Bournemouth Folk Club 18/8/2011

I came as a performer, but I'll definitely be back to join the audience.

Bournemouth folk club is a pleasure. I'd say it is Bournemouth's best kept secret, but it seems that everything creative, marginal and grass-roots in this conurbation is a well-kept secret.

I got lost on my way to "Centre Stage", the venue for said Folk Club. This is not a flaw in the location of the place, it's just that I didn't look up the directions before heading out. I never do; in a sea-side town, it's never difficult to find a place by following signs, rough ideas and by asking along the way. So when, minutes before the performance was due to start, I could still be found (or rather, lost) approaching strangers to find directions to "Centre Stage"I was unpleasantly surprised! It took a grudging chain-B+B receptionist collaborating with a search-engine to find that it was thirty seconds around the corner. Turns out, it's not a well kept secret - it's just that very few people are asking the right questions....

like:

WHO PLAYED?

Andy Stone - ethereal, honest folk by a song-writer who worked seamlessly with his guitar to draw pictures in the air. His songs together told a story through which his wandered like a true folky. Listen out for his tale of African swallows, and his atmospheric instrumental "The Wrong Kind of Snow". He wants the listener to feel and enjoy his songs, guiding us through the lyrics to charm us into joining in- this is a performer very close to his audience. Refreshing

Rabbit Run - intelligent, bluesy music from a distinctive singer. The boy-girl pair have a stripped-back kind of class, as the stunning pair regale us with melancholic tales, told with real consideration for the words - which is rare! Having said this, the lovely singer's voice doesn't lend itself to clarity, so it was sometimes difficult to keep the thread of the stories. Enjoyable nonetheless with her unique vocal texture and a very skilled guitarist.

The Mother Folkers - stole the show for me! A fun, talented 6-piece on tour from Sheffield with great rapport within the band, and a whole range of instruments (gotta love the "Box" percussion instrument - a must-have for added quirkiness in any folk-group). The lasses carry off elegant energy while still maintaining their individuality (well done ladies!), while the lads are happy to take the essential backing-role - their skills on bass, guitar and box speak for themselves where their stubborn jeans-and-t's don't bother to. Clearly a hard-working group, making use of the stage space (and height-levels at one point) and the vocal talents of every member to spin some escalating harmonies. Awesome dance-able folk - go see them while there's still room at the front, but don't be afraid to start off the dancing - you'll regret not doing so!

WHAT TO DO

Check this place out - Lovely community atmosphere, tolerable drinks prices and an impressively diverse audience. Details on upcoming events + prices available here:

http://www.bournemouthfolkclub.com/

WHAT ELSE DO THEY DO?

This folk society are responsible for both Purbeck (25th-29th August) and Bournemouth (March 2012) Folk festivals. They hold a £1 raffle for worthy prizes like wine and vouchers at most events, and while the night had a decent turn-out, it deserves to be one of those stuffed, energetic nights full of people, straw, the sound of feet on wood, the occasional goat...

Power-Looting After the Riots: Be Prepared (draft 1)

We all know that the violence of these riots we have seen are inexcusable. Let's make that clear. The left perspective is not "this is okay" and it is ridiculously simplistic to say "This is not okay, but it's understandable: they're poor". But rioters' violence does not exist in a vacuum without build-up and - most importantly - without effect on legislation.

I hear them called "youths" and "rioters" and "animals" - any word that is not "people". The rioters are not a different species. We seem to want to distance our own race from these "rioting youths", but it is not just possible. We need to remember that they are humans, and then ask what made these thinking people into cruel, selfish, violent, destructive ones.

It's anger, it's opportunity, it's more than just "taking stuff", but that will come out in time. I have ideas, speculations, things of which I'm certain, but explaining why we do what we do is a wing of academia that could fill Croydon...or Hackney or Ealing, and simplifying isn't useful. In a way, it's too late to discuss why; what's done is done, as was said by a young man who used social networking media to arrange some community clean-ups. Maybe he's onto something. Right now, while we watch the riots continue, we need to prepare ourselves for our own fight - one to maintain what freedom we have.

So looking to the future: what happens now? "Precautions", more invasive police powers – “robust” is the Government's favourite word this time – and a link which is forging in so many minds between peaceful protest and riots. One fool (a politician at that) stated on the BBC news around midday today that the riots demonstrate that water-canons should've been used, but furthermore - that they should have been used in the November student protests! The gathering of forty-five thousand people, mostly students brought by University Unions, last year ended in a damaged window, a small fire and a heavy fire extinguisher chucked into a crowd from a roof. It was, of course, these images that made it into the papers, and it is the idea of chaos that sticks.

The Government line is that the riots had nothing to do with the protest of around 120 people in Tottenham following the shooting of Mark Duggan by police (the details of which were withheld from even the family). This is probably the Government line because it prevents a link being made between a police act and the riots. And yet the Government seem happy to relate riot-response by police to protest-response. It's a clever use of outright statement ("this has nothing to do with the Mark Duggan shooting protest") and tying together unconscious connections between"dealing with riot" and "dealing with protest". No one should be allowed to have and eat their cake. Especially not cats who are already excessively fat. Now the job's done: the link has been drawn between protest and riot, which attempts to justify brutal – sorry, “robust” – police response as the solution to both.

We saw this same story-line with the 7/7 terrorist attacks, when horrific but isolated acts were used to justify expanded police powers. These powers were then abused; implemented completely out of context – to search the bags of children during political party conferences, to quash peaceful direct action, even in the countryside, and to keep people imprisoned without charge. The police will take whatever powers we let them. They are learning from patterns of the past – we, the folk of Britain, need to learn too.

Name-calling at the august riots

word "youth" you think

represents-na-is our nature

do you think

that you call us by name

when you call us

animals

? you go quiet and nod

like you understand

tell the smallest kids to nod too

and they'll squint

hiss to eachother: "i think

they look more like people"

and they will wail to understand

and then smile that there is hope

that they are not alone in thinking

it through