Irene S.
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Posts posted by Irene S.
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Probably some funny business going on?
I wouldn't be surprised if it's someone with a fair command of English just trying to blend in! Is the name Rufus T Firefly significant? I need to get out more!
A quick google and Rufus T Firefly is the character played by Groucho Marx in Duck Soup. So we apparently have a Kyrgistan based, Maccan playing, Marx Brothers fan.
Which was exactly what my comment about "funny business going on" was alluding to !
Do we find that combination a little worrying, or does it just confirm the previously held opinion of some people that all duet players are nutters?
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Probably some funny business going on?
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Apart from the fact that he (I'm assuming it's a he) recently joined Jack Bradshaw's group under the name of Rufustfirefly ... nothing else!
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Thanks for the wow Geoff. I had a quick scoot through the cnet membership for Duet players, and my gut feeling ( I didn't actually do any counting up ... my levels of sadness haven't got quite that far) was that there were actually more Crane players amongst those who had actually registered the fact that they play a Duet ... but I could be mistaken.
Another name that I've just remembered is Hazel Askew .... she has recently entered the ranks according to a bit of correspondence that I had been having with her father. But she has only acquired a Maccann in the last six or seven months or so.
And Dirge ... fairly close. It's one of the six independent Turkic states . For more info see here http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Kyrgyzstan
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Another player to add to the list - Tom Bliss.
Having checked out various other lists posted elsewhere, at the moment I'm up to 74 known players so far , either named here or on a thread on Mudcat about Duet International, or on the Maccann group or known about personally.
And just out of interest (since I'm at home being sick at the moment) the breakdown of location of players on this list is as follows:
UK 41
USA 15
Canada 2
France 3
Australia and New Zealand 5
Kyrgystan 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland 2
Germany 2
Japan 1
Hong Kong 1
Obviously this has to be the tip of an iceberg - think of all those people who don't social network , mess about with the internet, don't play the same sort of music etc etc.(I rather doubt that the majority of the 21 players who turned up for the workshop in Whitby are necessarily on here either! Anyway, that's my playtime over ... going to get ready to watch Torchwood now
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One nobody has mentioned is Peter Honri! Some while ago it seemed to be thought that he was living in a nursing home. However, at least two postings on the web in recent months would seem to disprove this, and also show that he is still playing.
http://whitchurchart...ag/peter-honri/
And of course there is also Peter Trimming. I'm none too sure whether he's still playing a Maccann (hello out there Peter?) but he certainly can judging by his previous Youtube videos.
Which brings the list at present up to 70.
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in the mid '70's when I used to call at her house to get some tips on playing the Northubrian pipes from her partner. One memory I have of that is it was the first time I ever tried Real Coffee!!! Deprived childhood.
In common with most of us of an age I suspect Geoff! What I recall as a child was Camp Coffee and Chicory Substitute. We would certainly never have been able to afford the real thing then - things were very tight. It wasn't that long after the war really, after all. I just looked it up and discovered that it's still on sale! Might go and buy some just to remind myself of the taste (out of curiosity). I seem to remember being enchanted by the exotic label with a Highlander and an Indian soldier in full regalia ... so am now most surprised to find that the stuff was actually manufacture in Scotland!!
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Not necessarily Mike. There are people who play for pleasure at home; others who don't dabble on the internet etc. (I had the feeling that Al had even come across one or two more even since the lists for DI were supposedly closed.)
@Geoff: Well I reckon you and I together would make a whole??
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Another one I forgot - Jim Moray plays a Maccann.
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the maccann in the pam bishop duet video. [er, duet, in a duet...]....is that a 57-button size? or bigger? is it in the three-pound range, or the five-pound range? it's very beautiful....
It's in the 60's range ceemonster. As far as I can recall it's a 67.
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OK - I've now produced a spreadsheet of those players who are signed up to Jack Bradshaw's group, and those who have already been mentioned here ... and the total so far is 64, with players stretching out to Hong Kong, Australia, Kyrgystan, USA and South Africa as well as UK. (That's my next task for curiosity's sake - working out where everybody is).
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I nearly forgot. I haven't mentioned Graham Coyne, a friend of the late Barry Callaghan who helped in the production of the video on Reuben Shaw. He posted two videos onto Youtube earlier in the year and I have been in contact with him. He has been playing for over 30 years, but rarely performs in public. He has given me to understand that Reuben's son, Reuben, probably also plays. As he doesn't get out to play much Graham had been under the impression that Maccann players were as rare as hen's teeth. I'm sitting down to prepare an Excel spreadsheet of the names mentioned so far - recuperation from sickness occasionally has it's uses.
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Chris - from what I was given to understand from Al at Sidmouth it's likely to be out before Christmas. However, there is so much material available that not everyone that has submitted will get on to it.
Re Iris Bishop and Pam Bishop -I'll second Jim here - they most certainly do play Maccanns
At Whitby Folk Week in 2010 Sylvia Needham ran a duet concertina workshop. It was intended as a beginners' workshop, but the programme didn't include that detail. The night before Sylvia and I had joked that I would be her only pupil, and that we could repair to the John Kirkpatrick Workshop elsewhere instead. However, by the time the dust had settled the room actually had more than 20 players present - including Iris. Of these, only three didn't have a Maccann in their hands. And at least two other Maccann players that I was aware of were not there (one being Bill Whaley, the other Will Hall). So on one day in one place last year there were at least 23 Maccann players in town! Ralphie had joked when we had performed our show at the Black Diamond Folk Club in Birmingham, which included two duet duets from us, that as Pam Bishop was in the room with her instrument, with three in the same location an implosion was likely to occur. In fact at Whitby last year, we should presumably have set off nuclear fission!
And there is, of course, Jack Bradshaw's site Maccann-Mccann concertina players where there are currently 50 members registered (including Geoff now, I notice!!)
http://maccann-mccann.ning.com/
Some of the members on there have been mentioned on here already - others have not. Might go away and check the full list!!
(BTW I'm honoured to be included as a player Dirge ... although the L plates are still up of course)
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So far I have to admit that,though initially I agreed with your wife regarding your proposed title, that one seems the best.!
However, how about "Concertina Charivari" ?
charivari [ˌʃɑːrɪˈvɑːrɪ], shivaree esp US, chivareen1. a discordant mock serenade to newlyweds, made with pans, kettles, etc.2. a confused noise; din[from French, from Late Latin caribaria headache, from Greek karēbaria, from karē head + barus heavy]
Mind you, not a sensible suggestion, or indeed a good description of the contents (I hope!) - I just liked the alliteration.
(Still thinking .... there must be something good out there somewhere .... LOL)
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I think I err towards ear as near to concertina as I can get as I try to hear myself.
Do that, and, as Al says, you are liable to be doing your back health no favours at all. Crouching over the tina means that you are tensing up and overusing some muscles and underusing others. You then end up with your back muscles going into spasm. And anyway, sitting hunched up over your instrument like that looks pretty awful to the beholder as well. Upright and relaxed, not tensed up, is best for any instrument (or indeed sitting in general).
Thinks, must dig out my books on Alexander Technique, and start putting it all back into practice again!
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Hmm ... I think that I might be inclined to give that a miss.Pink never was my favourite colour
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Sorry Chris ,of course you are correct,got confused as I asked the person who I thought was the Landlord if he was the one posting on Facebook, never touch the stuff He said.
Irene you have let the cat out of the bag, I didn't mention our cuddle and a kiss ,because people are already talking.
PS - I have made a start on the lines.
Al
Tisk Al - you're in danger of more lines.
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The last person I said goodbye to was Ralphie. A mile walk back to the car park.
Al
Hmm ... if you said goodbye to Ralphie in the Radway, I think the last person you actually said goodbye to on your walk back to the car park was me! (Since Ralphie was still in there when I walked down there after saying a fond farewell to you). Hmmm ... another 100 lines Mr Day?
(It was good to see and hear you - three times in the day, I reckon?)
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It's that time of year again ... and I thought I'd post something, as I suspect it wouldn't occur to Ralphie! Just to say that he still has copies of "Eloise" available, and I gather will be carrying some with him at Sidmouth .... as will I . So if you haven't already purchased a copy, and would like to (and I can heartily recommend it - others far less biassed than I have endorsed it!) you can probably stop Ralphie (or me, if you are likely to be in the Volunteer at any point during the week) and buy one.
I shall also take a few with me to Whitby Folk Week at the end of August ..... so as all the best ice cream salespersons say ... "Stop me ... or him .... and buy one!"
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Aw shucks Mark ... wistfully sitting here and wishing I could make it this year! Hope it all goes well for you, and I'll hope to be attending next year.
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There's also a youtube video that shows the end of a concert and the concertina player throws his instrument into the air and fails to catch it coming back down. I think it hits another person on the head on the way down. Might have been a Stagi?
The incident was at Melodeons at Witney 2007 - the finale concert, and Simon Care was the player that tossed his instrument in the air (I gather it's a normal party trick), but mistimed it, so that the instrument descended onto the head of Saul Rose. I gather that it actually drew blood, and that the instrument, which was on loan to him, had to undergo repairs.
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And there is , of course, the Hawkwood Concertina Band recording released last year or thereabouts
http://www.concertin...-and-tunes.html
Edit: Sorry - I think this may be a duplicate link as Leo didn't give the name of the band in his earlier posting!
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A search of the 1911 census by my tame geneaologist reveals no evidence of Maccann (for any and all spellings) being in the UK on the given date. No sign of a Minnie Maccann either. However, Eliza is shown as still resident in Plymouth, designation being "married", and the question about number of children which was in the census for that year shows "none". I suppose he must have been out of the country at the time - on tour?
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Shiver me timbers !!!!
Al
He wasn't dressed like that yesterday, was he? (And post that up on Facebook pronto!
Current players of The Maccann ?
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Sorry - I had thought that that was the import of your original remark!