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24 Nov 07 - 01:19 PM (#2201397) Subject: New Scorpion Band news Nov 2007 From: Blowzabella Hi - Please find below details of NSB's latest news and Christmas tour - including some interesting news about their becoming angelified (not sure what the term is for becoming an angel!!!) Dear Friends, We've had some great Festival and concert performances over the summer. In particular, concerts at the Saddleworth and Fylde Festivals were very well received, and we enjoyed both events enormously. We recently went back to Holland to the Workum festival in Friesland, definitely one of the most memorable and fascinating weekends that we've ever had. A superb and very friendly sea shanty festival linked to a tall ships event- highly recommended. With December approaching, it's time to contact you again with news of this year's Christmas tour, featuring mostly new repertoire Christmas and midwinter music and song under the title of 'The Holly and the Ivy'. If you enjoyed ' The Carnal and the Crane' we are sure you will love this programme, which features an atmospheric version of the Holly and the Ivy, an intriguing Green Man song from County Durham, and a rollicking Derbyshire Christmas Tup play. This show will be toured more extensively in 2008, contact Val Simpkin (01524 793012 / valsimpkin@aol.com) for details and bookings. The venues are given below - if you want to come to a Dorset show the best one to try is Buckland Newton, as the Briantspuddle and Marnhull shows are nearly sold out. All three Dorset gigs are under the auspices of the excellent Artsreach programme. 8th December, 2007, Briantspuddle Village Hall, Briantspuddle, Dorset, 7.30pm. Tickets £10 (to include supper!) from 01929 471497 13th December, 2007, Buckland Newton Village Hall, Buckland Newton, Dorset, 7.30pm. Tickets: £6.50 Adults; £4.50 u/18s; £18 Family (max 4 people, with a max of 2 adults). Contact 01300 345543 14th December, 2007, Minstead Village Hall, Nr Lyndhurst -off the A31 from Cadnam, going west, Hampshire, Performance starts 7.30pm. Tickets from 02380 812636. 15th December, 2007, Red Lion Folk Club, Vicarage Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Folk club starts 8pm. Tickets £10 for members / £11 Non members. Further info from RedLionFolkClub@blueyonder.co.uk 16th December, 2007, The Sage Gateshead (Hall Two), Gateshead, Northumberland, 8pm. Tickets £13.50 / £7 from 0191 443 4661 or www.thesagegateshead.org 17th December, 2007, Marnhull Village Hall, Marnhull, Dorset, Starts 7.30pm. Tickets: £6.50 Adults; £4.50 U/18s; £18 Family (max of 4 people, with a max of 2 adults). Contact 01258 821310 / 820381 20th December, 2007, Lakeside Arts Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG7 2RD, 7.30pm. Tickets £12 / £9. Box Office: 0115 846 7777 News also of another performance of Sound the Jubilee!, at the Marine Theatre, Church St, Lyme Regis DT7 3QA www.marinetheatre.com on Friday 29th February. Tickets from the box office on 01297 442394 . We will be joined by actor Tas Emiabata for this show, playing the part of Olaudah Equiano. 'Sound the Jubilee!' was written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Slave trade in what was then the British Empire . It tells the story of British involvement in the West Indian slave trade, and of the movement to abolish the trade, through the words of the former slave Equiano and John Newton, the slave ship captain who wrote 'Amazing Grace'. The show features some very rare songs and music, and contemporary readings. Later in 2008 we will be giving the first performances of a new show 'Cold Blows the Wind', again in Dorset. The venues are Hastock Village Hall on the 14th March, Ibberton Village hall on the 15th March and West Lulworth Village Hall on the 16th March. Here's what Robin has to say about this show: COLD BLOWS THE WIND, the New Scorpion Band's latest concert programme, is devoted to the supernatural, the strange, the spine-chilling and the inexplicable . Bringing together the band's usual mix of traditional songs and ballads, instrumental tunes, poems, stories and folk drama, COLD BLOWS THE WIND is a compelling and unsettling excursion into unseen and imagined worlds, as depicted through centuries of song and legend in the misty isles of Britain. The ghostly and ghastly atmosphere is punctuated by episodes from the heroic theatre, alongside a slightly lighter take on supernatural themes from the world of the Victorian Music Hall. As always, the New Scorpion Band perform with their remarkable array of traditional and historical instruments, and sing together with their usual rich harmonies. You may be interested to learn that band members have recently become angels! Sculptor Paul Fletcher has made images of us playing instruments, and you can see them in Bath Abbey, above the new choir stalls which have recently been put in place. There is a Service of Dedication on Saturday 26th January 2008 at 5pm, and we are hoping to be able to play some music during tea before the service. Recording news is that we are planning to complete recording our new CD in January, so all being well it should be available by April or May. Tracks so far recorded include material from the John Barleycorn is Dead programme, and requested favourites such as Over the Hills and Far Away and Spanish Ladies. So what have we been up to when not Scorpioning? Tim is currently musical director for A Time to Keep, the fifth Dorchester community play, running at the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester from 16th November to 1st December. The play is written by Stephanie Dale and David Edgar, and is set in 1804. Expect smugglers, intrigue, and a score featuring plenty of traditional music and song. Box office 01305 213866. Tim is also writing the script for Okehampton Songtales, a new cycle of songs linked by drama based on the history of Okehampton. This community show will rehearse in the new year for 3 performances in April 2008, directed by Eileen Dillon for Wren Music. Meanwhile Robin has been involved in several recordings for BBC TV, playing the Arabian oud, Greek laouto and related instruments, including "Attila the Hun" , to be broadcast soon. In December, concerts with the Burning Bush (Jewish music), early English Christmas concerts with the City Waites, lecture recitals with Lucie Skeaping on the 17th century broadside ballad. On December 7th Sharon and Robin appear in black tie as half of the Tivoli band, for a Venetian Christmas ball at Finchcocks Museum, Goudhurst, Kent, playing Italian songs and dance music of the last century Bob has recently played Uilleann pipes and whistles on Katherine Jenkins latest album and played the Highland bagpipes for Kenny Logan on Strictly Come Dancing. Sharon spent the summer at Shakespeare's Globe in Love's Labours Lost, and more recently has appeared as soloist in performances of the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Devon Baroque, and has just led the orchestra for a performance of the Bach B Minor Mass in Hereford Cathedral. Brian was involved in a typically eccentric recording session at Abbey Road at the end of August. His old GRYPHON mate Richard Harvey, doing a French Feature Film soundtrack, asked Brian to come in and impersonate a Giant ! It turned out that a poor unfortunate contemporary Parisian was being dragged back and forth between this time and another much more primitive existence. Hence the title of the film "Les Deux Mondes", or "Two Worlds". Apart from some chanting in the invented language "Borodavian", Brian decided to invent a couple of new instruments to help with the Giant caper. By combining various bits of Bassoon, Contra-Bassoon and Tuba into new tubular possibilities, weird and menacing sounds were heard to erupt. The French director captured the whole process on Video, and anxious Home Office officials are negotiating with their French counterparts as to the best way of quietly hushing the whole thing up. Apparently, the premiere of the film passed off in Paris recently, with little sign of any public realisation of the massive potential ramifications. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our forthcoming shows Sharon, Brian, Bob, Robin and Tim. Plse contact me if you'd like to receive further info on the band. Cheers Blowz |
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24 Nov 07 - 01:41 PM (#2201415) Subject: RE: New Scorpion Band news Nov 2007 From: Leadbelly First thoughts: The Scorpions from Hannover/Germany have formed a new Band with vocalists Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel. Obviously, I was mistaken, Manfred Wish you a lot of success! |