Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??

Subject: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 May 02 - 01:33 AM

Does anyone know anything about this great a capella harmony group??? I think they must be defunct by now. I have an old tape with such gems as LAZARUS and YELLOW SUN ...
Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Mac Tattie
Date: 25 May 02 - 12:40 PM

...rich-joy, I also wonder what happened. I only know them from one very enjoyable LP, which, from the tracks mentioned, must be the same as your tape. The LP was from 1983 on Plant Life PLR 048 and called " Don't Sing Aloha...When I Goha ". I bought this LP at Durham Festival in 1984 or '85 from Mr. D.Bulmer mimself and this LP still has a " C.M. Distribution" lable on the back. Whither the rights for this recording fell whithin his sphere of control I can't say. The line-up was, Dave Mitchel, John Spires, Anne Wiseman and Max Johnson. cheers

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Peter from Essex
Date: 25 May 02 - 02:36 PM

Simple, they went off in different directions and the group split. Max was a keen Dungeons and Dragons player around 1980 but I lost touch when I started a family. I never saw the LP but a recording couldn't match then live. My favourite had to be Stalin Wasn't Stallin'

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: michaelr
Date: 25 May 02 - 07:13 PM

Are there any CDs available?

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: rich-joy
Date: 26 May 02 - 02:51 AM

Some memory bell has since rung about some of the members going on to a group with a name to do with CHICKENS .... (??!!) (could've been in an old Folk Roots, or even Southern Rag, magazine) - does this all mean that The Surfers might have been a UK group then??? Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 26 May 02 - 06:46 AM

IIRC John Spires was playing guitar for Ann Lennox-Martin about 5 or so years ago, but not heard of recently.

Ann Wiseman has either been to some gathering I was at in the last year or was at a gathering somebody I was talking to was at (Jim Mageean I think), but sadly memory fails me in further detail.

rich-joy: Spring Chickens

Mick

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: rich-joy
Date: 27 May 02 - 11:44 PM

Thanks Mick! Were "Spring Chickens" doing a cappella harmony too?? Do they still exist??

(a thought : how long do "a cappella harmony groups" tend to last anyway? (apart from the exceedingly long-running Sweet Honey in the Rock) : is it by nature, a necessarily finite thing? Just wondering ...)

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Ralphie
Date: 28 May 02 - 03:47 AM

Not a definitive statement, but this may help...!!
The whole thing started with Threadbare Consort, back in the 70's....One of the best Accap bands, ever, up there with the Watersons, Young Tradition etc....
One LP was released, and immediately withdrawn, in 78/79? at Bracknell Fest (UK)....Ha Ha!! I've got a copy !!
The band split soon after, and some members reformed, in no particular order,as, the Dead Sea Surfers, and Spring Chickens.
Like the original questioner, I've often wondered what became of them all....I know that Celia O'Neil relocated in Vancouver, But, any more info, anyone??
I feel a re-Union coming on.....

Ralphie (My Spirit looks to God alone....etc)

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 May 02 - 05:01 AM

Yes, I remember some great performances from Threadbare/Surfers and also some wonderful Sacred Harp workshops - the BBC recorded the last one at the St. George's Festival at CSH.

I still have a bone to pick with Anne (the mighty mouse) Wiseman, though. When I went to Hospital after breaking my achilles tendon, she was the admissions nurse. When she heard how I'd done it (Folk Dancing), she laughed so loud that everybody else wanted to know what the joke was, she told them and they all joined in. I can still remember that as I was going into surgery in a pre-med haze, the porters were guffawing over my admission notes - I expect the surgeons did too. Why did people find it so funny - if I'd slipped on a banana skin I'd have got more sympathy

One the subject of the longevity (or lack of it) of "a cappella harmony groups", it's quite a personal thing finding voices that fit together well. Artisan have been going for quite some time now, and "English Tapestry" were around for quite a while (with several changes of the tenor voice). In fact I started an unsuccessful thread some time ago to find out if anyone knew the whereabouts of Brian and Ruth Britain.

One of my favourite harmony groups was "Beggar's Velvet" who unfortunately only survived for a relatively short time - at least they managed one album - still, Dave and Annie continue to delight us.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST
Date: 28 May 02 - 08:00 AM

Dave Bryant - a mate of mine once snapped his Achilles tendon playing in a country&western cricket match. He got much less sympathy than you did.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: breezy
Date: 28 May 02 - 01:58 PM

spiers just still going

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Greycap
Date: 28 May 02 - 02:01 PM

Max is living in Bradford, don't think he does any singing, though. Devotes a lot of time to painting military minatures.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Mr Red
Date: 28 May 02 - 04:15 PM

I think they went off the top of the screen they were Dead Sea Scrolling ***BG***

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Geoff Wallis
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 01:27 PM

I happened to work for a decade with one of the members of the Dead Sea Surfers, Dave Mitchell, who was indeed subsequently part of the Spring Chickens.

The last things I heard about Dave were a)that he'd taken up a career as a jazz guitariast, and b) that he was also working as a guide at the Imperial War Museum's aircraft site in Duxford.

I've no idea if he's still undertaking either pursuit.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 02:31 PM

Norman Western and I were part of a duo 1976 to 1978, he later sang with either threadbare or the surfers, and now lives in lancaster. Max Johnson was living in heynsham, Dave East is in london.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: BB
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 04:32 PM

Ann Wiseman must be living in the Teignmouth area of Devon these days. She turned up at a gig we did there a year or so ago, and was obviously a fairly regular attendee. Didn't have a lot of time to talk with her, so not sure what she's doing now.

Barbara

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: cptsnapper
Date: 03 Sep 06 - 01:04 AM

Is John Spires still playing?

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Dartford Warbler
Date: 03 Sep 06 - 08:04 PM

Last time I saw and spoke to John Spires was in the Wrotham Arms, Broadstairs (well outside Folk Week) about 2 years ago. He was mainly involved in theatre stuff in East London and was not doing any singing or playing.

Max got in touch with me a few months ago after seeing the DSS listed on the Dartford Folk Club - Hall of Fame - website.

I last saw Anne Wiseman in the Barnaby Rudge, Broadstairs (during Folk Week a few years back) but sadly she was not performing just watching. Wonderful voice. A harmony trio (Hops & Blarney) which I was once part of, sang one of her compositions called Autumn. I do not think it was ever recorded apart from on my portable cassette recorder at Farningham Folk Club :-) If anyone can pass her a message please get her to e-mail me via the email address on the Dartford Folk Club website at http://www.DartfordFolk.org.uk

The Dead Sea Surfers - a sheer joy to be in the audience during one of their performances!

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Sep 06 - 09:38 PM

Sad to have missed seeing them!
However, our a cappella harmony group "Work in Progress" does two of their wonderful numbers : "Yellow Sun" and "Lazarus" (and always credited!)


Cheers! R-J
(Down Under)

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 04 Sep 06 - 03:54 AM

John Spires was at this years Towersey, just the showground area, for a day trip on the Monday.

Hadn't seem him for a few years, he's still living in east London and took a Walthamstow Folk Club leaflet from me and suggested he'd drop in to q few Sunday nights.

He thought he'd drop in when we've got Spiers and Boden just to confuse things! In fact the last time I saw him before Towersey was a few years back when he dropped in to our previous Spiers and Boden gig.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Graham and Jo
Date: 05 Sep 06 - 04:11 PM

Spring Chickens' record 'Fowl Language' (1987) included John Spires, David Mitchell, Lily Lawson, and Adrian May.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 08 Sep 06 - 08:23 PM

Unfortunately, I don't remember the "Dead Sea Surfers" but do have very happy memories of "Spring Chickens" at the Cellar Upstairs Folk Club 20 odd years ago.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Morris-ey
Date: 05 Oct 06 - 09:28 AM

I knew Ann before the Dead Sea Surfers when she used to attend the Sunday night sing-around in the Freemasons Arms in Covent Garden - this was in 1979. Saw the Surfers at a few festivals ater that.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,popyamsurf
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 08:02 AM

Although this thread is very old so is my Cassette taped from my freinds Threadbare Consort album "Wearin Thin"
can anybody burn a MP£ disc of this as I cant find the album anywhere
Thanks
Gordon

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: popyasmurf
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 05:30 AM

Although this thread is very old so is my Cassette taped from my freinds Threadbare Consort album "Wearin Thin"
can anybody burn an MP3 disc of this as I cant find the album anywhere
Thanks
Gordon
duplicated because Ive creted an account now

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 05:37 AM

Yes easy peasy . PM me for my address.
Andy

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Anne Darby nee Wiseman
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 01:31 PM

I miss them to bits! David Mitchell and I formed a duo after Surfers split but it never really took off which was a shame. Some time later he went to America - I heard he was back but I don't know what he's doing. John I believe is still gigging... Max, as far as I know, isn't. I am in Teignmouth and do a bit of solo work here and there but it's not the same... I was singing in the Methodist Hall (great acoustics) at the weekend as part of the Teignmouth folk festival and thinking - this would've been perfect for a Sacred Harp workshop!

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 03:37 PM

I think Cathy O Neill,[ who was involved with the Marquis of Clanricade Folk club] also sang with them.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:09 PM

I have a haunting memory of "On Monday I was arrested"...

I last saw Anne in the Manor Pavilion Theatre Bar at Sidmouth, but she didn't sing... we have now relocated the morning singarounds to the Royal York and it would be wonderful if she could come and sing.

Kitty (still on a high from launching an a cappella CD of me and Derek Burgess at Herga this evening)

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:18 PM

To find out what happened t5o 'em, SCROLL down!




















Art

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:20 PM

I guess you didn't SCROLL down far enough.

Art

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:53 PM

I didn't notice who had posted, and I thought you meant they had taken up painting and had time for nothing else.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 08:36 AM

not cathy o neill ,but celia o neill.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 09:42 AM

I am the proud owner of "Wearin Thin" Bought on the day of it's release at Bracknell Festival (IIRC it was withdrawn the same afternoon for tech reasons!!)
Also have "Fowl Language!"
Fun times, and Hello to Ann....Long time no see!!!
Ralphie

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Vic Smith
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 11:39 AM

Some thoughts on the people/groups mentioned in this thread:-

•        Threadbare Consort was where this family of groups started (we need a Pete Frame family tree) Can't remember the entire line-up. It was Max Johnson; wasn't there an Eric…. And I think Dave East was in the line-up.
•        Dead Sea Surfers - not to be confused with the American rock band of the same name that have a website at http://www.deadseasurfers.com/
•        Spring Chickens the group that rich-joy could not quite remember the name of but remembered an article that could've been in an old Folk Roots, or even Southern Rag, magazine. Indeed it was in Folk Roots No. 46 pages 25-27 (April 1987) written by….. Vic Smith. To me they were one of the most adventurous and able groups of the times, superb singing and musicianship and a fantastic repertoire of compositions by May/Mitchell. I booked them several times for folk clubs and for Lewes Folk Day. I always wondered why they did not make it big on the alternative cabaret/comedy circuit which was very big at the time. They told me that they found it difficult to break away from their roots in folk clubs, but really they had a much broader appeal
•        The Self-Righteous Brothers was the short-lived, very vibrant duo of Adrian May and Dave Mitchell the followed the break-up of Spring Chickens. One of the few bookings that they did was for our club in Lewes, but they were outstanding, a real opportunity missed
•        Dave Mitchell Geoff Wallis writes The last things I heard about Dave were a)that he'd taken up a career as a jazz guitariast, and b) that he was also working as a guide at the Imperial War Museum's aircraft site in Duxford. I've no idea if he's still undertaking either pursuit. Adrian has more or less lost touch with him and is pretty sure that he does not play in public any more (though he can certainly play some fine Django-style guitar.) Adrian still gets a Christmas card from him and tells me that they are often cards of the Duxford Museum.
•        Ann Wiseman & Dave Mitchell Ann wrote David Mitchell and I formed a duo after Surfers split but it never really took off which was a shame. It was bloody good! I was reminded just how good they were together last year when I was digitising a whole loft-full of reel-to-reel BBC session tapes that had been recorded for the BBC local stations in the south folk music programme, Minstrels Gallery - six songs recorded on 5th September 1989. All good songs and the most impressive twenty years on was Anne's own composition and passionate performance of a song about an abandoned lover, Listen
•        Dave East has been living in South London for many years now and has been running the excellent Court Sessions folk club there and having sustained bad luck with his venue pubs closing/changing use of room etc.
•        Adrian May is a close friend and I am in frequent contact with him. Still living in Essex, he now teaches creative writing at the University of Essex. Still writing excellent songs, probably a bit more serious in their content of late. Does not do many gigs but we always book him. Taking a greater interest in the tradition than he used to. Is always telling me what a great singer Jeff Wesley is – as if this was news to me!

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 12:41 PM

the original line up of Threadbare Consort was Max Johnson ,Dave Mitchell,plus Eric[tenor or even counter tenor],and a wonderful bass singer.,Well that was the line up when I booked them,about 1977.
I think the first person to leave the original group was the bass singer
I think Dave East was in a group with ,Max,Norman Western,and Celia o Neill,which I think was ONE OF THE VARIATIONS OF Dead Sea Surfers.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Anne Darby (Wiseman)
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 02:03 PM

The amazing bass singer in Threadbare Consort was Marshall Cligman. When that folded, Threadbare formed with Max Johnson, Dave East, Norman Weston and Celia O'Neal while John Spires, Marshall Cligman and Dave Mitchell got together as Mrs Spinks... then there was the Dead Sea Surfers. Then came Spring Chickens and the duo that was me and Dave was Boston at the Back.

I think I'm in Finland during Sidmouth week...

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Anne Darby (Wiseman)
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 02:08 PM

The Eric was Eric Leggo - what a great name!

Hi Ralphie...

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 02:19 PM

thanks, Sorry if I appear pedantic ,he is Norman Western,he used to get annoyed about people spelling his name wrongly.
many was the time he earoled me about this,in the end[for peace and quiet] I used to spell it out to organisers when we got gigs.,and they still got it wrong.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Anne Lister
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 05:45 PM

Hi Anne!
I'll always remember the way John Spires picked me up by the scruff of my neck (metaphorically speaking) and took me on the road with you guys for a gig or two when I was absolutely at rock bottom with heartbreak and thinking I wouldn't get up and sing ever again. What a star he was! And you all were!
Hope to see you sometime.   Mary McLaughlin and I are going to do some Anonyma reunion gigs this summer, but we're not getting very close to Teignmouth, sadly.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Vic Smith
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 06:01 PM

Anne Lister wrote

"Mary McLaughlin and I are going to do some Anonyma reunion gigs this summer"

I remember the late Naomi Russell showing me proofs for her album cover design for the "Anonyma" album when we went round to her flat for a band practice.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Anne Lister
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 02:54 AM

Slight thread creep here - I was so sad to hear about Naomi recently. So much talent, such a wonderful person.
And yes, the album design was stunning and exactly what we wanted.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Anne Darby (Wiseman)
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 03:58 PM

Hi Anne Lister - I remember sitting in some club way back and a bloke introducing the next song he was going to sing and saying he didn't know if it was written by Anne Lister or Anne Wiseman. When he gave the title I piped up 'Anne Lister'. He asked how I knew and I replied 'cos I'm Anne Wiseman' and everyone laughed but I was p'd off cos he was singing one of your songs and not mine! But back to DSS - I've just moved into a new education centre at work called the Horizon Centre and now can't get the 'beyond the blue horizon comes a beautiful day' song out of my head. I wonder what happened to our shirts?

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Geoff Wallis
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 04:13 PM

For anyone wondering about the shirts, here's a rather poor scan of the cover of 'Don't Sing Aloha'.

http://bit.ly/vanKO

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Geoff Wallis
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 04:25 PM

Putting up that link reminded me that in the ten years or so in which I worked with Dave Mitchell I only once saw him sing in front of an audience and that was with the Surfers (mind you, he sang everyday at work).

Anne, might remember this. It must have been around 1985 or 1986 and the venue was The Gatehouse pub in Highgate. The Surfers were top of the bill which otherwise consisted of a dreadful performance poet and a lumpen folk-rock band whose name escapes me, but I do recall that the bass player had a tobacco pipe stuck in his mouth throughout their set.

In those days The Gatehouse was more usually known for its trad jazz. John Chilton's Feetwarmers (with or without George Melly) played there regularly, and on other nights there was often a band featuring a clarinetist who also happened to be a High Court judge (but for some idiosyncratic reason always wore a pacamac of the DOM variety).

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: popyasmurf
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 11:27 AM

Anybody got Wearing Thin ???? Threadbare Consort

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Surreysinger
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 11:55 AM

Read back to Ralphie's post!!

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: allmat
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 06:29 PM

The internet serendipity factor strikes again!

I was trawling through my old LP collection yesterday and came across Threadbare Consort's "Wearing Thin" which I bought at a Bracknell festival. Played it, and recorded it to PC ready to write to CD. But looking at the cover I couldn't find the names of the group members. A Google search brought me straight here! Can anyone say which of the various people mentioned as being part of the group were the ones on the record?
I can't think it was really withdrawn 'for technical reasons' as my copy seems perfect - I'd imagine there were copyright or licensing issues. Does anyone know?

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 07:05 PM

The "Tech Reasons" for the rapid withdrawl of Wearing Thin was 1 an off centre pressing which made it wow horribly (Not nice for an accapella band) and, although it pains me to say it "Red Cross Store" is horribly out of tune...No copyright problems. And as it was on sale for about three hours, You were lucky to have got one allmat!!
Wonder what it would fetch on E Bay? (Sod all I suppose!) but in their prime probably one of the most inspirational UK harmony acts around.
Hope they are all well and happy.

Subject: RE: Dead Sea Surfers - what happened to??
From: Anglo
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:07 PM

Vic - when I used to get back to England more frequently back in the late 70s-early 80s, and I was in town, I used to hang out with Dave East around some of the London clubs, Dingles and the like. I've often wondered if he was still around. Do you have any contact info for him? Thanks for any help.

John