JOY AND PAIN IN UNEQUAL MEASURES PART THREE: A HOMECOMING, A DISASTER, A TRAGEDY AND A TRIUMPH !!!

Get the weekend out of the way by working because I’m missing my wife and I might just as well for the overtime and take the following Wednesday off after Haddy's return flight.

The family are all ok.

They are all back safely in The Gambia with no major van hitches.

Obviously this is going to make a huge gap in the lives of Uncle Sebastian and his family.

It’s big enough in ours.

Aunt Rose or Ta’ Roz (Tante Rose) was always welcome and welcoming and I know Haddy is going to be very upset when she arrives back here on Tuesday night.

At least flights in from The Gambia are consistent.

Reckon on getting to the airport at about half-ten to eleven and then hang around for about two hours minimum.

At some time after midnight you should see the passenger you are waiting for.

Anybody waiting to get a passenger through the usual snarl-up in the second-class citizen queue going through immigration is going to be in for the longest wait…

And that, of course, is me.

You know when they’re starting to go through because all the tanned or lobster-like holidaymakers start appearing through the doors in the arrivals area.

And you wait…

And you wait…

And you wait…

And finally, at about ten minutes to one in the morning, two complete hours after the flight has landed, you finally get to see your wife.

Or I get to see my wife actually.

It now takes between two to three hours depending on traffic and roadworks to drive home, and I have to be honest, it’s exhausting.

But at least we’re both off work tomorrow.

Haddy had said she may go in for her evening job, but she’ll see how she feels first ?

She’s tired from having to wake early in the morning, say her farewells to the family and travel virtually all night.

She needs sleep, but I bet you the body clocks are fucked…

About four hours sleep and we’re awake again.

What can you say ?

The Rhythms gig has been slowly going pear-shaped whilst all this has been going on.

If it wasn’t enough to go through all this family stuff, the bureaucracy of the organisation is beginning to appall…

We have no gig flyers and so we cannot actually advertise the events and I’m beginning to tear out whatever hair is left and scream loudly.

There is a reason for this.

We have to advertise with a ‘corporate logo’.

Unfortunately they hadn’t been printed yet…

Two weeks before the actual event and nobody has seen a flyer.

So I fired off a few e-mails…

All I get back is corporate bullshit.

Hey !!!  Do you lot want a fucking gig or don’t you ?

I’m happy to put the thing on, but you people have to pull your weight and stop this crap or you won’t have a fucking gig at all over the whole weekend because nobody will know the bloody thing is on.  

Success.

We finally have flyers.

Unfortunately they don’t actually say where or when the events are taking place.

It’s a catch-all flyer that advertises all the events and all the venues without a single date or a line-up.

So I blot my copy-book by going apeshit on Facebook…

Ooooh, that got a reaction, didn't it ?

One side is telling me I shouldn’t do that and the other side is agreeing that these people are incompetent.

Doh !!!

Fuck it !

Do it yourself…

So I did.

I remade the flyers in forty eight hours and had them out on the street in fifty.

You can’t do that.

Gig flyer by Al Maceachern

Errr… Actually I can, and what’s more I just did and if you want people to come then you better learn that the best way is the way that actually works and has done for aeons…
And apparently I wasn't the only one...
One of the band's had done their own, too.

I guess I’m the bad guy again ?

Ah fuck ‘em !

All this ‘corporate’ bullshit.

All we’re doing is putting on a gig and since you asked me to do it, get the fuck out of the way and just let us get on with it.

This shit drives you nuts.

Is it any wonder that the industry is full of crazy people with attitude problems ?

And my wife has just returned to find all this crap going on…

NOOOOOO !!!

The news is on Facebook…

Jon Falconer: 2nd July 1970-7th July 2013 as I'll always remember him...

Jon Falconer died yesterday.

He was taking a short break with Martin on their boat and apparently had felt unwell and so they’d stopped the boat, Martin had got off and gone looking for a local Dr’s surgery, come back and found Jon dead at the tiller…

Christ !!!

Your heart just goes out to the poor guy…

The funeral won’t be until later because of the autopsy.

For those who don’t know about this stuff, it’s because Jon died outside of his own Dr’s jurisdiction.

What can you say in moments like these ?

Everything else in your life becomes immaterial.

This is like a never-ending bad dream.

It seems like everybody who knew him has left a tribute somewhere.

I’m gonna miss him.

As someone once said, ‘The revolution is gonna be harder to fight now, cos there’s one less of us…’

But he’ll still be with all of us on the barricades come the time.

Do I want to dedicate the Rhythms gig to him ?

It’s a nice thought, but we’ll see about that on the night ?

I went to the Don Letts gig on the Friday.

Don was ok, and his son’s a good mixer but he didn’t really ‘come over’ to the audience.

It was like he’d submerged his personality which always comes through on the radio show.

Bit disappointing if truth be told, and apparently I was not the only one who felt like that.

I left Fort Hope on the Saturday.

To be honest I’d sooner rest before the Sunday.

Haddy’s got a few things to do on the Sunday so she’s going to join me later.

Me ?  I’m there early for the soundchecks.

Because it’s a Sunday night we can’t go on until midnight so we’ve worked it so that we finish between ten-thirty and eleven.

Unfortunately this means that The Astronauts have to actually start their set at about seven-fifteen.

It’s a bit early but it can’t be helped.

All three bands will be playing their normal sets.

Which they do, admirably.

The Astronauts storm it, setting a bench-mark that Blyth Power and Scum of Toytown are going to have to match to even be considered contenders.









Give Mark and the guys a bit of adversity and they usually rise above it.

I know they usually get labelled ‘folk-punk’ but there is nothing folky about The Astronauts.

Alternative is as The Astronauts does, and they are definitely alternative.

The Astronauts: Photo by Grant Meaby

 

The lyrics make sense and stay relevant even if they were written twenty years ago and that is one of the marks of a really intelligent mind.

Mark old mate, you’ve done it again.

Here's a snippet I found on youtube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESW5hbq92GU
 

On any other night Blyth Power would have topped the bill.

Tonight however they were up against Scum of Toytown and so we’d asked them to play second giving the hometown crowd their own to end the evening.

And Blyth stormed it.
Unfortunately, it would seem nobody thought to film it ?

The mosh-pit went ballistic in the last twenty minutes and gave a foretaste of things to come.

Talking to Joseph after the event, he reckoned it was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable Blyth gigs ever.

Easily in their ten best in his opinion, and certainly ‘up there with a shout’ in Annie’s.

Must have done something right, then ?

Which leaves us the’ headliners’.

‘Allo Hitchin…’ said Jon, and away they went.

Many more new songs than the last time I’d seen them.

The older ones that everybody knew mixed in with the new ones to complete a whole new set and it was absolutely majestic.

The mosh-pit started up on the second track and never stopped, even for the new ones.

There ya go, peep's... Something to watch... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXreHOGLOHc

Ska-punk, when done as well as this, just gets everybody up and dancing.

Give me the stage and some able musicians and I’ll put the gig on for you.

Just keep the extraneous bullshit to a minimum because it serves no real purpose apart from massaging egos, and I really have no time for that.

It seems like those that came enjoyed themselves ?

The strangest fact of all came after the event.

Scum, as is their wont, always want a large ‘pest-list’ to get as many of their friends in for free and

I’d kept them down to eight on the night.

If you added those eight to those paying then it would have equalled those that paid for Fort Hope on the Saturday, which also exactly equalled the amount paying to see Don Letts on the Friday.

That’s today’s bit of true but useless information.

Strange, but true.

Arcadeclectic keeps it’s end up.

Now I’m finally going home to sleep.

Last out as usual…

Much to Haddy’s disgust !!!

The Sunday 2nd December gig...

Well, here we are again... Safe and sound after doing my bit for culture.
Seeing it was The Astronauts 30th Anniversary gig, Mr Astronaut packed the gig with the usual suspects from the past and the now, starting with just Rico from the Astronauts... just as a little taster of what was coming, and then it was the turn of Mark's current outfit...
The Otters opened up their bit of the proceedings in their usual Psychedelic Punk Folk Rock way and proceeded to get a little momentum going for three numbers. This band is so good and so different that they deserve to succeed big time, but will they get an opportunity ?
Your guess is as good as mine. Suffice it to say that Dennis is a phenominal drummer for his age, and Dom' plays a nifty lead guitar. Joe, the bass player on the other hand, keeps thinking about leaving the band. It would be a shame if he decided to do so but I'm sure Mark will carry on with them. They're too damn good to waste.
The Otters were followed by Steve Lake who used to be in Zoundz alongside Joseph Porta (now currently propping up the drumming chair in Blyth Power). Steve played acoustic guitar and his quirkily humorous cynicism hopefully won him a few more converts. He was followed by a solo set from Alan Clayson of Clayson and the Argonauts fame. Alan decided that since he was playing solo he'd play a load of old 1960's cover versions including Johnny Remember Me... Personally I think he'd have been better off doing his own stuff but then what do I know ?
Jon and Jo from Lika Sharpe followed Alan but without their bass player as his Mum had just passed away and he was therefore unavailable but even without they managed to keep people's interest. I like this lot. That having been said I've known Jon on and off since Chron Gen days and his stuff is always worth a looksee. Shame that Jo was going down with a cold and was losing her voice but she coped until the end when she managed to turn into Kermit's sister and just croak a soft 'thanks' to the audience.
Then it was yours truly's turn...
Last week when Mark had originally mentioned that he'd like me to introduce The Astronauts with one of my poems I couldn't really see the sense in it. Oh yeah, I was up for doing it but I didn't really know how I'd fit in ?
Leave it to Mark Astronaut to see the whole thing in his frame of vision.
The poem he wanted was 'Flashback, Big Business & Fastbuck' which is about as autobiographical as I have ever got and which actually talks about a time which predates The Astronauts by about five years which leaves it safely mired in the 'Hippie' ethic of which I am a dinosaur or relic whichever you will.
Doesn't matter though, it worked perfectly as an intro' and when Rico hit those first few chords over the ending I could see what Mark meant...
and The Astronauts were superb.
My mate Grant Meaby who took all the shots of me while I was up on stage, reckoned that on a good day The Astronauts could take on anyone in the world musically and show them how it's done...
Not a lot I can say about that apart from agreeing with him because this was definitely a good day.
Great gig, and a worthy 30th Anniversary for Welwyn Garden City's finest.
There are a few pictures on the blog and the rest are stuck away in the Chris Ripple myspace pics.

Some pictures of Bass Relief from April 29th at Club 85 (Ollie's first gig with us, and Joy was in Japan) and... It's 'Rhythms' time again...

So, here we are again, finding ourselves under a bit of pressure and getting a bit of a buffetting from outside forces who, it must be said, have left things a little late...
but no matter... That's their problem.
Right... What can I tell you that's not already in the rotw.org.uk programme ?
Not a lot actually... Oh yeah, programmes cost £2.00 each and will definitely be available on the Saturday... They tend to sell out on the Sunday... The CD's however tend to sell out early on Saturday so if you want one, get in early.
Seeing that the programme has all the artists music and net sites listed in it I will not be giving you a list of links as that would defeat the object of having you support the festival by buying a copy, nor am I going to recommend anybody particularly that is on The Arcadeclectic Stage as I'm happy with everybody that I booked, but here's a little glimpse into what is going to be on Saturday...
B.R.P. (experimental and avante garde jazz) Alex Holmes (Singer-Songwriter) Peter Amoah (Acoustic funky blues) Mazaika (Russian instrumental duo) Austin Kaluba (Poet) Ukabilly Big Band (A Ukelele and Double Bass rock out...) Eve Killip (Poet) Terry & Gavin McCann (Acoustic guitars, mandolins and songs) Graeme Lloyd (Poet) Jude Simpson (Performance Poet/Musician) The Montgomery Music Makers (Rockabilly) Joy T. Chance (Poet) and Spandex Ballet... (To know them is to love them...sometimes).
Whereas on Sunday...
Ed Barnes (Electro' Comedy) Hot Wet Dogs (Rock Band) Mark Hitchins (Singer-Songwriter) Simran & Sukhmani (Sax and Tabla) Lio Simelane & Austin Kaluba (Musician and Poet) Stanza (Rap) Bass Relief (Jazz and Poetry) Richard Stark (Opera) Grant Meaby (Poet) Alan Cowley (Singer-Songwriter) and The Dealers ( Funky Bluesy Folkie duo)...
and there you have it, the complete Arcadeclectic Stage lineup over the two days and I'm dead chuffed at getting the lot of them.
I'm particularly pleased in having three of the youngest acts at the festival proper... No, I'm not going to single them out for that would be unfair, but suffice it to say that they are there because they are bloody good at what they do and for no other reason, and they follow in the footsteps of Madadam (from whom Bass Relief got Adam), Device (That rock band from Milton Keynes who are playing Club 85 this year) and of course, the one we had to bring back for her second year by public demand... The amazing Robyn Johnson who is not listed above because we've listed her under her musical listing but all the fans will know the name she performs under.
So I think we have something for everybody, however eclectic their musical taste might be.
One thing I will say is that this year Bob was blagging acts off me for the main stages...
Mazaika, B.R.P., Montgomery Music Makers and Simran & Sukhmani are all working other stages as well as the Arcadeclectic over the two days, so maybe I'm finally getting the hang of this... The smallest official stage of the whole festival supplying four acts for some of the larger stages... No... It doesn't sound too bad if it's put like that... and yes, I'm pleased.
Ok... the trumpets sound a nice little flourish... Da dad dad daa...
Right, that's the generalities out of the way... Let's go and be specific and blow our own saxophone...(as opposed to trumpet) and let's talk a bit about Bass Relief.
We lost Bass player Mark this year when he quit two weeks before a gig at Club 85, so I started haunting the 'phone lines trying to get a replacement who was actually into what we were doing... It was easier said than done.
But...
It all came together when we found Ollie who is actually a guitarist in his usual outfits and then on the 29th April we did the gig...
Joy was missing, having gone to visit her son in Japan so it was yours truly, Adam and Ollie who turned up for the gig...
What nobody realised but Adam suspected, was just how funky Ollie's Bass playing is...
It took us from weird shit avant garde to the realms of pure funk in seconds...
Oh wow... This was not just weird it was totally different...
We'd never sounded like that before...
but it opened up even more ideas and not just sounds... This was just as cool as fuck as far as I was concerned, and I hoped Joy would like it, too... but if she didn't, too bad... she was away on holiday after all.
Thankfully I had the presence of mind to record our portion of the gig, which was just as well because Bob Mardon waited a couple of days and asked me if we had any recordings as they'd like to put us on the 'Rhythms of the World fundraiser CD' this year...
and when she'd returned from the land of the rising sun I played Joy the recordings...
Thankfully, she was as happy as I was with the new sound.
It's a strange thing... We've played 'Rhythms' for four years now and never with the same lineup or sound, and yet there has never been a deliberate change... It's only ever been a step forward.
so here's the map as to how we got where we are...
2002 Mark Bailey asks Chris Ripple if he ever fancies doing poetry to avant garde type Double Bass backing ? Chris says 'let's do it'.
2003 Chris records his first live CD at Club 85 and three Bass Relief tracks are released on it leaving one outtake.
2005 After a tequila fueled evening with Joy, I think we need a little more colour musically...
and I fancy an alto saxophone in the mix, so next time I see Roz Alwyn I consult the oracle...
Yes, she does know an alto sax player and he's excellent... but he's doing his school exams at the moment...
Yeah... I did a double take, too...
Well when he's done 'em could you... ?
And she did, and I pitched it to Adam and he said, and I quote "I've never studied improvisation... I've never done it..."
Nah, you'll be ok... You up for a gig in two weeks time ?
"Yeah... where is it ?"
Oh... Rhythms of the World festival... in front of a possible thirty thousand people...
"Ok..."
And that's how Adam Marsh joined us...
He was playing saxophone in Madadam at the time. A bunch of fifteen,sixteen and seventeen year olds who played Jazz, and who liked playing Jazz... Which actually flies in the face of the accepted teenage stereotype, and I'd loved their attitude to it all, so I'd booked them for 'Rhythms' that year as well.
2006 The following year Madadam were back through public demand... They'd stormed it...
and I knew now we needed more vocal colour and so I asked Joy to step in for a couple of numbers...
She did, but she decided she liked it and stayed.
And that's it really until the middle of April this year when Mark decided he didn't want to do it anymore...and that is the story of Bass Relief so far...
It's an ongoing thing and I don't think I'd have it any other way.
Bass Relief for 2007 are
Adam Marsh-Alto and Soprano Saxophones.
Chris Ripple- Words.
Joy T. Chance-Words.
Ollie' Glaze-Bass Guitars.
and hopefully... If everything runs to plan, we'll get a few items to download on this site in the not too distant future.