Adventures in Folkland and other Stories

Summers over and the time is right for.....

2011-09-25T11:19:00.001+01:00

Dusting yourself down, packing away the tent and the wellies until next summer, right?. Well wrong actually, for those of us who dread the dearth of any decent folk music events in the dead of winter something new and rather wonderful will be happening on Saturday 18th February and Sunday 19th February 2012

Nestling in the beautiful Mendip Hill is the lovely town of Frome and thanks to the enterprise of music events organiser extraordinaire, Jan Ayers, the Frome Folk Festival will be making its debut and bringing with it a wonderful array of folk talent both established and new.

Saturday nights headline act has just been announced and is the rather wonderful Spiers and Boden who, individually and collectively need no further introduction to folk aficionados. Other acts announced are Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman a truly magical duo who never fail to delight with the sweet haunting voice of Kathryn and the extraordinary virtuoso guitar playing of Sean Lakeman, Jenna Witts, Belshazzars Feast, Pilgrims Way, Luke Jackson, Bella Hardy and there are more names to be announced. How can you resist?

As well as the musical feast there will be workshops, Morris dancing, market stalls , sing-a-rounds and much more. Indoor camping is available and there are also good and reasonably price hotels and B & B's in and around Frome.

I will be previewing and bringing more news of other acts during the next few months but in the meantime get youself here http://www.fromefolkfestival.co.uk and buy your earlybird tickets.

Wychwood Summary

2011-06-12T12:24:00.000+01:00

I had intended to do this earlier but procrastination is a curse! |So better late than never here is the rest of my Wychwood experience.

On Saturday the day dawned bright and clear and despite one small downpour of 30 minutes or so it stayed dry. I caught the incredibly talented The Epstein on the Main Stage and was totally blown away by them. They started their set in the middle of the downpour and there was little more than a handful of hardy souls watching. Luckily the sun soon broke through and their majestic and cinematic guitar magic brought the audience flocking. I was as they say, hooked from the first hello and cannot wait to see them again...a big career beckons for these unassuming guys from Oxford.

I then decided to take myself off took advantage of some brilliant bargains in the Rise merchandise tent and also got The Epstein to sign my copy of their latest single.

Across from the main stage I found myself in the Festival Fishy tent observing the latest beauty craze, people dangling their feet in a tank full of tiny relatives of the pirahna who love nothing more than to nibble away at the hard skin on your feet. The very charming gentleman from Glasgow whose business it is, told me this phenomenon started in Turkey with two brothers who suffered from a painful skin condition found that bathing in a small local river really helped their skin heal. They initially put this down to minerals in the water but it was in fact the teeny tiny fishes and the rest is history......well that what he told me anyway! I declined on this occasion despite the offer of a freebie, I just couldn't bring myself!

So I spent a delightful hour with the charming , witty and supremely talented Eliza Carthy basking in the warm sun , soaking up the tunes with the appreciative audience made me think, this is what Wychwood is all about, happy smiling people, sun and music in a beautiful

The act I caught was The Wurzels doing .....well.....doing what they do best, making people smile...Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby.....oh ahhrrr!!

Wychwood is so much more than the music, ok the music is key and the BBC Intro Stage saw a whole host of talent this year, The Suit Corps, The Voodoo Kings , Urusen, Tallulah Fix, The Black Hats to name a few. It's about people of all ages from 2 to 80+ having fun , in a relaxed atmosphere with brilliant food and activities at an incredibly well run family festival. I can't wait for next years.

Wychwood Day One

2011-06-04T10:08:00.000+01:00

The sun rose over the rolling Cotswold hills on Friday morning and stayed there all day giving Wychwood a fabulous first day.

I arrived around about 6.00pm , the first thing that hits you you make your way onto the festival site is the amazing aroma of all the myraid of catering stalls everything from good honest pies from Bristol based Pieminster, to the tantasling smell of tThai stir fry and Goan curry. More on the food later though, I have volunteered to do a small separate blog on the food for Wychwood...I know its a tough gig!

I met up with some of my fellow bloggers after I had watched a brilliant set from the vibrant and brilliant 3 Daft Monkeys. They played a mixture of crowd pleasers from their new album The Antiquated and the Arcane and they set the tone for the whole festival with people from 3 to 70 dancing around and singing along in the early evening sunshine. They are doing a whole summer of festivals so catch them if you can, you won't be disapointed.

I then moved onto watch two up and coming bands in the BBC Intro Tent, the Voodoo Kings, 4 guys dressed in black playing wicked rockabilly music , followed by the Suit Corps consisting who played a set of smooth funk combined with some dub rhythms aligned with a super cool look. The amazing vocals of singer Bella who can range from jazz diva to funky temptress in the blink of an eye holds it all together, I was impressed.

I finshed my first day bopping along and singing with the crowd in the fading sun to Cornershop. I had forgotten how good they were and they went down a storm.

Well day two beckons with the lure of a fish pedicure, food sampling, a voyage into healing treatments and The Epstein and Eliza Carthy to name but two.......happy days!

Back and on it!

2011-06-01T09:01:00.000+01:00

Pleased to report my operation is over and is a success, I'm a bit battered and black & blue but feeling better every day and its only 3 days to Wychwood!. I am really looking forward to meeting my fellow bloggers on Friday and with the weather set fair and good music everywhere I turn how can it fail to be anything but amazing!

I am going to be looking at the running order today and going to plan out my time properly. It will be impossible to see absolutely everything I want to but if I can convey the essence of Wychwood through pictures, sound & words it will be a job well done.

I am going to venture into Cheltenham today, I have to go on the bus....can't drive until Friday :(( so it should be a measure of how I'm doing, well that and how much money I can spend on festival essentials!!.

Oooh before I go...........you must , simply must listen to the best album release of the month You & I by The Pierces, two sisters from Alabama chanelling Southern Gothic vibes with sweet harmonies and a Fleetwood Mac feel, it is a true summer feel good record, but listen to the lyrics......always slightly sinister, fab fab stuff.

The week ahead

2011-05-22T13:24:00.000+01:00

This is in a way , a week I've been waiting for for months and , yes its a good thing that is happening but its quite scary too. On Tuesday 24th May 2011 I am finally getting rid of my nasty inflamed extremely painful gallbladder * fanfare*. Hopefully its just an overnight stay and then back home with a three to four week recovery just taking it easy and getting well again.

Next week therefore will mostly be taking place from my sofa! In other good news next week will also bring a new laptop to replace this prehistoric desktopI am on and a laser jet printer and .....tada!!......fibre optic broadband. Wow 21st century girl or what!

Two weeks until Wychwood good people happy days, I am rather thinking that the sun will shine on us, the Pimms will flow and happy shiny people will be loving all the good toons , poetry, food and myriad stalls that will abound.

So far today has seen me in domestic goddess mode, rocks cakes made for the Alzheimers Society meeting, my sister is the Support Services Manager for Gloucestershire and they do the most amazing work. Later on I will be preparing Lemon & Thyme Chicken with roast veggies and a white wine & lemon sauce. I may sound a little sound but hey, sometimes I rock!

So good people I leave you with this advice go check this out www.kathrynrobertsandseanlakeman.co.uk, the brand new & updated site from Sean Lakeman & Kathryn Roberts , good news for all folkies!

Planning ahead

2011-05-11T15:24:00.000+01:00

It seems the wonderful Wychwood people have been brilliant enough to let me have a pass again for this year's festival,thank you soo much!! I was pretty new to the whole blogging from a festival last year but did gain invaluable experience and this year I am making a plan as to what I intend to cover.

One of the things I am really keen on doing is spending time covering some the emerging talent that will be performing in the BBC Introduces area I've put in a link for people to have a look and what is really exciting is the amazing diversity I have to say I am particularly looking forward to The Voodoo Kings, Cuba Cuba and Jessie Grace. It's a fantastic launchpad for these groups and one of last years most popular acts Rook and The Ravens are in the Main Arena last year and rapidly making a name for themselves http://www.wychwoodfestival.com/bbcintroandmore/.

I am intend to devote time to the Poetry and Literary side of Wychwood as well and I am hoping to put together a soundscape for each day of the festival.

Tomorrow I will talk some more about the acts that I am looking forward to the most, up and coming gigs Seth Lakeman on Saturday at The Derngate in Northampton which I will review and festivals I am hoping to go to this summer. I would have blogged yesterday but I just had to make Chocolate Chip Cookies, you know how it is!

oops better late than never....

2011-05-09T13:27:00.000+01:00

I guess you could say I've been rather neglectful of late , in fact downright non -existent but in my defence its been a really bad time in my life and without boring you with the details it goes like this, depression....get better......back to work....possible redundancy.... collapse at work....a trip to A&E , Morphine...( waaaay tooo nice!) ......diagnosed with gallstones that requires an operation...more depression. Thats the short version!

However I am now starting to feel human again and music is making its insistent way back into my life it started with the fab Mark Chadwick album, seeing him live with, treat of treats , Dan Donnelly and Sean Lakeman.

There then followed a bizarre happening, after seeing Teddy Thompson support Seth Lakeman a few years ago, I harshly dismissed him as boring and didn't listen to anything else by him.....how foolish. One sunny morning driving in my car along came 'Looking for a Girl' on the radio, it was as they say a real OMG moment, readers he is wonderful beg ,still or borrow the new album 'Bella' it as a sublime piece of music, I hooked and the Jazz Cafe in Camden town in August beckons.

I am also thrilled to bits that Sean Lakeman and Kathryn Roberts are now gigging again as Poppy & Lily their gorgeous twins have decided they can!! What great news for the folk world and not only gigs but a new album as well.

So I promise this will be the first of a summer of blogs charting not only my musical highlights but my own personal journey on the road to recovery...they are intrinsically linked. This is now being sent to the lovely people at Wychwood Festival in the hope I can start off with a bang and blog from Wychwood. Here's hoping.

well this is a departure..........

2010-06-16T13:33:00.000+01:00

Firstly it seems that once my mum has had an ultra sound scan of her heart then they are confident that all will be well once the correct treatment is prescibed........hurray & thank goodness the last week has been hideous but I have had fantastic suppport from friends and family( and I would just like to say right now how much I love my big brother), for which I am very thankful.

Onto happier things, until last night I had not heard of a group called Thirty Seconds to Mars, but I am now going to see them in December 1 2010 with friends at Birmingham NIA.......its Jared Leto's band which I'll admit helps alot! but they are really good in a rock/almost prog rock/americana kind of way. Apparently they are HUGE so this will be my biggest gig in a long long time and its good because you just never know who's out there until someone points you in the right direction.

This is them

http://thirtysecondstomars.thisisthehive.net/blog/

Before that though I have two Seth Lakeman gigs in Garforth and Frome with some lovely friends.but , time for a personal rant, how frustrating it is to be a Seth fan when we hear that the album launch date for Hearts and Minds has been put back yet again to 19 July 2010. You do learn to expect this but sometimes record companies really do take the proverbial! It will surely be worth the wait I just hope it doesn't affect sales too much.

In which I learn what really matters

2010-06-14T11:34:00.000+01:00

Oh dear so much of this was meant to be a happy blog about fun times but unfortunately life seems to have decided to through me a curve ball.
The long and short of it is I spent most of last Friday with my mum in hospital whilst she had various tests to establish why she has fluid on the lungs and why subsequently she feels so ill. Its off to the doctors tonight to find out the results and how we deal with whatever is thrown our way.

What it has done is made me realise how ridiculous it is to get caught up in petty situations that really don't matter, what matters is life and death and in this instance its my Mums life. Its focused my mind and brought me up sharp.

I hope that once we know what the probem is and how it can be treated this may well be a cathartic excercise, writing it all out has helped. Do if you read and understand thank you and if not , well at the moment I don't blame you!!

In which lessons are learnt...........

2010-06-10T09:36:00.000+01:00

I have decided to write Wychwood off as a disaster on a personal level, but not in any way as a reflection of the wonderful music and atmosphere that prevailed there. I would love to return next year and hope that a misunderstanding and migraine do not prevent me from enjoying the whole three days.

So, as to lessons learnt; Well I learnt that my tendancy to impulsive behaviour may possibly have spoilt a friendship but I've held my hands up and apologised from the heart and can do no more. All that remains is to see what happens.

I have also learnt that in spite of that, I am lucky to have some fab friends who see beyond this rashness into what I hope is a good heart and for that I thank them. Its taken me a long time to accept that I am a good person and that people like me, so I have learnt to at long last like myself.....result!

So what next?.... well the next jaunt in Folkland will be down to Bristol to meet up with the lovely Jenny & Kath and others for the signing session/album launchette for Seth Lakeman's new album Hearts & Minds and then onto Frome on 14th July to see Seth at The Cheese and Grain. This promises to be a fu time with some fab people and I can't wait.

To those who have been there and not judged thank you so much.

Wychwood The First Time

2010-06-05T10:24:00.000+01:00

The first impressions you have of Wychwood is what an amazing setting it is, nestling in the rolling Cotswolds with amazing vistas as far as the eye can see So after much anticipation it finally arrived.

First stop was to sign in and get my wrisband with 'press' on it, making me feel absurdly self important and then on into the main event.

There is no doubt this is a festival with a truly lovely vibe, well organised, lots of really good quality food stalls, and bars and stand selling everything you could possibly want. I met up with my friend who is working as a steward and another friend with her husband and two little girls. We spent a lovely hour listening to a mightily impressive set from Justin Currie, ex of Del Amitri, I intend to buy the album, his strong vocals and beautiful tunes perfectly suited the setting. The sound sytem here is truly impressive, loud and clear.

The main event of the evening was the amazing Levellers and they did not disappoint, a barnstorming set that got every one up and dancing including me as I unleashed my inner child and ran & twirled and with my friends girls. They encored with 'its a Beautiful day of course , and the last song of the night was an awesome rendition of 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'. Listening to that in the warm fading light surrounded by happy smiling dancing people is one of my top musical highlights of this year.

Day Two I am meeting up with fellow bloggers, as well more friends and will take time out to explore The Healing Gardens and Workshops and try to locate the press tent as well. I will be back with Day Two...

Whoo hoo for Wychwood

2010-06-03T14:54:00.000+01:00

So suntan lotion is bought, sunglasses ready & waiting, batteries in the camera, anticipation sky high and a day off tomorrow now in place.....it looks like all systems are go for Wychwood.
It's thanks to the lovely Wychwood organisers I am being given a chance to report back here and via Twitter on the weekends events .

I will try and blog each day & during the day on the events and music. I will also be trying to capture some of the magic on camera as well and hope to have some interesting people stories to tell.

For those who are going see you there!

So close you can smell it!

2010-06-02T13:29:00.000+01:00

Ok here's the deal, I have been perusing the excellent Wychwood Festival site trying to see if I can't put together a list of 'must sees' for every day, this is not easy let me tell you! However I a few pencilled in as the all important MS's for each day, but I suspect it will change!.

So far it looks like this for Friday

Arcadian Kicks

Justin Currie

The Mighty Levellers!

Saturday is like this

Toumake Diabate

Rob Cowen and the Dissidents

One String Loose

The Outcast Band ( one of my faves)

Lightening Seeds

Happy Mondays

Sunday ( looks like the standout day to me)

Rook and the Ravens

6 Day Riot

Ade Edmondson and The Bad Shepherds

King Creasote

J.O.E.L ( described on their website as a crossover of Green day & The Offspring!!!

Martha Tilston

And last and definitely not least my favourite band Seth Lakeman...if you have never seen Team Lakeman before you are in for such a treat

Post Bank Holiday Blues........?

2010-06-01T08:32:00.000+01:00

No!! not for me. I heard last night from the organisers at Wychwood that they have very kindly given me a pass to attend this year and I will aim to do it justice by reporting back on here and via Twitter as events unfold.

I have decided that having looked at the line I am going to have to plan how to divide my time as well as the amazing music line up I think I'll treat myself to one of the varied holistic treatments on offer and let you know how I get on.I've put a link in to these and maybe someone can volunteer me for one!

OK so here is the link, what do you think I should try?

http://www.wychwoodfestival.com/line-up/healing-gardens

I probably won't have time to write more today, but look forward to any comments or ideas and suggestions of which bands appeal most to people and why. One thing I have decided though is I will attempt to use my rather dodgy photography skills to have a pictorial blog as the weekend unfolds....what fun!

Just had a look at the weather forecast...whoo hoo Its going to be hot and sunny could this get any better

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2320?area=GL3%202ET

2010-05-28T14:53:00.000+01:00

Decided to just put some links on today of bands I have mentioned so kicking off with

http://www.6dayriot.co.uk/simple.htm

http://www.sethlakeman.co.uk/

http://www.outcastband.com/

http://www.myspace.com/rookandtheravens

http://www.dreadzone.com/

http://www.thebadshepherds.com/

Enjoy......I cannot wait to catch all of the above at Wychwood and will report back on my experences

Its a new day , its a new dawn........

2010-05-27T09:35:00.000+01:00

For me and I'm feeling good! , which I am, very. When I started this I wasn't sure which direction it would take but I had so many positive responses to yesterdays post I am feeling pretty inspired so thank you.

It seems that music really does have the power to change and influence peoples lives, me I could not imagine life without it I am so looking forward to Wychwood to meet up with good friends and I have a mission, which is to see and experience as many people whose music I have either never heard or seen live before and to collect as many music inspired stories as I can.

Top of my list is Rook and the Ravens and The Outcast Band closely followed by Dreadzone and Ade Edmonson and The Bad Shepherds and the amazing Levellers. I wonder if I'll be disapppointed by The Happy Mondays and Shaun Ryder, shining lights of a past indie scene.....who knows can't wait to find out though!

Obviously my highlight is going to be The Seth Lakeman Band and its always a pleasure to catch up with them and they are so utterley brilliant live but I would also urge anyone who hasn't seen Six Day Riot to give them a go, they supported Seth on his Autumn/Winter tour and although not a band I'd sit & listen too they are a fabulous live act

Its a bit cheeky!

2010-05-26T08:44:00.000+01:00

Ok so here's the deal, this is something I have been meaning to do for a long long time but I eventually got kicked into gear because thanks to the organisers of Wychwood Festival 2010 who are offering a bloggers pass to the festival to cover events there, so here it is my brand new blog!

The idea I have is to write about my how discovering folk music changed everything, writing this down seems pretty weird but its true.

Until three years ago my idea of folk music was the stereotypical finger in the ear, sad blokes in hand knitted jumpers one, my only forays were my Aunt (a folk singer) sitting me down when I was very young and playing Bert Jansch to me.....it didn't work. In between a serious goth phase I forayed briefly into Simon & Garfunkel Territory and swiftly left.

So what changed, I discovered Seth Lakeman and realised that folk can be exciting, challenging, innovative and downright sexy! Over the last three years I have been to more gigs than I can remember, crossed continents, made amazin new friends and had more fun than a person has a right to.

So if its ok I'd like to share some of that now, hopefully starting with the Wychwood Festival in Cheltenham, absolutely no pressure on the organisers then!