On my first vist to the Coventry Arts Umbrella for the Transcendental Cauldron in Oct 1969, a guy called Arol (who
some of you know!) was making a strange vibrating noise with his mouth! Curious, I asked him what on earth it was. "A Jew's Harp" he said. Of course I had to have one. Apart from trying impress people with my 'weirdness' I used to use it for working out the tune or rhythm to songs that i wrote often on the way home from gigs or the Umbrella in small hours of the morning. I lived 3 miles out of the centre at Willenhall or later 6 miles out at Shilton, so it was a long walk and you had to keep your mind occupied.
Fast forward to Thursday 25th February 1971 Medicine Head (whose record His Guiding Hand) on John Peel's Dandelion Label I had just bought), were playing at Henry's Blues House at the Mercers Arm in Cov. Drummer Steve Harrison gave me a lift and we met up with the two Jan's and Louise and Jackie who were friends from the Umbrella band nights.
Peter Hope Evan's ( the Blues and Jew's Harpist with the duo) was off ill and a mysterious electric guitarist was playing with him.
John Fiddler asked from the stage if there was anyone in the house who could play Jew's Harp. I would never in a million years have volunteered my self on stage (especially as I had only read a few poems out at the Umbrella up to then!) but the Jan's volunteered me, and up I had to get! I didn't consider myself good enough to replace Peter but they wanted a few good vibes coming through the microphone so I did what I could.
When I got on the stage, the roadie opened a box of the largest Jew's Harps I'd ever seen and invited me to
pick a
Jews harp from the box!! It was huge and I felt like I was playing an earthquake! I was asked to share the mic with the mysterious guitar player. My mouth was dry so the guitarist shared his beer with me. "What key are we in" shouted the guitarist and off they went with me trying to improvise on Jew's harp, expecting to get thrown offstage any minute for incompetence. I was amazed and mesmerised at the skill of the guitarist who I watched close up, trying not to drink all of his beer in the breaks between numbers. After three or four numbers, they released me and the show got more rocky. Being an opportunist, and having made acquaintance with the roadie, I went up to ask if they wanted a gig at the Umbrella and how much they might charge. He understood the financial plight of the Umbrella and gave me the contact of the manager and suggested he might do a deal seeing as it was a small venue. The deal was still too expensive for the Umbrella as it turned out but the roadie turned to me and said - "do you know who you just shared a mic with?" . "No Idea", said I. "That was Keith Relf - former Yardbird". Phew! Rock n Roll (as they say!). Oh and they let me keep the giant Jew's Harp!
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