I can’t believe how long it’s been since the last post so apologies to any ardent sessiondiary fans who have been deprived of their regular fix! I don’t know how being retired actually gives you less time than when I worked but it does.

Anyway, lots has happened in the world of sessions so it’s worth a foray into the weird and wonderful world of the music session as observed by a humble sessioneer.

Firstly then the regular weekly Irish session which has been the topic of very mixed fortunes over the years. Not only is it still alive but it is reasonably well and sitting up, taking solid food and being cheeky to the nurses. This is due in equal measure to the absolute stalwarts who refuse to give in and the itinerants who are always most welcome. Susanna is back for a visit, Johnny has passed by again and we’ve had a variety of musicians drop in for an odd week. Yes, I know most weeks are odd. A disproportionate number of percussionists but that was OK. Honest, it was. They could keep time and everything. Without counting out loud!

One highlight was a visit by Fred the banjo (Freddie Legon) and his wife – a one time banjo player with Humphrey Littleton among others who enjoyed what we did. We discovered after he’d left that he’d put a pot behind the bar for all the musicians to have a drink on him. What a star! Sadly no longer playing because of Parkinson’s but a legend in his time. The audiences have become somewhat more appreciative of late so maybe things are looking up for the diddly-eye music :-)

Nice to see Ford back with us as well although we’ve lost a couple of regulars recently. Well, not lost, more like misplaced. I’m sure they’ll turn up somewhere.

Absolute scandal that the Hops Festival this year was not in any way shape or form either family or folk friendly. Several people have remarked on it. One or two without using expletives which shows great restraint and an education. No sessions organised at all and precious few folk bands. Wheeler Street got 16:00 on Sunday – great slot guys! If it’s like that again next year, I’m not going.

Still we pitched up where there was allegedly some kind of event (at the Bull – how far out can you get?). It turned out to be a sing-around in the garden. From what I heard it was a finger-in-the-ear, have-you-brought-your-copy-of-the-folk-book-of-penguins. All together now “page 97 – all 23 verses as slow as you can” kind of event so we slipped away before being spotted.

Barbs and I went in the bar, blagged a corner and got the landlords blessing to play. I had to leave after an hour and a half but I heard it grew and grew and was still going 5 hours later. Good on yer!

Broadstairs was ….. well, Broadstairs. Good sessions with Paul Lucas as usual and a couple of nice days. One with Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham and the other with Chris Taylor. Usual crowd in the Nelson. What more can be said?

The Tales continues to be an enjoyable if rather bizarre session at times. Where else could you hear a elderly transvestite singing parodies of Irish songs, Oops I did it again sung by a male with a 5-string banjo, Greek bouzouki music on a tenor banjo and somewhere a load of Irish tunes played very well.

Well just a reminder that this weekend is Deal festival and apparently I’m leading a session in the Ship from 2 – 5 on Saturday so if you want to pop in for some tunes, I’d be delighted to see you. It’ll be a mixed, whatever-happens session and I’ll probably lead mostly English. Unless a large Irish contingent turns up of course :-)

Right! Off to the George for the regular weekly Irish.

A lot of sessions have happened in recent weeks because of that well known phenomenon, the warp in Folk Space caused by the summer folk festivals. Inevitably there are sessions.

This year did not see the serpent, nor dogs, nor huge numbers of Morris musicians. There were characters of course. Such as the gentleman who slipped into a spot at the table in the Bear recently vacated by a musician on a refill mission. His only weapon was a pair of teaspoons which he insisted on using as drumsticks on the table itself! I asked him very politely if he could modify the intensity of the strike and he promptly upped and left without a word.

There was an Irish session at Bekesbourne which from an unpromising start of 3 became a very enjoyable session of 5. Unusual as well because of the mix of instruments which sounded just fantastic together to wit: one fiddle, one mandola, one mandolin, one whistle and one guitar. Nice sometimes not to have to play something loud to be heard alongside the reed section.

A very full session at the Bear on a regular Thursday was excellent bordering on chaos at times but with over 20 musicians oddly dispersed, it is difficult rein it in.  Some solo performances – very good but not really session fodder. Some quite odd people whose looks were out of place with the melodeons they carried and worried from time to time. Good to see Pip and Jo again though and some excellent tunes as you’d expect. Pip says don’t forget Hobgoblin is now open on Lower Bridge Street in Canterbury. 

Of course the Festival Band was out in full on the Sunday. Setting up as we went and playing initially to 1 man and his dog it soon livened up. I do enjoy playing with a bass and rhythm section. And thanks to Andy for lending me the prototype Oberon Electric Banjo to use. A frightening thought for some of you I know – an electric banjo. An instrument of mass destruction but fun!

This afternoon is a marathon 4 hour session in the Green Berry at Deal as part of the Deal Maritime Folk Festival – another casualty of short sighted councils like Faversham Hops Festival.

And so to session.

So, notwithstanding the spectacular omission of the publication of the time of the regular lunchtime session (have I mentioned this before?), we somehow manged to agree that lunchtime was 12 – 2. On both days it was clear that a session had not been running ‘All Day’. If anybody had turned up for a session they obviously found the back bar devoid of musicians and went away muttering ‘what all day session?’. Quel surprise.

As it was an open session, it was only fair to let anything happen as long as it didn’t frighten the horses or make the ladies swoon. That meant mainly tunes and a nice mixture of English and Irish and a few songs thrown in as well.

Both days were relatively well supported and had appreciative audiences. There were certainly enough musicians to make a jolly noise and as usual, it was a go-round-the-group session, giving everybody a chance if they wanted it. Only one person ignored this protocol during the entire proceedings of both days. Everyone else was polite and realised the democracy fought for so bitterly in the famous *Session Wars of the 1960s was a valuable commodity.

So, on Saturday, Pete and Eric were already installed (one half or possibly two thirds of the Iffy Band) when the core posse arrived (Shelagh, Judy and myself). It transpired that the celebrated Iffy band had ceased some three years ago when Eric suffered a heart attack and had a triple bypass. So it was good to see him back playing again. Pete’s banjo and bouzouki had even more stickers on. Quite a few local regulars joined us – Gunther and Gerta, Ian the piper, Colin the concertina, Chris the fiddle, Ray the whistle, Dave (Twizz), and I’m sure many more who I can’t bring to mind. A few guests from Morris sides. The 2 pm concert lured several away so it wound down formally about then and probably carried on with a few stalwarts after I left. I went for lunch.

I didn’t spot any worriers of any kind really. No cutlery, djembes, bodhrans, string basses or any other potential criminal acts.

* The Session Wars were fought between the Amalgamated Folk Club Union (Singers Chapter) and the Allied Brigade of Sessioneers fighting for the bitterly contested and highly prized floor-spot. It led to many barricades being erected in the upstairs rooms of pubs and in some cases, trenches being dug to the surprise of those in the snug below. The armistice was signed in 1970 at a historic ceremony of reconciliation after each side agreed to let the other live. This ended the ethnic cleansing of balladeers by highly trained squads of banjo players and the sabotage by provisional singers of many reed instruments using expanding builder’s foam or in one spectacular instance, old gelignite. The armistice agreement basically says:

1. Keep to separate venues as far as possible
2. Musicians play music
3. Singers sing
4. Musicians can also sing
5. Tables in upstairs pub rooms shall be screwed to the floor
6. Anyone singing anything with more than 9 verses or playing a tune more than 6 times through is fair game.

Of course, the cold war still rumbles on ……..

I know some of you were expecting instant updates over the weekend so first of all, apologies for not getting the diary updated sooner.

Overall, I enjoyed the weekend very much and took great pleasure in playing some nice tunes with friends.

Despite the stupendous oversight by the organisers of not advertising the sessions properly, we more or less ended up with the right sort of people at the right sort of do. And a few bewildered as well.

The Irish session on Friday night was well attended, and thanks to Andy Renshaw for coming along and showing how a Bodhran should be played. It does make a difference when there is a good rhythm going. You can imagine how our hearts dropped when a djembe player arrived! Fortunately he was one of the better ones and played quietly. Ian the piper ran the session skilfully making sure that nothing outrageous threatened the session. This included a tactful proactive challenge to a person with no visible means of instrumentation sitting amongst us. It turned out that he was a well known song worrier and eventually wondered off to find some more singers. Now at Deal, they *ADVERTISE* and *LAY ON* both *SINGAROUNDS* and *MUSIC SESSIONS*. No more hints. Next time it’s a poke with a specially sharpened banjo or a ferral Morris man down your breeches.

We played some cracking stuff for about 3 hours, didn’t empty the pub and actually got quite a bit of very positive feedback. Yes, there’s a surprise. The atmosphere was good and the pub wasn’t full of rowdies. We did miss the dancer though. Some regulars from Thursday crept in to see what was happening.

Saturday dawned and the Festival Band called. 9:30 for 10 at the Preston Street stage. A glorious setting in front of the bus station and opposite someone who apparently it is easy to upset. The set-up never goes completely smoothly but we were ready to go shortly after 10:00 with noise level meters bristling from windows and the thrum of a burger van generator (plus the griddle exhaust. It didn’t have a catalytic converter but it sure needed one. Or a filter. Or moving to the outskirts of town). Usual big band extravaganza but sadly missing drums this year. Opinion is divided about the full rock drum kit. I love it to bits but I fear that I am in a minority. Good to see Bob Kenwood, Felix – all the old Festival Band gang. I realised that I had come out without any plectrums so I borrowed one off Bob. A little tip for banjo players. Thin plastic plectra don’t make it through an hour’s gig. I used all three points of a Gibson and split each one in no time. I really appreciate my little Dunlop nylon plectra now. Bless them.

And then off for Elevenses at Havershams before the session in the Bear.

And so, avid sessioneers and followers of this strange world – more in a wee while.

Greetings Sessioneers!

A new home for the Session Diary, and its own URL – sessiondiary.com.

I hope we will be happy in our new home, and thanks to blogger for starting us off.

This week, I have been exercised by certain activities concerning an upcoming festival. Now, it’s well known that some of the committee don’t like Folk Music so it’s been a bit of a battle for a few years to keep the Folk community happy and active amongst the rest of the events.

So, the committee asked for an evening Irish Session and two mixed lunchtime sessions. And we agreed. Hoorah!

What exercised me is that the programme fails to mention any one of the three sessions or their leaders. They can do it at Broadstairs. They can do it at Deal. They can even do it at Tenterden. Despite the organisers have a famous brewery in their locale, the likelihood of their being able to organise a drinking festivity in the establishment must rank near the lower end of the scale. The best they could offer was a three day ‘Come all Ye Session’. God alone knows what that will attract. I don’t want to be a session snob, but at any festival you get the instrument worriers (usually melodeons), the cutlery percussionists and the 3 tune repertoire. There are many fine players who would gather for a tune if it were properly advertised. Add to that Blues, Singers, Jazz, Country etc etc…

I am in wholehearted favour of these things but anyone with an ounce of sense would lay them on at different venues and advertise them properly!

I know that each and every one of the members of the committee is well meaning, so I assume that it is a case of committees blighting the planning process. That, or there are some very strange non-folk members who have way too much control.

And that’s a shame, because a lot of goodwill will be lost. Most, if not all the sessioneers give up their time, usually for free or at most for meagre expenses and travel from as far as the Medway towns and Folkestone. And we are not talking of ‘enthusiastic amateurs’. We are talking about people who have shown a certain dedication to Folk, their instrument and the music over a long period of time. Most have been in bands and recorded somewhere along the line and all of them are worth listening to.

Now to get this for free and not even put it in the programme is taking the recycled beer. Even worse is to lump Irish Session and Mixed English Session in as just a ‘Come all Ye’ pub session. Barbarians.

I offset this with a fantastic gig last Saturday for a Scottish Wedding which was highly enjoyable for all. The Irish Session was cancelled this week because there will be one (should be one) tonight and Thursday was a practice for Saturday and Sunday.

Never mind, in two weeks time, it’s Deal.