Boho
in the Country open-mic hosted by Rob
Sowden
"A Tough Life"
Well this is a tough life. For the second consecutive open-mic night I had two of my favourite local musician s playing: Paula Curtis and Luke Paulo. It's like that little triumvirate of Paula, Luke and Maija just take it in shifts to keep me happy. I'm not sure that Paula felt entirely on top of her game last night but I cannot help but be impressed by the honesty and clarity of her songs. They're so sharp they could cut you without you realising.
As for Luke, I kind of feel The Greyhound might be his home ground. Perhaps it's the dark ambience. His new song (how come everyone is doing new songs these days - it's showing me up!) was a little more upbeat in musical terms than some of his other songs. By the time he'd reached the third song his performance had bedded down and the vibe reminded me of Leonard Cohen's groove on Dance Me To The End of Love.
As for me, well am I getting blasé? If I'm honest my heart didn't really feel into it last night. However I did decide not to play safe and do my usual songs but do the ones that I know some of the audience liked: Silent Valley for Luke; The Things That She Said for Rob; and Love You To Death for Paula. Perhaps it was my can't be bothered attitude but I felt I gave really good performances of Silent Valley and The Things That She Said. However I felt I lost the audience on Love You To Death and I'm not sure if that song is really working live. I need to have another think about that.
As always, however, a very pleasant night at The Greyhound.
Don't forget Rob Sowden's song being played on Linda Serck's BBC Introducing show this evening at 7pm. Rob's song, "Sorrow" is the second on the playlist.
Also don't forget Luke Paulo's two performances at Reading Arts Week this week. More details here.
