A strange surreal sort of week for me. Hard to tell when one holiday ended and the next started, and of course my busiest day of work turned out to be Wednesday which meant that there was no Masher presence at Nellie’s on Wednesday evening as I was exhausted.
We all knew the silly season had kicked in when the arrest of a singer on the Isle of Wight for singing Kung Foo Fighting hit the front pages of The Sun. Having laughed through the initial impact of the story, the implications for what happened are quite serious. The experienced bar singer was arrested for Aggravated Racial Discrimination, having been reported to the authorities by a passing Chinaman, who just happened along as the Chop Sticks opening of the song was being played.
While we would all agree that the Police must investigate such matters properly, an hour and a half interview in addition to the initial conversation with the singer, to investigate a matter that took him no longer than ten minutes to describe on Radio 5 seems just a little excessive, as does the taking of his DNA and finger prints, especially when no charge was eventually made against him. Basic Story HERE
More worryingly is the thought that one can get involved with something like this simply by singing an established song in one’s repertoire a very scary thought for The Mashers!! And just where do you draw the line? For example Mrs Masher has a deep dislike for Abba songs, can she now report anyone who sings an Abba song for violating her right to drink Abba free?
Could Pocketful O’ Now’t be done for their one swear word song “Fuck”. How about the slightly softer Mashers version of Allan Moorhouse’s Fat People In Love or John McCullagh’s Dance On The Grave of Mrs Thatcher, all songs that could cause more than a little offence to some people, and in some cases, dare I say, are meant to.
Our common sense says of course not. But then who would have thought a standard like Kung Foo Fighting would get someone into so much unprovoked aggro? And the singer was shaken. Interviewed on Radio 5 on Monday he was fairly chirpy about it all, but on Thursday following his interview with the Police you could tell that he was seriously shaken, even though no charge was brought against him.
The implications for comedians could be even greater. Watch out Dom Collins. Lol.
So just perhaps it wasn’t the silly season after all.
But then…………………. One can’t say that one is not displeased to see the Coalition pulling itself apart, well let’s just say pulling the seams of, their previously United front over AV. From what I can see a move to AV will achieve very little except to give minority Political Parties two votes, against those voting for main stream Parties one vote. In what way this is supposed to improve democracy I’m not sure. All I see is an over complicated counts to achieve exactly the same result at the end of the day.
The argument that it gives the smaller Parties a better chance does not hold up, the only winner would be The Liberals mainly at the expense of the Tories. My own view is do we really want more Coalitions? Especially if this one is an example of what would happen. It’s not just what they have done, it’s that’s they did it without a Mandate as both Parties simply ripped up everything they said during the election and have gone off on a path that no one, least of all me voted for!!
One also wonders just what the effect of a NO vote will have upon the storability of the Government.
I’ve received a number of Emails concerning the cancellation of the Yorkshire Blues Festival, that was due to take place this weekend.
Acoustic Rotherham supports all live music in the South Yorkshire area and beyond, so while we promoted the event as much as we could WE WERE NOT INVOLVED in any way in the actual Promotion of the event, or lack of it.
There are, I hope, a number of lessons to be learnt from the failure of this event. First, if you’re going to put a show of this ambition and size on, it takes more than just a few months to put together. Secondly, if you’re relying upon Sponsorship, Concessions and Grants to finance the event then you have to have the main chunk of the money in place or committed well before you start to put the show together. Thirdly, you need a name act, something to get people talking about the event, very few people I spoke to were aware of the event, let alone talking about it in any positive sense. And of course one needs to be getting stories out there at regular intervals to help promote the event.
Yes, these things take time to put together, especially the first one.
It’s a pity that it didn’t work this time, as Magna really is a promising venue, as The Beer Festival demonstrated so well. But putting on what is a traditional local event is so different to Promoting a Regional event like a major Blues Festival.
Let’s hope that next time, and I really hope there is a next time, that they get the general Management of the event right. Enthusiasm alone is not enough – as Acoustic Rotherham and The Mashers know only too well.
So it was good to get some positive feedback from one of the new Festivals that went ahead last week. David Kidman tells me that the Shanty Festival at Ellesmere Port was a great success for a first time event. So congratulations to all involved.
The tentacles of Acoustic Rotherham wind their way far and wide and it intrigues me how poorly many of the Festivals use the Social Networking Sites and the Internet. Many create some absolutely wonderful Web Sites, yet unless one deliberately Google’s for a Festival then one would not know that the site existed. When one then looks at the sites rating it’s clear that hardly anyone looks at the Web Site – it’s such a pity. Of course it’s just being lazy. There is a tendency to think that just putting a Web Site is enough, far from it, indeed most people Browse the Internet no further than Facebook, the number two site in the World, the art is in driving people away from Facebook to “your” site. And it’s not easy – the message needs to be repeated time and again, and the goodwill of supporters and friends is needed. There’s one other technical thing I would mention to. The Meta Tags attached to Web Sites need to be written in, to leave them blank or not bother because it’s too much effort once again leads to the site never being found, even by Google.
I know this because of the work that has gone into building the presence of the Acoustic Rotherham in the World Wide Web. And I could do so much more but just don’t have the time, but what time I do have is put into fine tweaking how to get the word out there, we currently stand within the top 600,000 World Wide Sites and the top 20,000 in the UK, which for a Regional based site is quite good when compared to many of the perhaps more well-known Folk Music based sites that that rate to my surprise at well over a million and sometimes two million. Boasting again. Yes. But it does show what can be done if some of these Festivals, especially the ones that moan about falling attendances simply understood how to use the Internet for marketing purposes.
One final comment I would make. Some of the Festival Sites tend to put a lot of faith in On Line Booking. The fact is that unless you are an established household name the chances of getting people to buy on line are minimal. Make sure you offer a Telephone Booking Office and a postal snail mail method. People are rightly suspicious of On Line payment, and given the hacking of Sony over the last couple of weeks, rightly so.
OK two other Web Site moans. Artists who do not update their Gig listings, thus failing to promote their appearances, especially at some of the smaller Folk Clubs or venues and Venues who cannot be bothered to keep their Web Sites up to date, especially where the music is concerned.
Right. Onwards.
And it’s great to tell you that Holly Taymar has had a feature on BBC Radio 2. Super recognition for this brilliant song writer and singer, who incidentally recently played at Acoustic Rotherham 10. Steve Lamacq's not only played a track from Holly’s CD but also gave her the chance to do an introduction. CD sales by the million assured, we hope.
Also so pleased to see that Pocketful O’ Now’t, who were at Acoustic Rotherham 11 made an impact at the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival in Barnsley, yet their experience on reaching the Wath Festival was much as The Mashers last year. But I suspect more on the Wath Festival next week.
One would have hoped that with so much happening this past two weekends that the dedicated South Yorkshire Folkies would be able to rest this coming week. No chance!! For next weekend it’s the Holmfirth Festival, a true people’s and singers Festival, with sessions going on throughout the weekend, plus some great Concerts. You’ll need to book spots at some of the sessions so head to the Web Site to get the full low down on what is becoming a highlight of the local Folk Calendar. You can find the link on the listings page HERE
If the pocket is feeling the pinch though, don’t forget that Kurt Sawalies, Nukurt is appearing at The Bridge this coming Wednesday 4th May, for free…………………. Kurt is on his way to do a tour up in Scotland where he has been booked into several venues and to play a couple of Folk Festivals. You’ll love his sound and mix of music, so if you’ve got the energy he’s well worth spending some time with. There is support from The Masher, but try not to let this put you off.
Myke Barritt Music Trust Annual Birthday Bash is planned for the 27th July at The Bridge in Rotherham. Another full day of music is promised in the session mode that Myke enjoyed so much. Secretary Jane wants your ideas and thoughts on how to make the event better, particularly the introduction of a break and or buffet. Head to the MBMT Page for details and how to contact Jane HERE I’ve also put up an experimental survey – not done one before – just to see how it works, initially it only allows for one option so I might have to change that. You’ll also find pictures from the Five Weirs Walk.
On the Acoustic Rotherham Web Site pages, you’ll soon be able to find the June Diary page and the Picture Page is slowly developing further with more pictures from the archive finding their way onto the site HERE If you’re worried about loading the page, don’t. I’ve done away with the Flash Galleries all loading at the same time, instead all you have to do is select the picture Gallery you would like to view and only that one will load. Honest. Please let me know if you have any problems.
Finally on the subject of the Web Site, as you work through the pages you’ll find Facebook LIKE buttons on each page, please, please click on them, it really does help to get the word out there and improve the profile of the site in general, especially in it’s new slicker format.
And that my friend is enough navel gazing for another week. So, whatever you are doing this week have fun and keep it LIVE.
LATE NEWS
Phoebe has just Emailed to inform us that the interviews many local musicians gave a couple of weeks back have bourne some fruit. Phoebe says -
"Just a quick note to let you know that the film Zaneta has produced for her University project, including some of the footage and interviews she did with us during the Spring Festival, will be shown as part of the students' film-show premiere next Thursday, 5th May 2011 at 8.30pm. It will take place at :
The School of Oriental and African Studies,
Thornaugh Street
Russell Square
LONDON
WC1H 0XG"
I'm sure we all wish Zaneta luck with her showing. I'm told that the film is only twelve minutes long which means that an awful lot of information has had to be cut. I'm sure we are all hoping that the film and the perhaps the out takes will be made available to share with everyone.
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