I have saved a few of the more memorable RMMGA posts here
that should help us remember what's quite unforgettable anyway.
From: ray@NOSPAMdisasterarea.freeserve.co.uk (Ray at Home ( JamStrangler ))
Subject: UK3 Belper Bash , my hat goes off to you all.
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 22:17:27 GMT
Monday PM:
It's 7:20 in the evening, and I've just got back from one of the most
amazing events I have ever attended.
To those of you who didn't make it to Belper for the UK3 bash, forgive
me if I ramble on a bit , I'm exhausted and still coming down from the
high of a great weekend.
to walk into a room full of guys whom i've never met , and who are
undoubtably far better players than i am , was a fairly nervous
experience , yet i was greeted with a warm welcome and a pint of beer!
Inside the door was a large room with a circle of chairs and sofas
with a bunch of guys playing about with guitars. oh , and several
large barrels of ale ( all with dubious sheep-related names... )
I dumped my gear and was shown upstairs to the large , erm ,
'performance room' . Wow ! a huge room with lots of sofas and chairs
and a gallery running along 2 sides. This place is just made for this
kind of thing. Well done to Shirley , Nigel , and all who organised it
- the place was superb.
I turned up too late to catch the talk by Malcolm Newton from Newtone
strings , unfortunately , but I did catch Tony McManus's set , and boy
am I glad I did! for those who havn't heard him , he is a superb
celtic fingerstyle player , ( shit , now I'll get into trouble for
the'c' word... ) anyway , check out his music , he's well worth
listening to.
After this , and a few ( more ) beers , the ' ol jammin' juices got
going I guess , and then I realised just *how* much talent was in that
room. the variety of different styles was also clear , and everyone
was eager to explain techniques and approaches....
Those of us who were staying at the B&B caught a cab at about half 2
... I understand that the party went till about 5....
by 10:00 on Sat morning , people were up and about again , and the
place was littered with casually 'dumped' guitars... I don't thing
I've seen such an array of fine guitars outside a *big* music store -
there were Fyldes , Goodalls , Martins , Taylors , Gevers , a couple
of fine Northworthys , Larrivees ( I love that parlour BTW ... ) a
very nice Rob Armstrong , a few others that I couldn't recognise ( or
can't remember ;-) and even my humble Framus.
actually I'll come clean about the Framus. As most of you guessed , it
was a set-up ... I printed out a Framus label for the headstock of my
D-15 ... it caused a laugh, so that was ok!
Tony McManus left his custom built (Fylde ?) baritone behind for
people to play ( and we did ! oh yes ) , apparently he didn't make it
to his hotel, and crashed out at the bash ... I guess it was fairly
late!
It says a lot for the people who were there that so many expensive and
beautiful guitars could be left lying around - propped up against
settees , on tops of tables , leaning against the walls , etc. The
level of trust it takes to leave a guitar that cost 2-3 thousand
pounds worth of instrument propped against the back of a chair in a
room with 30-odd people milling about , and wander off to get a beer
or find a bite to eat ( oh yes, proper catering too !! we had
everything).
maybe when you came back someone would have picked up your expensive
pride and joy and be trying out their favourite licks. this was
fantastic , the knowledge that everyone in the room would show your
guitar the respect it deserved was incredible.
At lunchtime we had a very informative talk from Roger Bucknell of
Fylde guitars. He brought a model - it looked like a finished guitar
sawn down the middle ( he says it was actually purpose built from
reject parts )
If they spend as much effort with the construction of a *real* guitar
as they did with the model , you can be sure of a great guitar.
Looking at the real thing shows you that they certainly do, and more.
On the subject of fine hand-made guitars, the Northworthy's spent a
*lot* of time being played , people just didn't seem to want to put
them down...
Pete Howlett gave us a couple of very interesting workshops first on
ragtime , and then later on blues, which were very informative (
although most of the techniques he showed were way above me.... maybe
one day...) He brought with him a very odd looking guitar - sort of a
harp-guitar with no harp strings... weird. You could actually play the
thing with your left ear resting on the 'horn' of the upper bout ,
which had an extra soundhole....
after a splendid supper we had a set from Ken Nicol. He was great ,
with a wide divesity of songs and some excellent playing ... by
popular demand he came back up to do an encore , and later joined in
the folk club which was to follow , talk about a hard act to follow!
ah, the folk club.
Phew!
I think most people did a turn in the spotlight, and the standard was
truly amazing. There were people who hadn't played in front of a crowd
before, and they rose to the challenge magnificently. Special 'well
done's' to C who has only been playing for 2 months, and to Mary , you
did us proud.
We had real treat from 3 of the guys who formed an impromptu band for
the night called 'Acoustic Kasualty' ( yes, thats a K ! )
Greg and Guy played a stunning duet that they had arranged via e-mail,
sending tabs and MIDI files backwards and forward before the bash. Now
thats preparation!
I did a spot ( and I think I only screwed up once, but I could be
wrong ;-) and that seemed to go down well too.
Pretty much everyone had a go , we were at it for a good while and the
atmosphere was magic.
The energy and enthusiasm , not the mention the talent, was fantastic.
The folk club was recorded onto MiniDisc from at least 2 angles, and
it went on to 3 discs!
I'm hoping that between the different recordings we should have some
good material. I won't know what I've got until I audition the discs
... watch this space as they say.
after the club , we got down to some serious jamming again. The place
rocked.
on Sunday , after a couple of hours sleep , I was back with the world
again.
We had a workshop session with Guy Snape , and he showed us some
helpful stuff on playing styles , picks , flatpicking and harmonics.
Some of might even sink into my confused brain!
after lunch we had a lovely set from Doug Smith , including a really
kicking blues number called 'Meltdown Blues' , that really shook the
place - literally, even the woodstove flue-stack joined in !
after supper we all got together for a group song for RMMGA CD2 . It
was a great success and was recorded on the first take !
we jammed a bit more.... and drank a coupla beers... and then we
listened to a couple of the guys ( sorry chaps I can't remember your
names at the moment, things were a little fuzzy..was it Phil and
Pete?) , they performed a song written especially for the event, I
don't know the proper title , but it was a cool song about having
those GAS blues...
then we jammed some more, and some more, and some more ... until my
fingers hurt so much I just had to stop.
I wasn't alone either ! 3 days of heavy jamming had taken it's toll.
So I sat back and listened to the session. then things got really hazy
and I staggered off to bed....
Monday morning . I felt like shit. but I was still buzzing.
It was a little sad to see people having to say goodbye, but I guess
all good things come to an end.
Those of us lucky enough to stay for the rest of the day were rewarded
handsomly by an unbelievable performance by Chris Newman. Anyone who
thinks that they've heard good Irish/Scottish/Celtic guitar work
should hear this bloke. I've never heard such fast and accurate
playing, with blisteringly fast scales , triplets and trills. and not
just for the sake of it either - all in just the right places !! and
on a 70 year old Martin OM ( only the 6th one made!)
Alan Marshall's comment was "the only way my fingers would move that
fast is if I stuck then in a fan!"
I came away from the weekend with an overwhelming feeling of euphoria.
The atmosphere was incredible, the energy in that building was
overwhelming. Imagine a building with great guitar playing going on
almost continuously for 3 days...
This is a bunch of people whom I had never met or spoken to ( apart
from David Kilpatrick ) and yet I was made to feel warmly welcome,
introduced to some new techniques , and given some very good advice
and help , good beer and fine food.
Thank you to all of you , you made a good weekend into a very very
special one.
Special thanks must go to:
Shirley and Nigel - thank you for the trouble you have gone to in
organising the bash.
you have done a superb job.
Al & C - thank you for your help and encouragment, your
advice and for showing
me those really useful chords!
Alan Marshall - thank you for letting me wander round your
workshop, for the brazilian pick, and for the advice. say thanks to
Xena(sp?) for me. you sir, are a gentleman. I suspect I'll be calling
you !
David Kilpatrick- thanks for the songwriting advice, you were
right, I've changed the lyrics slightly ;-) , I've got that effects
pedal, I'll mail you offlist.
Greg Neaga - thanks for showing me that damping technique ,
and for saying good things about my guitar even though it said Framus
on the headstock :-)
If you have read this far , thanks also to the stateside guys - Bob
Dorgan (thanks for the cap!), Charles Park, Al , and all the ladies
too.
To the rest of you - these guys flew over from the states to come to
this bash ( about ten of them in total I think) and Greg and Elizabeth
came over from Germany. We had guys from Scotland and Wales. you have
no excuse not to attend the next one !!!!
now I've run out of superlatives, I am going to crawl off to bed , I
need to catch up on the sleep I missed, I think I spent about 10 hours
in bed over the entire weekend.
and it was worth it :-)
ray ( aka Jamstrangler )
From: nobusking@erols.com
Subject: UK3 - A Survivor
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 17:55:37 -0400
I just returned from Dulles airport about an hour ago. I've left behind the
village of Belper, England, where the UK RMMGA contingent has overtaken and
occupied. Shocked and amazed villagers have taken to saying they've been
"Dorg'ed"
The others are probably still at it as I write. We had workshops with
phenomenal musicians, pickup jams, and an open mic last night in which
EVERYONE played at least a song...and all did an outstanding job.
Unfortunately, I had to go back to my hotel early last night (1:30 am) so I
could get up and drive to Heathrow this morning. The party was still going
strong with no signs of slowing down when I left. Nigel and Shirley did an
absolutely incredible job of organising...we had CATERED FOOD (!) for pete's
sake. Workshops with Tony McManus and Pete Howlett (sp?) were terrific...I
learned more about Celtic and Blues guitar playing than I ever thought was
possible in such a short period. Plus, the opportunity to have a beer with
the players and learn about more than their incredible fingers was
refreshing. Both are great guys, and I highly recommend their workshops,
concerts, CD's, or instructional materials.
Norm, there's a Northworthy guitar in your future. Trust me.
The good news is that I've joined a new band led by Pete Gay called Acoustic
Casualty. The bad news is that I have to commute to Bristol for rehearsals.
I'd best say hello to the kids...I'll write more later.
Cheers, Michael Pugh
From: Ntucker@btinternet.com (Nigel Tucker)
Subject: UK3
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 21:59:29 +0100
Well, it was a great time. Thanks to everyone that turned up. Friday night
was fantastic, with Tony Mc Manus playing some beautiful guitar. It was
great to see everyone again, and a lot of Friday night was spent catching up
on the news since last time.
Saturday was good, with two workshops from Pete Howlett. Lots of good
information, including , for me, excellent advice on how to wear
fingerpicks. I had given up on them, manly because I was wearing them upside
down. Thanks for putting me right Pete. It was a particular pleasure for me
to sit down with Roger Bucknall of Fylde guitars, and talk about my Falstaff
model, which Roger remembers building. The highlight on Saturday was the set
by Ken Nicol, who is a FANTASTIC guitar player. He was really good, and I
recommend everyone checks out his stuff. Shirley has the details of his web
site etc.
The folk club also held on Saturday was great fun. Full respect to Pat
Martindale, Shirley, and Mary Jacobs, who played in front of an audience for
the first time as solo acts. It takes a lot of guts to do that, and thy
pulled it off. Ken Nicol joined in the spirit of the night by playing a song
on acoustic, which was great. After the folk club, we all sat up until the
wee small hours, jamming and talking.
Sunday was a more loose affair, with a great talk by Guy Snape. We were
joined by Doug Smith ( who came to UK2 ) , and he played some great stuff.
The Sunday night turned into a giant jam session, with Bob Dorgan playing
all his old rock and roll stuff. A late night once again.
I was very pleased to see the Americans who visited. It was great to see the
mighty Joan and Charles Park, ( thanks for your help Charles), the very
lovely Theresa Dorgan, ( and some fool she claimed was Bob Dorgan), Al and
Cea Evans, who were really nice people, and Linda, ( Joan's cousin ). Many
thanks to our friends Greg and Elizabeth Neaga, from Germany, Ronan, from
Dublin, and the teller of the tallest tales I've ever heard, the mighty
George and Ethel Duff. The new people who turned up, Ray Tredoux, Pete Gay
and Phil Stevenson, Henry Smithson. Great guys, great players , and best of
all, great people.
Many thanks to Shirley for all her help in organising this one. Next time,
it's going to be even better.
Best wishes, Nigel Tucker