Open-Mic Night, or The Squeeze

DP1 Café, Mawhera Quay, Greymouth

Saturday, 3^rd May 2003

Rating: All that local and impromptu content gets the:
Big Ups and the Big Star

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The Squeeze evolved out of a regular muster of local singer/songwriter/musicians gathering in the imtimate environs of private homes from Hokitika to Greymouth.  These people are passionate about sharing their creative stuff with each other.  From private homes to the warmth of DP One Cafe, where you can come in from the cold, get buzzy with friends and enjoy a totally local west coast best coast organic experience that is The Squeeze.

The gear, (or gee-ar, as pronounced by MC Stuart/Stewart, another Unkilted Scotsman...  What is it about a Scottish accent?  When they open their mouth, I expect them to do a stand-up comedy routine.  Nightglo blames Billy Connelly for that embedded peice of programming.  Maybe the Nightglo is right), Anyway, the gee-ar was on loan from the good folk from the Youth & Music Development Trust.  Yay - good cause!

Stuart/Stewart was first up for the night, and managed to squeeze out two rounds of applause for his introductory solo, the first when the strap on his guitar broke.  Whatever your origins, the Coast does get into yer bones, because the songs were about crossing the bar, traversing the mountain ranges, and mostly about coming home, or was that going home?  I read once that we all long to go 'home', that it is a desire to return to the source, to God, if you like, or to find that connection with our Soul, that this is the only journey that has any intrinsic value - all else is but a distraction.  Navels have been pondered over that pebble for eons.  Navels will continue to be gazed upon for eons to come, but I think there is an element of truth in there.  We all long to find our way 'home'. Stuart/Stewart rounded off his set with a bit of Celtic Corn for us to gnaw on.  Ah, summits in the sun, mountains below and still home in time for tea.  Nightglo, hand me the toothpicks please?

Sheryl, aka Aunty Sheryl, was up next.  Goddess Power rules eh? Powerful experimental vocalisation and a steady sense of rythym.  Self-taught musician and all original songs.  Hey, let's watch the grass grow, just breathe... Dayglo breathed and was transported to a sunny meadow - and I have to add here that empty meadows are scarce on the West Coast (and we generally refer to them as paddocks) as they're usually full of livestock and shit, but for all intents and purposes, we'll stick with the vision of an empty meadow, its a tad more romantic - and was running barefoot on a sunny paradise day on the Coast.  "C'mon, let's play, let yourself enjoy the day" and I was, enjoying the day created by the sunburst and solar flare that is Sheryl.

Juulian, Nightglo Stunt Double and Radio Wai DJ was threatened by Stuart/Stewart with a "heavy bad mix" before he began his set.  Juulian the Quiet, Juulian the Minstrel, Juulian the Surprise.  It must have been a night for imaginings because Dayglo was once again lost in a vision where Juulian was a wandering minstrel, skipping gaily behind a morph of Blackadder and King Arthur, keenly strumming his lute and musing on the days doings.  Juulian, ex-Dunedin resident and still member of Dunedin based Troubadours of Mercury played a solo rendition of their song "Hey Girl" - a lilting sensitively crafted ballad, followed by a passionate and expressive tune called "Just One More Time" - That's where the surprise was.  Where did that come from Juulian??  Apologies were proffered in the direction of Paul McCartney before we ate desecrated chocolate to the tune of "Yesterday".  A more recent sidestep away from being known as the man who writes sad songs is for Juulian to parody more popular tunes of today and yesterday.

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Samantha, lead guitarist and vocalist from Aprillis (Aprillis made it to the semi-finals of the 2001 Coke Smokefree Rockquest and picked up various awards along the way, including the Lyric Writers Award, Best Vocals Award and the Woman's Musicianship Award), apologised in advance - "my guitar might sound like crap because I half dislocated my wrist picking up a book".  The guitar playing didn't suffer in any way, and her first song was called "Forget the Snow", allegedly a lamentable twist on the association of snow with that time of year called Christmas.  Nah, it was a bit more serious than that.  Sam is the Antipodean Heather Nova and aptly covered a Nova song before exiting the performance arena for Ro, a poet.  

Dayglo has been told that Ro is another import to these western shores and the little cemetary at Stafford impressed Ro's heart and mind enough to be written about and shared on this night.  If you're visiting these shores, peel off the highway and visit this place. It's awesome and spooky at the same time.  Another Squeeze for the Coffin Story perhaps, Ro?

Yo!  Next up, was Locomorris - yeah, as in Morris dancing morris.  Hey, don't knock it.  Dayglo's an old pagan from way back and I have a certain fondness for hanky waving and bells stitched to my socks.  Three young 'uns from Westland High School got up and impressed us with their enthusiastic confidence.  Technical problems were laughed at, and a bit of instrument swapping impressed us even more.  Sheryl pulled out the harmonica to provide her particular brand of accompaniment.  Very raw is Locomorris, and no, they don't do the actual dance of olde, more like that hand jivey wassup stuff. I hear they're up for the local Smokefree Rockquest at the end of May.

OK, so Braydon, you don't sing in public and even though your friend told me that you don't even sing in front of them, Dayglo has ears, because I heard you I did, and so did everyone else.  Cor, another youngster with a sensitive heart and mind.  It's just as well some of our youth have an outlet in song writing, because writing down the words that are often difficult to say out loud or where you think you're not being heard can be so healing.  The legacy the adults have passed on to them is a little too much.  Ya know what I'm saying?

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Zane - you cook, in more ways than being the happy proprietor of DP One Cafe.  You fire on all cylinders.  But hey, I know a secret about you - you're a Marty Robbins fan - brought up on a similar musical diet as I was.  And there wasn't a Devil Woman in sight or an El Paso posse heading us off at the pass.  Instead we were riding the rapids of your guitar and caught in the foaming, frothing whirlpool of your energy.  White water stuff!  Remember how Superman could go really fast - imagine Clark Kent's caped alter-ego playing the guitar.  That's Zane - keeping it sane is the name of Zane's game.  Word for the wise - don't give that man any more coffee - he doesn't need it!

Annalise and Cyril are a one half of Tiphead, local ambient jazz band who play covers and originals.  So, what was it about this night?  More songs about peace in the world, oneness and all that good cosmic consciousness stuff.  Not that Dayglo is against that sorta renegade thinking.  Dayglo is an old Peacenik and crystal waver from way back and can get quite stirred by a passionate and Truthful rendition of the Now Age philosophies.  Heck, sometimes Dayglo and the Nightflo can erupt into a frenzy of universal unity just as much as the next berkenstock wearing, brown rice and barley grass drinking fanatic.  So, songs about world peace and hey, ho, let's watch the grass grow are a finer alternative than spewing metla's who have trouble pronouncing their own name on their most articulate night and have to resort to a motley selection of expletives to describe what is retained in their life experience molecule.  But I digress... Annalise plays a mean harp and really feels the music she produces, both vocally and via her chosen instrument.  Cyril is an accomplished artiste extraordinaire, both musically and on canvas.  I remember laying on my loungue floor a couple of years ago, with Cyril excitedly telling me about his shiney new saxaphone, and I was laughing, because he felt that his playing was smoother, more solid and defined since his purchase.  Laughing, because Dayglo's imagination was running riot with the image of Cyril on stage with his band - "parp, parp" goes Cyril's sax.   Not true!  You're smooothe, Cyril, and very classy.

No nightcap song from Donna - maybe another time.  The evening had closed in on us, and the latest Squeeze was in the throes of closing in on itself.  Hesitantly, we shuffled out the door and into another blustery chilled-out evening.  Dayglo just might seriously consider hosting a Squeeze night in the privacy of Dayglo's home one of these evenings.  Light the fires and settle in for some honest sharing, West Coast style... 

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