Parrot Bulletin

We got a namecheck on BBC Radio WM yesterday. A feature about Bands who reformed after a long break away. Frankly I don't think we've ever reformed, but we did get back together in 2006, after an absence from the local music scene of 30 years or so...

Anyways. Busy engaged on subterfuge, undercover work and secret missions at present, planning a new Folk Venue opening in 2010. We're running a full sound check in the new venue tomorrow, and having a "business meeting" the day after that.

The new club will be run jointly by BPS and another Midlands Folk Celebrity. But...if you want to see us before the year is out, then owing to the fact that most Festival Organisers are scared of us, here's the only places where we'll be at, up until the end of the year. After that-you'll be able to catch us somewhere local, once a month, for definite. More on that to follow.


Sty Folk Club , Green Lane WMC Coventry Sunday November 1st

Tin Angel, Coventry Wednesday December 9th

Bedworth Folk Club, Bedworth RFC December 16th

CATCH US LIVE (and for free) on FRIDAY 25th SEPTEMBER

(Pictured above: Black Parrot Seaside at "Concert For Judith" The Maudslay, June 2009


Audiences in search of a laugh and some decent entertainment will be delighted to hear that Black Parrot Seaside resume their antics next Friday night after a Summer break. They take the stage for the first time since July, appearing at The Blue Pig pub in Wolvey. They plan two sets, starting after 9pm, and admission is free.

The band are promising that the Wolvey gig will “definitely” see a first airing of what they hope will be another Seaside classic, a new number entitled “ If I were a Goat.” The song laments the relatively lonely and unexciting life that some tethered goats can lead. Singer Geoff Veasey has a twinkle in his eye when he explains that, “It’s ever so slightly tongue in cheek. It has the easiest chorus refrain a folk audience will ever experience…and it may well be the first Beyonce cover version performed before a Folk Audience.“ Coming from a band who pay homage to the unfair treatment of vacuum cleaners, and who have recorded a sea shanty sung by a Pirate who is a victim of Risk Assessment, it could be interesting!

As always, the band will also be including plenty of traditional songs, including an new, extended version of “The Bonny Black Hare,” and covers of material by John Tams, Bob Dylan and The Incredible String Band. BPS had a torrid start to 2009, and had to cancel a lot of gigs at the start of the year. Previously regulars at The Pig, this is their first appearance there in 2009, and replaces a performance cancelled previously owing to bereavement.

Hopefully that is behind them now and Geoff hopes that a change in work commitments for three of the members should also see them more widely available for weekend and evening dates from now on. “ We really want to put ourselves about a bit more during the Autumn,” he says, inviting Club Organisers and Festival promoters to contact him or the band via their website. Following the Wolvey date they already have appearances lined up at The Tump and Sty Folk Clubs in Coventry, and will be hosting one of their infamous Christmas parties at Bedworth Folk Club (Rugby Club Venue) on 16th December.

On the theme of getting more exposure, BPS are also looking into the possibility of starting up a new Folk Club working in partnership with another popular Midlands performer. “Very hush hush,” winks Geoff. “ We’ve got a couple of venues lined up and so far we’ve shortlisted one in Nuneaton and one in Coventry. “ BPS ran their own successful Folk club in Brinklow during the late 1970’s. Many artistes still on the local folk scene played there. In fact, it would not be a first for either party. Their mystery partner, still as yet to be revealed, has also run and hosted many Folk Clubs. “ Just watch this space. “ says Geoff.

Albion Magazine-Album Review

This is the second decent Magazine Review we've had of "Ain't It Grand." It's written by James Turner, who I've never met-but I'd certainly buy him a drink if I did. It appears in the Autumn 2009 edition-alongside reviews of Amazing Blondell and Southside Johnny. That'll do me.

Black Parrot SeasideAin't it Grand?
Spindrift Records Spin118

Originally formed in the mid-seventies at the tail-end of the electric folk revival, Black Parrot Seaside always kept things light' parody, satire, humour and a great tune were their trade marks. They eventually folded in 1982, but in 2006 they re-formed for a charity gig and enjoyed it so much that three years later, they are still together. On their latest release, the quartet of Geoff Veasey (vocals, tambourine, and swanee whistle), Mick Harris (mandolin, banjo, and accordion), Eddie Jones (fiddle, accordion, and pub piano) and Arnold Chave (acoustic and electric guitar) turn their humorous gaze on all sorts of subjects. They cover DIY on the opening track (with which I identify so much….I'll tell the story of the foot through the kitchen ceiling another time), nostalgically look back to the old days of the cinema (Odeon) and the steam locomotive (Requiem for Steam), and take the mickey out of the current trend for Mockney accents on the brilliant Cockney Power, with a brief medley of London songs. This amusing and affectionate look at the world today is an album well worth listening to.

Concert For Judith- Photos

Our thanks to Norman Wheatley and Viv for these candid snaps of what was a great night. Pictured in descending order are: Maggie Coleman: Phutnote: LazyManzFlute: Rod Felton: Tanza: Black Parrot Seaside and, finally, The Company assembled on stage to finish the night with an emotional rendition of "Go Lassie Go." If you look very carefully you can just see Norman Wheatley's head right hand side in bottom photo. Norman compered the show,lent moral support and advice,and with Viv co-ordinated The Raffle. Thanks to to "Tanza" for providing setting up and driving an excellent P.A.

Concert For Judith 28th June 2009

Thanks to all who made it a memorable experience Upstairs at The Maudslay last night. With the heat wave on and even with the windows open, it still felt more as if we were playing Lousiana rather than urban Coventry.

The room is a good one for acoustic and semi-acoustic music, and we had stimulating sets from everyone. Norman Wheatley started us off, expertly compering and singing a selection of pleasantly summery songs. LazyManzFlute followed, and they were really excellent. Maggie Coleman provided the first solo spot of the evening, with some thoughtful and typically tuneful renderings.

Tanza finished the first half, and they were a revelation. B.P.S. were due to appear with them at the cancelled Blue Pig gig in February. We must re-arrange this, for we’d be good on a bill together. They did a wide selection of very broad material which complimented the more traditional material very well. Good musicianship and splendid vocals. Excellent!

During the Interval we had the draw for the most lavish raffle I’ve ever seen at a Folk venue. Very different to the tongue in cheek Mock Raffle we conduct at the end of “At The Septic Monkey”! (When we get most of the prizes returned by an embarrassed and slightly flushed audience!Many thanks to all those who donated such lovely prizes.

Norman kicked off the second half, and he was followed by Phutnote. We knew all about them, having seen them many times at Bedworth Folk Club. They did not disappoint. They also brought along Declan, a prize winning Irish dancer who had appeared in Riverdance. Declan’s routines were an appropriate background to Phutnote’s set, and they all received a rapturous ovation! Phutnote finished (at my request!) with Eric Bogle’s “Willie McBride.” What a haunting song that is!

Then it was time for a Rod Felton slot. A True Legend, Roddie was enigmatically Roddie. He refused to use the stage or the P.A. and sat instead, cabaret style, on a chair at the front of the hall. Which was fine for those at the front. He opened with “Thighs” (at least I think that’s what he said!) and included typical examples of Feltonesque humour and one-liners during his set. He finished with my favourite Roddie song “Curly”-another of my requests. To my surprise he performed this unaccompanied-forsaking his beloved guitar. Some inspired singing by all those present who knew the song-it’s about his baby daughter-who’s a very grown up lady now!

And then it was time for Black Parrot Seaside to close the evening. One of Judith’s last wishes before she died in February was that B.P.S. should continue to play together after her death. So it was apt that I think we played a rousing and varied set. We opened with Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm.” And followed it with “The Bonny Black Hare,” accompanied by a much longer instrumental finish. Time then for a (semi) Parrot song after that. “Albert Balls” has very quickly proved an audience pleaser wherever we have done it-and the choruses were simply roared out! “ Wee Midnight Hour” was a simple low-tempo blues, and then it was time to lift the hilarity again with “ The Bold Pirate,” and its shock ending. (The HSE ring us and get it stopped during the 4th verse). (Honestly..) We finished with “ D.I.Y “

Finally, we got the whole company up to lead them in a frankly spine tingling version of “Go Lassie Go.” Which seemed somehow a kind of emotional closure. Singing so moving, it brought people up into the room from outside, to ask what it was. (One of whom was a music producer, interested in recording it-but that’s another story!).

We all had an ace time despite the miserly input of landlord Ambrose. Having previously promised us a bar, he promptly closed it, after less than an hour of the concert. His rationale for this? Not enough people were drinking, apparently. Despite the fact that almost 70 people turned out to raise funds for Myton Hospice, and to pay tribute to Judith. You might think that kind of turnout on a Sunday night might please a landlord who we had once thought was sympathetic-but apparently not. The audience and performers had to traipse downstairs thereafter, where (oddly, given the fatuous excuse for closing the bar upstairs, considerably less than 70 people were sprinkled around in corners of the Maudslay’s less than imposing lounge.

Finally the thanks. To Norman Wheatley and his partner Viv, for the immense work they put into the event and into organising the raffle To Norman for compering as expertly as always, and for superb advice and moral support. To Tanza for installing, providing “driving” and dismantling the P.A. To Jill Gilsenan who brought along a donation from Bedworth Folk Club and helped out selling raffle tickets. As always with Jilly, she also provided encouragement for the performers by her beautiful accompaniment of backing singing.

Thanks to the audience, of course, for turning up. Some had come from as far away as Bristol! The audience was a really eclectic and responsive mixed bag-of young and old. Many familiar faces from the clubs we’ve played since reforming-thanks for that, folks!

Thanks to Pete Willow who gave the event a great write-up in Friday’s Coventry Telegraph. Thanks to all those (including Pete), who had hoped to help out but had other commitments on that particular evening. Kristy Gallagher, Malc Gurnham, Pete Grassby Chris Tobin and Keith Donnelly to name but five. There’s always next time!
Finally, thanks to the performers, who gave up their time or for free. Ladies and Gents you were all superb. I salute you. We must do all that again some time. But possibly, not at The Maudslay.

We think we’ve raised over £200 for Myton Hospice-I’ll make public the final total.

On The Road to Warwick

We had a splendid night at Warwick Folk Club last night. Because of the tragedy that had hit the band earlier in the year, this was only our second appearance of 2009 as a four-piece-and our first as a four piece since Rugby in April. Many of you reading this will know that we have appeared in all kinds of other permutations since January, but the four of us together is really our favoured format. And the best experience of the Parrot magic that an audience can hope for.

We started our feature spot there with "The Septic Monkey," our homage to the Folk Club from Hell, as they had so obviously enjoyed it when we'd done it there last time. (So much so that during the interval that night someone had scrawled out "Septic Monkey" and put it over the "Warwick" bit of their Club Banner!

I don't think we've ever started a set or a floor spot before with The Monkey-but it is turning out to be a very good interactive song for getting Folk Audiences involved and warmed up. The Mock Raffle at the end of Monkey is getting a bit scary, though. I try to make the "prizes" so vile that the audience will give them back. Increasingly we're finding that some folk are keeping them. I lost "Scratch and Sniff Halloween " at Beduff last week like that (shame on you!) and last night someone with issues hung on to an album of Barbara Cartland reading extracts from her greatest works. Val returned "Get to know Your Chinchilla" though. And the "Hitler's Birthday" DVD was left under a chair, unsealed. Incidentally-the real raffle followed ours. I won it-but I'd thrown my ticket in with all the stage stubs-so it was redrawn and compere for the night Maggie Coleman won my box of chocs instead. It just serves me right for taking the p*ss out of so many clubs.

We followed a fairly riotous version of the Monkey with "Albert Balls" and "The Odeon" and finished with " The Bold Pirate." Albert Balls isn't on the CD but it is proving to be very popular.The chorus singing was really good. I think we scared Warwick Audiences a bit at first, when we first started playing there, but they seem to really get us now.

Maggie Coleman compered, and sang. She gave Concert For Judith a big plug and so did we. There were only a couple of other floorsingers besides Maggie. Ian? was an excellent guitarist, and a lady called Sue? Sang two delightful songs. One of them was Fairport's " Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" My own personal Sandy Denny performance. That was a very brave choice but I have to say that she pulled it off and got the whole room singing.
Main Guests were Fairfield, from Bromsgrove Folk Club. Strong singing,good instrumentalism and punchy banter. A mixture of wistful songs and funny, good-feel ones.

During the Interval we were introduced to some Hotel Guests from Jersey who had drifted in as we started. They had been falling about during our spot and wanted to buy a CD-"Pirate" had absolutely knocked them out! The shock ending usually catches some audience members out but we'd done this one there before too and many were ready for it. Not the usual ending to a BPS set-we usually finish with an extended version of DIY-but it worked tonight. Onto the Maudslay on June 28th and then Newbold Rugby Club in July.

We still owe loads of venues cancelled or re-arranged bookings, and we're working on the backlog, but as we get into Autumn, availabilities should become easier. If you're a solo artist it's easier to say "yes" when an Organiser offers you a booking.
But with four of you, three working full time, that means there is a four to one chance that we can make a first offer. But we'll get there. And do more floor spots, too.

A CONCERT FOR JUDITH-JUNE 28TH

MAUDSLAY HOTEL, COVENTRY, SUNDAY 28TH JUNE 2009. FREE ADMISSION. STARTS 8PM

RAFFLE AND COLLECTION IN AID OF MYTON HOSPICE

ALREADY APPEARING:

NORMAN WHEATLEY....LAZYMANZFLUTE...MAGGIE COLEMAN....TANZA.....PHUTNOTE...ROD FELTON...BLACK PARROT SEASIDE.....

A brief REMINDER here about what we (Black Parrot Seaside) are doing, and why.

Many of you know we've been around as a Folk Band since the late 1970's. ( O.k. we had a Gap Decade or two, but in 2006 we accepted an invitation to reform for a one-off Charity Fund Raiser in Brinklow). But it wasn't a one off. We got back into the swing of things,and many local venues began to book us. We did floor spots elsewhere when and where we could. Our four-way work commitments meant that we were a little more elusive than some artistes, and when there are four of you, logistics in accepting a booking are four times more difficult. But Things were going well. Festivals, Radio, a CD-it was a lovely second chance for four Old Fogeys which we never thought we'd have.

We are a close unit. We have known each other as friends for over 35 years. The guitarist and I have known each other since 1961. So we were devastated to hear at the start of this year, that his wife Judith was terminally ill. The diagnosis was sudden: the decline brutal: the ending in February of this year was swift, but very traumatic for all of us.

It looked as if we would fold again, but amongst Judith's last instructions were,
" Don't let the boys down." So he's gritted his teeth and wiped away his tears and forced himself to get back into music. Some of you may have seen us since we finally got back into public performance. We've appeared as a two-piece, a three piece, as solo artistes and as the original four piece line Vinyl up. It was really hard at times, to be honest. But several Folk clubs-and Bedworth in particular-have been VERY supportive to us.

We agreed when we got back together a third time, to organise a Concert For Judith this summer, as a Fundraiser. This would have the effect of supporting Myton Hospice where she died, and celebrating her life.

Judith's ashes are being scattered somewhere on the Roseland Peninsula at this very moment-another late pledge they made to each other. It's an odd thought. We played and entertained at their wedding only a couple of years ago-and now this.

Please help us if you can, to put something back into a very worthy cause, and to remember a really nice lady. Come along in droves, drink lots of beer, listen to some ace music and buy loads of raffle tickets.

Thanks for reading.