Sibernauts

    ( Def: "Followers of English Folk singer Si Barron").  I know Si doesn't mind me saying this:he is a great admirer of Nic Jones. If you wanted an inkling of how the great man once sounded and played,then Si is the nearest you are going to get to it nowadays. That is not to say he is derivative,because he isn't. Si has a unique playing and vocal style which is original and instantly recognisable within a few bars of hearing. Si is an interpreter of traditional folk songs to which he applies a remarkably appealing guitar style. One which he is always charmingly modest about.  

       I'm not going into how my day started on Wednesday because it is too personal and painful to talk about. Let's just say it involved ambulances,hospitals,and deja vu and leave it there. At times I thought about asking someone else to deputise that night as compere and asking Nunc to get by without me. (That's irony:they would more than cope without me!). But I needed focus and I needed respite and as Freddie once said,"The Show Must Go On."

        So I got to the Queen's Hall slightly earlier than usual,having done my vocal warm-ups en route in the car. When I got there,The Guvn'or, Rich,was striding around the Hall with Tom and Harvey in tow,on a general tour. It was kind of like Ofsted meets The Hotel Inspector and very impressive. Once again Rich had pulled off the coup of having Church End Real Ale on tap upstairs. This time it was "Vicar's Ruin," and it tasted wonderful.  It is a fact that the provenance of one of the town's most noted Breweries,is now found at The Crew more  regularly than in any other Town centre hostelry. CAMRA Branch please note.

         We all owe Rich. I thank him for the room,the beer,the bar, the Sound System,the Air Con,the stage, the marvellous posters and fliers Gaj produces for us. . A few diehards continue to boycott NFC since we were chucked out of The Crown with no advance notice whatsoever. Quite what they miss so much, in refusing to embrace the new and forget the old,and by refusing to take the brief five minute walk round the Ringway to a bigger and better venue,God only knows.

         Nuneaton Folk Club celebrates a fifth birthday next month. Mostly thanks to Rich Burlingham. He was there the day The Crown closed, waiting for me to arrive,as soon as he found out The Crown had shut. We don't bring the biggest audiences into The Queen's Hall each first Wednesday of the month,but Rich has steadfastly supported us,despite being a minority interest. If there had been no CREW to step in,NFC would not be there to celebrate a fifth birthday. Simple as that. I wish a few of the stayaways could just get a grip and realise this.  I also wish they could understand that Rich,(with a little help from Steve Bentley) puts on more Folk events in Nuneaton than anyone else. Including the Library and the Abbey Theatre. What a pity more of the town's professed music enthusiasts (including well over a dozen acoustic musicians) are never seen there. Unless of course...they are invited in to play. 

The Crew's support for Folk and Roots extends beyond the monthly Folk Club sessions. .The Ragged Bear Festival next month is preceded by a rare Midlands appearance by  Peatbog Faeries the week before. Tir Na Nog did a concert there last year,Neck are returning soon.  Take a bow, Mr.Burlingham. 

                 Anyway, Wednesday  started badly for me  and there was more bad news when we discovered that Tony Portlock was in hospital and would miss his long-awaited debut there. But we drafted in Adam Wilson instead and the roster was complete again. Nunc opened up. A four piece format this time,and how lovely to see and hear Flossy with us, belting out "Guilty" and "Angel From Montgomery" again. She'd moved heaven and earth to get there:a fall over the weekend had maybe put her appearance last night in doubt,but what a trouper! She looked and sounded gorgeous. 

      John Kearney and Jon Harrington weren't bad, either. No Paul Moore as he had other commitments,and no John The Bass. But it still sounded great to me and the audience seemed to like it too.

         First up after us was the ageless and inimitable Pete McParland. Relaxed,laid back and entertaining, he just gets up there and gets on with it. He got the audience singing with a selection of songs slightly different to his usual broad canvas of Keane,Kaiser Chiefs and White Stripes. ( Just joshing Pete-though he does do a Keane cover sometimes!).Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary,Pete. Fifty years. You don't get that for murder nowadays. 

                I had shared a stage with Pete and our next guests Malc and Gill at The OSCA Centre in Atherstone last Saturday. Malc and Gill did the same three songs last night that they launched there. A new Kate Wolfe song an interpretation of "All My Loving," (dunno who wrote that), and the audience participation song which I don't know the name of. Someone told me it was "The Lincolnshire Wedding Song." It features gestures and a repetitive chorus which becomes an awfully haunting earworm. Each Lines has actions. It's a bit like a cross between Butlins and a Primary School Assembly. "Get a little table") (mime table) " and a little chair ," (mime little chair) etc. Gill conducts it all in Headmistress fashion from the stage and try as you might, you find yourself drawn in. I tried hiding but there was no escape.So on the third hearing and fixed by Gill's steely gaze,I did the actions and sang the words. Brian Phillips and I are both convinced that it is a song where a parody would work well with obscene lyrics. 

         Brian Phillips played two beautiful songs as only he can and also shared a  a major new poetic work about life in the West Country. After reading of his exploits at the Cornish Folk Festival it was perhaps inevitable that he should attempt to how he duped an impressionable French lady into his own and frankly rude version of how The Beast of Bodmin got its name. We almost half believed him ourselves. Just lets say he left a lot (of) behind back there in Kernow. 

            Adam Wilson, only recruited to the roster that morning made even more new friends with two of his own songs and a variation on the Neil Young theme. Rapidly making a name for himself on the circuit elsewhere as well as NFC, I like to think we brought him to your attention first. Some of the older musos in the audience gasped as the younger,more supple man bent over almost double to pick up a capo from the floor. Some of us would need splints after attempting that. 

                Si's first set then romped into view. We met his usual assortment of Fishermen,Sailors,Rogues,wronged Ladies and Military men. Plus (by his own admission) quite a lot of songs about Hares. A popular subject anyway for traditional songs,especially when ripping the poor things apart with dogs was considered de rigeur. In days when a decent hare was the equivalent of today's Turkey Crown. There were quite a few nonsensical choruses of a Fol-de-riddle,rumpely bumpily nature (I'm paraphrasing here) which the audience tackled gamely. After that bloody Little Table thingy,we were in the mood for it.. 
                  The interval came and went,the raffle was drawn and Nunc then went back on to warm up for Si. The man himself soon came back and treated us to a second marvellous set of songs and a couple of encores.  By his own admission,a new album from Si is well overdue. It will be welcomed with great enthusiasm when it arrives. Even so-he managed to sell a few of the other ones on Wednesday. Thanks to Aaron for working the bar,for Gill for helping run the raffle,and to Max and Ray for the photographs. 
                 Si motored up to Nuneaton from Devon. He lodged overnight with us at Wolvey Manor. We shared a bottle of Pinot Noir before turning in. (Well you have to unwind somehow after a gig). Thursday morning he was back on the road to Kent for his next show.  Our thanks to him for his company,his music and for brightening up a day which gradually became better after a horrific start. The blue plaque for the side of the house  is now on order.