| February
2010 |
25th February Mark Wallace has passed on some dates at The Hop-Pole, Aylesbury Fri 14th May Debby McClatchy – Tickets £6 Fri 21st May Allison Williams & Chance McCoy – Tickets £6 Tue 16th Mar Woody Pines - Tickets £tbc Thu 31st Aug Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three - Tickets £tbc see here - http://www.filipebessa.com/filmvideo.html Tue 14th Sept Beverly Smith & Carl Jones - Tickets £6 Tickets £6 unless stated. All monies go to the artists. Contact Mark Wallace at Musically Monstrous Promotions by or 'phone 01844 346897 to reserve tickets or for more details. **************************************** From John Wirtz: Latest Sore Fingers Week News and October 2010 Announced Sore Fingers Week 2010 – 5th to 9th April, 2010 - www.sorefingers.co.uk All the tutors biogs are now on the website including the beginners team of Eleanor Cross, Dan Norton and Guy Rogers. Adam Hurt’s class has now rallied and numbers 13 students. Stephanie’s fiddle class on the other hand (less then ten students) could do with a last minute boost of bookings. Bluegrass Banjo players keep booking fast and furious and we have set a third Banjo class now. We have invited the highly talented Richard Collins to take this course. Richard has now taught a few times at the October Weekend and knows the score. Richard has been making his mark on the Bluegrass scene for many years and distinguishes himself as a fine player of the banjo, mandolin and is no slouch on the guitar either. His singing is brilliant too. A total musician, you are in for a treat. The team are all poised to make this another unforgettable experience and those attending for the first time are about to discover the magic of Sore Fingers Week, the best Bluegrass Camp this side of the Atlantic! The full and final Line up is as follows: Autoharp – Cathy Britell Banjo - Tony Furtado Banjo – Alan Munde Banjo – Richard Collins Bass - Eric Thorin Dobro - Jimmy Heffernan Fiddle - Brian Wicklund Guitar – Dan Crary Mandolin – John Reischman Mandolin – Mike Compton Old Time Fiddle - Stephanie Coleman Old Time Banjo - Adam Hurt Singing - Janet Beazley & Chris Stewart Beginners – Eleanor Cross, Dan Norton and Guy Rogers Announcing the 2010 October Weekend – 22 – 24th October, 2010 We are continuing our commitment to Old Time classes and we have secured the services of Sara Grey for Banjo and Dave Proctor for Fiddle. We sincerely hope you will be attracted by these talented tutors. The tutor line up is still being finalised and full details should be up on the website soon. Naturally we will forward details to this new letter too and whilst on that subject, all at Sore Fingers Summer Schools wish to thank Nick and FOAOTMAD for their continued support of our event. Tutors booked so far: O.T. Fiddle – Dave Proctor O.T. Banjo – Sarah Grey Autoharp – T.B.C. Banjo – Rod Jackson Bass – T.B.C. Dobro – T.B.C Fiddle – Ian Nicholls Guitar – Paul Hill Mandolin - Singing – Roland Emmanuel More on that as news becomes available. And finally, here a very advanced announcement for your diaries: Sore Fingers Week 2011: 18/04/ to 23/04/2011 – Jock Tildesley will be teaching Old Time Fiddle. **************************************** Webmaster, John Messenger, has added some photos to the web site gallery and a lot more pdf format back issues of the Old Time News to the resources page *************************************** You can watch the entire Alan Lomax film, Appalachian Journey, at http://www.folkstreams.net/film,128. *************************************** Sue Edwards of UK Autoharps informs of a new Music festival, the 2010 Bordergrass Music Festival, held Friday 30th April to Saturday 1st May. This is at Hopelands hall in the village of Weobley, Herefordshire, famous for its picturesque setting, and the centre of the ‘Black and White’ villages in the area. There are evening concerts both days and also free workshops on the Saturday afternoon with Mike Fenton, who is bringing 35 autoharps for new players to try. There are also workshops from Sarah McQuaid on DADGAD (Irish) Guitar and Old Time Band from The New Prohibition Band. The Friday concert line up is The New Essex Bluegrass Band, Sarah McQuaid, The New Prohibition Band, Mike Fenton, and The Toy Hearts. The Saturday concert is the same line up apart from The Toy Hearts, but also includes Hilary James and Simon Mayor, and The Carrivick Sisters. Details re camping and caravans, ticket prices etc are on this website, www.bordergrass.co.uk or phone 01544 327936. This new festival is a varied one, a blend of Old Time, Bluegrass and Folk, with a great line up for the concerts, so do have a look at the website for full information. *************************************** 18th February Beverly Smith and Carl Jones have sent me advance notice of their autumn tour dates. Sept 2 The Wolf Folk Club, Wolferton, near Kings Lynn Sept 3 The Milkmaid, Bury St Edmunds Sept 4 The Cellar , London sept 6 Galeri, Caernarfon sept 9 The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge sept 10 The Floor, St Michaels, Tenbury Wells sept 11 Presteigne, Powys Sept 15 What's Cookin', London sept 16 The Prom, Bristol Sept 17-20 Cornish Bluegrass Festival Sept 25-Oct 2 Old time week in Andalusia Oct 5 Dartford Folk Club, Dartford **************************************** Dates for the Sacrewell Camps: Spring Camp - Friday May 28th to Monday May 31st Summer Camp - Friday 6th August to Sunday 15th August More general information about the camps can be found on our website www.foaotmad.org.uk on the Camps page **************************************** 2010 SEWERBY House and Gardens MAYDAY GET TOGETHER. From Friday the 30th of April to and including Monday the 3rd of May. As usual you can get into site from mid day on Thursday the 29th of April and we have to be off site by mid day Tuesday the 4th of April. Remember to go in through the car park of the Ship and turn left at the cliff top road. Keep left at the cricket wicket and go BEHIND THE SEATS AND THE LLAMA PENS. Any one arriving up to 1630 hrs security at the gate will let them in. If you arrive after 20:00hrs call at the Ship to get the key More details from John Yeaman *************************************** Early details for the Sweet Sunny South Festival held at Fairlight Lodge Hotel, Hastings, 10th to 12th September Featuring the New Deal String Band, Cut The Shuffle, Hunter Robertson and Casey Joe Abair Workshops, concerts, picking sessions, real ales, pub grub and camping facilities Weekend ticket £32 (day/workshop/concert tickets available) camping £3 per pitch per night Further information write to 7 Badgers Way, Hastings TN34 2QD *************************************** Larry Hanks has made his living singing and playing traditional songs of the American West, Cowboy and Miner’s songs; including many songs in tribute to the working man, the music of Utah Phillips, Sam Hinton, and Malvina Reynolds. He is known for his deep, resonant bass voice, sparse and tasteful guitar playing, accomplished Jew’s Harpery, and careful selection of meaningful repertoire. He has performerd with Jody Stecher, John Wright and Gordon Bok, and was one of the Sweets Mill String Band (with Kenny Hall). You can hear audio samples of Larry’s singing at: www.cdbaby.com/cd/hanksmarker and www.cdbaby.com/cd/larryhanks or check out recent live-recorded video: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deborahrobins/3000011989/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHRJxzHcflE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSp8jplmrmY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6OMUfD4iS0 Larry is in the UK for most of June and the first two weeks of July. He is committed for June 6, 21 and 24th and July 4th and 12th (I don't know where). Most other dates are available if you are able to promote/recommend a gig for him - clubs, festivals, private concert venues (house concerts, etc.), or summer school/camp residencies. Contact Deborah Robins by *************************************** 11th February NORTH DEVON/SOMERSET - APPALACHIAN MAGIC (Debby McClatchy with the Albemarle Ramblers) The Landmark theatre in Ilfracombe are telling the agents that they have not yet sold many tickets for the gig on Saturday 20th Feb. Old timers in Devon and Somerset who want to see this superb show are urged to get theirs ordered before Landmark pulls the plug on it! http://www.northdevontheatres.org.uk/north-devon-theatres-showinfo.asp?showid=575 Tickets are only £9. **************************************** 4th February I've been asked to clirify a few points about the forthcoming Gainsborough festival. There is NO access to the site before 5 pm on the Friday. There is NO indoor camping for the Sunday night. The dance competition - in line with American festival dance competitions, there is a 'house' band ('44 Gun) who will play THE SAME tune for each competitor. Probably this will be twice through that tune with intro and outro ('shave & a haircut' or similar). If there are a large number of competitors this may be reduced to just once through the tune. Bringing your own musician/tune is not an option - this way everyone is on an equal footing (pun not intended). There is (or very soon will be) a map of the school grounds showing the area we have access to, parking etc. There is already a street map to show the position. A draft programme is also available. http://www.foaotmad.org.uk/events.htm **************************************** Kate Lissauer reports that the Beverly Smith and Carl Jones workshop week in Spain is now scheduled for September 25-October 2, as Beverly and Carl had to alter their original dates. Medstead Village Hall has had a serious fire and the Buffalo Gals concert scheduled for March 19 will now take place at Four Marks Village Hall, Lymington Bottom, Four Marks, GU34 5AA. The Buffalo Gals will also appear on Sunday April 11 at the American Museum, Claverton Manor, Bath, BA2 7BD 2pm, in the Lecture Hall - Concert free with admission to the Museum *************************************** Clogging - Somerset Issy Emeney is in the process of setting up a series of classes for beginners. The venue is Weare Memorial Hall near Cheddar and initially this will be a course of 3 x 90 minute starter lessons on Tuesday morning and/or Wednesday evening (to be decided). This is for complete beginners. Also provisionally, she has booked the hall for a small workshop day on 16th May for beginners through to intermediate level dancers. She hasn't sorted the finer details for any of it yet. Anyone can contact her for a chat about it if interested. 01934 741551 or *************************************** Here's a revision of the Sore Fingers details from John Wirtz: Sore Fingers Week 2010 – 5th to 9th April, 2010 - www.sorefingers.co.uk Here’s an update on the latest news for Sore Fingers Week 2010. The Old Time classes are doing reasonably well but are still low on numbers, especially the fiddle. If you are planning to book, please let us know of your commitment as soon as possible please. We could do with about 7 fiddle students and five banjo students to make things work out. Bluegrass fiddle is looking a bit sad as well this year and if you fancy learning how to play the fiddle without re-tuning every five minutes (no offence intended towards the OT fiddlers!), why not have a go with Brian Wicklund on the Bluegrass fiddle course. Brian is great teacher. Other courses that could do with a boost are singing (Chris Stewart and Janet Beazley), Bass (with Eric Thorin) and Autoharp (with Cathy Britell). Stewart Williams has had to pull out of teaching this year due to personal reasons outside of his control. We will be replacing him with a small team of tutors but the course will be taught as a group. Finally, I’m pleased to announce that Mike Compton has agreed to take on a second class of mandolin players. Mike is probably one of the best exponents of “Old Time” mandolin playing around and if you play the instrument in an old time setting, he comes highly recommended. In closing, I just want to remind people that we are able to run classes with low numbers as those that fill up (like Bluegrass Banjo for instance) allow us to offset the losses. That is what has happened in the past when Old Time classes have not attracted enough students. But with a recession and people quite understandably worried about their jobs, bookings are generally down across the board, that cross subsidy is less available to us. So we do need your continued support. Thanks in advance. John & Moira The full Line up as it stands is: Autoharp – Cathy Britell Banjo - Tony Furtado Banjo – Alan Munde Bass - Eric Thorin Dobro - Jimmy Heffernan Fiddle - Brian Wicklund Guitar – Dan Crary Mandolin – John Reischman Mandolin – Mike Compton Old Time Fiddle - Stephanie Coleman Old Time Banjo - Adam Hurt Singing - Janet Beazley & Chris Stewart Songwriting - Ben Demerath Beginners – T.B.C.
*************************************** There's an extra date for Alison Williams and Chance McCoy - playing at Burnetts Hill Chapel, Pembrokeshire on the 25th of May. Tickets available from Pembroke bookshop 01646 685144 http://www.pembrokebooks.co.uk/burnettshill.htm or from Jackie on 01646 661363 Chance McCoy is a West Virginia champion fiddler, and Allison Williams played banjo for several years in the Forge Mountain Diggers, with Freight Hoppers fiddler David Bass. Chance and Allison have been performing together since their debut on BBC television in January 2009, live in London at the Folk America series. You can see video of that performance (with a backing band) here: http://youtube.com/allisonwilliamsmusic Current dates are now: Wed May 19 Norwich Arts Centre Thu May 20 Wolf Folk CLub, Wolferton, Norfolk Sat May 22 House concert, Faversham, Kent Tue May 25 Burnetts Hill Chapel, Pembrokeshire Thu May 27 Bournemouth Folk Club Fri May 28 What's Cookin' @ North Star, Leytonstone, London Sat May 30 Come Down And Meet The Folks, Stag's Head, Hoxton, London As you can see there are some gaps. To book them in your town, contact by You can also listen to them on their myspace pages: http://myspace.com/chancemccoy http://myspace.com/allisonwilliamsmusic If anyone is interested in booking them for workshops, dances, or concerts, they'd like to hear from you. *************************************** A nice online artice from last year about the Fiddlers Grove festival http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/travel/escapes/03Fiddle.html?pagewanted=1 *************************************** The Victoria and Albert museum is planning to break up its collection of musical instruments to make way for more fashion. Article from the times http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7010483.ece the collection contains some early banjos so FOAOTMAD members might be interested in knowing about this and about the petition calling for the collection to remain on display. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/VandAchange/ *************************************** Lucy Ray will be returning to the UK to attend Summer Camp and then she and Mo Jackson will be looking for gigs after camp through the whole of September. They are mainly looking at small venues/local folk clubs/village halls and a demo and a promo pack will be available to interested organisers. Contact Lucy or Mo |