We all know that whoever wins the General Election on May 6th it won’t be us!

So screw the politicians and we’ll make our own entertainment at this special fundraiser for the Waltham Forest Trades Council.

The line up is two great pals of the club – Steve White & The Protest Family and Tunnel Visions very own Graham Larkbey & The Escape Committee.

I’ll be MCing and throwing in a couple of tunes as well.

It’s at the Rose & Crown in Hoe Street, admission is £3 and it kicks off at 8:00pm

Club regulars Sian Allen, Roger Huddle and Jim Kane are keeping our end up at the Mayday Celebrations at the Rose & Crown on Saturday May 1st.

They’ll be on from six in the evening or so as part of what looks to be a great evening of music Hall Variety , traditional Union song, Piano , vintage gramaphoning and DJ entertainment until late.

There’ll be kiddies stuff  in the afternoon face painting and arts and crafts activities and stalls.

There is also a Speech from Neil Gerrard and Other Union Mayday activists and if that wasn’t enough the Sound Box Review which is Tip Top Tony Tunes and Mademoiselle Sisamo.

The Rose & Crown is on How Street and you can find out more at their website http://www.roseandcrowntheatrepub.webeden.co.uk

GREEN DRINKS are starting in Waltham Forest at the Rose and Crown in Walthamstow – spread the word!

It’s the chance to have a relaxing tipple of your choice – alcoholic or non – and get to know your neighbours, network and find out what’s going on in the borough to make it a cooler, greener, more friendly place to live, which is after all, what life should be about.

It will be the 1st and the 15th of every month – come when you can and when you feel like it. Anyway – me and a few mates will be at the Rose and Crown http://www.roseandcrowntheatrepub.webeden.co.uk/ from 8pm on starting from this Thurs 1 Oct.

Wear GREEN if you can and we’ll be able to spot each other.

You can find out more about the idea at www.greendrinks.org

I think this is a great idea – after all as one local boy once said “Fellowship is heaven, and lack of fellowship is hell; fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is death; and the deeds that ye do upon the earth, it is for fellowship’s sake that ye do them.” ~ William Morris

Lots of people have expressed an interest in having a ceilidh but we’ve always been hampered by the lack of a suitable venue.

However I went to a Stop The War Coallition meeting yesterday in a place called Harmony Hall in Turo Road, just off the high street opposite the Mall and I think the downstairs hall is just what we need.

It’s not huge but I reckon it could handle 50 or so people for a barn dance, it has a stage and you can bring booze. I’ve made some initial enquiries to the hall and they seem very enthusiastic.

So who fancies it? And more to the point who is up for helping get it up and running?

In Yesterday’s show on Resonance 104.4FM, as a change from the usual archive/field recordings of “traditional” performers I played tracks representing how “revival” performers interpreted traditional music in the 1970s (I did a similar thing with my November show and the 60s)

The tracks played were:

Steeleye Span – The Hills of Greenmore

Robin & Barry Dransfield – Bold Nelson’s Favourite (Bold Nelson’s Praise/Princess Royal/Saddle the Pony)

Nic Jones – Seven Yellow Gypsies

Tony Rose – April Morning

Dick Gaughan – Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie/The Friar’s Britches

Dave Burland – The Blacksmith

Oak – Scan’s Polkas

The Bothy Band – The Kesh Jig/Give Us a Drink of Water/The Flower of the Flock/ Famous Ballymore

The New Victory Band – Harper’s Frolick/Bonny Kate

Flowers & Frolics – Grandfather’s Tune/ He played his Ukelele as the Ship went Down/Mickey’s Son and Daughter

Old Swan Band – Winster Gallop/ Four Hand Reel/Dark Girl Dressed in Blue

Tony Hall (guest at Walthamstow Folk Dec 21st) – Trumpet Hornpipe

Etchingham Steam Band – Leapfrog/Young Collins/Shooting

Bandoggs – Rose of Allendale

The total music time in the 1 hour show was 47 minutes 34 seconds.

My next show will be in the new Year. The normal Thursday shows will be suspended on 25th December and 1st January, returning on 8th. During the two Christmas weeks the sation will be broadcasting specials including a daily Traditional Music Hour from Monday 22nd to Friday 26th at 3:00 pm. These will be randomly selected from the archives so may include some of my old shows.

Walthamstow Folk is starting a regular monthly English tune session in the New Year. The plan is to pick a weekday evening, run from 8-10, and you’re all welcome to come along with your acoustic instruments and join in. The first hour will be a beginner’s session, where we lead easy tunes from a list at a steady slowish pace. The second hour will be more of a free-for-all, where people can play whatever they like. Session nights will be free.

We’re sticking pretty much to tunes in the English tradition, though obviously tunes from all over the world find their way into the English tradition, and I’m sure they will in this one as well. But it’s not an Irish session or a singaround. (For an excellent singaround, you should try the Waltham Abbey folk club on a Monday night).

In case you’ve never played English tunes; they normally come in 32 bars, consisting of an 8 bar A part (repeated), followed by an 8 bar B part (repeated). This is played two, or three, or four, or ten times, or however many people like. One person starts, and people join in when they know what the tune is. After a bit (commonly three times through, or indicated by the word ‘change’, or by a grunt, or a nod of the head or a movement of the leg), the first person changes to a different tune and everyone else joins in again. And then, perhaps, a third tune. Or not.

To get you started, here are some tunes you might like to try; we’ll get music up by and by for people who read it, but these tunes are easily findable in many tune books or online. They’re organised into sets, but you can play tunes in any set you like, or just on their own. Most of these are tunes we play at the club on Sunday evening, in our little scratch band. You’re very welcome to come and join us then too.

We’ve had a nice namecheck on the Folk and Roots MySpace blog.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=34898818&blogID=453197971

Some people think I have a privileged position and can get Russ to book what I like. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you keep suggesting someone then it’s a fine line before that turns into nagging and we all know how effective that is. Not.

We first saw Uiscedwr on our honeymoon – that’s 2003 – and I’ve been suggesting them ever since!

This Sunday – 7th December – they finally get to play our club, many line up changes down the line.

I can’t wait. See you Sunday.

Claire