Sunday 26 June 2011

Important News of The Web Site / Out and About / + News Extras + Pictures


It’s been a Web Site admin week.  But more of that later.

First, to Tuesday night and a fantastic night of Folk Music and poems at the Cross Keys, Handsworth.  For a Summer gathering it was a super turn out, helped by the massed performers of The MBMT Wandering Minstrels Club.  


On a personal level  it was good to see good friends, Sue and Barrie (who for the next couple of weeks will become Masher Roadies,) Paul Pearson always good value for the ears, Welsh Geoff with his witty Welsh based mystical songs, Tina McKevitt in great voice (although, one does wonder why she carries that guitar across town and then not play it) our leaders  Sylvia and Phoebe (in fine voice of course), Leader of The Pack Roy Blackman, and of course the boys in band of the Poetry Club.  All making for such a fine evening of quality entertainment. 

Those who were not there missed The Masher producing a rabbit from his cap when he surprised the Clan by performing a Monologue!!    However there was a strong suggestion that the cheer was because he left the guitar locked in it’s case, and was not going to sing.
Well done one and all and a fine way to celebrate the longest day.

Mid-week came the news that the Bluegrass Buddies had pulled from their dates and would not be gigging for a bit except on an informal basis as Rob the Mandolin Player had left the band.   The Bluegrass Buddies had built quite a reputation for themselves in the Clubs for quality musicianship and vocal harmony.  Unfortunately though, Rob had quite a central role in the Band and I’m sure we can all understand why the remaining members have to withdraw for a bit to regird their loins.  

One assumes that Rob has moved on to concentrate upon his work with Bob Humphries in Florin, a band quickly gaining a reputation for quality acoustic music around the venues of South Yorkshire. 

It’s also sad to reflect upon the sad passing of a Folk Legend, Mike Waterson.  I only got to see him the once myself, but it’s one of those cherished Folk memories from my youth often dug out in conversations about those heady days around the South Coast Folk Clubs.  His songs will live on.  If you’ve not seen Mike in action here’s a link to one of his later performances.   HERE

A surprise Email from Anna Shannon this week.  Her second new CD of the year is soon to be released.  “Up The Rigging” will be available in couple of weeks.  I for one will be looking forward to this one.

THE WEB SITE

With the Resource Page, Acts Page, and Regional Link Page in place, all that was left to complete the final phase of the Site Rebuild, was an up to date Contact page.  This has now been done. 

The Diary Pages have been evolving with more and more Clubs and events being added.  However, while there is a shout box for people to inform me and others of events, it’s usage has been minimal, so now we have a full Listing Form, which also allows you to upload a Flier / picture or other material.    If Club Organisers or members could check details of their Club and advise me of any amendments I would very much appreciate it.  



The Artist page is a simple listing of acts available for bookings within the Region.  Clicking on the Act name will currently take you to the acts entry in the Acoustic Rotherham Page that they appeared, where contact information is available.   Would Acts please check that their details are up to date and if anything is missing advise me immediately.  Thanks. 
   
There is a form available for Acts who have not appeared at an Acoustic Rotherham  to get themselves listed.    So are list is by no means exclusive.  



We’ve also added a form that will let Acts forward new demo material.  IT WILL ONLY ALLOW ONE TRACK AT A TIME.  Sorry about that.

We hope this will produce a really useful resource of available acts.   

Most pages now have a standard position for the Facebook Like Button.  Please, if you’re visiting the site just click the button if it’s showing as Live.  

If you want to send us anything at all be it a review, picture, MP3 Track, you can now do it using the forms you can find on the Contact page.

AND OF COURSE THE SITE IS SILENT – EXCEPT FOR, yes there’s an exception, The South Yorkshire Folk page which will be sorted when I update it.

I’ve had a report that some people have experienced difficulty playing the Slideshow Galleries on the picture pages.  It’s not a fault that I have been able to recreate.  Apparently the page goes blank.  

When you click on a picture a new TAB is opened and the slideshow should load in the new Window.   Obviously there is a loading time of a few seconds.  My feeling is that the problem is caused by security settings being set too high.  Another, less likely explanation is that the Flash Player has not been updated or that if you’re using Firefox the wrong Flash Player has been installed.  

If you are experiencing any problems at all with the site or please use the Contact form that you can find on the Contact page

You can use the same Form to send any Links that you think should be added to the site. 

Finally, thanks to everyone who has provided input into the development of the site.  
 
It has been reassuring this last couple of weeks to see the number of hits onto the site growing in leaps and bounds and we have improved our Axia position.   You can help to get the word out there though, and help promote our local talent and Clubs by passing on the links to your own Friends, Fans, Club members.  The official link is http://www.acousticrotherham.com  and this allows viewers to access all areas of the site.

Talking of spreading the word.  The Mashers could do with a few more of the Facebook friends heading off to their Facebook Band page HERE and giving the appropriate button a click.  I just like to know that someone is listening, somewhere!!!  There's a link on the JMUCREATE Home Page HERE

OTHER STUFF

Would you like your music played in Australia?   A good friend of Acoustic Rotherham, Gazza, is heading that way in August for a few weeks, some say he shouldn’t be allowed back, but we will reserve judgement on that until he plays at Acoustic Rotherham 12 with his Band Stompin’ On Spiders.  

Gazza Is offering to do a bit of music pushing on his trip and hopes that he may be able to influence the powers that be to play more of our music.  He’s offering to take CDs or tracks over with him.  If you want to be included Email him HERE and send him a message, he’ll sort out how to get tracks to him.

ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM 12 looms.   Sunday 31st July.   The first call goes out to Acts to get your Profile / Picture and Track to me ASAP    Thank you.

The Masher Is running into a busy little period, so he had better get his strings renewed and some practice done, like quick.   July 2nd will find him delivering no less than two (thankfully for the gathered folks), short sets at The South Yorkshire Show, full details can be found on the July Diary page HERE  

The following weekend should be interesting with appearances at The Birdsedge Village Festival at around 2:00pm The Acoustic Circus Festival at 4:30 on Saturday 9th, before heading up the A1 for the Nature’s World Festival on Sunday 10th July.  Again full details of these events can be found on the July Diary page HERE along with Google Maps in the margin. 

I hope to see you out there suffering as I launch into some standard Masher numbers.    I’m not sure that the timings allow you to dose yourselves up with the recommended five pints and bottle of whiskey, but if you can you’ll feel a lot better for it.

And this week, top of the charts comes Nellie Folk, Monday night at The Bridge, Rotherham.  Make sure you’re there. 

Of course there’s loads more music to be found around the Region, and you can find it all listed HERE   

Keep your eye out for details of Myke’s Birthday Bash, coming soon.

And all that is more than enough for this week.  So whatever you may doing, or wherever you may be playing have fun and please KEEP IT LIVE

Sunday 19 June 2011

In The Main Silence. UKFCFG News. And all the Latest News.

So no sooner were the Water Companies complaining that Mother Nature was giving them a bad time then of course the rains have come.   I hope that the good folks at the Beverley Folk Festival this weekend are not getting too wet, if you do, blame Capitalist Water Companies and Farmers! 

So while the Condems launch yet another attack upon our Public Services, this time it’s their pensions, a precursor one fears of what is to come for us all, and the cost of energy hits new heights, and of course the Government having “listened” still insists upon going down the privatisation route despite the on-going Crisis with Southern Cross the main topic of the week in our News Papers appears to have been Wayne Rooney’s hair and the rather interesting sex lives enjoyed by the Giggs family.  

When will we fight back?  Indeed, will there be a fight back? as the Tories set about doing what they are best at, divide and rule.  Public worker against Private worker, those with jobs against those on benefits, those on Job Seekers against those on Disability Benefit, and even suggesting that we should forces the disable to work for less than the minimum wage, just to get them into the Labour Market.   Those with Olympic Games tickets against those without! 
It seems as if we have gone through some sort of time warp straight back to the eighties in terms of the political rhetoric and general mood of the Country.  

Most of all though it is the youth who are being made to suffer.   A young lad I know has spent the last couple of years working his way through numerous “schemes” involving “voluntary work” geared they say towards him gaining full time employment.   He has now gone full circle, being returned to the Privatised arm of a local Government service that he served his first “work experience” time with, only it was run by the Local Authority then.  Poor  lad.  And he has to pay his own bus fares, although he does get a lunch allowance.  

To me, a lad of the sixties, and of a time when jobs were easy to find as a young man it just seems so wrong. 

But to the music.  There are major changes on the Acoustic Rotherham Web site.  THE MUSIC PLAYERS HAVE BEEN TURNED OFF.   It would appear that many of you have avoided using the resources on the site for fear of having one’s ears blasted by the AR Player or worse The Mashers.   But now it’s sound free.  The Players remain, but you now have to opt into the music which I hope you will do from time to time.   Other advantages, the page will of course load quicker for those with a slow connection, and of course you can now check out the pages at work (not that the thought would ever occur to you upright Citizens).

I should add, those reading this through the Blogspot Link will still get music, a good dose of the Mashers does you good, but if you prefer silence then you’ll have to go to the copy pasted on Myspace HERE

Just a warning that some of the lesser used pages retain live sound at the moment.  They will go silent as they are updated. 

As I mentioned last week I’ve been involved with the discussions of the UKFC Focus Group.   A reminder to all of the difficulties associated with Committee work made more complicated by input by Status or Email update.   Just so many ideas, so many in fact there is a danger that of the Focus Group losing focus.

However it set me off doing some research into the information on the WWW that is out there about Folk Clubs.  You might be surprised at just how many Web Sites are out there.  Some concentrate on their own Clubs, others seeks to provide a Regional service of listings etc, much like Acoustic Rotherham, and others have ambitiously attempted to provide a more National Service. 

They all have one thing in common.  They are all under publicised, and very much under used.  
The UKFC will be looking to bring the fragmented information together, starting with the Guest Booking Folk Clubs, of which there are an estimated 200+ in the UK.   It’s also though that a data base of artists might be useful. 

Because I’m thick, I’m not quite sure how it’s all going to work at the moment, which is I think partly due to all the posts on the Discussion Group.   

The main problem I have with it though is that it will rely upon people finding the Web Site and using it, and my own experience is that people are very suspicious about using the Internet resources even though many are quite Computer savvy.   It will also rely upon people finding the site!!

As I’ve said many times in my Blogs in the past is even the mighty Spiral Earth have problems, then what chance we less ambitious sites.  The figures I see suggest that it could be a lot of work and money spent for a fairly small return. 

So here’s the real downer.  None of the very good sites I visited actually rated above Acoustic Rotherham in the site hit rankings.   

There are five notable Folk sites that do out rank Acoustic Rotherham, Mudcat, EzFolk and Folk Alley, the latter two being USA based and of course Folk Radio UK and Spiral Earth both of whom have had thousands of pounds thrown at them.   But we’re not far behind those two big glossy sites,  even with people avoiding us because of the Player music!!   Lol

Anyway, that was a long way around to saying that there is a new page on the site, a page of LINKS to Regional listings sites.   Acts looking for Clubs outside their usual area might find it a very useful resource as will those perhaps going away on holiday or taking a short break and looking for some music.    You can find it HERE

I was out and about again on Saturday night, flitting around indulging my musical preferences while also trying to keep Mrs Masher happy. 

First port of call Rotherham Trades Club where “70’s Revamp” were churning out music from the seventies and eighties.   Great song selection, guaranteed to get the audience going especially after a pint or two, but unfortunately not really my cup of tea.  The vocals needed tweaking on the sound desk a bit and the general sound mix was not fantastic, couple that with a lead singer who had clearly graduated from The Masher school of lyric retention and it made for a somewhat messy performance which lead to a bit of a flat atmosphere. 

So it was from the musically challenged to the musically brilliant Swansong who were rocking out their fantastic blues sound at The Bridge.  What a pity that while I was there the audience was so thin on the ground, the band deserves better.   Technically brilliant instrument performances, including new drummer Johno and the superb vocals from Karen.   Certainly had me bouncing about for half an hour or so.  Yet people were passing by outside showing a bit of interest and then heading off to the Club, where I think they thought the beer might be cheaper.   Swansong really do deserve a much bigger following.  

The tour wound up, on the excuse that I could have a proper drink, at Rawmarsh Trades and Labour Club where those masters of the WMC scene Mike Burton and The Soulmen were in residence.  Brilliant entertainment as they sang through classic Motown hits to evergreen sixties material…………..  and in doing so generated a fantastic party atmosphere.   One of the few acts of their kind that I really enjoy and they never seem to disappoint.

Once again there is a busy week of music coming your way.  The Masher is hoping to join The Wandering Minstrels at The Cross Keys, Handsworth on Tuesday night, all being well.    Wednesday is Folk at The Burton Foundation and The Little Robots are playing The Princess Royal on Friday night, and if you’ve not seen these gems yet they have a Masher stamp of approval.   You can check out the full weeks activities HERE 

Don’t forget we’re coming to that time of the year when some Clubs take a sabbatical so where there is a link to Web Sites please check to make sure that the event is happening.
I’ve also added a link to Folk Listings to the Diary pages.  Promoters / artists will find this free basic service really useful and easy to use , it’s also of great interest to those people looking for music further afield.  Take a look by clicking on the link.

The August page is now available.  If you’re a Club promoter please check to make sure your entry is correct.    Festivals and special events will start to appear on the pages over the next week.

A heads up.  Stormcrow, who made such an impact at Acoustic Rotherham when they appeared last year, launch their new CD “Tales Of The Crow” at one of The Mashers favourite venues, The Station Hotel, Loftus on July 8th.  I’m lead to believe that Graham Brotton, and Glen Coggin will be joining in to replicate their contribution to the CD sound.    Sounds a great evening, but just a little too far for The Masher to travel, but for the North Yorkshire Clan – be there or be square!!
More locally, 2nd July see’s Beanfest at The Star, Rawmarsh.   Rock the day away, well only if you are not heading out to follow The Masher at The South Yorkshire Festival. 

So that’s it for this week………………….. BUT

The remarkable number of additional hits we have had on the Web Site since going “silent” supports the view that the music was causing discomfort to many people.  The strange thing is that I had received only a couple of complaints.  Please if you find anything that reduces your enjoyment of the site report it to me and if it is something within my control I will do my best to correct the problem.  

In addition I would like to open things up more to more content from folks, so please send in your reviews, observations, of your Club night – Festival etc., they will go onto the Blog.  

So whatever you’re doing this week have fun and keep it LIVE.

Sunday 12 June 2011

He's been a Busy Bee - But so Has Everyone Else - and more to come


This week’s outing was to The Three Tuns at Stainton, a great little Folk Club that meets monthly in what seems to be the middle of nowhere, in rural Maltby. 

What got me there?   Well, here’s a tip for all you Folk Club Organisers out there complaining of falling numbers, “Cold Call” telephone sales!   Yes, with John and Eyvon sunning themselves somewhere exotic it was down to Sue and Barry to keep the Club ticking over, and with Barry calling all and sundry making dark blackmailing threats it was little wonder that for much of the time the Club was packed, with standing room only.

I have to admit it was my first visit for getting on for twelve months so it was great to see the Club seemingly thriving, with some great contributions to the evening.  Good to see the Davenports again and my old mucker Keith Nicklin, along with Paul Pearson, Scottish John and many more Club main stays.   And yes, Roy Blackman lives, good to see him in fine fettle as he missed the last Nellie Folk.

A couple of songs all round and good company made for a great evening.   Sad news though, no guest beer.  

It does one good to get out and sing a couple of old songs to relatively fresh ears. 

So well done Sue and Barry, a great evening.   Pictures from the Club have been added to the Club slide show that you can find on the Club Picture page HERE

Meanwhile I’ve been immersing myself in the conversation going on under UKFCN banner.  This is a new Focus Group of interested Parties looking to encourage greater communication between Folk Clubs and Artists.  

Initial discussion has concerned the creation of a Data Base of Clubs and artists providing an easy reference for Clubs and artists alike to ease booking guests into Clubs, and avoid time wasting by Artists contacting non Guest Clubs or Singer Clubs for Gigs. 

I’d be interested to know if you have any views on this, e.g.  if your Club organiser what resource information would you find useful to be able access about other Clubs and artists; and if you’re an artist what information about Clubs would aid you in putting Tours together or assessing your requirements.

In my view anything that provides Clubs with an opportunity of co-ordinating activities has to be good, and of course more importantly in my view anything that might encourage Club members to sample the delights that other local Clubs might have to offer has to be good.   Cross fertilisation!.  

Which is why the development of The Myke Barritt Music Trust Wandering Minstrel Folk Club is such a great idea for encouraging people to visit new places, to share their songs with new audiences.  A concept Myke would have been well in tune with. 

I’ll keep you in touch with developments within the UKFCN as they happen.  Meanwhile if you’re interested in what is going on take a look at the Facebook Page HERE

There’s also quite an interesting discussion about how to involve young people more in the Organisation of Clubs and Festivals.

Some of you may also be interested in the Bog Hill Traditional Irish Summer Schools, you can find out more by following the link I’ve put on the News Page. HERE

I think that I’ve at last got the Diary listings as comprehensive as we need to be.  If your Club / Open Mic / or Concert is not listed then get in touch by Emailing me HERE  I think it’s now a really useful resource for local artists and Clubs as to what is going on in the South Yorkshire area and some points beyond.   Where available I’ve also linked the listings to Web Sites.
And dare I say that there are some really great music being made over the coming weeks, so head off HERE and find out where and when.  

And if you head HERE you’ll find the special page that lists all of South Yorkshire Folk's going ons at Hillsborough and Crookes.  Pete has been so busy recently that it’s been a hard job catching up.

For this week I’d just draw your attention to the first Worcester Literary Festival that starts on 17th June in, yes you guessed it, Worcester.  For those of a literary incline I would really suggest that you take a look at their Web Site, the link you’ll find on the June Page HERE – there’s some really interesting events going on for readers and writers of all ages.

One or two folks have asked what the current play chart of the Acoustic Rotherham Player are looking like.  There’s now over  95 tracks on the Player, which you can find HERE    So for those interested I list the top 10 plays since 2008. 

1.        Sian Simmonds     Oh
2.       Phillip Hartley        Folk Song Prima Donna
3.       The Troubadors     Broken Bridge
4.       Rebekah Findlay    Viking Blood
5.       Paul Pearson           Down The Road and Gone
6.       Acoustica                 Medley
7.       Folk On Fire             Frosty Morning
8.       Jack’s Rake              Blackthorn Stick
9.       The Backyard Buskers   Little Sadie
10.   Rachael Barley        Kiss Goodnight

In percentage terms there’s very little in it right up to sixtieth position. 

Remember the next Acoustic Rotherham is on 31st July, with what I hope will be a special third birthday Party on the 30th October.  Details of Acoustic Rotherham 12 are HERE.  There is space for a couple of additions if you fancy a spot Email me HERE

Because of work commitments I didn’t get out and about this weekend.  I did though spend some brain numbing time watching the five hours of television hailed as “Great Drama” “Injustice”.   Oh dear, is all I can say, a more contrived plot one would be hard pressed to find, it even included the Copper who had sussed it all out breaking his neck having been pushed down the stairs by his Wife, and he left any notes about who the murderer was – of course not.  Although the concept of an avenging Lawyer was quite good.  And of course it’s open for a second instalment of five hours at sometime.

But coming up this week, the monthly singers Clubs at Tickhill on Tuesday and Burton Street Foundation on Wednesday.  The Beverley Folk Festival gets underway on Friday, and of course The Wortley Folk Club with a special guest is on Saturday night. 

Anyone heading to any of these events or one that I haven’t seen please feel free to send in a review which we’ll publish within the Blog.   Email Reviews HERE

So whatever you’re doing this week have fun and keep it LIVE. 

Sunday 5 June 2011

From The Pub Festivals and Looking to the Week Ahead NEW VENUES

I return to a subject that gets a regular airing in our Blog, namely the loss of Pubs to our Communities.  

Driving around South Yorkshire with my “Learners” I get the opportunity to see just what is going on and it’s sad to reflect that if the “Council Curtains” have not been screwed into the Window frames of a pub marking it’s death or temporary closure, then there is a huge Lease For Sale sign hanging from it’s side.   Many classic drinking Palaces are being destroyed and whole new housing estates built on the huge amount of land these buildings once stood.

Those Pubs not closed, pulled down or in danger of imminent closure stand out now and if their Land Lords are to be believed are surviving by the skin of their teeth and only by offering something different to the public, be it food, music or specialist beers.  

I am a bit of a pessimist concerning the Pub Trade, I don’t think that Community Pubs as my generation knew them can survive any longer, and it’s for a mixture of reasons.  Most Land Lords point to two things, the price of the beer that they are in many cases forces to buy via Tied House agreements against the prices charged by Supermarkets, and of course the smoking ban. 

From my perspective the smoking ban was no more than the catalyst, with all sorts of negative economic consequences and affects then kicking in until we have the current very weak market, with the knock on affect that musicians are finding it harder and harder to find a place to play, let alone paying gigs.

But some positives.  First locally in Parkgate where we reported a wipe out of pubs a few weeks ago, where I note the Alex has reopened, and The demise of the Parkgate Inn was just a little prematurely announced as I don’t think they ever did close their doors. 

For us music nuts there seems to be a new growing trend as well.  Many Pubs are now running their own one day mini Festivals, mainly for Charity, but I’m sure the extra beer sales help as well.  Could this be the way forward for musicians? 

This week I went along to The All Day Spring Charity Event at the Bridge, Rotherham on Bank Holiday Monday.  I got in a bit late in the day due to work commitments so missed out on a chance for The Masher to do his thing, but the pub seemed to be buzzing.

I did catch two excellent sets though.  

Searching For Sylvia did an acoustic set of their own material, brilliant stuff, strong musicianship supported by some brilliant vocal harmonies.   It’s not often I get the chance to see their full set and I enjoyed every minute.  

Then of course the growing legends on the local music scene Papa Legbas took to the stage.  A mixture of blues classics and what I recognised to be Tim Cleverly penned songs making up a brilliantly energetic set.  The overall sound was as usual brilliant. 


Earlier in the day I’m told that Paul Pearson did one of his impromptu spots to great acclaim, it’s so good that he gets out and about to freely give of his art to these events. 

And so to Saturday night and the Domino at Kimberworth, a venue that I had somehow not got to.  Here Joe and Rudi hold fort, Friday nights for their Jam Session, and it was the stalwarts of the Friday session who put Saturday’s day long Festival together.  

And it’s nice to report another Pub doing a healthy trade off the back of some brilliant music.  I arrived, late once again because of work, to catch a set from a young local Band.  It’s great to see Joe and Rudi giving these young musicians a chance to show case their talent, and talented they were.  

Then it was the turn of the Masher to do his thing, completely under rehearsed but no one seemed to notice, well perhaps they were just too kind to mention it.  

I’m enjoy so much playing events that are essentially electric, I find that coming on as a bit of light relief to the heavy Blues rhythm is great fun, and so this set proved, with an audience tuned in and seemingly enjoying the songs.  

The Mashers light show was again a success, despite Joe’s comment at the end “very entertaining even with a crap light show”.   

Following The Masher  came Richard and Julie, collectively Eskimo Kissed.  Their songs blow me away and their on stage performance is always energetic and interesting.  If you’ve not caught up with them yet head for the Demo Page HERE where you’ll find three tracks of their self-penned music.    I have to say that they seem to get better every time I see them. 

Then it was the turn of Joe’s Blue’s Band, "BIG THRIL" I didn’t quite catch the name of the Band, but smokin’ they certainly were.  Brilliant musicianship and the lady, (heavily pregnant I think) vocalist had a blues voice to kill for. 
.  

I had to leave mid set, but I’m assured that the boys from the Friday Jam session finished off the evening in great style. 

I also missed Martin and his crew at and Steph doing her thing at the start of the show, apparently they were all in great form. 

But alas I had to head off to keep my lovely Wife company at the Club, can’t have too much fun can I, where Bad Fingers were in residence doing there soft rock cover material so popular on the Club scene.  Great staging and technical music skill, but boys, I was sat at the back of the Club and the main slider was up far too high for the balance of the instruments and more importantly the vocals, result, not a great sound, if you can’t be bothered to set the balance of the instruments and vocals correctly at the outset then you ain’t giving your music a real chance, and simply slipping the main volume slider up is not going to correct the problem. 

So that was my week.   However, slipping totally under my radar was another local Pub Festival, MagFest at the Magpie in Brinsworth.  My spies tell me that this was another well attended event over the Bank Holiday weekend, with some great music. 
 
SO A REMINDER – if you’ve got a local music event going on then please send an Email.  We hit a lot of folks these days, and our mailing list and general distribution is for ever growing.  We might be able to help to get the word of your event out there.  We might call ourselves Acoustic Rotherham but we do support all events that involve live music in the area.   Email HERE

Which brings me to a WEDNESDAY NIGHT Open Mic that has started at The Cavalier, Ravenfield.  There’s plenty of opportunities to play at this weekly event, with everyone encouraged to come along and take part, be it acoustic or electric.  This is great addition to the weekly calendar as Wednesday has always been one of those dead night’s.

Speaking of which I’m told that The Master Brewer, Bramley on Thursday nights is back on the agenda.  I’m not quite sure what’s going on here as it is now in direct competition with “Left Handed Andy’s” Open Mic at The Travellers, Bramley.   With everything else that goes off on a Thursday night, musically speaking, I can’t help feeling that these events are not really the overall cause, but hey, any musical outlet has to be good.  

There are also other additions to the Diary so head off HERE to the listings page where you’ll find it all. 

I’ve had no negative reports concerning the new software I’m using to generate the Web Site – so I’m assuming that it’s all OK. 

As to the sites themselves.  Well it’s great to report that tracks from the Acoustic Rotherham Player have now been accessed 40,000 times, brilliant.  The Acoustic Rotherham Player features artists that have featured at our events and it’s great to think that their music is being discovered by new people.   

The Mashers hit a 40,000 landmark as well, with 40,000 people having now accessed their Myspace page, I won’t tell you how painful the last five thousand hits have been in collecting the views, which is down to the fall away in the popularity of Myspace.   Indeed Myspace continues to have many problems. 

As to the Acoustic Rotherham site, we are maintaining 150 – 200 hits per week.  It depends upon what figures one chooses to believe, there is a marked difference between the views picked up by the various stat collecting programmes out there.   It would be nice to kick things on a bit, so again I ask friends on Facebook to share any links from the site that they might find useful, click the LIKE BUTTONS and generally put the word out there.  Your help would be appreciated.

You’ll find more pictures from The Bridge and The Domino HERE on the picture page.

The Myke Barritt Music Trust Wandering Minstrels are again on the move, they’ve been invited to The Cross Keys, Handsworth for a Summer Solace Special, on 21st June.   If you can make it you’ll be sure of a warm welcome.  Full details can be found HERE

And the week ahead.  All the usual gatherings, including The Three Tuns at Staithes (That’s near Maltby) on Tuesday, and Saturday is looking busy with Ray Hearne playing at The Royal Oak at Deepcar, The usual offerings at The Bridge, Rotherham, and Papa Legbas heading out to The Cavalier at Ravenfield.    All looks good to me.  

So whatever you’re doing this week have fun and keep it LIVE.