31-Oct-09 Comrades Club, Whitley Bay

Another in the series of Saturday nights of music organised by John Jeffrey.

As always we got there early and had plenty of time to find space for the guitars and even have a bit of a sound check - Gerry Beldon provided PA for the night.

There was a canny turnout with two acts unable to attend being replaced by others who had dropped in 'on the off chance'. It was an eclectic mix ranging through unaccompanied, ukelele, banjo, accordion, harmonica, Northumbrian pipes, whistle and guitars with styles of music covering a diverse range of genres.

People generally kept to their schedules (well done John!) and so by the time we were up as the closing act there was time for four songs allowing us to get the audience smiling and singing to everything we did - verses as well as choruses! We played 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor), 'Different Dreams' (jiva), 'Some Way Home' (jiva) and 'One More Song' (jiva).

There were smiles all around and John thanked everyone for a grand night, giving Gerry one more song for bringing his PA.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

28-Oct-09 Bridge Hotel, Newcastle

MySpace friend and singer songwriter Chris Milner had arranged an evening Folk Concert - a kind of 'meet and greet' of MySpace friends.

Anthony John Clarke and John Leigh had volunteered to be our 'roadies' for the night... we travelled to the gig in their car and they helped load and unload our gear. We had taken our Bose L1 with us for our sound.

On the bill was Phil Graham who started the night. He was followed by Chris Milner, then after the break us, and to finish the night Nigel Beck from Lincolnshire (a singer who plays a mean  6 and 12-string guitar style).

We had to be packed and out of the room by 11:00 pm and it was a bit of a squeeze for time - so, despite calls for an encore we limited ourselves to exactly the allotted 20 minutes... we played: 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor), and then our own songs; 'Different Dreams', 'When', 'Some Way Home' and 'One More Song'.

Thanks to Chris for organising the gig - it was good to meet with Nigel for the first time and to re-acquaint ourselves with other MySpace friends too.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

27-Oct-09 Anthony John Clarke at Cramlington Folk Club

Anthony John Clarke is always popular at Cramlington and there was a good crowd in including friends of ours, John Twist and Yvie Wilkinson and her daughter Haylie and also Terry and Catherine Ferdinand. We're always telling people if you ever get the chance to see Anthony John Clarke then don't miss the opportunity and this was a first for some of them.

Anthony John and his friend John Leigh were staying with us for two nights and we all turned up at the Club in good time for a sound check with John Richardson who was on the sound desk tonight.

In support was us and Geoff Pickard and it was Geoff who kicked off the night with four songs. We followed with four of our own: 'Different Dreams', 'When', 'Some Way Home' and 'One More Song' and it was great to hear the 'Cramlington Choir' gustily joining in on the choruses.

Then it was time for Anthony John's first set and he never disappoints. He was on great form and enjoyed by everyone. At the break there was the obligatory raffle with the prize of a bottle of wine or an Anthony John Clarke CD.

For our two songs in the second half we sang 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson) and our own 'Best Friends'.

Then it was time again for Anthony John and it was a superb second half to the night... no-one wanted it to end. An Anthony John Clarke gig is a special phenomenon... we always come away feeling much refreshed and revitalised.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club website
Anthony John Clarke website

24-Oct-09 Show Of Hands at The Gala Theatre, Durham

What a busy weekend! We had our friends Bob and Jean from Manchester staying with us so there's been a lot of talking, eating and drinking.

But apart from that we made our way over to Durham and spent the day sightseeing and shopping before arriving at the Durham Gala to see Show of Hands (supported by local singer Flossie Malavialle). Bob is currently doing a 16 week course on radio production and he had arranged to do an interview with Phil Beer before the show to ask him about his experience on the Tall Ships Race! Radio Teesdale want to broadcast the interview. That all went very smoothly and Bob was safely in his seat by 19:20 waiting for the show to start at 19:30.

Flossie did a good opening set and then it was on with the show with Phil Beer, Steve Knightly and Miranda Sykes. The did quite a few of the expected songs but also some of their new album 'Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed' . Also with us were our friends Mike and Hazel and we all enjoyed the show.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Show Of Hands website

20-Oct-09 Cramlington Folk Club

It was a singers night at Cramlington and there was a good crowd there - organiser/MC Keith Taylor got things underway at 8:10 pm announcing that the list for performers was now closed as there were already more than enough in the room to easily fill the night.

As always at this club there was a variety of styles (mostly contemporary) and the standard was good - by the time we were on (sixth in the first half) we'd had old time Americana, bluegrass, blues, singer/songwriter, humour, chorus songs, sad songs, jokes... we started with 'Jimmy's Song' (Allan Taylor) and then did 'Yorkshire Romance' (CJ Rowe).

The night carried on with even more variety, some people stepped down to give latecomers a chance to play and the night finished with the customary 'big band everybody playing together' melee.

We'll be back there doing support for Anthony John Clarke next week.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club website

15-Oct-09 Riverside House, Morpeth

Our first visit to this modern residential care home in Morpeth. Val was temping that day for a local firm so had taken her 'jiva' clothes to change into and met Jimmy in the car park at the designated time.

We arrived laden with our guitars and guitar stands to find a a good crowd of women (and only one man!) waiting for us. Like last week at a different care home it was exceptionally warm and we had to wipe brows and remove our gilets early on... thankfully Val had remembered the bottle of water this time!

As usual we played two 30-minute spots with a short break for a gargle and tuning of the guitars.

We sang:

• Love At The Five & Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Dream On (jiva)
• Yorkshire Romance (C J Rowe)
• Different Dreams (jiva)

Then:

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

We had a great time - one of the residents 'danced' in her chair the whole time and loved us! And we got them singing along heartily to 'One More Song' too. Great stuff!
Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

13-Oct-09 Prelude at Cramlington Folk Club

It's been a few years since we've seen Prelude, so we took the opportunity to get down to our local folk club for a night of good entertainment.

First support act was Doug Wood who played banjo and sang traditional old American songs. Second support act was Jimmy & Carol who played guitar and double bass while singing bluegrass songs. Both acts were very well received by an enthusiastic Cramlington audience, and created a good atmosphere in readiness for the main act.

Our memories of Prelude had always been of a trio. Following a few line-up changes Irene and Brian Hume had been performing with Chris Ringer for some time - but tonight we were surprised and pleased to find that Ian Vardy had re-joined them, and so we saw Prelude as a four piece band including re-workings of some of Ian's songs in their set-list. From the word go they had the audience on their side as the Cramlington choir raised their voices to add to the well-honed vocals of this obviously professional and experienced act.

All in all a grand night - well done to MC and organiser Keith Taylor.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Cramlington Folk Club website

Prelude website

08-Oct-09 MIND Active

Our second visit to this modern residential care home. It was quite crowded in the lounge (more so than many folk clubs we've seen), and there was an air of quiet expectancy as we set up to play. Boy, it was warm! And we'd somehow managed to forget our usual bottles of water, but staff were on hand to keep us supplied with liquid refreshment.

As usual we played two 30-minute spots with a short break for a gargle and tuning of the guitars. We sang:

• Some Way Home (jiva)
• When (jiva)
• Dream On (jiva)
• Yorkshire Romance (C J Rowe)
• Sonny (Ron Hynes)

Then

• Love At The Five & Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Different Dreams (jiva)
• One More Song (jiva)

Afterwards a few of the residents had their photos taken with us - a few smiling faces for their scrapbook!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
MINDActive website

04-Oct-2009 Amble, wedding celebration

We were really pleased to be asked to play at the wedding celebration of John and Janice who had seen us at the Comrades Club in Whitley Bay. They originally requested the day of the wedding but we were already double booked that day (Ingleton and Morecambe), and they were thrilled that we could do the following day instead when they were having an informal get together at home with friends and family.

What a great day we had - even before we arrived, the emails and phone calls made us feel really welcome. As soon as we got there we were treated like old friends or part of the family... super! There was food and drink a-plenty and we were invited to help ourselves to whatever we wished (we kept to non-alcoholic beverages!).

Playing acoustically in the bay window area of the lounge we decided to do short sets with time in between for food and chat etc. We started with 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor), 'Different Dreams' (jiva) and John and Janice's favourite 'Some Way Home' (jiva). Next set was 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith), 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson), 'Dream On' (jiva), 'Yorkshire Romance' (T J Rowe), and 'When' (jiva). For our last spot we did 'Louise' (Paul Siebel), 'Some Way Home (jiva) again and finished with 'One More Song' (jiva) to leave everyone singing.

Absolutely great! We loved it... and John told us that it would be remembered for years as a really special day... he emailed us to say that everyone thought it was great and were still talking about it... wow!

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

03-Oct-2009 The Smugglers Den

It was good to be back again at the Smugglers, this time with friends from Blackpool, Penny Black (Pete Skinner and John Bond).

As there's not a great deal of room at the Smugglers, rather than set up our own Bose L1 (Model 2) system, we decided to save space by taking a line out from our Bose ToneMatch mixers to Penny Black's Bose Classic (Model 1). Unfortunately we had a few problems with the sound quality for our guitars and vocals but nevertheless it was an enjoyable evening. There was music all night with us kicking off first, alternating half hour slots with Penny Black finishing off the evening at around 20 minutes past midnight!

By the time we packed the gear into the car (again!) it was late but we drove home and hit the sack around 04:00 am. We had to be up early for an afternoon gig the next day!

For our sets we played:

Set 1

• Back Again (Allan Taylor)
• Small Town (jiva)
• Tommy (Kelly Joe Phelps)
• Passin Thru (Johnny Cash and Randy Scruggs)
• When (jiva)

Set 2

• Love At The Five And Dime (Nanci Griffith)
• Two Old Friends (Chris Simpson)
• Best Friends (jiva)
• Dream On (jiva)
• Sonny (Ron Hynes)

Set 3

• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• An Acquaintance Of Mine (Anthony John Clarke)
• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)
• One More Song (jiva)

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
The Smugglers Den

03-Oct-09 Ingleton Folk Weekend

We'd had good weather all week in Ingleton but when we woke it was raining, and after breakfast it got even worse - so we got a little wet loading the car with all our gear - Bose L1 system, 4 guitars, suitcase etc! We arrived at the venue, the Ex-Servicemen's, in good time and found Chris Milner (performer and MC for the afternoon concert) was already there setting up his PA system ready for sound check. We had decided to use our own system and Chris was providing the sound for himself, Michelle Holding and Peter and Barbara Snape, the other acts who were to make up the afternoon concert.

By the time the concert started the place was filling up nicely, and the audience were very attentive and appreciative. Each act had been given two slots of 20 minutes each (though some did play a little longer - needless to say jiva kept strictly to the allotted time) and for our first turn we did 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith), 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson), and then with Jimmy on downtuned 12-string and Val on 6-string we played '4+20' (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young), finishing with Linda Thompson's 'No Telling'. Then for our second turn, with Val on the 12-string and Jimmy on 6-string throughout , we played 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor), 'Different Dreams' (jiva), 'Some Way Home' (jiva) and 'One More Song' (jiva). We could see and hear the audience joining in on the choruses which was great.

It was a smashing afternoon and it was soon time to pack the gear and drive off to Morecambe for our evening gig at The Smugglers Den.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Ingleton Folk Weekend

02-Oct-09 Hale & Hearty Folk Club, Milnthorpe

It was 5 years since we'd last played at the Hale & Hearty and they too had moved venue - but this time to a much bigger room than previously. It was good to meet up again with Frank and Sheila Lewis who run the club and there was a good core of residents tonight with some good songs and craic. We were made to feel very welcome.

The club is run on a singaround basis, round and round till time runs out and we were given two at a time. We had taken only 3 guitars tonight and for our turns we played 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor)', 'Different Dreams' (jiva), 'Best Friends' (jiva), 'Dream On' (jiva), 'Some Way Home' (jiva) and 'One More Song' (jiva). It was great to hear them all joining in with the choruses, especially on 'One More Song'.

We'll try not to leave it another 5 years before we visit again.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

01-Oct-09 Wigan Folk Club

We'd not been to the Wigan club since February 2008 and wondered what had changed since our previous visit - like the Coppull club they've changed venue. They've moved from a massive ballroom sized space to a much smaller room in a small pub. When we arrived with four guitars they decided to move into a slightly larger adjoining room (with pool table in the middle) - it was still cosy and we could put our guitars and stands and cases in the room the club had just vacated! It was indeed very kind of them to do this to accommodate us, and the club still managed to get underway within five minutes of the advertised start time.

Joan runs the club as a very informal singaround in the usual round and round the room as many times as possible until time runs out. As well as guitars, tonight there was a duo both playing ukuleles - some interesting possibilities there!

For our first spot we used two 12-strings (one normal tuning and one with 6th pair dropped to 'D') and performed 'Back Again' (Allan Taylor) and 'Small Town' (jiva). Before it came around to our turn again the pub had laid on soup and sandwiches and goodness knows what else! We politely declined as we thought it would only have been a five minute break while everyone brought back their food and carried on singing... but it was a somewhat lengthier break during which time there was the obligatory raffle (no, we didn't win!). Our second spot was the 12-string and 6-string setup for 'Back Home To You' (Allan Taylor) and 'Different Dreams' (jiva). Then it was two 6-strings for 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith) and 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson). For our fourth spot it was back to the 6 and 12-string format for 'Some Way Home' (jiva) and 'One More Song' (jiva)... by this time it was well after midnight so Joan called an end to the night and sang 'Wild Mountain Thyme'.

Apart from having to battle against the juke box and some noisy customers in the bar (it's an open plan pub with archways connecting the rooms) it had been a night of some good and interesting music encompassing different styles, genres and abilities. Yet again we drove back to the M6 and headed northwards, arriving at Ingleton at 01:50 am.

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace

Wigan Folk Club