It's Huge - Nellie Folk + Birthday Bash + Party in The Park and Acoustic Rotherham 12 Reviewed

Another of those busy weeks, so no comment about the US Debt figure here, or those rather strange folks having a Tea Party.

Fourth Monday of the month and so The Bridge entertained Nellie Folk.   Another evening of fine song and music, and an interesting audience, some of whom appeared to be in transit from one Club to another.   All the usual suspects though, so top ho.   

For the Masher it was an interesting one, having to catch the last bus back to Masher Towers in the Hamlet of Rawmarsh was an experience with which I will have to become accustomed.

Wednesday found all the usual suspects along with one or two guests one again invading The Bridge for Myke’s Birthday Bash.  Congratulations to the hard working ladies who got the show on the road and I’m told the afternoon session was good fun.

The Masher turned up for the evening session having had a day with the medics at various venues and having once again to learn the fun of the Public Transport system.  Perhaps someone would like to explain why on sleepy Wednesday early afternoon a bus which is supposed to appear every ten minutes took at least forty minutes to appear?   A right pain.   Even with my dodgy bodily state I could have walked to Parkgate in shorter time.

Moan, moan.

The evening’s music was varied with some special performances, from the moment that David Kidman kicked the event off with one of his interesting and varied sets.

Performing in the corner, generously referred to as The Acoustic Stage, was Sylvia.  Brilliant to see her digging out her guitar and performing some fine traditional songs.  Lovely stuff, especially when contrasted with next up, The Masher.

A set completely untypical of recent times, in that I had dug deep into the recesses of my song bag to find some of my little performed repertoire.   Anything for a giggle.

But then the Star of the night, the first to be given a Grant from the coffers of the Myke Barritt Music Trust, Mr Roy Blackman.  As soon as it can be properly arranged we’re going to drag Roy into the recording studio to have his work saved for posterity.   A brilliant idea.  Those who know Roy will be aware of his fantastic body of work, with songs and poems reflecting Yorkshire life, especially South Yorkshire.  We hope to be able to publish a pamphlet with the CD containing the lyrics so that everyone can join in on such favourites as “Fair Thee-Well South Yorkshire”, rumoured to be amongst Rob Slow’s most loved folk songs.   Wink, wink.  

We do have some rough recordings of Roy in action, created in the Sutherland Shed Studio at Braithwell which you can find HERE

Then a rarity.  Husband and Wife duo, Sue and Barrie Sutherland entertained us with half an hour of varied songs.  And far from easy for them having drawn the Acoustic Stage, with Bar regulars mingled with the more attentive audience, while the first of the electric Bands set themselves up.  But well done both for persevering so well. 

On a night of musical contrasts the next act Tyburn, certainly livened the place up.   Last year they were reduced to an acoustic set, but on this show we were treated to their full on electric set and brilliant it was.   

 For those not aware, Tyburn was one of Myke’s musical collaborations in the old days, headed up by Craig Booker, who has had a busy year given the publication of his book last Autumn, “Impossibilities”, available via the Acoustic Rotherham link up with Amazon HERE  We should also note that this was our Phoebe’s first appearance of the evening in rock guise.

 It was the job of Welsh Geoff to follow that, and again hampered by the enclosed nature of the Acoustic Stage he produced a typically rounded performance of his very funny stories from his Welsh heritage.  Great stuff.

It was fantastic to see Theresa in singing action again.  A wonderful voice, and one unfortunately rarely heard in recent times.

Then time for a well-polished set from Paul Pearson.  Again in difficult circumstances with the electric boys of the final act biting at the bit to get set up.  But Paul never fails to drag his audience in and treat them to some fine renditions from his bag of songs.

Taking up the rear came Earthtales, Myke’s final electric collaboration.   A fine way to rock the night to a conclusion with Karl heading up the vocals and Phoebe making her second bass appearance of the night.  

So the second of the Post Myke, Birthday Bashes can be chalked up as a success, and with some more money into the fund as well.   

A full set of pictures from the night can be found HERE

But then came the shock News that Phoebe was giving up her role as Chairperson of the Trust.  Phoebe is currently extremely busy setting up her own music business as a Teacher and Musician, and the work load of sorting out all the Trust business is just too much.  There’s to be an emergency meeting of the Committee during this coming week, so watch this space for further News. 

On Saturday Mac Masher and I trod the well-known path to Rosehill Park for Party in The Park.   It was a two day event, and all I can say of the Saturday is “oh dear”.   

 I thought we had timed our walk just right to catch View From S62, only to find that they were long gone.  The three piece band playing as we arrived, sorry no name as programmes were not available, played through a selection of cover punk and classic Brit rock of the seventies and eighties.  Sound quality was clearly not a priority of the Promoters though and where I was stood some thirty meters from the stage it was difficult to pick up the music over the noise coming from the Fun Fair.   

We did hang around through the rather weak demonstration of wrestling to see the start of a set from Chinatown a Band I’ve seen in action at The Star Festivals, unfortunately the lack of amplification did little and we made our disappointed way home. 

I hate to be critical of anything that promotes live local bands, and brings something different to the Community, but it seemed to me to get caught completely in between whatever it was trying to do.  Very few stalls, a rather expensive Fun Fair and a third rate music stage that did not give the bands a chance to demonstrate what they can do.   

Whoever the Promoter is should look to themselves.  

I hope Sunday was more successful.   

Judging by the absence of people beyond the normal suspects Rosehill Park must have been packed.  Even the Tap Room of the Queens was strangely quiet, especially as there was a Test Match and a Grand Prix going on, let alone Ladies Open Golf.  

But the last week in July, first week of August is a notoriously bad time in Rawmarsh, as a huge chunk of the population traditionally head for the Airports or the delights of Skegness. 

So it was a rather strange Acoustic Rotherham 12.  In fact so strange that it might be said that Tina and I, (first two up), had the best of the audience.   A very rare occurrence. 

Yet another different Masher set as I was experimenting, well someone has to, with some of the old material.   Seemed to go down OK from where I was standing despite the odd “deliberate mistake”.

Then the lovely Tina McKevitt, producing a solo performance of great confidence, including three or four numbers that involved playing the guitar.  Tina is working really hard on her solo performance and the benefits of that hard work are beginning to show.  I know that she worries, but I’m sure that anyone who knows her will agree she’s no need to, as she looks relaxed and performs naturally on stage.  Of course the more Tina performs solo the better she is going to get.

The well homed and experienced blues sound of Stomping On Spiders, or one half of them, in the well-formed persona of Gaza from Worcester was next up.   Here’s a guy in complete control of his performance even when left to his own devices when his partner in crime gets called away to Europe for work, at short notice.    

Loved his set which seemed to fly by.   

Incidentally  Gaza is soon to be heading for sunshine of Australia.   I mentioned in a Blog around a month ago that he would be happy to take either MP3s or a copies of CDs over to Australia for playing on a couple of Radio Stations that he will be doing programmes for while on his holidays.   Anyone interested you’ll find him amongst my “Friends” on Facebook.   Or through any of the contact points for Stomping On Spiders. HERE

And this time it was good to get a chance for a proper chat with him.  I am a bit disappointed though that he’s gone to the extreme of going to Australia to avoid the Masher’s appearance at the Worcester Music Festival in August!!

Our next guest was David Kidman, producing yet another fine performance of traditional song.  It’s not easy, especially within the mixed musical genre of an Acoustic Rotherham to stand out, but David manages to do it every time, and the reprise of his duo performance with Tina from the Nature’s World Festival were two stand out songs.  

Vanray:UK  aka Pete Long was making his debut at an Acoustic Rotherham.   The last time Pete and I shared the same stage was at the Acoustic Circus Festival a couple of weeks ago, only I didn’t get to see him as he put himself on at Mid-Night!!!!

It’s great listen to someone who is really into his music the way Pete clearly is, as he rocked us through a series of songs that included many of his own, plus a couple of covers, which included as his conclusion, Ant Music, the Adam  Ant classic.  It was only lack of beer and the early hour that prevented the room from erupting into dance and table banging………………….  He says.

One of the nicest couples on the Northern Folk Music scene were our next guests.   It’sAcoustica are fast becoming Acoustic Rotherham annual main stays, and it was great to be able to entertain them again.  All the way from Newcastle they produced a fantastic set of their own roots based songs along with their own arrangement of some popular classic covers. 

 

Why this duo do not get the recognition they deserve around some of the other Festivals I really don’t know.  They are great entertainment as being technically brilliant, not a combination one often finds these days.   Much success to you Kath and Andy. 

And yet another change in style, although another Wife and Husband duo, Julie and Tim Cole who were making their eventual debut at an Acoustic Rotherham.  This was a performance of traditional music and musicianship at it’s very best.   Julie has a fantastic voice for the traditional songs, while Tim plays a mean guitar.   

A super outstanding performance on an afternoon when everyone was again on top form.

Ending the afternoon was Rawmarsh’s own John Nicholson, also surprisingly enough making his debut at Acoustic Rotherham.  And what a pity that so many people had by this time left and missed this highly entertaining end to the afternoon.  John’s stature betrays a huge personality and on stage performance which he has homed as part of the legendary Billy And The Boys. 

OK not the most technically brilliant performance of the afternoon, but hey this was entertainment all the way through what seemed to be an endless run of sing along folk classics.  Well done my mate, and don’t leave it too long before coming back to do an Acoustic Rotherham. 

Overall a classic afternoon of music, but what a pity that so many people missed it, it will live on for a long time in the memory of those who were there. 

The next Acoustic Rotherham Is the third birthday party which will be on Sunday 30^th October, put it your Diaries NOW as it promises to be a classic. 

It seems Hillsborough Folk at Burton Street is no more.  Please keep an eye upon your Inbox for news from Pete as to what will happen in the future, or watch this space.  Meanwhile the excellent programme of Folk at the Princess Royal Crookes continues – I’ll update the page HERE to bring you the latest News.

Pete will be Chairing the afternoon Open Mics / Singarounds at this year’s MADfest  at the Elsecar Heritage Centre.  Stand out Concerts throughout the weekend include Boy On A Dolphin, Sean Lakeman and Barbara Dickson, and a weekend ticket costs only £45 for three main stage Concerts.  The Open Mic sessions are FREE.  Friday 2^nd September through to Sunday 4^th.   Tickets from Barnsley Civic Web Site HERE  (at time of writing the event is not yet listed so it might be worth calling the booking Office 01226 327 000 or Email enquiries@barnsleycivic.co.uk) or to book a slot on the Open Mic contact South Yorkshire Pete. 

Allowing for a little time slip, and returning to Wednesday night, upstairs at The Bridge, out of the way of the Birthday Bash, the regular monthly Jazz Club was meeting………….  Judging by the number of Rotherham’s top musicians paying a visit to the Club, it looks one to visit.  I’m told it’s organised a bit like an Open Mic.  So for the Diary, Jazz on the last Wednesday of the month at The Bridge. 

There’s another full week of music ahead.  Just a reminder that The Three Tuns, Stainton, First Tuesday of the Month Club, is for one month only meeting at the Red Lion, Braithwell, in the upstairs room.

All other listings can be found HERE

Whatever you’re doing this week, have fun and please KEEP IT LIVE.