Ken_Coles

Howard, you were in Indianapolis last year, and you didn't tell us? Tsk, tsk. Ken (still off topic)

Ken, tell the truth! Imagine there is a wonderful Jeffries sitting in front of you and a $7,000. European vacation. (Don't let me down now!) Please tell me you'd pick the Jeff and then busk your way across Europe!?! I could put everything behind doors and throw in a lady and a tiger but I wanted to keep things simple! Greg <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'll take the lady and the tiger. I'm still single and I like adventure.

I agree. Personally I wouldn't require documtenation, but I would need to handle it and play it and open it up and have a shufty inside. My present beauty Chris Algar sent me on approval for a couple of days, which enabled me to satisfy myself about what I was getting. I cannot understand how anybody can part with substantial sums for sight-unseen instruments. Chris <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Amen to what both of you say. I enjoy playing a Jeffries when someone allows me to, but at these prices I do not expect to ever own one. There are alternatives (you'll pay less for a new Suttner or Dipper, and other makers are appearing). If I had 7,000 U.S. to spend on something, I'd be more likely to travel overseas for several months than buy another concertina. Hmmm...maybe I don't belong in this august group with an attitude like that! Ken

I have gone several times and enjoyed it. This year is iffy, need to see how the summer schedule shakes out. Highly recommended.

I was in a brass quintet for nine years. We organized it out of a summer community band we were all in. We played at least a hundred public performances (many for free) and rehearsed hundreds of times, mostly at my house the last five years. It was musical connections, good fellowship, the whole thing. And we did some jazz that was not notated beyond lead sheets. Saying classical music has no chances to connect just shows lack of exposure to such opportunities, which you have to find/make for yourself, like most music if you are an adult amateur. I just moved twice in a year, and I'm still making the new connections. But they will come with work. Classical concerts for which money is charged don't represent all of classical music and musicians any more than Riverdance represents all of Irish musical activity or the Country Bear Jamboree (or whatever it is called) at Disney World represents all of country/old time music.

I have watched it through once or twice and John takes a sensible approach to some of the methods of making a tune interesting, especially along the rows to start with. Like any good video, it is meaty and would require multiple viewings and practice (which I have not undertaken) to get all he put in there. I met John last year by the way. He is all "written out" from doing C&S all those years, but I kept after him to contribute here sometime soon.

Well, it's noose to me also. I was at the C-connection web site maybe a month ago and it didn't say anything then. I guess this is how Wim announces a new product! Sounds intriguing.

Which means that someone was bidding against him up to that level = more than one "enthusiast."

Two suggestions, supergran. First, while Jim will happily retype his opinion of the Jackie for you (he is absolutely tireless ), you can already read it by going to the English Buyer's Guide page. In fact, you might read the entire Buyer's guide. Also, if you search the Forum here, there are some old threads that compare the two options for the Jackie that are now available. The Jackie comes from Wim Wakker in the Netherlands. Second, for inquiring about rentals you could contact Hobgoblin music. They have a shop in London, but I have the impression the concertina-wonks are at their Crawley shop. For current contact info I'll refer you to Chris Timson's Concertina FAQ, another web site worth reading thoroughly. Cheers.

Welcome aboard. I'll try reading between the lines of your question...If you mean, "Do the old, unrestored English concertinas sold on ebay need new bellows?" I would say, "Some do, some don't." Commonly, however, they need tuning and new valves at a minimum, and sometimes pads or other repairs. If you pay a professional to do this it can easily be as much or more as you paid for the concertina. I'm one of the fuddy duddies here who encourages those brand new to the concertina 1) try playing or even borrow one locally if possible (where do you live? Worth putting in your profile) 2) rent from a dealer (money well spent) 3) buy from a dealer (ditto. Based on what I've heard I'd suggest a Jackie over unrestored vintage for you right now, for example) If you change your own oil, fix toasters, radios, and other equipment with alacrity, and do your own home carpentry, then learning to fix your first concertina may not be difficult. But I know a lot of folks who never get around to restoring the first one they bought and eventually buy a second they can play. But my good friends here will have many other opinions for you. Ladies and Gentlemen?

Yes, the archived thread I have, from the old forum system, no less, and posting it is on the to do list (really!). There were easily a couple of dozen movies in it. We are in finals week, so maybe my work load will lighten soon... (he says, hopefully) Ken

Well, welcome aboard, from another (presently on retirement) radio producer. I did a folk show in the American midlands for 9 years, including the only show I'm aware of that commemorated the bicentennial of Charles Wheatstone's birth that very week (on American radio, at least). Hope to get back to it one of these days. Meanwhile, C.net keeps me out of trouble! Will have to check out your show! Ken (assistant bottle washer)

They don't have a web site, but they do have an address and phone number, and that is in the FAQ. Chris <{POST_SNAPBACK}> And it was Chris himself who kindly passed along this info to me at the time. Thanks as always. Will have to dig up the info on Marcus and add it. Regards, Ken

Some time back I added a page on English concertinas to the Buyer's Guide. While perhaps not cutting edge info, it was intended to address these sorts of questions initially. Effort has gone into this rather than the links page lately. When I heard from Holmwood while compiling the page, I was given to understand that Holmwood (as opposed to Homewood) has no web presence, hence no link. If I am mistaken I would appreciate the info for the Buyer's Guide Ken

This was also discussed ad nauseum (it really did go on endlessly) once or twice on the squeezebox newsgroup (try deja news to find it). I was vaguely interested at first, but so many windbags and blowhards putting forward various reasons wore me out.

Groton, Mass., eh? I got there a few times last year, but it was sans concertina and with the Harvard Town Band. Didn't see any of the folks you mention there!

For all of you out there, it is worth noting that Dr. Barnert is musically very astute and a quick study. The brightest students are a challenge to any teacher, David! Seriously, I can only speak for myself -- it was valuable for me to spend some time with John Roberts, as I am at the advanced beginner level for English-style playing on anglo, and he gave me a lot to chew on, in spite of the endless noodling by some people in class that made it hard to hear what he was doing at times. I also went to the parts playing hour with Bob Snope and had great fun, since I am lucky to be able to sight-read simple printed music fairly well.

Parking machines that take dollar bills as well as coins? Seriously, I second everything Jim says. Bravo.

Sorry I missed the open house - I really wanted to see the repair shop - but I didn't get out of work until 1 PM Friday, and I had a 9-hour drive to Holyoke. See y'all today.

Wes, I can splice your revision into the article now if you like. Let me know. Ken

I looked at the text of Stuart E's post using my superuser mode, and as of 11:12 A.M. GMT/UT (7:12 AM US Eastern Daylight Time) there is _no_ image (or any other file) linked. That field is blank, at least what the system showed me.

Well, you're like a lot of newbies then. New, I wouldn't buy anything claimed to be "Cajun" cheaper than the Ariettes, which start at $300. Used boxes may be a better gamble; you can't tell until you examine them. I haven't even got around to retuning my G/C two-row, but if you want to see how rebuilds are done I can show you (only after school gets out). I'm near Pittsburgh.

Paul or Ken, I'd like to rebuild these wayback pages into a single object for the ICA archive, and I think I might have a fairly easy way to do it. I'm not intending to put it on the ICA site, just into the archive (like I did for the old Horniman site). Any objections? best wishes ..wes <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This is Paul's bailiwick, as he is owner of this site. You should probably email him about it. Other services? Try credit unions in the U.S. And the computerized marketing people. If you fellow countrymen of mine use those supermarket discount cards, be assured they carefully keep the record of everything you ever bought and sell it to anyone who will pay for it, in the name of "marketing" to you later on. If they want that kind of information from me, it will cost them a lot more than 30 cents off the price of a box of crackers. There is a reason some of us are Luddites. Ken, off to use the telescope and think about other worlds for awhile.

Amen. Try teaching today's American college students. They know how to find anything on the Web (actually, sometimes they are not even very good at that). But they have never heard that proper research gives credit, properly cites sources, etc., no matter how many low grades you give them for not doing it.

We've covered this before but it bears repeating: the old forum was custom-built by Paul S. The new forum is a commercial product. They are not compatible. Paul has the old files archived and says someday he may get around to writing the code to convert them to be a read only forum here. That will be a big job, and Paul has two half-time jobs now and is going to night school as well, so it will be awhile. If there is some important historical or other item that needs digging up you could always write him about it (but I don't want to encourage numerous inquiries to look through the files on a casual basis). Cheers, Ken