KentFolk News January 2009

*** 2009-02-03 - CANCELLED - Cajun Zydeco class in Rochester tonight ***
[Music + Dance Genres - Cajun - News item]

January ends and February starts with a slew of notable gigs :
2009-01-30 - last Friday - Robb Johnson, Drohne and Relig Oran in Orange Street, Canterbury. CT1 2JA - £5, doors open 7.30pm
2009-01-31 - last Saturday - Rattlaz - Wrotham Arms, Broadstairs. CT10 1QQ
2009-02-01 - first Sunday - Happy Trails - Yew Tree, Barfreston. CT15 7JH
2009-02-02 - first Monday - Dervish - Gulbenkian, Canterbury. CT2 7NB - lightly booked so far ! Relig Oran on the Bar stage from 7pm *** Dervish Cancelled due to snow ***
*** BBC Folk Awards : Tom McConville Musician of the Year ***
2009-02-04 - first Wednesday - Tom McConville (excellent fiddle) - Faversham Folk Club, Chimney Boy, Faversham. ME13 8PG
2009-02-06 - first Friday - Tom McConville (excellent fiddle) - Deal Friday Folk Club, Walmer. CT14 7DX 8:15.

A page from "the publican", says that the national closure rate of pubs reached 39 per week in the first half of 2008 - I wonder what it is now ?
Various people have emailed me thoughts re the loss of live music, so I have started a new thread: "Keeping Live Music Alive"
See below, at :
Keeping Live Music Alive
......| 00 - Keeping the Live Music Alive.htm
......| 01 - The Licensing Act 2003 is destroying live music in Kent.html
......| 10 - Public Entertainment Licensing Act (2003) - prior news items.txt
......| 19 - SEFAN 2008-12-03_03 actionformusic Form 696 - E Petition.htm
......| 2008-12-06 - re my recent message on the 696 form - very important pass along.htm
......| 2008-12-27 - Re FW The Licensing Act 2003 is destroying live music in Kent and East Sussex - June Clark (fighter for live music).htm
......| 2008-12-28 - Re The Licensing Act 2003 is destroying live music in Kent and East Sussex - Nick Bowdon (open stages).htm
......| 2008-12-30 - RE The Licensing Act 2003 is destroying live music in Kent and East Sussex - Doug Hudson (Hot Rats).htm
......| 2009-01-18 - Re thoughts on the loss of the music - Chris Ashman (KentGigs).txt
......| 2009-01-19 - The Publican - Home - Pubs closing at rate of 39 per week.htm
......| 2009-01-20 - Licensing enquiry - Loss of live music - our ref +++570.txt
......| 2009-01-21a - RE Licensing enquiry - Loss of live music - our ref +++570.txt
......| 2009-01-21b - How to get more live music in the pubs !.htm
......| 2009-01-22 - Re How to get more live music in the pubs ! - Sue Rule (PigsEar).htm

However thankfully I have now had an authorative reply that there is no truth in this :

Dear Dr Webber

Thank you for your email response.

You may be interested to learn that the Number 10 e-petition about mandatory noise limiters was a complete red herring! No such legislation is proposed by DCMS or the Health and Safety Executive and the chap who started the petition (Warren James) has since admitted his mistake.
Please see his website (attached) for more information.

Regards


Ronnie Bridgett
Public Engagement and Recognition Unit (PERU)
Department for Culture, Media and Sport

21 January 2009

From: BRIDGETT RONNIE [ronnie.bridgett@Culture.gsi.gov.uk]
Sent: 20 January 2009 17:47
To: 'J.B.W.Webber@kent.ac.uk'
Subject: Licensing enquiry - our ref ***570

Dear Dr Webber

Thank you for your email of 28 December in which you suggested that there was evidence that the Licensing Act 2003 is responsible for the loss of live music in Kent and East Sussex specifically.
Using modelled estimates for Licensing Authorities in Kent and East Sussex:
As at 31st March 2007, our licensing statistics estimated approx. 4,248 premises licences with live music provisions and 416 club premises cerficates with live music provisions.
As at 31st March 2008, our licensing statistics estimated approx. 4,761 premises licences with live music provisions and 419 club premises cerficates with live music provisions.
Therefore, overall, we estimate an increase of approx. 516 premises licences/club premises certificates within this period (11%).
The modelled estimates are close to the actual estimates as the majority of Licensing Authorities in these counties provided figures for this question.
I hope this information is helpful.

It has always been the Government's intention to create more opportunities for live music. The Live Music Forum was set up in 2007 to ensure that as many venues as possible took advantage of the opportunities presented by the 2003 Act, to monitor the Act’s impact on live music, and make recommendations to Government on how it might further bolster the UK's live music industry. In its final report, published last year, the Forum recommended an exemption from the 2003 Act for “incidental music” and for events attracting less than 100 people.
The LMF’s final report can be read or downloaded from our website:
www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/3650.aspx
We are taking these recommendations into account as we develop options to exempt a diverse group of low impact activities from the scope of the Licensing Act (these include, for example, late night refreshment in motorway service areas and hospitals, as well as small scale live music). We hope to consult on these proposals shortly.
Yours sincerely

Ronnie Bridgett
Public Engagement and Recognition Unit (PERU)
Department for Culture, Media and Sport

20 January 2009

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport aims to improve the quality of life for all through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries.

This discussion, with my reply, is below, at :

Jobs, Auditions, Funding + Licencing
......| 2008-12-06 - re my recent message on the 696 form - very important pass along.htm
......| 2008-12-29 - The Licensing Act 2003 is destroying live music in Kent.html
......| 2009-01-18 - Re thoughts on the loss of the music - Chris Ashman.txt
......| 2009-01-19 - The Publican - Home - Pubs closing at rate of 39 per week.htm
......| 2009-01-20 - Licensing enquiry - Loss of live music - our ref +++570.txt
......| 2009-01-21 - RE Licensing enquiry - Loss of live music - our ref +++570.txt
......| 2009-01-21 - RE Licensing enquiry - Noise limiters - our ref +++570.txt
......| Public Entertainment Licensing Act (2003) - prior news items.txt

Help get our interest in dance recognised :

2009-01-07 :
The Drum at Stanford North is now shut and I understand that there is a regular gig there and am wondering if you would like to come to The Black Horse, Monks Horton, which is 3 miles down the road regards Harry Willett

Hi Folks,

Sad news, The Drum has had to cease trading!

We have had an offer from The Black Horse at Monks Horton to host us and I shall be going there in about an hour with Maureen and Dave to have a look at the facilities which sound as if they will suit us.
It is therefore most likely that we shall meet there tomorrow night. I will send more details later but either way Dave Jones will be at The Drum tomorrow to redirect people.
What I would request is the maximum possible turnout tomorrow night to support our club wherever we may meet.
Please pass the word as not everyone reads their e-mails that quickly.
I only heard of the pub closure when I read my e-mail at about 1600 when Beau Webber www.kentfolk.com forwarded an e-mail from the landlord of the Black Horse.
More later

Regards

David

Hi Folks,

I have done the recce and we shall be meeting at The Black Horse, Monks Horton ( www.thebestpubintheparish.com ). Performance will start at 2030 as usual but don't worry if you are running late. A word of warning the pub only serves food in the evening at weekends so Roger, don't expect to get any chips! There is very useful info on the website including an extract from the Ordnance Survey map which you can print out, also, as promised, Dave Jones will be at The Drum from 1930 with diagrams for those who are not sure of the way and to pick up anyone who has not heard the bad news about The Drum closing.
All being well, we shall be there for the foreseeable future. The room we shall be using is much larger than either The Drum or The White Hart and the acoustics are good!
I will not do a route card now to save time but if you wish I will happily give directions over the phone or by e-mail if requested. My numbers for anyone who doesn't have them are: 01797-320518 or Mobile 07890-292467. I will break my usual rule and leave my mobile on until about 2100 tomorrow.
I can't think of anything else to add at present but if there is additional info which you would like please don't hesitate to contact me. See you there!
Regards

David

2009-01-13 :
Hi Folks,

They say a week is a long time in politics well so, it seems, it is in pub management!!
In short we will be back at The Drum this Thursday, the pub is under new management and in a very short space of time our venue has been transformed. The whole of the back of the room has been cleared completely and amazingly the carpet has been cleaned!! Dave & Maureen came with me to meet the new landlady, her name is Angie and her partner and the landlord is Richard. The pub phone is not reconnected yet but I have both their mobile numbers if anyone needs to contact them.
The heating has also been sorted out and is working in there with the added bonus that we can get at the taps to adjust it!
This came out of the blue again with a phone call from Angie, to tell me that they are in and up and running. They open tomorrow night and will be expecting us on Thursday.
I had not expected this to happen so fast so I consulted our longest serving regulars: Bill, Jan and Maureen and Dave. They liked the Black Horse and had some cons against our room at The Drum, chiefly cleanliness and the lack of space caused by all the kit at the back of the room but all agreed that noise and lack of privacy could become a problem at the Black Horse, especially in the better weather. They all agreed that it was swings and roundabouts and said they would leave the decision to me. Two issues swung it for me, the ease of organisation at The Drum and space to put notices and notice boards etc plus the privacy issue which I felt would have become a problem had we not returned to The Drum, much as it was when we were down at The Watersedge/Red Lion before moving to The Drum in 2005. Cleanliness and lack of space are now no longer an issue so the decision was made to move back to The Drum.
Angie has not been able to contact the Jazz Club people or the bikers, hairy or otherwise, so if any one has a number for anyone involved with either activity could they please let me know and I will pass it on.
I have thanked and informed Harry at The Black Horse.

See you Thursday, please feel free to contact me if you require any further information. Unfortunately there will be no food available for a couple of weeks whilst the kitchen is sorted out.
Regards

David

We are losing music pubs and music-friendly Landlords at a frightening rate
- and the evidence is that the Licensing Act 2003 is responsible.

I have been doing the KentFolk web page since the year 2000, and the fall off in gig numbers is very evident from my data - but my research gets in the way some months, and that causes scatter in the numbers, so for good figures I went to Chris Ashman of www.kentgigs.com and asked if I could data-mine his Gig Archives :

"Hi Beau,
I would suggest that you should look at our lists also in the light of the number of venues that are prepared to pay to promote their events rather than expecting bands to act like "rent a crowd". ......
We can say without doubt this is the worst period we have seen for Kent bands since we started supplying the media in 1981,
Chris"

So I pointed my programs at his gig archive, and this is the graph I get; I plot the number of live music gigs per week in Kent and East Sussex that are listed on www.kentgigs.com over the years Summer 2004 to Christmas 2008 :

Are Kentish and East Sussex Live Music Gigs Coming to an End ?

At first look we have a quite a lot of scatter, then we can see that in fact some of the variation is a regular dip of some 20 or 30 gigs per week over the Christmas weeks, which makes sense.

But the main feature is that a steady live-gig-rate of about 70 per week has been about halved. What has caused this ? - we can line-up events on this time-graph with major events that have recently happened :

1. The Credit Crunch - starting late Summer 2008 into Autumn - There is a definite dip, but surprisingly the graph seems to have gone up again by Winter and the time of the regular Christmas dip - perhaps people are in need of compensation, and live music is a good option?
2. The Smoking Ban - came into effect 1st July 2007 - Possibly there is a slight dip, but I do not believe there is any statistically significant change.
3. The Licensing Act 2003 - came into force on 24 November 2005 - We see that what was a regular and fairly steady live music gig-rate of about 70 per week has turned within a month or two into a steady and apparently uniform slide towards zero.

Now I am not one of those who found no merit in the Licensing Act 2003 - I agree the licencing fee takes most of the possible profit from the gigs I sometimes put on, but I do get a piece of paper that makes the gig legal.
However what is totally unacceptable is that it would seem that for the publicans and musicians the scheme is unworkable, such that if everything is equal - and it won't be - we can expect no live music over the Christmas weeks next year (2009) - down from a recent 40 to 50 gigs per week over the Christmas period - and before the end of 2011 live music gigs will be effectively over or too far away to drive to.

There is an urgent need to get this data to those who can make a difference, and also your real stories about publicans who are being thrown out and musicians who are losing their trade - this data is unequivocal :
- The Licensing Act 2003 is destroying live music in one of the most musically active counties in the UK.

However the real question is :
What is it about the Licensing Act that is destroying pubs and the music ?
Suspicions :

• Longer opening hours : Pushes up costs for the smaller pubs.
• Longer opening hours : No need to go to the pub just yet - oh it is too late ....
• Easier sales of booze in supermarkets : No need to go to the pub at all now.

Selling individual MP3 tracks, and complete Digital Albums, over the web :
For some time KentFolk has been using PayPal to sell local musician's CDs. A new technology that I have wanted for some time, is now in place: - KentFolk can now sell individual MP3 tracks, either directly from the KentFolk web pages, with payment by CC or PayPal, or via the highly respected eFolkMusic www.eFolkMusic.org, in the States.

If you are a musician, group or band that would like to sell your tracks over the web, and of course this is particularly good for both CDs that have all sold out, as well as new tracks that are not yet on a CD, then please email me : Beau@KentFolk.com

I am limited in my time available to "turn the handle" on these, and it is very time-consuming, but will do what I can. As a preliminary offering, the 2003 Deal LifeBoat House shanty recording were the first available on the web - both in the form of a few individual tracks, and the complete recording - all net profit to the NLRI, after the CC/PayPal deductions.

MP3 music currently available on KentFolk, at www.kentfolk.com/#Mp3music :

• "The LifeBoat Men come ...."
  13 sea shanties recorded by KentFolk during the 2003 Deal Maritime Festival, at a live concert by Shanty Crew, Bosun's Call and the Deal Hoodeners, in the LifeBoat House, Deal on the 7th of September, 2003. - all net money to the RNLI!

• "The LifeBoat Men come ...."
  13 sea shanties recorded by KentFolk during the 2003 Deal Maritime Festival, at a live concert by Shanty Crew, Bosun's Call and the Deal Hoodeners, in the LifeBoat House, Deal on the 7th of September, 2003. - all net money to the RNLI!
• "Reasons to Rhyme"
  Two tracks from members of the Deal Folk Club : CD: "Reasons to Rhyme" - "He Rode the Waves" and "Mother Nature", with Sue Watson singing and Stuart Maclean on the guitar.
• "The Rattlaz : Songs of Peace & Protest"
  England is still experiencing hard times and the crow is still well and truly fixed to the cradle. Deportees are still with us in the form of migrant workers ... The voice in all these songs is the voice of compassion and understanding, the voice of hope and determination. We ignore this voice at our peril.
  Originally produced as a Concert for the Folkestone Literary Festival, 2006. Chris Tophill : Accordion / Piano / Mandolin / Vocals. Kevin Richards : Djembe / Percussion / Guitar / Vocals. Jack Pound : 6 & 12 String Guitars / Banjo / Harmoonica / Vocals.
• "Relig Oran : Tracks From The Dark Side"
  These three lads - all deeply experienced in Traditional Celtic and European music - are creating a genre of their own - I am using the term "Euro-Celt" to describe the music they are writing and playing. It looks back to our roots when the Celts were pan-Europe, and makes a strong statement for the present when the Tribes of Europe are re-finding what they have in common.
  Gordon Jackson - Andy Renshaw - Martin Sutcliffe
• "Martin Long : The Climbing Boy"
  "Martin Young : Botany Bay"
  Martin is a lad who has been around on the Faversham Folk scene for longer than I have known it, variously as Martin Long, and Martin Young.
  Martin is I feel very much in the old troubadour mold, in that the music can not let him rest, it very much defines who he is.
  The songs he sings, sometimes intensely personal, sometimes with local Kentish references, are mostly self-penned, usually both the tunes and the lyrics.
  The Climbing Boy: Title Track: Often small boys were taken in by Chimney sweeps and in return for a home were forced to climb chimneys and scour them out as they ascended. Rochester has an annual Sweeps Festival.
  Botany Bay: Title Track: is a double reference - to both the Botany Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - it was the site of a landing by James Cook - and also to the Botany Bay near Broadstairs in Kent - see cover photograph.
• "Happy Trails : White Sands"
  Choice Americana in harmony from a group of musicians who have been giving Kent top quality music for many years - Blues, Cajun, Appalachian, Country and now Americana from the South.
  13 songs where this Kentish band - Happy Trails - take an honest and affectionate view into what they have seen and heard on some of their many visits to the Southern States.

The KentFolk page on eFolkMusic is at : www.efolkmusic.org/ArtMusic/ViewArtist.aspx?a=0&AID=1570
Then go to the MP3 and Digital Album links.

Multi-level directories of News :
Do keep sending me news and items for both the calendar and this news section -
Please see the info at the bottom of the news pages for guidance as to good formats to send me news items for these pages, and for event listings for the calendars.
cheers, Beau.