Hi
And so, here we are again… another year on, and what a year it has been! They just get better and better and busier and busier.
Apart from our usual round of performing at local clubs we’ve been to Lincolnshire, Blackpool, Bradford, the North West, Belgium and the USA!
The main big big news is that we have at last got married… 40 years after we first met!
We travelled to the USA and were married in the Taylor Guitar Factory complex in El Cajon, California. Wow! What an adventure and what a place and what an experience.
We are keen Taylor guitar players (we are sometimes referred to as the Taylor twins!) and all our performing guitars are Taylor guitars.
This picture was taken by the Taylor Guitars photographer and as you can see we were, well… somewhat happy.
It was a smashing day… but more later when we get to August.
January saw us playing at a few clubs and venues, five new to us, an appearance on Bishop FM radio and also recording our friend Jim Wigfield for his second CD. We started Tai Chi classes and we went to the wedding reception of two friends of ours. One of the new performing venues was our local Community Hospital. Through Cramlington Folk Club we went along to the hospital and went from floor to floor, ward to ward, and bay to bay playing two or three songs in each as we went along. It was great. We enjoyed it - and the patients, visitors and staff enjoyed it too.
It was a fairly quiet February performing wise as we were building up to a jiva concert at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre on the 21st. This is an old Salvation Army Hall which has been refurbished and done up and it hosts concerts, pantomimes, plays, dinners, etc. The room was decked out cabaret style and it was good to see so many of our friends and contemporaries in the audience along with some of the locals. We also took on a website design commission for some musician friends of ours, and a new recording commission for a chap called Daniel who wanted to put down a few songs for his family. We paid a first visit to Carlisle Folk Club to see Anthony John Clarke (if you ever get the chance to see him don’t miss it – you’ll love him… guaranteed).
It was off to the Ingleton Festival Fundraiser again in March though this time we didn’t stay for a week. We drove there in time for our evening slot and drove back the same night. A Hiring Fair found us at The Station in Loftus on the15th and on the 21st we made our way down to Faldingworth Live in Lincolnshire to do a 30-minute support slot. This is a wonderful club run by Les Worrall. As it would have been a long drive back he’d arranged for us to stay over with some local residents. Then another guest spot on Bishop fm Radio followed by another visit to The Clarence in Blackpool (we went there last March). This time we had been asked by our friends in the north west, Penny Black, to take part in an evening concert. There were four acts, ourselves included. Earlier in the month we had seen one of our favourite singer/songwriters Anthony John Clarke at The Davy Lamp in Washington and he told us he would come over to see us play at The Clarence. We met up beforehand for fish and chips courtesy of Anthony John. He was scheduled to play at Gregson Lane Folk Club near Preston the following night so we stayed over so we wouldn’t miss his performance. We finished the month with a support slot at Cramlington Folk Club for Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby.
And if that wasn’t enough we also had time to meet up with Timi from Texas! Timi had become a huge fan of Bishop fm and good friends with Terry Ferdinand who does the Folk Show and she came over to the UK (and Ireland) to meet everyone. We had them all round for dinner one evening and we again met up with Timi at a few of the clubs we played at.
April was a little quieter! It began with lunch in Leeds with Allan Taylor and a Golden Wedding reception for Keith and Audrey Taylor who run Cramlington Folk Club. Then playing at a friends party, and a first appearance on the Lionheart Radio folk programme. Lionheart are based in Alnwick and the programme is DJ’d by Dave Forshaw whom we first met some years ago. He also organises the Clennell Hall Folk Festival. There was another appearance on Bishop fm, this time with our friend Richard Robinson, an appearance at a new club in Bishop Auckland and finally a 30-minute spot for a charity concert in Morpeth. More time was spent with the Jim Wigfield recording and mixing and also a lot of time on our new website commission. And we had friends to stay for a couple of nights as well.
Things picked up apace for May. There was yet another Bishop fm appearance to help promote an album called ‘Forget Me Not’. This had been put together by Eamon from Ireland and had contributions from 26 musicians/performers from around the globe. He had chosen our song ‘Some Way Home’ for inclusion in the album and proceeds from the sale go to Alzheimer’s Ireland. Quite a milestone this… our first track on an album for commercial internet download from CD Baby… Then we were off to Clennell Hall Folk Festival where we had bar spots, a marquee spot and we were also running some of the sessions. On the day for our marquee spot the rain poured and a storm broke with the howling wind almost tearing the marquee from the ground so we had to go indoors into the cellar for our turn. The marquee was off limits for safety reasons! Throughout the month there were lots of performances at folk clubs and other venues, a party at some musician friends of ours, Acoustica, culminating in a support slot at Rothbury Roots for Jez Lowe. Oh yes, and we went to see Melanie in Manchester.
June – oh where to begin! We had been assisting Allan Taylor throughout the year with a special weekend to take place in Brussels for a showing of the film which has been made about his life on the road ‘The Endless Highway’. We look after Allan’s mailing list and had been the contact inviting people from all over the world to the event. Henri in Brussels was co-ordinating hotel and venue arrangements. A short time before the event Allan had a health scare and had to pull out but it was too late to cancel everything. Whilst some people chose not to come there was a good turnout and it was great to get to meet so many other Allan Taylor fans from all around Europe. After the film showing we all returned to the hotel and took over the bar area where musician friends of Allan’s played and sang. We were asked to play, and happily borrowed two guitars and played a couple of songs – it was wonderful. Everyone was friendly and thinking about and missing Allan Taylor.
We went to see Ewen Carruthers at Cramlington Folk Club, local band The Caffreys at Porters in Tynemouth, Eric Bogle at The Davy Lamp Folk Club and our friends Acoustica at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre. We also had our initial visit with Ron Angus, professional sound recording engineer – we were at last going to get ourselves a commercial album done. Mid month we had invited Terry and Catherine Ferdinand around for dinner… but we had a devious ulterior motive as well. Terry had been producing ‘Folk Up Front’ programmes for his folk show (a kinda Desert Island Discs) and we had decided to ‘turn the tables’ on him. We had primed many of his MySpace friends about this and had questions sent in by them so we had our script ready, our front room set up ready with mics and recording gear ready to go. Terry is such a good sport he took it all in his stride and we had a great time. Tell you what though… we’re much happier being the performer rather than presenter.
And if all that wasn’t enough we also took part in The Big Folk Gathering and a Hiring Fair Concert as part of the Durham Traditional Music Festival and of course, and also found time to pop in to a few local clubs as well.
Things really were a bit quieter for July as we were busily trying to catch up and tie up all loose ends before leaving for the USA at the end of the month. We had two sessions in the studio with Ron Angus which went really well. We finished off Jim’s second album and artwork and sent it off for replication and packaging etc. There was more work on Allan Taylor’s second songbook which saw Allan come to visit us twice. Performances included a 15-minute spot at Nature’s World Folk Festival, a guest gig at The Smugglers in Morecambe and a 30-minute slot at Hiring Concert in Rotherham!
Then came August - not long till the wedding day! We flew out on the 3rd August and went first to Florida for four nights. We stayed in Titusville which is where the Kennedy Space Center is and the place is just incredible! Jaw-dropping for the two days we spent there. Then on the Friday we flew over to La Jolla just north of San Diego for 7 nights. We were to be married on the 12th. We hadn’t been allowed to apply for a marriage licence on-line, so on the 10th we went off to the County Clerk’s office in El Cajon to arrange this and make our first visit to the Taylor Guitar Factory where we met with Chalise, Public Relations Manager and our contact… yes, it was really true, we were getting married in the Taylor Guitar Factory. We had our own personal tour that day and tied up arrangements for the wedding day. We were to be married in their Marketing Suite, wall to wall Taylor guitars and we were invited to pick up any of the guitars and play them. Well, of course we did. Chalise said we could use the guitars on our wedding day if we wanted! Val had fallen in love with a Custom Build 12-string. Val’s son, Richard, arrived the day before the wedding and then the wedding day arrived! To say it was wonderful is an understatement is was just WOW! Timi from Texas came over for the wedding as well. And the 12-string guitar… Val played it while Jimmy used a 6-string and we sang an Allan Taylor song ‘Back Home To You’ during our wedding ceremony. The guitar is now in our front room – we just had to buy it. After the wedding we all went out for a Mexican meal. What a day.
Richard left the following day to travel to San Francisco to stay with a friend for a week and we stayed on for another day, enjoying a honeymoon hot air balloon flight. We left La Jolla on the Friday and took the long drive all the way up the west coast, through Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Big Sur etc till we reached Tacoma, Washington State (not far from Seattle). It was a very long drive and probably one we should have taken two weeks doing instead of four days as we hardly had time to sightsee as it was all drive, eat and sleep. But the scenery was magnificent and an adventure all the same. We stayed with musician friends, Steve and Kristi Nebel, in Tacoma for ten days. They showed us the sights, Mount Rainier, took us to visit relatives in Anacortes, went to a real American County Fair where they were playing – wonderful. We borrowed a couple of 6-string guitars throughout our stay in Tacoma and we played at an open mic night which was broadcast live on the radio. Then it was a long journey home just in time for the Bank Holiday weekend.
No rest for the wicked it seems. September kicked off on the 4th with a first time performing visit to a singers night at Carlisle Folk Club. We were up first with three songs. The 5th we were at The Davy Lamp to see Allan Taylor who came home with us because on the 6th we had a Wedding Celebration ‘do’ for friends and Allan had kindly agreed to play. We did a 30-minute set, had some food, cut the cake and then Allan played... with us joining him on stage for the last number. It was a smashing night. There was the usual visit to singers nights at folk clubs and we also paid a first time visit to The Topic Folk Club in Bradford. We had arranged to have a support slot for the guest night of Dana and Susan Robinson (a couple from America whom we always make a point of seeing when they are over here in the UK).
Then it was back to Ron’s studio to finish recording and a further visit to liaise on the mixing and it was done. 12 tracks, mastered and ready for us to start on our artwork for the booklet etc. That kept us very busy, trying to get the right purple was tricky and finding that black isn’t really black was kinda interesting. But we got there and everything was sent off to be glass mastered, replicated and packaged. Finger biting waiting for the CD to come… we’d been given a date of early November.
Then at the end of the month we were off to Ingleton for a week. We had been booked to take part in the Ingleton Folk Festival so we hired the cottage we had stayed in the year before, for the week. This gave us the opportunity for return visits to clubs we had visited last year – The Plough Sessions near Blackpool, Coppull Folk Club, Wigan Folk Club and, after a 5 year break, the Hale & Hearty Folk Club in Milnthorpe. We also paid a first time visit to The Bothy in Southport.
This took us into October and after getting home very late on the 3rd (4 o’clock in the morning) after 2 afternoon slots at the festival and an evening gig in Morecambe we were up and over to Amble to do some songs for a ‘day after the wedding ceremony’ celebration at the couple’s house. Allan’s songbook was ready from the printers so we picked them up in eager anticipation… nothing to worry about it looked great… and drove down to Allan to take him some copies. Val did a few days temping work at a solicitors in Morpeth and we did a new care home in Morpeth during one of her temping days! We had friends to stay and took them to see Show of Hands in Durham and finished up the month with a support slot at Cramlington for Anthony John Clarke. He and his road manager John stayed with us fro two days before travelling back up to Scotland for his next gig. On the Wednesday we had a gig at The Bridge in Newcastle and we were roadied there by John and Anthony John – we felt like celebrities!
November… not much time for playing out. We had a new commission… Anthony John Clarke had asked us to do him a Songbook, look after his website and his MySpace. He said he’d like, if possible, to have the songbook out by the end of the year!
jiva CD ‘Best Friends’ arrived – colours were just fine. Phew! But no time to get out there promoting it… we were busy with the songbook! Anthony John came to stay for two days and we worked solidly through the book, page by page, chord by chord putting in pictures and quotes. Hard work but thoroughly enjoyable.
28th November – guest gig and CD launch at Netherton Folk Club. Also, Jack who runs the club, had retired the day before and it was his birthday the following day. We had a great night… and sold some CDs and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jack as his candlelit cake was brought in. He joined us in our last song of the night ‘One More Song’ (he has added this to his repertoire). Magic.
So here we are, back again at December. 1st December we had a guest gig at Croxdale Folk Club and it was good to see some friends there and we’ve been back on Bishop fm (it’s been off the air since May and is no longer internet based… it’s fully fledged FM – on 105.9)… then there was the Cramlington Christmas dinner, and our last performance outing of the year was to Low Row over Brampton way. We’ve taken the final electronic version of of Anthony John Clarke's songbook to the printer, and are anxiously awaiting the January call to tell us that there are 1,000 A5 wirobound songbooks ready and waiting. Two Songbook Launch concerts have been arranged for February – one in Liverpool the other in Manchester and we shall be performing as Special Guests. So timing and prioritising has been critical.
The highlight of this month was Anthony John doing our song ‘One More Song’. He has added this to his repertoire and debuted it on BBC Radio Lancashire – it was wonderful. We are just thrilled, speechless and delighted that he likes the song so much. And it’s in the songbook too!
After a brief Christmas visit by Val's son Richard, we spent the last few days of the year in Liverpool staying with Anthony John and Julia - time to just relax and chill out away from the deadlines and pressures of design, publishing, performing, recording, writing, rehearsing, etc.
And now here we are, New Year's Eve - back home, rounding off a remarkable year, trying to continue in relaxing vein as we look forward to what looks like being an extremely busy and fulfilling 2010.
We hope you all had a good Christmas and we send you our sincere best wishes for the coming new year. Hopefully our paths will cross soon.
Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
jiva design website
And so, here we are again… another year on, and what a year it has been! They just get better and better and busier and busier.
Apart from our usual round of performing at local clubs we’ve been to Lincolnshire, Blackpool, Bradford, the North West, Belgium and the USA!
The main big big news is that we have at last got married… 40 years after we first met!We travelled to the USA and were married in the Taylor Guitar Factory complex in El Cajon, California. Wow! What an adventure and what a place and what an experience.
We are keen Taylor guitar players (we are sometimes referred to as the Taylor twins!) and all our performing guitars are Taylor guitars.
This picture was taken by the Taylor Guitars photographer and as you can see we were, well… somewhat happy.
It was a smashing day… but more later when we get to August.
January saw us playing at a few clubs and venues, five new to us, an appearance on Bishop FM radio and also recording our friend Jim Wigfield for his second CD. We started Tai Chi classes and we went to the wedding reception of two friends of ours. One of the new performing venues was our local Community Hospital. Through Cramlington Folk Club we went along to the hospital and went from floor to floor, ward to ward, and bay to bay playing two or three songs in each as we went along. It was great. We enjoyed it - and the patients, visitors and staff enjoyed it too.
It was a fairly quiet February performing wise as we were building up to a jiva concert at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre on the 21st. This is an old Salvation Army Hall which has been refurbished and done up and it hosts concerts, pantomimes, plays, dinners, etc. The room was decked out cabaret style and it was good to see so many of our friends and contemporaries in the audience along with some of the locals. We also took on a website design commission for some musician friends of ours, and a new recording commission for a chap called Daniel who wanted to put down a few songs for his family. We paid a first visit to Carlisle Folk Club to see Anthony John Clarke (if you ever get the chance to see him don’t miss it – you’ll love him… guaranteed).
It was off to the Ingleton Festival Fundraiser again in March though this time we didn’t stay for a week. We drove there in time for our evening slot and drove back the same night. A Hiring Fair found us at The Station in Loftus on the15th and on the 21st we made our way down to Faldingworth Live in Lincolnshire to do a 30-minute support slot. This is a wonderful club run by Les Worrall. As it would have been a long drive back he’d arranged for us to stay over with some local residents. Then another guest spot on Bishop fm Radio followed by another visit to The Clarence in Blackpool (we went there last March). This time we had been asked by our friends in the north west, Penny Black, to take part in an evening concert. There were four acts, ourselves included. Earlier in the month we had seen one of our favourite singer/songwriters Anthony John Clarke at The Davy Lamp in Washington and he told us he would come over to see us play at The Clarence. We met up beforehand for fish and chips courtesy of Anthony John. He was scheduled to play at Gregson Lane Folk Club near Preston the following night so we stayed over so we wouldn’t miss his performance. We finished the month with a support slot at Cramlington Folk Club for Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby.
And if that wasn’t enough we also had time to meet up with Timi from Texas! Timi had become a huge fan of Bishop fm and good friends with Terry Ferdinand who does the Folk Show and she came over to the UK (and Ireland) to meet everyone. We had them all round for dinner one evening and we again met up with Timi at a few of the clubs we played at.
April was a little quieter! It began with lunch in Leeds with Allan Taylor and a Golden Wedding reception for Keith and Audrey Taylor who run Cramlington Folk Club. Then playing at a friends party, and a first appearance on the Lionheart Radio folk programme. Lionheart are based in Alnwick and the programme is DJ’d by Dave Forshaw whom we first met some years ago. He also organises the Clennell Hall Folk Festival. There was another appearance on Bishop fm, this time with our friend Richard Robinson, an appearance at a new club in Bishop Auckland and finally a 30-minute spot for a charity concert in Morpeth. More time was spent with the Jim Wigfield recording and mixing and also a lot of time on our new website commission. And we had friends to stay for a couple of nights as well.
Things picked up apace for May. There was yet another Bishop fm appearance to help promote an album called ‘Forget Me Not’. This had been put together by Eamon from Ireland and had contributions from 26 musicians/performers from around the globe. He had chosen our song ‘Some Way Home’ for inclusion in the album and proceeds from the sale go to Alzheimer’s Ireland. Quite a milestone this… our first track on an album for commercial internet download from CD Baby… Then we were off to Clennell Hall Folk Festival where we had bar spots, a marquee spot and we were also running some of the sessions. On the day for our marquee spot the rain poured and a storm broke with the howling wind almost tearing the marquee from the ground so we had to go indoors into the cellar for our turn. The marquee was off limits for safety reasons! Throughout the month there were lots of performances at folk clubs and other venues, a party at some musician friends of ours, Acoustica, culminating in a support slot at Rothbury Roots for Jez Lowe. Oh yes, and we went to see Melanie in Manchester.
June – oh where to begin! We had been assisting Allan Taylor throughout the year with a special weekend to take place in Brussels for a showing of the film which has been made about his life on the road ‘The Endless Highway’. We look after Allan’s mailing list and had been the contact inviting people from all over the world to the event. Henri in Brussels was co-ordinating hotel and venue arrangements. A short time before the event Allan had a health scare and had to pull out but it was too late to cancel everything. Whilst some people chose not to come there was a good turnout and it was great to get to meet so many other Allan Taylor fans from all around Europe. After the film showing we all returned to the hotel and took over the bar area where musician friends of Allan’s played and sang. We were asked to play, and happily borrowed two guitars and played a couple of songs – it was wonderful. Everyone was friendly and thinking about and missing Allan Taylor.
We went to see Ewen Carruthers at Cramlington Folk Club, local band The Caffreys at Porters in Tynemouth, Eric Bogle at The Davy Lamp Folk Club and our friends Acoustica at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre. We also had our initial visit with Ron Angus, professional sound recording engineer – we were at last going to get ourselves a commercial album done. Mid month we had invited Terry and Catherine Ferdinand around for dinner… but we had a devious ulterior motive as well. Terry had been producing ‘Folk Up Front’ programmes for his folk show (a kinda Desert Island Discs) and we had decided to ‘turn the tables’ on him. We had primed many of his MySpace friends about this and had questions sent in by them so we had our script ready, our front room set up ready with mics and recording gear ready to go. Terry is such a good sport he took it all in his stride and we had a great time. Tell you what though… we’re much happier being the performer rather than presenter.
And if all that wasn’t enough we also took part in The Big Folk Gathering and a Hiring Fair Concert as part of the Durham Traditional Music Festival and of course, and also found time to pop in to a few local clubs as well.
Things really were a bit quieter for July as we were busily trying to catch up and tie up all loose ends before leaving for the USA at the end of the month. We had two sessions in the studio with Ron Angus which went really well. We finished off Jim’s second album and artwork and sent it off for replication and packaging etc. There was more work on Allan Taylor’s second songbook which saw Allan come to visit us twice. Performances included a 15-minute spot at Nature’s World Folk Festival, a guest gig at The Smugglers in Morecambe and a 30-minute slot at Hiring Concert in Rotherham!
Then came August - not long till the wedding day! We flew out on the 3rd August and went first to Florida for four nights. We stayed in Titusville which is where the Kennedy Space Center is and the place is just incredible! Jaw-dropping for the two days we spent there. Then on the Friday we flew over to La Jolla just north of San Diego for 7 nights. We were to be married on the 12th. We hadn’t been allowed to apply for a marriage licence on-line, so on the 10th we went off to the County Clerk’s office in El Cajon to arrange this and make our first visit to the Taylor Guitar Factory where we met with Chalise, Public Relations Manager and our contact… yes, it was really true, we were getting married in the Taylor Guitar Factory. We had our own personal tour that day and tied up arrangements for the wedding day. We were to be married in their Marketing Suite, wall to wall Taylor guitars and we were invited to pick up any of the guitars and play them. Well, of course we did. Chalise said we could use the guitars on our wedding day if we wanted! Val had fallen in love with a Custom Build 12-string. Val’s son, Richard, arrived the day before the wedding and then the wedding day arrived! To say it was wonderful is an understatement is was just WOW! Timi from Texas came over for the wedding as well. And the 12-string guitar… Val played it while Jimmy used a 6-string and we sang an Allan Taylor song ‘Back Home To You’ during our wedding ceremony. The guitar is now in our front room – we just had to buy it. After the wedding we all went out for a Mexican meal. What a day.
Richard left the following day to travel to San Francisco to stay with a friend for a week and we stayed on for another day, enjoying a honeymoon hot air balloon flight. We left La Jolla on the Friday and took the long drive all the way up the west coast, through Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Big Sur etc till we reached Tacoma, Washington State (not far from Seattle). It was a very long drive and probably one we should have taken two weeks doing instead of four days as we hardly had time to sightsee as it was all drive, eat and sleep. But the scenery was magnificent and an adventure all the same. We stayed with musician friends, Steve and Kristi Nebel, in Tacoma for ten days. They showed us the sights, Mount Rainier, took us to visit relatives in Anacortes, went to a real American County Fair where they were playing – wonderful. We borrowed a couple of 6-string guitars throughout our stay in Tacoma and we played at an open mic night which was broadcast live on the radio. Then it was a long journey home just in time for the Bank Holiday weekend.
No rest for the wicked it seems. September kicked off on the 4th with a first time performing visit to a singers night at Carlisle Folk Club. We were up first with three songs. The 5th we were at The Davy Lamp to see Allan Taylor who came home with us because on the 6th we had a Wedding Celebration ‘do’ for friends and Allan had kindly agreed to play. We did a 30-minute set, had some food, cut the cake and then Allan played... with us joining him on stage for the last number. It was a smashing night. There was the usual visit to singers nights at folk clubs and we also paid a first time visit to The Topic Folk Club in Bradford. We had arranged to have a support slot for the guest night of Dana and Susan Robinson (a couple from America whom we always make a point of seeing when they are over here in the UK).
Then it was back to Ron’s studio to finish recording and a further visit to liaise on the mixing and it was done. 12 tracks, mastered and ready for us to start on our artwork for the booklet etc. That kept us very busy, trying to get the right purple was tricky and finding that black isn’t really black was kinda interesting. But we got there and everything was sent off to be glass mastered, replicated and packaged. Finger biting waiting for the CD to come… we’d been given a date of early November.
Then at the end of the month we were off to Ingleton for a week. We had been booked to take part in the Ingleton Folk Festival so we hired the cottage we had stayed in the year before, for the week. This gave us the opportunity for return visits to clubs we had visited last year – The Plough Sessions near Blackpool, Coppull Folk Club, Wigan Folk Club and, after a 5 year break, the Hale & Hearty Folk Club in Milnthorpe. We also paid a first time visit to The Bothy in Southport.
This took us into October and after getting home very late on the 3rd (4 o’clock in the morning) after 2 afternoon slots at the festival and an evening gig in Morecambe we were up and over to Amble to do some songs for a ‘day after the wedding ceremony’ celebration at the couple’s house. Allan’s songbook was ready from the printers so we picked them up in eager anticipation… nothing to worry about it looked great… and drove down to Allan to take him some copies. Val did a few days temping work at a solicitors in Morpeth and we did a new care home in Morpeth during one of her temping days! We had friends to stay and took them to see Show of Hands in Durham and finished up the month with a support slot at Cramlington for Anthony John Clarke. He and his road manager John stayed with us fro two days before travelling back up to Scotland for his next gig. On the Wednesday we had a gig at The Bridge in Newcastle and we were roadied there by John and Anthony John – we felt like celebrities!
November… not much time for playing out. We had a new commission… Anthony John Clarke had asked us to do him a Songbook, look after his website and his MySpace. He said he’d like, if possible, to have the songbook out by the end of the year!
jiva CD ‘Best Friends’ arrived – colours were just fine. Phew! But no time to get out there promoting it… we were busy with the songbook! Anthony John came to stay for two days and we worked solidly through the book, page by page, chord by chord putting in pictures and quotes. Hard work but thoroughly enjoyable.
28th November – guest gig and CD launch at Netherton Folk Club. Also, Jack who runs the club, had retired the day before and it was his birthday the following day. We had a great night… and sold some CDs and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jack as his candlelit cake was brought in. He joined us in our last song of the night ‘One More Song’ (he has added this to his repertoire). Magic.
So here we are, back again at December. 1st December we had a guest gig at Croxdale Folk Club and it was good to see some friends there and we’ve been back on Bishop fm (it’s been off the air since May and is no longer internet based… it’s fully fledged FM – on 105.9)… then there was the Cramlington Christmas dinner, and our last performance outing of the year was to Low Row over Brampton way. We’ve taken the final electronic version of of Anthony John Clarke's songbook to the printer, and are anxiously awaiting the January call to tell us that there are 1,000 A5 wirobound songbooks ready and waiting. Two Songbook Launch concerts have been arranged for February – one in Liverpool the other in Manchester and we shall be performing as Special Guests. So timing and prioritising has been critical.
The highlight of this month was Anthony John doing our song ‘One More Song’. He has added this to his repertoire and debuted it on BBC Radio Lancashire – it was wonderful. We are just thrilled, speechless and delighted that he likes the song so much. And it’s in the songbook too!
After a brief Christmas visit by Val's son Richard, we spent the last few days of the year in Liverpool staying with Anthony John and Julia - time to just relax and chill out away from the deadlines and pressures of design, publishing, performing, recording, writing, rehearsing, etc.
And now here we are, New Year's Eve - back home, rounding off a remarkable year, trying to continue in relaxing vein as we look forward to what looks like being an extremely busy and fulfilling 2010.
We hope you all had a good Christmas and we send you our sincere best wishes for the coming new year. Hopefully our paths will cross soon.
Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
jiva design website
