Mo Foster and MC comments

[Alan Prudhoe]

One night, when I was in a duo, we were setting up in a club whilst the piano player entertained the crowd (they didn't have an organ). He sounded like a Les Dawson tribute act - he was diabolical. The Concert Sec jovially asked us if we required piano or drum accompaniment and we tactfully, or tacticly even, opted for "we only need the drummer".
He shouted to the piano player "They only need the drums, Sean" so the piano player got up, walked over to the drums and proceeded to warm up. He was a worse drummer than he was a pianist.

[ecca]

We had been playing at a Folk do, a barn dance.
In the interval I'd been roped into doing a dance ( hateful waste of time, dancing )
part of this was that you changed partners as you went round.
All was well until I came to one lady whose hand I had to hold.
I didn't look down, no need, but the bloody hand was a wooden one, an artificial hand.
I threw it away from me as an involuntary reaction, the poor woman was so upset.
Well I didn't know did I ?

[Alan Prudhoe]

( hateful waste of time, dancing )

My favourite dance was the Quaker. Twice around the floor then outside for your oats.

[Amanda]

Memories of providing a Hammond for an organist friend for concerts include:

Dragging a split L100, leslie 145 and pa gear up two flights of a fire escape only to be told as we were setting up,
"If you'd have asked you could have used the lift behind the stage!"

Club secretaries wanting you in 30 seconds before the show start and out 30 seconds after it finished.

Forgetting the 9-0-9 volt supply for the mixer and sending a member of the audience out to get two pp9 batteries
which I connected into the power socket.

[neil2726]

Memories of one club who had a resident organist who had a big ego and thought he was the star of the show! He would always join in without asking and although a sight reader he couldnt busk - he used to ruin it for the other acts - maybe intentionly. We stopped going to that club in the end after our drummer told him to F... Off!

[Alan Prudhoe]

During five years working in a duo, the best club organist ever to accompany us was Alan Clark who went on the join Dire Straits.
Busking or reading. He couldn't care less whether you had dots or not, and he made every song he played in sound twice as good anyway.
At one time he was working as a pool organist in the North East. If you arrived at the club and he was "depping" it was akin to winning the lottery.
A lovely guy and an exceptional musician with no attitude problems at all.

[ecca]

The fights..... how we loved a good scrap on the dance floor ( until it came our way !)
I've witnessed chairs going over the heads of punters.
We'd pull the mic stands back and get on with it on automatic pilot, most concentration being on the participants.

[neil2726]

Yes Ecca, we had one brawl at a St Helens cclub one night, 2 guys fighting over a girl! ended up chairs flying across dance floor! Luckily they had a big doorman who came in picked both guys up by the collar and marched them outside. The MC told us to pack up and go home as it had spoiled the evening. As we were leaving the doorman was giving one of the guys who had hit him a real pasting. A couple of coppers sat in their car watching !

[noelford]

We used to take bets on what time the fight would break out whenever we did a wedding.