Leyland Accordion Club - 10th February 1999
Jay and Jeff Ward opened our February meeting with Gaylardo and many other tunes. Jeff has now put his reeds back in the left hand side of his accordion, you may remember he took them out to make the accordion lighter so that he could continue playing after he came out of hospital. Next up was Basil Berry, Basil has played later in the evening at the last couple of club nights and, because I never stop anyone from going over their time, he has only had about 3 minutes at each meeting. Basil did not complain about this but I felt bad about it, so this month I made sure that he was the first soloist to make up for this poor treatment and I told him to take as long as he required. In future I will ask anyone with 15 or 20 minutes of material to play half of it, and then, if there is time later in the evening, to come up and play a second spot. Basil started off with Moonlight Serenade, At Last, and the Girl From Ipponema, he was warmed up now and was on a roll, continuing with Westering Home, Skye Boat Song and finally finishing with Road to the Isles. Elaine was up next starting with Maggie and then finishing with Highland Cathedral. Tom Bennett followed Elaine with The Entertainer and Wine Women and Song. Mildred Moran was a new player to the club tonight making her debut with a selection of Irish tunes including When Irish Eyes are Smiling and Molly Malone. Mildred said that she was glad everyone clapped when she took the stage because she might not get any applause when she finished. Mildred did well at her debut and was ready for round two later. Another player making her first performance at Leyland was Nina Suscenco playing her button accordion. Nina started with Melody of the Volga, which she played twice, once on an accordion she had borrowed for the evening and once on Chick Stephens accordion to give us an idea of the difference between the same tune played by the same player on two different instruments.
Basil Berry
Nina who plays a button accordion continued with Flik Flak Polka, Under Paris Skies and finally finishing with Luci E Ombre. Next we had the break, after this we were treated to Agnes Mclaren playing an Irish medley consisting of The Meeting Of The Waters, Irish Eyes, Endearing Young Charms, Mountains of Mourne, Loch Leven, Bonnie Skodhyre, Rowan Tree and Glencoe. Jean Southern then played Bel Fiorie and Style Musette. Chick Stephens then gave us a Scottish Slant with Grannies Highland Hame, Hame O Mine, Misty Islands of the Highlands, Loch In Daal and Lonely Scapa Flow which he played because he used to be a U Boat Captain - or was it because he worked there? It was one or the other - I cannot remember what he said now! I followed Chick playing my Sailors Hornpipe, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, a Johnny Cash Medley and finally finishing with God Save the Queen. Normally when we are running out of time I only play one or two tunes at the most to make sure everyone gets a chance to play, this month we were on schedule for once and I got to play four tunes. After I played we had a second appearance from both Mildred Moran and Jean Southern who, despite having never met before, played Autumn Leaves. They were then joined by Nina Suscenco and all played Spanish Eyes. It was now 10.50pm and with just ten minutes to throwing out time Nina played us to the end of the night with a smart selection of tunes. It had been another great night of music and I felt once again inspired, I cannot remember what I was inspired to do, but I was inspired. I look forward to seeing you all again this Wednesday 10th March when we have Gina and Romany Rye as guest artists and the BBC filming our evening, remember not to use the excuse that you are going out to a strip club, your family may see you on TV and the truth will be out! See you there - 8pm start, another great night is guaranteed.
David Batty
Our Internet Website
Our Internet website has had 9674 visitors as at 8th March 1999, that's 934 visitors since last month. We have received the usual number of email's complementing us on such a good site, we have had a request from Canada for membership of the club and the site was reference material for the BBC to make their decision to film us this Wednesday. I hope the BBC give me permission to put their program about us on the site, it will be a nice touch for anyone to be able to watch a feature about us. If they say no to this then I will film and broadcast our own documentary featuring our players in action. This would put faces to the names people read about on the site.
Pitch Bending Accordion Invented
An inventor has invented a pitch bending accordion for playing the blues on, he bought an old accordion and set about to convert it to bend notes, I was listening to it this week and it sounds well suited for playing blues music.
Frank Marocco on TV
Remember I told you about Frank Marocco who plays on lots of films and TV programs. Frank is the player on a recently released VW commercial playing waltz music and is also in the Billy Crystal movie 'Analyze'. Frank will also be playing in the film 'Deep End Of The Ocean' where he appears, plays and also has a few speaking lines.
Picnic planned for summer
Is anyone interested in lazing in the sun with a picnic, listening to our players giving us an outside version of our club night. I am planning this for a Sunday afternoon in Summer, further details later.
Accordion World Magazine
Accordion World magazine has now gone from 4 to 5 issues per year starting in March. Annual Subscription is £10.20 inc. Postage. Contact David Keen on 01923 236880 or pick up a subscription form from the club.
The Wyre Accordion Festival
The Wyre Accordion Festival is almost upon us. Last year it was at the Marine Hall, Fleetwood. Don't turn up there this year, the festival has moved to The International Club, Fleetwood Road, Thornton and will be held on Easter Saturday 3rd April. The competitions start at 9am and continue until 5.30pm. Presentations will be made around 5.30pm. There is a trade show during the day and a concert in the evening featuring John Kirkpatrick, a renowned folk accordionist. If you are considering entering the competition then phone 01253 778764 for your entry form, your entry needs to be in by Sunday 20th March. I will be doing my bit to represent the club and will be taking part again. This time I will know before my name is called what I am going to play, there are no flies on me! Last year I was walking up to the stage and still wondering. Junior entry fee is £4, Senior £5, Bands £6.
Robot Wars Membership Arrived
I have just received my membership papers from Robot Wars, they have sent me an application form for me to build a fighting robot, I am now reading their guidelines and drafting up a specification. If it is accepted and I get the go ahead from the producers of the programme then I will have a short time to build it before filming starts for the next series of the programme. Tom Bennett commented that at first glance he thought the robots on the series were little things but when he saw someone stood next to one he realised that they were not toys. I expect my robot to be around five feet long, two foot high, 4 feet wide and weigh between 150 and 180 Lbs. This is obviously not a toy and is a dangerous machine which I plan to arm with pneumatic rams. I thought of the name 'Stradella' for the robot, anyone any better ideas. The competition is tough with entries from universities and engineering departments but it would look good if an accordion club showed them how to win! If you want to see what this is all about then you have just missed the last programme of this series which went out on Friday but there is a 'Grudge Match' this Friday 12th March at 6.25pm on BBC2. This is a one off programme until the series starts again in the Autumn.
The Accordion on TV
Remember quite a while back I said that I had contacted the TV about them doing a feature on Leyland Accordion Club, well nothing came of it, until I contacted another producer for the BBC, I put forward a request for him to come to Leyland and film our club for the BBC, the next morning I got a phone call from the BBC saying they were interested in our offer, and after looking at our website they arranged to come and film this Wednesday 10th March 1999. The result will be broadcast in about three weeks time on North West Tonight. The exact date is not known at the moment but will be on our website as soon as I hear of it, anyone who would like to know the exact date can ring me in a couple of weeks to find out. The Lancashire Evening Post are also writing an article about the BBC filming us. This article will go out just before the program airs. So this Wednesday you can bring all your friends who want to be on the Television, they will be filming during the night and interviewing some of our members. This is just what we needed to get the accordion heard by tens of thousands of local people who normally associate it with a marching band or a Morris Dancing team. We will put on a good show as usual for this one off event and, if you know of anyone who is not bolted down then bring them to the club on Wednesday and we will see if we can pack the room to the ceiling. I will also be asking permission for me to convert the film so that it can be broadcast on our website for all the world to see. See you on Wednesday…..
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Q: How do you confuse an accordionist A: The left one
Tape 2 Released Soon.
Leyland Accordion Club 1998 - Volume 2 will be released on 14th April at the club, this tape features all the tracks we could not fit on our first 90 minute tape and should be well received.
Our First Practice Night
Last Wednesday the 3rd March 1999 was our first ever practice night. We have been waiting for months and months for this to start and it was worth it. Everyone drifted in around 8pm and people started playing straight away. There were up to four groups playing at once in different parts of the room, with people joining in if they felt they could attempt it. Jay Ward had her keyboard and was providing people with the chance to try playing alongside a keyboard player. Tom Bennett was trying Agnes Mclaren's MIDI setup, Leo and Les Thurston had set their MIDI equipment and amplifier on the dance floor and were playing tunes with their friend. Others were playing around the room. At 9.45pm we had a meeting to discuss the session and for me to find out if everyone was happy with the format. We then had a mini club night from 10pm to 11pm with many combinations of players you have never seen before. Watch out for more duets at the club in future as a result of this practice night. I have booked the next one for 24th March 1999, this is two weeks after our club night and two weeks before our next one. It was decided on Wednesday that this would be the most suitable week for future sessions. In future, I will give you all the dates but as a rule of thumb it will be the fourth Wednesday of each month. This means that we have The Fylde Coast Music Club on the first Tuesday of the month, Leyland Accordion Club on the Second Wednesday of the Month, Wyre Accordion Club on the Third Wednesday of the Month and Leyland Practice night on the Fourth Wednesday. Stockport club varies it's date and is usually on the last Tuesday of the month. Not a bad selection of dates for anyone requiring an accordion fix on a regular basis. And what's best is that none of the clubs clash on dates.