August Club Night

Before we could start the music we had to get the formality of our AGM out of the way. It didn't take long. Our Committee was elected unopposed, as follows:

President: Michael Stewart
Vice President: Alan Davies
Secretary: Alison Dew
Treasurer: Sue Davies
Ordinary Members:
Christine McDonald
Rick Sidgwick
Steve Martin
Greg Jenkins

Sue Davies presented our financial report, which shows a healthy bank balance.

Then it was time to start the music.
(Here's a slideshow of photos, just click on it if you want to see larger pics.)



Bruce got things going with Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, a good singalong song. This was the first of a few echoes from the highly successful Bobfest at Breizoz a couple of weeks ago.
There were lots of first-time performers (first time for the NFFC, anyway) and the first of them was Shane who gave us a lovely classical piece on the guitar. We folkies tend to forget that the guitar has a long classical tradition too!

Michael had travelled all the way from Selby so we gave him a go early in the piece. He wasn't too keen to be a solo artist but of course there were plenty of others ready and willing to join him in The Black Cat Piddled in the White Cat's Eye, Rita Baker's Polka and The Railway Hotel.
After his excursion to the exotic East last month with Omar Khayyam, Dave returned to the Australian bush tradition with Henry Lawson's The Fire at Ross's Farm. Greg J reprised his brilliant version of Dylan's Leopard-skin Pillbox Hat that went over so well at the Bobfest. Raymond (another new face at the NFFC) gave us an original, Who Needs Reality?...good question! Dave (another one) sang Lee Kernaghan's A Bushman Can't Survive followed by Christine with yet another Dylan song, the great classic Blowin' in the Wind.

Simon probably blew his chances of admission to the priesthood after belting out the satirical Jesus' Brother Bob to the amusement of all...well I think so!
Norm and Jordan (surely our first grandfather/grandson combo?) teamed up to give us Don McLean's Wonderful Baby, followed by our old mate Frank, back again this month with The Sun is Yellow, requested by Michael last month and Frank did not disappoint, with one of his finest songs. Georgina gave us a sneak preview of her support spot at next month's Breizoz gig with You Belong to Me.

Then it was time for everyone to get stuck into a gigantic chocolate cake to celebrate another significant event - our fifth birthday! As somebody remarked, after we had all had a slice or two of this decadent treat, the remains looked like yesterday's battlefield!

The fiddlers (Michael, Moira and Nicole) along with Richard on cello and Steve on double bass ushered in the second half with a bit of Mozart, played with lots of energy and flair, and in typical NFFC fashion little or no rehearsal! Very enjoyable, especially the facial expressions as the performers tried furiously to keep up with each other.

There was so much more but I will have to continue this another time as I am about to turn into a pumpkin when the clock strikes midnight. Please leave a comment if you were there, or even if you weren't...

Mondays in Newport - Music of Course!

Every Monday night in Newport there is the sweet hum of Australian folk tunes being played by the Newport Bush Orchestra. When I was passing by last night I was drawn to the sound of music - lovely sweet melodies played by fiddles, flutes, whistles and mandolins, backed by a strong rhythm laid down by guitars and ukes. The group get going at 7.30 and except for a short break at 8.30 they concentrate on playing music. The Newport Bush Orchestra, under the direction of GReg O'Leary and Bruce WIlliams, is focussed on preparing for their next gig at the Northcote Festival and then they are playing all weekend at the Maldon Folk Festival. Both gigs should be lots of fun and if you are there make sure you go and have a listen to the NBO - if you are a local with a yen to play music on a Monday night call in and check it out - very friendly people who love playing music together. The photos show the reverie that comes from playing a 20 minute bracket of tunes!

Annual General Meeting

Committee nomination form available for download, see below.

As we are now an Incorporated Association, we need to hold our first AGM and formally elect a Committee. The AGM is expected to last only half an hour and will coincide with our usual monthly club night.

Date: Friday 28 August
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Newport Community Hall
15 Mason St
Newport 3015

Agenda: 1. Election of Committee

The following Committee positions will be filled by election:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• 4 ordinary members

2. Financial Report

Nominations for Committee

Any financial members can nominate for a Committee position.
Nominations must be received in writing by Friday 21 August.
Nomination forms must be signed by 2 Club members and the nominee.

Download nomination form.

If you need to have one mailed to you, please call Alan Davies on 9391 1103.
Please mail or deliver the nomination form to:

9 Anderson St
Newport 3015

If there are insufficient written nominations to fill all the vacancies, additional nominations may be received at the AGM.

Voting
Only financial NFFC members are entitled to vote.

Lots of Festival Photos

There is now a big gallery of photos from the Newport Folk Festival available for viewing on Picasa.
Thanks to photographers Kevin Dunn, Nancy Belyea, Christine McDonald, Michael Reynolds, Zoe Davies and one anonymous person, if you see your photos leave a comment to tell us who you are...

See the photos
.

July Club Night

It was one of those nights where we had to keep getting out extra chairs to fit everyone in! There were 4 piano accordions, at least 10 guitars, 2 cellos, about 6 violins and a viola, not to mention the recorders, tin whistles, ukuleles, banjo and percussion instruments. Michael even banged out a few tunes on the piano up the back, but that wasn't until much later...

Alan got things started with I'll Fly Away which everyone promptly joined in. Nola's group from Altona gave us a couple of good old songs including their own unique version of Oh Susanna that got the audience going. It was really a night for joining in...I think everyone in the hall was either singing or playing along to The Water Is Wide.

It was great to have our Canadian friend Jill there for one last session before she goes back home, and a bracket of fiddle tunes - Canadian and other - was enjoyed by all.

Another familiar - and very welcome- face was Frank, who was a regular a few years ago. He brought his mate Russell along this time on piano accordion, and gave us a couple of his original songs. Welcome back Frank, hope to see you again!

There were a few new faces too. Jordan played the Beatles classic Blackbird - he invited anyone to sing along but he was so fast I couldn't get in! Another newcomer (didn't get his name) also took me back to my musical youth with Neil Young's Needle and the Damage Done.

Of course there were plenty of Bush Orchestra people there and Kathryn got them going with a few classic dance tunes. Dave departed from his usual Australian bush verse and gave us a few excerpts from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

During the tea break we admired a large collection of photos from the Folk Festival shown as a slideshow on a couple of laptops. More Festival photos coming soon to this blog.

After the break the string players got together for an interlude of classical music, including The Queen of Sheba. With violins, recorder, viola, cellos and double bass it was a big sound! Danny wowed us all with his superb tenor voice as he sang The Minstrel Boy with string accompaniment and lyrics hurriedly sourced from the Internet.

It didn't even seem late when Alan wound things up at about 11:15 with the traditional Parting Glass and even then a determined group gathered around the piano for a few swing tunes before finally clearing out at about midnight.

It seems the Festival has created a new surge of interest in live music in Newport, and we hope to see everyone back next month for another big night!