Our May Concert
Our May concert started with Colin Ensor playing Please, Domino and Ashokan Farewell. Our next player Ann Parker played Beautiful Days and Roundabout. Sara Daly then took to the stage playing Envikens Waltz and A Granddaughters Dreams. It was now time for our guest artists Julie Best and Jean Corrighan to start their first half. They started with Lolita, which was followed by Happy Go Lucky, Bellevalsen, Hatikvah, Havah Nagilah and Casatschok. Jean then played a solo Band Of Brothers before carrying on with Julie playing Anchors Aweigh. Julie then had her own solo spot with Theme from Maigret. The pair returned to playing together with Accordion Trophee, Tarantella and Avolesa. Julie then played Tritsh Tratsh Polka before being joined by Jean playing Moon River, Woodland Flowers, The Ornithologist, Dancing Fingers and Ranchero Argentina. After the break we continued the entertainment with Bernard Bamber playing If You Were The Only Girl In the World, Music Music Music and Lili Marlene. Our next player was Helen Rich playing Gypsy Mood, Chanson D’Amour and Cubanara. Before our guest artists returned to the stage I managed to fit in Black Mask Waltz and Sailors Hornpipe. Julie and Jean then returned for their second half and started with Trink Trink Bruderlein Trink, Accordion Polka, Pigalle and Under The Bridges Of Paris. Julies next piece was a rendition of Hungarian Dance No5 played with Jean, this was followed by Forgotten Dreams, Memories of Willie Snaith, Bonanza 2 Step, Bowden Moor, Blaydon Races Medley, Ole Caballero and Windmills Of your Mind. We were getting near to the end of the night now and time for March Uedette, Andrew Rankine’s Compliments to Jimmy Clinkscale, O Sole Mio, Randonnee au Tyrol finally, to finish a great night, Marcha Espanola. As usual we hade been thoroughly entertained by Jean and Julie and look forward to them returning to the club in the not too distant future.
David Batty
This Wednesday
This Wednesday is one of our local players concerts featuring performances from members of the club and visitors. For those who are not used to playing on stage then this is an ideal night to bring your accordion along and give us a tune. Established players we also look forward to hearing you playing and entertaining us. Why not think of a joke or two to slot in your act between pieces, we can either laugh at the best or groan at the worst ones. The doors open on Wednesday night at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. If you see someone you don’t know then please say hello and make them welcome to the club. I had a couple of enquiries about the club this week so we might have a new face or two if we are lucky and both of them are players too. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday
Sheet Music and Tapes
We still have sheet music that is available to look though and take what you like. There are also a few accordion tapes that are free to take from the newsletter table at the club. If you have any unwanted sheet music then please consider donating it to our sheet music pile at the club for others to browse, thank you.
Accordion For Sale
Excelsior 120 bass, about 3.5 years old, only very light use, comes with a Hohner gig bag. The accordion cost about £3,300 new. It is for sale at £1,900. Contact Val on 0151 630 0391 (Evening Only).
Midi Systems at the Club
Most people play acoustic accordion at the club but now we have one Roland electronic player and three members with MIDI setups. You have heard my MIDI setup at the club, hopefully soon you will hear one or two more. MIDI expanders might not make the accordion a purists instrument but it certainly gives it appeal when played at larger events for the public. Hopefully the others who have MIDI will give it an outing at the club in the near future.
Lancashire Music Hub Presents BBC 10 Pieces Concert
On Wednesday 1st of July 2015 19:00 Lancashire Music Hub presents: BBC ‘Ten Pieces’ Summer Concert featuring Mars from Gustav Holt’s Planet Suite In an exciting new project about classical music and creativity that is open to every primary school in the country. This collaboration between the BBC, music hubs and arts organisations has taken place over 10 months between October 2014 and July 2015 culminating in this Summer Celebration Concert. Ten Pieces aims to open up the world of classical music to children – and inspire them to develop their own creative responses to the pieces through music, dance or digital art. From complete beginners to semi-professional standard, the BBC ‘Ten Pieces’ will see 500 young people of varying abilities perform alongside professional musicians. For many of the young musicians involved, this summer concert will be their first experience of playing alongside professional musicians. This concert promises to be a truly memorable experience for participants and audience alike! Featuring: Lancashire Youth/Schools’ Symphony Orchestras, Lancashire Youth/Schools’ Concert Bands, North/Central/South Region Music Centre Groups, East Region Music Centre Groups, Youth Orbit, Bay Beat, LYVE Choir, Massed Primary School Choir. Tickets to the above event are £7.00 with concession at £4.00 and Childrens admission £4.00. For more information telephone 01772 80 44 44
Accordion Lessons
Group Accordion Lessons are being offered by Bolton Music Services at a cost of £5 for 1.5 hours, the lesson will be during office hours and need at least 6 people for the lessons to go ahead. If you are interested in taking part in this then contact Paul Wightman who will arrange the lessons with Bolton Music Services. Paul can be contacted on 07762 905321.
Brendan McPhee Video Removed (by The Press and Journal)
A rising Highland accordion player’s hit online video has been pulled following a copyright row. Caithness musician Brandon McPhee, 18, has apologised to fans after racking up more than 70,000 views in a matter of days. He plans to put up the same three reels on his social media site today but with different footage from his official DVD. A clip of Brandon playing Jean’s Reel, High Level Hornpipe and President Garfield was unknowingly put on his page by a fan. It was footage showed him a couple of years ago while launching a DVD in Wick. It had been posted at the time by another fan but removed following objections from Brandon’s record company. However, while it was up it was copied by another follower who has re-posted the film resulting in 10,000 views per day. Robert Cameron of Pan Records revealed that the original owner of the footage had complained and the clip was removed on Saturday. He said: “We had no problem when the clip was posted a few days ago. It was only at the time of the DVD launch we had concerns. It was getting 8,000 to 10,000 hits a day which was phenomenal. “But we are putting our own clip of the reels up and hope it proves as popular. It would be great to get over 100,000 views in total.” Brandon, of Castletown, says on his site: “I would like to thank each and every one of you for liking, viewing and commenting on the recent video of mine that was going around – I was over the moon. “This clip was on before, and was illegally recorded and posted up without permission.” Brandon has already sold thousands of records, gets fan mail from around the world and has won every major accordion competition in Scotland. He recorded his first album at the age of 11, just six months after taking up the instrument. He learned at his grandfather Donald’s knee. “I don’t remember too much about it but my grandad said I watched his fingers and how he worked the accordion,” Brandon said. “My uncle Daniel gave me my first lessons and I really learnt from him. I just love playing Scottish traditional music. Pop music is great but it’s not on my playlist.” You can watch the New video Brandon uploaded here www.goo.gl/u8Aw1o the video has amassed 51,000 views since being uploaded on 20th May.
Guns and Roses Accordion Cover
The Bassists from Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses have got together and created a cover of the Guns N’ Roses song Sweet Child O’ Mine with a difference, Krist Novoselic from Nirvana is playing the Accordion and Duff Mckagan from Guns N’ Roses is playing the Bass Guitar. The cover song was performed at a release party for Duff Mckagan new memoir called “How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions)” at Seattle’s Neptune Theatre. The cover song was recorded by someone in the Audience and uploaded to YouTube, you can watch the duo here https://youtu.be/QQ8Jz8Flw5Q If you’d like to see what the original sounded like you can watch that here https://youtu.be/1w7OgIMMRc4
Jonn Spiers Concert Ormskirk
Thursday 8th October 8.00pm John Spiers is performing at The Rose Theatre in Ormskirk. John is a melodeon and concertina player with a passion for traditional music. He is mainly self-taught and influenced by both local musicians and leading players in the folk world. John is also a composer and many of his tunes have been adopted and played in music sessions up and down the country. After leaving university John met up with Jon Boden and the pair quickly formed an intuitive partnership. From 2001-2004 the duo’s popularity rose from folk clubs to festival crowd-pleasers. It was during this period that John joined forces with Eliza Carthy and toured all over Europe and Australia. The duo with Jon Boden was eventually expanded for a project that became known as Bellowhead. This 11 piece folk big-band has risen to the top of the folk world and crossed over into the realms of mainstream music. Up until 2014, Spiers and Boden also continued to tour successfully and have produced 6 studio albums. Mixing infectious dance tunes with incredibly sensitive and moving slow airs, John’s solo shows are a mixture of traditional material and his own compositions, interspersed with humorous and informative banter. Tickets £12 / £10 concessions /£5 Edge Hill University students To Buy Tickets visit www.edgehill.ac.uk/events/2015/10/08/john-spiers/ Or call 01695 584480 Rose Theatre, The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 4QP.
Michael Late Accordion Magic Trick
Britain’s Got Talent last audition show on Saturday 23rd June included Austrian Magician Michael Late. Michael’s act was Austrian themed, part of his act was himself climbing into an overside Accordion, his assistants vanishing the bottom half of his body, before returning his body to normal and Michael climbing out of the accordion. The Judges enjoyed Michaels act and put him though to the live semi-finals. Michael performed in the semi finals on Tuesday 26th May, his act this time didn’t feature an accordion but did feature Austrian Music which was mainly accordion. You can watch Michaels Audition here http://youtu.be/2EITyWroNBc and his semi-finale act here http://youtu.be/Et5TfHDVQ4o Michael came in 7th in his semi-finale show and therefore did not get though to the live finale.
Accordions For Sale
Scandalli (Red), Compact 96 Bass, Custom Built, Handmade Reeds, 37 Treble Keys – 3 Voice, 7 Treble & 2 Bass Couplers, £900 ono .
Galotta (Red), 72 Bass, 34 Treble Keys – 3 Voice, 5 Treble & 3 Bass Couplers, £650 ono. If you are interested in any of these accordions contact Ann Tel: 01772 864887