30-May-09 Michael Marra 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 Michael Marra. We'd not seen him before but had heard good reports. We arrived in good time to find a keyboard set up on the stage atop an ironing board! Yes, Michael Marra uses an ironing board as a keyboard stand.

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 it was time for Michael Marra's first set and he launched into a number of songs well known to the eager audience. His trademark titles usually included 'The Visit Of' [Someone] To [Somewhere]', and he soon had people laughing along to his introductions as well as his lyrics.

After the break, the second half started to form with one song each from a few floor spot performers. We hadn't taken our guitars today... so there was no spot from jiva - just as well for MC Eric as the stage was becoming quite cluttered and difficult to navigate.

Michael Marra's second set contained a number of chorus songs and everyone was heartily joining in. Before we knew it it was time for Michael to close his second set. But there was time for one encore before we all set off home - he came back on stage to finish with a Robert Burns song... a fitting end to a night with a distinctly Scottish flavour from this talented Dundonian.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Michael Marra
Davy Lamp Folk Club website

27-May-09 Blyth Valley Community Hospital

Music Programme in Partnership with Cramlington Folk Club

This was our second visit to the hospital to play our music (our first was in January) and we had a great time. We played in three of the bays in Ward 3 and the four bays in Ward 1... We played two songs in each bay, and choosing the signature 12 and 6-string jiva mix, we cycled around the following songs:

• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• One More Song (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• Passin' Thru (Johnny Cash & Randy Scruggs)
• When (jiva)

We were warmly welcomed by the staff and the patients and visitors with lots of positive and kind comments about our songs, the music and our guitars. Everyone had a good time - and we left feeling invigourated and positive, having spread a little jiva sunshine.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

26-May-2009 Acklam Open Mic

Our first visit to this recently established open mic night at Acklam Rugby and Cricket Club run by Ian and Catherine Swinburne. Ian is well known in the area not only as a performer but also as a very capable sound and video person too! He does a great job at the Station in Loftus, so we were confident that Acklam would be good too - we were not disappointed.

As usual we got there early to secure a good seat and plenty of space for the guitars - it also allowed us time to chat while final tweaks were made to the sound sytem setup.

Stormcrow got the night off to a spirited 2-song start, and we followed them with:

• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Passin Thru (Johnny Cash and Randy Scruggs)

Next up was Dean Coyle whose Taylor guitar looked like it had been through a battlefield and then re-assembled with Meccano-like bits to keep it together! Then we had John Wighell, Ian Smith, Phil Donegan, Tony Leonard and Ian Swinburne himself.

Then there was a short break while raffle tickets were sold (alas, we didn't win) - and then it was around again with 2 more songs from everyone. Our songs in this half were:

• Different Dreams (jiva)
• When (jiva)

We were pleasantly surprised when, at the end we were asked to do 2 more to close the night, and happily obliged with:

• Some Way Home (jiva)
• One More Song (jiva)

A fine night indeed, and a veritable Taylor-fest too... in addition to our three (910CE-L7, 910CE and 855) there were three other Taylor guitars! Wow!

Well done Ian and Catherine for organising these open mic nights, and thanks to Amanda for being MC for the night... we'll be back!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Ian Swinburne MySpace

24-May-09 Melanie at Royal Northern College of Music

The day began for us at 10:00 am when we set off from home for the three hour drive. We arrived at our friends' house in Mossley (half an hour away from Manchester) at 1:00pm and spent a very relaxing afternoon in their back garden (the weather was glorious) eating, drinking and chatting. Thanks Bob and Jean. At 6:30 pm we said our goodbyes and drove off to Manchester, full of anticipation for the evening ahead with Melanie and Beau Jarred.

We arrived in good time, parked the car in the adjoining underground car park and made our way to the entrance of the RNCM. The concert was billed to start at 7:45 pm but there was no sign of the doors being opened to the Theatre. Rob (UK), who we'd not met before, spotted us waiting outside and we had a good chat with him before being allowed in to the Theatre at 8:05pm to take our seats. Beau Jarred was still on the stage sorting things out - so many wires! - tuning the guitars and making sure everything was OK. RNCM staff were milling about, Melanie's 'remedies' were brought out and we even caught sight of Peter Shekeryk - we'd not seen Peter on any of Melanie's other tours outside of the USA. Beau Jarred left the stage and there was a quiet air of expectation.

Then from stage right Melanie appeared, she picked up her guitar, adjusted the microphone and began saying her hellos as the overhead announcement was still being played! She launched into 'I'm Back In Town' and then began to introduce Beau Jarred to the stage... but he didn't appear! She then walked, still with guitar on, to the front of the stage telling the audience how it feels to be on stage on your own. She suggested she might do another song and there were shouts for 'Lay Down'. She began singing and playing but unfortunately the sound man didn't have the foresight to turn down her guitar. Unbeknown to Melanie, Beau Jarred had now joined her on stage and began joining in. She made her way back to the microphone and continued with a magnificent version of 'Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)' including at the end 'Give Peace A Chance'. The audience cheered and she joked 'well that's my encore done'. At this point we knew we were in for a great night. And great it was. We won't go into detail about which songs she sang, this has already been covered by others, but we must echo what Rob (UK) said about 'Momma, Momma' - it was just superb! The gentler version of 'I Really Loved Harold' was wonderful too and her first new song of the evening, 'Love Doesn't Have To Hurt', was great. Beau Jarred finished the first half with three pieces, yet another dazzling performance.

After the short intermission they both returned to the stage and began with a great rendition of 'Ruby Tuesday'. And so it continued... Melanie was in great voice, strong and powerful. 'Leftover Wine' was just magical. During the first encore Peter came on stage and whispered something to Melanie, and she told the audience 'I don't want to leave, it takes me so long to get up here'! Melanie and Beau finished with 'Extraordinary' and extraordinary the whole evening was.

The only downside for us was that the PA/sound was not as good as it might have been which meant that Melanie's guitar sounded a bit 'scratchy'. But Melanie and Beau Jarred more than made up for this with their wonderful performance.

We won't get the chance to see any more of the UK concerts this time but we're already looking forward to her next UK tour! Peter promised at the after show signing that next time they come there will be 2 new cds. We had waited behind to have our ticket signed by Melanie (we already have almost all our Melanie collection signed) and she said a 'warm hello' remembering us again (we had first met when we visited the US in 2004 and were were staying in the same hotel). Beau Jarred had come to the signing later, no doubt he had been charged with putting away the instruments, and he too warmly welcomed us, with each of us having a hug!

We were also pleased to see Dia there (we'd not seen her since Holland in 2004), we had a good chat with her, and it was good to renew our acquaintance.

So, by midnight we were on our way back to the car and the long drive. Happy and contented, we got home at 3:00 in the morning having had a great day.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Melanie website

21-May-09 Support to Jez Low at Rothbury Roots

"Rothbury Roots began in September 2001 when Bill Brown & Terry Wilson, the licensees of Rothbury's Queens Head Hotel, invited a group of local musicians and enthusiasts (including local resident ex-Lindisfarne guitarist Rod Clements) to set up a series of live music nights. Since the start of 2006 it has been run by local residents Kevin Roberts and Andy Heywood, music-lovers whose passion for bringing top quality live music to Rothbury ensures that Roots remains in the forefront of acoustic music in Northumberland. Rothbury Roots has gone on to establish itself as one of Northumberland's most popular live music venues, presenting folk, blues, country, jazz and contemporary singer-songwriters in a friendly, intimate setting."

And so, we were delighted to have been asked by Kevin to do an opening 30-minute support slot for the guest night of Jez Lowe. The event was a sell out and the room was full and cosy - it was lovely to see among the audience our friends from Netherton Folk Club and good friend Mike Jessop.

For our set we played:

• Love At The Five And Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Best Friends (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• When (jiva)
• Different Dreams (jiva)

Andy on the desk ensured that we had a good, well balanced sound - hats off to you for a job well done! It was wonderful to hear the audience gently joining in with our songs - many people hearing them for the first time.

Mike is a prolific reviewer of live music events and he has kindly given permission for us to reproduce below his write-up of the night...

Review of Rothbury Roots – Jez Lowe and jiva , 21st May 2009:

Rothbury Roots remains my favourite musical venue ever and tonight was another wonderful musical occasion to boot… made all the better by the lovely friendly company, tonight with Jack from Netherton and local Mary Bathgate - who having sat next to me raised the wondrous Whitley Bay FC win at Wembley and the exposure emerging of our immoral governance! I was in heaven! But to the music – what a fabulous night, sold out as ever, with musical chairs again to squeeze the last folk in and absolutely wonderful sound and superb musicians.

Jimmy and Val from Blyth, better known as jiva, provided tonight’s support with 6 songs, 4 of which were self written, all excellently delivered on beautiful Taylor 6 and 12-string guitars, with brilliant harmonies in which you could hear a pin drop. ‘Two Old Friends’ especially was magnificent – lots of lovely descending bass lines and some wizzo dextrous displays from Jimmy in their newest song, ‘When’. They made such an impression in their 30-minute slot - inciting some chorus singing on their own lovely song, ‘Best Friends’, and also ‘Different Dreams’, inspired by a former colleague of Val. The question in many locals’ voices at half time was another ‘When?’ – when can they have them back?

The main man, Jez Lowe, is a big name on the NE circuit though this was my first sighting of his stuff and I was well impressed, playing two halves each of 50 minutes. He started with fine humour, a confident bold performer playing tunes based around socialist politics, northern mining life and love songs which went down incredibly well. He has a strong expressive vocal delivery, willing every chorus along and technically he showed some beautiful fingerwork on three instruments, mainly guitar based, but also mandolin, bouzouki and harmonica combinations. In his trademark striped shirt he often laughs at himself and some of life’s situations with witty observation – and when it came to him once losing his lines, he was helped out in ‘London Danny’ by several who seemed to know every single word.

Highlights in his first set were ‘Black Diamonds’, the more recent ‘Bare Knuckle’ (an unaccompanied dig at our bankers’ values), ‘The Ballad of Tasker Jack’ and, on his Australian mandolin, his closer ‘Vikings’. Many songs of his were, in fact, familiar from other covers at Folk Clubs, a testament to his writing… he seems to write clever words and thoughts accompanied with fine local humour and quips – his aside to West Hartlepool and that one about the Longframlington social climbers were superb, side splitting stuff. Jez’s second bout was over too soon but was much appreciated – highlights were his sincere thanks to the mass singers in closing ‘Taking On Men’, the hammers and pulls in ‘Tenterhooks’, whilst ‘Big Meeting’ was phenomenal – and his encore to loud demands for more, ‘Hadaway Gan On’, apparently composed while lost in an early Australian tour – what a brilliant wordsmith, a true poet of the people.

Rothbury Roots remains the finest of venues in great hands – well done to Kevin and crew for putting this stuff on and for the locals who give it so much appreciation and support.

Mike Jessop: May 2009

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Rothbury Roots

20-May-09 Award-Session ClearTone Cables

We love being able to share our music - whether it be songs inspired by people, places and events in our life or carefully chosen songs from other writers that have something to say that speaks directly to us. We're also very fortunate in having excellent istruments and a top notch state of the art sound system to help us deliver our music to larger audiences. So you can imagine how frustrating it is when technical gremlins creep in to wreak havoc with the sound.

You may remember we had problems with Jimmy's Taylor 910CE-L7 guitar ('Rio')... and following return of the guitar after replacement of the electronics, the sound seems even better than when we first bought him. But we were still a little wary that we'd had the problem only when using unbalanced cables - the Taylor-supplied balanced TRS to XLR cable showed no such issue through our Bose L1 system. So we decided that we should also carry balanced cables with us when playing through 'house' PA systems.

After much investigation we decided to try ClearTone custom made cables from Award-Session.Wow! We hadn't realised what a difference it could make - plugged into our Bose L1 the sound is somehow crisper and cleaner than even our existing balanced TRS to XLR cables. In fact we liked it so much that we've equipped all our Taylor Expression System guitars with these cables for use with our own system and have also bought some spare ones for use with other people's PA gear too! We've also swapped out our microphone cables and our standard TS jack to TS jack cable for Val's Taylor 855 12-string ('Missy') - she doesn't have the Taylor ES system, but uses an EMG sytem that was already installed when we bought her.

If you really love and truly respect the music, then you owe it to yourself and your audience to use the best quality cables that you can afford.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Award-Session ClearTone Cables

19-May-09 Low Row Folk Session

A return visit for us to this friendly club held at the Railway Inn at Low Row, not far from Brampton in Cumbria.

It's run on a singaround basis, one each (or two for duos) at a time. There was a theme tonight of Spring or May and, as you might suspect, there were many inventive introductions allegedly pertaining to the theme! There was a good turnout and most sing unaccompanied.

There was a lady (Ann?) who had a guitar with her but mostly sang unaccompanied! Pete was a newcomer to playing in public and did well with guitar accompanied songs before surprizing us all when he went out to his car and came back with an accordion for his final stint!

There's no break and no raffle so there's plenty of time for lots of songs and there was time to go around the room four times - so we did four stints of two songs per go, with appreciative listening and joining in from those present. We finished the night with 'One More Song' and it was lovely to hear everyone heartily joining in.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Low Row Folk Session

18-May-09 Easingwold Folk Club

First visit to this folk club not far from York, recently established and run by Rebekah Findlay. Another hefty trek for us (160 mile round trip to the New Inn), but it was a grand night with a good and varied crop of performers.

As usual, we got there early (we always like to find a suitable and safe spot for our guitars), and the place filled up quickly with singers and players with various instruments... acoustic guitars, resonator guitars, fiddle, bodhran, cajon, mandolin etc. In fact we decided to move our guitars into the dining room as space in the playing area was becoming somewhat sparse!

In the first half we sang 'Some Way Home' (jiva) and 'When' (jiva) and our second half song (limited to one because of the sheer number of performers) was our very own 'One More Song'.

It's only been going a few weeks, but word is getting around, and Easingwold Folk Club is growing numbers at a good rate.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Easingwold Folk Club MySpace

17-May-09 House party

Good friends Andy & Cath Higgins (Acoustica) were hosting a house party and we were delighted to have been included in their guest list. It was a great afternoon and evening of music and chat. As well as ourselves there was Acoustica, Chris Kelly, Dave and Zoe Bottomley, Pete Higgins (Andy's dad) and John Brindle providing a great variety of music and song.

We finished the performing part of the evening with:

• Love At The Five & Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Best Friends (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• When (jiva)

Andy asked us for one more, and we happily obliged with

• Different Dreams (jiva)

It was a very enjoyable time with good music, good food, good drink and good chat.

Thanks Andy and Cath.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Acoustica MySpace

15-May-09 PotHouse Folk Club

Another incredibly busy night at this popular club run by the Young 'Uns... these guys are victims of their own success! There were lots of people there that we knew, and some (including a contingent from Frodsham) that we'd not seen before.

Terry and Catherine Ferdinand came along and again Terry recorded events on his Edirol pocket digital recorder - follow the link below for part of the evening's entertainment:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zzyyymmzozm

We were the last act of the evening - our closing set finished the night (at 23:30!) with Allan Taylor's 'Back Home To You' and our very own 'One More Song'. Thanks to everyone for joining in - it was wonderful!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
PotHouse website

13-May-09 Burneston Folk Club

Return visit to the Burneston Folk Club (not been since May 2008!)... what a smashing friendly club - we had a great time. It's a 150 mile round trip to the Woodman for us but worth it.

There were quite a number of performers - some familiar and some not - and a great variety of music and entertainment. There was unaccompanied singing, poetry reading, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, accordions and ukelele... traditional and contemporary folk songs, pop classics, country - a very eclectic mix.

For our first turn we sang 'Different Dreams' (jiva) and our newest song 'When' (jiva)... for our second turn we sang 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith) and 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson). Lots of joining in at appropriate places and quiet attention for the slower song too.

Host/MC Glyn even announced our our forthcoming trip to the USA to get married in the Taylor Guitars factory in California!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Burneston Folk Club MySpace

12-May-09 Adrian Nation at Cramlington Folk Club

We had a busy time at Clennell Hall Folk Festival - four scheduled performing slots and session hosting/MC-ing... unfortunately this meant that our slots clashed with the timings for some people that we particularly wanted to see - so we didn't manage to catch Adrian performing at the festival. But, as luck would have it, he was the guest at Cramlington Folk Club (our local) the following Tuesday... so we happily went along to watch and to listen.

The night began with support slots from Jimmy & Carol followed by Gerry Tapscott & John Redpath. Then Adrian took to the floor and, after a brief hiccough with the sound system, wowed the guitarists with some dazzling dexterity on the fretboard. He played his own songs and was then joined by Vicki Guillory (a regular performer at the club in its earlier days). Together they did more of Adrian's material and some traditional songs too - Vicki even did a solo a capella song.

After the break there were more songs from the support acts big band - John & Gerry assisted Jimmy & Carol on two numbers then Jimmy & Carol assisted Gerry & John on two songs - before Adrian came back on for his second set. Still dogged with sound problems (was it his guitar? was it the lead? was it the equipment? we'll probably never know) he conjured up more guitar wizardry and introspective songs, joined again by Vicki for half of the set.

And guess who won the raffle? Yes, jiva! After the encore we went to claim our prize and chose one of Adrian's CDs.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club
Adrian Nation website

12-May-09 Another jiva video

We recently (15 March) played at The Hiring Fair at Loftus. Ian Swinburne, who does a great job with sound and videoing, has already posted a video on the Loftus Open Acoustic site of us playing our song 'Different Dreams'. He's now added a second video from that set - this time were performing 'Love At The Five & Dime' by Nanci Griffith.



Thanks Ian - very much appreciated.

We have now created a new 'Videos' page on our website and added this video, together with the one of us at Borders Bookstore last year playing the Chris Simpson song 'Two Old Friends', the performance of our own 'Different Dreams' at Loftus, and Jimmy trying to teach Terry Ferdinand how to juggle!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Ian Swinburne MySpace
Loftus Open Acoustic MySpace

11-May-09 MIND Active

Third visit to this residential care home in Ashington. It was a very warm, sunny day and we were given an equally warm and smiling welcome by the Activities Co-Ordinator and the residents who had come to listen to us. We walked into the room with our three guitars and guitar stands, really pleased to see the room was full to capacity with an air of expectation for the afternoon's entertainment. It was super... Eddie played 'bones' throughout our two sets keeping time brilliantly - it was wonderful to witness the interaction with our music. Feet and hands were clapping and there were lots of smiling faces.

As usual we played two 30-minute spots with a short break for a gargle. We sang:

• Love At The Five & Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Passin' Thru (Randy Scruggs and Johnny Cash)
• Dream On (jiva)
• Maginot Waltz (Ralph McTell)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• When (jiva)
• One More Song (jiva)

After much applause we are asked if we would do an encore of 'Different Dreams' as they had perticularly enjoyed this one so much in the first half. We were more than happy to oblige.

We were each given a strawberry milkshake to cool down after a thoroughly enjoyable session - yum yum.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
MINDActive website

08 to 10-May-09 Clennell Hall Folk Festival

This was our second year at Clennell - not only were we booked to play, but we were also 'festival staff' for the week-end too...That meant hosting/MC-ing some bar sessions and generally being available to help out as and when required.

We checked in early evening at a delightful Bed & Breakfast just a couple of miles away... Mrs Graham is an absolute treasure! Then we drove down to the festival in good time for the start of proceedings. Having been issued with our 'Staff' badges, artist vouchers, obligatory wristbands, festival companion and timetable we headed to the bar for the opening session - we had decided not to bring our guitars this evening as we'd just soak in the atmosphere and check out what was happening where and have a look at the PA systems.

Dave Forshaw got things underway with a song and a few notices. Then he handed over to Shearwater for an unscheduled slot. Next was Mary Brettell (over from Australia), then Beeswing got the singaround session started in the cellar while Ron Gardner was next up in the bar. After Ron's spot we wandered around familiarising ourselves with the marquee, the reception area, the artists green room, etc... and we found ourselves back in the bar for the first of many sets from Paul Downes. By this time the first of the marquee performers were getting ready to go onstage and, as Paul concluded his spot we walked across to the marquee where Lush Acoustic were playing... after a little PA/microphone problem things got going there too.

We knew the following day would be hard work so decided not to stay late, and made our way back to the B&B.

Refreshed by a very hearty full English breakfast we drove back to the festival the following day and ensured that the bar PA was set up and working in time for the morning musicians session which was ably led by Ron Gardner. Then we took over the hosting from Ron and introduced and helped with sound for scheduled spots by Exiles from Eden, the Dealers (well, one Dealer), Tyde and our friends Acoustica (Andy and Cath Higgins) as well as an unscheduled slot from Chris Ricketts. 30 minutes later we were due to perform in the marquee, so we gathered our gear and made for the artists room to tune up - but by now, lunch was being served, so we had little room... but, what the heck, we managed.

Sadly, it was raining quite heavily as we braved the elements to cross to the marquee where Beeswing were on stage as the rain fell and the wind whistled around. At one point there was a massive gust which literally lifted some of the marquee supports out of the ground and we thought it was in imminent danger of collapse. Executive decision time... the marquee was closed for the day and afternoon marquee slots would be transferred to the cellar and evening slots to the reception area. So, back through the rain we went and down to the cellar where we did our slot acoustically:

• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Different Dreams (jiva)
• When (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• Passin Thru (Johnny Cash and Randy Scruggs)
• One More Song (jiva)

It all went down well with plenty of joining in from the audience. Time to eat... next stop was the kitchen to order a late lunch! Having been fed and watered it was back to bar where we caught a few songs from our friends Shy Talk (Les and Ian) before John Jeffreys introduced jiva as the next act. As things were somewhat behind the published schedule we basically plugged in and played without a sound check. We also cut our planned set to just four songs in order to get things back onto time:

• Love At The Five And Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Lucky Man (Emerson Lake & Palmer)
• Dream On (jiva)

Not the most polished and pristine sound that jiva fans have come to know and love, but we played well and the packed bar seemed quite appreciative. We then took on hosting and MC duties again introducing Paul Downes, The Amazing Mr Smith (and, yes, he IS amazing and hilarious) and Ron Gardner who then took up the hosting baton for Gareth Scott, Exiles from Eden and jiva... yes, we were back on for another scheduled 30-minute slot. We had planned to do pretty much a repeat of the marquee/cellar slot as it was to different audiences, and so with Val on 12-string and Jimmy on 6 (Rio) we gave the jam-packed and noisy bar:

• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Passin Thru (Johnny Cash and Randy Scruggs)
• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• When (jiva)
• One More Song (jiva)

Again there was lots of singing in all the right places, and it was LOUD! Then, in our MC role we introduced another friend and past musical colleague, Richard Ridley, followed by Roger from the Hexham Morris before the next scheduled slot from Lush Acoustic. Having set up the PA for them, we also passed on the hosting duties to them.

We had hoped to see The Amazing Mr Smith's second spot (this time in the reception area), but there was a huge queue and we didn't think we'd find space for us and three Taylor guitars - so we decided to call it a day and went to the B&B to drop off our guitars before making our way to Thropton for a late meal, a glass of wine and much chat with Richard.... and then back to the B&B to turn in for the night.

Our heads had hardly touched the pillows (or so it seemed) before it was time for another super breakfast and farewells to Mrs Graham, a truly genial hostess for our stay. It was a glorious morning as we drove into the grounds of Clennell Hall for the final day of the festival - and the bar was sparsely populated with festival goers having breakfast.

Shy Talk started the music, and were followed by Mary Brettell (who did an impromptu longer set while we waited for the next act). Paul Downes amazed us with intricate guir playing, gutsy songs, good humour and a great rendition of Steve Knightley's 'Exiles'. Then Dave Forshaw stepped up to the microphone and thanked everyone... organisers, staff, performers, audience one and all - he then introduced the newest members of the 'staff' family, yup... jiva... and we performed three songs to a very attentive and appreciative and full bar:

• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• One More Song (jiva)

This time we'd had a chance to do some twiddling with the PA settings and the sound and balance were much more to our liking - and this showed in the enthusiastic resonse and multiple harmonies from a packed house. It was great for us to have our last slot end on such a high.

Dave then brought Ron Gardner on for his final weekend spot, and he took up where we left off... the audience were singing along beautifully and enjoying his good humoured banter. We had to depart before Kimber's Men did the final fling, but we're certain it would have raised the rafters bringing the festival to a tumultuous closing crescendo.

A thoroughly enjoyable but exhausting week-end - we send our very best wishes our friends new and old... and we're already looking forward to next year!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Clennell Hall Festival website

04-May-09 'Forget Me Not' launch on Bishop fm

The brainchild of Eamon O'Maonaigh, the 'Forget Me Not' CD is a collection of 26 songs with contributions given freely by singer songwriters on MySpace. Currently only available as a download it can be purchased from CD Baby for only £9.99. All the proceeds will be going to Alzheimer's Ireland to aid research into this terrible disease. We were happy to donate a song to the cause and we're thrilled to have 'Some Way Home' accepted for the CD.

You can purchase the CD by clicking the album cover picture below...


Terry Ferdinand had kindly agreed to launch the CD on his Folk Show on Bishop fm Radio and we were delighted to have been asked to play our song from the album, 'Some Way Home', live in the studio. The extended three hour programme was dedicated to the album with 25 recorded songs plus our live performance that night.

Sitting in the studio with us was John Twist, his contribution to the album being his wonderful song 'Carousel'.

There was just about enough time (between numerous emails and telephone calls coming in!) toward the end of the evening for us to perform two more songs and we played, 'Different Dreams' (jiva) and, as Teddy Mikalski had requested an Allan Taylor song, 'Back Home To You'.

It was a great experience to be part of the launch and we congratulate everyone involved... we hope the CD sells well, and that lots of money is raised for the charity.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Terry Ferdinand MySpace
BishopFM
Eamon O'Maonaigh MySpace