Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!

Subject: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 05:24 AM

Some of you will have already seen - but surprisingly/delightfully, Dave & Toni Arthur are the cover stars of this month’s Fortean Times, with a long interview on their exploits and (mis)adventures with ‘King of the Witches’ Alex Sanders whilst making ‘Hearken to the Witches Rune’:

https://twitter.com/bob_fischer/status/1364905158711336960?s=21

Only problem is, it may make it *even more* difficult to find a reasonably priced copy...

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 05:28 AM

Also, it’s only upon typing it out today that I’ve noticed - shouldn’t the title contain a possessive apostrophe?

Either witch’s or witches’...?

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 09:38 AM

Just a plural as far as I can see. The 'of' denotes the possessive case.

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: Jos
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 11:28 AM

"The 'of' denotes the possessive case"

Yes, the 'of' denotes the possessive case in "King of the Witches", but "Hearken to the Witches Rune" does seem to require an apostrophe, with the position indicating whether there are more than one of them.

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 11:35 AM

Thanks both - I only intended that as an aside, about apostrophes, ha ha;

But really interested in people's recollections of the LP, or of other works at the time that strayed into this intersection between folk and the 'popular occult';

Comus and Mr Fox would be other examples that spring to my mind, and the Folklore Tapes label is a hotbed of contemporary exponents.

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 03:38 AM

A delightful anecdote from the article's author - the LP cover photo was taken in Bill Leader's garden, and lit by his car headlights!

https://twitter.com/Bob_Fischer/status/1366664268725239810?s=20

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: GerryM
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 04:35 AM

Rob Young's book, Electric Eden, told me far more about the intersection between folk and occult than I ever wanted to know.

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 03:04 AM

In days of old . . . .

. . . . . . "Witches" could indicate the genitive . . . that is, the spelling is indicative of an attributive relationship of one noun to another noun; in this case the "Rune" has some relationship to a/the "Witch".

See the title page of the 1632 edtion of "Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories and tragedies, published according to the true originall copies" as an example, where the bard was named as "William Shakespear".

More recently, the apostrophe became a common way to show the ommission of the 'e' in the possessive although in the process "Shakespear" became "Shakespeare"

So I think the title is just archaic. Perhaps the invitation to "Hearken" in the title (instead of "listen", "observe", "notice", etc, using ones ears) would support this?

Poetry aside, and pedantry to the front, can you hearken to a rune? Be it a Witch's or anyone else's?

Of course, I could be talking bollocks. I often do.

The English language, eh?

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: Rain Dog
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 06:01 AM

I have not read the article yet but I noticed this amongst the people he thanks:

Members of the mudcat.org folk forum were very helpful, too

Subject: RE: Dave/Toni Arthur on Fortean Times cover!
From: cnd
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 10:12 PM

Thanks for sharing Black Acorn. There seems to be an ever-present community of folkies who like the occult.

A good LP which I have is Dark Ships in the Forest.

You may also be interested in Manley Wade Wellman's "Silver John" stories, though they're very solidly in the fiction vein of writing. They do contain a lot of real folk songs and folk beliefs, though they also contain their fair share of fake varieties of both.