Nutters in Folk Clubs

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 12:52 PM

I suppose there is a difference between performing an off the wall act and actually being... errr.. off the wall, ceiling, planet etc.

The North & Midlands festivals in the late '70s and early '80s had a young lad wandering around going by the name of Aardvark. Those who remember him may chuckle. Those who don't.. well, it takes more than I am capable of typing to explain him.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Brian Peters
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 06:24 AM

Paul Connor was certainly an eccentric, with his unkempt appearance and unexpectedly cultured accent, but his performances of his own poems ranged from bonkers to truly spine-tingling.

Do you remember the one he did comparing the colours of the Autumn leaves to those of the tramcars belonging to different companies, that used to run in Manchester and Salford? Lovely. Or the one about 'The Better Part of Eccles'?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Mark Dowding
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 07:14 PM

The late Paul Connor who frequented clubs in the Manchester was NOT a nutter as I'm sure Brian and others on here who knew him will testify but some of the stuff he wrote and the way he performed it was sheer top drawer nutter stuff. I wish I had a few more recordings of him than the couple I have.
My favourite piece that he did and that I can remember and recite on occasion is his version on Skewball:

Oh Skewball was a racehorse
I thought he was fine
He wouldn't drink water
He only drank wine

I backed him with silver
I backed him with gold
And the rest of my story
Is easily told

For now I'm a pauper
And you'll follow suit
If you back a racehorse
That's pissed as a newt

Cheers
Mark

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Anne Lister
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 05:48 PM

Does anyone remember Johnny London? Used to come to various London clubs in the mid eighties with a guitar plastered in magazine pics and sing all sorts of eccentric songs? He wrote a tribute to Anonyma, I remember, which had the memorable line of "I'd rather listen to Anonyma than Madonna any day".
And if you remember him, do you know what happened to him?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Acorn4
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 09:06 AM

...sorry "singing" should have read "sinking" in first line - must proofread better!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Acorn4
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 09:04 AM

Way back, I remember a weird experience which happened at a local club just after the singing of the ferry, "Herald of Free Enterprise" at Zeebrugge.

This bloke obviously wanted to be the first to pen a song on the subject of the disaster. He stood up in yellow wellies, sou'wester and lifeboatman's hat. He started his song:-

"Oh, the Herald of Free Enterprise she sail-ed on the sea...."

Which continued for the obligatory forty two verses detailing the tragedy.

He collared us in the entrance at the beer break and asked "Did you like my song?"

We muttered something complementary as I recall.

He then went on to tell us that there was a young girl, who was thought to have been drowned, but later proved to have survived being washed up alive further down the coast.

"Do you know", he said, "It ruined my song. I had to re-write four verses."

He didn't quite say "They should have thrown her back in!" but this certainly semed to have been implied.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: G-Force
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 08:46 AM

I remember (better not name names) a professorial type who used to read self-penned poetry. It all started well but after a few weeks we realised the content was becoming extremely dubious. Eventually it descended into downright porn and we had to ban him, but it made for a more exciting evening than usual!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 08:31 AM

Wot about Muppet, now there's a nutter (in a nice way).

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Brian Peters
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 07:50 AM

Dr Sunshine was the funniest act I ever saw in a folk venue. Laughed till it hurt.

I was once in mid-performance at a folk club in Stoke when in walked an elderly-ish couple in full Wild West gear: stetsons, fringed keks, six-guns, the lot. They listened to about twenty seconds of whatever I was singing (probably 'Lord Randal' or something) before giving each other a 'Boy, have we come to the wrong gig!' kind of look, and fleeing.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Paul Reade
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 07:43 AM

Anyone remember Dave Mandel who performed around the Manchester area in the late sixties / early seventies and ran a club in Sale for a time?

He played the ukelele, and his songs included:-

"Standing on my Head" which extolled the therapeutic virtues of this position, which he of course took up at the end of the song.

"Nuclear Power Station" which had a tinkling ukelele accompaniment to mimic the geiger counter "ping" in nuclear establishments - the chorus finished with him shouting "..nuclear bomb ..."

He once told us, in all seriousness, that he was over 800 years old (yes 800 - it's not a typo) and had killed Kenneth Horne of BBC "Round the Horne" fame by "putting the fluence" on him following a dispute over a song!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: RTim
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 03:47 PM

I haven't seen Nick Collis-Bird for over 20 years!!!
Well, I do now live in the USA, a long way from Swanage!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 03:31 PM

Plenty of nutters at Northwick Park, I married one!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 02:46 PM

Apparently Nick Collis-Bird now lives in Swanage...he and Derek used to work together (before Derek discovered folk music) and while Nick was married to Frances... Nick used to come to parties at View Close when various members of Puddleduck lived there in the mid 1970s.

Gaffer Ferris used to come to Herga, in his clown trousers, when he was working in the gynacology Department at Northwick Park Hospital!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 12:55 PM

Anyone who has the cat wrangling ability to run a folk or music venue of any kind has to qualify somewhere on this thread.
How are you doing Mr V.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Acorn4
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 06:00 AM

Ron Geesin, ex member of the Bonzos was completely off the wall. Only saw him once but very funny.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 05:50 AM

Major Mustard was also on the verge...

And as for Pete White, well...

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 05:43 AM

Anyone remember 'The New Modern Idiot Grunt Band'? & do they count?
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: glueman
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 05:16 AM

There used to be a chap in Nottingham in the seventies who dressed in full English civil war regalia - I forget which side if I ever knew - including Friday and Saturday night round the pubs.
One evening on the bus home the local lads went too far with the piss taking and he shot one! The pistol was loaded with powder not lead but he ended up in court and the comedian got powder burns.
I also recall at least one air whistle player. My favourite was a well-dressed city type who caught the bus on Southampton Row, London, similar period and read a comic with matching facial expressions, shouts and cheers to the adventures in the Beano, living out every jape and pratfall.

The world is too small for such people. Since back into the community initiatives I notice no let up in the nutter supply. Given reality, can you blame them?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Mr Happy
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 04:55 AM

Never to be forgotten,indeed!!

The spectacle of Dave with Professor Wingnut doing fire-eating, with the fire stuck to Vic's lips!!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Silas
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 04:28 AM

Never to be forgotten Dr Sunshines Pavement show with Dave Hunt and the late and much lamented Vic Baker - they don't get much nuttier that that, also Taffy Thomas' Salami Brothers... nuf said!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 03:50 AM

Nick! Hooray..........you live. I'll google you.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,NICK COLLIS BIRD
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 03:43 AM

I've only just found this site Terry, The seventies were great times.
I am now a pensioner, still playing the melodeon and still a nutter (I hope)
I have website, just type collis bird into google

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Sep 07 - 02:17 PM

Good god Dave, I remember Jonathan Wyse, he used to frequent the Arab Boy in Putney in years gone by, and I too went to the Greyhound a time or two. Jonathan had a brother as I remember, I do remember sitting in the sweaty dungeon behind the stage at the Troubador, with Jonathan, and the Watersons. Oh happy days.
Giok

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Folkiedave
Date: 01 Sep 07 - 01:57 PM

Great Western Morris - especially Mike Boston and Dave Brassington.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Anne Lister
Date: 01 Sep 07 - 01:05 PM

What's happened to Johnny London? He was around the London folk clubs in the mid 80s ... hard to describe if you didn't ever hear him, but William McGonagall lyrics with a Sid Vicious melody might get close.

Anne

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Slag
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 03:33 PM

Well, thank God ( or your Higher Power [or lack thereof]) that WE ain't nuts! "Is our hope in walnut shells...? (Who Will Answer?)". "The cracked shells and washed-out horns blow into my face with scorn..." (with apologies to Mr. Dylan). "See that squirrel up in the tree, his mate there on the ground... (Johnny Horton). You know, there really aren't a whole lot of songs about nuts. Some of you song-writin' genouses aought to give it a try!!!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Roger Moss
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 03:23 PM

Yes, the Free Express was started by Andy Bond (later of Bond Guitars) and, I believe run for awhile by Les Wild; correct me if I'm mistaken here. I remember seeing Decameron, Mike Silver, Paul Downes and Phil Beer and many others. Residents included Fiona Gibson, John St Field and myself. I also played there as part of a trio called TIME with my wife Jill and our late, great friend Rick Keeling. After leaving Bournemouth for Cornwall I returned a couple of times, to play the club with singer-songwriters Tony Hazzard and Randy Vanwarmer.

A little bit more history...

Oh, and I have a feeling that Alan White (a.k.a. Beaupré Troubadour) was involved with a club held at the Starlight Club, near Christchurch.

Any recollections about the Wheatsheaf, in New Milton?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:16 AM

Andy - the other Bournemouth club was the Wessex Traditional Folk Club, Fridays at the Pembroke Arms. The pub became a sort of folk centre after we started there on fridays in late 1964. The room was originally a boxing gym, complete with ring. Eventually Morris and rapper teams used it to practice in, and the Free Express took on the Sunday night for the 'contemporary' stuff.

Oh, and we had our nutters as well - anyone remember Nick Collis-Bird? Nice bloke but could always be relied upon to go over the top.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,English Jon
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:05 AM

I have to say, having spent the last year or so being >actually< nuts, it's nice to get out and do a few clubs now that I'm starting to recover. Mental illness is pretty crappy, but you quickly find out who your friends are. Folk clubs contain some of the most welcoming, understanding people I've ever had the priviledge of meeting. Yes they do all have at least one nutter, but thankfully, quite often it's me.

And yes, I do play the spoons.

Cheers,
Jon

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Rasener
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 12:24 PM

Dave
You are right.

I mistyped.

It should have been - He did not I did.

You did a music hall thing at Dickysquash one night.

Cheers
Les Worrall

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Tobyjug
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 12:01 PM

For the information of Villain, and anyone else interested, I am still alive, living with my family in the suburbs of Amsterdam, playing concertina for the Utrecht Morrismen, and occasionally performing a Music Hall show called 'An Amusening' with my wife on piano for people who talk us into it by offering money.

I don't remember ever performing a "concert hall show", although I did once sing some shanties and whaling songs for the opening of a whaling exhibition at Tyler's museum in Harlem, and again for the literati at a Moby Dick evening in Amsterdam celbrating something to do with Herman Melville, the writer of said novel.

I do remember another eccentric, called Johnathan Wyse I think, who claimed to be a witch and used to perform dubiously at a folk club I helped run at the Greyhound Pub in the Fulham Road in London, before it was sold and turned into a disco.

Good luck to all eccentrics everywhere, they are what made Britain and the folk scene great.

Dave Calderhead

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Girl Friday
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 09:24 PM

Keith Donolly played my club. He wrote a song in the car before I arrived and went on as a floor spot to sing it.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 07:26 AM

Keith Donnelly - he's a nutter! I'm sure he'd hate to be missed off the list.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,banjoman
Date: 07 Feb 07 - 11:48 AM

Some years ago in Liverpool (1970 ish) there was a guy called Ken Adams who appeared at most folk clubs looking for a floor spot. He played "Air Guitar" and sang mainly early Beatles songs.
He actually persuaded some unfortunate guy to act as his manager at one time and got quite upset when he was refused a spot at one club I was involved in. He had the most hideous voice imaginable but his guitar imitations were great.
They dont make em like that anymore

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Muttley
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 09:43 PM

Hi Bubblyrat - nope - don't know what it is / was. First time I've heard the expression.

Enlighten please??!

I'll PM cause you might miss this one - if you're like me i get bored with long-running threads

Muttley

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Ref
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 06:20 PM

...Anyone who accompanies a performer on "spoons", whether invited to or not!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Alan Day
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:54 PM

My old mate Jim The Poet is a nutter as many in Sussex with agree,he is also Betty for Broadwood Morris Men.I used to do a stage act with him doing Musical Monologues and he is a nightmare to be on stage with ,as you really do not know what he will do next.
Great fun though.
Al

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:11 PM

Oh dear, my past life is passing before me....

Herga got linked to Bournemouth because members of Herga Morris were recruited by Alan White as Sidmouth campsite stewards, and because Alan Simpson was the caller for Puddleduck. And we met Pull and Push who were all nutters, I think (though I would reconsider if anyone referred this to a laywer).

Kitty

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Jim Knowledge
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 12:59 PM

I took some people to a folk club down in Sussex somewhere and since I was takin` em `ome again they said "Why don`t you stay for the evening?" So I did. I got talkin` to some geezer and `e said there was in the audience "The Strangler" and "Burglar Bill". That`s a fact. My life.
What am I like?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: dj bass
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 12:48 PM

bubblyrat wrote:

Yes !! It"s all a question of definition. As I said on another thread,quite a few performers are "eccentric" rather than "nutters ". Examples ,for me, would be the delightfully potty "Hard Core Fluff,"the refreshingly bizarre "Apicella" from Portsmouth,and my friend from Godalming,in Surrey, Kevin,musician & painter,who makes bagpipes out of plumbing fittings & stuffed cats !

I used to play with Apicella and came up with the name - no imagination there though: it's Sue's surname. They are now known as Jellyrollers, playing mainly blues I believe, and Little Peet the Jew's Harp player has joined them. Now he is odd!

dj

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Wayne
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 11:10 AM

Sam is a nutter, but what a nutter! His sheer enthusiasm for all things traditional has led him to conceive and edit a superb magazine (Folk Leads to Song & Custom) and his joy of folk song in general means that his long held antipathy to all things (gulp)contemorary (in Sam's case that means anything written before about 1394)is slowly abating and it's been weeks since he's heckled any guitarrists!. Recently he's welcomed a whole bunch of excellent young country blues performers to the Grove, with the result that Friday nights are flourishing. Singers' nights 1st & 3rd of the month, guests in between.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Randy Cokehead
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 09:06 PM

I go to a folk club and I am a nutter.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Teddy
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 09:02 PM

I am a Teddy Bear and I go to folk clubs!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Alan Day
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:08 PM

John Watcham now lives in Brighton,plays for the Brighton Morris Team,has done a fantastic set of Morris tunes for Anglo International
I remember their act well,very camp, but very funny.
Al

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:53 PM

Ah such a shame... I was a frequenter of west Dorset clubs... those you mention are all east Dorset or Hampshire.

Furthest east I ever got was Wareham Folk Harvest, 1st weekend in September.

LTS

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 03:24 PM

Mr Gladstone's Bag.... great stuff. Occasionally accompanied by Simon Nichol in drag, impersonating Lucy Gilchrist. I think Michael died, actually. Haven't heard or seen John Watcham for a long time.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Yorkie
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 03:05 PM

Agree "Sam" in Leeds   "Utter nutter"

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 11:45 AM

Andy, I lived in Christchurch until 2 years ago----the "Festival" in recent years involved a few artists performing in a marquee on the quay ( The Quomps ) for one day, and not much else,apart from a session in the George Hotel . A shadow of its former self,everyone told me. The pub where the New Express was held is now the Goat and Tricycle, I believe. At the time that I left, it was all happening at the Portman (Boscombe), The Blue Boar (Poole),the Mount( Corfe Mullen),or the Coventry Arms(Corfe Mullen).With the odd (Very Odd !) session at the Square & Compass at Worth Matravers. The wonderful landlord,Charlie, is SPLENDIDLY eccentric !!! The Pub With No Bar ! (literally)

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Greycap
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 11:09 AM

Arthur Jackson in Harrogate & Pately Bridge

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:41 AM

So was Christchurch come to that! Now that WAS a festival, Filmed by the Beeb in about 72 and in the EFDSS archives I believe.

Andy

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:40 AM

Free Express was in Bournemouth which always used to be Dorset. And what was the other Bournemouth Club about the same time?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:35 AM

I lived in Dorset from 1976 until two years ago ,Liz. Who did you have in mind ??

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: skipy
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 06:47 PM

Scrump, I remember Mech. horse trough & 1812 too! Scary shit, date wise!
Skipy

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 06:32 PM

Thank heavens there is no-one here who remembers the folk scene in Dorset in the early 1980s...

LTS

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Alan Day
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 06:14 PM

I remember doing a couple of Folk Clubs around the Leeds Manchester area and a guy used to go from club to club but always slept on the premises of the club overnight or in the bar.He looked like an ex soldier who had survived a grenade attack,but his singing was absolutely fantastic.A great character.
I was telling Graham today about a guy who used to go regularly to the Folk Clubs in the Horsham area.His spot was up the front near the stage and on chorus songs his voice could be heard above the evenings guest.The trouble with him was he sang so out of tune it had an effect on the Guest singers who tried to get his voice in pitch with theirs and never managed it and finished up singing out of tune themselves.It was good fun just to look at the different facial expressions of agony when he joined in.I very much doubt if he is alive now as he was constantly in Hospital, but he loved his Folk Music.
Oh by the way a guy called Phil Tree sends his regards Graham he wanted your address, he said he had a present for you.He did have a peculiar look in his eye when he left me.It might be for your cold he said something about coughing.
Al

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 03:54 PM

Dear Muttley, I am so glad that you like my name !! I take it you know what a Bubbly-rat is,or rather Was ??
    Cheers !! ------Signor Tottoff...

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Wayne
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 03:49 PM

You could come down to the Grove, in Leeds and meet Sam!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Anne Lister
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 03:39 PM

I was a huge Gasworks fan ...."Verbalise your pre-orgasmic tensions" ..think I still have the vinyl somewhere. Must transfer this stuff to CD - or iPod - or something ...

Anne

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: John Routledge
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 08:29 AM

One great advantage in having a nutter or two in your club was that getting stale was not an option.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Scrump
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 06:49 AM

Ah, now yer talkin' Splott Man and Leadfingers. I still have my old albums. There was another lot called 1812 or something like that. And what about Mechanical Horsetrough, the Cowshed Cleaners, etc.?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 04:34 AM

Pigsty Hill reformed after a 25 year lay off - I saw them at Sidders ! Just as hilarious , however poor old Barry Back went and died , just when it looked as though they would take the Folk World by storm again .

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Splott Man
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 04:17 AM

Then there was Gasworks, Cocky, The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra...

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Girl Friday
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 10:15 PM

So glad that there's no mention of Tone Deaf Leopard on this thread!
there is now

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 06:52 PM

Mr Gladstones Bag - I remember them. They weren't really insane though - they were pretty good. very entertaining. very professional.

Victorian dress and they sang amusing Edwardian ballads.

There was a group from Portsmouth way back called Black Parrot Seaside who were completely insane.   They had the misfortune to be reviewed by an offshoot of melody Maker. Sense of Humour bypass. I think it was just the break they didn't need.

I also remember this psychobilly band from Aberystweth University called The Elephant Men. the had a song called the JCB men and the chorus was Oh no! Not the Diggers!, their other show stopper was called Your Shit Stinks.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Muttley
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 06:36 PM

G'day 'Drummer - haven't seen you around lately.

God bless all nutters - the world would be a far worse-off place without them.

Oh! And, hey, bubblyrat (love the name) - YOU have an Oerlikon?????
COOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL.
Can I borrow it?
I need it to shoot down the zeppelins that keep circling my house playing piped Uillean Pipe musicat me which is accompanied by really bad bodhran backing.

Nutters are an essential element of a sane society - they're what keeps the rest of the population's collective feet on the ground - except for politicians and bus conductors.

As I often say - I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every bloody minute of it.

Muttley

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Jim Lad
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 05:11 PM

Folded? Just a guess.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: synbyn
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 05:03 PM

Whatever happened to Mr Gladstone's Bag?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 01:12 PM

There's that bloke who accompanies the performers at the Cambridge Folk Festival on his bugle.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 11:23 AM

Brownsville Banned - the greatest live show I ever saw.

http://www.angelfire.com/band2/brownsville/from1977.htm

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Diva
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 10:38 AM

Ahhh the penny whistle nutter......I removed a whistle from one of his ilk...he was 'playing' it during a ballad and i took exception to it and took it off him. Took him a couple of minutes to notice as his eyes were closed and he was in penny whistle heaven at the time....still he never did it again!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 09:50 AM

I resent the poster who suggested that the nutters were all retired.

I haven't retired, I just haven't been able to make it to many folk clubs recently...

And I know who Fliss means by the bloke who plays along to tunes on a penny whistle, using extravagant movements and 'look at me' style. Stood next to him once. He couldn't hit the right note if it were nailed to a barn door and he had hold of the doorhandle, but boy, does he enjoy himself!

LTS

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 08:43 AM

and Stanley Accrington. The nicest nutter of them all!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 06:48 AM

Yes !! It"s all a question of definition. As I said on another thread,quite a few performers are "eccentric" rather than "nutters ". Examples ,for me, would be the delightfully potty "Hard Core Fluff,"the refreshingly bizarre "Apicella" from Portsmouth,and my friend from Godalming,in Surrey, Kevin,musician & painter,who makes bagpipes out of plumbing fittings & stuffed cats !

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Lanfranc
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 05:12 AM

Nutter performers? The Amazing Mr (Derek) Smith, Peter Buckley-Hill, Joe Stead, Les Barker, to name but four.

Alan

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: skipy
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 04:46 AM

Thank God I'm completely stable!
Skipy

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,P. Nutt
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 04:06 AM

I don't mind the nutters, it's the smelly ones i find hard to bear.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Rasener
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 02:43 AM

Thanks Kitty

Les

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 02:39 AM

Villan - Dave Calderhead has posted to Mudcat as a member (Tobyjug) - I've just found a post he sent to the "Lyrics req Nobody loves a fairy" thread in April 2005!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Anne Lister
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 01:54 AM

I think there are different categories of nutter. There are the floor singer nutters, who are generally of a far, far milder degree of eccentricity than the audience nutters (some of whom are really quite special). I have to say that since discovering the worlds of historical re-enactment and public transport models I've realised that the audience nutters are not unique to the folk world. And then there are the geeks, who are fringe members of the audience nutters - there are guitar geeks, uillean pipe geeks, synthesiser geeks and so on.

And in case I've inadvertently offended any Mudcatters, let me say I love all nutters - without them what would we do?

Anne

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Richard Rowntree
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 09:11 PM

The FolkMob club in Eltham is full of nutters.

There's this auzzie bloke called Nigel who sings about witches & planets and jumps up and down in a mad frenzy. Then there's woodsy who thrashes his guitar to breaking point while hollering about Rollin & Tumblin. Another bloke called Ken Ingram who sings the same song every time (Ride On) Old bloke called Bill croaking Frank Sinatra. Old Hippie called Jim who hands out leaflets that support Muslim terrorists. A right bunch of nutters, but it's a friendly enough place and worth a visit.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 08:35 PM

Are we getting a bit close to washing our linen in public here?
Even so called nutters have feelings. (If I pinch myself am I not surprised? )

I think the aim of the thread was more towards the eccentric performer. MR Smith, Les Barker, Bonzo and Doris etc.
Sorry just checked, it did include the audience. My comment still stands though.

Andy (friend of nutters everywhere)

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Fliss
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 06:29 PM

There's is one Ive seen at Folk Festivals who 'plays' the whistle... just trills tunelessly but makes a great show about it.

Why do all nutters play the bodhran holding it completely wrong and banging it loudly through everything including songs and slow airs?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: breezy
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 04:16 PM

no nutters in St Albans

anymore

vacancies

attend next Tuesday at the King Harry for audition, talent not a prerequisite

then Sunday 18th Feb at the Rose and Crown

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Rasener
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 04:14 PM

Guest
You have stunned me.

you mentioned Dave Calderhead (the singing Toby Jug)

I got to know Dave when I lived in Amsterdam and we became friends through playing squash.

I did an evening of concert hall music and he was the main guy.

His best number was "Proper Cup Of coffee"

That was around 1980 ish.

Haven't seen or heard of him since. I always thought of him as a sort of Arthur Lowe :-)

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Bee
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 04:03 PM

Nutters frequent Arts and Music settings because they blend in better with the crowds. We had a pair at the art college I attended. The younger one believed he was a secret agent, and was following a ragged elderly man who, it turned out, was exactly what he claimed to be - a university engineering professor who'd done one too many hits of sixties acid.

The 'secret agent' got somewhat straightened out by the medical establishment - I say somewhat since last I saw him he was a mall security guard and still exuded a very furtive manner.

The engineer had quite brilliant ideas, (he carried pencilled diagrams, including one of a device he'd designed for licking up oil spills) and showed up every spring for years, having holed up with his family for the winter. I recall walking down a main street with a newish boyfriend one spring day, and seeing the prof hiding behind a tree in the Public Gardens, peeking out every few seconds to smile and wave. Boyfriend was rather horrified when I immediately dashed in to have a happy chat with this old, very dirty, mostly toothless and decidedly smelly fellow. He had a poem for me he'd written months before. Finest nutter I have ever known, rest his soul.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: danensis
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 03:32 PM

Does the definition extend to bodhran players who are consistently a quarter of a beat behind everyone else?

John

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:57 PM

I cannot remember a folk club without at least one "nutter" or at least someone who wouldn't fit in or be accepted anywhere else. That is what makes our scene so special.
There is a difference though between nutter and eccentric. Luckily we still have a good supply of both.

Andy

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: lilly
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:33 PM

Just watched Brittania nutters video....great!
ps think bubblyrat has fallen into 'the nutters in folk clubs' bag in the past! But wouldn't life be boring without them?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:15 PM

There used to be one in the sheffield grapes folk club.he used to pretend he had a dog on a lead,and then he would bark occassionally,and tell the non existent dog to be quiet.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Greg B
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 01:55 PM

Filk.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 01:21 PM

Phil Tree !! Yes ! That was him ! Of course,you"re right ----he could well be "out there ". Naturally,I always liked him,personally,you know.I mean,none of us REALLY thought of him as a "nutter",just mildly eccentric.! I mean, who doesn"t admire SS attire & have artillery in the garden ?? I"m sure he"d be welcome anywhere today !!
SSidmouth ,perhaps ?? Or MiSSkin?? Anyway,I have to go now--I need to go up on the roof & grease my Oerlikon !!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 12:57 PM

I think I was Resident Nutter in a few Folk Clubs in my time !

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Midchuck
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 12:19 PM

...we had a bloke...who ended up in the local Cuckoo"s nest after going berserk & kicking his TV to death.

Why? I call that behaviour unimpeachable evidence of an advanced state of sanity and rationality!

Peter

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,billbunter
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 12:14 PM

The Bacup Coconut Dancers are clearly not nutters. They are working well within the framework of their social boundaries I, on the other hand, am a nutter

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:58 AM

"Like I said in the other thread, there was a bloke who used to go to the "Den of Folk " in Gosport around 1970.He couldn"t sing,or play the guitar, but could turn nasty if he didn"t get a spot, so he was often allowed a self-penned diatribe or two.He reckoned that he had a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in his garden--it was generally agreed that he did,indeed,own something like that !!! "


I think the bloke you are referring to was called Phil Tree, who is mentioned on the Jon Isherwood website.
He used to go around in a Nazi leather thigh length coat (probably Gestapo or SS). He was only a little bloke, and spoke with a lisp.
He used to get around all the South coast clubs and told unbelievable stories - most of which were pretty fanciful, I hope!

Reason I didn't mention any names in my original thread was that some of them may still be alive!! Dave Sampson in Warwickshire has run some of the best and most successful clubs in the Midlands, but is still a nutter, although a likeable one.
Some others that immediately spring to mind - Dave Calderhead (the singing Toby Jug), Rod Felton (like Isherwood, another Genius nutter), Brian Coote (used to go on 'missions with the Secret Service' or so he said).
I'd better be careful, because as Guest Bainbo said, many of them are lurking in MudCat!
Graham

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:09 AM

ummmmm, yes...well....the stories I could tell.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:08 AM

Bacup Coconut Dancers onYouTube

Nuff said...

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:00 AM

I saw the Bacup Dancers in a few pubs at folk events

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Pantokration
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 10:53 AM

Go to Glasgow, or many places in Scotland, and you'll find LITERAL nutters everywhere. "Waant a faceful o' heid, Pal?" is a cry normally followed by the crunch of nasal bone.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 09:38 AM

We have nutters on the other side of the pond as well. One of the regulars at an open-mic I helped run in the late '80s and early '90s was a defrocked literature professor named Bobby Long. Bobby had been sacked from one too many teaching jobs for showing up drunk in class one too many times, so he'd decided to become a "real poet" and drink himself to death. Bobby's friend Everett Capps (father of folksinger Grayson Capps) used him as the principle character in his book On Magazine Street which was adapted into the movie "A_Love_Song_for_Bobby_Long", in which John Travolta played Bobby.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Bainbo
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 08:38 AM

What do you think Mudcat exists for?
It's the home for retired folk-club nutters.

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 08:19 AM

Like I said in the other thread, there was a bloke who used to go to the "Den of Folk " in Gosport around 1970.He couldn"t sing,or play the guitar, but could turn nasty if he didn"t get a spot, so he was often allowed a self-penned diatribe or two.He reckoned that he had a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in his garden--it was generally agreed that he did,indeed,own something like that !!! So if you refused him a spot,it was best not to fly over his house !!In the same area, we had a bloke called Sean Kennedy,who ended up in the local Cuckoo"s nest after going berserk & kicking his TV to death.He wrote some quite interesting songs,actually !!Then there was Jon Isherwood, of course, but he wasn"t a Nutter nutter-----He was a Genius nutter !! Oddly enough,there actually seem to be MORE about today,not less,Graham !! I could name several I have encountered in the last 5 years !!

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 08:17 AM

Devon

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 07:57 AM

Harrogate

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 07:52 AM

You are sure we can list them but you can't list one?

Subject: RE: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 07:44 AM

Don't know about the legendary characters, but the nutters all went into politics.

Subject: Nutters in Folk Clubs
From: GUEST,Graham Bradshaw
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 07:37 AM

The recent thread about Isherwood, Nelson and Disley got me to thinking.
Back in the halcyon days of the British Folk Clubs in the 60s and 70s, they used to attract a surprising number of 'eccentric' characters, both the artists and the audience!
I used to travel around the circuit way back then, and just about every club had its resident nutter.
A lot of the performers then were 'larger than life', and this was a time when the comedians reigned supreme. I wonder if it was they that attracted the nutters?
I may be wrong, but I don't seem to detect so many interesting characters in the folk scene of the 2000s.
I'm sure we can all list, with only a moments thought, a long list of legendary characters. Where are they now?
Graham