'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Tootler
Date: 22 Sep 08 - 05:54 PM

Where I live (Middlesbrough), 2 hours would more or less take me to the Scottish Border in one direction and just out of Yorkshire in the other. That means I stand a fair chance of being able to reach any of the venues listed in the Folk Roundabout (our local Folk Music guide)within 2 hours. Someone pointed out a couple of weeks ago that there are over 90 clubs/singarounds/sessions listed.

Yes we are very lucky compared with our N. American friends.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Bernard
Date: 22 Sep 08 - 04:25 PM

Spiers and Boden played their first festival at the Open Door folk club 'Extravaganza 2' on June 2nd 2002, when we were located at the Bull's Head, Failsworth - and thanked us by doing the following year for the same fee, despite their meteoric rise to fame in the meantime! My notes at the time said they had 'just been nominated for the Radio 2 Horizon award', which they went on to win in 2003.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: synbyn
Date: 22 Sep 08 - 12:50 PM

well, in the south-east of England we're very fortunate, in that there are plenty of people who give up a lot of time to make folk clubs happen- if you apply the 2-hour rule here ( 2 hr drive or less) there are at least 20- public transport is a pain after 9 tho, so it means driving or being driven. The Sussex clubs are good & strong, and every month in Kent there's Tonbridge, The Beacon, Dartford, Faversham, Deal, Dover Crabble, The Drum, Rainham and a whole range of other venues who have regular guests, and the sessions like Tenterden and Maidstone are also well attended- and some like the Woodshed in Broadstairs where young players are welcomed and made part of the playing group very readily. And there is no doubt that a new generation of folk musicians is coming through strong- not just those who are discovering the sixties music but some who are making their own interpretaions of standards. The festivals in Kent seem to be growing in strength as people who did a bit of music in their youth are coming back in- it's a good time to be involved!

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Snuffy
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 07:03 PM

They do say:

In Britain 100 years is not very long
In the States 100 miles is not very far

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Tootler
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 04:01 PM

Leadfingers is right. Until we went to the USA we didn't really appreciate just how vast the distances are. Yes we "knew", but that's not the same as experiencing it. During the two weeks we were there we drove about 2500 miles, yet only covered a tiny corner of the country.

One thing I noticed. If you ask how far somewhere is they don't tell you the miles, they tell you how far in time. So a two hour drive to a folk club means it is probably around 100 miles away - and 100 miles back at the end of the evening. It does put a different perspective on things.

One club I go to considers I have come a long way by going 20 miles.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 03:35 PM

Well said Cap'n

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 01:23 PM

I reckon,I have been supporting folk clubs since 1965.
I have also been banging on about how important folk clubs are since 1980.
anyway a thankyou to Jon Boden,and the Guardian.
Folk clubs are about communities,and useful as folk festivals are,serve a different purpose[although they have music in common].

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 01:12 PM

Did I mention the Singaround at the Beech, Chorlton, by any chance?

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Dave (Bridge)
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 08:53 AM

Not to forget, of course, The Bridge Folk Club in Newcastle upon Tyne is celebrating 50 years this year. Every Monday except Bank Holidays.
Big party on November 17 TICKETS £5.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 21 Sep 08 - 06:52 AM

Yesterday we had an all-day workshop and evening performance at the Lewes Arms with the excellent Mary Humphreys and Anahata. From their enthusiastic description of life in East Anglia, there's a great deal of music going on there as well.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 09:56 AM

Keep telling 'em, Terry, but till they come over they cannot really comprehend it. Not only is the local club here a 2-hour drive for oe as a potential player or attendee, so is the rest of the audience such a club manager would want to attract.

~S~

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Leadfingers
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 09:52 AM

W L D - In USA , the 'local' folk club may well be a two hour drive !We dont realise how luck we UK Folkies are !

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 09:32 AM

Isnt there a local folk club everywhere you are in America?

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 09:26 AM

From my US perspective, the whole quote turns on the word "local." There IS so much going on over-pond that there is a "local" folk club no matter where you are, I think. To me the quote says that wherever one is, one should just take the minor trouble to look around for what is already right there, waiting-- to see the obvious.

~S~

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: ConcertinaChap
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 08:20 AM

Nothing wrong with PA *when you need it*. When you don't, it's a pain in the bum, setting a barrier between artist and audience. I use PA when I have to (I'll be using it this afternoon for a half hour spot on an open air stage in a street party) but I avoid it where I can.

It's precisely the barrier that PA erects that leads to audiences talking and, yes, eating crisps during an artist's performance. The vast majority of audience in a folk club won't talk or eat crisps during a performance when there is no PA, because they are sensible and, frequently, too caught up in the performance to want to talk.

It's not restricted to the UK. Last weekend I spent at the Fanoe Folk festival off the coast of Denmark. I went to 2 concerts, the first amplified heavily and the second unamplified in a church. Guess which one had the pin-drop atmosphere and which the shouting yahoos ...

To return to the thread, nice one (as ever) Lewes, but I agree with Valmai, there's plenty going on elsewhere in the UK, and in terms of kids coming through the scene's heathier than it's been for many a long day.

Chris

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: s&r
Date: 20 Sep 08 - 06:00 AM

Nothing wrong with PA/Electric instruments etc. It's how you use them and what you play etc. Isaac Guillory once said he used PA because it saved him losing a complex guitar riff to a packet of crisps

Stu

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: BB
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 07:26 PM

"So how have we come to the point where we can't sing to thirty or forty people in the back room of a pub?"

Because the only pub function room in our village was only allowed a licence by triple-glazing and sound-proofing, which kills the acoustics of the room stone-dead. We can just about get away without PA on a singaround night, but on a guest night with the performers at the front of the room, PA is essential to reach the audience, and it is pitched at a level where it sounds like a normal acoustic performance.

Barbara

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:19 PM

Just want to second Valmai's comments about hearing music in small rooms without PA. To me, folk music is essentially room music, not hall music - and certainly not arena music. And in a room of reasonable size, no PA should be needed. It saddens me that so many clubs now are providing PA, and so many artists think they can't perform without it. In the old days (yes, I know, I keep banging on about 'the old days'), the live acoustic experience was just considered the norm. Indeed, it always had been until a few decades ago, when the microphone was developed to assist people singing in dance halls. Think; Actors had to make themselves heard in theatres holding hundreds - often noisy; priests had to preach to hundreds (you 'eard) in some pretty big churches; people often had to address outdoor meatings, and I daresay you could tnink of other examples - all without amplification. So how have we come to the point where we can't sing to thirty or forty people in the back room of a pub? We are losing the intimacy and immediacy which has always been part of this music, and losing the true sound of the voices and instruments into the bargain.
All right, I'll shut up now. John Kelly.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Vic Smith
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 12:14 PM

Bryan said:-
"When we finished tidying up, we went downstairs to find that Martin was still there with a glass in his hand as were Bellowhead, their manager, their soundmen, some of the Copper family and a fair portion of the audience. There was singing and dancing (and it's a small pub.)

It was a glorious night! Then the pub forgot to close! We left about 1am (drinking with The Coppers has always been too much for me - and this was the third generation of them I have been drinking with) and it was still going on!

Vic

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 11:56 AM

We are very lucky in Sussex to have so much going on, but I can't believe we're that much of a rarity. There is a great deal of musical activity in Kent, Hampshire and Wiltshire; I don't get about much, but there seems to be plenty of music in parts of the north as well.

Another Bellowhead connection: Paul Sartin is doing an all-day fiddle workshop at the Lewes Arms on Saturday 6th. December. Paul Hutchinson will do a simultaneous accordion workshop in another pub and the two of them will perform together as Belshazzar's Feast at the Lewes Arms that evening. Booking forms and tickets will soon be available from the Lewes Arms Folk Club website

Hearing top musicians in a small, friendly room without the barrier of a sound system is an unbeatable experience. Concert stages are valuable and have their place, but we should never forget that the music came from small, homely rooms and thrives there.

Valmai (Lewes)

P.S. Breezy, Jon Boden's quote was: "If you really want to appreciate and support folk music," concludes Jon Boden, "go to the local folk club." At the risk of labouring the point, note those last two words.

PPS. Jon Boden did a vocal harmony workshop for us last year; it was cracking. John Spiers did a melodeon workshop at the same time, and of course they performed together in the evening to a sell-out audience.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 11:37 AM

ABOVE GUEST was me !!

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 11:36 AM

John - Maidenhead Folk Club usually starts the evening (AND Fills the Half time Interval) with 'The Regulars' playing tunrs !

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: breezy
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 11:22 AM

I thought Boden was describing 'tune sessions' rather than 'Club'

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 08:55 AM

Let's not forget:

The First Wednesday of the Month Singaround at the Beech, Chorlton, Manchester

Cheers

L in C

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Vic Smith
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 08:33 AM

Let's back up all this puff for folk music in Lewes with some references to websites to show what is going on:-

LEWES ARMS FOLK CLUB -
http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org

FOLK AT THE ROYAL OAK LEWES -
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic

FOLK AT THE ROYAL OAK - MYSPACE SITE -
http://www.myspace.com/royaloakfolklewes   

And while we are about it, the on-line listings site for folk music in all of Sussex is the SUSSEX FOLK GUIDE and the local folk magazine is THE FOLK DIARY, facsimilies of which are also on-line -

SUSSEX FOLK GUIDE WEBSITE:-
http://whatson.brighton.co.uk/folk

THE FOLK DIARY ON-LINE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic/fd.htm

And finally for regular free song and music sessions in pubs in and around Lewes have a look at -

http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/LAFC/Sessions.php

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: TheSnail
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 08:05 AM

Well if Vic can be biased, so can I. Another long-running folk club I would recommend is the Lewes Arms on Saturday night about 200yds from the Royal Oak. We gave Jon his first solo booking and we've had Jon and John back since.

On the night that Bellowhead played at Lewes Town Hall (across the road from the Arms), we had Martin Carthy. When we finished tidying up, we went downstairs to find that Martin was still there with a glass in his hand as were Bellowhead, their manager, their soundmen, some of the Copper family and a fair portion of the audience. There was singing and dancing (and it's a small pub.) Jon apologised for the clash to which I said, "We sold out. You sold out. No problem." It was an evening that assured me that folk music is alive and well.

We've booked Too Many Strings (Matt Quinn, Dogan Mehmet, Tom Redman) twice so far and Matt and Do are coming back to us after Christmas.

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Banjiman
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 07:15 AM

Let's hope the good citizens of Kirkby Fleetham have been reading the Guardian and turn out in force for the club night tomorrow night!

Seriously, excellent article and good to see some positive press for FCs for a change.......well done you guys in Lewes!

Paul

Subject: RE: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 06:58 AM

Good post, Vic - and it should be added that Bellowhead played a stupendous set at Lewes Town Hall earlier this year and mentioned, in passing, that Lewes probably had more folk clubs per head of population than any other town in Britain. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, but there's certainly a hell of a lot going on locally!

Subject: 'Support Folk Clubs' - The Guardian
From: Vic Smith
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 06:48 AM

In today's Film & Music section of The Guardian there is an excellent enthusiatic article on Bellowhead by Will Hodgkinson with the 'Folk has a new sex appeal'.

Along with the article is a photograph of Benji Kirkpatrick and John Spiers, although this photograph is replaced by one of an all-jumping band by the time it gets to the on-line version at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/19/folk

It is almost impossible for me to resist quoting a paragraph from near the end of the article:-

"If you really want to appreciate and support folk music," concludes Jon Boden, "go to the local folk club. The first time you sit in a pub surrounded by people playing a tune, it's amazing. It's the feel that you get from folk music that counts, and that's the one thing we want to stay true to."


Now it is possible that I could be accused of bias here - but one folk club that I would thoroughly recommend is the long-running Thursday night venture at the Royal Oak in Lewes. After all that is the club where the young student Jon Boden used to do regular floor spots as well as one of his first solo bookings and where the first folk club booking and first return booking of Spiers and Boden took place.

It is also the venue where an undoubted future star of the folk scene, 18-year-old Matt Quinn, son of Dan, has been listening, learning and honing his performing skills for the last couple of years.

Folk clubs still have the possibility for producing outstandingly enjoyable evenings and developing young talent at the same time.