Friday 7th August 2009

Here we are, poised on the edge of Broadstairs week. It seems to come round more quickly each year. Yes, I know. It's a symptom of getting old. Anyway, the weather seems to be set fair so the school field shouldn't look like Glastonbury. On the other hand, it means no free but involuntary wash for some of the happy campers.

I have been amusing myself in the dark and frankly scary corners of web hosting this week, trying to decide what to do with one of my domains. Folkipedia is two years old and is coming up for renewal. I have, as a result of my meandering through the infernal regions of cyberspace decided to try out some alternative presentations.

The present incarnation of Folkipedia is held on freely available Wiki software called Dokuwiki which has worked well and holds well over 1000 pages now. However, it does have its little quirks and so I've been looking at alternatives.

I was impressed by a particular webhost (not the only one I'm sure) that offered a one click install of a Wiki called TikiWiki. So I tried it. So far, it looks very good and I'm pleased with the look and feel of it. The control has more settings than I would care to set in a lifetime but that means it's also very flexible. The documentation leaves a lot to be desired, but there is some, and other hearty souls have chipped in.

For the adventurous amongst you, you can have a look at the (or a) new look Folkipedia at http://pvs.me.uk/wiki/ and if you feel inclined, let me know what you think. It is very much work in progress and does not have a full complement of pages (what the trade calls 'proof-of-concept').

I did try and use the biggy - MediaWiki - the one that Wikipedia uses (amazing that all these software packages are open source and free). The result is here at http://pvs.me.uk/mediawiki and I don't think it looks as good or as professional as the one in TikiWiki so I haven't developed it on any further.

Don't get me started on Domain Parking, Forwarding, redirects and what Google does.

"What of the sessions? ", I hear you cry!

Well, the Irish session has been small but beautifully formed. Some may say that the balance is a little wrong but I think 2 tenor banjos, a guitar and a set of Uillean Pipes sounds good. No, I don't care what you say, you can never have too many tenor banjos. OK. Stop throwing things *NOW* please. Often we have the addition of another banjo, a whistle or sometimes two and an Accordian (or Accordion according to preference). Sadly of late we have had no itinerant fiddlers who always seem to be imported from Eastern (Sorry - Central) Europe or Amerikay. I got told off once for saying that the Czech Republic was in Eastern Europe. Well all of Europe is East to us!

Speaking of Amerikay, we had three at the Bear Session on Thursday. Two came with Barbara (Paul and Jody) and one (Gary) came with Dave and Carol Partridge. More of the American guests a little later.

Now, as the regular leaders were away, I stepped in to keep some sort of event going in their absence and invite others to come and keep the bench warm. (By the way, has anyone else noticed the smell in that corner?). So in my way, as I like to do sessions, we go around in turn on the old familiar 'play, nominate or pass' basis so that everyone who has turned up with an instrument or a voice gets a turn if they want one. There was at one point I'm sure at least 16 musicians, all of whom had a turn as we went round and round. Lots of interesting tunes to join in with old favourites in new combinations and new tunes. Never a gap or a dull moment.

When it came to Gary, he said he would sing a traditional Scottish song that had been re-written for New Joisey - The Rolling Mills of New Jersey (Roberts and Barrand). After he had sung said song (that's alliteration that is) which we all much appreciated, Jody declared that the last thing he expected to hear in a pub in Faversham after coming all the way from New York, was another American singing the Rolling Mills of New Jersey. Just shows that anything can happen in the back bar of the Bear, and sooner or later, it will.

All together, with the number of musicians, the calibre of the guests and the general atmosphere (I put it down to pre-Festival Syndrome or PFS) , I think everyone had a really good time. At least I hope they did. We did a happy birthday for Marie somewhere in there too.

The only fly in the ointment (or as Jake Thackray put it, the grit in life's vaseline) was a certain self styled percussionist who used to have a penchant for one string bass. Several sessioneers felt the need to glare at him in his arrhythmic and (how can you have atonal percussion? This man can) bizarre interpretations of the traditional tunes. Sadly, I think he is impervious to the laser glare of slighted musicians. Not that he was the only one masquerading as a musician who was asked to politely play somewhere else! No names, no pack drill.

Another brilliant pair of guests was Eugene and Caroline who gave us a superb set of Irish tunes but sadly left too early. It may have been the masqueraders.

In amongst all this, at least two sets got up to Mazurk. Now, I'm not going into detail here but I really do have to get the Mazurka rhythm nailed. It is so easy to turn the tune rhythm into a waltz, and the dancers will still dance to it. There are many styles of Mazurka and it's generally best to use the tunes from the right area rather than any old mazurka which is what we tend to do. One thing is certain, the Irish mazurkas (nice tunes as they are) have no natural dances to go with them. If you look at the mazurka dances in France, they are as regional as the bourees meaning that the Auvergne is different from Provence etc. Actually, the Provencal is quite slowly played but has fantastic movements but I digress.

Speaking purely personally, I enjoyed one of the nicest sessions I've been to for a long time because of the company and the talent that they all brought to the occasion.