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Tuesday 7 April 2009

Borderline Barry is Back!

Barry Marshall-Everitt may not be a name much known outside of the insiders, but for many years he was one of the unsung heroes of the London music scene. When he was the booker at the Borderline off Charing Cross Road there was a constant stream of excellent live acts, and it became a regular haunt. Since he left a couple of years ago I have barely been back - there just isn’t the quality there was.

The good news is that Barry is back. The Fridge in Brixton is going to start promoting live music again for the first time in many years, and they have taken Barry on as head booker. The first gigs are expected in June or July, all being well.

To celebrate this good news I thought I would post something that reminded me of a memorable Borderline gig. The problem has been narrowing it down. There was Tom Russell (many times), Robbie Fulks, The Seeds, North Mississippi All Stars, The Creekdippers featuring Victoria Williams playing a banjo with a wah-wah pedal, Southern Culture on the Skids getting women on stage to throw fried chicken at the audience, and the time David Olney played for an audience that consisted of me, Mr F and the support act. And many more.

In the end I settled on The Holmes Brothers - probably the best bar band in the world - and their fantastic rendition of “Love Train”. The studio version doesn’t quite do it justice but is still pretty great.

http://www.box.net/shared/ea9xo5xmoo

And here is a clip of them doing Hank's "I Saw The Light":

4 comments:

  1. ...mind you one look at his Facebook friends list suggests you are underestimating his fame: http://www.facebook.com/friends/?id=571569012

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  2. ... even more Barry:
    http://www.myspace.com/barryrhino

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  3. An impressive list indeed, but are they REAL friends? And I suspect "Howling Wolf" is not the legendary bluesman who died in 1976.

    I see Pete Wylie is on there. I really must post that rare Crucial Three 12" some time.

    ReplyDelete