Newcastle and Hunter Valley Folk Club inc.

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Purple Parrot Reunion

Congratulations to everyone who played a part in getting the Folk Club Reunion together.  In particular the small group that took the event from the germ of an idea to completion.  Ray Ingham first discussed the idea with Dina Smith (nee Haney) and soon Helen Williams (nee Cummings), Rosemary Melville (nee Johnson), Sally Such (nee Hale) and Kay Cogan were putting the pieces together.  As the date drew nearer Neil Kilgour and others started trawling through their old diaries as they tried to track down as many of the people who had been part of the Folk Club over the years.

Their efforts and the response from those who answered the call were outstanding.  The success of the event was a demonstration of the importance of the Folk Club in the lives of so many people.

I was particularly pleased to have the opportunity on the night to talk to some of those people who were there at the beginning.  Their stories provided me with a much clearer understanding of the foundations of the Club and the bonds that have held it together over the years.

Events of the sixties had a profound impact on the lives of young people in particular.  It was a time when young people started to have a voice in the affairs of the world and the issues and politics of the time helped to bring the baby boomer generation together.

Barry Wright was just one of the young people swept up with the times and he and his friends quickly found themselves venturing out into the cafes and bars around town. The Vienna Café in Telford St,  Newcastle East became a natural meeting place for young people growing up in Newcastle in the sixties.  It was the only venue open after midnight and Barry and his friends gathered there to talk about politics, peace and popular music while they enjoyed coffee and raisin toast.

With the entrepreneurial skills of people like Paul Beard and Warren Faye this youthful energy and enthusiasm was brought together under the banner of the Purple Parrot Folk Club.  It quickly became more than just a weekly Folk Venue where music and songs could be shared and enjoyed.  It became an integral part of their lives.  Weekend camping trips were regular events with up to 40 people travelling by bus to the Snowy, up the Coast or Out West to explore and enjoy each others company and friendship - and with 38 guitars and 9 banjos packed in the boot there was always a lot of music to keep the party rolling along.

We may never be able to get back to that time again but it is great to know that the Folk Club is still alive and well.  People can still get together to share their music and fellowship.  All I can say is thank you to those who were there in the beginning and thank you to those are keeping the flame burning today.

Review from Ron Brown

February Club Night

Alan Musgrove & His Watsaname Band, with Amanda Broberg support

Our first Club night of the year was a beaudy.  Amanda Broberg's long-awaited solo debut at the Club was a real delight.  With a relaxed, warm presence, her singing was carried by guitar arrangements that ranged from delicate picking to a real earthy and gutsy beat.  Her bracket of ballads, with both new and old favourites, was enjoyed by us all.

Great stuff.  Come back, Amanda!

Thalia and Alan Musgrove then performed their "Interplay"………

Thalia's remarkable poems set to music and song.  Doors opened in my mind and a tidal wave of images swept through.  Thalia's stirring and imaginative poems range across themes like the Aussie Dry (I swear my throat felt dusty) and urban decay, to the unique and personal.

The performance ended with Thalia's passionate homage to her roots in the Greek community - a portrait of her father's dancing and drinking in the late night cafes of Melbourne's shady underworld.  Wow!

After supper we settled down with Alan Musgrove & His Watsaname Band.  Bob McInness, the "grand old man" of our folk fiddlers, with Stuart Leslie on the squeezebox, played sets of great old tunes with a superb sweetness.  Alan's old-style picking accompaniment, subtle and steady, also supports his strong, clear singing style.

We had little more than a small glimpse of his Gi-normous repertoire as he sang old songs like "The Waterwitch" that he's helped to rescue from obscurity, taking us back to the old times and places of our real and mythical past.

His quietly informative introductions were often laced with a wry humour.  Their finale?  How could these fellas have known, when we called for more, that their choice of an encore had also been the Club's theme song for so many years?  The spirits of Harry Anderson, Burns, Tate, Spencer and Co. joined us as we sang out the night with "Boozing". 

A truly great performance, and we look forward to their return.

Review from Julie Castles

April Double Concert

Colum Sands & The Beautiful Losers

It was a warm and muggy evening in early April that saw the NHVFC host a great double header concert featuring Colum Sands and The Beautiful Losers.  The humidity challenged the tuning of instruments, and Colum was battling a lurgy he picked up in Queensland (not to mention the one hour time difference!) but in spite of this, we all enjoyed a fantastic night!

Colum Sands is well known to folk audiences all over the world for his warm, witty and quirky songs and stories, many of which are drawn from his life in Ireland.  He plays on his Irishness in a way which is never sentimental, revealing the idiosyncracies of his people in a way which reminds us all about our inherent humanity.  Listening to Colum perform live is like walking through a grassy meadow on a sunny day, and the 70-strong audience was entranced – especially the group of kids that clustered at his feet through out the performance.
Congratulations to NATF Wildlife Rescue Service who enticed him to perform for this benefit concert!!

The Beautiful Losers are, of course, well-known Newcastle favourites Kent Daniel, Larry Hughes and Bernadette Lannen, ably assisted on keyboard and fiddle by Steve Roberts.  As testament to their popularity with local crowds, they pulled an even bigger audience than Colum Sands, and they did not disappoint with their expansive repertoire of both original songs and folk covers.  My only criticism of their performance is that we did not get to hear Kent sing enough!!!!  In my humble opinion he has one of the best voices in Australian folk circles and we don’t get to hear it enough, especially since he has not made any recordings that I am aware of.  Bernadette sings beautifully, there is no doubt, but so do you, Kent!

Thanks must go to the hard working crew in the kitchen who produced the yummy curries we enjoyed for dinner, and also to Pete Smith who entertained the dinner crowd with his lyrical guitar playing between the main acts (those of us who didn’t go off to the pub, that is!)

Review from Jane Harding

June Mid-Year Bush Dance with 'Bushfire'

Yooohooo!  What a great night we had with Bushfire (Kent, Steve, Gary and Bill ably assisting on tin whistle).  They sure stirred up a firestorm of great bush dance music that had many a foot tapping and a lot of us panting, puffing and gasping for breath.  Hey fellas, we aren’t as young as we used to be!  The dancers soon warmed up and cool water was much in demand.

We had a wide range of dances from easy (even for novices) to something more challenging.  We danced to reels and jigs and a waltz or two as well.  There was something there for everybody and no excuse to not give it a go.  Okay, yes we always seem to have a disproportionate number of "Ladies” versus "Gentlemen” (maybe one or two of these) but they’re used to it and believe that anything the men can do, they can do better.

The local Scottish, Welsh, Irish and bush dance groups all support the dance and always enjoy themselves and are keen to help newcomers as well: Like poor Bob, came at the invitation of some of his (so called) friends, arriving a little late, just when they needed a few more dancers for a set.  Unknowingly he sat down (however briefly) amongst a group of Scottish dancers, and very soon found himself with multiple "ladies” dragging him on to the floor.  So much for just coming for a look see!!!  Thanks for coming Bob, we hope we didn’t scare you too much and we’d love to see you come again.  Likewise all the others who came for a "look see” as well.

The event was well organised by the Folk Club and special thanks to Lainey making it a night to remember.  We had a wonderful supper (thanks to all those who brought something) we may have been regretting that last piece of cake as we launched into the dancers dance, Levi Jackson’s Rag.  It was lively and a bit on the wild side as ladies flew everywhere only to be grabbed by one of the (not so) gentlemen and steered in the right direction.  Well, most of the time anyway!  Amazingly the band had learned the tune from watching YouTube, so I was informed.  Thanks guys!  The music was spot on and the tempo heart-racing.  Is it true that Kent said he’d renamed the dance Michael Jackson’s Rag in memory of that infamous singer, dancer and highly incomprehensible entertainer who left the planet that week?

Oh, a quick plug for the monthly bush dance workshops on the third Sunday of each month between 2pm & 4pm at New Lambton.

Review from Bill Propert

A brief history of the Newcastle & Hunter Valley Folk Club's involvement with the King Street Fair over the years will be coming soon.