Our September Concert
Our September concert started with David Rigby playing Que Sera Sera, Snow Waltz, On Top Of Old Smoky, Mountains Of Mourne, The Wild Rover, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Highland Cathedral and The Spinning Wheel. Our next players were Bernard Bamber and Patrick Halpin, they started with Forty Shades Of Green, Galway Bay and The Wild Rover. The duo continued with Tennessee Waltz before bursting in to song with It’s a Long Way To Tipperary, Pack Up Your Troubles, You Are My Sunshine, Goodnight Irene, Deep In The Heart Of Texas, Red River Valley, Galway Bay, These Are My Mountains and Fields Of Athenry. After some entertaining playing and microphone techniques from Bernard and Patrick, we continued with Graham Crow playing The Clapping Song, Kalinka, Parade Of The Cossacks, Midnight In Moscow, Gathering Peas Cods, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Scotch On The Rocks, Monte Carlo Or Bust, Jumping Cactus and Viva Espana. Next on the stage was Rebecca playing Largo, Moon River, Bianca Capana and finally a Plaisir D’Amour duet with David. It was time for Colin Ensor to entertain us. Colin played Cruising Down The River, If I had My Way, Alverta, Ashokan Farewell, The Dark Island, Sailing By, Charmaine, Footsteps Of A Fool, For Old Times Sake and Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain. Sara Daly then took to the stage and gave us Wooden Heart, Que Sera Sera, John Peel, Spinning Wheel, Scottish Soldier, Once upon a December and Music Of The Night. It was getting close to the end of the night now, I was last to play, I started with Alpine Breezes, then continued with Return To Sorrento, Fleur De Paris, Blackpool Belle, Bless This House and finally to close the evening I finished off the night with Land Of Hope And Glory.
David Batty
This Wednesday
This Wednesday is a guest artist night featuring the John Stuart Trio who will be coming down from Scotland to entertain us, they will be supported by performances from our local players. Please do come along and support the trio, this promises to be a very musical night with plenty of jigs, reels, ceilidh music and other Scottishy type musical entertainment. The trio will have their new CD North Of The Grampians on sale for £10. The doors open on Wednesday night at 7.30pm for a prompt 8pm start. Please come along for a night of musical entertainment and socialising. Please bring along your friends and anyone who might be interested in attending. If you see someone you don’t know then please say hello and make them welcome to the club. See you on Wednesday.
Foster and Allen New CD
Foster and Allen have released a New CD celebrating 40 years of the duo, The new CD has been title “Celebration” Can be bought on Amazon. Foster and Allen are also touring the UK in October and November, Local Venues and Dates are as follows:
10th Nov – The Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, 0151 666 0000
11th Nov – Lowther Pavilion, Lytham St Annes, 01253 794221
14th Nov – The Prince of Wales Centre, Cannock, 01543 578762
17th Nov – The Plaza, Stockport, 0161 477 7779
18th Nov – Theatre Royal, St Helens, 01744 756000
Southport Love Folk Festival
The Atkinson are organising the “Love Folk” Festival on Friday 12 February 2016 – Saturday 13 February 2016 For the second year The Atkinson are celebrating new, upcoming and traditional folk and roots music across 2 days. The 2 Day Schedule: Friday 12 February from 7pm Bothy Folk Club, 8pm – Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle. Saturday 13 February from 12pm Bothy Folk Club, 1pm- Elbow Jane (Band) , 2.45pm- Ange Hardy 4.30pm- Will Pound (Harmonica) & Eddie Jay (Accordion) , Bothy Folk Club, 7pm- Sheelanagig (Band) , 8.45pm- Seth Lakeman (Solo). Early Bird Festival Tickets: (Limited availability until 30 November) : £36 Festival Tickets: ( from 1 December ): £41 For More Information and to book visit www.theatkinson.co.uk/special-event/love-folk-festival or Telephone 01704 533 333
Change To Our November Concert Night
Our 18th of November concert night has hit a snag. The guest artist booked can’t make it so we may have a guest artist, or it will be a local players night. I will ask for opinions on Wednesday night.
Christmas Party
Now is a good time to start brushing up on Christmas tunes and party pieces for our Christmas party in December. Remember you can also bring along another instrument or perform your non accordion party piece in December, its an anything goes night.
John Leslie
John Leslie of Accordions of London passed away on 27th September after a long illness. John was born in Wales on 1st September 1935 and studied the accordion with Eddie Harris in London until the age of 18, John became a full time professional accordionist at the age of 20, recording and broadcasting for the BBC and many record companies. John first performed on TV when he was 12 years old, appearing in the ‘Picture Page’ program, and with Peter Brough on ‘Educating Archie’. John played on backing tracks for films such as ‘Indiana Jones’ and on several Disney movies, recorded with fellow accordionists Jack Emblow, Mickey Binelli and Eddie Harris, and worked with Max Bygraves, Donald Sinden, Una Stubbs, and Tommy Cooper. He was the first appointed teacher of accordion at Kingston University, Surrey, where he guided Amanda Tyson and Julie North through the performance requirements for the B.A. Hons. Degree; he was also an accordion teacher at Nene College, Head of Musical Studies for a specialist course at Portsmouth University and the only accordion teacher to work at the famous Purcell School of Music. John has conducted many workshops and master classes at festivals such as Caister and St Audries Bay, where he was always willing to share his considerable knowledge of music and the accordion. John was the father of eight children and a grandfather. A 10 minutes YouTube video uploaded in 2012 features an interview with John talking about Kilburn High Road, The Video can be found at https://youtu.be/8t2HrQUUujk
The Music and The Land Book
Scottish Accordionist Freeland Barbour has just released a book called “The Music and The Land” The Book contains over 400 tunes, as well as explanations of the people, places and as often as not, landscapes which inspired them. The book has been in gestation for more than 30 years but can be traced back to an evening in his native Highland Perthshire. “About 35 years ago,” he explains, “I was sitting on a dyke above Glen Fincastle where I come from, on a beautiful September evening, looking north to the hills above Blair Athol, and I was thinking what a fantastic scene it was and I wrote a little air there and then, The Hills of Atholl. Then I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a representation of the place to go with the music?’” The idea remained at the back of his mind until he became an accordion tutor at the newly launched Scottish music BA degree course at the RSAMD, which, among other things, made funds available for staff development and the concept of the book was dusted down. Around then, however, he bought Castlesound studios in Pencaitland from producer Calum Malcolm, which occupied much of his time. In recent years, however, he has stepped back from the day-to-day running of the studio, enabling him to get on with the book. “It’s much bigger than I ever intended,” he says, “because during all those years that went by I was still writing music.” He’s delighted, however, with the resulting two handsome volumes (due to be joined by a smaller paperback collection of bagpiper arrangements of some 60 of his tunes). As well as the photographers, he pays tribute to pianist Jane Gardner, who put all his music into Sibelius software for the book. Barbour has divided the collection geographically into regions of Scotland, and as his musical roving hasn’t been confined by any means to Scotland, there are chapters dealing with England, Ireland, Scandinavia and North America. The Two Volume Book costs £60 and can be bought from the Publishers Birlinn online at www.birlinn.co.uk/Music-and-the-Land.html
Happy Birthday Copyright Ruling
A judge has ruled that ‘Happy Birthday’ is in the public domain, meaning the music publishing company that has been collecting royalties on the song’s use for years does not hold a valid copyright on the lyrics. The original copyright of what has become one of the world’s most widely sung songs was obtained by the Clayton F. Summy Co. from the song’s writers. But U.S. District Judge George H. King ruled that this only covered the tune’s musical arrangement and not the lyrics. King’s decision comes in a lawsuit filed two years ago by Good Morning To You Productions Corp., which is working on a documentary film tentatively titled ‘Happy Birthday.’ The company challenged the copyright now held by Warner/Chappell Music Inc., arguing that the song should be ‘dedicated to public use and in the public domain.’ In a 43-page ruling, King concluded: ‘Because Summy Co. never acquired the rights to the ‘Happy Birthday’ lyrics, defendants, as Summy Co.’s purported successors-in-interest, do not own a valid copyright in the Happy Birthday lyrics.’ The lawsuit also asked for monetary damages and restitution of more than $5 million in licensing fees that it said Warner/Chappell had collected from thousands of people and groups who have paid to use the song over the years. Warner/Chappell has said it doesn’t try to collect royalties from just anyone singing the song but those who use it in a commercial enterprise. In a statement following the ruling, Warner/Chappell said: ‘We are looking at the court’s lengthy opinion and considering our options,’ Warner/Chappell said.’ In his ruling, King went into great detail about the history of ‘Happy Birthday To You,’ which he said was derived from another popular children’s song, ‘Good Morning to All.’ That song was written by sisters Mildred Hill and Patty Hill sometime before 1893, the judge said, adding that the sisters assigned the rights to it and other songs to Clayton F. Summy. Summy then copyrighted and published them in a book titled ‘Song Stories for the Kindergarten.’ ‘The origins of the lyrics to Happy Birthday (the ‘Happy Birthday lyrics’) are less clear,’ King continued, adding the first known reference to them appeared in a 1901 article in the Inland Educator and Indiana School Journal. The full lyrics themselves, he said, did not appear in print until 1911. Since then, they have become the most famous lyrics in the English language, according to Guinness World Records. The song is also sung in countless other languages around the world. Warner/Chappell, which eventually acquired the song’s copyright from Summy, argued that its predecessor had registered a copyright to ‘Happy Birthday To You’ in 1935 that gave it the rights to all of the song. ‘Our record does not contain any contractual agreement from 1935 or before between the Hill sisters and Summy Co. concerning the publication and registration of these works,’ the judge said.