Paul Carerra writes for Nightshift and is a Little Fish squid. He has arranged this accoustic gig to support pump aid. It takes £250 to build an elephant pump and provide water to a village. He has gathered some fine artists who are friends of his, including Juju from Little Fish and Reverse E who are also friends of mine, Joe Allen who I've seen a couple of times and Brooks from Pennsylvania who is playing his first gig in England. It's a fine evening. Juju is leaving on holiday in the morning and is a little distracted. Her Patti Smith song which gets its first performance doesn't come out quite right. I suppose you might call it an off night, but even so she still blows away most bands.
Reverse E are going through something of a transition; tonight they are stripped back. It is a slightly odd as I am so familiar with their normal show, which features virtually a live performance of their cd. It is difficult to put myself in the shoes of someone seeing them for the first time. Overall I think their show more visual and makes their musicianship more visable. Playing computers (as they essentially do in their normal show) doesn't neccessarily require any ability to play all the instruments you hear. Seeing instruments played is more satisfying (especially for photographers).
The crowd is good and largely watch the bands from first to last with appreciative applause for each. £240 is collected from the door and somewhere another £10 is donated so that the evening pays for a pump for a village in Africa. An excellent evening all round. James on the sounddesk also deserves a mention for donating his time.

Little Fish are playing a party at the Exeter Hall in Oxford. They have asked the Joe Allen Band to support them. The whole gig starts and finishes early which is nice for a change. Both bands play good sets and I'm home by 11.

I had slight worries that this would be a dull accoustic night with only JuJu worth seeing. How wrong I was, Sneaky Pete had organised an interesting evening of variety and quality.Regular readers will be aware I'm not a big fan of people who just strum a few chords on an accoustic guitar. This is probably because I'm not a musician but a photographer, so I like to see people moving.
The upstairs room at the Port Mahon is already well populated when I arrive. People are neatly arranged around tables, but soon it becomes a real squeeze. The evening starts with a gentle performance from a woman who is joined by a man on a banjo. Its a bit close to my vision of accoustic...but after dozing through the first half (too many late nights) I warm to the sound by the end, and join the warm applause at the end.
Next up is Joe Allen who at first sight looks like a man with an accoustic guitar, accompanied by a girl on violin. Paul a fellow Little Fish Squid, has told me that they are exceptionally good, so I don't let appearences put me off. Indeed Joe does offer a strident and lively performance. Again the crowd are warm in their applause.