| Mark Newman news page |
updated 31 August 2007 |
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Montcuq, 31 August 2007
What an odd summer its been here in Montcuq. Not as wet as in the UK it would seem but the usual very hot weather that we usually get in June, July and August just didn't materialise. However, the rain did.
However, the playing has been great
fun and more of it this summer than ever before. It all kicked off
in June with the Fête de Musique which, as before took place at
the foot of the Tour on a stage that looked out across the
valley. There was a good sound system so it was just a question of
plugging in. I played some of the instrumental things and when I
started to play bluesey material, I was aware of brilliant
electric piano playing along. I hadn't realised but Serge da
Silva, who is the music teacher at the College in the village and
who was accompanying other singers, had decided that he'd like to
join in. Happily, my guitar was in true concert pitch and the
overall effect was great and the rest of the set went down very
well.
Have you ever played for walnuts? I
know about peanuts of course but early in July I was asked to play
at the annual gathering of the local SEL. The SEL is a cooperative
organisation whose members effectively barter their trades and
services. For example, member A does some wiring for member B and
"earns" a walnut for each ten minutes of labour. Member
B then might do some gardening for member C who in turn might do
something for member A. No money changes hands which rules out
problems with tax etc. Anyway, I played at their annual get
together and it was a good evening although I still have no idea
of how many walnuts I earned. However, a real gig came out of it
when I was asked to be the entertainment at a birthday party for
one of the SEL members. This was, again, a lovely summer's evening
and the music went down well. At one point, a real
"first". Jigs and reels proved very popular and everyone
was dancing.
After that came two nights at a
restaurant in Cahors. I did this with another local singer, Jeremy
Stone who does mostly Bob Dylan songs and sounds more like Mr D
than Mr D. Also playing was Kelvin James who has a country
band in the UK and his guitar player, Paul Sheldrake. Paul was
extremely good and was all over his Strat.
If you've been to France, you will
certainly know the supermarket chain, E Leclerc. In Cahors and in
various other towns I think, they've split off the books,
computers, software, CDs and so on away from the main stores and
set up what are called, Centre Culturel. As part of a drive to
attract customers to the store, Saturday afternoons see an hour's
music from various players. I did the gig three weeks ago and sold
some CDs, the remainder of which are now officially stock in the
shop. From this gig came an invitation to play at what turned out
to be the nearest evening to a folk club that Mo and I have had
while we've been in France. There was an audience of 45 or so and
it was effectively a folk club arrangement. Before the interval,
everyone played a set of three. I had to follow a young lady of 11
years who was all over her neapolitan mandolin. 11!! Watch out
folks, there's a lot of talent out there. After the interval, I
teamed up with another local singer, Mike Griffin, as we'd found
that we had lots of material in common. This went down very well
and it's quite likely that we'll do some more things together
later in the Autumn. Mo and I also hope to start a folk/acoustic
club here in the village as we've found a really good venue. Watch
this space for further details.
And now, we're looking forward to
our two weeks in the UK. My birthday concert on September 14 in
aid of DIABETES UK, in Leicester (now sold out) should be good fun
and some really good players have agreed to be there. They include
Dave Kirk, Terry Lees, Steve Hicks, Lyn Geddes and my brother
Chris. A genuine night for guitar players and I suspect that I
will be struggling to keep up!! After this we go to Yorkshire as
I'm playing the Skipton Club on the 18th and then the Otley
Festival the following weekend. If you can get to Skipton or
Otley, it would be great to see you there.
Oh, I forgot to mention the
exhibitions of photographs and textiles that Mo and I have done
during the summer, but that's another story.
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Old
Bridge Music
PO Box 7, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 9RY, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1943 602203 Fax: +44 (0)1943 435472