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

Sessions go funny around festival time.

I have a theory that the concentration of Folk in places like Broadstairs (or Sidmouth or Whitby or any of the others. Cambridge doesn’t count) actually warps Folkspace. Of course there is the natural gravitational effect of Folkies gathering on the doorstep and the opportunity to play some different tunes with some nice players. But what of the regular sessions? The warp in Folkspace does things to those too.

In the past we have always foregone the regular Wednesday Irish Session for just this reason. If there has been a session at or near the Festival, some of us may have gone to that to feed our habit.

Well this year, a session was organised and many of the Irish contingent made the trek to Broadstairs. When I arrived, the Irish music was in full sway and I was eager to get started. There were a few of the usual Festival Session Worriers there but they aren’t usually a problem. I was waved rather dramatically to a seat by the others only to be beaten by what looked like an itinerant. Well sleeping rough at any rate. I ended up eventually sat next to him. Definitely rough. I wish I had taken the other offer of a seat near the wall.

Once established, he had the gall to complain about Irish Tunes. At one point he seemed to ask me if minded him sat there. ‘Not if you’re going to play’ I replied. At which, he pointed to a melodeon. Oh joy, I thought, itinerant, rough and 3 Morris tunes. There was obviously something going on here that I was not aware of. Some discussions ensued involving the landlord and as a result, from the Irish contingent, One left, One disappeared, One went to see a friend who was performing nearby and it was clear we were leaving. Were we not welcome? Wrong sort of music? What seems to have happened is that the landlord had agreed to let any musician use the bar (unaware of any differences) and a particular cohort had taken that to mean they had rights to run a session every evening

I pottered over to the Lord Nelson where I met a fellow sessioneer and had a jolly nice time playing English tunes with Life and Times who ran a proper session going round the assembled musicians. At half time we were treated to a Rapper dance from a scratch Geordie team (may or may not have been Tyne Bridge) which was very good and danced to Irish music! There were a number of interesting tunes and a tenor (yes, tenor) banjo player who played finger style and very well too. Never seen that before