Having been rejected
by the Queen and demobbed from the RAF, I threw away my Brylcream
and got on with my life. Back to Glasgow and the Shipyard.
The folk scene was booming then and it wasn't long before
I met up again with the lads at the Glasgow Folk Centre where
I again became a regular. The Folk centre was open most evenings
for Guitar, banjo and other folk instrument lessons. The building
it was housed in was a condemned tenement just off George
Street in the city centre. The creaks and groans of the floorboards
and the walls was perfect accompaniment for some of the music.
(Especially the groans!) Friday night was "Come all Ye"
night which was run in blackboard concert format. Saturday
night was similar except that the second half was usually
reserved for a guest artiste. A star! (This was a similar
format to the South Coast Folk Club Mini Concert Nights).
Entry was Five shillings per head and NO alcoholic beverages
were allowed in the door.....except for the anointed few.
Tea and coffee was served on the premises at the exorbitant
price of sixpence per cup...biscuits were extra. We had no
amplification at first but by 1962 the club progressed into
the near digital era and purchased one microphone. I think
it was about six months later that it was realized you had
to have an amplifier to go with it! Still, it had sounded
great up until then.
The club had a purely listening audience which were a dream
to perform for. A bouncer was employed to remove any rowdy
element. Quite often we had to restrain him from ejecting
the performers.
I met up again with Hamish (Imlach) and our friendship was
renewed. This got me in with the crowd that travelled around
to the other clubs as far away as Paisley, Dumbuck and Edinburgh.
The Bob Dylan era was in full swing by this time and hundreds
of hopefuls were learning how not to play the guitar and harmonica
so as they could sound just like him. Our group were now past
that and were more into Celtic music (Pronounced Seltic) with
a smattering of songs which had emigrated to the great USA
many years before. More on the personalities later.
Amongst this busy life I had to find time for courting Rita
and have some input into our wedding arrangements. We were
engaged before I started my National Service and only now
did I realized that she was a very good singer. It was only
after we were married that we were able to do something about
it.
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