The last of Old Man Pie's trips to open mics in January takes us to North Leeds and a wet and windy night in Woodhouse. The open mic here is every Thursday (except the first one of the month) at The Chemic Tavern and is run by Cloth Cat Studios.Cloth Cat is a music and educational charity which supports people living in inner city Leeds through a range of music based activities including courses and events, plus this open mic. They run projects for young people, those with mental health issues and the homeless, as well as a programme of community based courses in partnership with Workers Educational Association (WEA). Every city should have a Cloth Cat.
The night is organised by Mike Jolly of Cloth Cat, who also does loads of other interesting stuff for the Leeds music scene, and the compere is local musician and guitar teacher Graham Young.The musical proceedings kick off with some humuros ditties from Matthew Evens, including a piece about putting a lovenote on the windscreen of the car of some woman he fancies, only to see it taken away by the angry boyfriend. Guilty Pastimes are up next, though Graham introduces them as Guilty Pasties! Which is an equally good name in my book. Guilty Pastimes are a duo and continue the theme of upbeat and fun tunes, even managing to include the word 'oesophagus' in one of their songs about Codeine I believe. Rod follows the Pastimes with some well played slide guitar.
I Was Odd by Old Man Pie
Me and the pie guys play three chaotic and swift numbers including I Was Odd (see above), Small Talk in a Small Town and Less is More. It feels like we've only just started when we've finished and that's always the draw back as a band when your playing open mics - but rules is rules, and its time for the main act, the Mike Medved Band.
The Mike Medved Band are musically very tight and highly skilled musicians. They play some rock and blues numbers with a strong American influence on account of Mike's origins in the USA. The friendly audience give the music a great reception and the room has now filled almost to bursting.
After the Mike Medved Band the night returns to the open mic proceedings. They've got the balance just right here with a half hour or so for the main act, and then back to the open mic'ers and the three songs rule.
It's always a special night here at The Chemic and the link to the community based activities make it even more so. The audience are a good mix of students and music lovers from across Leeds and further afield - with the occasional nut job thrown in for good measure. You can find out more about the work of Cloth Cat Leeds on the website here:
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Open Mic Travels (the book) is available here:
Open Mic Travels (the book) is available here:
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