Si Far Si Good

         Thanks again to momentous work behind the scenes during the previous 24 hours,last Wednesday night at Nuneaton Folk Club turned out to be another great night. As often seems to happen, there were various melodramas being played out beforehand. It is no over-dramatisation to say that without the input of our latest Sound Engineer Dave Smart, we would have gone ahead ,but purely acoustically. Most of the acts we have had at The Crown (Nunc included) can and do perform without a P.A. in other venues . But with such a big room to fill, a lively audience and an elevated stage,it is always a reassurance at NFC to have some amplification available.

       Still getting our heads round setting up without Matt or Tom to guide us, Dave, Jules and I got the stage set up successfully on Tuesday night. Very late, as there was a drama group rehearsing in the room until 10.15. But try as we might, we could not breathe life into the mikes and leads even though we had green lights on everywhere. On Wednesday afternoon, Dave bless him, having pondered overnight (and downloaded the Yamaha amp catalogue), went back in and had another go. This time, successfully. I have not known Dave that long, but he is like a Jack Russell with a rat once a Sound System and a spaghetti of cables is put before him. The perfect characteristic for mixing sound at The Crown. He even messaged me,bless him, once he'd got everything working, just to put my mind at rest,to let me know all was functioning. Such determination is the hallmark of a great Sound engineer. Anyone can push the sliders up and down. It takes a certain brand of cussedness to set it all up beforehand, and to break a stage down after a hard day at work!

         A secondary drama meant that both Flossy and John Kearney were poorly, so 24 hours beforehand it became clear that I was (alas!) Nunc-less and compering solo. I needed to squeeze another floor spot in. The Wright Brothers complied, at a (very!) late hour,and after I'd done “Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy,” Chris and Max opened up with a couple of numbers. One with a verse dedicated to me in it. 
         Paul Moore followed and (at my request) started with a very classy version of “Sitting On Top Of The World,” then added a song of his own and another blues. Most of these photos which follow are by John Smith,who drops in from time to time. There are plenty more by him on the NFC Facebook page and in the "Gallery" section on the NFC website. 

Paul Moore: sitting on top of the world

      Jak and Jacky (or Jacky and Jak) then made their first appearance at NFC.  A duo formed from members of Frayed Knot (whom we'd seen before). Having followed Paul and The Wright Brothers,  it had been a very organic night of Nuneaton based music up to that point. They gave us a protest song about Chilcott, and a couple more rousing numbers. 

Jacky & Jak (you decide!)

       Des Patalong gave us a delightful song from the Sharp as Razors back catalogue, one lamenting those wicked folk who serve us up “Bad beer.” With Anzac day imminent he followed it with the haunting Eric Bogle song “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.” Sensitively sung to a silent and appreciative audience, it was a long song, and a measure of Des as a trouper that he then quit on two, realising he had already filled his 15 minute spot. Much appreciated, as that kept us to time. Des will be back at NFC next month with Thrupp'nny Bits. 

Des in pensive mood and full flow. 

         The Way Out made their debut,next, coming all the way over from Loughborough to join us for the first time. They did three complex songs very competently. Lovely vocals, and some great instrumentation from this talented duo. 

The Way Out

.       Izzie Derry had been fighting off the lurgy last time we saw her at The Crown but she was in great voice and on form,with this return. She sang two of her own including “Walking” and a lovely cover of “Yellow Taxi” which the audience sang along with very enthusiastically.

Izzie Derry. She's still walking.

.         And then it was time for Si Barron to assail us with two sets:one before the interval and one after. I first saw him at Bedworth Folk Club. As a performer, he was pleasantly understated beforehand and afterwards,talking to audience members. “on stage” he let his talent do the talking. It has taken a while to get him to The Crown,but he did not disappoint last night, making his debut there.  Sweating under Julian's merciless banks of stage lights, in his trademark tweed jacket with his varsity specs, he pounded out a string of cleverly arranged Traditional Folk songs over two quality sets With his boyish quiff and a charming smile, he looked like a young Alan Bennett,and sang like a mix of Nic Jones and John Renbourne. He played a charismatic style of all of these, with a hell of a lot of his own stuff added in.

Si Barron

     One of many things I admire about Si, with a compere's hat on, is that he does not waste time on long,ponderous anecdotes and stories between songs. Rather than filling in with waffle, he chops along through his set list efficiently and enjoyably. This gives an audience more of what they hoped to see and hear. If they'd wanted Stand-up,they would have gone to Comedy Store. Seeking a lecture on the ethnicity of Folk Song, they could go to Cecil Sharp House. None of that from Si . He does not stint on information-he just releases it in useful sound bites and gets on with the main business. He had two encores and would have done more, time permitting. A club organiser's dream.

         When I got back home it was early morning. With Adrenalin levels slowly dropping back from “hysterical” to merely “critical”, to unwind I started watching the BBC Folk Awards on the red button. What a disappointment, after participating in (yet another) vibrant evening of "live" music in one of Warwickshire's (many) excellent Folk venues. No contest,really. Presided over by the verbose,other worldly claptrap of Folk's Uncle Bulgaria,Mark Ratcliffe,bouquets and tributes gushed, in an oily stream across the stage,delivered from a pathetic lectern built by stagehands to look like some MidWest hog pen. The presentations were just words words words and yet more self-congratulatory words, all read from an autocue.

          I turned it off after about half an hour of gabbled gobbledegook and a procession of bands of a thousand fiddles. It's another World, BBC Folk, but it's not my world.It represents something I barely recognise. Good luck to all the Folk Royalty: The Luvvies and the Divas. I see what they are trying to do, glamming up a traditional and organic music source. But it is not for me. After a, dynamic evening, compering the real thing:a pulsating living breathing experience bursting with passion and good intent,it all seemed very wooden.