Mud Cat (UK)

Subject: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 15 Jul 98 - 07:39 PM

I'm just wondering what % of the people that access and enjoy the Mud Cat Cafe Forum live in the UK or the Repulic of Ireland,
No particular reason for asking apart from I the notice the times threads are posted.
Either it it's due to the old "International time scale" ploy, or MudCats devotees watch this space 24 hours a day

Yours eyelidsbwilting
Mick

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Brack&
Date: 15 Jul 98 - 08:02 PM

Well Mick, I'm from Altrincham, Cheshire. Where are you? Mick (also)

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Jul 98 - 08:12 PM

G'day Mick,

I recognise at least 10 MudCatters as being Aussies like myself. I'm currently on our Eastern Standard Time which puts me 14 hours ahead of Mud Cat's (daylight saving?) time and 10 hours ahead of London time (give or take whatever adjustments are made for what passes for Summer, not to mention European meddling).

Right now it is 10.15 am on a bright sunny (if brisk) morning, dead middle of winter ... 16 degrees Celsius expected.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: AndreasW
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 04:42 AM

Hey, don't forget the other European countries, even if they are not English-speaking - there might be fans of folk even there (just like myself, I am German and love Irish music!!!)
Andreas

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Alan of Oz
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 07:29 AM

G'day, I agree with Bob that Oz is well represented here. At least three from
The Western Suburbs Folk Music Club
of Sydney (2 of whom are quite well known here). It's currently 9.30 p.m. and the expected top temp seemed like more than Bob's forecast of 16 celsius. Shirtsleeves were quite comfortable earlier in the day.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 08:55 AM

Brack&,
I'm currently in Halifax, doing contract work, until the end of this month then it's back home to Hinckley, Leicestershire.
Apologies Andreas, I must admit I hadn't thought of our European cousins when starting this thread. Very remiss of I know.
G'day to you all down under. For the record here in Halifax, West Yorkshire it's Thursday 13:55 and the weather is 100BM (Bloody Miserable).
Cheers
Mick

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 11:32 AM

The more people, in the more countries the better!

I'm currently based in the University of Wales, Lampeter.

Brian.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Sam Hudson
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 05:46 PM

An occasional visitor from Nottingham... weather miserable here too. Have you noticed how as soon as a "UK" thread gets started we all talk about the weather?

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 06:21 PM

G'day Sam,

I know that a rather jokey set of national folk song definitions identified 'English' as any song that mentioned the weather in the first three lines, but I seem to have been the one that started the weather line in this thread.

Ah well, we might have strong Republican tendencies but we do retain some English habits!

BTW; Alan of Oz might have been in shirtsleeves yesterday, but he is 20 kilometres further inland.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: BAZ
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 06:34 PM

Gorthugher da! Fatla genes? While we admit we're part of the UK. we don't admit to Cornwall being part of England, in fact if the Tamar were a couple of miles longer we'd be a separate island. Meantime in Greenwich it's 23:25 and the weather is hissing down! Out of interest (to who, I hear you ask)the Tall Ships race is due to start a couple of miles along the coast from where I live and the sight of 80+ of these beasts is awesome. It makes a shanty come to life before your eyes. Good luck and God bless you where ever you reside. Baz

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Jim K
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 06:47 PM

Greetings from Ireland

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: harpgirl
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 06:50 PM

oh please mates, sing me a capstan shanty! Baz I am so jealous! I was sailing back from the Bahamas with my folks one time on the Winlassie ( I lived aboard as a youngster up on on Lake St. Clair)and a tall ship came up on it's way by us. I was awestruck. I wish I could see them all together!

and Mick thanks for the Lark in the Morning you sent. It does tie up the two I have been struggling with and I will sing it on our next Irish night in the piney woods... ..

harp of Lambent late....

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Barbara
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 07:16 PM

Hey Harpgirl, where is this piney woods you talk of? Barbara who is in Oregon now but will be in Michigan in a couple weeks....

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 07:27 PM

Is that the same Piney Wood Home that Buffy St Marie used to sing about way back. Baz, if you happen onto the Polish wishbone schooner Zawisza Czarny, they'll be the best singers/musicians/dancers in the fleet, very slow vessel, but very welcoming to any one who does music. Barry

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: harpgirl
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 10:03 PM

barbara and barry it's the north florida piney woods or whats left of it since the fires...haven't lived in Michigan for a very long time but are you going to Elderly or The Ark barbara? what's a wishbone schooner? harp whose hardly been anywhere...

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 11:18 PM

Harpgirl, you were a liveaboard so I'm guessing my explanation may be fair to understand (I'm known for my discriptions that leave people lost). What would normally be the fors'l on the mainmast would be a stays'l if it had no boom & was rigged to the aft mast, now picture between the mainmast & the stays'l, which now has a boom & is no longeg loose footed, a sail that's like a wiskbone or a V, with a second boom at the top of the V, above which you'd fly a trys'l or a fisherman. It's a way to narrow a vessel's identity down by it's rig (the odder/rarer the easier) as you could with describing her bow, hull type, stern, etc. I hope you're doing alright with all the smoke, fire & ash. Wish you could've had some of our wet season. Good Luck. Barry

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 01:47 AM

You know I've never really considered it before but we Australian Muddies are among the first of our group to start the weekend off..and sadly perhaps are among the first to return to work next week.

T.G.I.F. John

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 01:26 AM

AndreasW---A question!

Around 1983 or 4 a Northern German band (hurdy-gurdys & bagpipe etc.) played on a Public Radio live concert radio show I used to host in Chicago (at the Old Town School of Folk Music.The show was called the Flea Market-- on NPR-National Public Radio. The name of the band was GUTZGAUCH (or something like that). I seem to recall that one of the band members was named Theo Smits. They spoke very little English but were extremely funny (using heavy accented broken English)--- and VERY TALENTED! Could you tell me anything about them? Are they still around? Are recordings of them available! I'm glad I had my wife tape that show for me.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 12:15 PM

Art...tsk...you just missed 'em...the WWW says they were in New Ulm, Minn last week...HeritageFest

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 12:26 PM

And Wisconsin Public radio seem to have played a tape of one of their concerts back in April...so I guess they are around..(boy, I love the WWW/net!..with a few tricks, there is little you can't find!)

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Graeme Dunbar
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 05:49 PM

Just to add I stay in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 05:59 PM

Graeme,
Good old Aberdeen, once described by the Big yin as gaelic for hyperthrmia.
What's the weather like at the moment?
Cheers
Mick

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 07:32 PM

Amazing!! Thanks for pointing out Gutzgauch!

Art

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Suibhan
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 01:41 AM

I'm not in the UK but I am doing my part to make the Mudcat a 24/7 operation -- I am often here from 2 to 3 AM Pacific time. I can justify the time I spend here by reminding myself that it is too late to play my harp because the pesky neighbors will wake up and complain.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From:
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 01:52 AM

Currently in Wellington, Godzone (New Zealand to the rest of you) but still a man of Kent at heart. It's been a very mild winter so far. Wish I was back in Tavistock Baz, and could nip down to Falmouth (I presume thats where the tall ships race is? We do get our own version next year which I hope to be in on the Spirit of New Zealand (Barquentine), but we wont get the numbers you do in the North Atlantic.

Pete M

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Pete M
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 01:59 AM

Sorry pardon all, I sent the above from work (what a give away) and forgot to enter my name in the "from" box.

Pete M

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Graeme Dunbar
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 03:58 AM

Mick,

Aberdeen - wet. I have a question relating to Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire. I think I'll start a new thread for it...

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: AndyG
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 05:17 AM

Hi all,
Just to say I'm in Cambridge (UK) and will be at the Folk Festival at the end of the month. (I don't get to many festivals). I'll be helping out round the Club Tent on Saturday afternoon 12:00 - 18:00 and if any MudCat readers happen by please pop in and say hello.

AndyG

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Jul 98 - 12:42 AM

G'day all,

I was thinking that the time differences make MudCatting from Australia a different game than it would be on its own ground. We seem to be, currently, 14 hours ahead of the local (Summer?) time. If we post something early afternoon, it's after midnight locally, and if we post in the evening it is still early morning form hometown MudCatters.

This means that we rarely see any immediate response - we wait until the next day, whereas I see some very quick repsonses to US postings. I guess we just have to cultivate a team of insomniacs ... or shiftworkers.

Anyhow, best from the bright, sunny early afternoon of the local midwinter.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From:
Date: 22 Jul 98 - 01:55 AM

Another Sydneysider heard from, although I am looking for a house in the Mountains to get away from this tropical weather :)

Murray

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: BAZ
Date: 22 Jul 98 - 06:17 PM

Pete M.
Your right about Falmouth. The ships left on Sunday just after lunch. Every point from Falmouth to the Lizard was lined with people to see them off. We kicked off the Farewell Shanty as they sailed away and this was picked up almost everyone even if they couldn't follow the words they hummed along. Magic moment
Reards Baz.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Anne Cormack
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 10:10 AM

I'm a Scot from Edinburgh living in Perth - Western Australia that is!!

Mid-winter here, but still warmer than summer in the UK

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 10:52 AM

Well, here in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, thete

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 10:53 AM

Sorry About That--I pushed Submit when I meant to hit Clear!

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 08:09 PM

There's a distinct preoccupation with the weather in this thread.
Anyone know any good Weather songs.
Stormy Weather would be a good one for the summer we've been experiancing so far in Yorkshire.
Cheers
Mick

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: DianeW
Date: 25 Jul 98 - 08:01 AM

Hi, I've just joined - I live in Croydon, Surrey, England. I'm likely to post threads as almost any hour 'cos of trying to keep down the phone bills!

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 25 Jul 98 - 08:15 PM

Diane,
Do you mean you'll post threads whilst at work, i.e. no cost involved, or you haven't signed with a ISP that uses a local rate number?
Cheers
Mick

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: BAZ
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 12:37 AM

Hi Diane
I have sympathy with the phone bill problem. Not all of us have the opportunity to use company time and even local rates before 6pm can be expensive. This might seem a daft question but those of you that use company time does your employer know? Or is it your own company perhaps?
By the way Diane is there much of a Folk club scene around Croydon these days? There used to be back in the seventies. We seem to be lucky here in Cornwall with a lot going on mainly centred on the pubs.
Regards Baz.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: DianeW
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 01:12 PM

There is still a folk song club on Monday nights and I gather there are folk dance clubs too but I don't attend any. I sing with a West Gallery choir in Kent, and Next week I'm off to Sidmouth for the festival. I've been gathering lyrics for entertaining friends there!

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Graeme Dunbar
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 06:15 PM

UK phone bills - I think what Diane W was saying is that in the UK the cost of even a local phone call mounts up quickly unless you make your calls in the evenings or weekends. :-(

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: BSeed
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 01:39 AM

I'm here in California where I've spent most of my life with the exception of a fair amount of travel and military service and the Peace Corps, but I have roots in Moneyderra, Analong, Belfast, on the slopes of the Mountains of Mourne. My grandfather inherited a business that included both a funeral parlor and a saloon, and my grandmother, a temperance activist, made him refuse the inheritance so he came to America to work on the railroad. I learned the song The Mountains of Mourne from a Kingston Trio album, but my mother had known it all her life. She and her sisters tried to get me to add to the version I sing a fifth verse: "We saw England's king from the back of a bus; we didn't know him but he seemed to know us. . ." I could never make myself sing that one, whig that I am, despite my aunts' royalist tendencies. Anyway, I still have relatives in the Belfast area, Orrs and Gordons, whom I hope aren't Orange fanatics.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Sophie
Date: 29 Jul 98 - 06:27 PM

Hello everyone,

I just recently found this list and I a harper based in Brighton, England. Diane, if you ever come down here (it's not far), drop me line) Andy: Will go to Cambridge folk festival but could only get a ticket for Sunday.:-( Suibhan: I symphatize with the neighbour problem. We have a neighbour like that. He goes so insane you'd think I was playing heavy metal. Sophie

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From:
Date: 03 Oct 98 - 11:03 AM

Art, on 20 July you asked about a band called Gutzgauch. Sitll interested?
Gutzgauch is an occasional band of German folk musicians, apparently created specially for the States. They went there about 1983, and again in spring 1998. They come from different bands. Theo Schmitz used to be in SCHMELZTIEGEL, by now probably the oldest German folk band (celebrating 25 years in 1999), but left them years ago when moving to southern Germany. Another member of Gutzgauch, Reinhard Spielvogel, is still with Schmelztiegel, and also with BRUMBORIUM, doing what you might call 'themed folk music' like pirate songs or medieval songs with appropriate instruments and clothing. Schmelztiegel happen to be based in Kiel, my home town, and I happen to know them because they are involved in all kinds of folk events around here. The other participants of that American tour were, I think, Christoph Peters and Reinhard Zielonka, who usually play in an outfit called "mit voller Spielmannswucht", who do a marvellous impression of medieval itinerant musicians ('Spielleute'), with songs and hilarious patter.

I've just phoned Reinhard S., by the way, but he had to go out and has promised to tell me more about Gutzgauch and its history tomorrow night. So - more about this later, if you want to hear. I don't think they've made any CDs, btw, but Schmelztiegel have - worth listening to.

BTW: What put an end to this interesting thread? - Susanne, from Kiel, Germany, on the waters of the Baltic Sea.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: skarpi Iceland.
Date: 03 Oct 98 - 12:08 PM

Greeting from Iceland.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Dale Rose
Date: 04 Oct 98 - 01:34 PM

So far as I can tell, I am the only one here from Arkansas, though Gene grew up here in the long ago. I still think we need a section which gives a brief bio, interests, etc. I have seen such in other places, notably the Rankin Family Chat Room that I used to go to, before they made it practically unusable with java.

Concerning the time of posts, since I retired, I pay practically no attention to the clock, either for going to bed or getting up, so the times listed on my posts reflect that failing.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Paul
Date: 04 Oct 98 - 02:59 PM

Just a quick hello from Overton, Hampshire.

Weather here is terrible and I've got the worst cold in the whole world.

I wish my neighbors played the harp ! These uneducated fools don't know what they're missing. On that note, are there any U.K Mud Cat peeps out there into paganism. I know several people into being druids who play a variety of folk type instruments (harp. mandolin..) and was wondering about the possible cross overs ?

Oh well, merry meet and all that.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Ewan McV
Date: 04 Oct 98 - 04:54 PM

I'm startled to find I'm the only person from central Scotland checking in. As regards German bands, I did hear of one who played Irish tunes and called themselves The Rambling Pitchforks, but they've since seen the light.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Einnor
Date: 04 Oct 98 - 11:08 PM

I am from B.C. CAN. The great stuff over here is we have found a skeleton 10,000. years old [the oldest found in N. Am.] so now when we have Cetic type events we can say we are back. I was at our fall fair last weekend and watched mock battles with authentic looking armor and listened to music which I WAS TOLD WAS POPULAR FOR THE TIME OOps forgot the Caps Lock. darned new computer.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: The Shambles
Date: 05 Oct 98 - 03:18 PM

Hello I am lucky enough to live on The Isle of Portland in Dorset.

Subject: RE: Mud Cat (UK)
From: Celtic-End Singer
Date: 06 Oct 98 - 11:05 AM

Hi, I'm from Glasgow in the West of Scotland where the weather is uncharacteristically dry and sunny at present. One way to get round the phone bill problem is to go to university and use all the JANET provided facilities for free. Although I suppose it's not that economical given the governments £1000 tuition fees disgrace.