Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 21 Mar 14 - 02:59 PM

Flora,

Thanks. We looked at the website and it is certainly interesting. However, if the 2015 festival runs from October 1 through 4, which seem likely, there is little chance we will be able to attend. We hope to be elsewhere that Thursday and Friday, Saturday will be the day we travel back to London, and I am the guest at Walthamstow Folk Club on Sunday.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 21 Mar 14 - 04:34 AM

You might like to consider Tenterden festival in Kent - morris dancing and sessions - there is a web site. Its a pretty town with a steam train that goes to Bodeum castle - everyones idea of a crusader castle from the outside. You could do it by train from london as a day trip.
FloraG

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 20 Mar 14 - 02:01 PM

Greetings again,

Walthamstow Folk Club just confirmed that they will have me on Sunday, October 4, 2015. So far this is what my schedule looks like:

2015
Friday, Sept. 25: Orpington Friday Folk - Orpington
Sunday, Sept. 27: FAB Club - Grays
Monday, Sept. 28: Singers' Night at Unity Folk Club - London
Sunday, Oct. 4: Walthamstow Folk Club - London

What Marilyn and I need to do now is decide where else in the UK we will visit from September 29 to October 3. Meanwhile, thanks for the suggestions so far. We will, of course, welcome additional suggestions.

--- Steve Suffet

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 09:14 AM

No probs. Steve. Thanks for the links and response.

Dave.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 28 Feb 14 - 09:13 AM

Dave,

Yes, that it a video of me. The outdoor acoustics are somewhat rough, so you can click here for a link to a video of me performing that same song indoors.

Even better, click here for a link to my website, which in turn has links to videos, MP3 files, and more. There is even an MP3 player right on the home page as well as a YouTube video.

Thanks for offering to look into those two clubs, but it appears that we will be in London on each of the two Mondays of our visit. If anything changes I will let you know.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 03:03 PM

Is this you
Steve?

May be useful for anyone that doesn't know your style.

Want me to check Swinton (Manchester) or Skipton (N Yorks)? I only go to folk clubs with similar names :-) Oh, and they are both on Mondays.

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Mr Red
Date: 27 Feb 14 - 09:59 AM

I always counsel people using my site - if going any distance &/or my data look old - phone first.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 25 Feb 14 - 08:19 PM

Greetings again:

I now have my second confirmed booking, which is Orpington Friday Folk for September 25, 2015.

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. And thank you, Mr. Red in particular, for that link. I have some following-up to do right away, and then a little more once Marilyn and I decide where we will be going other than London. That should keep me busy for a while.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Feb 14 - 09:17 AM

there are plenty of bluegrassy thingies going on. have a look at cresby.com for the lower left hand side of England and bits of attached Wales. Post Codes, maps etc and such are displayed &/or linked to.
And if you venture as far as Taunton (Mummerzet) there is an Old Timey Americana night geographical search centred on Taunton (other towns are available) though Blagdon Hill is the only Old Timey event I know of in my chosen demesne.

No yehaaaaaas please.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Feb 14 - 08:47 AM

"I will not take any payment for myself"
Presumably you are on a tourist visa as well.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 06:53 PM

Peter:

York is certainly one of the places we are considering. Thanks for the offer.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: stallion
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 05:06 PM

Hiya Steve will you dropping in to York during your visit, we have plenty of room, be good to catch up.
Peter

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 04:05 PM

Al: Yes, I have one confirmed booking, the FAB Club in Grays, Essex, on Sunday afternoon, September 27, 2015. I am waiting to hear from another club just outside London. Once I have those two gigs scheduled, I will try to find about two more, perhaps three. I hope that at least one will be away from the London area, but first my wife and I have to decide where that will be. There are many places in the UK we have never visited, and there are many we would like to visit again.

In the USA, I only do about ten to twelve performances a year, and that's about all I want. I am more of what I call a "folk music activist" than a performer. For example, I serve on the board of directors Folk Music Society of New York and on the steering committee of the People's Music Network; I help run the Peoples' Voice Cafe weekly coffee house at Community Church in New York City; and I produce an annual multi-performer Woody Guthrie tribute concert.

Flora: Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into it.

Pat: Thanks for the e-mail.

Jim: While I know that the clubs can use the money, it is not pure generosity on my part, because I want to keep my amateur status when traveling outside the USA. I don't mind getting paid for performing in the USA, but in any given year the income from music is always less than my expenses. Otherwise I would come under the US Internal Revenue Service "hobby loss" rule, which says that losses from a hobby cannot be used to offset taxable income from other sources, but profits from a hobby are taxable as business income. Having business income would subject me to all sorts of rules, regulations, and scrutiny that I would rather not deal with.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 10:01 AM

any luck Steve?

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 03:48 AM

You could combine a very nice ' day out' from London with a visit to Cambridge and an evening at their folk club on a Friday. They have a good web site.
FloraG.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 12:06 AM

Look forward to seeing play somewhere near me in 2015.

Pat

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Feb 14 - 11:37 AM

"I will not take any payment for myself. I will instead donate whatever fee I would have received back to the club that books me."
A generous offer, would that other performers showed the same spirit.
Many clubs survive on a shoestring and would undoubtedly benefit from such assistance - more power to your elbow, as they say on this side of the (far too often) great divide - the Irish Sea.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Feb 14 - 11:37 AM

"I will not take any payment for myself. I will instead donate whatever fee I would have received back to the club that books me."
A generous offer, would that other performers showed the same spirit.
Many clubs survive on a shoestring and would undoubtedly benefit from such assistance - more power to your elbow, as they say on this side of the (far too often) great divide - the Irish Sea.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Feb 14 - 12:07 AM

bob Kirkpatrick - sunray fc wants you to contact him steve - you will find sunray fc on the web. I put you message on my facebook page.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Feb 14 - 07:33 PM

i'll pass your name on to some clubs round here. I live in dorset.

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Feb 14 - 06:57 PM

Hope to meet up at some point Steve !

Subject: RE: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Feb 14 - 04:49 PM

i hope you dont mind if i make another suggestion that you donate your fee to folk singers [one example would be Rosie Hardman], who are either ill or disabled.

Subject: Visiting the UK in Autumn 2015
From: Suffet
Date: 22 Feb 14 - 09:48 AM

Greetings from New York City!

My wife Marilyn and I plan to return to the United Kingdom in late September and early October 2015 to visit with friends and relatives. As always, London will be our gateway city, and we will try to stop by as many folk clubs as possible. Other than that, we have no specific plans.

I will be contacting several folk clubs that have booked me in the past as a guest performer, and I would welcome suggestions from fellow Mudcatters. I am best described as an Old Fashioned Folksinger, and my repertoire is an eclectic mix of American folk music, including old-time, ragtime, blues, ballads, cowboy songs, hobo songs, union songs, trucker songs, topical-political songs, Gospel songs, and more. Some of my songs are traditional, some by singers such as Woody Guthrie and Utah Phillips, and some are ones that I wrote myself in traditional styles. You can find out more about me and my music by going to www.stevesuffet.com and then following the links.

As I have done when visiting the UK in the past, I will not take any payment for myself. I will instead donate whatever fee I would have received back to the club that books me. I can also accept unpaid "hotspots" and opening sets. All of this is possible because the New York City Teachers Retirement System serves as my patron. For that I can thank unionization!

That's about all for now. If you would like to get in touch with me, please do so by e-mail to [e-mail] rather than through Mudcat.

Thank you.

Kindest regards,
Steve Suffet