laticsrblu

Back to the Irish sessions, in particular, Doolin in County Clare. I stayed there for a week last yr whilst on a family holiday. My family and I were among the tourists crammed into O’Connor’s and McGann’s to hear live Irish music. The musicians had been paid by the pub to entertain the tourists and fill the pub, this kind of arrangement can never be a "session" merely a pretence of one and the pretence should be dropped. I was disappointed, not in the quality of the music but in the unintentional rudeness of the musicians who were trying to keep the session myth alive. They sat in a corner, half of them with their backs to the rest of the pub chatting amongst themselves between tunes and playing with little acknowledgement that there was a large expectant eager audience watching with all eyes on them. The session set up did the musicians no favours. The least they could have done was to nominate someone to introduce the next tune or ramble on a but about it. To me it felt like we were intruding on the privacy of a group of friends.

There are no commercials on the BBC, it is funded by the sale of its programmes etc to overseas TV and radio stations and by the UK TV viewers who have to pay an annual licence fee of £131.50p or fear prosecution. I for one have no problem with that.

Here is a link straight to the 1/2 hr programme. Enjoy http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.s...atstone_regondi Does anyone recognise the non classical tunes that are played?

I'm interested too. A fix would be greatly appreciated. On mine the arm twists so much that after a few presses of the button the pad gets stuck at an angle in the hole, thus allowing air to pass permanently. Ian

As well as the previous advice. Always tighten the nuts a little at a time and in sequence so that the grip on the bellows is always more or less evenly spread. eg if you number the sides of the concertina 1 to 6, tighten 1 a little followed by 4 then 2 and 5 then 3 and 6, then tighten 1 and 4 a little more etc etc. Do the reverse when undoing them. Also a good idea in future, so that the nuts always go back in the same place that you took then out from, is to store them in a numberd location. I use an old toothpaste tube box with numbers written on next to small holes for the nuts. Works fine so long as you remember which end you decided was number 1 and whether you numbered it clock or ant-clockwise Ian

I have had end bolts that have been held tighter by the wood along there shank than by the thread. Fortunately the Lachenal end bolts have large enough heads to be gripped securely by a good pair of pliers or as mentioned before mole-grips. If some of the end-bolts survive removal, I have found that they can be renovated by rubbing with wire wool to remove any rust etc and then rubbing with candle wax to ensure smooth troublefree use in the future. Ian

Help. I think I've just slipped into a parallel universe?

Charles or anyone else who has been successful. What the heck do I do with this Concertina.sit file to make it work in a MS Windows OS I would rbe great if I could get Tune-O-Tron to play a concertina instead of a piano Ian

Hi Just wondering why you find this suspicous. Unless someone is using the sellers ID, they appear to be a bonifide Powerseller with few negative feedbacks. Same goes for the buyer. Ian

Hi all I just downloaded this prog but it gave me an an invalid page fault. Did it work for anyone else? Maybe its because I'm using Win 98SE Ian

Thank you all for your great advice I think that I might take up Malcolm's idea and recover the leather ends. I also have some re-patching to do on a couple of the top folds. If the colour of the new leather is very noticably different I might put an extra layer on all of the top folds all the way around PS what the heck is "skivved" leather, web searches have been fruitless. IAn

Hi I have a 20 button Lachenal anglo with numbered buttons which are in random positions. I'm taking them all off anyway to clean and bush, so sadly being a perfectionist, I'd like to put them back on the correct place if possible. Any ideas? Also on the leather (green) that is on the wooden bellow end frame it has a small area of leather scuffed off and several areas of rubbed/roughed up leather which have lost there colour. What would be the best way to improve its appearance? Any respopnses would be much appreciated. Ian

Thanks Jim and Stephen Ian

Hi Not knowing much about Anglos' interiors I was wondering if a reed pan as shown in this attachment is normal. Or hava a couple of pieces been split off and if so can it be fixed. Ian