The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #155680   Message #3664356
Posted By: Steve Shaw
28-Sep-14 - 09:04 PM
Thread Name: Guest Nights on the way out
Subject: RE: Review: Guest Nights on the way out
Cor, tricky one. Our folk club was at the Tree Inn in Stratton (Bude), run by the mighty John Maughan until about 1996, when it finally folded after a brief sojourn at the Globe Hotel, which proved to be a somewhat less than suitable venue. Well, actually, it didn't exactly fold as such, rather it evolved into a fortnightly pub session (definitely NOT of the singaround variety!) which is still going strong at The Tree - no guest nights now. The guests we had in the early to mid-90s read like a stellar list these days. We had Roy Bailey, Martin Carthy, Andy Irvine, Flook, the Poozies, Wood and Cutting, the House Band, Tom Paxton, Brian Peters (better not leave him out, as he's here!), Ron Kavana, John Kirkpatrick, Brendan Power, Show Of Hands, Liam O'Flynn... (sorry if I left you out). Loads of others, just as great. I recall that the guest night was every other Friday. The floor-spotters always got a bash on guest nights, but it was a bit of a push at times. There was a misfire every now and then when we'd have a poorly-attended guest night, and that probably got worse as the 1996 demise got nearer. A lot of those names seem like legends to me now. I wonder whether the modern batch have anything like the same charisma. Dunno. Just wondering. Not that charisma necessarily means good. But it may mean bums on seats!