts might have been the reason for I’m Free which evolved into Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side. This song featured Lenny Kaye while Patti had a quick costume change in order to be theatrical. Her only UK top twenty hit Because The Night was next. I went right up to the stage to film this, and Patti looked right at me. It was great. (See video below) Patti wrote this song with Bruce Springsteen after the death of her husband Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, and she dedicated it to him. I also filmed a very moving performance of Bob Dylan’s One Too Many Mornings which I might put on youtube later. Pissing In A River followed, and Patti showed her humour by saying how messy she was, and she had put ‘Do Not Disturb’ on her hotel room door, even though she wasn’t there, because she felt sorry for the maid who would have to tidy it up. 

Land and Gloria were next, from her album Horses which is what introduced me to Patti Smith 45 years ago when I first heard it at my mate Fred’s flat in Peterborough.  Patti then left the stage, but we knew she would return. The encore was the anthemic fabulous People Have The Power, followed by Not Fade Away which shows that Patti has no intentions of fading away anytime soon. Her energy and joy in performing puts other younger singers to shame. We left the concert still buzzing after a great performance. We had time for one last drink in the pub opposite the station and caught the 10.40 train home. Thank you very much Patti Smith and her great band for a wonderful night out in Bath. 

Patti Smith: Because The Night. The Forum, Bath. October 1st 2021.

Pee Wee Ellis & Van Morrison, Frome 2005.

It is Sunday afternoon and the sun is shining. I am listening to Into The Music by Van Morrison. I'm playing it because I think it was the first Van album that Pee Wee Ellis played on. I was sorry to hear on Friday night that Pee Wee had passed away aged 80. By way of a little tribute to Pee Wee I thought I would dust off a story that I wrote sixteen years ago about the last time I ever saw Pee Wee play with Van. .........

I'd like to pay a little tribute to my favourite musician in all of Van Morrison's various bands and that is Alfred 'Pee Wee' Ellis.The man who co-wrote with James Brown such songs as Cold Sweat and Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud and invented the genre known as Funk.. It's a long way from the famous Apollo Theatre in New York to Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, but While Van Morrison was touring the east coast of the USA in 2005  Pee Wee Ellis a man who had played such a huge part in Van's success was playing the same weekend in the Riverside pub in the picturesque little town of Bradford On Avon. I saw in the Wiltshire Times that Pee Wee was playing and decided we should go and see him. We arrived at 1,00 and paid our £5 admission and sat at a table at the back. Pee Wee was already on the stage playing with a local band The Riverside Jazz Quartet. The people of this little town are privileged, I thought to myself. For only a fiver they get to see one of the legendary figures in music. During a 21 year association with Van Morrison he played and arranged some of the finest music from the 70's to the 90's.

You couldn't smoke in the room where Pee Wee was playing so we nipped outside to sit by the river in the warm Spring sunshine. During the interval Pee Wee came out and I had a little chat with him and he signed my Healing Game booklet. I chose that album for Pee Wee to sign because it demonstrates his range from the funkiness of Burning Ground to the sweetness of Sometimes We Cry. I gave Pee Wee  a photo of himself and Jackson Browne that I had from Glastonbury 82. Pee Wee seemed delighted with it. After the interval Pee Wee wove more magic for the small audience and an Australian girl from the audience got up and sang My Funny Valentine. I sat quietly at the back and let the mellow sounds sweep over me. Listening and watching made me aware of just what a virtuoso on the sax this man is. When the session ended at 4.00 He had played for over three hours with a 30 minute interval. Afterwards, I bought his album Ridin' Mighty High which I am playing now. It is excellent and there is a Morrison link because Van's daughter Shana sings one of the songs. I had another chat with himself and his wife Charlotte. I said that I'd love to see Pee Wee play with Van again. I also met a lady called Nicki  who was Vans PA for many years and amazingly she and her husband remembered me from when I was on a quiz show on the telly called Fifteen To One because on the show I had said that I was a Van Morrison fan and they were supporting me. Pee Wee told me he was playing Marlborough Jazz Festival and Frome Festival if I wanted to come along. That was great, but I wanted to see him back with Van where he belonged, back on the corner again in the Healing Game. 

This came true only three months later when Van played at Marston House near Frome. This was the nearest Van has played to where I live, only seven  miles away. The setting for the concert on a warm summers evening was really picturesque with the beautiful Somerset countryside providing a spectacular backdrop to the stage.It was great to meet up again with quite a few Van fan friends. Most of them had spent the afternoon at the Marlborough Jazz Festival as guests of Pee Wee who was a busy boy that weekend. This evening was his third gig in 24 hours. Pee Wee's band opened the evening with a nice mellow set, just perfect for chilling out on a balmy evening."Hello neighbours",said Pee Wee who lives in Frome. Van also knows the area well with his former studio The Wool Hall just two miles down the road. Pee Wee has a great little band made of the best of local talent with two girls in the brass section who did little dance routines when not playing. 

There was only a rope between the audience and backstage and we could see Van chatting to his band just a few yards from us. Then it was show time,  Van began with two songs from the new album Magic Time, This Love Of Mine and Stranded , Van singing with emotion and playing nice alto sax. Then it was Have I Told You Lately, most Van fans don't like this Las Vegas version but the audience lapped it up as they did with Bright Side Of The Road . The mood mellowed out with Days Like This and then Moondance with all the band doing their now familiar solo's.This was followed by Whining Boy Moan, Jackie Wilson Says and Stop Drinkin' Wine. Then Van invited Pee Wee back on stage to augment the brass section for a great version of Muleskinner Blues.This was followed by a quite stunning version of Georgia On My Mind which displayed all of Pee Wee's brilliance and Van's vocal genius. Then the perennial crowd pleaser Cleaning Windows followed by Precious Time with Van happily scatting away at the end. Then Van said, "Thank you very much,what a night". In all my previous Van shows I don't think I have heard him do Wild Night before, so it was a very pleasant surprise and brilliantly performed. Then it was All Work And No Play which seems to have been played at every Van concert for an eternity, surely even Van must have been getting sick of it by now. 

A great version of Help Me followed. Pee Wee had left the stage after Precious Time which was a shame because the next song was And The Healing Has Begun. Van played acoustic guitar on this and it was a quite brilliant performance.Afterwards a friend Phil said to me that it was worth it just for that one song and I couldn't agree more.The evening ended how we knew it would with Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria which were ecstatically received by the audience. I thought it was a great night.  Kim and I headed home.We were back home 20 minutes after we left the grounds of Marston House and headed for the pub after a most enjoyable evening indeed. My abiding memory will be Van reunited with his old friend Pee Wee Ellis. I said three months earlier that I'd like to see Pee Wee back on the corner again with Van. Little did I realise that it would come true so quickly, even if for only one magical evening.

Pee Wee Ellis at Marston House Frome 2005.

Smiley Smile.

We seem to be having a bit of an Indian summer here at the moment. Long may it continue. I haven’t been out today, but I did a bit of pottering about in my garden, cutting down stuff that has died off for this year and putting it in the compost bin. Nothing too strenuous. Earlier in the day I read that 54 years ago this week Smiley Smile by The Beach Boys was released, so I was listening to it. When it was released in 1967 it was a disappointment for many of the fans after the brilliance of Pet Sounds. It was also the so-called Summer Of Love in 67 and people were getting into music like Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. The Beach Boys were considered to be unhip and passe. They were in decline commercially. They weren’t in decline with me though. I thought it was a great album, and still do. I think the critics have reassessed the album these days, and it is now regarded as a minor masterpiece. 

It contains two of the greatest singles of all time, namely Good Vibrations and Heroes And Villains. Brian Wilson collaborated with Van Dyke Parks who wrote the lyrics for Heroes And Villains which were considered too cryptic and mysterious for some, including Mike Love who apparently didn’t get on with Van Dyke Parks. He also wrote the words for the humorous Vegetables which is sung by Al Jardine. You can hear the sound of chopping vegetables in the background. The song came about because Brian was going through a health food fad at the time. Another humorous song is She’s Going Bald which Mike Love sang. One of my favourite songs is Little Pad which is very minimalist compared to some of the complex production on Pet Sounds for instance. It is a gentle heartfelt song about wanting a little place to live in Hawaii, played on Hawaiian guitar. I also really like Wind Chimes which is a psychedelic masterpiece. (I have shared Wind Chimes to this page if you want to hear it. It gives an idea of the quirky charm of the album) 

Brian Wilson in 67.

You can tell that the band, or some of them were under the influence of something while recording the album. There is quite a lot of stoned laughter going on at times. The singing and the harmonies are wonderful throughout all the songs. This is a great happy little album and even has a quote of Indian wisdom on the back cover, ‘The smile that you send out returns to you’, which is a nice thought. I’m glad I listened to it again on this pleasant September Day.

Wind Chimes

Hello Friend by The Johnstons.

Colours Of The Dawn by The Johnstons..

It is a golden Autumn Day here. The sun is shining, and the birds are singing in the trees. All seems well in the world, (As long as you don’t watch the news!) I have been listening to an album that I bought a few weeks ago called Colours Of The Dawn by The Johnstons. I discovered it after reading about Paul Brady on Wikipedia. The Johnstons were a family folk group from Slane in County Meath. By the time this album was made in 1971 there was only one original member left, who was the singer, Adrienne Johnston. She had been joined by Paul Brady and Mick Moloney. I found the CD on eBay, I think it only cost me £1.80 which was a bargain. It is a very enjoyable album and quite typical of the folk group sound of the 1960s & early 70s. On a couple of songs they almost reminded me of an Irish equivalent of Peter, Paul & Mary, only better. There are only nine songs. 

The album opens with a version of Hello Friend which I believe was first sung by Peggy Seeger. Paul Brady’s guitar playing is excellent. The next song Crazy Anne reminded me a bit of Anne Briggs, but I don’t know if the song was written about her. It was written by Chris McCloud who also produced the album and wrote the sleeve notes. He seems to have been a kind of Svengali type figure around the Johnstons, especially with Adrienne who I think married him. I found his sleeve notes slightly pompous and strange at times. Brightness She Came is an introspective melancholic love song by Paul Brady which hints at the brilliance of his work when he later became a solo artist. If I Could was written by the great Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. 

Angela Davis.

Angela Davis is another song written by McCloud. It concerns the story of Angela Davis, George Jackson & The Soledad Brothers. It shows the group growing away from traditional folk tunes towards more political messages. The title track Colours Of The Dawn is next which features some exquisite mandolin playing, by Mick Moloney I would guess. I’ll Be Gone In The Morning is another song featuring Paul Brady on vocals, showing what a great singer he was developing into. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy is a song by the great Leonard Cohen and featured on his album Songs From A Room. The final track Old Man’s Tale was written by Ian Campbell and to me is the most traditional Irish sounding track and features banjo and bodhran. After this album was recorded Mick left the band because he wanted to pursue a more traditional path than the others. Mick still plays to this day and you can find him on youtube. The band continued as a duo of Paul and Adrienne and recorded one more album before ending the group forever. 

Paul went on to become one of the most respected figures in Irish music. Adrienne made one solo album before mysteriously disappearing. She and McCloud moved to America and her family lost touch with her. She was found dead at her apartment in Minneapolis on 27 May 1981, aged 36. The cause of death was given as "cerebral contusions and subdural haematoma", apparently resulting from a fall. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances. The date on her grave states the former lead singer of The Johnstons passed away on the ’27th’ of May. However, even Adrienne’s death is shrouded in mystery and speculation. The inquest verdict was that Adrienne’s death was accidental, but some believed that she was the victim of something more sinister. There were allegations that Adrienne was possibly the victim of domestic abuse. These are just allegations, and nothing has been proved. I think it is a shame that the story of The Johnstons came to such a sad ending because they were undoubtedly an extremely talented and influential group.