First part of a history of the Coventry folk scene..........
....Barry Skinner, Sean Cannon, John and Beverley Martin, Hedgehog Pie are among many of the names connected with the Coventry club circuit and promising new acts are still evolving. Waterfall, who are becoming another well respected act throughout the country, and were even featured recently on Radio One's Kid Jensen programme (a supreme accolade), owe much of their stage experience to the relatively recent floor spot appearances at the Firkin, Magic Lamp and Lanchester Polytechnic Folk Clubs. The New Modern Idiot Grunt band is still going as strong as ever, much to the delight of club organisers throughout the country who had previously heard of them disbanding a few years back.
An article by Ben Arnold in that publication pinpoints the exact beginnings of the present day format of folk clubs in
The regular get together's at the Umbrella Club only catered for a minority interest but it did serve as a starting point for dedicated individuals to plan Coventry's very first folk club. This was opened one Thursday in May 1963 at the Binley Oak, Paynes Lane and was called, suitably enough, the Coventry Folk Club. To quote Ben Arnold, "Coventry's first folk club was formed out of a common love of what at that time was an esoteric form of expression and desire to bring to the public at large something which had been theirs for hundreds of years."
The hosts were the Troubadours, a group formed by Barry Skinner and consisting of John Allen, Lee Soloman, Pete and Marlene Roberts, Terry Illingworth, Brian Sutton and Bob Bruce, although not all at the same time. Also involved with the band were Brian Curtiss and Dick Newton who later joined the Down Country Boys.
Barry Skinner however was the main driving force behind the formation of the Coventry Folk Club. Floor singers became a regular feature of the club, partly because the residents didn't have enough material to cover the whole evening every week without repeating themselves too often. Most of the music played was either traditional folk or skiffle. At the time there was a limited choice of traditional songs easily obtainable as few had been 'collected' and published in books or anthologies.
For well over a year, the Binley Oak was the only place in the city where one could go and listen to live folk music on a regular basis, although interest in folk music gradually spread as more and more enthusiasts and musicians visited the club. An attempt was made in August 1963 to start another club at the Cheylesmore Community Centre but this proved to be nowhere near as successful as the Coventry Folk Club. It met for a short while on Friday nights but lacked support due to its out of the way location, lck of beer and the fact visitors to the club had to become Community Centre Members. Nevertheless it helped to spread the word of folk in Coventry. (I was involved with a one-off concert at the centre in 1975 and we managed to sneak some beer in. The highspot of that evening was when the centre's drama club pulled off a "This is your life" stunt on the guest, Dave Bennett, whilst he was on stge. But that's another story!
In June 1964, the Tavern Folk Club opened and met every Sunday at the Swanswell Tavern. Ben Arnold was the compere and among the many acts establishing themselves were the Kerry Singers. The venue was short lived, although the club was successful; they moved to the Wine Lodge in the Burges and the club became known as Cofa's Tree, deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon name for the Coventry. (How ethnic can you get?). This became a very important club in the development of folk music in the city and was very well attended. The change of venue had been made to accomodate the growing numbers of audience which regularly topped 200. The Kerries, which included Gibb Todd and also Gill Thurlow, who later married David MacWilliam, were the resident band and top guest artists were booked. One young lady who made regular appearences as a singer / guitarist was a Miss Beverley Jones, better known now as Beverley Martyn. Also seen performing there on occasions were the Furies.(HOBO note here - It was Beverley Kutner that became Beverley Martyn - John Martyn's wife) not Bev Jones - the Kutners were the family that
ran the Jewellery shop with the big clock , on the corner opposite the old
school.- Bev jones, Coventry pop star of Walsgrave etc. has website somewhere
interview on Chambers site.still lives in Cov - thanks to Broadgate Gnome for pointing out the error)
In 1965 the Coventry Folk Club also moved, forsaking the Binley Oak for the larger and more centrally located Craven Arms in the High Street - know known as the Bear. However it only lasted at this venue for about a year, to be re-opened at the Queen's Inn, Primrose Hill St in September 1967. Trhis didn't last long either. As the folk scene developed and became more complex with a bigger choice of clubs facing the audience and more and more musicians getting involved with them, it was probably inevitable that some of the venues would change more rapidly. Perhaps the longest running meeting place for folkies first opened in 1966, this being the Old Dyers Arms, where the Coventry Folk Workshop and Singers' club was formed as a place where local enthusiasts could get together, play and sing, discuss and give each other positive criticism and to plan new projects ranging from Morris Dancing to musical instrument classes.
In the same year, another much remembered club saw the light of day, namely the City Arms in Earlsdon, hosted (at first) by Paddy Roberts. Many more singers were becoming known and liked by Coventry audiences at this time. Dave Coburn, who had assisted Barry Skinner in the general running of the Coventry Folk Club, had become an established local singer as had two other relatively new faces appearing regulary at the City Arms, Rod Felton and Rob Armstrong. In 1967 Rod took over the running of the club, with the help of his mother who sat on the door.
An interesting article in Issue One of Folk Crying Out Loud reads as follows;
THE CITY ARMS FOLK CLUB
"Revived some months ago....the club started anew with a policy of pleasing everyone's taste in folk music. By introducing new faces tot he scene, we have built up a formidable body of singers ranging from unaccompanied traditional songs to the comedy of the New Modern Idiot Grunt Band.
To date we have had now nationally known folk artists except for my good friends The Young Tradition.. who insisted in doing a free gig for us; they of course went down splendidly. Among other artists who have appeared are...The Down Country Boys, Andy and Jan...and a few weeks ago a fine blues artist by the name of Dave Kelly. This club has given Bob and I (and many others) a chance to experiment with new material and new approaches, which has proved very successful to the point that I very rarely sing the blues unless requested.
Given this chance, I would like to thank Rob Armstrong, a good buddy and a fine musician, for his running about and organising without which I am sure the club would have never survived. Also I would like to thank those artists who have stuck with us through thich and thin and helped to make the city Arms Folk Club a good Sunday Night's folk entertainment."
Rod Felton
Rod had started out infact as a blues musician at a time when he and Dave Coburn, who used to do a lot of music hall material, were two of the very few "Contemporary" folk artists in the city.
Another regular at the club was a student, now a nationally known singer, June Tabor. Towards the end of 1967, she joined with a group called Cockade, which also consisted of Ken Woolfendon, Roger Bullen, Martin Jenkins and later Rob Armstrong. More of them later in the series.
1967 saw the birth of twomore local clubs; - Oul Triangle, which met at the Admiral Codrington, and the Bandiere Rousseau at the Hen and Chickens. Oul Triangle gathered a large following and by the end of 1967 had a membership of some 600 people. Its hosts were Liffeyside, consisting of Steve Nagle (more recently with Mulliners Rough), Mick Gallagher, Martin Griffin, who left later and was relaced with another new face, Georvge Van Ristell. The Hen and Chickens was probably the first Coventry Club with a strong leaning towards contemporary folk, hosted by John Lake, monologue specialist and driving force behind the Coventry Folk Workshop, and Ron Shuttleworth. It was popular with those who equated folk with politics, conviently located across the road from the local Communist Party Headquarters and it's name meaning the Red Flag.
Another long running club first opened in January 1968, this being the Village Pump at the Bulls Head, Binley Rd. Many fine guest artists appeared here right up to its closure in 1976 but it was best known as a good place for folk dancing. It was also in 1968 that live folk music was first played at the Mercers Arms, where the club was hosted by Two's Company, who later went on to open the Bedworth Folk Club at Bulkington.
I've probably started missing out clubs laready, but its clear that in a period of about five years the Coventry folk scene evolved very quickly and a great new source of musical talent ws making itself known. There is little doubt that the general standard of folk music in the city was, and still is high. Along with Bristol and reading, Coventry was reputed as being one of the greatest centres of good folk music in the country and some people now look back at the late 60's with nostalgia, feeling that perhaps some of themagic has been lost in the local folk scene. In those days there seemed to be more enthusiasm with many well organised clubs regualry attended by many people, most of whom didn't play an instrument but jsut enjoyed listening. it's interesting to note that today the only city centre club is the Lanchester Polytechnic and the clubs that book nationally known artists tend to be located in the outskirts, making it more difficult for many enthusiasts to attend them regularly.
Next issue, I'll be dealing with clubs that started in the early 70's. Any useful information is welcome....
Pete Willow 1978
UPDATE - the mystery of who created the graphic above has been solved (see Pete Willow's comments below) - I discovered The Coventry Terrygraph blog via serendippity (while searching for something else!) although Terry says he tried to contact me - unfortunately I didn't get his message - not to worry - I found him anyway!! Maybe Terry might tell us a bit more about himself - his artwork and music involvements in Cov!!
Here's a link to Terry Sycamore's blog The Coventry Terrygraph and blow a screen shot of the message I found there!!
The wonders of the net!
I must have seen Machine / Hot Snacks as they became, c 1980, a million times at the Ryton Hotel, Dog and Trumpet and elsewhere. One of my favourite tracks (so long as the lead singer didn't gob on you punk style from the stage!) - a kind of ska/punk You ain't nothin' butta Hound Dawg called You need a Character Change. This is for Jim Pryal - who was the band's drummer (but not on this track - drummer was Silverton who was with the Specials before they made it. From the Album Sent From Coventry - produced by the brilliant Coventry magazine of that era - Alternative Sounds.
Second track is another fave from the 1980 period - my mate Mojo (Tony) Morgan (it's alos on his blog) - I used to be their resident dancer at gigs in Tile Hill somewhere -saw them lots to at the Dog and Trumpet. Their single and on the Battle of the Bands album 1981 - Anti-Bellum - Ska - blues all the way.
old Fords and Morris Minors "any colour so long as it's black" new car shapes emerging and new brave colours, Rovers, Rileys Jags and Daimlers, Humber Hillman, Sunbeam, Singer - car city booming production lines, asway with buses, cloth-capped, fag in mouth city sidewalks, the Coventry Evening Telegraph sellers standing like Socrates outside the Acropolis of the National Bank, one of the biggest city centre buildings that the bombs were too scared to hit, their megaphone voices defining our world for history in half-audiable headlines. New brave city, a sense of space, a sense of modernism, a sense of regeneration, triumph in austerity, a symbol of world peace where the Lennon's would soon choose to plant their acorns, centre stage in times to come for little Broadgate Gnomes planting creative seeds in bomb holes and wandering musical hobos, the arena of the forthcoming Coventry music scene but meanwhile back in the 50's -
Being 3 or 4, moving from a flat in Allesley village to a council house in Meadfoot Rd. Willenhall where the Coventry to Euston line ran aback of the houses, waving - flag in hand to the Queen as she passed on the Royal Train, from the sandy embankment, while some boys threw stones and were caught by the coppers, the age of steam was giving way to the age of diesel as the 50's shunted on, you could witness technology fast-track from the back of your house, speeding down the lines to the innovative 60's while out the front it was the 10.am break from hoovering the hall and dusting the sideboards, sitting on the red polished doorstep, my mum and Pat next door, the morning gossip, Players and Woodbines, jiving in the street to Rock Around the Clock on the radio, chugging down the line to full blown youth
Sitting on my fathers lap, watching the Six-Five Special,(Hear it on this site), trains and rock music were
My dad learning to drive on Coventry buses, we'd walk each morning to the
forms. NOTE on Photo - (My dad as a bus driver in the 50's with me on the GEC Stoke works housing estate - behind is the back of Bourne Rd and the childhood home of Billie Whitelaw (the estate was demolished in the 90's I believe - Billie's dad was I think Entertainments officer and involved with the GEC Pantomime)
Going around to see John Alderson, later guitarist with Wandering John
Writing a novel at 6 / 7, my dad getting me to read Treasure Island, which I enjoyed, and then Kidnapped. Kidnapped just didn't get my attention and so I decided I could probably do better, my first attempt at creative writing, I gathered sheets of paper and each night before going to sleep worked on the first chapter which I was quite pleased with but I just didn't have the experience to follow through with it at that age and eventually admitted defeat but something hung back although I didn't remember this early writing experience until something triggered in recent years, but writing became my thing. I mostly think of it as having started at 15 writing my first songs but obviously it began much earlier! but that was the key point in my life - i knew that if things weren't there that you liked you could create them your self - or at least try, it was the same with songs, I wanted to hear songs that said what I wanted them to say, on the music scene people used to moan that "they" weren't providing facilities for musicians - my perspective was always, 'then we'll create them', albeit with a lack of resources, our creativity is the resource and hopefully if successful, 'they' might see the need and help us out - maybe!!
On Sunday afternoons we'd go for a Sunday afternoon drive to places like Drayton Manor Park, Alton Towers, Banbury
We were post war kids, with no direct experience of the war but picking up on the vibes, the sadness of the airaid shelters and the new emergent optimism, wondering what kind of world we had entered, tripping over the double values and wondering if we could change things for the better, if we could dare to dream of a better society with out war and and starvation, exploitation, and seeing a window of opportunity through the sixties began painting rainbows on the sky towards the summer of love - could we change things, we had to try, with no maps or certainty, things could be better but for now it was the end of the fifties and I personally was still only 9 in 1960.
Some of you like the memories side of these Coventry blogs. Here's one for you -
The date is mid-year 1970, Queen Victoria Rd. Coventry - a solicitor's type house now long demolished, used as the base of the Coventry Arts Umbrella - described in detail elsewhere on this blog for those unfamiliar.
This arts centre was frequented by young hippy / musician types, poets, bearded Irish folkies, businessmen with a sense of culture and wide range of different peoples.
Saturday nigh from 9 til about 2pm there was a 'heavy / Progressive' disco upstairs laying the like of Taste, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the ilk. Downstairs was a coffee bar selling coffee, tea and hot dogs.
However on this occasion the coffee bar was the scene of a seance. There had been a few around that time, emanating for after midnight discussions in the coffee bar! There was a smallish group of them, some regular some not. Some had been rumoured to have been possessed. It was a bit scary sounding - I wouldn't join in!
Upstairs Al Varney and Al Docker engineered the music to be at it's most scary - playing loudly Careful with that Axe Eugene with its harrowing screaming midway through and Black Sabbath. They were not shaken however - the music was well familiar to anyone who frequented the Umbrella on a Saturday night.
I went down stairs and was tinkering about on the piano and Al's drums in the middle down stairs room. Anyone coming to the Umbrella and going to the coffee bar had to go past the door and i would see them. It was nearing two pm ish and I was bleary eyed by then. Suddenly I saw the devil walk past towards the coffee bar. Ok I thought - it's late at night and semi dark - no I couldn't have seen the devil - time to go home get some sleep - yet I distinctly remember it had horns, and devil's tail and fork - a very conventional devil if I might say! Nothing - just silence - I wrote it off as a trick of the night!
Meanwhile things were getting very tense in the coffee bar with screams followed by calming voices of the occupants. They were calling up Rasputin - this was apparently quite dodgy. Then suddenly there was a devil of a collective scream that made even the drums shudder. I rushed into the coffee bar to see what had happened. Sure enough there was the devil in all his glory, tail and horns and people rushing past to the toilet in an awful hurry!
It was an actor from the Belgrade Theatre who had heard on the grapevine about these seances and he was a nonbeliever. So raiding the Belgrade's costume department, decided to illustrate a point. Being an actor his timing was superb. After I'd seen him go past - he'd waited in the 'wings' as it were until just the right moment - ie when they were calling up Rasputin and just as the glass had apparently become very animated - he stepped in. Things had been very tense and building up. It was the stuff of Oscars! After that lights went on, coffee was made and the most heated of discussions ensued. I was mighty glad that it was an actor and that I hadn't been seeing things.
I don't remember them happening after that and the loo was block for ages after!!!
Songwriter, producer, muso and Community Media expert Steve Thompson doesn't hail from Coventry but he does
Steve relates a great story of being commissioned to write lyrics for the Jaws theme by Pete Waterman which can be viewed on Steve's own site ST Media but first a bit of background. (Note the direct link to the Jaws Post is below).
The connection began in 2004 when I began work on The Writers Cafe - one of my current commitments - one of the liveliest spoken word and music venues in the North East of England. Now at the Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard in Stockton (a converted tithe barn used by the Teesside Music Alliance(ie Stockton and Middlesbrough music Collective) as a rock venue. However back in 2004 / 5 we were based at the plush Stockton Arts Centre called the ARC. The ARC were working with CIRA who were An ERDF funded project based at the University of Teesside to work with Community groups and enable them to construct their own websites. None of us at the cafe could 'speak' HTML or PHP and so we linked in with CIRA who helped us build our first Writers Cafe website using a content manager system. The support was excellent. I mentioned that I had a vast archive of material on all the Creative Writing initiatives on Teesside - many of which were mine - which I wanted to put on line (as I have done with the earlier Coventry material here). Soon I had two sites going Outlet and The Writers Cafe and Cira were talking about making Outlet into a funded programme documenting the full literary history of the Teesvalley area. However Sod's law kicked in and ERDF funding was pulled from many projects in the area and CIRA was closing down along with the websites.
Just when I thought that was the end of the websites I got an e mail from Steve Thompson who was coordinator of Teesside Uni's Community Media Project who wanted to rescue and facilitate some of the valuable work that Cira had begun. I arranged to meet Steve at the Uni and expecting a young be-suited techno-lecturer type I went along suitably be-suited my self. However this guy was more my own age, casually dressed and well bearded. As you enter his office you have this strange perception that this guy is not your normal go-ahead acedemic. It was more like wandering into a London music publishing office, with CD covers all over the walls, press cuttings, pictures of musical artists. His conversation bedecked with colloquialism and a few choice expletives were more in keeping with a rock n roller than with an acedemic.
However Steve is brilliant at his job, pioneering and developing community media throughtout the North East of England. He soon had us up and running with new and much improved websites for Outlet and the Writers Cafe and his support was 24/7 (well over and above the call of duty). Over the last year or so Steve has helped us to move venues - is working on webcasting the Writers Cafe and giving excellent support for our projects.
However my initial perceptions were correct. Steve had begun in a heavy metal band in Consett in his youth supporting many a name band, playing bass in the main but capable of playing guitar and keyboards and singing. He is listed on a site called Metal Godz. The long hair has long since gone but the spirit survives. In 1981 he became a staff songwriter for Pete Waterman, writing songs for Elkie Brooks, Celine Dion, The Searchers, Bruce Ruffin, Sheena Easton, Alvin Stardust, Sara Brightman, Elaine Page, Tygers of Pan Tang, Wavelength and many more (to be found on his own site), he went on to be an assistant producer working with Andy Taylor (Duran Duran) Toni Haliday (Curved Air / Police / Tygers of Pan Tang / Venom) Gus Dudgeon (Elton John's producer) and much more before (in his own words) giving up the three minute pop song to work on Community media which he finds just as satisfying - hence the long hours he works on it.
Steve has a great tale on his site of being asked by Pete Waterman to write the words to JAWS If you think the theme to Jaws has no words - think again - it wasn't for the want of trying on Pete's behalf.
Steve is still working on his music though, these days developing collaborative projects with poets and and photographers and film makers around North East Industrial themes. Find out details from his own site.
The networking around this site is pretty amazing with more and more Coventry musicians turning up, orffering comments and information, being put in touch with each other again. All important as new projects are slowly emerging, including the possiblility of a Coventry Music Museum. Pete Chambers is already organising a Cov Music exhibition at the Herbert.
Here is an example of the material coming forth now - The Is - a Cornish band from Truro have got their own Vox site and as well as a My Space.
Also Al's younger brother John Docker has just opened a Vox blog here - Covmusicsite and uploaded one the songs from his 90's Cov punk band - John plays bass - check his site out - find his icon in the neighbourhood.
We may add some more audio and lyrics here and a few tales when it we receive it.
The name Al Docker resounds quite often on this site in the lyrics section and the 1971 diaries, the forthcoming band directories and other places. Not surprising as I set out on the Coventry Music Scene with Al from the tail end of 1969, after leaving school and Al was an important part of the scene and a respected musician and organiser.
The last time I saw Al was in 1974 - he joined Divine Light and was leaving Coventry - I hadn't heard of him since. Yesterday I got an e mail from his younger sister Jan and younger brother John - Al had died of cancer in Truro, Cornwall aged 44 in 1996, leaving behind 5 children and and two grandchildren. Some of us had been wondering what had become of him and so it was a bit of a shock.
In the early 90's Al had been playing in a great band down in Truro called
Al played keyboards, wrote some of the lyrics and music, organised the gigs and drove the van according to his brother John Docker. He'd also been a prominant promoter down in Cornwall. (Have a listen to one of their tracks - Sleeping - here with Al on Keyboards). Interestingly The Broadgate Gnomes have strong connections in Truro who know former members of The Is and also know Al, although the connection wasn't made until we got the e mail from Jan and John Docker. As a result some further information might be forthcoming on Al. Such is the team work that is now happening around this site.
Al's younger brother John told me that the tradition runs on in the family. John himself was "a former member of the Coventry music scene, come
I met Al when I was about 18. We both worked as apprentices at DFGibbs - an electrical shop on the Foleshill Rd. Coventry, next to the General Wolf (scene of many a gig in the later Two Tone period). Al was in the electronics
In 69 we both did our 'Day Release' at the Butts (Coventry Technical College) as part of our apprenticeship. Most of the apprentices were into the Coventry Soul scene that the young Pete Waterman was part of as Coventry's Top DJ. Ray King's Soul band were enormously popular (and Ray King later comes into the Two Tone story) and there was a thriving Ska scene in Coventry ten years before Two Tone put the Coventry Music Scene on the world map. Although I loved soul and ska (Max Romeo, Desmond Dekkar and Johnny Nash were in the charts at the time and the clubs through Waterman played imports) Al and I were into more progressive music. Sometimes we'd skip college and Al would play The Nice, Pink Floyd, Stones, Ten Years After, Beatles, Blodwyn Pig, Taj Mahal's Statesbro Blues, Tommy by the Who, early Genesis, King Crimson - these were some of the albums Al would play. Gibbs had a record department so that was handy to browse the latest releases. Keith Emerson was a particlular favourite of Al's and I loved his style of organ playing too. (a year or two later we saw the Nice and ELP at the Lanch Poly. Emerson's stage act involved throwing knives in the keys to sustain the notes while he rocked and generally destroyed the organ at the end of the show. Rumour had it that he'd get the roadies to find a local musician with a Hammond - use their's on stage and then buy them a brand new (more expensive) model as relacement. I think Coventry musician Bob Jackson donated his to the Nice on this basis according to legend).
I'd started writing songs at 15 and after leaving school took it more seriously. I'd been at Boarding school (same one as Mojo Morgan) and wanted to get involved with the local music scene, meet others with similar interest. Al had been at school in Cov (Caludon Castle) and already had gotten involved with the music scene. One day at the Butts tech in 1969, I saw a poster for the Coventry Arts Umbrella - a special underground music and film festival over a weekend in October. There were local underground bands on and much more (see the Umbrella posts). Of course Al was already involved and was putting on bands there. Al took me along to the Umbrella and introduced me. Back then it seemed to be like finding Altantis in your own back yard, where you could meet creative people of all types and get involved. Much of the creative work I've done since stemmed from that early experience at the Umbrella. This was the kind of apprenticship I was really after. Nowadays if you tell your careers officer that you want to be a musician, actor, songwriter etc they might direct you to a Performance Arts Course. Back then they would suspect that you also had tea with aliens and then ask what your dad did! My Dad was an electrician and so I was directed to Gibbs to sign up for an electrical apprenticship. I wanted to make creative electrons run and so did Al.
I hung around with Al and began getting involved with his Friday night band nights at the Umbrella, doing the door duty
Very soon Al was keen to move on from the Umbrella and persue his own musical path and I was primed to take over the Umbrella band nights in 1970. I was well trained, I'd shadowed Al for a good few months and now people knew me as well.
Al also wrote songs and poetry. Before me he had ventured to join the
Al joined a London band first called Rocking Chair, playing drums. I think he'd had brief excursions as drummer with
However before that, in 1970, I'd shared a house with him for the summer with others from the Umbrella over the road from the Butts Tech in Brunswick Rd. Periodically Al would come in about midnight and say 'fancy hitchin' to London' - after an hour I'd been persuaded. On one occasion we hitched over night to see a Hyde Park concert with Pink Floyd - performing Atom Heart Mother. As we strode into the park, a lone voice and guitar was filling the sky like no one else could fill it. It was Roy Harper singing I Hate the White Man. Roy didn't need a band to make a presence - he did it all on his own. That song and it's lyric is still one of my favourites. Whether it was working out a song, organising a concert or persuading someone to hitch with him, he had tremendous drive.
Late in the autumn of 71 he moved into a cottage in Shilton (a small village outside Cov, with a piano!). It had been
Monty Python was a fave of Al's - he knew all the sketches inside out and could perform them. One night in 1970, we walked home from the Umbrella along the Foleshill Rd with Neol Davies (later of Selecter, but then with Mead), Al stopped by the Cortina Club, it was about 2am with no one around, knotted handkerchief on his head and rolled up trousers doing the "I'd like to see Two Bricks thrown together" sketch.
Al was a popular and energetic figure on the Coventry Music Scene with drive and talent and the ability to make things happen and it's good to learn his brother John has followed in the tradition in his own way. Al Docker remains one of the alumini that should be celebrated in any history of the Coventry Music Scene.
Thanks to Jan Docker for sending Additional photos of Al and his family.
Thanks to Broadgate Gnomes for all the addtional research they are doing on Al's musical work in Cornwall.
Article from FOLKS magazine Issue 4 Nov / Dec 1978 by Pete Willow and Jane.
The club opened on Friday 13th October, which far from being unlucky, proved to be an excellent singers night with some high quality music being played to a packed room. Singers included Mick Stuart, Rod Felton, Al Wright, Pete Willow and Mick Tiernan. All in all a promising start for the club and it's nice to see that interest hasn't waned since the opening night.
On the 27th the guests were Pete and Sheila Rigg and the room was full to capacity, so that we had to put up Full House signs by 9.30pm! The atmosphere was very relaxed with Pete and Sheila on top form, playing some of their classic numbers, including Coalsmoke, The Owl and the Pussycat, He was Craze and some nice solo performances by each of them. Sheila singing her beautiful version of For Free and Pete playing an excellent ragtime guitar piece called Grace and Beauty. The variety of instruments they'd bought with them, mix and seven string guitars, mandolin, quindolin and double bass, meant that they'd had to ensure that thrity five strings were in tune before they began their set!
Some nice floor singing that evening included singer-songwriter Steve (Ollie) Barson, Maurice Kenny, Rob Armstrong Jill from Stafford and the very talented Karen Kileen from Nuneaton Folk Club, who, at ten years of age, must be the youngest folk club organiser and singer in the country.
We're very thrilled with the way the club has progressed so far and we're grateful to all musicians, singers and audience who have made it so successful. Moresuperb evenings to come, we're sure, with Country Life appearing on 24th November (local trio with good arrangemnets of unaccompanied singing using traditional and modern material), Martin Jenkins (to be confirmed) on the 8th December and a Christmas Party on the 22nd December, featuring the New Modern Idiot Grunt Band, with food, goodies and a special Cristmas prize for the raffle.
Into the new year, we have amazing Downes and Beer on January 5th. Floor singers are advised to come early if they want to play on this evening!
Got this via My Space Bulletin - Dando Shaft
Hope all is well with you. A brief note to say that Ted Kay (Bongo Ted) tabla and percussion after suffering a number of years of ill health is very poorly you can mail him at ted-kay@hotmail.co.uk
Regards Coopz
The club is thriving as ever, recent guests being Mick Stuart, who included a lot of early blues and ragtime pieces
Singer's nights have had a good atmosphere lately althugh it would be nice to se more singers and audience there. We usually find that the first hour is shared only by two or three singers and then by 9.30 we have to fit a lot in. Nevertheless the standard of the music is very good, but that's no surprise when regular singers include Mick Stuart, Pete Rigg, Rod Felton etc.
Nov 20th - Singers Night / Workshop
Nov 27th - Tom Patterson and Dave Moreton, talented duo from Birmingham, specialising in traditional style music and original songs. Tom, born in Newcastle, plays guitar and sings and Dave plays some good instrumental guitar. They also play classical material. Visitors last year to the Woolpack Folk Club in Rugby may remember Tom as an occasional floor singer of unsurpassed excellence.
Dec 4th - Singers night / workshop.
Dec 11th - Special concert night featuring Inchiquin. A new local band with impressive line up; Lernie MIlhone Vocals, guitar, whistle. Cathie Keenan - Vocals, guitar, keyboards. Pat Kiely - fiddle, guitar, banourria, meleodian. Brendan McGranaghan - Mandolin, Bouzouki, guitar. Tommy Connolly - step dancing, whistle, fiddle. John Freeman - bass, vocals, guitar, mandolin.
Dec 18th - Party Night.
Dec 25th - Closed for Christmas.
Jan 1st - Closed for New Year Hangover!
Jan 8th - Gibb Todd (To Be Confirmed).
Folk at the Pitts meets every Monday Night at the Pitts Head, Far Gosford St. Coventry. The club is usually run on an informal basis with no stage or PA system. Admission beign 30p each evening. December 11th will be an experimental concert night, using a stage and PA with admission being 50p. If the concert is successful, we'll probably try three or four a year, booking name acts.
Pete Willow
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Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
