21-Feb-09 jiva In Concert - Seaton Delaval Arts Centre

The Seaton Delaval Arts Centre is a relatively new venue - enterprising enthusiasts are turning the ex Salvation Army hall into a recognised North East England performance venue. They present a wide variety of performances including pantomimes, choirs, ceilidhs, acoustic music, traditional, contemporary, rock... they have spent many thousands of pounds on refurbishing the building, installing modern facilities and lighting and sound systems. They have a stage complete with curtains, backdrops, etc and can accommodate the audience in cabaret style around small tables complete with nibbles and candles or with theatre style raked seating.

So when when they contacted us in 2008 asking if we'd play there we were pleased to accept the invitation. And what a good night it turned out to be: we had our state of the art Bose L1 sound system set up cente stage to provide crystal clear sound, and it did the job magnificently.

Jim Wigfield kicked the evening off with a medley of classic songs, then performed his own material including favourites such as 'Dilemma - The Age To Retire', 'The Wee Christmas Present', 'iPod World', 'The Chicken Song' and 'What A Friend I Have In jiva'... well done Jim, great to have you on board, and glad to hear you sold a few 'Jim Wigfield - At Last' CDs too!

jiva then took the stage for their first set - a confident mixture of some upbeat and some gentle jiva treatments of songs by some of our favourite writers and performers:

• 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith)
• 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson, Magna Carta)
• An Acquaintance Of Mine (Anthony John Clarke)
• Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Bob Dylan)
• Sonny (Ron Hynes)

After a short break, including the obligatory raffle and the opportunity to buy Jim's CD, jiva were back on stage with a longer second set with a mixture of self-penned and cover songs... and even dual 12-string guitars for two numbers!

• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Passin' Thru (Johnny Cash & Randy Scruggs)
• Best Friends (jiva)
• Yorkshire Romance (C J Rowe)
• Dream On (jiva)
• No Telling (Linda Thompson)
• Back Again (Allan Taylor)
• Small Town (jiva)

Then we called Jim Wigfield back on stage to sing his 'South Shields' - a song from his album where all three of us play guitar! So, we re-created that sound with Jim singing and playing 6-string, Val playing 12-string and Jimmy playing 6-string. The finishing post was then in sight as jiva played two more songs:

• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)

Following shouts for more we closed the night with the singing competition - "Women sing louder/better than the men" from Jimmy, "Men sing better/louder than women" from Val... and "Just sing twice as loud as the person next to you"!

• One More Song (jiva)

Many thanks to all who attended the concert, not only personal friends but also friends from MySpace and the Folk Show community ning... thanks also for the very kind and positive comments, and a special thank you to Jim Wigfield for starting the evening as only Jim can. Let's do it again sometime and let's see more of the Folk Show community performing there...

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Seaton Delaval Arts Centre website
Jim Wigfield MySpace

13-Feb-09 Carlisle Folk & Blues Club

Wow! What a great night. We went along to the Carlisle Folk & Blues Club (125 mile round trip) to see one of our favourite singer-songwriters, Anthony John Clarke.

The room was packed and Anthony John, as usual, was on top form - we just can't get enough of him. He had the audience 'eating out of the palm of his hand' and we all loved joining in gustily where requested.

If you ever get the chance to see this man then take it.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Anthony John Clarke
Carlisle Folk & Blues Club

10-Feb-09 Cramlington Folk Club

Another good night at this busy and popular folk club in the north east.

We were pleased to have Terry Ferdinand (Bishop FM) and his wife, Catherine, pay a special visit to the club - after a cup of tea and a choccy biscuit at our house. Also up from Bishop Auckland were two thirds of Tri (Phil Graham and David Pratt).

Lots of the usual regulars in attendance and a great mix of styles.

We played 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor) and 'Passin' Thru' (Randy Scruggs/Johnny Cash). There was some grand joining in by the renowned Cramlington Choir - thanks, it was great.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club

07-Feb-09 Comrades Club, Whitley Bay

This was the fifth quarterly acoustic music evening run by John Jeffrey - and acoustic means just that, no PA even though the room is quite large.

There was an interesting mix of performers, mainly solo artistes (2 songs each) in the first half and duos/bands (three songs/tunesets each) in the second. It was good to see so many of our musician friends there - Mike Jessop, Maurice Baker, Dennis Jorgensen, Phil Graham & David Pratt (two thirds of Tri), Few Broth... an eclectic mix of genres and styles. Well done everyone.

We chose songs exemplifying the jiva sound - Val on the Taylor 855 12-string (Missy) and Jimmy on the Taylor 910CE-L7 (Rio)... we played 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor), 'Passin Thru' (Johnny Cash & Randy Scruggs) and our very own 'One More Song' (jiva). It was great to hear lots of joining in with choruses, and the men versus women competition in 'One More Song' was brilliant! Thanks to everyone who joined in.

Hats off to John for organising these events, they are now firmly established in the club and are becoming known about further afield as the word spreads.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

07-Feb-09 MINDActive

It's been a couple of years since we played at this residential care home in Ashington. There were some residents that we remembered from previous visits and some new faces too.

As usual in our care home performances we played a total of ten songs in our two 30-minute spots. Today there were four self-penned songs in the set - it's good that our own material sits well alongside the carefully chosen songs by professionals that we really like, and it's moving to have the smiling faces and foot tapping and some joining in when we close (as usual) with 'One More Song'. We normally have a little competition to see whether the men or women sing best/loudest, but today it was an all female group - so we resorted to women versus the budgie!.

One of the ladies was particularly fascinated by our Taylor guitars, admiring the beautiful inlays on the fretboard.

After many thank yous and positive comments and requests for us to come back again we headed home feeling happy and humbled all in one.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
MINDActive website

05-Feb-09 Acoustica at The Bridge in Newcastle

We went out to The Bridge in Newcastle to catch up with our friends Acoustica (Andy & Cath). Andy plays various guitars and Cath plays guitar, violin and accordion (mustn't forget the shaky eggs!) and, of course, they both sing too. It was a grand night and they were ably supported by John Brindle & Dennis Makepeace.

The room filled up nicely and there was a good atmosphere. The audience included the likes of Terry Ferdinand and Catherine, Trev and Brian of Few Broth, Chris Milner and other friends from the local music scene.

We were treated to some great music and got to hear (and play before the show) Andy's Nashville tuned small-bodied Yamaha guitar - certainly makes a very interesting sound... something we will look at trying out in the jiva camp!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Acoustica website

03-Feb-09 Croxdale Folk Club

First visit this year to Croxdale. A fairly quiet night again with only 5 performers and a few audience. Always good to catch up with Terry Ferdinand of Bishop FM radio who is a regular audience member.

We played six songs, mostly our own for a change - 'Dream On' (jiva), 'Sonny' (Ron Hynes), 'Different Dreams' (jiva), 'Some Way Home' (jiva), 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor) and finished the night with 'One More Song' (jiva). Although numbers were lacking there was some good joining in on the chorusy bits.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Croxdale Folk Club MySpace
Terry Ferdinand MySpace
BishopFM

02-Feb-09 - jiva On Video

We recently found this video on YouTube - it's us performing 'Two Old Friends' at Borders. Many thanks to North East Live for organising the show and for the video.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace