Monthly Archives: June 2014

Bricks Venues closing down.

“Every good venue that closes down rips another piece from the heart of the town. A city is more than fancy flats, generic stores and chains of coffee shops.”

Most of my favorite music started in small venues run by passionate people. Many of those are now begin closed to make way for other things. This is a song about how sad it makes me feel that these great places are closing.

I’m planning to put together a You Tube video with some names of places that have closed and others that are under threat.

Some of the places where I had a great time and have now been “redeveloped” include “The Nags Head, High Wycombe” and “The Marquee club, Wardour Street, London”

There are other great places that are still going but have had a few wobbles over the years like “the Joiners, Southampton”, “Talkign Heads, Southampton” and “the Adelphi Club, Hull”

Any suggestions for great venues that have closed and others you will miss if they do.

I know you get asked to sign a lot of petitions but sometimes it helps to get things moving.
Under the Agent of Change principle, an apartment block to be built near an established live music venue would have to pay for soundproofing, while a live music venue opening in a residential area would be responsible for the costs.
Sounds fair to me.
qr.net/changenow

 

Bed and Breakfast

The song began with the title. I thought that bed and breakfast could refer to many things. Initially I was thinking of one night stands. It changed when I was watching a couple in Paris. It was clear that they were together, but to seemed to be invisible to each other. So used to each other that they no longer noticed one another. The phone held his attention in a way that she couldn’t.
The lyrics came together when I remembered the film Shirley Valentine and how she left him to go on holiday.

I wrote the tune at a piano. I liked it but as it changed key a few times in the verse it was difficult to sing with conviction.  Dm Am , Gm Eb, Bb, F Ab Eb F

I tried it at an open mic but I didn’t think the verse was right. The Chorus and the bridge had a nice open feel the I wanted to keep in the verse. I rewrote it to stay in the same key.
Dm Am ,C G, Dm Am , F E  on the second verse it ends on F G A6 to lead to the D in the Chorus.

It’s strange that the first time I rewrite a verse it seems very strange but after playing it a few times it seems it was always that way.