XPost: alt.banjo, alt.banjo.clawhammer, rec.music.country.old-time   
   From: ulf.jagfors@telia.com   
      
   From the United Kingdom cut by Ulf   
      
   Bath International Banjo Festival, Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd July.   
      
     To a large proportion of banjo players in Europe, the words "Reading   
   Festival" are nothing to do with pop music - they immediately bring visions   
   of banjos by the Thames, concerts with the World's best banjoists (we've had   
   Bud Wachter, Tony Trishka, Bill Keith, Tarrant Bailey, Ken Perlman, Gerry   
   O'Connor   
   and many others) and hours of fun just meeting friends and swapping tunes.   
   And if you don't recognise some of those names I've just listed, you haven't   
   heard the best there is to hear!   
     But times change. Most significantly I, as the Festival Organiser, changed   
   jobs. So now that I work at the University of Bath, we have the Bath   
   International Banjo Festival. And this year we are delighted to host the   
   fifth Bath Banjo Festival, which will be the 22nd banjo festival in the   
   series! Each year I feel like giving up, and each year the fun we all have   
   powers me up for next year!   
     The first session is on the evening (from about 7.30) of Friday July 1st   
   in the Staff Club at the University of Bath, with food and a bar open until   
   midnight, where we meet old friends and new tunes. The way in will be   
   signposted, parking free. The workshop tutors will be available to talk to   
   and play along with. Last year we also had an impromptu duet concert with   
   Bill Keith (bluegrass) and Ken Perlman (clawhammer/folk). Everyone is   
   welcome. Bring your banjo along and play with the best!   
     On Saturday and Sunday, we have workshops in most styles of banjo playing,   
   with Bill Keith, Ken Perlman, Douglas Back (classical guitar player turned   
   classical banjoist), and the much travelled Tom Stuip on jazz banjo. We hope   
   also to have an Irish banjo workshop. These workshops are also at the   
   University - 4 sessions of 90 minutes on Saturday and two more on Sunday   
   morning (please book beforehand if you want to attend a workshop). The   
   workshops are for players of all standards. Even if you are just starting,   
   the best you can do is have the best to instruct you. Bad habits of playing   
   are easily learned and forgotten with difficulty.   
     All day Saturday the Staff Club will be open, dispensing food, tea and   
   coffee, and the bar will be open all afternoon and evening. There will be   
   some traders there, so you'll be able to buy and sell banjos and   
   accessories, books, records, etc. A lot of the time we swap instruments and   
   try out different styles and makes of banjo. There are always enough experts   
   around to give advice and to help improve the sound of an instrument by   
   setting it up better. If the weather is good (and it usually is!) we find   
   quartets and trios springing up like mushrooms - a couple of music stands   
   and some chairs out on the lawn, and the sunshine brightens up the music.   
   Happy banjos - happy banjoists!   
     On Saturday evening, at 7.30, we have the Grand Concert in the Arts   
   Theatre, again on the University campus, where the workshop tutors and a few   
   others provide some of the best banjo playing to be heard anywhere. Last   
   year Bill Keith gave us his Bluegrass Autobiography, starting with some   
   standard bluegrass pieces, progressing by way of Dizzie Gillespie's   
   "Caravan" (with full bee-bop harmonies) finishing off with some wonderfully   
   articulated hymns. We also had Ken Perlman's selection of folk and fiddle   
   tunes (he gets better every year), a red-hot session from Eamonn Coyne on   
   Irish tenor banjo (he has a PhD in Biochemistry but likes music better) and   
   Tom Stuip played some jazz classics (I backed him on 'cello banjo). This   
   year we will also have Doug Back, who has been specialising in some of the   
   classical and ragtime pieces, recreating the great days of pre-jazz banjo   
   playing in the USA and the UK.   
     After the concert (it usually lasts about 3 hours) we have another session   
   in the bar, until well after midnight. Again, food is also available.   
     Since we have people coming from all over the UK and the European   
   continent, we try to make the weekend something to remember. So Sunday keeps   
   the pace going with the last two workshops at the University, followed by an   
   extended (and usually rather liquid!) lunch at the Green Park Tavern on the   
   Lower Bristol Road. Johnny Whelan, who runs the place, is a keen   
   professional banjo player, so we never have to ask him to turn down the pop   
   music in the bar.   
     The cost of all this is kept to a minimum. A ticket to the workshops costs   
   £100, which also covers entry to the concert (£15 on its own) and to the   
   main Club house on Saturday (£2). Please book for the workshops (write to me   
   for a form, or download it from the website whose address is below). Tickets   
   for the concert are available throughout Saturday and also at the door. The   
   Sunday session is free (though Johnny would like you to buy your lunch   
   there!)   
      
     More information from me, Julian Vincent, the Festival Director. Either   
   phone to UK   
   01225 386596 (day), 01225 835076 (evening), 07941 933 901 (mobile), or write   
   to me at 48 Frome Road, Odd Down, Bath, BA2 2QB (send your workshop booking   
   forms to this address), or email j.f.v.vincent@bath.ac.uk   
      
   The Festival website is maintained by Kevin and Annie Scott (Kevin also   
   trades in banjos and bits) at www.bathbanjofest.co.uk. There you will also   
   find more information about the festival and about accommodation at the   
   University (probably the cheapest and easiest option - and excellent   
   value!). If you don't have web access, phone 01225 386622 to arrange your   
   accommodation. There's a YMCA hostel close by, and Bath has lots of B&B   
   since it's a tourist city.   
      
    Julian Vincent   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)