Open Mic performances and some busking news

Not me. Gotta say that from the very start. Not me.

Many years ago, back in the old forum, some of the elder-statesmen may recall that I shared a few videos of my grandson, Cameron, as a young teenager playing a bunch of songs. I was teaching him from raw beginner and he had made great progress in his first nine months, singing and playing too. We stuck a camera in front of him and he ran through these, all from 14 years ago.

In the intervening period other interests took him in different directions - notably acting (he joined an amateur dramatic group aged 15 and went on to a 1st class degree in performance, plus he has had several professional acting roles, as an extra or a performer role, on stage and screen) and teaching (he is a qualified primary school teacher).
In his most recent theatre role in summer 2023 (a play called Steel & Iron at Middlesbrough Town Hall), he had an acting and singing part which gave him a huge confidence boost, musically speaking. He had never taken his guitar out and played music for anyone but family or friends.

Fast forward to the present day. Just a few weeks ago on 17th December, in the run up to Christmas, he decided to take his acoustic and a Roland Street Cube and went busking. In his first 45 minute session he earned ÂŁ36. He sent me this overjoyed and gobsmacked message.

image

For those who don’t know, Redcar is in north-east England, on the north sea coast, and the December wind and cold are biting. It is a town where carrying lots of surplus cash is not exactly the common experience. It is a post-industrial town suffering much socio-economic deprivation. Those good folks showed some true festive generosity.
It got better. He returned several days later and, in a 3 hour stint, earned over ÂŁ300. Holy cow. One extraordinarily generous man listened to several songs, gave him ÂŁ20 and told him he should be on stage. He went back a couple more times and was high on the buzz of getting out there and playing and singing each time. He took his younger brother once and during his own short stint he earned some money too!

Two weeks ago, at his enthusiastic prompting, we went with Cameron to his first Open Mic night. His name went in and, can you believe it, he was selected to perform first. He jumped in and went for it. Three songs, straight off.

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Open Mic 11 January 2024

Cameron

Sting - Englishman In New York

Original - Heart Of Stone

Jake Bugg - Trouble Town

We were so proud of him. He didn’t know what to expect, the standard of performer, the reception he might receive, whether he’d do himself justice etc. etc.
And, as an added bonus, at the end of the evening, there was a little time left over so the MC asked if Adam would like to perform a song. To our great surprise and delight he said yes and ended the night as his brother had started it - by giving us all a thrill and a moment to savour. Adam had never before sang into a microphone, let alone one connected to a pa at a reasonable volume with a stage monitor. When he first spoke into it for a sound check he said, “1 2” followed instantly by, “Wow, that’s loud!” haha

Adam

Steven Sanchez - Until I Found You

Well, both Cameron and Adam had caught the bug and no sooner had we left they were saying they wanted to do it all again next week. Which they did …

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Open Mic 18 January 2024

They were given two consecutive slots. Adam performed one song on his own to begin.

Adam

Budapest - George Ezra

Then they performed a song together

To Be So Lonely - Harry Styles

Then Cameron did some songs on his own

Seventeen Going Under - Sam Fender

Too Close - Alex Clare

Plus, at the end of the evening, Cameron was asked if he would like to perform some more. He played Trouble Town again. Then, for his closing piece, he sang a song he had just begun to learn, so asked for a little audience participation with the lyric.

Trouble Town - Jake Bugg https://youtu.be/5fUcZ3k9cMI

Rocky Raccoon - The Beatles

The next instalment …

Well, Cameron flies out to Vienna today for a seven week job teaching English in Austria then Germany. Adam has said he wants to go to another Open Mic in his own right, without big brother. So watch this space!

:smile:

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O Richard :smiley:
I just finished the first one. :boom:…have to leave soon but…I was captivated from the first seconds WOW
Greetings

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Wow - there’s some super talent there Richard - You’re right to be very proud!

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Holy cow!!! :flushed:
That was awsome! What a voice on those boys! That was crazy good.
They were all amazing, but that englishman in new york was something really special.
It kind of looks and sounds like they have finished up grade 1 :rofl::rofl::rofl:

You have every right to be proud, that was amazing!

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Fabulous story, and so encouraging. I love it when people are generous too
I’ll take a proper look at all the vids
:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Hi Cameron and Adam,

I know time is relative but when my wife said earlier…we’re leaving in 10 minutes…and I’m still sitting at the computer :upside_down_face:

But speaking to Richard hoping he let you boy`s take note of all the good things that will typing here …
That son Cameron can play and preform, wow what proud parents you must have been and still are … and then the dessert that Adam was going to give had to come…and more and more , really great job from Adam and it only got better and better in the following videos … … I hope that the boys did not experience situations like those during Tom Jones’ performances, because then those boys will have needed therapy with some the old people I saw on screen :smile:, but they deserve all the praise and pieces of clothing being thrown… they stand on stage as if it were their living room so relaxed :sunglasses:
:clap: :clap: :clap: :sunglasses: :sunglasses: :sunglasses: :bouquet: :bouquet: :man_bowing:
BIS…BIS…BIS… :clap: :clap:

Greetings,Rogier

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Haha - same here. I only wanted to look up one of Justin’s videos and to take a quick look at what’s going on in the community… One hour later… I’m still watching theses videos …
Incredible performances. I especially liked the original song. What a story. Richard, you can be very proud of your grandsons and yourself.

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Wonderful story, Richard, thanks for sharing and enjoy basking in reflected glory.

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Great story from an obviously proud Grandpa. Your family must have a musical gene.

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I can feel the power of his trained diaphragm through his voice; quelle puissance!

Thanks for sharing this great story ^^

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Wow wow wow what great performances.

Cameron’s a “natural” performer. The quotes reflecting his obvious application of his acting skills, making this a performance and not just a bloke singing a song on a stage. Very entertaining, great playing and super vocals. And for a first time performance Adam was superb.

As for the busking, jeepers they breed them tough up their. Closest I got to Redcar was Saltburn, late summer and damn near got frost bite form what I recall. Oh and swimming in the sea at Kettleness, which did things to the anatomy I shudder to remember.

The early vids were a little before my early days here but great to see how folk can grow with good nurturing and teaching. Will catch the others later.

Great share.

:sunglasses:

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That was really cool Richard and 2 very talented kids! I am sure you are very proud!

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Wow! Impressive! What a talent! :clap: :smiley: :+1:
Thanks for sharing, Richard :sunglasses:

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Well done Richard, those musical genes were definitely from you and your Mrs :grinning:

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Definitely a very proud grandad and rightly so. They were some top notch performances from both Cameron and Adam.

I really enjoyed Cameron’s original song.

A great story and thanks for the share. Obviously it all started with the teacher.

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What a great story. Fabulous performances, owning the stage and wow what a voice, brilliant. Looking forward to more instalments from Cameron and Adam.
Best wishes Alan

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Wow! That’s great… something to aspire to.

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OK wasn’t expecting that - that was jaw-droppingly good! I listened to Englisman in NY first, and it was blindlingly obvious from the first chord that there was some serious talent there. Congratulations both.

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