Village Thing 40th Anniversary gig CSH

Subject: Village Thing 40th Anniversary gig CSH
From: Ian Anderson
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 04:24 PM

Reading other topics about 60s/70s UK folk clubs and London's Les Cousins, some of you may be interested in this. Excuse the PR speak. NB the all-day tickets are nearly sold out already.

GHOSTS FROM THE BASEMENT

Weekend Beatnik, Rif Mountain & the EFDSS present

A 40th anniversary celebration of Village Thing and the lost songs, dreams and folkadelia of the early 1970s

Saturday 25th September
2pm to 11pm (doors 1.30)

Cecil Sharp House
2 Regents Park Road
Camden
London NW1 7AY

Tickets £20 all day (£25 on door) / Evening £15 (£20 on door)
020 7485 2206 | folkshop.efdss.org | in person at Cecil Sharp House
Concerts * Sessions * Author Slam!

Among the artists who will be appearing:

From Village Thing's basement: Wizz Jones (and Pete Berryman), Steve Tilston, Tucker Zimmerman, Ian A. Anderson, Dave Evans, Ian Hunt, Maggie Holland, Keith Christmas and Keith Warmington.

From up yonder Rif Mountain and beyond: Nancy Wallace, Jason Steel, The Owl Service, The Straw Bear Band, Pamela Wyn Shannon, Adam Leonard, Ellen Mary McGee, The A. Lords with Mark Fry and more special guests.

In the literature lounge: Rob Young (Electric Eden), Jeanette Leech (Seasons They Change), Mark Jones (Bristol Folk), Will Hodgkinson (The Ballad Of Britain), Richard Morton Jack (Galactic Ramble) and Colin Irwin (In Search Of Albion) will perhaps illuminate the answer to that troubling philosophical question "what the f*** is psych folk anyway?"

2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of one of the pionering UK independent labels, The Village Thing, now a cult and very expensively collectable imprint for its two dozen album releases from 1970-74. With the big revival of interest in what now gets called 'psych folk', 'strange folk', 'acid folk' - and all sorts of other -folk genre tags that hadn't been invented back then - Village Thing is suddenly back in the spotlight. At the same time, notable new labels are springing up with a similar cottage industry, family of musicians ambience, of which Rif Mountain is easily the closest in spirit to Village Thing in its heyday.

Village Thing's veterans who will be appearing include the legendary Wizz Jones, the acoustic guitar hero who was an influential contemporary of the late Davey Graham, much admired by the likes of John Renbourn and Eric Clapton back then; songwriter Steve Tilston who has just been all over the media after the unearthing by a collector of a letter written to Steve by John Lennon; and acoustic guitar genius Dave Evans who can still be seen on YouTube in a mind-boggling performance from a '70s Old Grey Whistle Test. Meanwhile, Rif Mountain's gang include the sublime Nancy Wallace, 2010 BBC Folk Award nominee; fast rising new electric folk outfit The Owl Service; and notable guitarist & banjo player Jason Steel. Making cameo appearances will be '70s veterans Dennis Holmes (Synanthesia) and Alison O'Donnell (Mellow Candle)

Weekend Beatnik have just released Ghosts From The Basement, a 20-track trawl through Village Thing's amazing vaults, and Rif Mountain will release Echoes From The Hill, a specially recorded Village Thing tribute album to coincide with the event. Cementing the bond, Tucker Zimmerman, the US exile whose first album was produced for EMI by Tony Visconti before he moved to the friendlier independent climes of Village Thing, will be coming over specially from Belgium for the first time in 40 years, to record a specially commissioned session with Rif Mountain's Jason Steel for BBC Radio 3's Late Junction.

Village Thing on MySpace
Weekend Beatnik
Rif Mountain

Subject: RE: Village Thing 40th Anniversary gig CSH
From: GUEST,guest - Jim Younger
Date: 09 Sep 10 - 01:36 PM

Thanks for the tip-off, Ian. Can't be there on the day, but I wish the event all success. Wish now I hadn't got rid of my Sun Also Rises album. And psych-folk is a state of mind - many of us have been indulging for years. Yes, and you're right - Dave Evans is a genius on the guitar.

Subject: RE: Village Thing 40th Anniversary gig CSH
From: Ian Anderson
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 09:08 AM

Bump - it's this Saturday