Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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Leyland Accordion Club - 20th November 2002

 

Our November Concert

Our November night started off with Tom Bennett playing La Cumparsita, The Blue Danube and Under The Double Eagle. This was followed by Basil Berry playing It's Almost Like Being In Love, Second Time Around and Come Fly With me. Because it was a guest artist night we only had four local players,and, having used up two of them, it was time for the guest artist to take to the stage. Paul Chamberlain was making his second appearance at the club. The last time he played for us was in July 2001. Pauls performance was divided between two accordions which he swapped over at various points during the night. One of these was a piano accordion, the second a button accordion. Both of the accordions were Bugari models. Paul started off on the piano accordion playing The Aran Boat Song and a set of jigs, these were followed by some more Scottish pieces The Laird Of Drumblair and Mathematician. To lighten up his programme, Paul had earlier asked me for a list of popular singalong tunes so I gave him a list of pieces the buskers normally play to give him some ideas. His next pieces were from that list and included Blue Moon amongst others. The style then turned to French music with Indifference before switching to the button accordion to play Russian Dance, a Scarlatti sonata, Fleur De Paris and a Spanish piece which sounded something like 'Spurious'. After returning to the piano accordion we were back to Scotland with Tamlin's Reel and The Stomach Steinway Man. After the two Scottish pieces, Sweet Sue and Puff The Magic Dragon were the start of the next selection of singalong pieces. The Spanish rhumba Cubanola was leading us up to the first break, and there was just time to follow it with a selection of Scottish pieces including Over The Sea To Skye. After the break and the raffle we started the second half with Bill Agnew playing a medley of tunes including Wheels and South Of The Border. It was my turn to get one tune in before bringing on the guest artist for his second spot of the night. Paul started on the button accordion playing a selection of tunes which I didn't write down (probably because they had complicated titles with dodgy spelling!). These were followed by some Scottish pieces including The Old Fiddler and Mittens Breakdown. It was back to the piano accordion for King Robert The Bruce which Paul played for Bill Agnew. Bill had asked for this tune because he had heard it but never seen anybody play it. The tune required lots of big jumps on the right hand side of the keyboard and was quite impressive to watch. This was followed by The Highland President and For The Record. The next piece Hot Fingers was a Frosini piece, this was followed by Dark Island, It's A Long Way To Tipperary, Spanish Eyes and Luci E Ombre. Roxborough Castle was the next tune and the start of another Scottish selection. The next piece Missing Time, which faded to silence at the end, was written by Richard Wong who plays with Gary Blair. The fast piece Magic Fingers was followed by the contrasting Mull Of Kintyre and a medley of Beatles' tunes consisiting of Yesterday, A Hard Days Night and Yellow Submarine. The next piece Valley Gold is the title track and the name of a CD by Roy Hendrie. After Wing Commander Dom Mackenzies Reel and Fairy Dance, it was getting close to 11pm. There was just time for Paul to change to his button accordion and play a French musette piece called Niva which Paul wrote himself. Everyone had enjoyed a great night of entertainment and Paul had quite a few people talking to him at the end of the night. I have asked Paul to return to the club sometime and he is looking forward to it as I am sure you all are.

David Batty


Our Internet Website

Our internet website has had 54839 visitors as at the 15th of December 2002, that’s 803 visitors since last month. I haven't done much with the website for over a month because I have been in Ireland until I came back to write this newsletter. Don't forget to tell people about our Internet radio station at www.accordionradio.co.uk.

 

Blackpool Festival 2003

The International Accordion Festival is being held from the 19th to the 24th of February, the 19th is our concert night which makes the 20th an ideal day to go to the festival. The festival features Nikolia Ryskov, Janusc Zukowski, Steve Roxton, Harry Hussey, Callum McKinnon and Ian Carmichael & his four piece band as the artists booked so far. Telephone 0870 604 5606 to book your place or obtain more details of the festival.

 

Irish Concerts

Some of us visited the Ann Breen Concert mentioned in the last newsletter. We had a great night of entertainment from Ann and two guitarists with the music from either backing tracks or from a MIDI Arranger, those of you who weren't there missed a great night. A few days later some of us visited Bolton Irish Club for a late night of accordion music featuring Seamus Shannon and P.J. Murrihy. This was another fantastic night which didn't finish until about 12.45am. Seamus will be our guest artist one night, but I am still trying to find him in the country and available when we have a suitable night.

 

Club Membership

This newsletter is 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 in December or at the January concert night. Your newsletter has the year which 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.

Jazz And Swing Organ Plus Accordion Events

Alan Venn will be organising another organ and accordion weekend with Harry Hussey at the Mount Hotel Blackpool from the 6th to the 9th of November 2003. The same venue will also feature Harry from the 27th to the 29th of April for the Jazz and Swing event, and from the 29th of April to the 1st of May for the Accordion part of the event. Further details or a booking form can be obtained from Alan Venn on 01204 840279.

A Captive Audience

Accordionist Jon Hammond will entertain inmates at the Women’s Facility, San Fransico County Jail #8 “Pod E” on Christmas Eve. The inmates are locked up in one the most “state-of-art-high-security” facilities and some will be confined to their quarters during the concert. Because of the shape of the “Pod” they will still be able to hear the performance quite clearly. Jon will perform a variety of Christmas favorites such as Mel Torme’s “Christmas Song”, Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” with Ronnie Smith (drums) and Alex Budman (tenor saxophone).

 

Adverts For The Newsletter

Don't forget to use the newsletter as your first source of advertising any accordion related items. If you have an accordion for sale then send me the details to get your free advert included in the next issue.

 

Keyview

Keyview is a programme on Radio Cavell on 1350AM, this is on the first Wednesdays of the month from 6pm to 7pm (just at the time you are getting ready to come to the club) with a repeat on the third Wednesday (again just before you visit the club). Ian Wolstenholme features organ music from theatre and pipe organs to todays digital keyboards and organs. Alan sometimes covers accordions, harpsichords and other instruments on his programme. The radio station which features music and celebrity interviews, has a website at www.keyview.org, or telephone Ian on 0161 628 4645

 

Ranco Antonio Accordions Distributor

Steve Roxton has been appointed as sole distributor of Ranco Antonio accordions for the UK, Southern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Isles. The name Ranco has always been renowned for producing superb quality accordions since 1890. Their range of piano accordions is impressive from 48 bass to their top of the range “Balkan Eagle Imperial King” Cassotto, which features super hand made reeds and a choice of musette or piccolo reeds, gold trim and and Eagle design which appears on the opened bellows. Steve will be using this model at the International Accordion Festival in Blackpool (19th -24th Feb 2003). He will also have another model from the range, a 96 bass 4 voice instrument with piccolo reeds that weighs in at only 9kg! This is an absolute boon for accordionists who do strolling work, who want a quality instrument without the weight, or for those of you looking for a quality lightweight accordion for general use. Enquiries and quotations about Ranco Accordions can be obtained by e-mailing steve@roxton.demon.co.uk or by telephoning 07797 719614.

 

Essential Guide To Accordion And Harmonica Events

A new book entitled “Walshe Essential Guide to Accordion and Harmonica Events: Festivals and Competitions Worldwide” enumerates and characterizes the most important festivals and competitions in English. For many years, Willoughby Ann Walshe, American journalist, passionate accordionist, and technical book author has collected all kinds of information pertaining to events available worldwide. She worked closely with publisher Ulrich Schmülling at Karthause-Schmülling Internationale Musikverlage to present a maximum amount of information into a clearly organized and easy-to-use format. This book covers Festivals (folk, musette, varieté, tango, cajun and zydeco, classical, and modern music combined with concert series, accordion cruises, Advent and Christmas celebrations, dancing, and singing), Competitions (for soloists, duos, ensembles, orchestras, and compositions), Gatherings (with learning experiences through seminars and workshops, entertainment by amateurs and professionals, new contacts, good food, sightseeing tours, exhibitions), and Harmonica Instruments (piano accordions, chromatic accordions, diatonic accordions, concertinas, bandoneons, harmonicas, and their many variations). There are over 350 events organized regularly in 45 countries on 5 continents around the world, these are listed along with contact information. For further information or to add an event, email the Karthause-Schmülling Publishing Corporation at: verlag@karthause-schmuelling.de

 

Pontins Irish Week

There will be an Irish week at Pontins Southport from the 19th to the 26th of July. This is an annual event which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Players at the event include top Irish artists and dancers, some of which will include well known accordionists. For further details, contact Pontins on 0870 604 5606 but don't bother ringing until the end of January, they don't have any further details at the moment. You can also visit www.pontins.com website for further details of this or any of the other themed events run at Pontins.

 

 

This Wednesday

This Wednesday is our last meeting of the year, the last chance to see everybody before Christmas and swap Christmas cards. It was decided at our last practice night that we are going to have a Jacobs Join on Wednesday, for those of you who don't know the term it's where people bring along a donation of food such as sandwiches, minced pies, sausage rolls or something else suitable for a buffet. All the food is put together and we have a feast at half time. If you can't cook and haven't brought along some crisps or pork pies then you won't be barred at the door but all donations will be welcome from those of you who can help. Don't forget to bring along your accordions, I have asked a player or two to see if they can make their debut onWednesday before it gets to the end of 2002 but I'm not putting pressure on anyone. If you have not played at the club before, or if you don't normally play, then this is your last chance before the end of the year. I look forward to seeing you there on Wednesday.

 

 

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