A drier Northside jam

After being almost washed away in a storm in July, it was good to see some normality return to Geebung Bowls Club on Wednesday.  A crowd of forty players, singers and observers enjoyed songs from The Grandees, Totally Insane and Ukulele Saints.

The Grandees played a tribute to Russell Morris with Wings of an Eagle as he is on his final tour before retiring.  They had everyone singing on Always Something Left to Remind Me and rocked the room with Billy Swan’s I Can Help.  

(L to R) Graham, Rose and Kevin)

In California Dreaming, they brought Russell on stage to sing the echo vocals on California Dreaming.

Totally Insane – Derek and Donna Farrell and Kevin Buckley – took us through an Elvis set.  We played the roof off with Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock and all got a little teary on Love Me Tender, Blue Hawaii, and It’s Now or Never.  Great singing!

(L to R) Derek, Donna and Kevin (again)

Ukulele Saints played a varied and interesting set. Starting off with End of the Line and Ferry Cross the Mersey, they challenged us with a Tyrone and Leslie exercise using scarily named chords like Gadd9 and Dsus (which were really pretty easy to play).  More demanding was She’s So High but Come a Little Bit Closer was more straightforward (with Caroline providing trumpet backing on the keyboards).  We were sent home with Status Quo’s version of All Around My Hat as an earworm.

(L to R) Caroline, Mark, Pete and Frank