"Jam nights"

The Proclaimers? I am not into S(onick)M(asochism).

proclaimers ugh. Any jam I've ever done sounds like hawkwind, throbbing gristle or ozric (all right q up 1 at a time)

Yeah! There's a cool one at the Boston Arms at Tufnel Park every Thursday, but it's mainly for 'bands' so there's barely any Phishy crap, they have to have actual songs and everything. Sometimes there's really shitty punk bands who make Eater sound like King Crimson, and sometimes there's some dadaist noise artists who make a racket until the plug gets pulled or everyone leaves.

Yeah, that's it. I don't mean "blues night" or anything (gawd!); I mean the kind of pro-am drunkfest that gets people up plinking out chords who'd never otherwise do it. "And for our next performer, we've got Steve Greenjeans singing 'We Built This City'..." Steve ambles up carrying his plastic Ovation and manages to move you. I love this.

I did acktually once go to a folk night in South Shields. All these old guys getting up & singing "Hard Times of Old England" and suchlike. Quite a lot of it was actually genuinely heartfelt & moving.