Potters Tales – Sugg’s One man show
So there
I was in Newtown….. no I haven’t gone back in time to a fictitious northern
town, where gruff Lancastrian scuffers and a softly spoken Irishmen cross
swords with the local hoods with alleged connections to the Merseyside area ?..No,
Newtown mid Wales, home to a boozer /
cum hotel called the Elephant and Castle, a nightclub named Crystals, and the splendid
theatre Hafren. My task, to see Suggs Mc Pherson (him of 80,s an onwards radical pop combo Madness) perform his one man show.
I half
expected /hoped to see a shifty del boy type polishing glasses in the ol’
elephant and castle with his missus playing the ol’ Joanna, tales of the Richardson’s, looking after their
own, jellied eels, naww, just some very polite aussie girl dishing out local
fare.
The pub
came alive during a televised Man U Spurs one half supporting the team playing
Man U (Time to polish me monocle and get up to that there theatre) Now I’m not
a regular theatre goer but when I spied the polo mints on the punter side of the counter, I knew I
was with trusting folk, or was it a cunning plan to see if......
Anyway
the lights dimmed, let the show begin! Suggs appeared, dapper as ever, accompanied
by Deano an ivory tinkering, guitar
strumming Yiddo (*more about him later). Its true to say Potter and McPherson
have shared the odd dram over the years but did he put me on the guest list?
Did he fuck! So, enough of this name dropping bollocks, let the hatchet Job
begin. What followed was, at times, a moving account (or did I have something
in my eye) of his life, delivered in some style. (Tommy Cooper meets Dave Allen
and its not over yet). If Suggs ever does decide to hang up his pork pie hat, a
stand up jaunt would be worth a blast. At the very least this one man deserves
a good run, and is truly worthy of your attention.
* Deano reminded me of legendary scouse roadie “Davo”, the type of
dude who can make a snare drum ready for studio use from a couple of ash trays
a packet of rizlas and some very pliable gaffa tape.
The
after show lig, if you can call it
that, didn’t get off too famously. Suggs informed me he could’nt show for a
drink cos at that present time he was standing in his bills,......time to meet
the locals. One young punter whose baptism of Madness occurred at Cardiff when
he was a wee boy, (a gig I incidentally attended as page boy to scouse
pranksters The Farm who supported), froze in time as McPhearson, trousered up
and made his understated entrance. .
A POINT
OF INFORMATION, regarding the aforementioned gig; I / WE (my loyal roommate and
I ) did not steal LEE THOMPSONS (sax
player extraordinaire) Mersey-style bubble jacket! So he really didn’t have to kick our room door in looking for it!
Why was I on the roof when the raid happened ??........Too many questions which
need the mind of a good brief before they can legally be crossed..
Anyway, so me, the missus, Suggs, Deano and co-writer, Toby made our way back
to a creepy hotel…. which was only lacking a ghostly figure shouting “go baaaaaaaack”! as Scooby hid under a sleeping bag and shaggys
teeth chattered, ....... (keep up plebs).
Deano (who
had 50 snots on his team to beat Man U 3-1, Hence the non anti sematic remark. Earlier,
at odds of 50-1,… the final score being 3-2), was in full swing with ghostly
tales fueled by drink and the odd Hamlet cigar, (apt I thought). I Responded
with the escapades of spring heeled jack,who they say ran
along the rooftops of Great Homer Street
Liverpool. The candles flickered in the earthy chill. The night ended to soon
after. And, o.k, I admit I slept with
the light on!......,those ghosts can walk through walls yer know.
Now hang on while i get me kecks on"
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You
can still buy The END BOOK and see more of Mick Potters brilliant musings, some
lns & Outs, mad letters, good poems,
shite poems ..and fuckin millions of spelling mistakes and bad grammar, as the
book reviewers (poncy southern, ex student types) keep pointing out.
There’s
a limited amount of signed copies in Waterstones on Bold Street and in the
Liverpool 1 as well as a few remaining copies in the Ormskirk Waterstones store... and of course you can still get it on line
here.
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