A lovely week, I got out from behind the desk!!
Yes thanks to the good services of friends I was able to
escape Masher Towers, work around the Bus Strikes and sing one song…………….. wow! But more importantly meet up with some
smiling faces in two fantastic atmospheres.
Tuesday, thank to Mark Hearne, it was to the Red Lion that I was taken.
I have to say that the down stairs Lounge Bar setting
certainly allowed for a more intimate atmosphere, and the acoustics were
fantastic.
It was another fantastic turn out, with the regular faces
(or usual suspects) being supplemented with Mark Hearne who gave a short and
very entertaining guest spot, Ciaran Boyle, Paul and Liz Davenport, Roy Blackman,
Rob Slow, and a host of folks too many to name; oh and of course The Masher.
Have to say that I do love Mark Hearne spots, you simply
never know what you’re going to get.
Such a pity that we don’t see more of him.
The Red Lion Club, Braithwell, meets the first Tuesday of
the Month, and for you singers and players out there is well worth a visit.
Friday found me hidden a way, squeezed in nicely at The
Bridge for the monthly ROMP Poetry Open
Mic, having found a way around the lack of public transport. Thank
you Paul.
Another success. Who
would have thought that in Rotherham we could pack rooms out with so much
talent and creativity. It’s simply such
an inspirational atmosphere all made possible of course by Gav Roberts the
evenings MC and Leader of the pack.
Again I say to folks, if you’ve not experienced a ROMP
evening you really do not know what you are missing, great atmosphere,
brilliant entertainment, and as Gav would say, beer!
REMEMBER ROMP IS
MOVING TO THE FIRST FRIDAY IN THE MONTH IN MARCH – so as to allow space for the new gathering with music at
SNAFU which starts later in the Month.
Eventually Roy and I got together, CDs were signed and the
pre orders sent out. Roy is still
feeling a bit under the weather so his tour of Clubs will not get seriously
underway until next week, however, he will be heading towards Crooks this
coming Thursday and will have a limited number of CDs (they are quite heavy to
carry in bulk) with him. If you bought
one and want it signed he’ll be happy to oblige, he says. Details of the guest and the excellent
programme at The Princess Royal Club can be found HERE
DON’T KNOW ABOUT ROY’S
CD? “Roy Blackman – Rotherham’s Man
of Memories” now available for the fantastic price of £9.99 with two free down
load packages of eleven further tracks of studio recordings. You need to go HERE
The first Review of
the CD is now in. David Kidman has passed his ear over
the CD many times, and has produced a prolific Review that has to be read. Find it
HERE
The Acoustic
Rotherham Web Site continues to grow in popularity. This week we shot through the 20,000 hits
mark which is excellent News. It means
that people are checking out the Clubs / Sessions and above all the brilliant
music that is on the Acoustic Rotherham Player that features so many of the
Artists that go to make up the lively music scene across Yorkshire.
Sometimes I think that I cram far too much information onto
the site, but not to do so would defeat what we’re trying to achieve, which is
to provide a one stop resource for everyone involved in what can loosely be
said to be the Grass-Roots Music scene, from beginner to the regular Gigger.
Focus has been a bit of a problem for me recently, or is it
idleness, but I will get the rest of the site over to the new format as soon as
I can, honest.
While on the Internet stats, I’m pleased to say that
readership of our Weekly News Blog has now returned to well over one hundred a
week. It’s been a long way back after
Myspace destroyed the RSS links to the Blog which had a regular readership of
near on two hundred a week. But we are
getting back our readership and that is all that is important.
But joining us on the Friends Page is our new friends Keystone
Acoustic HERE who have
discovered the joys and later the frustrations of Reverbnation HERE
We do recommend that anyone looking to get their music out there into the World
that they join both Facebook and Reverbnation, if nothing else it ensures that
if you are Googled that the listing will appear at the top of page one. Not only that but if you’re a Acoustic
Rotherham friend then you get to go on the Acoustic Rotherham friend page, WOW!!
One for you visual
artists out there, an opportunity to have your work shown in a Virtual Gallery for FREE. The Chester Chronicle has made
this feature available on their Web Site, which looks one of the better local
paper sites that I’ve seen. Go HERE to find out all about it.
I’d draw your attention to The Lost Chord Charity, which
uses the power of music to help people suffering with dementia, you can find
their excellent local programme of events HERE
Vicky’s Vintage,
Vicky Hilton’s craft and art trading business is moving into the Vaults Arts,
Crafts and Vintage in Sheffield (442 Abbeydale
road, Sheffield S7 1FR) from next Saturday.
If you’re over in Sheffield why not pop in and see her in all her
glory. Details of where to find her can
be found HERE
Great friends of Acoustic Rotherham HICKS and GOULBOURN (Steve Hicks and Lynn Goulbourn) did a gig last
weekend at The Lutherhaus in Osnabruck, Germany. The concert was videoed and is
scheduled to be podcast at 8.00pm on Monday 27th February. To see this free
podcast you'll need to pre-register HERE and they'll forward an access code. (There'll
be a Union Jack somewhere on the page so that you can read it in English if you
need to.) Steve and Lynn will be online ready and willing to chat at the end of
the podcast. It'll be great to meet you there!
Toein’ in The Dark
played to a packed Chesterfield Labour Club on Friday night. I’m told it was a fantastic evening as they
helped to celebrate the Iron Real Iron Ladies, who were the real strength
behind the 1984-85 Miners Strike. It’s
so good to see recognition again being given to these women who gave so much in
supporting their men during that inglorious period of our Social History. Many
of the women went on to play leading roles in the social reconstruction after
the Thatcher’s Pit closure programme decimated South Yorkshire / Derbyshire /
and Nottinghamshire communities.
Good news for the local music scene. The Chequers
at Whiston, following the success of a few Open Mic sessions are now to
make it a regular feature of their entertainment programme. The
first Wednesday of each month. You
can find the details on our Diary pages HERE
for March.
And good news to for local Band Soulmates, as the local Charity Concert they are a part of at The
Pastures has been SOLD OUT. If you’ve not checked them out yet
locally then I can recommend their lively performances. Well worth getting to see them. Check them out HERE
Cupola
Contemporary-Art has a fantastic series of Workshops, and there are still
one or two places on them. All ages and
include animation, bookmaking and a lot more for only £5 for a full day. You’ll need to get in quick so head HERE
for more details.
It was fantastic to
see Lucy Ward win the Horizon Award at the BBC Folk Awards. I’m a great fan. Not sure about the sometimes over produced
recordings, but her live performances are something to kill to get tickets
for. She’s going to be everywhere
following this win and for us Organisers will no doubt be a nightmare to book
from now on. However, I’ll be doing my
best to get her to Rotherham for something during 2012. Why not check out her modern protest song For
The Dead Man HERE Her Web Site is HERE
While on the subject of the Folk Awards it was good to see Don Mclean singing and playing in
the key of Masher during his first contribution. It just goes to show that atmospheric effects
on strings happen to us all!! Poor
chap.
If the purpose of the Awards is to improve the profile of
Folk Music then great, but perhaps the BBC should do more to address the axing
of Folk Programmes on their Local Radio Network if they really would like us to
take their interest in Folk Music seriously.
And with just a one hour Programme on Radio 2 hosted by the
brilliant Mike Harding who tries his best they really are not doing too much to
help.
And so what’s been
bubbling under.
Well I can say that real progress is beginning to made to
make planned events actually happen. It’s
no secret now, but we have three major projects for this year. Probably over the weekend of the Diamond
Jubilee we’re hoping to put a Festival
of Protest on, similar to Raise Your Banners the popular Bradford based biannual
event. In the last week in July a more Literary based Festival (name to be
decided) is being planned, with local based Plays and Comedy plus music events. Saturday
29th September will be this year’s Busking Day in Rotherham –
should be slightly warmer – and then in October what we hope will be a
fantastic Fringe to the Rotherham Open
Arts Festival, with concerts in the Gallery and a lot more around the
Borough. OK that’s four major events.
I have a fantastic creative team coming together from across
the Arts with more to be invited. If
anyone would like to be involved on either the organisational side or the performance
side, please contact me acousticrotherham@jmucreate.com
and we’ll keep you in touch with progress or invite you to the key Meetings.
The week ahead holds all the usual sessions and Clubs and of
course the Doncaster Comedy Festival is on-going as is The Repercussions
Exhibition at the Old Market Gallery in Rotherham. You can check it all out on the listings page
HERE
Just a reminder that if you have a session or Club or an
event not listed then please email me HERE
and I’ll make sure it goes on the page.
So there we have it for another week folks.
Whatever you are doing this week have great fun, get out and
support local music, and keep it LIVE.
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