Sale Folk Club

Newsletter No 44 - 25 August 2009

There was a general consensus of opinion that Carl had suddenly become very attractive to many of the male members of the club last night and with his new pseudonym of 'Ann Lavell Jordan', he and Sue certainly won the night as frontman/woman! Actually, Carl was grateful that he could just concentrate on his singing, particularly as he had a problem with his toe and was not feeling completely A1 for running the club. He did, however, arrive the first to re-arrange the chairs with Ann and to remove the 'Quatermass' pot plant out of the way to the far corner of the room, which was an excellent idea.

Ann and Sue's charisma and charm inspired a record number of punters to cross the threshold, which not only included a large appreciative audience but 26 extremely talented performers. We were short of seats but everyone eventually found a place. At exactly 8.00 pm, the night commenced with Carl singing an Eric Bogle number If Wishes Were Fishes and we were off to an amazing start. Kath, Stan and Ruth joined forces and sang Horncastle Fair, which sounded wonderful with their harmonising.

Ged was next with an excellent 'Trouble in Mind'. Incidentally, Ged very kindly brought a small amplifier for the raffle, which inspired a lot more purchasing of raffle tickets! We had asked Andy, from Wythenshawe, to perform next, followed closely behind by his friend Dave, who was a little nervous about his own performance, so we thought it better to keep them together. Andy sang Babylon, very loudly as usual and almost deafening the row in front. He made a joke at this point that he hadn't realised he was intended to be Dave's warm-up! Stage had been set, so Dave followed on with a very amusing reading, where, at the end of each verse, the audience all had to join in with the title - Shut up You Bloody Liar! No-one would ever have suspected nerves from this very polished performance. Heather McNeill made her second appearance at the club. She comes from Uppermill.

Once again there was audience participation and we all had to join in by singing the word 'Tonight' when Heather performed her own song about her first folk club experience and the song was entitled Little Room, very appropriate tonight. John, the banjo player, returned once again to the club and treated us to a one-man band - not only singing and playing banjo, but also playing the kazoo at the same time, which is a difficult task when you are the sole singer. This piece, which resembled something from the Acker Bilk collection, was entitled Strangler on the Shore! John Musket had everyone laughing with his rendition of Chastity Belt and then Richard Sails with his powerful voice sang his unaccompanied Bold Princess Royal.

Richard Knott was next to perform and he sang and played one of his own excellent numbers Drink a Little Whisky. Adam followed this with a Neil Diamond song Solitary Man, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Isobel thrilled the room with her two instrumental pieces Sally Gardens and Church Street. The audience were mesmerised by her very polished recorder playing. Jan and Mark sang and played together a very beautiful piece called Verdant Braes of Skreen. John Condy pleased everyone here by singing a Jackson Brown number Before the Deluge and it was lovely to see Pauline again at the club and she sang unaccompanied Gloomy Winter to which we can all look forward. Colin Evans came and sat up front and we were all treated to his marvellous guitar playing with The Barley & Grape Rag. Derrick had us all in stitches with his two Les Barker poems Sprouts' & Breaking Wind Suddenly. Frank then sang a very soft and beautiful version of Walking on Sunday which was very moving and we all joined in softly with the chorus.

At this point Ann congratulated Ann and John Cojeen on recently becoming grandparents for the first time, Baby James, and Ann Cojeen was then invited to sing her unaccompanied Can You Sew Cushions?, which was a new one for us. Paul Cowburn, a friend of John Condy, also made his second appearance at the club and he sang Donovan's Little Tin Soldier, which was excellent. The final performer in the first half, Richard Gray, stood up and sang a very nice and polite Thank You for Another Day, and Ann announced that
there would be a short 20-minute break in which we could buy raffle and concert tickets and replenish our drinks and we would recommence the second half at 10 pm.

The door was swung open then and unbelievably more performers arrived!!! Zoë had arrived during the break (without a sicknote) so she was pounced upon to begin the second half of the night. This she did successfully with a lovely song called Low Tide. This time Zoë had a change of role and was warm-up for Carl who enthralled the audience with his Jake Thackray's very amusing Blacksmith & The Toffee Maker. Then John Musket, as usual, gave a very professional introduction to his Gordon Lightfoot song I'll Be Alright and then we had a new performer who had arrived during the break, Rob Dunford who delivered a very amusing monologue Copper's Tale, watch out Derrick. Kath, Stan and Ruth together sang and played Anna Lee as a trio, followed by Richard Knott playing his own instrumental Night Falling, Blues Calling. We all loved the title as much as the tune.

Adam, continuing his rise in the firmament, then treated us all to Honky Tonk Blues, which went down very well. Heather McNeill sat at the front this time and sang The White Cockade better than Kate Rusby herself. Jan and Mark sang Collier Laddie with a mixture of Scottish and Welsh accents! A very difficult task. Isobel, as usual, played a perfect Crossing the Minch with very tricky fingering on her part. She could have been a pickpocket you know!! Andy came to the front and got everyone to join in playing and singing with him to Knocking on Heaven's Door before Pauline lulled us all to sleep with a beautiful Hushaby but we weren't finised yet.

Dave was perfectly confident now and no longer needed a warm-up from Andy when he did his next reading Sweet Romance then our Banjo playing John entertained us once more with San Francisco Bay Blues, minus the Kazoo. Richard Sails next sang a wonderful Yarmouth Town followed by Ged with a superb Patti Griffin number called Trapeze but by then time was running away and we were conscious that Zoë might miss her last bus if she stayed any longer, so we asked her to sing for a second time and she gave us a fabulous love song entitled All of the Songs were Road Songs and was so good that she was offered a lift home and was able to stay to the final curtain at 11.45 pm!!!!! Jim was in the audience and luckily gave permission for an extension so that everyone could have a second turn. Frank sang another lovely soft version of The Girl from the Hiring Fair, doesn't he always, and Ann Cojeen encouraged us all to join her in singing Lamorna. Richard Gray gave the men good advice with his self-written Try to be a Big Boy Now, Paul sang a Neil Young number Old Man which incorporated a very wide voice range, good job he had tight underpants, Derrick was pleased not to be excluded from the second round but we were rushing him to be speedy because of lack of time, so he obligingly told a very short story, which was exceedingly funny Grandmas Don't Know Everything. The one about sex and the bunk beds.

Colin Evans was the penultimate performer but had disappeared to the lavatory when his turn arrived but as John Condy was about to deliver his Wild Mountain Thyme he re-appeared and took his place to play another rag of which he couldn't remember the title. All was not lost, as Mark knew exactly what it was entitled when Colin began to play Bron-y-Awr Stomp.

This memorable night was wound up by John Condy as everyone sang along with him when he eventually got to his Wild Mountain Thyme. He also then proposed a big thank you to Ann for her first fronting up outing and hopefully not the last. Finally, we were all out of the building by midnight, before we turned into pumpkins. No chance of that!!!! Well done everyone. Oh! Such a Night!!!

Over the weeks many kind people have donated extra prizes to our already generous raffle and it will always be so. However, it has occurred to us that anyone wishing to dispose of worthwhile but unwanted material, objets d'art etc in an environmentally friendly way could also do this as a way of recycling.


Newsletter No 43 - 18 August 2009

Another good night at the club although surprisingly no new first time performers and also no takers for Friday's charity bash, however, Pepper Street started the ball rolling with Hard Ain’t It Hard by Woody Guthrie and separately Mick debuted his new song called Like A Bus Out Of Hell, all about trying to find a way out of all the scare stories created by the powers that be. It then prompted reminiscences from Colin Rudd about his mis-spent youth as a bus spotter!! Is that sad or isn't it? You tell me! John Condy kept the split going with a solo version of Louisiana 1927, a Randy Newman song but Ruth chipped in with her own song, Letting Sorrow Go followed by Call to Arms in Our Street about the first World War and the women left behind. It's a good job women are now doing the fighting so that men will be able to write those songs in future!?! Ot was nice to see Kathie back with Mark & Jan for Young Billy Brown as a trio, Jan & Kathie with 7 Days Are In The Week and Mark out in the cold with Drink Good Ale, to mark harvest time. Colin Rudd brought the creativity back with his own No Chance Hitting On You about a woman he took a fancy to one night at our club, wouldn't say which one, spoil sport!! He followed that with For God & My Country by David McWilliams which he said was very appropriate for the situation in Afghanistan.

Nice to see Adam Black becoming a regular with Memphis Minnie's version of When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin and Howling for my Darling by Howling Wolf certainly a good acoustic contribution. Dave the poet did Love Says No and Eric did one of his on compositions By Jove Carruthers, which brought the house down. Frank then made a welcome appearance with Nic Jones' version of Farewell to the Gold followed by The Farmer and but better still he brought Adele who did Bride of the Sea & Benjamin Bowmaneer who was even more welcome. Follow that and who better than Dave Pugh with Allan Taylor's We Must Journey On and the traditional Sally Wheatley. Then amazingly Ed did not do Knock Knock Knockin' On Heaven's Door but jumped up with Treat Me Daughter Decent and Bronchial Dilated Blues about a hypochondriac, which Ed definitely isn't!!! Another off his sick bed was Robin who did a nice medley of Pretty Fraulein and Wild Side of Life, or is it I Never Knew God made Honky Tonk Angels? Then he did Me & Bobby McGee with John Condy accompanying him. Talk about when the cats are away the mouse will play with John Condy see if they care! He must be looking for a better band. John Muskett verging on becoming a regular, oh for the day, did a great job on Sammy's Bar even managing to sing the original Cyril Tawney lyrics and not Les Barker's parody, followed by Bob Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time. What a repertoire this man has and he isn't half bad on the guitar. John Brown, the banjo man here for the second week running did a Fats Waller medley starting with I'm gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter and later took on Kenny Rogers' Lucille and won. Ged did a version of Stagger Lee, one of our favourites, called John B Stetson Hat and then did Guy Clark's Desperadoes Waitin' For A Train. Tom Dewhurst marked the anniversary of Peterloo with The Fields Of Peterloo and then did Les Barker's take on Young Albert called Finches, Chimps & Mushy Bees!!!!!!!!!! Carl did his own Magical Sky and Jez Lowe's The New Moon's Arms and finished the night with his own Littoral Home Truths with accompaniment on National Slide Guitar from John with a whole load of others joining in!. Very satisfying!!


Newsletter No 42 - 11 August 2009

Last night was yet another enjoyable and successful evening all round. With Robin and Ed at the 'sickness table' it was fortunate that John Condy arrived early and readily agreed to help Sue with running the club. At first, performers were outnumbered by audience and it was feared each would have to find around ten songs, but after we started the night as usual at 8.00 pm, a steady trickle of musicians and singers came through the door.

Ged gave the evening a great start with Flip, Flop and Fly and soon everyone was chorusing in sympathy with Kath & Stan's Hard Times. Colin then gave a beautiful rendition of Mr Bo Jangles and Tom announced the imminent arrival of Flotsam by doing one on his own at this point agreeing to sing The Miner unaccompanied. Mark and Jan gave their version of The Song of the Plough and Dave (The Poet) recited The Light-Hearted Maiden (re: Ireland) but Rob had nothing to report on his internet bints so sang The Grey Funnel Line. Carl sang his Nights Round the Table and John Condy played and sang Motherland. On his first visit to the Club, John Brown (an excellent banjo player) sang and played Streets of London with everyone singing along and by this time there was a large audience, some of whom were first-time visitors to the Club and
seemed pleased to hear a familiar folk song that they could join in with. Michael then sang The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda by which time there was a full contingency of Flotsam - including Richard Peach as their fiddle player, so they immediately sang a couple of numbers at this point - Steal Away and then Ding Dong. This was Richard's first visit to the club and it was nice to welcome him here. This was also a first time visit for Richard Bower who played a very unusual 10-string guitar with an exotic name and he sang Sally Free and Easy. And still rolling in Geoff Bibby had arrived by this time for another first time visit and he sang Wainwright by another old friend Graham Sowerby. Again without a late note Frank also arrived by this time and sang a Sidney Carter song called Crow on a Cradle. Hurtling into the second round of songs started by Colin, who sang a Bob Dylan number I Want You, which we had never heard sung at a folk club before but it went down very well, the momentum was maintained by Kath & Stan with Shady Grove, Mark and Jan with Hush Hush and Dave the Poet who recited his own poem about golfers, From a Mis-stance. Next Rob, soon to run away from a relationship er er sail away from an Interbint to Tobermory, sang a request from Ed - The Good Ship Calabar to lead us into the break.

The raffle of 2 bottles of wine, 2 big bars of chocolate, a box of chocs donated by Robin and a CD of the late Dougie, donated by Ged, took us into the second half with another late arrival, Richard Gray, who sang his own Help Is On Its Way. Carl caught up with an Australian song Time Is A Tempest and everyone quickly picked up the catchy chorus and again showed what a great singing audience we have. Ged wanted some of it and gave us another brilliant piece Working On The Railroad, Michael grabbed his turn with Saw Your Name In The Paper, John Condy sang Here Comes The Sun and John Brown (the banjo player) treated us to the nostalgic Memories Are Made Of This, Richard Peach joining in the background with some accompanying fiddle playing along with a few other musicians. Despite everyone denying that they recalled the song because they were too young, they all knew the words and joined in the singing, creating a happy spirit to the evening. Richard Bower sang Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land and once again everyone was in the mood for joining in. Especially at the request of his song-writing teacher, Frank sang his own One for Sorrow whereas Geoff Bibby, in contrast, sang a traditional number Holly Bush before Richard Gray sang You've Got A Friend.

With time left on the clock there was time left for some to get a third bite at the cherry and Flotsam were requested to sing part of Steal Away again as one lady at the back had missed it the first time around. Where else would they do that? They then sang Knocker Upper Man, a Salford inspired song, and their second was Ruby Tuesday. John Brown treated us to I'm Just a Country Boy, Geoff Bibby sang a very funny Billy Bennett Song from around 1910 called Mottos, and even if one had studied Latin in one's youth it would have been of little assistance!! Colin sang Country Roads - Wonderful! Mark sang his famous Intergalactic Laxative, which shocked some of the newcomers, and Jan followed him immediately with a Welsh song called Moliannwn, which she assured us was not rude like Mark's! Ged cheered us all up with Ludlow Massacre!!! and Flotsam finished the night with Bide Awhile.


Newsletter No 41 - 4 August 2009

Another excellent night with fifteen singers/players/speakers/duos, almost all of whom got three goes each, and a growing audience who seemed to be just as happy with the quality as the quantity. So they should. We were particularly glad to welcome two newcomers, Jonathan and Heather. Jonathan made his debut with St Louis Blues followed by Richland Woman Blues and Lost Highway (Hank Williams). Another talent to add to our Blues Brothers, Ged and John... Carl followed up with The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young) and Singing the Ages Down (Lester Simpson) before Derek lightened the proceedings with I'm a Flem (Les Barker), Nobody Loves a Hedgehog and Viagra (more a smutty story than a poem, but we're very broadminded...) John Condy brought us a new song Arcadian Driftwood (The Band) followed by Diamond Teamer Drover (Aussie song) and After the Gold Rush (Neil Young again) but without Mick he played solo both guitar and harp on the first two and then came all over unaccomplished on the last. Robin sang the Last Farewell (Rog Whitaker), Now the Buffalo's Gone (Buffy St Marie) and Star of the County Down before Ged came over bluesy with Bricks in my Pillow, Joshua Gone Barbados and The Last Minstrel Show (Bob Coltman). Stan and Kath gave s the olf faithful Ring Ring the Banjo followed by Banjo Pickin' Girl and ended with a new one The Birds were Singing of You. Adam kept up his record of more modern songs with Ace of Spades (Yes, the Motörhead song), Tell me Why (the blessed Neil Young again) and Folsom Prison Blues from Johnny Cash.

Heather from Saddleworth, who is not just a pretty face, sang Somewhere along the Road (Nick Kemp), Ann Cargill, her own song about the ghostly Ann who went down with the Nancy and now haunts the Scillies, Mr Rock 'n' Roll, a recent chart success for Amy McDonald, completing a varied and excellent set. Eric's Knokke-le-Zoute, was the tragic Jacques Brel tale of frustrated fantasy and Lover Boy, was his own song originally written to sing in bath and perhaps should have stayed there, his own words! Dave, now becoming quite a regular and showing the breadth of his talent, sang Say it Again (Don Williams), the Ballad of a Teenage Queen (J. Cash again) and In the Park (own song about Tatton Park). Mike Bracken, wielding a 3/4 size cracked £15 guitar and making a surprisingly good sound with it, sang New Paint, a Percy French medley, The Immigrant Song and Come Back Paddy Reilly and How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times bounding onto the blues bandwagon, but with a delicacy of touch. Another regular Colin Rudd gave us The Reach (Dan Fogelberg), If the Bird Can Sing, his own brand new song and quite lovely and Paul McCartney's Blues (not actually a blues, but a bitter little rant addressed to his own ex-wife. It was all her fault, apparently! Yet another regular Dave Pugh sang People in the Heavens by Huw Williams - so that was all of the Williams triplets in one night: Hank, Don and Huw, When the Boat Comes In (Eric's utter favourite - he would have gone home then if he could) before finishing with Sammy's Bar (or what he could remember of it at the end of a long night)

Finally, to complete a fine set of people who are thankfully becoming regulars, Zoe sang Hairy Herman. let's say by Anon because Zoe can't remember who wrote it, Herman Digs For Clams Until He Drowns, rather than marry his nagging sweetheart. (Wise choice), One Day The Sun, her own song about a dog which is to appear on her forthcoming CD, and closed with When I Go by Dave Carter. What a night.