31-Mar-09 Cathryn Craig & Brian Willoughby at Cramlington Folk Club

We were one of the two support acts for Cathryn Craig & Brian Willoughby at "The Clurb of Lurve" as Cathryn calls Cramlington. Audience numbers were swelled by newcomers to the club there specifically to see Cathryn and Brian.

What superb performers and what lovely people... it felt as though we'd known them for ever... Brian was without Rosie, his custom Gibson acoustic (in with luthier Mark Challinor for repair), and so Esther was his instrument for most of the evening alongside Cathryn's Elizabeth.

Club organiser Keith got proceedings underway bang on 8:00pm - club policy is to start on time even if it means latecomers may miss some of the early music... good on you Keith, we enthusiastically support this initiative. First up was jiva and, because of Keith's prompt start we were asked for 4 songs in the first half and 2 in the second. Our sets were:

• 'Love At The Five And Dime' (Nanci Griffith)
• 'Dream On' (jiva)
• 'Best Friends' (jiva)
• 'I Am Not Afraid' (jiva)

• 'When' (jiva)
• 'One More Song' (jiva)

We were well pleased with the audience response, and the Cramlington Choir did us proud by singing along at every opportunity.

John Richardson and Dave Page (who also manned the sound desk) were the second support act, also doing spots of 4 and 2, again with choruses being taken up by the audience. They even managed to find a quiet Kieran Halpin song - lovely stuff...

But, what of the main guests, Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby? They were awesome - super talented writers and performers - guitar playing wizardry and soaring vocals ranging through jaw-dropping instrumentals, rhythmic gutsy songs, an American traditional song, heart-aching gentle songs too... mix this with good natured banter and background stories of their lives and music and you'll get an idea of how enjoyable the night was... during the break Jimmy requested 'Two Hearts, One Love' and Cathryn announced it as being for jiva, congratulating us on our 'beautiful music' and our forthcoming wedding. They also took time to congratulate Keith and Audrey on their 50th wedding anniversary by playing 'For Evermore' - absolutely lovely!

Mike Jessop wrote a full review for the Cramlington Folk Club website - read it here.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club
Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby

28-Mar-09 Comrades Club, Whitley Bay

A special music evening put on by John Jeffrey in celebration of his 'big' birthday.

There was a good turnout of family, friends and musicians to help celebrate. The performers were John himself, Fraser Littlewood, Mike Jessop, Maurice Baker, Gerry Beldon and family, Beeswing, Phil Graham & David Pratt (two thirds of Tri), Shearwater, ourselves and finally Acoustica. Solo performers were given two songs with duos, etc being given 18-minute slots... with a little more for the last act of the night. John managed to keep most of the performers to their time allocations, and Acoustica finished the evening in style and pretty much bang on time... well done!

We played 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor), 'Passin Thru' (Johnny Cash & Randy Scruggs), our latest song 'When' (jiva) finishing off with 'One More Song' (jiva). Again we had the whole room joining in with the choruses and the men versus women competition for 'One More Song' was great fun. Thanks to everyone who joined in.

John does a great job organising these events and promoting live music - hats off to you, John... what you're doing is very much appreciated and you deserve an extra round of applause.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

27-Mar-09 MIND Active

Third time at this home in Stakeford. We were made to feel very welcome by the Activities Co-Ordinator and the residents who had come to listen to us. Donald was enjoying himself enormously joining in at all the right places and singing along with us. As usual we had two 30-minute spots (we always have a short break for a gargle and re-tune of the guitars) and we sang:

• 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor)
• 'Passin' Thru' (Randy Scruggs and Johnny Cash)
• 'Dream On' (jiva)
• 'Yorkshire Romance' (C. J. Rowe)
• 'Sonny' (Ron Hynes)

• 'Love At The Five And Dime' (Nanci Griffith)
• 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson')
• 'Different Dreams' (jiva)
• 'When' (jiva)
• 'One More Song' (jiva)

There were smiling faces, tapping feet and some great joining in with the final 'One More Song'. Marvellous.After many thankyous and positive comments we headed home feeling very content. One ladyresident commented "That's just what the doctor ordered"!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
MINDActive website

26-Mar-09 Anthony John Clarke At Gregson Lane Folk Club

After our night at The Clarence Folk Club in Blackpool (25 March) we stayed over in Blackburn and spent the following day driving around, visting Oswaldtwistle and Burnley, avoiding the showers while shopping, checking emails at the library and having a Chinese meal.

In the evening we drove to Gregson Lane Folk Club in Hoghton to see Anthony John Clarke in action. We'd not been to this club before - we weren't playing as the support had already been pre-arranged and there were no spots available - but It's always good to visit new clubs. It was a very busy night - standing room only - and we'd persuaded two friends (Barbara and Barry) to come along, promising to refund their money if they didn't enjoy it!

Anthony John was, as usual, on good form and playing with him were not only Elizabeth van der Waal on keyboard and vocals (we have seen her play with him a few times before), but also his son, Conor, on bass guitar and vocals! It made for an interesting sound as we'd not heard Anthony John's 'band' before. At one stage a couple got up and danced to 'Walking On Sunday' and Anthony John invited a friend to join the band on guitar and vocal for 'An Acquaintance Of Mine'. It was a super night, enjoyed by one and all... and our friends? No question, our money was safe... and Anthony John has some more new fans.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Anthony John Clarke website
Gregson Lane Folk Club website

25-Mar-09 The Clarence Folk Club, Blackpool

We had been asked by our Lancashire friends Penny Black if we would take part in a special evening they were putting on at The Clarence Folk Club... we were delighted to say 'Yes'. They were taking over the club for the evening and along with jiva there were also slots from Gwen Hechle and Steve Ferguson, two performers we had met last year at Oswaldtwistle Mills and Fleetwood. Penny Black then took over for the second half of the evening with their Lancashire humour and some whirlwind banjo playing from Pete.

It's a three hour drive to Blackpool but it was worth every mile. We were given a 30-minute slot and had a great time. We were well received by the audience... they sang along heartily in all the right places and listened attentively in the quiter parts too. We had our by now customary competition with 'One More Song' which was great fun - it's always great to have the audience gustily joining in and, wow, the Clarence folk were super! It was good to meet and say 'Hi' again to Ann who normally runs the Clarence Folk Club (we had been to the club last year to take part in an Allan Taylor theme night').

Before the show we were treated to fish and chips at The Cottage - reputedly the best fish and chip shop in the country (well at least in the county) - by Anthony John Clarke and his friend John. We had mentioned to Anthony John when we saw him at the Davy Lamp Club in Washington that we were going to be at the Clarence and he said he'd try and get over to see us, and he was as good as his word.

We performed mostly our own songs:

• 'Love At The Five And Dime' (Nanci Griffith)
• 'Best Friends' (jiva)
• 'Different Dreams' (jiva)
• 'Some Way Home' (jiva)
• 'One More Song' (jiva)

We received a lot of positive comments afterwards from the audience and were chuffed to bits when Anthony John said that he thought 'Best Friends' is a "belter of a song".

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
The Clarence MySpace

24-Mar-09 Croxdale Folk Club

It was a good night at Croxdale with a first time visit from our friend Jim Wigfield. Other performers included Rebekah Findlay, Tony Bengtsson and his girlfriend Anna, Phil Graham, Fred Brierley, Chris Milner and two others - sorry can't remember their names but we have seen them before at the Candlelite in Newton Aycliffe.

As always it was good to catch up with Terry Ferdinand of Bishop fm radio who is a regular audience member together with his wife Catherine.

But our main reason for being at Croxdale this evening was to say farewell to Timi. It was her last night in England before flying off to Dublin the following day for the next step in her adventure.

We played four songs this evening.. 'Love At The Five And Dime' (Nanci Griffith) and ''Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson) for our first turn, and host John asked us to finish the night - and we happily obliged with our latest song 'When' (jiva) and, dedicated to Timi, 'One More Song' (jiva) - some great joining in and the end to a good night at Croxdale.

Further icing on the cake was that, as we were leaving, John asked if we'd do a full night later in the year... so we've agreed on 1st December as our first full guest night at Croxdale, but we'll be back a few times before then!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Croxdale Folk Club MySpace

23-Mar-09 Bishop fm Folk Show

Terry Ferdinand hosts The Folk Show for Bishop fm Radio, broadcast every Monday evening 21:00 to 23:00 GMT. This week we shared the guest spot with Gareth Davies-Jones, a talented professional singer/songwriter based in the north east of England.

The two hours flew by with live songs from Gareth, jiva and Phil Graham... plenty of good banter between the performers and Terry and Timi (including a debate on the pronunciation of "Tak-a-myne" or "Tak-a-meeny")... an eclectic playlist from professional, semi-professional, amateur performers and MySpace friends... even a visit from Chris Milner. Throughout there were emails flowing in full of praise for yet another great show. In addition to some juggling tuition for Terry, we performed:

• 'Different Dreams' (jiva)
• 'Some Way Home' (jiva)
• 'Best Friends' (jiva)
• 'Louise' (Paul Siebel)

Terry summed up with "Wow! Possibly the best show ever!" as we ran out of time for more music... does Terry need a three hour show?

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Terry Ferdinand MySpace
BishopFM
Gareth Davies-Jones website

21-Mar-09 Faldingworth Live

We were delighted to have been invited by Les Worrall, organiser of the Faldingworth Live club, to do a 30-minute support slot. The club is laid out concert style and takes place in the Faldingworth Memorial Hall in, yes you guessed it, Faldingworth which is in Lincolnshire. We were doing support to Maclaine Colston and Saul Rose, extremely talented musicians who play hammered dulcimer, guitar and piano accordions with great skill and dexterity.

For our 'graveyard shift' we sang mostly self-penned numbers and these were very well received. We had a marvellous response from the audience with many kind comments about how much our set was enjoyed. The audience were joining in at every opportunity and the room just swelled by the time we got to our last song 'One More Song'. Did the boys beat the girls? We think it was a draw.

Our full set was:

• 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith)
• 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson)
• 'Best Friends' (jiva)
• 'Different Dreams' (jiva)
• 'Some Way Home' (jiva)
• 'One More Song' (jiva)

Faldingworth Live is a fine example of what many venues would aspire to... efficient organisation, forward planning, solid publicity, warm welcome, great crew (food prior to the gig, drinks bar, sound crew, MC), accomodation - they have every angle covered, and it shows!

We thoroughly enjoyed playing at Faldingworth and hope to be back again.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Faldingworth Live website

20-Mar-09 PotHouse Folk Club

Wow - what an amazing and busy night! This club is run by three Hartlepool lads - The Young 'Uns - and from the off they had the crowd hooked and joining in with their chorus songs. If you ever get the chance to see The Young 'Uns be sure to take it... they're good.

Terry Ferdinand came along and Timi from Texas was there too, she was just blown away by the whole evening... the raw talent and camaraderie.

It was one song for everyone except duos (that was us) and we finished up the first half with two self-penned songs, 'When' and 'One More Song'. And well, what can we say about 'One More Song'? Everyone in the room joined in and really were trying to sing twice as loud as the person next to them. The room just rocked with multiple lead and harmony lines. Absolutely magic!

Thanks to Terry for recording with his Edirol pocket digital recorder - follow the link below:

Listen to 'One More Song' live at the PotHouse...

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
PotHouse website

18-Mar-09 Timi and Terry and Catherine

Timi is over from the USA visiting and meeting with a lot of her MySpace and Folk Show friends. We'd been looking forward for a number of weeks to her visit and so had pre-arranged that she and Terry and Catherine, who she is staying with for the week, should come to dinner so that we could finally meet and have a good old face to face chinwag! We had a lovely evening. Some good food (prepared by Val), good wine, good craic, and good music... we played a few songs at their request ... and they even asked for an encore!

Timi gave us the lowdown on her episode with the UK Immigration authorities at Manchester Airport, and how they phoned Terry at 07:00 to confirm that she was indeed a genuine visitor... and that she would be staying with Terry and Catherine... and that she'd be going on to Ireland... and that she'd be returning to Texas... sheesh! Welcome to England, Timi - let's hope everyone else is more friendly!

Terry and Catherine regaled us with tales from holidays in France, and mechanical breakdowns, and police, and fire engines, and terrorists, and some home truths about rural life and shotgun-wielding farmers etc... never a dull moment!

Jimmy even gave Terry some basic juggling lessons - wow, that'll make good radio! ... So be prepared for jokes about tossing balls around and perhaps even a video clip courtesy of Timi.

All too soon, time caught up with us - and, after a few hugs (real ones now, not just virtual) they set off for Bishop Auckland... thanks again for a memorable evening... we'll catch up with you all at the Pothouse Folk Club, and in the Bishop fm studio, and probably again at Croxfale Folk Club.

Timi is an avid supporter of Terry Ferdinand's Folk Show on Bishop fm and helps to promote his programme along with a lot of involvement with other music, most notably the Irish band The High Kings... she's off to Ireland next week to see them (a few times) at the Olympia. Have a great trip, Timi!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Timi MySpace

17-Mar-09 Cramlington Folk Club

Yet another very busy singers night at this popular folk club in the north east (19 singers)... too many to get everyone on! Start time is to be 8:00pm from now on.

Being St Patrick's day there was the occasional foray into something 'Irish' from some of the performers but despite club organiser, Keith Taylor, declaring that those who didn't do an Irish song/tune would be fined, quite a few of us strayed well away from the theme.

We played two of our self-penned songs this evening; 'Different Dreams' and our latest song 'When'. The Cramlington Choir were at their best... thanks.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club

15-Mar-09 Station Hotel Loftus, Hiring Fair Concert

Our second time at the Hiring Fair Concert (we were there last March as well). These are held every few months at the Station Hotel in addition to their Thursday night music sessions which are held every week.

There were 6 acts on today, each being given a 25-minute spot. First up was Paula Ryan from York, then us followed by J B Butterfield from Hartlepool. After the beer break it was the turn of The Master Colony... a rock group of talented young lads and very loud. They were followed by Phil Graham and then Barbara Helen who finished off the afternoon concert. We played mostly our own songs and our set list was:

• 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffiths)
• 'Best Friends' (jiva)
• 'Different Dreams' (jiva)
• 'Some Way Home' (jiva)
• 'When' (jiva)

The audience was mainly made up of the performers and their partners or parents but there were a few locals in the lounge as well and it was good to see Maggie Gee in the audience too. All in all a canny way to spend a Sunday afternoon and hats off to Tony Leonard who arranges these events and to Ian Swinburne and his wife who do a sterling job on the sound desk and video recording.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/loftusopenacoustic

14-Mar-09 Anthony John Clarke at The Davy Lamp

The Davy Lamp is held at the Arts Centre, Washington every Saturday night and always have a main guest booked. Tonight's guest was Anthony John Clarke and, as usual, he was on top form... we thoroughly enjoyed him. We've said it before and will keep saying it... if you ever get the chance to see this singer songwriter then don't miss out!

As usual the night kicked off with an informal session at the back of the room, followed by the resident 'band' performing a number of songs. Then Anthony John held the audience in his hand as he regaled us with stories and songs ranging from fun to tear-jerking - a great first set.

After the break, the second half started to form with one song each from a few more performers. The club boasts arguably the best sound man in the country, Ron Angus, and so we were confident that our sound would be good - we did our newest song 'When' (only second time out) and Anthony John told us that the people at the back were joining in. Wow! And then we were treated to another super set by Anthony John Clarke... this time, with the audience wrapped around his little finger, he had us all joining in at every opportunity - at times heartily and laughing and at other times gently. Unfortunately there was only time for one encore even though everyone clamoured for even more.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Anthony John Clarke website
Davy Lamp Folk Club website

10-Mar-09 Foggy Furze Folk Club

First visit by us in 2009 to this friendly folk club in Hartlepool. There was a fairish crowd this evening and a good mixture of songs sung a cappella and/or accompanied by mandolin, guitar, piano accordion and ukulele banjo.

For our first spot we began with Allan Taylor's 'Back Home To You' and then a first time outing for our newest song, 'When'. It's becoming a tradition that our new songs have their first airing at the Foggy Furze.

We were asked to finish the night, and happily obliged with 'Louise' (Paul Siebel) and 'Sonny' (Ron Hynes) - the first to rapt, pindrop-silence attention, and the last with the whole room joining in. Magic!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Foggy Furze website

09-Mar-09 Monkey Folk Club

First time at this 'new' club. Run by Dave Minikin (who also runs the Bridge Folk Club on a Monday night), the Monkey Folk Club is successor to the Bluestone which used to run at the Delaval Arms in Seaton Sluice.

The Monkey Folk Club is held in the upstairs room of the Monkseaton Arms in Whitley Bay and the usual faces were there plus a few new ones. There was some great joining in with the choruses and a good atmosphere.

We sang 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith); 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson); 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor)... and we finished off the night, complete with rousing chorus singing, with our own songs 'Different Dreams' and 'One More Song'.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

07-Mar-09 Ingleton Folk Festival Fundraiser

It was a 220 mile round for us to attend this fundraising day - we had been scheduled a 30-minute slot in the evening venue - and we turned up in good time (as always) to give us plenty time to ensure the guitars were tuned and acclimatised to the room, and that we had good seats from which to enjoy the evening's entertainment.

There were ten acts in the evening session and we were treated to an array of different styles of music - traditional, unaccompanied, contemporary, pop, country, singer/songwriter and a fine array of guitars, keyboards, fiddles, percussion, accordions, banjos, mandolins etc.

Good friend Terry Ferdinand (of Bishop FM) and his wife Catherine made the trip and it was good to have them in the audience and have a natter during the multiple raffle breaks. Terry was kind enough to email us the next morning and we're sure he won't mind if we quote him:

"It was good to see you last night, and you were superb as always, both Catherine and I thoroughly enjoyed your set. Even though they were songs we knew backwards, they were still delivered with the usual jiva panache and unfaltering professionalism."

The fundraising day event raised almost £800 - so a big thank you to the organisers, musicians, sound engineers, prize donors, audience, and everyone for helping make a great day and evening of it... funds raised will help ensure the financial viability of the festival.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

05-Mar-09 MIND Active

We had been scheduled to play here last year but due to a temporary medical 'quarantine' of the care home our visit had to be cancelled. So It's been a couple of years since we played at this particular residential care home in Ashington. There was a good turn out of residents to listen and a budgie who just loved 'Different Dreams'!

As usual in our care home performances we played a total of ten songs in our two 30-minute spots. This time there were five self-penned songs in the set - and the jiva songs go down very well... it's moving to have the smiling faces and foot tapping to our own material. And we got some of them joining in when we closed with 'One More Song'.

After many thank yous and positive comments we headed home feeling happy and humbled all in one.


Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
MINDActive website

03-Mar-09 Cramlington Folk Club

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

As usual, there was an eclectic mix - singer/songwriter, self-penned, covers, traditional, unaccompanied, and instrumentals too... the standard of performers at Cramlington is high, the soundmen do a good job and the Cramlington Choir are renowned for adding great harmonies!.

We played 'Yorkshire Romance' (C J Rowe) which raised a few laughs, and 'Best Friends' (jiva) - did we spot a tear or two being wiped from someone's eyes?

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club