ABC, simple as 123.

Afternoon Strumpets,

After a lot of oohing and aahing, I felt it was time to have another go at an open mic spot. As I`ve mentioned before, there is a pub called the Princess Alice in Boro, which is rough but canny. So on Wednesday along with a couple of mates (Gary and Jeff)I took a deep breath and away I went.

Except it wasn`t on. And I was in a rough pub, with a banjo in me hand. This did not seem good.

Apparently, Teesside Uni had set up an open mic spot at a pub called The Crown. The Crown is a place that has many happy memories for me. Previously it was a cinema called the ABC. Most people of my age and older will always think of it as such. it was there where I first experienced Superman take to the sky, Indiana Jones fighting Nazi`s, Jaws eating people, and of course Han solo fly the Millenium Falcon out of Mos Eisley!

Well, I had me banjo, the Crown is round the corner to the Alice, it made sense for us to go there. The Alice on a good open mic night probably holds twenty to thirty people. The Crown is a different matter. It has a massive floor space. I reckon by the time I got up, there was close to a hundred people in there. I started with That`s Entertainment, went on to Cripple Creek, Tune for Tom Didlick, PSB medley, and duelling banjos. I finished with S Club(as usual) and a very surprising thing happened. People started shouting for more. Blimey! I did ballad of jesse James, and left to a very nice applause.

Lot`s of really nice feedback throughout the night, and a canny lad (Rajmund Witt)from the uni who had been taking photographs sent me the pics that are at the top of this post. Apparently the best moments of the open mic nights will be on the Uni podcast at the end of the month, so you never know!

All I know is that it was a real buzz playing to so many people in such a large venue. I`m going again next wednesday, and hopefully I`ll be able to get something on tape to put on the old blog.

Till the next one keep on smiling, and learn something new,

Mark.