An Evening with Dan Stuart @ The Globe By Juan Fitzgerald
For one night only, the Jumpin Hot Club’s return at the Globe pub on the outskirts of Newcastle felt a bit like a little cantina in a Mexican border town. Partly due to the Indian summer heatwave and the image of Dan Stuart tuning up his acoustic guitar outside, in the deserted street , watched by three hombres from the Jumpin Hot Club (ed- we thought he was going busking !!). Sounding rather like a character from a Coen Brothers film perhaps played by Jeff Bridges but singing like he was Neil Young in the 1970s, Tucson based Dan had the audience enthralled right from the get go. One fan was even sporting a vintage Green on Red t shirt from 1991 (& it fit him) & wasn’t to be disappointed as old tunes like ” Rock and Roll Disease” with its Chuck Berry riffs never sounded better. Another GOR favourite was “Time Ain’t Nothing” introduced in a long & funny ramble and memories of William Holden the actor who died when Dan was twenty one , appearing on the Johnny Carson tv show , and looking so cool in a beige safari suit. “Time ain’t nothing when your young at heart and your soul it still burns ” went the lyrics . Other highlights included “No Free Lunch Today” and “Last Century Blues “, alongside a cover of a song by mate Tom Heyman & an old Bill Kirchen, Commander Cody tune “ Down To Seeds & Stems Again Blues” which he learnt in the Arizona heatwave & it made for a great finale. Interspersed with the splendid music in this 2 part theatre like show, were readings from his third ‘desert noir’ novel, in his Marlowe trilogy series. I’ll not say too much about the book but it’s well worth purchasing & concerns a body found in the bunker of a golf course, and so much more. With Dan Stuart his real life and fiction seem to overlap as he told the story of nearly getting kidnapped in Mexico City , this more to do with him not paying attention, rather than in the capital with one of the highest crime rates in the world !. After the gig Dan was more than happy to mingle with the fans and chat , before heading up to Scotland for a gig , hoping as his social page indicated, to have a swim on the way up ! A class act .
