Van Morrison - Autumn Song

Allow Me, Poems 2000-2020 by Rhonda Batchelor.

The golden October days seem to be over for now. The sky is overcast and rainy. I never left the house yesterday, and I don’t see any need to venture out today either. I am quite content to sit by the fire and catch up with some reading. I have been reading Allow Me, Poems 2000-2020 by the Canadian poet Rhonda Batchelor.  This is the third volume of poetry by Rhonda that I have in my collection, after Bearings from 1985 and Weather Report from 2000. I discovered Rhonda’s poetry because she is a Van Morrison fan. The previous two volumes are sprinkled with references to Van’s songs such as Healing Game, Common One and I Cover The Waterfront. This new collection is no exception. The title of the anthology Allow Me is also the name of a beautiful instrumental track on Van’s Poetic Champions Compose album of 1987. Music is obviously a great source of inspiration to Rhonda. As well as Van there are also mentions of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell in the lines of these poems.

Bearings, 1985

I am probably not the right person to attempt to write a review of this work because I’m not an expert on poetry by any means. My knowledge of this art form is very limited. I like Robert Lowell’s poetry, but that is because we studied it at school for A level. We went through the poems line by line and had the meanings explained to us. I also like some of the Beat poets such as Gregory Corso and Lawrence Ferlinghetti who I discovered via Jack Kerouac and some others associated with them like Gary Snyder and Frank O’Hara. I also like Charles Bukowski and John Cooper Clarke because I find them very readable and often extremely funny. I understand a lot of W.B. Yeats, Keats, John Clare, & William Blake and have tried reading Seamus Heaney because I know how important he is, but unless somebody explains the meaning to me it often goes completely over my head.

Weather Report 2000

The poems I enjoyed the most in Rhonda’s latest collection include those relating to her travels in Ireland. I thought McHughs perfectly captured the atmosphere of a crowded Belfast pub. I could also relate to One Month Back From Ireland. I know that feeling when you are home after a trip to Ireland where in the local pub you still drink Guinness hoping to recapture the magic, but it is never quite the same. First Fox is also wonderfully evocative of the Irish countryside. Celtic Ray is a nice poem inspired by Van’s song of the same name where Rhonda sits in her house in Canada and dreams of a turf fire in Ireland. There is a lot of humour in Rhonda’s poems. Plenty Of Fish is hilarious. The poems are very accessible and not too high brow for someone like me. I think I only had to look up one meaning, which was to find out what a gibbous moon was. Most of the poems concern relationships and are extremely personal, and often painful. It almost seems intrusive to comment on them. There are universal truths though. Anyone who has experienced bereavement or the ending of a relationship (which is nearly everyone) can relate to them. I found one poem called Petals particularly moving because I think I know who Rhonda is referring to. I have enjoyed reading these poems on a dark rainy October afternoon. If you would like to read it for yourself Allow Me is published by Ekstasis Editions Canada Ltd. You can find it here- http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/

                

The Chieftains, The Wide World Over.

Chieftains, Glastonbury 1983.

It is another nice October day here. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and my kitchen door is open. I have just been pottering around in my tiny garden. There are still flowers coming into bloom, which is great for the time of year. I’m not going anywhere today. I love days like this, far from the madding crowd. I am now listening to The Wide World Over by The Chieftains. It is a compilation album of 2002 celebrating 40 years of The Chieftains and features collaborations with some of the biggest names in music, such as The Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O’Connor, Linda Ronstadt and many more . As you can probably guess I am playing it because of the sad passing of Paddy Moloney three days ago.

It inspired me to try and write my own little tribute to Paddy because he was a brilliant musician and played a huge part in bringing Irish traditional music to the attention of a worldwide audience. I think the Irish nation owes him a deep debt of gratitude for all he achieved in taking Irish culture to the wide world over. It was 1975 when I first became aware of the music of Paddy Moloney. I bought the album Ommadawn by Mike Oldfield and thought that Paddy’s playing on the uilleann pipes was the highlight of the whole album. Also, that same year I purchased Chieftains 5 which was a wonderful album (and incidentally, one of the very few records I played that my dad actually said he liked). I think Peter Sellers wrote the sleeve notes if I remember correctly. I later bought a cassette recording that Paddy made with another founder member of The Chieftains Sean Potts called Tin Whistles. I still have that album but haven’t heard it for years because I don’t have a cassette player anymore.

The Chieftains are on the posters for Glastonbury Festival in 1982 and 83. I don’t think they played in 82 though. The posters often bore little relation to who actually turned up in those days. They were definitely there in 83 though. The photo you see at the top of this story isn’t that great but is the only photo I ever took of The Chieftains. I can’t remember a lot about their performance that day, except that I know they were one of the few bands who got the audience on their feet and dancing with the infectious jigs and reels. The Chieftains went off my radar for a few years after that until 1988 when they collaborated with Van Morrison on the Irish Heartbeat album which was a huge success critically and commercially and remains one of my favourite albums. Several years later I met Matt Molloy the flute player of The Chieftains at his pub in Westport, County Mayo, and said that I thought they should do a volume 2.

That never happened, but Van and The Chieftains did collaborate occasionally on the album Hymns To The Silence with the songs I Can’t Stop Loving You and Be Thou My Vision. There is also the stunning version of the traditional American song Shenandoah which I am listening to at this very moment. Paddy played whistle on Van's song Celtic New Year and Van also worked with Paddy on the fabulous track Piper At The Gates Of Dawn on The Healing Game album. There is also a rare song called Celtic Spring which was included on one of Van’s singles on which Paddy plays whistle. I have been looking for that song to play. It was on Youtube but I can’t find it now. 

The last time I saw The Chieftains play live was in Liverpool three years ago when they were on the same line-up as Van at the Irish festival called The Feis. I wish now that I had paid more attention because I can’t recall much at all about their performance. I think I was too busy talking to my friends. There were only three of the band left from when I first saw them. They had guests and a choir and did a great version of Shenandoah. That is all I can remember about the last time I saw Paddy Moloney who was a legend of Irish music, and his legacy and influence in the wide world over will live on forever.

PS, Thanks to Hans Driezen for extra info.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Van Morrison. R.I.P Paddy Moloney.

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.