Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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Leyland Accordion Club - 16th October 2002

 

Our October Concert

Our October concert started with myself and Phil Sanderson being warmup artists (this title was partly inspired by the heating which was broken that night) leading up to our 8pm start. Once we had whipped the crowd in to a frenzy of excitement we opened the night with Bill Agnew playing probably more notes in the first 30 seconds than both myself and Phil had played together. Bill played (amongst others) I Hear Music, South Of The Border, Una Paloma Blanca, Baby Face, Among My Souvenirs and On Green Dolphin Street. Elaine was next to play, performing Fields Of Athenry, Highland Cathedral, Maggie, Bunch Of Thyme and Mull Of Kintyre. Chick Stephen then gave us excellent renditions of Circle Of The Ocean, Highest Apple, Lovely Stornaway, Dark Island, South Georgia Wailing Song and Flower Of Scotland. To lead us in to the break Jay and Jeff Ward played The Charleston, Under A Blanket Of Blue, Goodnight Vienna and Bella Note. The coffee went down well because of the problems with the heating. After the break Ann Parker played Bluebell Polka, The Harry Lime Theme, Under Paris Skies and Sonata In G. Albert Draper then played Old Comrades, Beautiful Dreamer, Bonnie Eloise, My Wild Irish Rose, Carnival Of Venice, I'm Sitting On Top Top Of The World, Babyface, Watch Them Shufflin Along, Carolina In The Morning and Whistling Rufus. Leading us to the second break of the night was Colin Ensor. Colin's first piece was Burgundy Street, If You Were The Only Girl In The World, Sweet Rosie O'Grady, Oh You Beautiful Doll and Who Were You With Last Night. After the second break and the raffle, Alan Gelling played the first unusual title of the night, Tanz An Der Moskwa, this was followed by Carousel Waltz, Autumn Leaves and finally The Theme From The Moulin Rouge. Our next player John McCormack played two nice pieces, Neopolitan Nights and La Cumparsita before myself and Colin took to the stage, Colin on accordion and myself on clarinet. Colin left the stage; I then played one tune while the buskers made their way to the dance floor. I had told them beforehand to set up while I played because we were running short of time, when I finished my one piece the assembled crowd were on the floor and ready to play. We finished with the buskers playing a selection of medleys for just over 20 minutes leading us nicely to 11pm. It had been a cold night with the heating broken but we had enjoyed some gerat music. Thanks must go to all the players who did such a great job of entertaining us so well.

David Batty

Bellows Buttons And Keys Club

The next meeting of The Bellows Buttons And Keys Club is on Tuesday, the 3rd of December 2002, at The Royal British Legion, opposite the bus terminal at Cleveleys. This is an 8pm start until 11pm. Players, if you are thinking of visiting then don’t forget your accordions! Telephone 01253 822046 for details.

 

Club Membership

The next newsletter will be the last of the year, then it will be 2003! Membership of the club is to remain at the same price as previous years at £5. This figure just covers newsletter stamps and envelopes for the forthcoming year. To spread the administrative procedures out I would be grateful if you could pay your membership between now and the January concert night. Your newsletter has the year membership is paid up for on the label on the envelope, you will see this change to '2003' the month after your payment is received.

 

Blackpool Accordion Festival

The next Blackpool Accordion Festival is taking place from Wednesday the 19th to Monday the 24th of February 2003. Tom Duncan said he was retiring from organising festivals last year but this year he has decided to organise a festival to celebrate 10 years since his first one. I only know details of one of the guest artists booked so far, I will let you know when I have more details.

 

Our Internet Website

Our internet website has had 54036 visitors as at the 18th of November 2002, that’s 1061 visitors since last month. The noticeboard is now being used by more and more people to buy and sell accordion as well as to find information about theaccordion scene.

Give Me An A

Just a note to let you know that on Thursday the 21st of November on Radio 4 (sky channel 854) Adam Hart Davies examines the aracane practice of tuning musical instruments. Asking is there a correct way to tune a musical instrument, and does it really matter! The programme starts at 11.30am and runs for 30 minutes.

Two Missing Nights

On the 29th of January and on the 29th of October 2003, we won't have our 'extra' practice night of the month. These are both the 5th Wednesday of the month when we normally have our extra practice night, but due to the Priory Club taking a booking on both these nights from a rock band, the club won't be available for us to use. The normal practice night will go ahead one week later though. I have marked both of these dates with a line through them to remind you to take them out of your diary. I will delete them from the list next month. The list of dates in this newsletter is correct and has been confirmed with The Priory Club.

 

Wyre Accordion Club

The next meeting of the Wyre Accordion Club will be on Wednesday, the 27th of November 2002, at Cleveleys. Telephone 01253 852648 for further details or directions. The club normally starts at 8pm and finishes at around 10.30pm.

 

Bridlington Accordion Festival

The Bridlington Accordion Festival is being held from the 16th to the 19th of October 2003. The cost of the festival plus hotel with dinner bed and breakfast is £144 per person. Other pricing options are available for those who want to organise their own hotel or who want just bed and breakfast. I will let you know further details of the players booked etc. when I have them but in the meantime you can put the date in your diary. Loretta Rolston who runs the show has requested that people let her know early if they are interested in attending so that she can put them in their requested hotels. It is easier to remove people from the list than it is to add people later and give them their chosen hotel. Loretta has reserved some places at St Aubyns hotel for people who mention Leyland Accordion Club when they book. Telephone 01501 820910 for booking forms or further details.

 

CD In Honour Of Pietro Diero

Following its twentieth anniversary (celebrated last year), the International Accordion Museum of Castelfidardo (director Beniamino Bugiolacchi) has released a series of CDs dedicated to the “fathers of the accordion” in order to bring to light the historical recordings that have shaped the development of the instrument.
This journey into the past begins with the undisputed father of the accordion in the United States, namely Pietro Deiro. The Deiro CD includes many of his recordings for the Victor label on 78 rpm discs made in the Twenties and Thirties and donated to the museum by his family. This selection of the artist’s vast musical output (more than five-hundred published works) includes original compositions, medleys and transcriptions of operatic pieces by Rossini, Verdi and Gounod. The last track is a real gem: a simple but sophisticated rendition of the Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss, which, according to our current knowledge, is the first accordion recording on disc ever (1910). The exclusive use of original recordings, which are not always in an ideal state of conservation, increases the historical and cultural value of this initiative. The second CD in the series features the fathers of the accordion movement in Italy, including “Gallo” and Kramer, Principe and Beltrami. Further details can be obtained from www.accordions.com/museum.

 

Brian Carland

It’s all my dad’s fault. He was a gifted and very talented harmonica player. He was also very frustrated. He loved all things accordion and dabbled himself, but could never quite master it as he would have liked to. Before the army service in the Second World War, he formed (and played in) the Somic Rope and Twine Works Harmonica and Accordion Band. The band enjoyed considerable success, and dad was a happy man but, of course, the war put an end to all that. The end of the war saw dad back home from Belsen and enjoying his love of accordion and harmonica. I remember well sitting up with him many times late at night tuning in to foreign stations, listening to continental bands. He bought a second hand 72 bass Paolo Soprani chromatic accordion and persuaded a very reluctant me to have a go. I could not imagine how I would ever handle this lump of wood, plastic and buttons he had dumped on me. I was a very ungrateful and reluctant starter. Dad insisted I played on the left hand until I became quite adept at that. Only then did he introduce me to the wonders of scales, sharps and flats and all things needed to sound tuneful. Gradually, I began to enjoy it and became determined to play better and better. Dad hauled me round pubs, got me bookings in clubs, concerts and parties, and eventually I ended up playing in the Syd Philips Dance Band which was quite popular in the North West at that time. The drummer was Dennis Calvert, cousin of the great Eddie Calvert of Oh My Papa fame. It was he, Dennis that is, who got me into the band. Then I discovered girls (I was fifteen at the time) and my performance began to suffer – on the accordion that is, not on the girls. However, I carried on with the band - it was a great way to meet all these girls – until I decided to join the army to learn to kill people and meet an even greater variety of girls. It didn’t occur to me at the time that people would be trying to kill me too. Do you know that the most frightening two words in the English language are “Fix Bayonets”. When you hear these words you know you are in deep sh—. During my army career, I played accordion in some of the most weird and wonderful locations and circumstances – from the deserts of North Africa to the jungles of Malays; in Malta, Cyprus, Kenya and Germany, in dugout trenches, tents, campfires, etc; in Sergeants’ Mess, Officers’ Mess, Sterling Castle, St. James’s Palace and Sandhurst Military Academy. I was in the Scots Guards – God knows why, I blame the Recruiting Sergeant. Throughout all postings and secondments, an accordion was almost always to hand and, invariably, a group or band of sorts was formed. Some situations demanded improvisation like tea chests, broom handles and twine to create the big bass sound. Dust bin lids, washboards, spoons, pots and pans and all sorts of glassware was used. Somehow, we always managed to produce good music and we were nearly always in high demand. Almost two thirds of the way through my army service now and stationed in Munster, Germany. I had acquired a beautiful 120 bass Scandali tremelo tuned accordion in white mother of pearl with a pitch that was out of this world. I paid about £350 for it, which in those days was a lot of money, and I loved it. We had a good band going, playing most weekends in Sergeants’ Mess and Officers’ Mess as well as private gigs. Then it happened, my beloved accordion was stolen. It was my own fault, I had left it unattended in the basements of the Sergeants’ Mess which we used as practice rooms. It was never found. All civilians working on the base were stopped and questioned, cars were searched, etc. to no avail. I wanted them all lined up and shot. I was gutted and lost all interest in accordion. Many years later, and long past my army days, I was at an auction in Leyland. Amongst all the household goods and bric a brac was an accordion – a Chinese accordion. It was cheap and I bought it. It didn’t have any straps so I tied some string round it and began to play. It was rubbish, but it played and I started to find my fingers again. I hadn’t touched an accordion for nearly 30 years. After a family conference, it was decided that we would launch a Window Blind business, and I opened a shop in Cleveleys on the Fylde. Through business there, I met Tom Duncan (who runs the Wyre Accordion Club) and fitted blinds to his house. I joined the club straight away. The Profile Accordion Magazine put me in touch with David Batty. You know the rest. I thoroughly enjoy the club meetings, the banter and the laughs and the playing. In particular, I love to listen to all the different playing techniques and styles. It’s great that people like David promote the accordion in so many diverse ways. Long may it continue.
Brian Carland
P.S. I will never be able to play like I used to but I will keep trying.

 

This Wednesday

We have a great night lined up on Wednesday at The Priory Club when we have the welcome return of Paul Chamberlain. I have received many requests to bring Paul back after he last played for us in June 2001. Paul, who plays both piano and button accordion has recently been playing in Russia and has just returned from playing at an accordion festival and competition in Castelfidardo in Italy. Those of you who saw Paul when he was last at the club will know what a good night we have in store this Wednesday. I look forward to seeing you there.

David Batty

 

 

 

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