Thursday, 23rd February
Ron Trueman- Border
and
Les Elvin
Another Thursday evening at the FaB Club, Orsett Cock. Very cold outside & Snow forecast which reduced the audience numbers but a great evening was enjoyed by those braving the elements.
Tone Deaf Leopard- Trevor & Sue got the evening underway with their wit & an Aussie song, Sue accompanying Trevor’s guitar with her very own drumming.
Les Elvin from S.London was introduced; he plays in a Ceilidh band & also with our headline act’s band Perfect Strangers. Les quickly captured the audience with his clear vocals & easy accomplished guitar style, he played a couple of his dance songs which are obviously a love of Les’s. His song 1917 came about after a visit to the killing fields of Flanders & the words were poignant, depicting a caring French prostitute giving young British soldiers some brief comfort & respite from the horrors of war; - you felt you were there!
Separate Ways- was another lively song.
It was then over to Ron Trueman-Border from
Snake Eyes- a side swipe at Tony Blair, who Ron voted for but can’t remember why now! describing the devious world of politics in Ron’s inimitable style.
During Ron’s love song a lady walked in off the street selling red roses! perfectly on cue, you couldn’t make it up!! The astonished expression on Ron’s face said it all but of course he ignored it & carried on unfazed. Claudine asked her to leave…
However good a guitar sounds & Ron’s sounds very very good, another instrument cutting through from time to time enhances it & this was certainly the case with Ron’s Harmonica. His blues number was excellent & gave away Ron’s R&B roots, the guitar & harmonica sounded like a 5 piece band.
Ron paid tribute to one of his heroes Buddy Holly with his lively Reign of Buddy & then invited Les back for the finale with Chains of Love you could tell they often play together. Les had previously shown his versatility with a harmonica track that had the audience stamping their feet & clapping in time.
Ron’s Ragtime Millionaire was another great song before he tried out his new song Alcohol describing a 13 year boy’s first drunken experience & decline into an alcoholic in later life, this was typical of Ron’s excellent lyrics & you can relate them to people we all know.
It is plain to see that Ron enjoys what he does & did 2 encores with little prompting, I swear if we all went home he would have carried on anyway! A true singer songwriter with charisma & style. Thanks Ron.
Thanks also to Claudine & Simon for their hard work, only a bitter person would ask how they won the 2 main raffle prizes – How Did You Do It?
John Allen.
