Blog

We had a lovely time last night at the Hambledon Folk Club  http://www.stuandliz.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/HFC/whats_on.htm   When we arrived it was a freezing cold community hall and by the time we'd set up the gear and sound checked it was a warm candlelit bistro affair only missing a wine bar in the corner which, instead, was a tea and coffee bar  I am completely in love with folk audiences, they listen so attentively, respond to my wild (occasionally blue) wit and repartee AND sing along at every available opportunity. So cool! The only fly in the ointment was my chest (stop it!), I have had bronchial problems for over a week seriously affecting my lung capacity and vocal chords. The frog chorus that has accompanied my speaking voice during that time is quite sexy when speaking (roll over Mariella Frostrup) and when singing the Blues is a positive bonus, but for folk tunes I like to have the clear tones at my disposal and it was these that were most threatened by the frog chorus! I explained this at the beginning of the set and was very aware for the first 3 songs or so that I was more nervous than normal, but after that it was ok on the whole. At the interval several lovely audience members told me about vocalzones, a lozenge that many singers use at times such as these and one was duly rushed to me when it became clear I had none. Boy, what an experience that was, they are like jacked up Jakemans pastilles, blow the ears off you the frog chorus didn't stand a chance and needless to say the second half was pretty much normal except for a little difficulty with the really high notes but I think I got away with it!

So the previous evening I had been out to dinner with my Health Humanities special interest group (part of my more respectable life), we had an invited guest lecturing earlier in the day and then coming to dinner with us. He is a very wise man Mark Radcliffe (not the DJ) someone who I immediately had an affinity with due to having double lives and similar thinking around tattoos. He is a university lecturer at Brighton Uni and a novelist, also a mental health nurse by background. His latest book 'Stranger than Kindness' (now winging its way to me thanks to the magic of Amazon) sounds brilliant and is set in the world of mental health spanning two decades. I need to read it before I can say anything intelligent about it but if you would like to know more about Mark there is an interview about him here  http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/beyond-the-bedpan/interview-mark-radcliffe/5015029.article where he talks about his previous book Gabriel's Angel. Anyway, my point (finally)is that it has been a long while since I have met someone that appears to think so very similarly to me, also someone who is able to articulate those thoughts in a mildly revolutionary manner that I so aspire to, trouble with me is I end up chasing words trying to find the right one. I have been known to have full blown conversations with myself as I follow a chain of thought, out loud, in front of a room full of attentive, slightly bemused students. Must work on that! At dinner we all had a very interesting discussion about feminism and the portrayal of women in various contexts, which was very pertinent for me since, if you look at the Hambledon Folk Club listing for Walker Broad, they mention that we are a fantastic band but somehow only name the men in the band and not me. Rod, the organiser was mortified about it and having no control over the website was obviously not to blame, probably just an oversight but not the first time it has happened over the years. Interesting, probably a future blog in that subject.