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This is the archive of the combined Barking Spider and Andy Broad Portsmouth Blues Site mailing lists.
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The Final Result of last Friday's MIKE WEST BENEFIT at South Parade Pier,
Soutjhsea
Last Friday the South Parade Pier's Gaiety Bar saw a good size crowd of
nearly 150 turn out for a benefit for the New Orleans banjo player Mike West,
who lost his house and everything he owned in Hurricane Katrina.
Southampton's Inside the Rain started the evening off with a fine set of Bob
Dylan covers, before a "mix and match" consisting of three bands from the
nucleus of Portsmouth's sorely missed Reet Petite and Gone.
Nick Evans, Dennis Reeve-Baker and "Doctor Dave" Allen of Reet Petite and
Gone were back together again for just one more performance Although
unfortunately guitarist Stewart Carr was absent, the old magic was still present
within the three piece line-up.
Dave and Dennis from Reet Petite and Gone turned up again in Ferris Wheel,
and Nick perormed with Gregg Buchanan as Obviously Two Believers, who both
turned out some very credible and enjoyable performances.
Headliner Bex Marshall, who supported Hayseed Dixie on their last U.K tour,
appeared at Gastonbury and also supported The Country Joe Band, headlined.
Her Joplinesque presence and a fine guitar style, together with some strong
songs of her own, made her a worthy headliner.
As icing on the cake, we had a great alternative d.j. system, manned by the
redoubtable Andy Radbourn and latterly from Barry Everitt of the top London
concert venue The Borderline Club.
The inevitable raffle - always a feature when Peter - a.k.a. Lord Gnome of
Barking - is present - raised quite a few quid, as did the rock 'n roll
auction! So many people brought donations of albums, C.D's, T shirts and
numerous other items, and an enormous amount of these items were quickly snapped up,
and the remaining CD's were sold in the week following the event - I sold
the last CD's at 5 p.m today!
I'm very pleased to say that £1535 was raised for Mike and his family, which
equates to over 2700 dollars.
I've just got off the phone to Mike - I spoke to him on his cellphone as
he was unloading before playing a gig - Mike & Katie are still on the road
performing and living in temporary accomodation. Mike was overwhelmed with
the news - I hadn't told him we were organising anything for him. For once he
was nearly at a loss for words!
In Mike's words "Oh, man, that's fantastic! Please thank everyone so much!
Bless you all - I can't thank you enough.. I'll be seeing ya in August!"
A cheque will be going to Mike on Monday morning, drawn on a dollar account,
which saves money being wasted on bank charges.
Special thanks to....
THE PERFORMERS: Bex Marshall, Greg Buchanan and the members of Reet Petite
And Gone, Ferris Wheel, Inside The Rain, and d.j's Andy Radbourn and Barry
Everitt.
TECHNICAL: Andy Thomas for the P.A system and engineering (although he was
absolutely knackered), Andy Radbourn for supply of D.J gear
BARKING SPIDER CREW: Peter (Lord Gnome), Pam ("Big Cat"), Andy ("Spunky The
Spaniel), Carol, Andy ("King O' The Blues") Broad, Dan and Judith.
THE BANKER: Ross Hannan, for allowing us to use his US dollar account.
PIER: Nick Lyne (manager) and his staff.
PUBLICITY: Sam from "Folk On Tap" magazine for a free full page advert.
AND........ EVERYONE WHO CAME ALONG, DONATED ITEMS FOR THE SALE, RAFFLE &
AUCTION, AND THOSE WHO BOUGHT SO FREELY FOR THIS GREAT CAUSE
Thank you all.
John Roberts