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Last week it was festivals. Let us continue. Why not? In one of those strange lulls that sometimes settle over the Bay, it’s actually a pretty quiet September musically. Apologies immediately to all bands playing then whom I have just offended.
By way of example, at Totara Street September brings a couple of tribute nights and a couple of college shows, while in October we can enjoy Mountain Boy, Reb Fountain, Mike Love and Tiki Taane, Sean Kirk, Louis Baker – part of the Tauranga Arts Festival – Flamingo Pier, and on October 30, the legendary Mudhoney.
Meanwhile, at the Historic Village they’re gearing up for the Tauranga Fringe Fest on October 24. There is a general callout for anyone wanting to be involved, be it musicians, poets, puppeteers, dancers, circus acts, comedians, fashion designers, magicians, DJs, buskers, beatboxers, street artists, or whatever pops your performative cork.
Creative juices run wild
I love the fringe festival. It’s basically an unpaid event for performers, but it offers them the opportunity to let their creative juices run wild; to do whatever they want, however weird or wacky or challenging.
The organising team at the Incubator are experts at encouraging that to happen. They really are the friendliest and most inspiring group of people, so if you have a great idea, do talk to them – they will help you make the most of it.
Back to the Tauranga Arts Festival, which runs from October 22 to November 1. Being an old-time blues buff, my eyes went straight to Li’l Chuck The One Man Skiffle Machine.
One guy, many acts
Li’l Chuck is one of the many noms-de-plume of ex-UK Christchurch musician David Thorpe. Many? He’s also Davey Backyard, The Skeatles, The Harmonica Guy, The Old Fashioned Singalong, Ale House Rock and more ... he describes himself as “one guy, with a ton of different music and creative projects and a brain like a firework display”.
Under the Li’l Chuck moniker alone, he’s released five albums, songs inspired by sounds from the 1930-1950s: blues, early jazz, western swing, ragtime and more, presented in a one-man band format, with acoustic guitar, harmonica and his two feet pounding a kick and hi-hat.
Even that pales in comparison to my all-time favourite one-man band, the amazing Jesse ‘Lone Cat’ Fuller. His most famous song was The San Francisco Bay Blues and he went one step further than Li’l Chuck: Fuller simultaneously sang and played a 12-string guitar, harmonica, kazoo, hi-hat and fotdella. Fotdella? It’s a foot-operated bass, consisting of a box shaped like a double bass, with a short neck and six piano bass strings. It looks as amazing as it sounds.
He’s not to be confused with Jessie ‘Blind Boy’ Fuller, one of the many blind guitar virtuosos from the 1930s. See also Rev Gary Davis, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake. Tangentially, when Blind Boy Fuller died, the record company tried to make a few bucks by passing off another player as Blind Boy Fuller 2. That was Brownie McGhee.
Hear Winston’s latest Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/2h7stvpm