In The Main Silence. UKFCFG News. And all the Latest News.

So no sooner were the Water Companies complaining that Mother Nature was giving them a bad time then of course the rains have come.   I hope that the good folks at the Beverley Folk Festival this weekend are not getting too wet, if you do, blame Capitalist Water Companies and Farmers! 

So while the Condems launch yet another attack upon our Public Services, this time it’s their pensions, a precursor one fears of what is to come for us all, and the cost of energy hits new heights, and of course the Government having “listened” still insists upon going down the privatisation route despite the on-going Crisis with Southern Cross the main topic of the week in our News Papers appears to have been Wayne Rooney’s hair and the rather interesting sex lives enjoyed by the Giggs family.  

When will we fight back?  Indeed, will there be a fight back? as the Tories set about doing what they are best at, divide and rule.  Public worker against Private worker, those with jobs against those on benefits, those on Job Seekers against those on Disability Benefit, and even suggesting that we should forces the disable to work for less than the minimum wage, just to get them into the Labour Market.   Those with Olympic Games tickets against those without! 

It seems as if we have gone through some sort of time warp straight back to the eighties in terms of the political rhetoric and general mood of the Country.  

Most of all though it is the youth who are being made to suffer.   A young lad I know has spent the last couple of years working his way through numerous “schemes” involving “voluntary work” geared they say towards him gaining full time employment.   He has now gone full circle, being returned to the Privatised arm of a local Government service that he served his first “work experience” time with, only it was run by the Local Authority then.  Poor  lad.  And he has to pay his own bus fares, although he does get a lunch allowance.  

To me, a lad of the sixties, and of a time when jobs were easy to find as a young man it just seems so wrong. 

But to the music.  There are major changes on the Acoustic Rotherham Web site.  THE MUSIC PLAYERS HAVE BEEN TURNED OFF.   It would appear that many of you have avoided using the resources on the site for fear of having one’s ears blasted by the AR Player or worse The Mashers.   But now it’s sound free.  The Players remain, but you now have to opt into the music which I hope you will do from time to time.   Other advantages, the page will of course load quicker for those with a slow connection, and of course you can now check out the pages at work (not that the thought would ever occur to you upright Citizens).

I should add, those reading this through the Blogspot Link will still get music, a good dose of the Mashers does you good, but if you prefer silence then you’ll have to go to the copy pasted on Myspace HERE

Just a warning that some of the lesser used pages retain live sound at the moment.  They will go silent as they are updated. 

As I mentioned last week I’ve been involved with the discussions of the UKFC Focus Group.   A reminder to all of the difficulties associated with Committee work made more complicated by input by Status or Email update.   Just so many ideas, so many in fact there is a danger that of the Focus Group losing focus.

However it set me off doing some research into the information on the WWW that is out there about Folk Clubs.  You might be surprised at just how many Web Sites are out there.  Some concentrate on their own Clubs, others seeks to provide a Regional service of listings etc, much like Acoustic Rotherham, and others have ambitiously attempted to provide a more National Service. 

They all have one thing in common.  They are all under publicised, and very much under used.  

The UKFC will be looking to bring the fragmented information together, starting with the Guest Booking Folk Clubs, of which there are an estimated 200+ in the UK.   It’s also though that a data base of artists might be useful. 

Because I’m thick, I’m not quite sure how it’s all going to work at the moment, which is I think partly due to all the posts on the Discussion Group.   

The main problem I have with it though is that it will rely upon people finding the Web Site and using it, and my own experience is that people are very suspicious about using the Internet resources even though many are quite Computer savvy.   It will also rely upon people finding the site!!

As I’ve said many times in my Blogs in the past is even the mighty Spiral Earth have problems, then what chance we less ambitious sites.  The figures I see suggest that it could be a lot of work and money spent for a fairly small return. 

So here’s the real downer.  None of the very good sites I visited actually rated above Acoustic Rotherham in the site hit rankings.   

There are five notable Folk sites that do out rank Acoustic Rotherham, Mudcat, EzFolk and Folk Alley, the latter two being USA based and of course Folk Radio UK and Spiral Earth both of whom have had thousands of pounds thrown at them.   But we’re not far behind those two big glossy sites,  even with people avoiding us because of the Player music!!   Lol

Anyway, that was a long way around to saying that there is a new page on the site, a page of LINKS to Regional listings sites.   Acts looking for Clubs outside their usual area might find it a very useful resource as will those perhaps going away on holiday or taking a short break and looking for some music.    You can find it HERE

I was out and about again on Saturday night, flitting around indulging my musical preferences while also trying to keep Mrs Masher happy. 

First port of call Rotherham Trades Club where “70’s Revamp” were churning out music from the seventies and eighties.   Great song selection, guaranteed to get the audience going especially after a pint or two, but unfortunately not really my cup of tea.  The vocals needed tweaking on the sound desk a bit and the general sound mix was not fantastic, couple that with a lead singer who had clearly graduated from The Masher school of lyric retention and it made for a somewhat messy performance which lead to a bit of a flat atmosphere. 

So it was from the musically challenged to the musically brilliant Swansong who were rocking out their fantastic blues sound at The Bridge.  What a pity that while I was there the audience was so thin on the ground, the band deserves better.   Technically brilliant instrument performances, including new drummer Johno and the superb vocals from Karen.   Certainly had me bouncing about for half an hour or so.  Yet people were passing by outside showing a bit of interest and then heading off to the Club, where I think they thought the beer might be cheaper.   Swansong really do deserve a much bigger following.  

The tour wound up, on the excuse that I could have a proper drink, at Rawmarsh Trades and Labour Club where those masters of the WMC scene Mike Burton and The Soulmen were in residence.  Brilliant entertainment as they sang through classic Motown hits to evergreen sixties material…………..  and in doing so generated a fantastic party atmosphere.   One of the few acts of their kind that I really enjoy and they never seem to disappoint.

Once again there is a busy week of music coming your way.  The Masher is hoping to join The Wandering Minstrels at The Cross Keys, Handsworth on Tuesday night, all being well.    Wednesday is Folk at The Burton Foundation and The Little Robots are playing The Princess Royal on Friday night, and if you’ve not seen these gems yet they have a Masher stamp of approval.   You can check out the full weeks activities HERE 

Don’t forget we’re coming to that time of the year when some Clubs take a sabbatical so where there is a link to Web Sites please check to make sure that the event is happening.

I’ve also added a link to Folk Listings to the Diary pages.  Promoters / artists will find this free basic service really useful and easy to use , it’s also of great interest to those people looking for music further afield.  Take a look by clicking on the link.

The August page is now available.  If you’re a Club promoter please check to make sure your entry is correct.    Festivals and special events will start to appear on the pages over the next week.

A heads up.  Stormcrow, who made such an impact at Acoustic Rotherham when they appeared last year, launch their new CD “Tales Of The Crow” at one of The Mashers favourite venues, The Station Hotel, Loftus on July 8^th.  I’m lead to believe that Graham Brotton, and Glen Coggin will be joining in to replicate their contribution to the CD sound.    Sounds a great evening, but just a little too far for The Masher to travel, but for the North Yorkshire Clan – be there or be square!!

More locally, 2^nd July see’s Beanfest at The Star, Rawmarsh.   Rock the day away, well only if you are not heading out to follow The Masher at The South Yorkshire Festival. 

So that’s it for this week………………….. BUT

The remarkable number of additional hits we have had on the Web Site since going “silent” supports the view that the music was causing discomfort to many people.  The strange thing is that I had received only a couple of complaints.  Please if you find anything that reduces your enjoyment of the site report it to me and if it is something within my control I will do my best to correct the problem.  

In addition I would like to open things up more to more content from folks, so please send in your reviews, observations, of your Club night – Festival etc., they will go onto the Blog.  

So whatever you’re doing this week have fun and keep it LIVE.