Stewart Hardy's Newsletter, Feb 2017
FacebookWelcome to the first newsletter of 2017, which has not started so well... I’ve turned fifty-one. What a non-age that is!! I found a website where you can enter your date of birth and find out the amazing things other people achieved at your age. For age fifty-one there were only three entries, one of which was a mistake! Of the two that qualify, Monseigneur Guillotin proposed a beheading machine to the French National Assembly and a lady called Lola Fields chopped down a beautiful 15-foot blue spruce for use as a six-foot Christmas tree. The hard manual labour required to achieve her saving of £40 or so resulted in such a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome that she almost permanently lost the use of her hands - nightmare!!! So, no chopping down trees for me or manual labour of any kind and please, please help me make something positive out of being fifty-one!

February 2017

Bottle Bank Band @ Stocksfield Community Centre (SICA)

Saturday 11th Feb, 7.30 pm 

Chloe, Sophy, David and myself are delighted to announce this local gig (our first together of 2017). The magnificent Stocksfield Stompers will be providing high energy support and we’ve a couple of new sets to try out on any brave enough to come along! Details for tickets are in the poster - and you can purchase now online.

JSArts - Workshops

Grantham

These events are always great fun and Jimmy and Jo’s hospitality is second to none. Places are quite limited, however, and the Mixed Instrument Workshop at the end of this month has been sold out for quite a while. Information on all of the courses is available on the JSArts website and we’ll start using the side panel to list those with spaces, along with any other workshops also open to the public. 

Music for Life

Sophy Ball and I will be making another trip to North Yorkshire to do our school presentation on “Fiddles in Harmony” along with workshops on ceilidh dancing. Last year was great fun and Music for Life are such a wonderful philanthropic organization helping to put live music and dance into schools for children of primary age.

Advance Notice

May Tour with Frank McLaughlin

Between Friday 12th and Saturday 20th May, Frank and I will be gallivanting around the country playing our music in a variety of venues from private house concerts to chapels. If you’ve not seen us together then have a look at the video of The Pilgrim’s Way at the end of this newsletter. It’s fairly typical of what we do so if that is your fair do come along to one of the performances. Details of dates and venues are as follows:
May 2017
Fri 12:  Swallow Theatre Dumfries and Galloway, 7.30 pm
Sat 13:  The Hearth Horsley, Northumberland, 7.30 pm
Sun 14:  Private House Concert, York
Mon 15:  Private House Concert, Tulse Hill, South London
Tues 16:  CB2 Bistro, Cambridge tbc
Wed 17:  Private House Concert, Sussex
Fri 19:  Rosslyn Chapel Midlothian (with Mick West), 7.30 pm
Sat 20:  Gallery 45 Felton, Northumberland, 7.30 pm

Maddison’s Thread - April Promo Tour

Lee Maddison, myself and Nigel Spaven will be heading to the Green Note, Camden Town on Thursday 6th April. This looks like a fantastic live music venue; it won Time Out magazine’s award for “London Venue of the Year” in 2015. If you are around do come along and say “hi” or if you have friends in Greater London who might enjoy what we do then encourage them to come along and help make the night fizz! If you can’t make that, then Lee and I are looking to make a few other appearances around that date - so far we have:
April 2017
Weds 5: Baldock & Letchworth Folk Club  (supporting Said the Maiden)
Thurs 6:  Green Note Camden
Sat 8:  Lionheart Radio Alnwick. Live 7 - 10pm on 107.3 FM or listen online
Sun 9:  Hartlepool United Supporters Club

George Welch

Darlington Folk Club @ The Copper Beach 

Thurs 9th March, 8.00 pm

It feels like an age since George and I were last out and about together. What better place to strut our stuff (but in a very sedentary fashion) than Darlington Folk Club. George Armstrong, who helps run the club, and his wife Helen gave me my first booking in the North East of England back in the 1980s. It’s a great crowd in the Quaker town, so do come along and join the spontaneous anarchy which is George Welch’s hallmark.

Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering

21st - 23rd April

The Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering is celebrating its big 50th Anniversary. It promises to be a truly special weekend with a terrific line up friends who have supported the event over the past half-century. What better year to take the plunge and enter one of the competitions? Or you can indulge in one of the many song and tune sessions which will be going on around the town. Or you could sit back and enjoy the many concerts going on over the weekend. Or you could try and do everything - joy!! I’ll be there with the Tyneside Fiddle Alliance as well as Bottle Bank Band (pity Sophy who is also there with Alistair Anderson’s Northlands and 422 - busy lady... just watching her fly around the town would make the trip worthwhile).

Recent Events

The Songs of Robert Tannahill, Vol. IV
Launch Concert at Celtic Connections

Fri 20th Jan @ Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Huge congratulations to Dr Fred Freeman on completing the fourth volume in this epic series and for pulling together the forces to perform it at this year’s Celtic Connections. Fred is a wonderful champion of this material, much of which has been undeservedly overlooked. What a treat it was to play with these outstanding musicians and singers, both old friends and new; in particular it was a joy to experience the irreverent virtuosity and stunning professionalism of Chas Mackenzie and Adam Bulley. The CD appears not to be out yet but we’ll keep you informed or you can keep an eye on the Brechin All Records website.

Visit to the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music

Plockton, 21-22 Jan 2017

This was a fabulous weekend spent in the company of Frank McLaughlin and Mick West together with some of Scotland’s finest young musicians in a truly stunning part of the country. Many thanks to the students for their friendliness, hard work and fantastic musicianship. Thanks also to the inestimable Dougie Pincock, director of the music school, for providing the opportunity to work with these wonderful people.

Maddison's Thread CD Launch Concerts

Fri 6th & Sat 7th Jan @ Hartlepool Cricket Club

Two packed out nights in Hartlepool playing all the material on Lee’s new CD as well as tracks from the first album and a few covers with the regular band together with guest musicians and a string quartet gave “Sixty Minutes an Hour” quite a kick start. It’s always great to play to the home crowd and their support is very much appreciated. It’s also very rare I ever get a chance to play in a string quartet performing this kind of music. Many thanks to Emma Fisk, Jill Blakey and Fiona Beyer - hope we can repeat the experience sometime soon!! There are two very flattering live reviews from Progradar and Fatea Records. The album has also been picking up some good reviews and getting some airplay. If you are interested in hearing the tracks and purchasing the album do visit the Bandcamp page.

Holly & Ivy Roadshow

December Tour

December saw the Holly and Ivy Roadshow’s annual tour around schools in the North East, but this year without the wonderful Laura Connolly who is on “maternity leave” looking after her beautiful baby daughter, Tilly. Her amazing performance skills and camaraderie were much missed. However, hats off to Grace Smith who stepped in to cover Laura; her natural empathy with the children, professional conduct with the schools and effortless stage presence were a joy to behold. Many thanks, Grace, for a first rate job and great company!

Video with Frank McLaughlin

The Pilgrim's Way (Stewart Hardy)

Stewart Hardy & Frank McLaughlin, October 2016
Filmed at Gallery 45, Felton by Andy Craig Photography
The Pilgrim's Way by Stewart Hardy & Frank McLaughlin
The Pilgrim's Way - Stewart Hardy & Frank McLaughlin

Upcoming Events

Sat 11th Feb: Bottle Bank Band @ Stocksfield Community Centre, 7.30 pm

 
Advance Notice

Sat 4th Mar: Bottle Bank Band @ Sage Gateshead: Pass It On, 3.30 pm

Thurs 9th Mar: George Welch & Stewart Hardy @ Darlington Folk Club, 8 pm

Weds 5th - Sun 9th April: Maddison's Thread Tour

Fri 21st - Sun 23rd April: Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering

Fri 12th - Sat 20th May: Stewart Hardy & Frank McLaughlin Tour.


Workshops

JSArts @ Grantham

Fri 26th - Sun 28th May: 
Mixed Instruments Workshop

Fri 9th - Sun 11th Jun: 
Fiddle Technique Workshop

Fri 8th - Sun 10th Sep: 
Fiddle Technique Workshop

Fri 6th - Sun 8th Oct: 
Mixed Instruments Workshop


General workshops

Mixed Instrument workshop
Cottingham, E. Yorks
Sun 7th May

A weekend of workshops in Craven Arms, Shropshire 
Sat 18th Nov - Fiddle
Sun 19th Nov - Mixed Instruments
Contact: Kitty Greenwood


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Copyright © 2017 Stewart Hardy, All rights reserved.
stewart@stewarthardy.co.uk
Newsletter edited by Ali Say (music@stewarthardy.co.uk)



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