Leyland Accordion Club - 9th June 1999
Our June meeting opened with Jay and Jeff Ward playing a French Medley consisting of Sons Les Toits De Paris, La Seine and Mademoiselle de Paris. Jay plays her electronic keyboard while Jeff does his magic on the accordion. They continued with Goodnight Vienna, Has Anyone Seen My Girl, Jeepers Creepers, Poor Butterfly before finishing with Barcarolle. Jays keyboard skills were very much in demand at our last practice night, she was surrounded by about ten accordionists whilst we all played a nice medley of tunes including favourites like Bull and Bush, Scotland the Brave etc. Harry Mason was our next player, Harry was new to the club and making his debut, he does not read music and instead has a list of the titles he is going to play sat next to him. Harry started with You Belong to My Heart then he continued with I'm In The Mood For Love, Peg O' My Heart, Dancing With Tears In My Eyes and finishing with You Are Everywhere.
Ian Fralick
Harry is a founder member of the Wirrall Accordion Club, lets hope we can see more of him in the future, I did enjoy his playing. After Harry had finished his solo spot he was joined by Jeff Ward to play Yesterdays Dreams - a Flanagan and Allen tune. Basil Berry was next up on the floor playing Around The World, continuing with Love Is My Reason and Edelweiss. I liked Basil's next offering which was the Bergerac Theme, this was followed by From Here To Eternity before finally finishing with In The Mood, the left hand on Basil's In The Mood is quite impressive, you should take notice of his left hand next time he plays it, I think you will be impressed. Alan Gelling followed Basil while we got ready for the break, Alan started with Will Ye No Come Back Again - Stornaway, These Are My Mountains, My Home In Aberdeen, Let Me Be Your Sweetheart and finally finishing with Glory Glory Alleluia. We had the usual mass of bodies running round saying hello to each other during the break. I always feel guilty when I have to call everyone to order so we can continue with the programme but it has to be done. For those of you who have not been to one of our practice nights, they are like a three hour break full of people sharing ideas and trying What-if tunes and drinking coffee. With no audience to worry about it is easier to play in front of the others and is ideal for beginners to make their debut outside their bedroom. After the break we were entertained by Ian Fralick who went to Canada and returned this month. Ian started with Danube's Waves, Come Back To Errin, Barren Rocks of Aiden and Scotland The Brave. It's good to see Ian Back in England, he was telling me that he was really pleased when he found us, he had been looking for someone else who played the accordion for ages then he found over one hundred of us. I received a phone call this week from someone living locally who spotted us on the Internet, he had also been looking for someone who understood him, he told me that he thought he was alone in the area with his hobby until he found our website, he also said that he thought our website was the best one on the Internet which I was pleased about, he will be attending the club on Wednesday for the first time. Chick Stephen then played a selection of Scottish Tunes including Mull Of Kintyre, Dark Island, Flower Of Scotland and Amazing Grace. Harry Mason returned to the floor and gave us a second appearance playing Under Paris Skies, All Of Me, The Lady Is A Tramp and Moonlight and Roses. Harry was joined once again by Jeff Ward to play Tipitipitin before Harry finished with Oh Mama. It was now time to go home, and once again we had had another great night of entertainment. I have to thank the players who practice and make our nights so special, it is not easy getting up in front of everyone and being the centre of attention but our players make it look easy. I almost forgot, I was in there playing but I cannot remember what I played or when I played I do remember playing at the end and forgetting the tune I was originally going to play before I played something else but I cannot remember what the something else was, I normally spend half the night writing down song titles for this newsletter in between planning who will play in what order and ensuring that the timing is just right so we always finish at 11pm promptly. With all the rushing around I have to do on the club night I did forget to write down what I played though and I have slept since then. This Wednesday 14th July we have the return of Tom Alexander who was last at the club in September. I have my eye on playing one of Tom's more difficult tunes and I have requested he play it on Wednesday so I can see how it is done, I look forward to seeing you all there again for another night of great entertainment. Remember doors are normally open around 7.10pm, many of you do take advantage of this by turning up early for a bit of socialising before the night starts. Whatever time you arrive I look forward to seeing you again on Wednesday for another night of great accordion entertainment.
David Batty
Our Internet Website
Our Internet website has had 14370 visitors as at 12th July 1999, that's 1038 visitors since last month. I received an E-mail from a woman in Vilnius the Capital of Lithuania, she was worried because her mother and 32 girls had gone to Leyland as a choir and she had seen on TV that we had Tornado's in England. She searched the internet for Leyland and came up with Leyland Accordion Club. She apologised for bothering me and asked for news of her family and friends because she could not get news in Lithuania of how bad our weather was or if they were ok. It turned out that her family were at Llangollen not Leyland, they were competing at the International Eisteddfodd. I reassured her that Wales was not devastated and we were in the middle of a heatwave, the tornadoes she had heard about were at Birmingham, they did not touch the ground so were not tornadoes in the true sense. It is nice to see the Internet can be helpful in such situations. It is also nice to find we were top of her list of people to ask. Perth Accordion Club in Western Australia sent me another e-mail, they have one of their members on her way up here at the moment, I am hoping she can visit on a club night, if not then I will make her welcome whenever she gets here. I was watching a video sent to me by Perth Club, it was excellent, but, on it they had a bellydancer!!! I promptly Sent them an e-mail to voice my disgust………That I had not thought of it first.
Ladies Morris Dancing Team
An accordionist is wanted for a Ladies Morris Dancing Team based at Lytham. The Fylde Coast Cloggers are interested in hearing from anyone who may be able to help. Duties include playing at various venues in the Fylde area. Contact Sue Whitaker on 01253 721924
Nina Suscenco booked as guest artist
Nina Suscenco now booked as a guest artist on 10th May 2000. Nina has two bands, one playing Eastern European and Jewish Folk Music the band is called Caravan Cerai, available for bookings for festivals, wedding parties, street festivals etc. there are 7 in that band. Her second band has five members playing jewish folk music. Included are Nina, fiddle, and keyboard.
How not to make mistakes
1. Say "I meant to do that. Did you see how well I did it?" 2. "When you make a mistake, play that same mistake a second time -- then it sounds like a deliberate, if odd, arrangement." 3. "If you play the wrong note and it sounds like it belongs there, it's harmony. If you play the wrong note and it sounds dissonant, it's jazz." Hey Presto, No more mistakes.
Accordion Rave!
We are holding a picnic/accordion club event on Sunday 8th August 1999 in the orchard at Hollins Lane Farm, Hollins Lane, Leyland starting at 2pm. Bring your accordions along, we need players to entertain non players. The idea is that you drive your car in to the orchard right up to the picnic site, there will be no need to carry anything from the car as you can lay on the bonnet if you want. This should be a good annual event where members can socialise and get acquainted in the sun listening to accordion music, what more can you want (answers on a postcard please). Being the first time we have tried this I hope that many of you will be able to attend and make this a memorable event, there is no admission charge, all you do is bring yourself, a chair or blanket, your family, your accordion loving friends, your accordion if you have one and plenty to eat and drink. Hollins Lane Farm belongs to Harold Bleasdale who we have to thank for letting us use his land for free. He has not yet told me how much he will charge for you to leave though !!!! Directions:Leave the car park of The Highfield and turn right. Take the second Left (Leyland Lane) The Second Left again is Hollins Lane. The farm is 100 yards down on the Left. Ring me on my mobile number 07803 665403 in case you get lost. You can see it is easy to find though. See you there.
Victorian Themed event - Preston, Lancashire.
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I was asked if I could provide accordion entertainment for a Victorian themed event being held in Winckley Square in Preston on Sunday 4th July. The event was from 12 noon to 4pm. I persuaded the organisers that it would need two of us to provide music for that length of time. Knowing that Rebecca would be back from University and looking for a job I booked her via her agent (her mum Jenette). When we got there, Rebecca started the playing at one end and I started at the other end of the crowd. We played various pieces for ten or twenty minutes at a time during the four hours. We had to stop when the band wanted to play but the rest of the time we could play as and when we wanted. The rain came down heavy at one point and I had just moved under a tree where I was joined by masses of people sheltering from the rain, I carried on playing with my captive audience only 2 to 6 feet away. The event went well, I could have done with a radio microphone plugged in to the large sound system the announcer was using but we solved the problem by moving around a bit. There were many people who asked what the buttons were for on the left and many other questions, the children seemed fascinated to watch us playing and we did get a lot of publicity for the instrument. |
Rebecca Postlewhite and David Batty |