Started trying to cross-row with the melodeon last night. Think it's going to take a bit of getting used but I'm determined I shall manage. I have the John Kirkpatrick DVD to aid me in my endeavours. Am also experimenting with a different method of depressing the buttons (using the flat of my fingers rather than the tips like I would with piano). It seems to be working well so I may continue with it. Also got some fiddle pratice in. Seem to have hit a bit of a plateau with the fiddle at the moment so am trying out new tunes to keep my interest up. We're just starting to get into ornamentation in classes which is good fun and I cracked at Bromyard and invested in the Music Room fiddle tutor DVD so will give that a go after this weekend (really no point beforehand!). If I'm ever going to play for dancing on either of these instruments I need to really start thinking about what I'm doing. I think now might be the time to concentrate on 6/8 jigs and see if I can get a bit of speed up so I can have a go at playing for some stepping at rapper practice and get used to it. Hmm, will see.
Festivals are starting to rear their heads again. The skeleton outline had gone up for Shrewsbury and it's looking very good. Think I'll be buying a ticket again this year rather than stewarding cause there's too much I don't want to miss! Still waiting for the Sidmouth line-up to go up but I think I'll be going regardless so will have to save up for that too. The Big Session is a definite of course and so is Oxford (but I may offer to steward for that this year.). We're dancing at Holmfirth and I'm currently considering Cheltenham (Cause Jon Boden and the remnant Kings are playing there and I'd like to see them and there's also Nancy Kerr and James Fagan and Pete Coe. May see if I can steward though) and the line-up for Bristol is looking good too. Decisions, decisions.
Well, fiddle practice tonight (missed last week cause I was panicking about Witney!) so that should hopefully be fun and must make sure that I've got everything sorted for my weekend Bellowhead extravaganza.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Shaved Donkey Overload
Fingers sore from practicing melodeon for hours last night (upstairs neighbours are doing really noisy DIY to absolutely silly times so, rather than complaining, I'm taking advantage and practicing my growing collection of instruments for longer than usual) with occasional breaks for fiddle. My neighbours probably now know 'Shave the Donkey' as well as I do...
Caught up with the first episode of Edwardian Farm on the i-player last night. I do love these series and this one doesn't look like it's going to be an exception. The lime kiln was particularly interesting (and I did like the complete singlemindedness of the ram and the complete lack of interest among the ewes themselves! In my experience, ewes are only ever really interested in a ram if he's not supposed to be there!). Also watched Misfits which was hilarious and I may keep an eye on it.
Finally got round to hunting for my Bellowhead tickets last night. Found them (thankfully!) but the bed has now disappeared under all the stuff I emptied out while doing so. Spent last night on the sofa which has persuaded me that tonight's first job is hunting for the bed! Anyhow, tickets are now ensconced in my temporary safe ticket place (a different spot on the mantlepiece) and plans are afoot to try and provide a more sensible system. Moles may be involved.
More job applications to fill in tonight so that should be dull but will make me feel like I'm doing something constructive in between fiddle and melodeon jags.
A new lock has now appeared on our stair's front door which is interesting. I've been given keys but no-one has said anything about it (and my landlady would have mentioned it) so that will be fun to watch. If they're wanting everyone to chip in for it without prior consultation then they're a bit buggered cause that will not be covered by a statutory notice.
Only 3 more days to Bellowhead!
Caught up with the first episode of Edwardian Farm on the i-player last night. I do love these series and this one doesn't look like it's going to be an exception. The lime kiln was particularly interesting (and I did like the complete singlemindedness of the ram and the complete lack of interest among the ewes themselves! In my experience, ewes are only ever really interested in a ram if he's not supposed to be there!). Also watched Misfits which was hilarious and I may keep an eye on it.
Finally got round to hunting for my Bellowhead tickets last night. Found them (thankfully!) but the bed has now disappeared under all the stuff I emptied out while doing so. Spent last night on the sofa which has persuaded me that tonight's first job is hunting for the bed! Anyhow, tickets are now ensconced in my temporary safe ticket place (a different spot on the mantlepiece) and plans are afoot to try and provide a more sensible system. Moles may be involved.
More job applications to fill in tonight so that should be dull but will make me feel like I'm doing something constructive in between fiddle and melodeon jags.
A new lock has now appeared on our stair's front door which is interesting. I've been given keys but no-one has said anything about it (and my landlady would have mentioned it) so that will be fun to watch. If they're wanting everyone to chip in for it without prior consultation then they're a bit buggered cause that will not be covered by a statutory notice.
Only 3 more days to Bellowhead!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Melodeons at Witney
Well, Friday saw me catching the coach down to Oxford again. Interesting trip down: there were only 3 of us on the whole coach but a woman still sat in front of me and tried to put her chair back! I took the opportunity to move to another seat while she just looked bewildered. A cull is really the only option. Still didn't manage to sleep (although I remembered my travel pillow so at least I was bit more comfortable) Anyhow, got down to Oxford where I got the bus to Witney with no trouble (Thanks to all the advice form the spibods who told me to look out for the church to know where to get off) and arrived early enough to go looking for my B&B so that I could find it later.
Got back to Henry Box school in plenty of time to meet up with friends before registration and then it was off to my first workshop. This was Liam Robinson's 'Getting it Together' workshop which proved to be tremendous fun. He was a good teacher and very funny and made the whole thing easy to understand with lots of useful tips which I can't wait to have ago at. Don't think he's entirely sane, mind!
Enjoyed lunch with some of the other workshoppers at an interesting pub and just made it back in time for the afternoon.Having coped with the workshop fine, I still managed to mess up the tune in the afternoon squeeze, partly due to my inherent nervousness at playing in front of other people and partly due to not being used to being so close to other people when playing. The other groups sounded great and it was fun to listen to what they'd been learning.
Set off to my B&B (which was lovely and friendly and would definitely stay there again) meaning to have a quick nap and then head back to see the concert but, sadly, woke up at 23.00 so completely missed the whole thing, although, given even the owner of the B&B said I looked much better in the morning, I obviously needed the sleep.
Sunday saw me doing the 'adding the Base Line' workshop with Issy Emeney who was nice and a good teacher but very odd. Still trying to get my head round the A minor, B minor and D7 chords so have a lot of stuff to work on and she gave us a lot of exercises to be going on with which I think will be useful.
Had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch in a very nice pub with some of the others (although, if that soup was tomato and basil I will eat my melodeon. It was very nice soup though regardless)
managed better in the group squeeze this time but didn't even attempt the Main group tune. Enjoyed listening to it though.
Best line of the weekend goes to Saul Rose who, on hearing Liam Robinson's explanation of what his group had been up to on Sunday which ended with him saying that not doing something made the melodeon fairies sad, commented to Liam's group, 'I think we can all see what kind of day you lot have had!'
Was really quite sad to leave Witney, which is a very pretty place, but I managed to get my bus back to Oxford with no trouble where I sat reading in a pub for 5 hours waiting for my coach. Trip back was uneventful (although the hour's wait for the change at Milton Keynes at midnight was freezing!) but I still didn't get any sleep which meant I was knackered at work on Monday and ended up having to take a half day to get an afternoon nap. I suspect my days of managing to go for days with no sleep may be coming to a close. That said though, I might just have hit the wrong part of my sleep cycle as I still do get periods when I don't sleep for days or get by with an hour's sleep at night. It might even just be that the bus was so uncomfortable or that I was concentrating so hard at the workshops. Anyhow, at least it was cheap.
Really enjoyed Witney and learned a lot. If I can afford it, I may consider doing the fiddle on in February.
Still managed to get to rapper on Monday evening though (even though I don't remember much of it). Trina gave me my icing melodeon and mole (which is currently sitting on the kitchen worktop) and we discussed finding someone to dance with us at DERT so we'll see where that goes. Trina, it seems, had an absolutely wonderful time at the Bellowhead gig on Sunday so I'm now really, really looking forward to seeing them on Saturday and Sunday (even if it does mean another Megabus trip. Think I'll take the Monday off this time!)
Got back to Henry Box school in plenty of time to meet up with friends before registration and then it was off to my first workshop. This was Liam Robinson's 'Getting it Together' workshop which proved to be tremendous fun. He was a good teacher and very funny and made the whole thing easy to understand with lots of useful tips which I can't wait to have ago at. Don't think he's entirely sane, mind!
Enjoyed lunch with some of the other workshoppers at an interesting pub and just made it back in time for the afternoon.Having coped with the workshop fine, I still managed to mess up the tune in the afternoon squeeze, partly due to my inherent nervousness at playing in front of other people and partly due to not being used to being so close to other people when playing. The other groups sounded great and it was fun to listen to what they'd been learning.
Set off to my B&B (which was lovely and friendly and would definitely stay there again) meaning to have a quick nap and then head back to see the concert but, sadly, woke up at 23.00 so completely missed the whole thing, although, given even the owner of the B&B said I looked much better in the morning, I obviously needed the sleep.
Sunday saw me doing the 'adding the Base Line' workshop with Issy Emeney who was nice and a good teacher but very odd. Still trying to get my head round the A minor, B minor and D7 chords so have a lot of stuff to work on and she gave us a lot of exercises to be going on with which I think will be useful.
Had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch in a very nice pub with some of the others (although, if that soup was tomato and basil I will eat my melodeon. It was very nice soup though regardless)
managed better in the group squeeze this time but didn't even attempt the Main group tune. Enjoyed listening to it though.
Best line of the weekend goes to Saul Rose who, on hearing Liam Robinson's explanation of what his group had been up to on Sunday which ended with him saying that not doing something made the melodeon fairies sad, commented to Liam's group, 'I think we can all see what kind of day you lot have had!'
Was really quite sad to leave Witney, which is a very pretty place, but I managed to get my bus back to Oxford with no trouble where I sat reading in a pub for 5 hours waiting for my coach. Trip back was uneventful (although the hour's wait for the change at Milton Keynes at midnight was freezing!) but I still didn't get any sleep which meant I was knackered at work on Monday and ended up having to take a half day to get an afternoon nap. I suspect my days of managing to go for days with no sleep may be coming to a close. That said though, I might just have hit the wrong part of my sleep cycle as I still do get periods when I don't sleep for days or get by with an hour's sleep at night. It might even just be that the bus was so uncomfortable or that I was concentrating so hard at the workshops. Anyhow, at least it was cheap.
Really enjoyed Witney and learned a lot. If I can afford it, I may consider doing the fiddle on in February.
Still managed to get to rapper on Monday evening though (even though I don't remember much of it). Trina gave me my icing melodeon and mole (which is currently sitting on the kitchen worktop) and we discussed finding someone to dance with us at DERT so we'll see where that goes. Trina, it seems, had an absolutely wonderful time at the Bellowhead gig on Sunday so I'm now really, really looking forward to seeing them on Saturday and Sunday (even if it does mean another Megabus trip. Think I'll take the Monday off this time!)
Monday, 8 November 2010
Odd Day and Bad News
Had a fun day on Saturday. Started by pratcicing melodeon with Trina and Kev before heading along to Bennets to start the tour. There was a bit of a fight before we started up (well it sounded like one, I stood no chance of seeing over the crowd!) but the customers had settled down enough that we got a good reception, even when my sword snapped leaving me clutching the swivel handle and pretty much nothing else. There was even a bit of blood (a teeny tiny bit but blood nonetheless)! We also danced at the Old Toll where we got cornered by a very bad, very drunk 'poet' (gods, he was awful) and Lock 25 where we ran into a stag party who got us to take the groom-to-be through single guard and a lock. We finished off by dancing 2 dances at The Welcoming Ceilidh which went down very well (despite some fairly ropey stepping).
Meant to tidy the burrow on Sunday. Filled in job applications instead. Still, at least it was productive in one way.
Today was a bit of a weird day all told. Started off with not being needed for Jury Service then a truly boring day at work. Got home and tried to call the court phone line to see if I would be needed tomorrow but the message was still talking about Monday so that was no help. Wombled along to rapper and we nearly had a full complement for once which was nice. We tried dancing Swalwell and we tried doing the Steak Pie dance with everybody in different positions which was great fun. I love dancing rapper and will dance it anyway I can, I realise that the height difference also limits the positions I can dance if people are tumbling but I have been getting desperately, desperately bored with dancing 2 all the time (and dancing 4 occasionally is not much of a change) so it was really nice to dance 3. Trina also produced an amazing birthday cake for me (had completely forgotten myself) in the shape of a fantastically detailed melodeon (it had little screws and an air button and everything!) being watched by a mole. It was also in the nature of being a 'jenga cake' where the cake underneath the icing was actually little caramel squares and the team had fun trying to grab bits without dislodging the icing. On the bad news front however, it doesn't look like we've got a team for DERT. Will still try and go down but it's not the same when you're not dancing. May try contacting the Mabels later and seeing if they need any help stewarding. May as well be useful.
Got home and found the court had finally changed the message and I'm not needed tomorrow either and it appears that that's the end of my Jury Duty which is a relief really and at least it's all over and done with now.
Meant to tidy the burrow on Sunday. Filled in job applications instead. Still, at least it was productive in one way.
Today was a bit of a weird day all told. Started off with not being needed for Jury Service then a truly boring day at work. Got home and tried to call the court phone line to see if I would be needed tomorrow but the message was still talking about Monday so that was no help. Wombled along to rapper and we nearly had a full complement for once which was nice. We tried dancing Swalwell and we tried doing the Steak Pie dance with everybody in different positions which was great fun. I love dancing rapper and will dance it anyway I can, I realise that the height difference also limits the positions I can dance if people are tumbling but I have been getting desperately, desperately bored with dancing 2 all the time (and dancing 4 occasionally is not much of a change) so it was really nice to dance 3. Trina also produced an amazing birthday cake for me (had completely forgotten myself) in the shape of a fantastically detailed melodeon (it had little screws and an air button and everything!) being watched by a mole. It was also in the nature of being a 'jenga cake' where the cake underneath the icing was actually little caramel squares and the team had fun trying to grab bits without dislodging the icing. On the bad news front however, it doesn't look like we've got a team for DERT. Will still try and go down but it's not the same when you're not dancing. May try contacting the Mabels later and seeing if they need any help stewarding. May as well be useful.
Got home and found the court had finally changed the message and I'm not needed tomorrow either and it appears that that's the end of my Jury Duty which is a relief really and at least it's all over and done with now.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Too Excited to Breathe
Well, have booked my ticket for Bellowhead's New Year's Gig at the Southbank Centre. I'm staying at a hostel with 6 friends from the forum and I've sorted out my travel (Megabus, unfortunately. Still, return from Edinburgh to London for under £12...but, still, megabus) so all I have to do now is sort out a costume. The theme is circus and cabaret and while there is a lot of discussion going on about corsetry, I don't fancy spending the whole night in tights, feathers and/or sequins so I am considering being a performing dog. I have an elizabethan ruff but I can probably make a sparklier net one with marching wrist ruffs and I can easily make a little clown hat and I have dark trousers and top. I can make a tail and either create some floppy ears or just not get my hair cut and tie it in high bunches. Add some black face paint to give me a doggy nose and possibly eye patches (although that could end up with me as a performing panda!) and that could be me. This would also pack down really well and not to chilly for hanging around outside in London at night. Yep, that idea is growing on me. (After all, I am the girl who turned up to a reenactors' pirate party, where all the other lasses were in corsets and high heeled boots, as a parrot. I have a reputation to maintain! I think the most worrying thing about that night was that I was wearing a red wig, red face paint and a big beak and everyone still instantly knew who I was...)
Need to do some more melodeon practice for Witney tonight and have another go at tidying the burrow (nothing changes!). Might try and get to see Burke and Hare at the cinema this weekend or I might go and see Red again (very silly but enjoyable film. The only film, in fact, where I've ever liked John Malkovitch) and, at some point, I should really work out how the gears on my bicycle work. Last time I cycled regularly, bicycles had 3 gears and I wasn't particularly good at using those. Now there seem to be hundreds of the buggers and, while I understand the theory of using gears while cycling perfectly well, I haven't yet worked out how to make the bloody things work on the actual bike! At least I'm avoiding the whole ninja cyclist business so prevelant in Edinburgh. I have enough lights and reflective clothing on when I'm cycling that I'm probably visible from space. I probably leave swathes of blinded drivers in crashed cars behind me as I go (on my very, very slow way)
Need to do some more melodeon practice for Witney tonight and have another go at tidying the burrow (nothing changes!). Might try and get to see Burke and Hare at the cinema this weekend or I might go and see Red again (very silly but enjoyable film. The only film, in fact, where I've ever liked John Malkovitch) and, at some point, I should really work out how the gears on my bicycle work. Last time I cycled regularly, bicycles had 3 gears and I wasn't particularly good at using those. Now there seem to be hundreds of the buggers and, while I understand the theory of using gears while cycling perfectly well, I haven't yet worked out how to make the bloody things work on the actual bike! At least I'm avoiding the whole ninja cyclist business so prevelant in Edinburgh. I have enough lights and reflective clothing on when I'm cycling that I'm probably visible from space. I probably leave swathes of blinded drivers in crashed cars behind me as I go (on my very, very slow way)
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Things to Come
Well, first to start off with this morning's really annoying incident. Was standing on the traffic island waiting to cross the rest of the road (normal lane and bus lane) when man in a range rover stopped and waved me across. All very nice, except I'd seen the taxi zooming up beside him in the bus lane so I stayed on the island while I waited to see what the taxi did (since I couldn't see it behind the range rover and it was going a fair speed). Within 10 seconds, the stopped driver went from exaggerated gesticulating to really swearing at me for not crossing. As it was, the taxi did shoot past and, if I'd gone with his gesticulations, I'd be a bit of a mess on the road by now but that didn't seem to phase him in the least. It's quite common for drivers to stop there to let people across and just not register that there's traffic in the lane beside them (mainly because if one driver stops, the drivers behind often decide to undertake them in the bus lane!) but I've never seen them get so mad at people for not crossing when they say, never mind so quickly.
Needless to say I was a little annoyed when I got into work this morning and I'm now thinking of taking Mouldy the Mole back out with me to wave at people who annoy me thereby relieving my frustration by causing confusion and worry in others!
Anyhow, fiddle practice tonight. Quite pleased with how my fiddle playing is coming along and, when I've upped my knowledge of scottish tunes (my current repertoire tends heavily towards the english at the moment), I'll head back to the slow session again because I enjoyed it when I went along last time (Just wasn't familiar with most of the tunes.)
We have a rapper dem at a ceilidh (and probably a little tourette) this weekend which I had forgotten all about. Have had no rapper practice for 3 weeks so I might be a little rusty. Should probably do a bit more stepping practice tonight. Also off to practice melodeon (and I have a nice new Hohner Pokerwork melodeon (well, to me, anyway) since Ellie let me try her melodeon at Bromyard and I haven't been able to play my cheap Stephenelli since!) with others of Mon Meg on Saturday.
Lots of concerts and workshops coming up. I'm down in Witney first for the Melodeons at Witney Workshop which I'm really looking forward to but really nervous about at the same time, then I have tickets for 2 Bellowhead gigs for the new tour (London and Sheffield, same weekend), then I have to catch one of Belshazzar's Feast's Christmas gigs (They're playing a few up in Cumbria so I may have to hire a car for an evening) followed by Phil Cunningham's Christmas gig in Edinburgh and closing out at New Year (hopefully, if I can get tickets) with Bellowhead's New Year's Event at the Southbank. Then, come the New Year, I've booked for the 'Learn Smallpipes in 1 Day' workshop at Celtic Connections and the Spiers & Boden and Saltfishforty gig. Plus there's the Spiers & Boden Birthday gig in May at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Lots of stuff to look forward to.
In the meantime, I am taking advantage of the fact that I really feel like me for the first time in a fair few years and the fact that I always get a little restless in the Autumn, to sort myself out. Am currently applying for jobs like a little jobfinding fiend while, at the same time getting in touch with my Postgrad Dean to find out what I can do next in the medicine line. Whichever happens, I'm getting out of my current job, whatever it takes. Will also be looking for a new flat when I've worked out where I'm going to be. Want to move on in all ways.
Needless to say I was a little annoyed when I got into work this morning and I'm now thinking of taking Mouldy the Mole back out with me to wave at people who annoy me thereby relieving my frustration by causing confusion and worry in others!
Anyhow, fiddle practice tonight. Quite pleased with how my fiddle playing is coming along and, when I've upped my knowledge of scottish tunes (my current repertoire tends heavily towards the english at the moment), I'll head back to the slow session again because I enjoyed it when I went along last time (Just wasn't familiar with most of the tunes.)
We have a rapper dem at a ceilidh (and probably a little tourette) this weekend which I had forgotten all about. Have had no rapper practice for 3 weeks so I might be a little rusty. Should probably do a bit more stepping practice tonight. Also off to practice melodeon (and I have a nice new Hohner Pokerwork melodeon (well, to me, anyway) since Ellie let me try her melodeon at Bromyard and I haven't been able to play my cheap Stephenelli since!) with others of Mon Meg on Saturday.
Lots of concerts and workshops coming up. I'm down in Witney first for the Melodeons at Witney Workshop which I'm really looking forward to but really nervous about at the same time, then I have tickets for 2 Bellowhead gigs for the new tour (London and Sheffield, same weekend), then I have to catch one of Belshazzar's Feast's Christmas gigs (They're playing a few up in Cumbria so I may have to hire a car for an evening) followed by Phil Cunningham's Christmas gig in Edinburgh and closing out at New Year (hopefully, if I can get tickets) with Bellowhead's New Year's Event at the Southbank. Then, come the New Year, I've booked for the 'Learn Smallpipes in 1 Day' workshop at Celtic Connections and the Spiers & Boden and Saltfishforty gig. Plus there's the Spiers & Boden Birthday gig in May at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Lots of stuff to look forward to.
In the meantime, I am taking advantage of the fact that I really feel like me for the first time in a fair few years and the fact that I always get a little restless in the Autumn, to sort myself out. Am currently applying for jobs like a little jobfinding fiend while, at the same time getting in touch with my Postgrad Dean to find out what I can do next in the medicine line. Whichever happens, I'm getting out of my current job, whatever it takes. Will also be looking for a new flat when I've worked out where I'm going to be. Want to move on in all ways.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Ooops! Catch-up.
Oops, have neglected this shamefully this year. Mostly due to having way too much fun stuff to do and being either far too knackered or off to write anything inbetweentimes.
Shall try to recap.
Festivals I Have Been To.
Holmfirth - Great fun. Spent most of it hanging around with Stone Monkey Rapper who are lovely and saw, amongst others, Belshazzar's Feast, Rachel McShane and Pete Coe who were all brilliant. Got hugged by a morris dancer who was dancing on (took me a second to work out who it was!) and had a great evening in the session at the Cricket Club.
The Big Session - Just as awesome as last yeareven with the pouring rain on the Friday. Oysterband were brilliant in both their gigs, Chopper's solo stuff is lovely, Alan's stuff was great fun again. Saw the Proclaimers and realised a lifetime ambition I never knew I had (to hear them sing '500 Miles' live), really enjoyed Cara Dillon's set (which was a surprise since I can usually take or leave her stuff), loved Kerfuffle, enjoyed dancing to Whapweasel and discovered Megson and the Moulettes.
Ely Folk Festival - Blazingly hot weather, lovely little festival. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Oysterband, Faustus, Demon Barbers, The Woodshed, Beckleberry, Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley, Colvin Quarmby and John Tams and Barry Coope were all amazing. Met loads of people I knew, had fun at the French dance workshop and got thoroughly freaked out by how flat the land is there. Awesome weekend.
Whitby Folk Week - Amazing week. Hung around with Snark Rapper, played my fiddle in the beginners' sessions, learnt some cool new rapper figures, danced my socks off, loved the Dance Challenge between Chiltern Hundreds and Snark rapper, had an awesome night with all the sword dancers at Beck Hole, got to watch sam Sweeney and Hannah James while stewarding and had a really good time at the Northumbrian Ceilidh.
Shrewsbury - So much fun. Saw and loved Bellowhead, Belshazzar's Feast, Kerfuffle (last gig!), The Young 'Uns, The Wilsons, Kerr and Fagan (with and without Rob Habron), Fay Hield, Karen Matheson, Tickled Pink. All brilliant! Managed to play my fiddle through the Beginners' Session and loved John Kirkpatrick's 'Playing for Dancing' workshop.
Bromyard - Fun despite the rain. Belshazzar's Feast and Mike Wilson and Damien Barber were probably my favourites (both time both bands played) but Show of Hands, James Findlay, Fay Hield and Tri were also great fun. Whapweasel's ceilidh was lovely and I took my melodeon out for the first time for Issey Emney's workshop.
Concerts
Belshazzar's Feast - Saw them in Settle. Absolutely brilliant and so funny.
Spiers and Boden and Saltfishforty - Saw them in St Andrews. Enjoyed both of them as duos and they all played together really well in spite of the differing styles.
Mozart Festival Orchestra - Saw them in The Royal Albert Hall. Music was fantastic and the costumes were lovely. Might have accidently threatened to kill (and it was an honest accident) some german tourists beside me who would not stop talking (well, they did afterwards)
Bellowhead - Got an invite to the launch of Bellowhead's new album 'Hedonism' down in London. It was brilliant! They were so good in such a small space (and it was scary just how much of the audience I knew!) The new album is brilliant and they played it all the way through.
Spiers and Boden - saw them in Berwick. Really lovely weekend (got stared at by the seals off the pier) and the music was lovely and hilarious.
Rapper
Been a bit of a quiet year for rapper since DERT. We had one tour down Rose Street in the summer (fun but the football was on which dampened things a little.) We danced at the Anstruther Lifeboat Gala and then finished with a tourette in St Andrews which was good fun. We had a good day of practice for the DART team at The Village where I had another go at tumbling. Still not quite there but getting closer and I'm not giving up. We also had another soiree at The Village. Little more subdued for some reason than the previous one but still fun before we ended up at Trina's for mystery cocktails (which, is suspected, mostly consisted of vimto and slivovitz!). Apparently our team went down well in america at DART and I'm not jealous, not jealous at all.
In other areas, have got rid of Roger. There was too much too fix and parking was becoming an absolute nightmare. In one way it's incredibly annoying since I now really have to think hard before I want to go places again but in another way, it's a huge load off my mind. I managed before I got him, I'll manage again.
Attended the wedding of some reenactment friends at Craigmillar Castle. Lovely day, they both looked lovely in their medieval gear (ashamed to say I was in civvies since none of the kit I have is fit to be seen in nice places and I haven't had a chance to do any sewing this year), the company was good and there was a barn owl to drop off the rings.
Only managed one re-enactment event this year but it was a fun event in Inverness (where I managed to get quite a nasty sunburn despite linen coverings and factor 50 suncream!), multiperiod event at Fort George. Lovely to see the other time periods and nice to see the rest of the group as well.
Spent 2 weekends with Freaks in the Peaks. One was a normal dance weekend with blazing hot weather, and some fantastic sessions and the other was the canal trip which was wonderful. I ended up on the boat with Triskele rapper and we had a huge amount of fun on the gin slum as our boat became known. Some good fun dances (including the somewhat drunk gentleman who ran through the middle of a set with no trousers and only his hand to hide his modesty (as was pointed out later, he didn't really need the whole hand...) and some lovely scenery.
Lots of stuff coming as well. Will actually try to keep this thing up to date from now on.
Shall try to recap.
Festivals I Have Been To.
Holmfirth - Great fun. Spent most of it hanging around with Stone Monkey Rapper who are lovely and saw, amongst others, Belshazzar's Feast, Rachel McShane and Pete Coe who were all brilliant. Got hugged by a morris dancer who was dancing on (took me a second to work out who it was!) and had a great evening in the session at the Cricket Club.
The Big Session - Just as awesome as last yeareven with the pouring rain on the Friday. Oysterband were brilliant in both their gigs, Chopper's solo stuff is lovely, Alan's stuff was great fun again. Saw the Proclaimers and realised a lifetime ambition I never knew I had (to hear them sing '500 Miles' live), really enjoyed Cara Dillon's set (which was a surprise since I can usually take or leave her stuff), loved Kerfuffle, enjoyed dancing to Whapweasel and discovered Megson and the Moulettes.
Ely Folk Festival - Blazingly hot weather, lovely little festival. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Oysterband, Faustus, Demon Barbers, The Woodshed, Beckleberry, Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley, Colvin Quarmby and John Tams and Barry Coope were all amazing. Met loads of people I knew, had fun at the French dance workshop and got thoroughly freaked out by how flat the land is there. Awesome weekend.
Whitby Folk Week - Amazing week. Hung around with Snark Rapper, played my fiddle in the beginners' sessions, learnt some cool new rapper figures, danced my socks off, loved the Dance Challenge between Chiltern Hundreds and Snark rapper, had an awesome night with all the sword dancers at Beck Hole, got to watch sam Sweeney and Hannah James while stewarding and had a really good time at the Northumbrian Ceilidh.
Shrewsbury - So much fun. Saw and loved Bellowhead, Belshazzar's Feast, Kerfuffle (last gig!), The Young 'Uns, The Wilsons, Kerr and Fagan (with and without Rob Habron), Fay Hield, Karen Matheson, Tickled Pink. All brilliant! Managed to play my fiddle through the Beginners' Session and loved John Kirkpatrick's 'Playing for Dancing' workshop.
Bromyard - Fun despite the rain. Belshazzar's Feast and Mike Wilson and Damien Barber were probably my favourites (both time both bands played) but Show of Hands, James Findlay, Fay Hield and Tri were also great fun. Whapweasel's ceilidh was lovely and I took my melodeon out for the first time for Issey Emney's workshop.
Concerts
Belshazzar's Feast - Saw them in Settle. Absolutely brilliant and so funny.
Spiers and Boden and Saltfishforty - Saw them in St Andrews. Enjoyed both of them as duos and they all played together really well in spite of the differing styles.
Mozart Festival Orchestra - Saw them in The Royal Albert Hall. Music was fantastic and the costumes were lovely. Might have accidently threatened to kill (and it was an honest accident) some german tourists beside me who would not stop talking (well, they did afterwards)
Bellowhead - Got an invite to the launch of Bellowhead's new album 'Hedonism' down in London. It was brilliant! They were so good in such a small space (and it was scary just how much of the audience I knew!) The new album is brilliant and they played it all the way through.
Spiers and Boden - saw them in Berwick. Really lovely weekend (got stared at by the seals off the pier) and the music was lovely and hilarious.
Rapper
Been a bit of a quiet year for rapper since DERT. We had one tour down Rose Street in the summer (fun but the football was on which dampened things a little.) We danced at the Anstruther Lifeboat Gala and then finished with a tourette in St Andrews which was good fun. We had a good day of practice for the DART team at The Village where I had another go at tumbling. Still not quite there but getting closer and I'm not giving up. We also had another soiree at The Village. Little more subdued for some reason than the previous one but still fun before we ended up at Trina's for mystery cocktails (which, is suspected, mostly consisted of vimto and slivovitz!). Apparently our team went down well in america at DART and I'm not jealous, not jealous at all.
In other areas, have got rid of Roger. There was too much too fix and parking was becoming an absolute nightmare. In one way it's incredibly annoying since I now really have to think hard before I want to go places again but in another way, it's a huge load off my mind. I managed before I got him, I'll manage again.
Attended the wedding of some reenactment friends at Craigmillar Castle. Lovely day, they both looked lovely in their medieval gear (ashamed to say I was in civvies since none of the kit I have is fit to be seen in nice places and I haven't had a chance to do any sewing this year), the company was good and there was a barn owl to drop off the rings.
Only managed one re-enactment event this year but it was a fun event in Inverness (where I managed to get quite a nasty sunburn despite linen coverings and factor 50 suncream!), multiperiod event at Fort George. Lovely to see the other time periods and nice to see the rest of the group as well.
Spent 2 weekends with Freaks in the Peaks. One was a normal dance weekend with blazing hot weather, and some fantastic sessions and the other was the canal trip which was wonderful. I ended up on the boat with Triskele rapper and we had a huge amount of fun on the gin slum as our boat became known. Some good fun dances (including the somewhat drunk gentleman who ran through the middle of a set with no trousers and only his hand to hide his modesty (as was pointed out later, he didn't really need the whole hand...) and some lovely scenery.
Lots of stuff coming as well. Will actually try to keep this thing up to date from now on.
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