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        Pete Atkin >> Gigs >> 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
        
(Message started by: Pete Atkin on Today at 12:13)

Title: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Pete Atkin on Today at 12:13

Not finally confirmed, but looking pretty good, I'll be gigging here with the trio (Simon, Mark and Roy) but no Alan Barnes, I'm afraid. Also no Sarah Moule this time, so I'll be doing the two sets myself. The club doesn't yet have May dates posted on its website, but keep checking - www.606club.co.uk

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Seán Kelly on 21.02.08 at 12:17

Thanks - Excellent news Pete (or 'to be confirmed' news) - especially for those of us who are within striking distance but who can't make the Stables (alright I am thinking of me :)
Seán

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by S J Birkill on 09.04.08 at 17:54

Thought it'd never happen? 606 Club (http://www.606club.co.uk/index.htm) have today updated their Website to include the month of May, with one Pete Atkins (http://www.606club.com/whatson2008/whatson_may08.html) (sic) listed for Monday 12th:

>>In the late60's/early70's whilst still at Cambridge University Pete and a young Australian writer called Clive James got together to form a song writing partnership that would eventually produce 6 critically acclaimed albums. Pete wrote the music and performed the songs and Clive wrote the lyrics. The songs were highly original, beautifully crafted, pieces of work and the duo soon had a strong cult following. However, by the mid 70's with consistent commercial success still alluding them the duo went their separate ways. By the mid 80's Pete had given up music and become a successful radio producer and Clive, well he went on to become Clive James, the well known Broadcaster and author. However, interest in the music has never waned and in more recent times enough interest in this excellent music, both past and present, has been generated to encourage Pete to return to performing and recording. The new incarnation of the Atkins/James music, best described as "witty and tunefully memorable", has a more "Jazz" based feel then the original and Pete will be performing tonight with an excellent trio led by pianist Simon Wallace (Ian Shaw) with Mark Hodgson (Julian Joseph) bass and Roy Dodds (Jacqui Dankworth) drums. A rare London appearance of this fascinating unique, artist. Not to be missed.

"undervalued ... poignant, funny, often intensely romantic music ... that relies on acutely observed lyrics and nuanced emotions" The Times
"melodies influenced by pop, blues and Duke Ellington-era jazz ... complex, witty, often dazzling lyrics" Telegraph
"...the culpably literate duo evoke lost love, beautiful strangers and a unique sense of reverie" Independent<<

Steve

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Ian Sorensen on 10.04.08 at 21:23

I got my confirmation from the 606 Club today that I have a table for two booked for 7.30. Yippee!

In the comments section of the booking form I pointed out the "Atkins" typo. I hope this doesn't adversely impact on my soup....

As it's a while since Yvonne and I have made it to a gig are there any secret signals we need to know? In the old days a simple air of smug knowingness was sufficient to identify fellow Voices. Perhaps we need carnations on our roof, or the mark of Zorro on our brows. Any clues?

I've never seen Pete perform with a band (unless you count the A&R performance in the 70's), so I'm really looking forward to it. Does the set vary much between solo and band gigs?

Wanting of a crust of bread,

Ian Sorensen

Title: Reminder: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by S J Birkill on 06.05.08 at 13:15

For those MV members who might be using our new 'short form (http://www.peteatkin.com/short.htm)' (recent messages only) view, who ignore the News Fader and don't keep up with the Smash Flops (http://www.peteatkin.com/pa.htm) website, a reminder of Pete Atkin's (remember him?) next gig: an appearance next Monday night at the 606 Jazz Club (http://www.606club.co.uk/) in Chelsea (yes, you gotta ride beyond the World's End); a stone's throw from the Harbour, if you can pitch over the Lots Road power station!

Pete will be accompanied by the nucleus of his current band: Mark Hodgson (bass), Roy Dodds (drums) and the estimable Simon Wallace (piano).

Steve

Title: Re: Reminder: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Richard Bleksley on 06.05.08 at 20:21

on 05/06/08 at 13:15:16, S J Birkill wrote :

(yes, you gotta ride beyond the World's End)

Unless, of course, you're coming from Putney on a 22 bus, in which case you'd be the rider almost to the World's End...

Seriously, I will be making efforts to attend (I've already rearranged my work shifts in anticipation), so hopefully there will be at least one other MV there, Ian.

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Ian Sorensen on 06.05.08 at 21:29

Hooray! We won't be alone amongst jazz aficionados in black turtlenecks, all wearing dark glasses and snapping their fingers to a mysterious 9/13 beat only they can detect.

Ian

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by David Morgan on 07.05.08 at 12:52

Just called the club: dinner is part of the deal for non-members. Anyone up for an MVs' table booking?

David M

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Gerry Smith on 07.05.08 at 12:54

I just rang the 606 to book a ticket only to find that dining is mandatory so looks like I won't be going. How disappointing.

I hope those going have a good time and as ever, I'll look forward to the reviews.

Gerry

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Ian Sorensen on 07.05.08 at 12:58

on 05/07/08 at 12:54:43, Gerry Smith wrote :

My understanding is that you need to dine to drink alcohol, but entry does not depend on food.

You are, of course, welcome to sit at our table Gerry and steal a chip or two....

Ian

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Gerry Smith on 07.05.08 at 13:12

Hi Ian

Thanks for your offer. However, it seems the deal is that for non-members a cover for dinner is definitely required although, as you say, the website states that non-members need to dine if they wish to imbibe alcohol, not if they wish to come at all.

Gerry

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Richard Bleksley on 07.05.08 at 14:31

on 05/07/08 at 13:12:35, Gerry Smith wrote :

However, it seems the deal is that for non-members a cover for dinner is definitely required

Yes, this does indeed seem to be the case: the club blames it on "the rather bizarre British licensing laws."

But, hey, I would have been wanting to eat somewhere anyway; and, although their prices seem a bit steep by my standards (but this is Chelsea), at least I won't have to worry about rushing from eatery to venue.

In my particular case there is also the compensation that I won't have to pay a bean to get up there - it's a perk (the only perk, actually) of my job.

Yes, as you may have gathered, I have booked a table. See you there, Ian (and any other MVs who may turn up).

Richard
(with not a paper napkin showing a wrinkle in Sutton, Surrey)

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Gerry Smith on 07.05.08 at 17:14

Hope you all have a good time. Sadly, I will not attend because:
1) during the past 15 months I have followed a strict diet and lost 70LBs in the process so restaurants are a distant memory.
2) I think it is a downright liberty to force music lovers to dine out and is entirely representative of what venues do when they get too big for their boots.

Hey ho.

Gerry

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by BogusTrumper on 08.05.08 at 20:43

W C Fields suggested that his epitaph read "All in all, I would rather be in Philadelphia". Well, infortunately on Monday I will be in Philadelphia :(

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by naomi on 09.05.08 at 02:14

And I, Sir Bogus, will be in Chelsea !

Not a hint of schadenfreude in this posting, you understand ...

Naomi

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Ian Ashleigh on 09.05.08 at 12:50

Sadly, for my musical appreciation and no slight against the city, I shall be in Brimingham on Monday - West Midlands you understand, not Alabama!

I hope its a wonderful evening and I shall be there in spirit.

All the best to all

Ian

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by BogusTrumper on 09.05.08 at 13:50

on 05/09/08 at 12:50:27, Ian Ashleigh wrote :

Well, I was born in Birmingham (UK) and my daughter lives in Birmingham (Alabama). :D

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by naomi on 13.05.08 at 02:42

Tonight Pete - accompanied by Simon Wallace (piano), Mark Hodgson (bass) and Roy Dodds (drums) - won the hearts of a discriminating audience of jazz cognoscenti just off the Kings Rd.

There was a respectable turnout of MVs: not only were the Noble Houses of Birkill and Bleksley in attendance but also familiar faces such as Ian Sorensen and Yvonne, and Sharon and Ian. Nevertheless, the bulk of the audience were new to us, and very appreciative and responsive they were too - gratifyingly so, given that the fare on offer was quite a departure for this leading jazz venue.

The 606 Club is very much my sort of place - downstairs, intimate and atmospheric. There's a low ceiling. It's very much the right kind of venue to hear Pete, I feel - allowing his subtle art to communicate its nuances. It sure did tonight, and Pete was on superb form and fine voice.

Logistics made our trusty scribe Jan unable to "go to Chelsea" (as Mr Elvis Costello put it in another context) - and in her unavoidable absence I took down the set-list. Apologies in advance not only for my lacunae in knowledge and memory but problems in transcribing my illegible handwriting. (I can only assume that what looks in my scrawl like "On Ilkley Moor Baht 'At" should actually read: "I play piano in a jazz quartet").

Simon, seated at an impressive Yamaha Grand, and the band opened the evening with some classy Rodgers and Hart.

They were then joined by Pete, who had brought along his new Atkin guitar, with which he is plainly besotted: a black Small Jumbo Deluxe, which produces a full, warm sound.

They began with Master of the Revels - in the wonderfully sinister arrangement recorded on the new CD. Instruction and delight indeed !

This segued straight into Laughing Boy - and boy, did I like Simon's impassioned piano solo. Throughout the show, Simon provided strong yet never showy impetus.

A nicely insinuating Thief in the Night

Sessionman's Blues - suitably laconic improvisation from Simon

Perfect Moments - that poignant combination of Pete's voice and Simon's piano

"In honour of the weather", Pete said, they then played I Wouldn't Hear a Word Against the Spring in a suitably-cool jazz rendition. Since they put it so convincingly, I shall now stop complaining that it is too hot in London !

Senior Citizens

An Empty Table - just Pete's voice and Simon's piano, of course. So touching.

I've Got Me to Thank

Payday Evening - captivating, charming.

Our excellent Sarah Moule joined Pete to close the first half with a duet of Be Careful When They Offer You the Moon

After the interval - during which Hayley did an excellent job selling CDs ...

Pete sang - just with guitar- Have You Got A Biro I Can Borrow?

Pete then spoke about the website - and there was a fully deserved round of applause for the man who made everything possible, Steve Birkill

Pete then explained that he and Clive had started out intending to write for other singers - such as Julie Covington. His rendition of Winter Kept us Warm had the intimacy that we so prize in his singing

Mark then returned to the stage to accompany Pete in Beware of the Beautiful Stranger

and the rest of the band joined them in The Hypertension Kid (Pete did not play guitar in this one)

then - Screen Freak

Faded Mansion on the Hill - given an intense reading by Pete

Touch has a Memory - with again, an expressive introduction from Simon

Pete's rendition of The Flowers and the Wine was so lovely. For this - and indeed for the rest of the evening, Pete didn't play his guitar but just sang.

Speaking as a singer myself (so I am biased), this is how I best like to hear Pete ... it really allows us to hear his art as a vocalist. Very, very few singers can communicate so much by "less is more"; by sheer timbre and words. It's an instruction and delight !

Pete described the song as "an attempt to expiate the doom by singing about it" .

Then we had Thirty-Year Man

and they closed with Between Us There is Nothing ...

and after very warm applause, an encore: The original Original Honky Tonk Night Train Blues

It was a great night.

Naomi

It only remains for me to record that the apparently now traditional task of driving me back to a station so that I could get the last Tube back to East London was on this occasion carried out by the kind Sarah !

PS: Please feel free to pitch in with corrections, folks

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Seán Kelly on 13.05.08 at 14:52

Thankyou very much for this Naomi - I couldn't be there either - life just got in the way - but thanks so much for this excellent description!
Seán

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Richard Bleksley on 13.05.08 at 22:57

on 05/13/08 at 02:42:12, naomi wrote :

There was a respectable turnout of MVs: not only were the Noble Houses of Birkill and Bleksley in attendance but also familiar faces such as Ian Sorensen and Yvonne, and Sharon and Ian.

Well, that must be the first (and will almost certainly be the last) time I have been referred to as "noble." Pete, on the other hand, catching sight of me and my party in the almost empty club as we were being ushered to a table right by the bandstand (I had, for once in my life, under-estimated the time for a journey) remarked: "Ah, I see some of the usual suspects are here already."

Lady Naomi's remarks about the venue are right on target, especially about it being the right kind of venue for Pete. Intimate? Oh yes. I might almost say "funky." In the more informal atmosphere than at St. George's, and sitting as I was much, much nearer the musicians, Pete's band sound came over with a whole new freshness and immediacy. Oh, and the sound balance was noticeably better than at St. George's. I don't think I've ever enjoyed an Atkin gig more.

As for the compulsory dining, good food, imaginatively prepared, was served with commendable snappiness, at least until the dessert. And it's a real pleasure to be able to enjoy a good dinner and then stay right where you are and hear good music afterwards, all the more so since (as I seem to remember remarking to that nice Mr. Birkill) there usually seems to be a time-eating, stress-raising jinx on my eating before Atkin gigs.

It occurred to me that the band were doing their opening number in a spirit of "Let's play a bit of proper jazz before we have to settle down to backing that Atkin fellow," but that was probably just an outbreak of cynical humour on my part. Whatever the reason, it was a nice showcase for their instrumental talents.

Lest you think that Naomi was going over the top by saying that Pete was "plainly besotted" with his new guitar (this was its first gig), I should add that he described it as "the new love of my life."

I don't think Naomi's set-list needs any corrections as such, but here are a few added comments of my own.

I haven't checked with Jan's spreadsheet, but surely I Wouldn't Hear a Word Against the Spring and Winter Kept Us Warm must count as rarities. I'm sure I've never heard either live before - not that my memory is necessarily to be trusted nowadays.

I don't know whether I was just in the mood for it, but I thought that Pete's and Simon's rendition of An Empty Table was the best version of it I've ever heard. Quite wonderful.

Those of you who are familiar with the spine-chilling gloominess of I've Got Me to Thank may get a bit worried when I say I like it; but I do, and so it was nice to hear it again. Any chance of a recording of it (not to mention And Here We Stay and Time To Burn) any time soon?

Having missed the Wavenden gig (logistics inevitably determined that I should attend this one instead), it was a particularly gratifying surprise when Pete invited Sarah Moule up to join him on Be Careful When They Offer You the Moon. Their duet on this one is, for me, one of the highlights of the Midnight Voices album, and this version was every bit as good.

I particularly enjoyed Mark Hodgson's bass playing on Beware of the Beautiful Stranger: it really drove the number along.

This may well have been the very first time Thirty Year Man has been performed in exactly the sort of setting that the song describes - very appropriate.

Nice to meet up again with Cathy C-M's husband Geoff, whose acquaintance we made at Greenham Common. Cathy herself was unavoidably detained on professional business elsewhere.

All in all, a most enjoyable evening. I believe I overheard somebody from the club inviting Pete back, so who knows? Maybe we'll have the chance to do it all over again sometime.

Richard
(recollecting precisely in Sutton, Surrey)

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Gerry Smith on 17.05.08 at 14:08

I'm pleased to hear the gig went well and that a good time was had by all. Still don't like the idea of compulsory eating. How about compulsory drinking instead? Much better idea.

Looking forward to the next live outing.

regards

Gerry

Title: 606 Club, Chelsea - Reviews and Photos
Post by S J Birkill on 17.05.08 at 14:13

I've now consolidated Naomi's and Richard's reviews into a new page (http://www.peteatkin.com/606.htm) on the SF site, and added a few photos for illustration.

Steve

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Pete Atkin on 17.05.08 at 16:09

Thanks to everyone first of all for coming to the 606, and to Naomi and Richard in particular for their kindnesses and attentivenesses, as well as to Simon, Mark, and Roy for top on-formness; to Steve too for his ultra-discreet photography (just as well: the new guitar was probably a bit shoy on its first time out).

I can't quite believe that no one noticed - maybe it was yet another kind indulgence towards my jet-lag - but for the record I feel compelled to admit that I missed a verse in Beware of the Beautiful Stranger, fortunately the only one that mucks up the narrative the least. Fortunately, Mark picked up my error brilliantly and we coincided on the last verse.

Title: Re: 606 Club, Chelsea - Mon 12th May 2008
Post by Richard Bleksley on 18.05.08 at 12:11

on 05/17/08 at 16:09:09, Pete Atkin wrote :

I can't quite believe that no one noticed - maybe it was yet another kind indulgence towards my jet-lag - but for the record I feel compelled to admit that I missed a verse in Beware of the Beautiful Stranger.

Well, I have to confess that I missed the omission completely, but maybe that's not so surprising in view of what I said about I Wouldn't Hear a Word Against the Spring.

Having said I'd never heard it performed, I now have checked Jan's spreadsheet, only to find, not only that I've heard it twice, but that one of the times was at my very own gig, PoD. Ah me, the senior moments grow ever more frequent...