Hi, the research has had to take first place for most of 2011 - now feels as though I was lost in hyperspace for much of the year.
Hot news still going on the KentFolk FaceBook page, and that is also inserted into this page, just below this section.
From David Ireland :
WOW! Tim Edey won Musician of the Year,Tim Edey & Brendan Power won Best Duo, and June Tabor & Oysterband & Alan Prosser won Best group AND best album and Best Traditional Track, and June Folk singer of the Year. Talk about sweeping the boards... Well done guys!
From Rosie Leitch :
Folk Awards 2012 from the Lowry, Salford. It is available to watch on the Iplayer until 15th Feb where you can see videos of the guest performances by The Dubliners, Don Mclean, Christy Moore, Martin Simpson, Seth Lakeman, The Unthanks, June Tabor & The Oysterband and of course Tim Edey & Brendan Power, also the video of the ceremony and the winners from the nominations, the winners being : June Tabor & The Oysterband, Tim Edey & Brendan Power, Bella Hardy, Lucy Ward, Home Service, Loscaid, The Dubliners, Don McLean, Ian Campbell, Bill Leader & Malcolm Taylor. Such a fabulous awards ceremony, presented so warmly and professionally by Mike Harding & Julie Fowlis, wish i had been there to experience it!! It was lovely seeing Tim, Brendan, Isobel & Laura so happy and excited in the audience, so many times the cameras were on them.
Live Music Bill passed :
The MU has been celebrating with supportive MPs and other members of UK Music as the Live Music Bill passed its final stages in the Commons at the end of January 2012.
The Bill states that an exemption to the Licensing Act should take place when ?the live music entertainment takes place in the presence of an audience of no more than 200 persons?.
This will reduce the bureaucracy and expense for small venues wishing to put on live music.
We have been lobbying for a change of this kind ever since the Licensing Act came into law in 2003, and we believe that this Bill will be a real boost to live music performance.
KentFolk has made a number of representation for such a change, including providing an early warning of the decline of live pub gigs
(December 2008), and providing evidence on
typical village hall sizes in Kent
(the original proposal was for a limit of 100 persons).
John Smith, MU General Secretary, says:
"We are delighted that the Live Music Bill has finally made it through Parliament. It is a real achievement for a Private Member's Bill to get through and the MU would like to thank Lord Clement Jones, Don Foster and all of the other MPs who helped to pass this Bill.
"Over the past few years our members have been telling us that the number of gigs available to young musicians who are still perfecting their craft has gone down. This is primarily due to a reduction in the number of smaller venues which traditionally offered this level of gig, and is directly linked to the Licensing Act. The exemption that the Live Music Bill introduces will be hugely beneficial to these small venues."
There are now major ongoing upgrades on how news is handled on KentFolk.
The main effect that you will see is that news items from well verified news sources will arrive on the KentFolk News pages
quicker (even when I am busy).
The down-side is that if you are sending news items, please make sure your subject line is snappy and informative, I will no longer
necessarily be hand-editing them for you :
For gigs and events, something like : event title - where - event date :
i.e.: Steve Morrison - Wrotham Arms, Broadstairs - Saturday, 7th Jan. 2012.
For gig lists, something like : group or venue - Gig List - month start to month end
i.e.: The Barge, Gillingham - Monthly Gig List - February 2012.
But if you have a format you have been using to send me news for some time, no problem, I can usually work with that.
The up-side is that whan you are reading news, as well as the usual Genre, Venue, Regional .... classifications for news,
there is now also an "Added Recently" directory, at the top, where you can look through recently added news items :
Added_Recently .
KentFolk is sent a lot of info on Facebook gigs, and these are now also being copied to a section on the KentFolk News :
Facebook Gigs .
To send info to KentFolk see the KentFolk How-To news items listed below :
Web info
......| KentFolk How-Tos
......| ......| How to send event items for the KentFolk Calendars.html
......| ......| How to send news items for the KentFolk News pages.html Updated
......| ......| Images - emailing efficient formatted announcements with photos, posters and flyer.htm
......| ......| The lazy way to send a news item to KentFolk with embedded images and fancy text.htm
......| ......| Using MS Word to create a KentFolk News item with embedded images and fancy fonts..htm
And now the latest KentFolk Facebook News is available right here, see just below :
Want rapid access to info on the Kentish music scene ?
Add "KentFolk.com for Live Music in Kent" to your iGoogle page.
Click on the [+Google] button to add this KentFolk Gadget to your iGoogle homepage.
It will help take you into the depths of the KentFolk site, hopefully directly to the pages most relevant to your interests.
Scroll down on the gadget to see the latest news items, without even having to leave your iGoogle home page.
For late-breaking News see :
KentFolk Facebook News :
Multi-level directories of News :
Do keep sending me items for both the calendar and this news section -
Please see the info at the bottom of the news pages for guidance as to
good formats to send me news items for these pages - large .jpg files are
not easy to use -
and also for suitable formats for event listings for the calendars.
cheers, Beau.