Nuneaton Folk Club August 5th 2015
Last week's August session at NFC was a big success, with joint guests Winter Wilson and Dragonhead (rbelow) wowing another large audience.
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| Winter Wilson |
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| Dragonhead |
Plenty of excellent floor spots too, with Malc Gurnham as guest compere and Gill Gilsenan his singing partner, helping run the raffle and sell Folk Monthly magazines. Thanks to both for stepping in when I was not available. Another highlight was John Kearney's spontaneous decision to sing “ We Shall Overcome.” The audience seized on this, and the cumulative effect was apparently very moving and uplifting. On the NFC Facebook Page ( for which you have to apply for membership), and elsewhere on Facebook, there is a video clip courtesy of Sue Sanders which captures the magic of this moment. " You had to be there," one audience member commented afterwards. John himself was knocked out by the audience reaction, but there was also a lot of retrospective enthusiastic verbal feedback. " The best audience singing I have heard in a folk club since the 60's," for example and: " It felt like the whole room was singing with a sense of togetherness and purpose." or, from Dave Wilson of Winter Wilson, " We Shall Overcome" was very special."
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| JK's Special moment even makes Dave Webb look angelic |
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| Peter McParland |
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| Brian Phillips |
Peter McParland, Dipped Sheep, Brian Phillips and "Sly Old Dog" Nigel Ward ( making his NFC debut), and Thrup'nny Bits also contributed to another great night.
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| Dipped Sheep were bleating good |
BBC Local Radio
I missed the evening because I was
actually double booked, having committed myself months earlier to a College Reunion
in Worthing. This led to me doing one of the oddest “live” radio
broadcasts I have ever experienced. From the shingle beach in Worthing, Sussex. This went out on BBC
Coventry and Warwickshire, who have been very supportive to Nuneaton Folk
Club, ever since it launched ten months ago. At their invitation I've previously done live interviews on the Vic Minett show, and with Phil Upton,
from the bar of The Crown Inn. In the past I've done recorded interviews from
The Blue Pig in Wolvey, or at home, and several other live studio broadcasts, but never
ever on a beach before! 180 miles away from the event I was helping to
publicise. Our good friend at CWR Keith Wedgebury helped set this up.
I
cannot stress too highly how helpful the BBC have been. Not just to me
but to local music in general. This is
PROPER local journalism, rather than the contemptuous lip service and
tokenism of the so called Coventry (or Warwickshire) Telegraph, which
is nowadays anything but. ( Local) Since the New Year the majority
of their coverage of anything involving the Performing Arts is
limited to syndicated features which you can read elsewhere. Shame on
you, Trinity Mirror, for dumbing down a once-worthy newspaper thus.
And God help Coventry's bid for City of Culture if you continue with
this intellectual Apartheid. The judges won't just pass judgement on
how well you publicise Kasabian at The NEC. They'll be looking at the
support you give to local actors, musicians, artists,painters and writers. And finding,
currently, none.
