Friday, July 31, 2015

A Battle Hero and A Pub Singer – Jim Radford with Ross Altman at The Coffee Gallery

The real British Invasion did not take place on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, but twenty years before on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. And it will be coming to the Coffee Gallery Backstage this coming Sunday, August 2, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets at 18.00.

Jim Radford is England’s best-known folk singer and sea shanty singer. His current notoriety is largely due to the BBC’s belated discovery last year that he is also Britain’s youngest surviving D-Day veteran, a true profile in courage at the age of 15, as well as the only one who has written a decent song about it—The Shores of Normandy—one that has struck an emotional chord with most of the people who have heard it, including the Queen—which he will sing tonight. Before that and throughout the sixties and seventies he was even better known as an anti-nuclear activist and prisoner of conscience, as well as a successful organizer of major community action campaigns, which may account for the many protest songs in his repertoire.

All the songs Jim sings tell a story. Some need no introduction, while with others he will often explain the background or tell a related anecdote that links it to his interests or those of his audience. Jim carries on a tradition of a capella singing of Shanties and forebitters, linked to the great shanty singers of the past such as the late Stan Hugill and Cyril Tawney going back to the 19th Century. Jim Radford sang his now classic D-Day song in a command performance at the Royal Albert Hall 70th anniversary commemoration last year broadcast on the BBC. The BBC was made famous during World War II as the source of war correspondent Edward R. Murrow’s broadcasts, “This is London.”

For those unfamiliar with England’s concert geography and iconography, that is the Hall made famous by John Lennon’s quip “Rich people in the box seats don’t need to clap—you can simply rattle your jewelry;” and Bob Dylan’s 1966 post-electric tour where he was accused of being “Judas!” for abandoning his acoustic guitar. In short, is Britain’s Carnegie Hall, and we are fortunate to have their most recent hit-maker sing in our favorite coffee house concert venue. How great is that? History is coming to the Coffee Gallery Backstage, and you have the rare opportunity to be an eye-witness to it.

Opening for Jim and MC’ing the concert will be L.A.’s own Ross Altman, prolific topical folk singer/song-fighter and staff writer for FolkWorks, www.folkworks.org. Ross is the Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest Music Legend Award winner for 2010, their 50th anniversary. He heads the Santa Monica Traditional Folk Music Club and is a loyal member of Local 47. Singing in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Lead Belly, with six-and-twelve string guitars, five-sting long neck banjo and harmonicas, Ross is known for his historical songs and activism for social justice, and for satirical protest songs that prompted Kris Kristoffersen to say (from the front row of a large fundraiser they were both singing for), “Altman, you’re one damn funny son-of-a bitch!”

Don’t miss Jim Radford’s one-of-a-kind trans-Atlantic concert and show by a member of England’s greatest generation—who helped defeat fascism and save Western Civilization in 1944, and today stands proud as an elder statesman of Veterans for Peace.

You don’t get this chance often. Take it!

Los Angeles folk singer Ross Altman may be reached at greygoosemusic@aol.com

The Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N. Lake Ave., Altadena, (626) 798-6236 or visit www.coffeegallery.com.