It's getting very close to main festival season here in Kent. Broadstairs Folk Week is but a fortnight away and then it's Faversham Hops two weeks after Broadstairs finishes and the Deal Maritime a little after that. A few weeks later, the season closes with Tenterden. And then it's just sessions until St Patrick's night when it all starts again.
The sessions have been bouncing along quite nicely thank you with no great surprises. Dan the Fisherman is back from university after gaining a 2:1 in something like Fisheries Management (or a degree in prawn fishing as our accordionist puts it) and already has a job! It sound like a cross between Council licensed Greenpeace meets Francis Drake but I'm sure it's not. Anyway it's in Dorset and it's protecting fish stocks.
What else have we seen? Younger musicians taking an interest (progeny of the sessioneers) - always a good thing and Heather Grabham making another welcome appearance. And welcome back Fox who is a Sussex lad I believe but has some nice tunes and don't you go believing all that rivalry between Sussex and Kent nonsense. I think it's Marsh propaganda to keep the smuggling secret. Ooops I've just let out the secret. Never mind. Read Dr Sin. Or maybe it's the cricket rivalry. Anyway we like each other really. Honest. I remember a grand session in the bar at Doris's on the Marsh a few years ago where the fine musical traditions of Kent and Sussex met for an enjoyable evening. Especially as Doris was trying to charge pre-decimal prices for the beer. The wartime posters are genuine - it's never been decorated. It has won a CAMRA award for recreating the atmosphere of bygone days - Flag floor, gravity dispensed beer, wartime decor. It's all real - it's always been like that! Well since the war obviously. If you did take the WWII posters down, there'd probably be Napoleonic War posters underneath.
Don't forget - if you want a session 11th - 17th August, join Paul Lucas at the lunchtime session in the Lord Nelson at Broadstairs. There are other sessions going on as well, but Paul's are a kind of institution.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Friday 13th July 2007
In the wonderful world of sessions, some weeks are good and some weeks are less good - for various reasons.
Within the same week, our Irish session was badly depleted while the mixed lumpy session had a staggering 14 musicians at one point including two guests from the Czech Republic who delighted us with a rendition of Jesse James - in Czech!
No accounting for why the fortunes go the way they do - not long ago it was the Irish session which had a large influx. It just goes to show that you can never tell what is going to happen and it is worth while persevering.
Worth mentioning in passing is the Orchestre Super Moth (Tiger Moth + World Roots friends). If you get a chance to hear their CD Mothballs, do so. They have done just about everything imaginable to the Harmless English Tune - Benga, Reggae, Tango and a lot of other things as well but under it all, if you listen very carefully, you can still hear Rod Stradling playing (more or less) the sensible core tune on his melodeon.
Just shows you what dressing you can put over the tunes to liven them up.
Monday is the Tilmanstone mixed session.
Within the same week, our Irish session was badly depleted while the mixed lumpy session had a staggering 14 musicians at one point including two guests from the Czech Republic who delighted us with a rendition of Jesse James - in Czech!
No accounting for why the fortunes go the way they do - not long ago it was the Irish session which had a large influx. It just goes to show that you can never tell what is going to happen and it is worth while persevering.
Worth mentioning in passing is the Orchestre Super Moth (Tiger Moth + World Roots friends). If you get a chance to hear their CD Mothballs, do so. They have done just about everything imaginable to the Harmless English Tune - Benga, Reggae, Tango and a lot of other things as well but under it all, if you listen very carefully, you can still hear Rod Stradling playing (more or less) the sensible core tune on his melodeon.
Just shows you what dressing you can put over the tunes to liven them up.
Monday is the Tilmanstone mixed session.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tuesday 3rd July 2007
And what's the big news this week in sessionville? Yes, it is of course the smoking ban.
Now opinion is divided about the effect of the ban. Some say that it will make the pubs more attractive and bring out sessioneers who have avoided being smoke-dried for years; others say that it will allow one to sample the natural smell of the pub itself. That means of course the raw power of the uncleaned gents, the stale beer from some time past and the blast of the chemical wheezing device that while being designed ostensibly to mask these odours, generally just adds more unpleasantness to the mix.
Of course none of the pubs we frequent are like this in any way, shape or form.
Last week's Irish was again a normal and good hearted affair with most regulars in attendance. The mixed lumpy which is Thursday's session was much enhanced by Pip and Jo and Aaron who travelled over again to play (as they had on the previous Sunday for that {if you were there: spectacular; if you weren't: terrible - you missed nothing} session). Usual suspects also in attendance. Thank you Pip for joining SPHELTT (Society for the Protection of Harmless Lumpy English Traditional Tunes) by playing some very nice versions of the classics. Ralphie would approve. For those who think that lumpy is perjorative, it isn't. It's just that English tunes have lumps in them. Sometimes great big ones. They're not subtle, they're for dancing.
Sadly the Reculver BBQ was called off because of the weather which was grim last week and is still much in the same vane. Mind you, it's not as bad as where I used to live and work which is Doncaster. In the vain hope that anybody reads this outside of East Kent, my heart does go out to you. The school I started my teaching career in was used as a relief centre - well done Don Valley High. However I must say to all the so-called reporters who stand up to their crotches in water spouting drivel about global warming that I discovered some time ago that one of my ancestors died as a result of the great Sheffield Flood of 1864 when the Dale Dyke dam gave way in a storm and flooded much of the Don Valley to as far as Barnby Dun and beyond. It happens. Don't scaremonger with journalist's science (much on a par with cargo cult I feel). Harumph. Feel better now.
The week rounded off with a Barn Dance at Ditton TA Hall. We get to some exotic locations. It's worth a mention though because it was predominantly young people (probably 14 upwards) who made it a wonderful evening by dancing everything with boundless energy and listening attentively to the caller. Excellent stuff!
Let's see what this week brings. Oh and as a PS, if you signed up to the Downing Street petition of not letting unnecessary legislation damage music performance opportunities, Gordon has replied. No, I don't know what he means either.
Now opinion is divided about the effect of the ban. Some say that it will make the pubs more attractive and bring out sessioneers who have avoided being smoke-dried for years; others say that it will allow one to sample the natural smell of the pub itself. That means of course the raw power of the uncleaned gents, the stale beer from some time past and the blast of the chemical wheezing device that while being designed ostensibly to mask these odours, generally just adds more unpleasantness to the mix.
Of course none of the pubs we frequent are like this in any way, shape or form.
Last week's Irish was again a normal and good hearted affair with most regulars in attendance. The mixed lumpy which is Thursday's session was much enhanced by Pip and Jo and Aaron who travelled over again to play (as they had on the previous Sunday for that {if you were there: spectacular; if you weren't: terrible - you missed nothing} session). Usual suspects also in attendance. Thank you Pip for joining SPHELTT (Society for the Protection of Harmless Lumpy English Traditional Tunes) by playing some very nice versions of the classics. Ralphie would approve. For those who think that lumpy is perjorative, it isn't. It's just that English tunes have lumps in them. Sometimes great big ones. They're not subtle, they're for dancing.
Sadly the Reculver BBQ was called off because of the weather which was grim last week and is still much in the same vane. Mind you, it's not as bad as where I used to live and work which is Doncaster. In the vain hope that anybody reads this outside of East Kent, my heart does go out to you. The school I started my teaching career in was used as a relief centre - well done Don Valley High. However I must say to all the so-called reporters who stand up to their crotches in water spouting drivel about global warming that I discovered some time ago that one of my ancestors died as a result of the great Sheffield Flood of 1864 when the Dale Dyke dam gave way in a storm and flooded much of the Don Valley to as far as Barnby Dun and beyond. It happens. Don't scaremonger with journalist's science (much on a par with cargo cult I feel). Harumph. Feel better now.
The week rounded off with a Barn Dance at Ditton TA Hall. We get to some exotic locations. It's worth a mention though because it was predominantly young people (probably 14 upwards) who made it a wonderful evening by dancing everything with boundless energy and listening attentively to the caller. Excellent stuff!
Let's see what this week brings. Oh and as a PS, if you signed up to the Downing Street petition of not letting unnecessary legislation damage music performance opportunities, Gordon has replied. No, I don't know what he means either.
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