11 Items of folk news from Lewes for Jan

Subject: 11 Items of folk news from Lewes for Jan
From: Vic Smith
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:47 PM

ELEVEN ITEMS OF FOLK MUSIC NEWS FROM LEWES FOR JANUARY

First of all, a Happy New Year to all! 2009 was a very successful year for the folk clubs in Lewes. The Royal Oak had good crowds on a regular basis with the "House Full" signs being up on a number of occasions. The Lewes Saturday club moved to the Elephant & Castle at the start of the year and it has been a very good move for them with the increased capacity of their new home offering them the possibility of even more adventurous programming. Their programme of all-day Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) workshops is second to none in the country.
The continued spirit of close co-operation between the two clubs is being developed in 2010 when the two clubs combine forces to present the first LEWES FOLK FESTIVAL for something like 20-odd years in October. More of this later is this message…..

1] FOLK AT THE ROYAL OAK
Station Street, Lewes
Enquiries: - [phone] or 881316
Email [e-mail] .

Every Thursday 8.pm PROMPT START
Here is our programme for the coming months:-

Jan 14th * free admission * OPEN NIGHT

Jan 21st * £5.00 * BING LYLE
The very engaging local singer of traditional songs, songwriter and a talented multi- instrumentalist.

Jan 28th * £7.00 * SARA GREY'S 70th BIRTHDAY PARTY.
We give a party for the American singer and banjoist who has made very many appearances in Lewes since the 1960s and made a huge contribution to the folk scene on both sides of the Atlantic. She appears with her song Kieron and surprise guests.

Feb 4th * £6.00 * MARTYN WYNDHAM READ & IRIS BISHOP
One of the finest voices on the folk scene in the company of one of the most talented and sensitive accompanists.

Feb 11th * £6.00 * JEZ LOWE
'One of the best writers to come out of England' Richard Thompson.   'One of our best songwriters' Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2

Feb 18th * £6.00 * CHRIS BARTRAM, NEIL BROOKES & TONY WEATHERALL
A new trio from Shropshire that combines the excellent singing of Chris with the a pair of the finest exponents of English dance music on fiddle and melodeon

February 25th * £6.00 * PETA WEBB & KEN HALL
Two great singers whose voices combine wonderfully well. Their repertoire of songs come from England, Ireland and
America and they are noted experts on traditional singing.

March 4th * £6.00 * ANDY TURNER & MAT GREEN
A welcome return for this talented pair. Andy sings and plays melodeon and anglo-concertina. Mat dances morris jigs and plays fiddle. Their playing really creates sparks of excitement.

March 11th * £7.00 * TIM VAN EYKEN
Following his great success at the National Theatre and the West End in "War Horse", Tim returns to solo performing and this will be one of his first gigs since doing so. Ex-Waterson:Carthy

March 18th * £10.00 * MARTIN CARTHY, NORMA WATERSON & CHRIS PARKINSON
>>>ADVANCE TICKET ONLY<<< This tremendous trio provided one of our best nights ever when they visited last year. These three have been amongst the top names on the folk scene for decades now.

March 25th * £6.00 * JIM McFARLAND
One of Ireland's top singers of traditional songs is making a short English tour from his home in Derry. Jim has a great voice, many excellent songs and he decorates his singing in a beautiful way


Later in 2010, our guests will include:-

* CHRIS COE & JOHN ADAMS * JOHN KIRKPATRICK * JEFF WARNER * BAYOU SECO * DEBBIE McCLATCHY * ROSIE DAVIS, JOE LOCKER & BOB WINQUIST

Our websites are at
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic   and
http://www.myspace.com/royaloakfolklewes

Those of you who arrange listings are politely requested to include all of the above.
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2] LEWES FOLK FESTIVAL 7 -10th OCTOBER 2010.
The two Lewes folk clubs are combining their efforts to promote this festival, largely based in their own clubrooms and other venues in the town. At the moment this is still in the early planning stages but watch this circular and elsewhere for updates on the guests/programme etc. At the moment the following artists have agreed to appear: - SHIRLEY COLLINS, JOHN KIRKPATRICK, CHRIS COE, JOHN ADAMS, PETE COE. SUE COE, CHRIS PARTINGTON, THE COPPER FAMILY, BOB LEWIS, PEPPERS' GHOST and a notable number of display dance teams have also indicated their willingness to participate. The website at
http://www.lewesfolkfest.org/LFFindex.php will gradually be developed as plans become finalised.
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3] SARA GREY'S 70th BIRTHDAY – 28th JANUARY 2010
One regular recipient of this monthly circular will not be receiving it this time – and that is Sara Grey! We have booked her along with her son Kieron Means to appear on that night and we do want to make it a very special occasion so please:-
* Contact us with your suggestions of what we could do on the evening
* Send your cards, letters to us at the address below and we will present them to Sara on the evening.
* Any email messages we will collate and print to give to her - [e-mail]
* Any short .mp3 message of greeting attached to emails will be played to her during the evening – also [e-mail]
But most of all – please make an effort to be there to make it a very special occasion for Sara who has been a stalwart of the folk club scene in this country for over 40 years now.

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4] FOLK AT THE ROYAL OAK ON "MYSPACE"
Our MYSPACE profile enables us to profile sample tracks of coming guests as well as show photos and biographies of coming guests. It is at http://www.myspace.com/royaloakfolklewes
Currently on our MYSPACE we have the following tracks by coming guests:-

Rosie Davis [with Joe Locker & Bob Winquist] - "My Blue Heart" - (January 7th)
Bing Lyle - "Painting the Town" - (January 21st)
Sara Grey & Kieron Means - "Lazy John" - (January 28th)
Martyn Wyndham Read & Iris Bishop - "The Foggy Dew" - (February 4th)
Chris Bartram, Neil Brookes & Tony Weatherall - "Barleycorn" - (February 18th)
Tony Weatherall [as part of Bartram. Brookes & Weatherall]- "The Woolsack - Oh What A Row - Reel" - (February 18th)
Mat Green & Andy Turner - "Quicksteps" - (March 4th)
Chris Parkinson [with Martin Carthy & Norma Waterson] - "Scotch Measure/Mount Hills" - (March 18th)
Norma Waterson [with Martin Carthy & Chris Parkinson] - "Sheepcrook & Black Dog" - (March 18th)
Martin Carthy [with Norma Waterson & Chris Parkinson] - "Georgie" - (March 18th)
After each gig the songs will drop off to be replaced with another by an upcoming guest.
In addition there are videos by each of the following coming guest artists:-

SARA GREY & KIERON MEANS January 28th
MARTYN WYNDHAM READ & IRIS BISHOP February 4th
JEZ LOWE February 11th
MARTIN CARTHY March 18th
NORMA WATERSON March 18th

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5] SUSSEX FOLK GUIDE WEBSITE - UPDATED
For all the listings of folk music, song club, dances, festivals in and around Sussex, have a look at http://whatson.brighton.co.uk/folk This site all always kept updated with the latest events and those currently listed cover all the dates up until the end of January 2010 .
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6] THE FOLK DIARY
Most of the listings on the Sussex Folk Guide website are taken from the paper magazine, THE FOLK DIARY. Issue no 240 covers the months of December and January. They are packed with adverts for various folk festivals, folk music record companies, specialist shops, instrument makers and other services as well as details of all the folk song and dance events in our area. To obtain copies of this free magazine as it is published, please send SAE's to Vic Smith at the address below.
It is also the address to send album review copies to. Potential advertisers are also asked to contact Vic for a statement of our advertising rates.
The copy date for the February/March issue has passed and this is now with the printers. However, it should be mentioned for future issues that once the available space has been filled, no more adverts can be accepted even if they are received BEFORE the copy date. With this in mind, it is worth contacting the editors before the copy date to state your intentions and reserve advertising space even if you have not got final details or you copy prepared.
Please contact
JIM MARSHALL 01273 559750 [e-mail]
Or
VIC SMITH 01273 478124 [e-mail]
The next issue will be number 241 and will cover the months of February and March and will be available from Mid-January.
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7] THE FOLK DIARY ON LINE
THE FOLK DIARY is available on-line at
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic/fd.htm You will need Adobe ACROBAT
READER to read the pages. The size of each page is given by each page
link and the content of each page is indicated. The following issue is now
on-line and are listed here with the content of each page:-
ISSUE No. 240 DECEMBER - JANUARY 2009
Page 1(432kb) Croydon folk club - "The Magical Christmas Tree Show, Derrick Hughes plays serpent, "Maypoles to Mistletoes" at The Hawth, Crawley, Brighton Folk & Blues Club at The Open House (Fris).
Page 2 (399kb) Meltdown Ceilidhs Haywards Heath, Nellie Folk Club Tonbridge (Mons), Horsham Folk Club (Suns), Sandra's Party, Spyboy Presentations.
Page 3 (936kb) Gary's Live Music Club Coolham Village Hall, Folk at the Royal Oak, Lewes (Thurs), Copy dates and contact details.
Page 4 (1.00mb) Rattlebag singarounds Hastings (Thurs), Folk on the Coast Bognor (Fris), The Sussex Pistols Barn Dance Band.
Page 5 (0.99kb) Barry Murphy banjos. Vince's fiddles, Croydon Folk Club (Mons), Crow Jane recording studio Lewes, Mid-Sussex folk singers Ashurst (Weds).
Page 6 (291kb) Amberley Folk Club (Tues), Steve Winchester new album, Fee calls Ceilidhs, North Brighton singarounds (Thurs & Suns), Rude Mechanicals (Weds), Blakewood The Blue Coconut (Thurs), Get the Folk Diary by post.
Page 7 (586kb) CD reviews by Jim Marshall and Vic Smith
Page 8 (1.29mb) CD reviews by Jim Marshall and Vic Smith
Page 9 (755kb) (385kb) CD reviews by Jim Marshall and Vic Smith
Page 10 (392kb) CD reviews by Jim Marshall and Vic Smith
Page 11 (2.04mb) Willows Arundel (Weds), SEFAN Regional Meeting, Acoustic Sussex
Page 12 (1.10mb) Piggies Open Mike Uckfield (Tues), Sussex Folk Association, Lamb folk club Eastbourne (Weds), Hat Music and Films
Page 13 (1.54mb) Blakewood Acoustic sessions (Weds), Brighton Cellarfolk Brighton (Tues), Six Bells Chiddingly (Tues). Elsie's (Sats), Brighton Acoustic session (Mons), White Horse Bodle Street Green (Mons)
Page 14 (2.26mb) Geordie's Winter Almanac Tour Winchester, Forty Years of The Folk Diary!
Page 15 (1.13mb) Seaford Folk Club (Fris) Brighton Singers Club (Weds), All Good Folk ( carols), Electric Voices Guildford area.
Page 16 (123kb) (123KB) Lewes Saturday Club.
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8] LEWES WORKSHOPS AT THE ELEPHANT & CASTLE
The workshops last a full Saturday or Sunday and the tutor performs at the club in the evening. The programme for 2010 will be:-

20 Feb STEVE TURNER Concertinas for song accompaniment
27 Feb COOPE BOYES & SIMPSON Vocal harmony
27 Feb GEORGINA BOYES Folklore seminar (pm)
27 March BEN PALEY Fiddle
17 April SHIRLEY COLLINS Trad song masterclass
18 April SHIRLEY COLLINS Trad song masterclass
24 April ISSEY EMENEY Melodeon
22 May JOE PENLAND North Carolina song & society
5 June MIKE O'CONNOR & BARBARA GRIGGS Cornish tunes from source manuscripts
6 June MIKE O'CONNOR Songwriting in the tradition
10 July KAREN TWEED O'Carolan's music (any instrument)
18 Sept MOOR MUSIC Dartmoor music (any instrument)
9 Oct JOHN ADAMS Village Music Project (any instrument)
10 Oct CHRIS COE Ballad forum
31 Oct MARTIN CARTHY Guitar
13 Nov FRANKIE ARMSTRONG Singing & vocal techniques
20 Nov TIM LAYCOCK Concertina (all systems)
The website for more details is
http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/LAFC/workshps.html or contact Valmai
Goodyear on [phone] or email [e-mail]
The Lewes Saturday Folk Club has a new domain name - http://www.lewessaturdayfolkclub.org/ . This will work in parallel with the old name http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/ for the time being but they hope to phase it out so please change your bookmarks.

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9] MONTHLY SESSION IN LEWES
After a gap of several years, Sunday afternoon tune and song sessions have returned to the bar of the Royal Oak in Station Street in Lewes. These will be on the last Sunday of the month from 3.30 – 5.30pm. Dates for the next sessions are
~~~~~      January 31st – February 28th ~~~~~
They will be run by Vic & Tina Smith.
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10] OTHER REGULAR SESSIONS IN THE LEWES/BRIGHTON AREA
Bryan Creer has taken on the task of detailing these, and they are posted at http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/LAFC/Sessions.php

Have a look and if there are any you think that Bryan has missed - contact
him on
[e-mail]
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11] THE COPPER FAMILY – HOUSE CONCERT – 26th JANUARY
This from Jon Dudley
Dear V&T,
It's coming up that time of year again - January, and we've decided to have another house concert, Our guests will be 'Rattle on the Stovepipe' and the date will be Tuesday 26th January (the last Tuesday in January if it helps people remember), Any chance you might feel like MC'ing Vic?
We hope you may be available for this onerous task and that you would be kind enough to mention the event to your august and faithful audience via your email blast...again we're suggesting a 'voluntary' £7.00 donation. There will be a free glass of Harveys or a glass of red or white wine, subsequent ones at £1 a throw. Strictly not-for-profit. All proceeds to artists.
Tickets will be by email application only and we'll be emailing everyone that came last time as well. Please email [e-mail]
<><><>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
...And if you are ever looking for a good barn dance band, look no further than THE SUSSEX PISTOLS - though you should get in quickly - available dates for 2010 are being snapped up quickly. They performed once again for the largest and most prestigious dance in our area, the BRIGHTON MIDWINTER CEILIDH at the Corn Exchange in Brighton on December 20th. As usual, the 500 plus tickets sold out very quickly.
Contact Tina on 01273 478124 or email her at [e-mail] to
book the band. The band's website is at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic/pistols.htm and they have a MYSPACE profile as well at http://www.myspace.com/thesussexpistols
__________________________________________

VIC & TINA SMITH
26 Ferrers Road
LEWES
East Sussex
BN7 1PZ
England

Tel & Fax:- 01273 478124
Email:-
[e-mail]
[e-mail]