Last night was my compering debut at the Listening Room. I discovered tearing raffle tickets along perforated lines is harder than you think when you’re in a hurry. Oh well. There weren’t many people present but they were committed and enthusiastic audients (the few that weren’t left) for Daniel Vzeu and the open mic sessioners including the renamed Spamborskee – Sparrowhawk! Apparently a manager in Glasgow who’s seen his potential and is keen to work with him insisted on a name change. ‘Spam has bad connotations for computer users’ (honest!) ‘Puggled is too Scottish’. Spam (sorry about any offence or upset caused by the use of the word, geeks) asked for a bird encyclopedia. Naturally, the manager had one. The pages riffled through, he came up with Sparrowhawk. So Sparrowhawk (singing about circling seagulls looking for kebabs) will take Glasgow by storm. I hope so. A performer who uses maturity to his advantage, with the cheek of Alex Harvey but a passionate commitment to his own vision. The headline, Daniel Vzeu, is a good communicator in another way, supremely confident and funny without being self-deprecating, with a nice turn of jazzy changes and a great vocal range; he deserved a bigger audience than he got last night, but I’m sure he’ll get them in future.
It looks like my gig next Sunday at the Village will be an acoustic one, as Sound Control are having difficulties getting a replacement pickup for my guitar synth in time.