Leyland Accordion Club - 8th March 2000
I think this will be a welcome change for those of you who noticed that I often have to change to a smaller font in order to fit all I have to say in to each page, this is in ten point Times New Roman font which is far easier to read than the nine point and sometimes 8.5 point fonts I have had to use in the past.
David Batty
Jan Zukowski
Our March Clubnight
Our March meeting started with Tom Bennett playing The
Macdonalds Of Glencoe, Flower Of Scotland and Bluebell Polka. Dugald Mcallum
then played a selection of tunes including Fordlands Two Step. I then
played Whispering Hope before announcing our guest artist Jan Zukowski
who started the evening with Preludio by Volpi. After this energetic looking
start we were treated to Concert Stuck by C. M. Von Weber, Air On A 'G'
String by J.S. Bach (I've heard someone else playing that one, but I can't
think who?) after this very difficult piece, Jan continued with La Campanella
by Paganini/Wurthner, Dance Of The Comedians by Smetana and finishing
his first set with Scherzo by John Gart. It was time for the first break
of the evening. The usual tea, coffee, chat, playing and idea swapping
went on during the break which is why I am always sorry to stop the breaks,
that's where the practice nights come into their own. Many have asked
what happens at these, they are simply three hours of people chatting,
drinking coffee, playing, swapping ideas and generally having a good evening
socialising, they are like three hour long breaks with people playing
in all parts of the room until near the end when Jay Ward usually adopts
everybody in a mass busk in the corner. After this break we started with
John Higham playing Good Night Ladies as a left hand solo piece, he followed
this with Highland Cathedral with a left hand start and finishing with
Show Me The Way To Play Bass which was all played on the left hand. I
then played my own Triste Sourire and Sailors Hornpipe Medley before bringing
Jan on for his second spot. Jan started with Trieste Overture by Deiro,
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Liszt, Czardas by Fugazza, Malaguena by Lecuona,
Jolly Caballero by Frosini, Acquarelli Cubani by Fancelli and then Italian
Fantasy by Frosini. This took us up to the second break of the night,
I was tired just watching Jan playing, anyone who knows the effort needed
to play his style of music will know what I mean. During the second break
people caught up with their conversations from the first break, bought
raffle tickets and generally had a good time. As usual the second break
ended with the raffle followed by Dugald Mcallum playing March To The
Stars. In my quest to find nice slow tunes I gave Can't Help Falling In
Love an airing before announcing Jan Zukowski for his final session. Jan
started with Tapestry by Fugazza, Czardas by Monti and Mazurka De Mieliavacca.
Before I saw this one written down I thought he was playing the Mazurka
of 1000 cows! but Jan soon corrected me. Jan's next piece was one he learned
for his daughters, his adaptation of Riverdance has to be heard to be
believed, if I heard a recording of it I would be convinced that it was
not possible that it was being played by one person. It was near to the
end of the night now and Jan played his final piece Vivo by John Gart.
Knowing we had a couple of minutes left until 11pm I then prompted Jan
to play one more piece. Jan then played Dizzy Fingers before receiving
well deserved rounds of applause, we had had a wonderful time with Jan's
return to the club and experienced music that many of us can only dream
of playing. If any other clubs, festivals or music societies like the
above type of music and are looking for a good player as a guest artist
then Jan comes very highly recommended. Contact me and I will pass your
number to him.
David Batty
George Hicks/Ricardo dies
As many of you know, George Hicks, who recently went back to his real name of George Ricardo, became too ill to attend the club. His health had been failing considerably in recent months until he recently ended up in a wheelchair. Thursday 30th March was his 81st birthday which coincided with him being transferred from hospital to a nursing home in Liverpool so I arranged for Myself, Tom Bennett and Phil Sanderson to be at the nursing home before he got there to give him a surprise welcome to his new home. We entertained the residents for about an hour before George arrived. He could not speak much but he was pleased to see us and his family at the home to welcome him. We played a selection of tunes before we were joined by George's Daughter Flo playing Georges own accordion.
George Hicks/Ricardo
After he had opened his birthday cards and spent some time with us we left him to settle in his new home. Four days later on Monday the third of April George died in the early hours of the morning. The funeral was held on Friday 7th April at St Pauls Church, West Derby, Liverpool. The day was a gloriously hot day and we could not have asked for better weather. The day was attended by about 80 family and about 20 people I knew from the accordion scene. Georges daughter had asked Dugald Mcallum to play the accordion at the funeral so with just three days notice Dugald set about to find the music to the two requested pieces, arrange them for the accordion and learn both pieces. The two pieces were the Charlie Chaplin tune Smile and You'll Never Walk Alone. Dugald played Smile while the coffin was being brought in and You'll Never Walk Alone as it was carried out. Georges daughter kept a promise she had made to him by singing You'll Never Walk Alone as she walked behind him out of the church, he was then taken to the crematorium. George will be sadly missed by the accordion community. He played for over 60 years entertaining in pubs, clubs, nursing homes and accordion festivals throughout the country. George did not read music but had the ability to join in playing with anyone, whenever Steve Roxton was playing and George was there Steve always invited George to join him playing old time singalongs. This was something that started years ago at Caister Accordion Festival when the two of them entertained as a duo after the show was over one night, they entertained a crowd of around 400 people until the early hours of the morning. I am pleased that I recorded George playing before he became ill when he contributed tracks to both the Leyland Accordion Club tapes. I have been receiving calls asking where to send cards to, so for anyone wanting to send a card Georges daughters name is Flo and her address is 30 Cliffe Road, Coppenhall, Crewe, CW1 3RE.
Radio Lancashire Quiz
Leyland Accordion Club Quiz Team are featuring on Radio Lancashire this week from the 10th to 13th of April. I accepted the challenge for us to appear the moment I was asked, the fact that we did not have a quiz team was a minor detail. A few phone calls later and I had assembled a band of renegades ready to fight for the honour of Leyland Accordion Club. The quiz is on at 9.45 to 10am each day with one person from the team answering the questions each day. On Monday morning Tom Bennett will be in the chair answering ten questions on general knowledge, books, this day in history, places in Lancashire etc. Tom gets ten points for each correct answer but if he has to pass, the question is passed to myself for a possible five points. On Tuesday Mike Ellis will feature, on Wednesday Bert Winstanley and on the final day Thursday I will have to answer the questions on my own. When I contacted these people they each were pleased to take part but they all commented on the incredulity of the variety of events we get involved in, this morning (Monday) Tom did well with 55 points out of 100. Radio Lancashire will be at the club this Wednesday night to do some recording for broadcast on the Jim Bowen programme on Thursday and Jim asked if we can supply some players to entertain at a special night time function Radio Lancashire are organising for the winners of Radio Lancashire dress pins which are awarded for winning competitions etc. I accepted their request and I look forward to the recording at the club this Wednesday, they will be chatting to people during the break and editing it in with the music for the broadcast on Wednesday.
Sheet Music Sale
At the club this Wednesday night there will be a stall set up by Bygone Tunes, buying and selling out of print sheet music for the accordion. If you are looking for any music or have some for sale then make sure you are at the club this Wednesday. The stall is there on the understanding that sales will only take place before 8pm, during the two breaks at 9pm and 10pm or after 11pm, this is so that the performers will not be disturbed during their playing.
Our Venue
Our nights at The Highfield are now assured until December 2000. This is after the area manager stepped in when I threatened to take The Highfield to court for breaking a contract. We came to a compromise, I now pay an extra £15 for each night, the nights are assured, the Manager gets the chairs and tables out for me because he had told his Area Manager he already did this! As a result of the price increase I have had to change the cost of the practice nights from £1 to £2. The normal concert nights will not change in price, I will try and get a few more people through the door on these nights instead of increasing the door price. I would be grateful if anyone can help spread the word about the club by either bringing a friend down sometime in the next few months or taking an A4 poster from the club and putting it up where it might get us some new members.
Guest Artist Cancels
Nina Suscenco rang today saying that she had another booking so will not be playing for us on the 10th of May, it is almost unknown for guest artists to ever cancel bookings, this surprise announcement gave me around four weeks to find a guest artist to replace her but I feel I have managed it and picked a good one in the form of Tony Marchell. Tony was telling me that when he was at Butlins in Wales in 1978 he was told by someone that he should not be playing the kind of music he was at the time and that he should play like the accordionist who was playing at the camp. The person giving him this advice handed him Steve Roxton's LP, then told him to go and watch Steve that night. Tony said watching Steve playing was the inspiration and changed the course of his playing. At his first summer season playing at Blackpool he met Johnny Coleclough who was playing in the Tower Lounge, Tony was pleased that Johnny asked him if he wanted to take over at the Tower Lounge during Johnny's breaks. Tony said he learned from both these players and now does a lot of cabaret work including many modern tunes not normally associated with the accordion, he likes playing good singalong music with plenty of audience participation, so it looks like we are in for a great night out in May.
Stockport Club Guest Artist
Stockport Accordion Club have two guest artists on April 18th. Serge Duchensne from Canada plays piano accordion and Emil Johannsen from Norway plays button accordion. The admission is £4 and this promises to be a good night out. Ring Rob Howard on 0161 480 8858 for further details.
Fleetwood Festival
As mentioned in last months newsletter, the Fylde Coast Music Festival takes place on 21st to 24th of April. This festival has no requirement that you are a resident but for those travelling, accommodation can be organised at the local caravan park at £60 for up to 6 people for the weekend. The Friday night has a welcome concert with full buffet and music, Saturday is the Accordion Competition day with a full accordion concert on Saturday night. There will also be accordion trade stalls at this event selling everything from music to accordions. I look forward to meeting many of you there, for further details ring the organiser Gina on 01253 778764 or 01253 822046.
Accordions For Sale
Dugald Mcallum is selling a Bugari Champion 120 bass, double octave tuning, with case for £1750 and a Paolo Soprani 80 bass, 3 voice treble, with case for £250 Telephone Dugald on 0151 339 9850
Galotta 72 bass 3 voice accordion in hard case. 2 years old, light use only, great condition. Contact Malcolm Morley at malcolm@morleys.net or Tel (0467) 873567 (Hampshire/Sussex Border)
Our Internet Website
Our Internet website has had 23812 as at the 10th April 2000, that's 1181 visitors since last month. The noticeboard I put on the website is now being used to buy and sell accordions and the search engine I added is also being well used. Words people have been looking for on the site this month include Music, Single Row German, Sheet Music, Midi Accordion, Roland Patterns, Farfisa, Midifiles, Composers, Russia Scandalli, For Sale, Teachers, Sailors, Midi Files, Lupin, Learning The Accordion, Festival, Excelsior, Employment, Blackpool, Venues, Used Accordion, Uphonium, Tango and Flyfishing!!! I have promised a junior school who are teaching accordion to their pupils that I will put a page on our website featuring the players writing about their instruments as well as research the school are doing about the history of accordion bands in their area.
St Patricks Night
On St Patricks Night we descended on The Wheatsheaf at Croston for a St Patrick's Day concert featuring Steve Roxton. There were two other pubs in the village both offering £1 per pint, they were both empty while we were playing at sardines seeing how many people could fit in a pub. The place was packed out, the Manager said he had not see that many people in his pub before. Steve played a one hour non stop Irish Spot, then had a 15 minute break before playing an hour and a half non stop. We all had an excellent time and the pub staff were rushed off their feet all night. The place looked like a bomb had hit it afterwards but the Manager could not have been more pleased. He said he was apprehensive at first because he thought he needed to book a singer, drummer, fiddle player and an accordionist for such a big night but he was persuaded that he only needed one chap to do the lot. Now he is looking foward to Steve being available for future St Patricks nights if he is in the country. From the comments I received from many people at the pub who have never been to one of our nights, this event got a lot of them reviewing their image of the accordion. Most of them did not know that it could be connected to MIDI or electronics and had no idea the instrument was so versatile.
Foster Allen and Batty!
This photograph was taken backstage at the Guild Hall, Preston when Foster and Allen were playing Preston as part of their nationwide tour. When I was invited to meet them at their hotel on the night before the concert I just said yes and checked my diary afterwards. After getting home from the hotel at Preston at 3am it was only a few hours before I was back again meeting them at the Guild Hall prior to their sound check and concert. This photograph was taken backstage as they were about to go on stage and I took my seat hoping to hear all my favourites from their CD's, I was not to be disappointed, the show was excellent, I cannot praise it enough. I met three Leyland Accordion Club members in the audience of around 1800 and they said the same. If you get the chance to see a Foster and Allen Show then take it, you will not be disappointed. After the show we arrived back at the hotel and Tony Allen asked me to play the accordion, I did not need to be asked twice.
Tony Allen, David Batty, Mick Foster
After being told by Tony Allen that he liked my playing I gave up while I was ahead and passed my accordion to one of the band members Dessie Hynes who was also an accordionist. We were then treated to some excellent singing from him as he played, this had tempted Tommy Joyce and he rushed out to the car to get his Bohdran (Irish handheld drum) to join in. We had an excellent night and I met a great bunch of people not just in Foster and Allen but the other band members as well. It was another 3am trip home and an excellent night out to remember.
International Accordion Festival 2000 at Pontins
The International Accordion Festival was held at Pontins on the 15th to the 20th of March. This 5 night festival featured guest artists each night, orchestra practice sessions each day, the occasional workshops, a trade show which was on each day featuring 8 accordion shops or suppliers selling their wares, a free and easy session and competitions on the Saturday. Locals were allowed in on day tickets for the Saturday competitions only,
Steve Roxton, David Lukins and Oleg Sharov