If I was London based,I’d be dropping everything to be at the following gig…just hit the inbox from http://www.jonwilks.online Jon is at The Farsight Gallery,Flitcroft at,Soho ,Fri 30/8 6 30 – 8 30…free,first up,best dressed…
Linked to events about the iconic, Les Cousins folk club…Jon will be playing guitars owned by John Martyn,Jackson C Frank,Bert Jansch…and interviewing Diana Matheou…the wife of Andy,who ran the club…
Good luck to lucky souls who can be there! The info was a bit scrambled when it landed. Before travelling,maybe check specifics with Jon or venue…
Did you ever play Les Cousins?it entered folklore decades back.
All the best
Dave
Christy's reply
I was never cool enough to play Les Cousins…my first London gig was Troubadour, then Ewan & Peggy’s Union Tavern….played Fighting Cocks in Kingston, and a few other clubs …The Peelers, Hammersmith Folk Club, Palmer’s Green , George Robey….but never Cousins and no regrets
Hi Christy
I have been asked to write the copy for an piece about you in a new art exhibition by local Halifax artist, Marcus Jack, called ‘Radical Halifax’. I was wondering if you have any special recollections about your time in the area that might inform the piece? I am a long time fan of yours and the exhibition is entirely designed to honour its subjects. No worries if you would rather not though.
This is the exhibition blurb:
‘Radical Halifax, an exhibition by Marcus Jack, recovers and celebrates the hidden history of our town’s radical past. Artworks depicting 10 people either from Halifax or with a strong Halifax connection draw attention to the major role played by our town and its people in political movements that sought to build a better world’
Thank you for considering.
Stephen McNamara
Hello Christy,
Please can I thank Anne and Adam for the two previous posts. I think I remember you once saying that you don’t remember much of the 80s. Well you looked pretty alert and and with it to me.
That film sounds so good, you’ve talked about it too and recommended it. So much music work to do here. Wish there were more hours in the day.
hI Christy, hope you are well, ,, came across this this the other day i dont think ive ever seen it before , part interview and some footage of you singing the wicklow boy when Nicky kelly got released , very interesting to hear how you wrote lisdonvarna as well , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qs9R9N8SKE
I just wanted to say thank you to you and John for recommending the Kneecap film. I’m just back from watching it at the BFI (British Film Institute), who were one of its sponsors. Wow, what a superb film, it was revelatory, and witty, funny, deep and enjoyable. When I came out onto the Southbank and walked over to look at the Thames, my river, the tide was high, it was dusk and the lights were lit – “The lights on the embankment like jewels on chains”, as Eddi Reader sings – a group of hundreds of people jogged past together playing music, the skateboarders under the QEH were flying around… somehow it all fitted my mood after the film – I felt so alive. I must see it again, and get the rest of the family to watch it too.
I’m starting Irish language classes next month, after wanting to do so for years. I thought it was about time I learnt the language that is 44% of my DNA (my father’s mother and my mother’s grandfather, percentage inheritance supplied by Ancestry!). I was rather anxious about it because, although I am OK learning written languages, I am terrible at spoken languages, I expect for a similar reason to why I can’t sing at all. I asked the tutor, at a taster session, if this was a problem and he said no and was very welcoming. I will still be very embarrassed in class though, but now I’ve seen Kneecap I don’t care, I just want to understand Irish even if when I try to speak it no-one will make head nor tail of what I’m saying!
Hi all The Masters of Trad is aptly named. Dagrab if you check their website http://www.westcorkmusic.ie you will see the full line up, of all three of their Festivals. Best of luck in Galway Christy, good to see a gig in Oct in Carrickdale added to the list, always a lively spot. Beir bua agus beannacht. H
Christy's reply
dressing room in UK
Stage in Republic
(or is it visa versa)
Hello Christy,
Did you sing in Bantry?
I dreamt last night that Brigid came and lifted heavy black stuff off my chest. Green and gold, copper and fire. I have a scarf tied to the bedhead, put out for blessing on Brigid’s eve. It’s bright spring colours of silk.
Sounds like you found a brilliant way of spending 5 days and nights…I didn’t see any info about the festival…if you wouldn’t mind naming some of the artists,I’d like to check them out…maybe via YouTube?great fun there with Gipp’s tip off…Adrian Dunbar looking c 15!
Just back home from 5 days and nights at the “Bantry Masters of Tradition” Festival…..Year 22…many memorable performances from an array of the finest exponents of our traditional music….
On disc 2 of the live,Eliza / Norma album I mentioned,Norma gives a brilliant rendition of Richard Thompson’s ‘Josef Locke’…written after Fairport met JL (or,possibly an impersonator) as he was drinking and singing in a London pub.
I remember my Dad enthusing about Locke’s tenor voice,his successful theatre career and also recall the maestro singing in pubs in this area ..
I knew there was controversy/ doing a runner from the UK taxman,but reading about JL,there’s enough material for a full LP!
Any experiences of Mr Locke by you or family?
Dave
Christy's reply
Joe still resounds from some “far distant region.”.
in my youth I always mistook him to be Jack Doyle
I remember many moons ago Christy when meself and Mrs Gipp were in the early days of the courtship. We went to my parents house on the Christmas eve. My mothers sister married a “big man” from the brewery. He used to ply the oul fella with the labeless large bottles they were entitled to in them days, the same grey crates that the boozers got them in! 3×4! Them bucks tasted even sweeter! My parents loved Christmas, the highlight of the year, there was more grub and gargle than you could shake a stick at! And all were welcome. Anyway the large bottle was put in front of me and herself was asked what she’d like. Says she, I’ll have a large bottle also, the oul fella was taken aback, then his eyes light up! A mighty session ensued, and she was in like flynn from that day forth! A great memory!
Christy's reply
it might be 35 years since Gipp but I still recall the glorious cut of a freshly poured Danno…my only problem was getting too fond of it…….
“Herself” saw the way to win your “Auld Fella’s” Heart…..
Twas a Win Win Situation….
“Then get me six stout hearty fellows
line them all up in a row
we’ll drink down our Sergeants and Dannos
and remember auld Rosin The Bow”
Often after your gigs,there’s praise for a setlist when songs have been combined.I’ve come across a good example by some of your favourites…
2010,live album,featuring vocals by Norma Waterson and daughter,Eliza Carthy…fab singing/close harmonies…and a highlight with the pairing of ‘Brother can you spare a dime’? With Richard Thompson’s ‘Al Bowlly’s in Heaven’.
There’s very relaxed stage chat…at one point Norma apologises if she talks too much -and says of Mike…’me brother can go on longer…’! Thankfully,they did and left a brilliant legacy.
RIP Watersons…viva those still singing
Dave
Christy's reply
The Waterson’s ( Mike Norma and Lal with cousin John) still turning here on the table
“When first I went a waggonin a waggonin did go
Filled me poor old parents heart with sorrow grief and woe
and manys the hardships
we did undergo
singin woe me lads sing woe
ride on me lads ride on
who would’nt be for all the world
A Jolly Waggoner”
Ah, C.
I love to see someone calling them the ‘Large Bottle’. A term nearly lost.
Do you remember the stubby large bottle with the short neck and a wide base?
Christy's reply
Short neck and wide base ! Sounds like myself .. They were the right boyos. Manys the Sunday morning they left me in tatters.The feckin head blown half off me from drinkin black porter….no chance of a settler ’til far off openin time
Hi Christy,
A day in the studio with Kneecap.
(B’fhéidir D Lunny ag na rialuithe)
November for the new album.
You’ll have to give young Kielty a twist.
Gaybo was Gaybo.
It didn’t really suit Pat (as Larry used to say)
Thought Ryan really respected the singer & the song.
You’ve seen them all come and go.
The last leaf on the tree …
Say it was some craic on The Dubliners tribute.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
Christy's reply
The telling moment was when C.J. appeared from the wings and sang sweet harmonies on The Black Velvet Band.. PJ Mara had his leader well primed, tuned to the hilt….Ciarán Burke read Joe Ó Broin…I think that was the night I sang Michéal O’Keefe’s beautiful tribute to Luke Kelly…what a great band …in their prime they changed the lives of many….this week on a Bantry Street I heard a young Man from Japan busking…his repertoire entirely gleaned from The Dubliners…he is travelling around Ireland working the streets with his songs….
Jimmy’s flyin’ Christy! He’s on 2.50 for the large bottle whilst the rest of us mere mortals are a fiver a pop! Keep that to yourself though!
Christy's reply
ah Gipp, the large bottle bate all in my time…there was nothin like it….I started in on the Dannos in Clonmel where the large bottle was much preferred over the pint of loose porter..later on I heard it called a Sergeant but it tasted just as good….there is tecnique required to pour out the Danno properly…to get it all into the pint glass without wasting any of the foam…I also found that you needed a run at the large bottles… get 3 or 4 down and settled and you could go at again for the evenin….the Danno was two and six in Clonmel when the Pint was two and four but the extra tuppence never put us off
That would imply the Builders and not the Burgers Christy! The Dubliners would have been singing McAlpine’s Fusiliers around 1964 in O’Donoghues then? The best session there these days is a Sunday Evening, bordering on dangerous!
Christy's reply
I first met The Dubliners in The Two Brewers,Salford in 1967
I’ve heard of the Sunday Session…I hear that Jimmy Behan is the star turn
Flitcroft Street,Soho for the Jon Wills gig.
I’ll take a rain check on that one Dave
Hi Christy
If I was London based,I’d be dropping everything to be at the following gig…just hit the inbox from http://www.jonwilks.online Jon is at The Farsight Gallery,Flitcroft at,Soho ,Fri 30/8 6 30 – 8 30…free,first up,best dressed…
Linked to events about the iconic, Les Cousins folk club…Jon will be playing guitars owned by John Martyn,Jackson C Frank,Bert Jansch…and interviewing Diana Matheou…the wife of Andy,who ran the club…
Good luck to lucky souls who can be there! The info was a bit scrambled when it landed. Before travelling,maybe check specifics with Jon or venue…
Did you ever play Les Cousins?it entered folklore decades back.
All the best
Dave
I was never cool enough to play Les Cousins…my first London gig was Troubadour, then Ewan & Peggy’s Union Tavern….played Fighting Cocks in Kingston, and a few other clubs …The Peelers, Hammersmith Folk Club, Palmer’s Green , George Robey….but never Cousins and no regrets
Hi Christy
I have been asked to write the copy for an piece about you in a new art exhibition by local Halifax artist, Marcus Jack, called ‘Radical Halifax’. I was wondering if you have any special recollections about your time in the area that might inform the piece? I am a long time fan of yours and the exhibition is entirely designed to honour its subjects. No worries if you would rather not though.
This is the exhibition blurb:
‘Radical Halifax, an exhibition by Marcus Jack, recovers and celebrates the hidden history of our town’s radical past. Artworks depicting 10 people either from Halifax or with a strong Halifax connection draw attention to the major role played by our town and its people in political movements that sought to build a better world’
Thank you for considering.
Stephen McNamara
Hello Christy,
Please can I thank Anne and Adam for the two previous posts. I think I remember you once saying that you don’t remember much of the 80s. Well you looked pretty alert and and with it to me.
That film sounds so good, you’ve talked about it too and recommended it. So much music work to do here. Wish there were more hours in the day.
Rebecca
hI Christy, hope you are well, ,, came across this this the other day i dont think ive ever seen it before , part interview and some footage of you singing the wicklow boy when Nicky kelly got released , very interesting to hear how you wrote lisdonvarna as well ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qs9R9N8SKE
Hello Christy,
I just wanted to say thank you to you and John for recommending the Kneecap film. I’m just back from watching it at the BFI (British Film Institute), who were one of its sponsors. Wow, what a superb film, it was revelatory, and witty, funny, deep and enjoyable. When I came out onto the Southbank and walked over to look at the Thames, my river, the tide was high, it was dusk and the lights were lit – “The lights on the embankment like jewels on chains”, as Eddi Reader sings – a group of hundreds of people jogged past together playing music, the skateboarders under the QEH were flying around… somehow it all fitted my mood after the film – I felt so alive. I must see it again, and get the rest of the family to watch it too.
I’m starting Irish language classes next month, after wanting to do so for years. I thought it was about time I learnt the language that is 44% of my DNA (my father’s mother and my mother’s grandfather, percentage inheritance supplied by Ancestry!). I was rather anxious about it because, although I am OK learning written languages, I am terrible at spoken languages, I expect for a similar reason to why I can’t sing at all. I asked the tutor, at a taster session, if this was a problem and he said no and was very welcoming. I will still be very embarrassed in class though, but now I’ve seen Kneecap I don’t care, I just want to understand Irish even if when I try to speak it no-one will make head nor tail of what I’m saying!
For those who may be interested, this is a link to the BFI Kneecap Programme Notes, including an interview with Rich Peppiatt https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/new%20releases/2024/08/23/kneecap/
Thanks again,
Anne
Hi all The Masters of Trad is aptly named. Dagrab if you check their website http://www.westcorkmusic.ie you will see the full line up, of all three of their Festivals. Best of luck in Galway Christy, good to see a gig in Oct in Carrickdale added to the list, always a lively spot. Beir bua agus beannacht. H
dressing room in UK
Stage in Republic
(or is it visa versa)
Hello Christy,
Did you sing in Bantry?
I dreamt last night that Brigid came and lifted heavy black stuff off my chest. Green and gold, copper and fire. I have a scarf tied to the bedhead, put out for blessing on Brigid’s eve. It’s bright spring colours of silk.
Rebecca
listening only
Hi Christy
Sounds like you found a brilliant way of spending 5 days and nights…I didn’t see any info about the festival…if you wouldn’t mind naming some of the artists,I’d like to check them out…maybe via YouTube?great fun there with Gipp’s tip off…Adrian Dunbar looking c 15!
Many thanks
Dave
still decompressing
Top man,Gip…a true meister…
The whole film is on YouTube! Thanks. D
Just back home from 5 days and nights at the “Bantry Masters of Tradition” Festival…..Year 22…many memorable performances from an array of the finest exponents of our traditional music….
Dave! I urge you to check out the movie from 1991, “Hear My Song” it’s beautiful!
“we’ll do or die or know the reason why”
Hi Christy
On disc 2 of the live,Eliza / Norma album I mentioned,Norma gives a brilliant rendition of Richard Thompson’s ‘Josef Locke’…written after Fairport met JL (or,possibly an impersonator) as he was drinking and singing in a London pub.
I remember my Dad enthusing about Locke’s tenor voice,his successful theatre career and also recall the maestro singing in pubs in this area ..
I knew there was controversy/ doing a runner from the UK taxman,but reading about JL,there’s enough material for a full LP!
Any experiences of Mr Locke by you or family?
Dave
Joe still resounds from some “far distant region.”.
in my youth I always mistook him to be Jack Doyle
Hello Christy,
Here’s something special from yesterday
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/H7zKue59sWjMU76R/
Enjoying reading all the posts and replies here.
I’ve got an awful cough from the covid. Yack!
Rebecca
the covid cough still lingers
I remember many moons ago Christy when meself and Mrs Gipp were in the early days of the courtship. We went to my parents house on the Christmas eve. My mothers sister married a “big man” from the brewery. He used to ply the oul fella with the labeless large bottles they were entitled to in them days, the same grey crates that the boozers got them in! 3×4! Them bucks tasted even sweeter! My parents loved Christmas, the highlight of the year, there was more grub and gargle than you could shake a stick at! And all were welcome. Anyway the large bottle was put in front of me and herself was asked what she’d like. Says she, I’ll have a large bottle also, the oul fella was taken aback, then his eyes light up! A mighty session ensued, and she was in like flynn from that day forth! A great memory!
it might be 35 years since Gipp but I still recall the glorious cut of a freshly poured Danno…my only problem was getting too fond of it…….
“Herself” saw the way to win your “Auld Fella’s” Heart…..
Twas a Win Win Situation….
“Then get me six stout hearty fellows
line them all up in a row
we’ll drink down our Sergeants and Dannos
and remember auld Rosin The Bow”
Same here,Christy….need my regular Watersons sessions…some great YouTube too. D
Hi Christy
Often after your gigs,there’s praise for a setlist when songs have been combined.I’ve come across a good example by some of your favourites…
2010,live album,featuring vocals by Norma Waterson and daughter,Eliza Carthy…fab singing/close harmonies…and a highlight with the pairing of ‘Brother can you spare a dime’? With Richard Thompson’s ‘Al Bowlly’s in Heaven’.
There’s very relaxed stage chat…at one point Norma apologises if she talks too much -and says of Mike…’me brother can go on longer…’! Thankfully,they did and left a brilliant legacy.
RIP Watersons…viva those still singing
Dave
The Waterson’s ( Mike Norma and Lal with cousin John) still turning here on the table
“When first I went a waggonin a waggonin did go
Filled me poor old parents heart with sorrow grief and woe
and manys the hardships
we did undergo
singin woe me lads sing woe
ride on me lads ride on
who would’nt be for all the world
A Jolly Waggoner”
Ah, C.
I love to see someone calling them the ‘Large Bottle’. A term nearly lost.
Do you remember the stubby large bottle with the short neck and a wide base?
Short neck and wide base ! Sounds like myself .. They were the right boyos. Manys the Sunday morning they left me in tatters.The feckin head blown half off me from drinkin black porter….no chance of a settler ’til far off openin time
Hi Christy,
A day in the studio with Kneecap.
(B’fhéidir D Lunny ag na rialuithe)
November for the new album.
You’ll have to give young Kielty a twist.
Gaybo was Gaybo.
It didn’t really suit Pat (as Larry used to say)
Thought Ryan really respected the singer & the song.
You’ve seen them all come and go.
The last leaf on the tree …
Say it was some craic on The Dubliners tribute.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
The telling moment was when C.J. appeared from the wings and sang sweet harmonies on The Black Velvet Band.. PJ Mara had his leader well primed, tuned to the hilt….Ciarán Burke read Joe Ó Broin…I think that was the night I sang Michéal O’Keefe’s beautiful tribute to Luke Kelly…what a great band …in their prime they changed the lives of many….this week on a Bantry Street I heard a young Man from Japan busking…his repertoire entirely gleaned from The Dubliners…he is travelling around Ireland working the streets with his songs….
Jimmy’s flyin’ Christy! He’s on 2.50 for the large bottle whilst the rest of us mere mortals are a fiver a pop! Keep that to yourself though!
ah Gipp, the large bottle bate all in my time…there was nothin like it….I started in on the Dannos in Clonmel where the large bottle was much preferred over the pint of loose porter..later on I heard it called a Sergeant but it tasted just as good….there is tecnique required to pour out the Danno properly…to get it all into the pint glass without wasting any of the foam…I also found that you needed a run at the large bottles… get 3 or 4 down and settled and you could go at again for the evenin….the Danno was two and six in Clonmel when the Pint was two and four but the extra tuppence never put us off
That would imply the Builders and not the Burgers Christy! The Dubliners would have been singing McAlpine’s Fusiliers around 1964 in O’Donoghues then? The best session there these days is a Sunday Evening, bordering on dangerous!
I first met The Dubliners in The Two Brewers,Salford in 1967
I’ve heard of the Sunday Session…I hear that Jimmy Behan is the star turn