I arrived, as it turned out, at the fashionably late time of 8.25 by which time the church was packed, but I managed to find an empty pew at the back of this fabulous old church to once again tap into the spirit that made Joseph of Aramathea visit this spot back in the real old days when it still had a Roman Temple where the church now stands. It's easy to see (and feel) it has been an established place of worship for more than 1600 years even if the cracks in the walls seem to be growing, so we all need to chip into the church's current appeal to help save it. Find out more about this campaign at: St. Pancras Old Church restoration campaign online.
It turned out I had missed most of PAUL FONFARA'S Paul Fonfara Facebook page opening set and I only heard his last song which was performed on clarinet, Guitar whistles and some looping while he also sang. Not bad for one bloke who may have needed a little divine help to pull it all off. The one song I heard was OK but I really needed to hear more to decide how much I liked him.
After a very short break JIM WHITE came on at 8.45 with Paul Fonfara as his accompanist. While Jim mainly played guitar, Paul - during the 2 hour 20 minute set - played clarinet, bass clarinet, guitar, trumpet and anything else he could lay his hands on.
Jim started with a slow, slightly sepulchral song about how he felt he had been Hammered on. He has a nice, gently easy presence and it soon became apparent for this first timer that he really enjoys talking as much as he does singing. He thanked us all for showing up in this great church and showed us his rather over the top Jesus shirt with four full sized Jesus heads on it. The shirt was being auctioned off after the show for charity, apparently.
After this, he told us the story of Epilogue For A Marriage before he sang the rather sad song of a relationship on the rocks and falling apart. His marriage had done so shortly after writing the song that appears on his Where It Hits you album, released on Loose Music online. The song itself was played in a rather affecting klezmer style that simply accentuated the sadness in the lyrics.
Jim then told us about how he was "a disaffected Born Again Christian WASP" which in the old days would have gotten him into a fight in this Anglo-Catholic Church. Instead, tonight, it got a round of applause as he went on to name-check one of the more nutty evangelizing priests he used to hang out with who is now preaching fire and brimstone in Deptford. Seems reasonable, as it is of course the modern day equivalent to Gomorrah.
He then played a new instrumental piece for two guitars that should be on his next album. It was really nice and allowed us all to float away a bit, looking at how the candlelight was playing on the altar and the statues of Jesus in the church.
The next tale was about how the three guitars he was playing tonight had cost him a total of $90 and were all bought in thrift stores. This led into a long tale about Mr Pinto and Harry and the song of that name. It was really cool to hear someone preaching about the darker sides of life and what kind of effect his own religious upbringing and life had had on him while in church.
My favourite tale of the evening was about how while living in Pensacola (I think), Jim was in a real back woods community and suffering from peritonitis that he couldn't afford to get cured as he lived in a nation too dumb and un-Christian to provide universal health care. He would read the local crime column and note all the weird names of the perps from Von Kish O'May Golden to Cissy Butts Possy and eventually after a very long tale he sang a great song that used many of the names. Damn, he made me want to give him a tour of Rainham Jewish cemetery to introduce him to Fay Handworker, Dumba Bell and Fanny Gorelick and the gang.
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Next we were off to Amsterdam where Jim lived in penury above a brothel whose over ripe Lady kept trying to tempt him with the two word entreaty "Why Not?" He claims he resisted her charms but not the charms of the Thalidomide blues player he found on the streets one day and the tune he played in tribute was fantastic. It had some of the evening's best interplay between him and Paul as they evoked the blues of Amsterdam in the song Here I Am. At least, I think that was the title.
He kept in the blues vein for Reason To Cry and gave us more than one reason that was more than good enough before we got to the Surfing preacher man bible studies section of the evening. This gave an insight into Jim's life and the type of bible bashers he hung out with when he was a younger man working any job he could find and then taking heaps of acid. While tripping on the acid by a beach getting overtaken by a tornado, that is. This was a very funny story that eventually led into the song A Perfect Day To Chase Tornadoes. The song wasn't quite as good as the story but then it's a corker of a story.
Now by this time I was getting a little uncomfortable in my pew but Jim was getting into it and gave us a surreal tale about being asked to go and support Morcheeba on tour at the height of their fame and the subsequent mishaps that befell him on his way to join the tour, staying in one of the most run down middle of nowhere motels you could imagine. From his description, it wasn't somewhere most of us would want to go and stay. This story eventually led to the brilliant song That Girl From Brownsville and yes it's about that place and not the drug addiction Brownsville can be used to describe that concerns taking too much Morcheeba!!
It was back to the motel stories for the tale of the Freaky Tiki Motel: a place I think I would run from and not check in. But Jim is made of sterner stuff than I am and, damn, what a tale that you'd need to confess to knowing afterwards. Still at least he made an old Ho happy with a nice Innocent kiss while trying to proselytise in as godless a place as he could find or work at.
That led to The Way to Love: a really nice sweet tune with the duo's sounding suitably restrained. It was all about playing the bare minimum of notes to convey the feelings in the lyrics.
By now it was getting late and one or two people started to leave before the end, which was a shame as they missed finding out how Jim had been stabbed in the heart before a wonderful version of Chase The Dark Away, which in a church as dark as this took some chasing.
He was told he was out of time, but after some begging Jim was allowed to play one final song: the quite beautiful Bluebird that meant he finished playing just after 11.05 by which time I needed to spend some time getting feeling back in my legs before going. Jim then manned his own CD stall and insisted on having a conversation with anyone buying anything from him.
What a gentleman Jim turned out to be. A quite wonderful performer and storyteller who will make you think about many things after seeing him live. His tour continues and more dates can be found here: Jim White online
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