Whither Sessions? There are sessions happening all around us it seems but some are unfeasibly far away (Sheffield!) or I think Lewes is probably  a tad far especially at this time of year although some hardy souls will travel great distances to sessions and God bless them. The local sessions are really a bit of an oddity and definitely have ‘flavours’ or shades. Much like the protestant church, all believe in ostensibly the same thing but like to do it their way. You can imagine the Methodist sessioneers with fire and brimstone hurling damnation on those who stray from the straight and narrow through to the evangelists sessioneers – the happy clappy brigade who bring cheer to every gathering and are more likely to be accompanied by dogs on string and some avant garde approaches to what we might call music.  I prefer to claim agnosticism.

Just as with the church, there is a definite polarisation to these prayer meetings so that the crossover is not great except at the great synods of Broadstairs or Sidmouth and a little occasional community work in between. Note to self. Must get out more.

There was a definite news embargo from the Shackled Yak (or Well Intent) for a while. From the Hops festival until now really. The press secretary asked for a cloak of secrecy while the Watershed Band caterpillar went into a chrysalis and emerged as ….. the caterpillar Abbey Capers. Without Six String Shelagh from what I gather. Also, I am forbidden to mention in these humble pages when they who must not be named will be away as it apparently might attract burglars. Of course that includes any Thursday night as everyone knows. Doh! I’ve given the game away.

The Bear Cubs go from strength to strength and the Conyer Session (at Teynham) on a Tuesday is well received and attended. There is a bit of a flux with some of the sessioneers and part of that may be the format, although I have to say that those who have started coming recently like Pip and Jo, regard it as a proper session so are not gurt afear’d to dive in with a set of gorgeous tunes when the fancy takes them. Once that happens, others follow suit.

The Festival Band has done couple of Charity Evenings recently which have been good fun. Burmese Orphans at St Margaret at Cliff and Help for Heroes at the QE School. I really enjoy the big band sound with Bass, drum and Lead guitar. Thanks to Larry Klatzko for introducing me to the Mackie SM150 personal monitor / active speaker. Now I can hear myself whatever the mix on the foldback is doing!

What of the Irish sessions? Well, they continue to hang on by their fingertips and refuse to give up. The regular George at Molash (The Startled Stoat) is precariously balanced, depending as it does on people who live some distance away. The Sunday sessions are strange though. By far the nicest of them is the Unicorn at Bekesbourne. Very relaxed but some good music especially when Andy Renshaw and Fred Holden come along which is quite often at the moment. The Phoenix is Ok but hasn’t really got any take off yet and of course the Well Known Spoonerism is as we know due to shut again quite soon so I doubt there will be another session there. They vary by locale and who can make it on a Sunday night so each one is different.

So it looks as though the Irish Session has run its course – as Judy feared. The session now is nothing like the session that started 12? 14? years ago so Andy’s point about the illusion of continuity is well made.

When it comes to sessions, I think of myself as a Darwinist – sessions do evolve and change and adapt and they will not stay the same. So I guess it’s natural that the participants change as well. Natural selection weeds out the nuisance players and a few people upgrade to alpha-sessioneers.

I’m game for starting something else and changing the format – we’ll discuss it tonight no doubt.

I am pleased that the Conyer session is happening again, and I hope all went well last night. Good luck to Shiner and the Bear cubs.

I am reminded that there is a session at Eastry (I think), sometime (Sundays?) which attracts quite a draw of reed players of the steel and brass variety. No scraping or hooting as far as I can tell. Players of twangy things are welcome though.

Not sure what is going to happen tomorrow. Given Mike’s new technique of arriving late and as a sitcom character, anything could be visited upon the unsuspecting sessioneers.

The warp in Folkspace continues. It is unlikely that the Irish session will reconvene before September.

On a brighter note, I went to a very comfortable and friendly session at the Ship at Conyer last night where there was not a single ego spoilt proceedings. How refreshing. Now if only we can translate that to Thursdays ……… I can’t think of when I last spent time in an English /Mixed session with a nicer group of people. Of course all the other sessions contain nice people.

The bad news is that the landlord leaves in September and the future of the session is uncertain.

Tomorrow, well I have been debating about it with myself. The Thursday session was one of the first I went to when I arrived in Kent. It’s been through a few changes but it has weathered them all. The problem is that it isn’t often a session in the accepted sense of the word. It’s a band practice (3 of them are in the band) which the rest can join in or not. If guests arrive, they may get invited to play or sing – usually as an entertainment spot, but few of the regulars do.

As I’ve said before, it can be an enjoyable folk evening and that suits many people who want a second folk club with a difference (music, dance, poetry, songs) but sometimes, I hanker for the good old fashioned go-round-the-circle session like we had last night