The latest Newsletter is here, and the latest pictures can be found at http://eastdevonfolk.jalbum.net
Jurassic Folk & Acoustic - Late January 2012
Hello All,
2012 is upon us, and so is the first newsletter of the year.... what joy..eh? A very exciting year for Jurassic Folk is starting and we are looking forward to it with a mixture of awe and joy, hopefully more of the latter than the former. Folk and acoustic music seems to be undergoing one of its periodic revivals, and I'm not just talking about Jurassic Folk but all over the country, and locally in East Devon, with a thriving scene in and around Exeter and notably Exmouth. Closer to home Sue King has started up an event at the Blue Ball, Sidford, monthly on a Sunday evening which augurs well, if anything goes by the brief part of the first night which we were able to attend last Sunday. More details of this and other events will be updated on our Other Events page on the website as soon as I get round to it.
But ofcourse the big thing for us will be the first Guest Night on Thursday 9th February with the incredible Tim van Eyken. It is the first time he has done any sort of tour for 3 years, and apart from Jurassic Folk the only other two venues are Crawley Folk Club and Cheltenham Folk Festival, so we are well chuffed... definitely not to be missed if you can possibly make it. There is more about him on the website www.eastdevonfolk.org where you can also buy tickets at the measly advance price of £5, if you haven't already done so. Or if desperate you can phone us on 01297 20064.
But back to the last singers night, which is lovingly recorded in great detail and purple next by Hilary.... don't worry, if you were'nt a performer on the night you can always skip through it... I won't tell Hilary... but you could miss a gem...
JURASSIC FOLK AT THE GROVE JANUARY 2012
Peter welcomed everyone to our first session in 2012 whey hey. To get the proceedings under way he sang San Francisco Bay Blues before calling upon Adrian who continued the blues theme with a number called Hodders Hollow performed with the help of his banjo. Unfortunately for us that was it .... he declined to give us a second tune until the second half.
Mike New came next, his first of the evening with a chorus You Took a Fine Time to Leave me Lucille. Then Thinking About the Things we Used to Do which we all gave a helping hand with. Good familiar tunes, thank you Mike.
Frances, the Bard of Beer having slipped in without notice (well, not quite) was called upon next with a couple of her well established poems. One, Sound Advice which I didn’t think I had heard before and was very funny, and the second Sitting Tenants which I have very definitely heard before and which is so interesting. It is all about the vast number of ghosts occupying Shepherds Cottage when she and her family first moved there in Beer. I believe they have now all be banished (the ghosts, not Frances and family).
A new visitor, Robby, sang a Bob Dylan song, The Times They are A Changing. Robby claimed this was only the second time he has played at a folk club, the previous time being in South Molton. Then he produced his harmonica and sang Last Supper which is a Lloyd Webber song. Please come again Robby.
Mr Hurdy Gurdy, Tony Reader, came next and while he was sorting himself out Peter gave us one of his very special not very funny bon mots. After a bit of Chinese tuning Tony spun us some of his wonderful stories interspersed with music involving clowns, Joseph Grimaldi, right fiddly dees and a lady who sold hot coddlings - baked apples to you and me - Annie Get Your Gun and Love is Full of Woe - an Irish song of course. Thank you very much Tony.
More new visitors, how wonderful. Peter called upon Malcolm and Ceri and managed to give us another bon mot of doubtful origin.( Hmph... Hil was clearly in a bad humour tonight... Peter) Ceri sang Once I Had a Sweetheart whilst Malcolm was gathering himself together which was lovely. Malcolm with his guitar sang Steal Away, excellent. Apparently Ceri and Malcolm used to perform together years ago and then separated and have recently got back together again and claim to be a little “rusty”.
Our good friend Robin next (another bon mot in the meantime) with My Own Familiar Skin and Missing you - introducing J.S. Bach to Johnny Hooker ?- wonderful Robin, thank you.
Annie came up and sang The Reign of the Fair Maid and then introduced her Apalachian dulcimer to give us a Scottish song The Collier Laddie as it is Burns Night coming up next week.... OK, I've lost the connection but the droney sound of the mandolin may emulate the bagpipes..?? Thank you Annie as always.
Who else to have next, as the interval was approaching, but Ted who gave us a short dissertation on New Year and what it has in store. He admits to buying Old Moore’s Almanac (I remember my Granny always buying that each new year) and looking into the future - seers and such like. Then he gave us a song by Leonard Cohen with a chorus Everybody Knows. Soooo good, Ted, thank you.
Peter welcomed everyone to our first session in 2012 whey hey. To get the proceedings under way he sang San Francisco Bay Blues before calling upon Adrian who continued the blues theme with a number called Hodders Hollow performed with the help of his banjo. Unfortunately for us that was it .... he declined to give us a second tune until the second half.
Mike New came next, his first of the evening with a chorus You Took a Fine Time to Leave me Lucille. Then Thinking About the Things we Used to Do which we all gave a helping hand with. Good familiar tunes, thank you Mike.
Frances, the Bard of Beer having slipped in without notice (well, not quite) was called upon next with a couple of her well established poems. One, Sound Advice which I didn’t think I had heard before and was very funny, and the second Sitting Tenants which I have very definitely heard before and which is so interesting. It is all about the vast number of ghosts occupying Shepherds Cottage when she and her family first moved there in Beer. I believe they have now all be banished (the ghosts, not Frances and family).
A new visitor, Robby, sang a Bob Dylan song, The Times They are A Changing. Robby claimed this was only the second time he has played at a folk club, the previous time being in South Molton. Then he produced his harmonica and sang Last Supper which is a Lloyd Webber song. Please come again Robby.
Mr Hurdy Gurdy, Tony Reader, came next and while he was sorting himself out Peter gave us one of his very special not very funny bon mots. After a bit of Chinese tuning Tony spun us some of his wonderful stories interspersed with music involving clowns, Joseph Grimaldi, right fiddly dees and a lady who sold hot coddlings - baked apples to you and me - Annie Get Your Gun and Love is Full of Woe - an Irish song of course. Thank you very much Tony.
More new visitors, how wonderful. Peter called upon Malcolm and Ceri and managed to give us another bon mot of doubtful origin.( Hmph... Hil was clearly in a bad humour tonight... Peter) Ceri sang Once I Had a Sweetheart whilst Malcolm was gathering himself together which was lovely. Malcolm with his guitar sang Steal Away, excellent. Apparently Ceri and Malcolm used to perform together years ago and then separated and have recently got back together again and claim to be a little “rusty”.
Our good friend Robin next (another bon mot in the meantime) with My Own Familiar Skin and Missing you - introducing J.S. Bach to Johnny Hooker ?- wonderful Robin, thank you.
Annie came up and sang The Reign of the Fair Maid and then introduced her Apalachian dulcimer to give us a Scottish song The Collier Laddie as it is Burns Night coming up next week.... OK, I've lost the connection but the droney sound of the mandolin may emulate the bagpipes..?? Thank you Annie as always.
Who else to have next, as the interval was approaching, but Ted who gave us a short dissertation on New Year and what it has in store. He admits to buying Old Moore’s Almanac (I remember my Granny always buying that each new year) and looking into the future - seers and such like. Then he gave us a song by Leonard Cohen with a chorus Everybody Knows. Soooo good, Ted, thank you.
But before rushing off for the interval, Peter called upon Johnny Gudge with his harmonica who gave us an American trilogy in quick march time. Then a little bit of Scotland after giving us a biography of his parentage - Uplyme, Ireland, Yorkshire and Scotland all came into it somewhere.
Interval with the dispersal of lots of flyers about the forthcoming guest nights, particularly Tim Van Eyken on the 9th February, and lots of people waving money about and buying tickets.
To start the second half, Adrian without his banjo but with his special guitar, sang a Black Country song by Tony Barrett called A Special Day. Thank you Adrian.
Quick, before he rushes home, Robin came and sang The Boy with Chocolate on his Face, brilliant.
Frances with another familiar poem about cats called Room Service which rings so true, thank you Frances.
Tony gave us a story about sausages and then with his hurdy gurdy sounding so very North African and Kasbarish appropriately performed The Dromadary.
Another of Peter’s bon mots and Mike New returned with three tunes all joined together to make one - it included If I Were a Carpenter and you Were a Lady but I didn’t make a note of the others.
Malcolm and Ceri came back together this time and sang Not Too Fast, excellent.
Robby with a gamble, he said, and new words to an old song, Bless This House which included an excellent last verse dedicated to Jurassic Folk.
Johnny Gudge who is never without a story, this time about the Star of County Down which he apparently knew the words to when he was three but now all he can remember is the tune which he gave us on his harmonica.
Annie gave us a song from 1952 with her guitar You Belong to Me which was very nice Annie.
To bring the evening to a close Mr Ted Dowse was called upon. He gave us a quick joke whilst getting organised which was slightly better than Peter’s bon mots and then sang an old favourite which we could all sing along with - Bob Dylan’s Hey Mr Tamborine Man.
And that was it. Thank you so much to all who contributed to the evening and we look forward to seeing you all again next month, usual time, usual place - that is Wednesday 15 February at 8.15 ish at the Grove. In the meantime we may see some of you at Tim’s concert at the Grove on the 9 February at 8.15.
Thanks Hil, and thanks also to Jolly who took all the action pics of the evening which you will find in the usual place http://eastdevonfolk.jalbum.net/ So to Thursday 9th February guest night (fingers crossed) and the next singers night on Wednesday 15th February...
Hope to see you then,
Cheers,
Peter & Hilary
