At: Hullabaloo, 41 Westgate, Shipley, BD18 3QX

Est: 1956

Map

Topic Newsletter Archive

TOPIC FOLK CLUB, BRADFORD

At Glyde House, Glydegate, Bradford BD5 0BQ

Newsletter No 204  - June 2019 

Hello all, hope you're having/will have a good summer...

Only two guest nights this month as the July singers and musicians night will be on the last Thursday in June. See below.

6th   June:   Singers and musicians.  Free entry

13th June  :   Jez Lowe.  

Jez Lowe has long been one of the UK’s busiest folk performers, playing for audiences the world over, either solo, (with guitar, cittern and harmonica accompaniment), or with his band The Bad Pennies. As part of The Pitmen Poets (with Bob Fox, Benny Graham and Billy Mitchell), Jez has helped to rekindle the fire in the tradition of mining songs and culture of his native region in a series of sell out theatre performances around the UK.

Over the last couple of decades, the likes of Fairport Convention, The Dubliners, The Unthanks, Wizz Jones, The McCalmans, Mary Black, The Duhks, Bob Fox, The Young Uns, Enda Kenny, Cherish The Ladies, Tom McConville, The Clancys and scores more, have queued up to adopt his songs for their own repertoires. No wonder Richard Thompson has called him “The best singer songwriter to come out of the UK for a long time”, and personally invited him to play at Thompson’s Meltdown Festival at London’s South Bank Centre in 2010.

Jez Lowe’s contributions to the on-going BBC Radio series The Radio Ballads has cemented this reputation, with a Sony Radio Award among the many accolades coming its way. The project culminated in a live BBC Radio 2 broadcast In November 2018 to commemorate The Great War Centenary that featured Jez alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and narrator Michael Morpurgo.

As BBC Radio DJ Mike Harding said recently, “No-one else writes or sounds like Jez Lowe”, and chances are, even if you’ve never heard the man himself, you’ll have heard his songs, sung at festivals, club-gigs, open-mikes or on CD, by the great and good, the professional and the enthusiast, the young and not-so-young. What higher accolade could a songwriter hope for? 

Jez Lowe is one of our finest songwriters.’ BBC Radio 2

http://www.jezlowe.com

20th June: Kelly Oliver.

Kelly Oliver is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player from Hertfordshire She came to performing music a little later in life than many other of the rising stars of the UK music scene. After graduating from Royal Holloway, University of London and then travelling around Europe, Brazil and Argentina, her passion for folk music was ignited with a visit to Ireland. It was there that she was exposed to traditional Irish folk music, and with her Grandmother having been born in Tralee in Ireland, Kelly was heavily drawn to the culture and especially the traditional music, played live with intricacy and passion.

Returning home to England, she began her musical career by playing support slots at folk clubs on the scene, including many at the prestigious Hitchin Folk Club, which happened to be her local. After supporting various high-profile acts such as Phil Beer (Show of Hands), Cara Dillon and Barbara Dickson, Kelly began playing her own headline shows and slots at festivals around the country. Since then, she has released two albums of her own original songs and has enjoyed many accolades for her work. Her debut album This Land'gained a 4* review from The Telegraph and her second album Bedlam was included in The Sunday Times Essential New Releases and was one of Paul Sexton's Top 20 Albums of the Year in Prog Magazine. Her last five singles have all gained BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music airplay and she performed her 2016 summer single 'Rio' on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live for her first national TV appearance.

Quite an amazing young songwriter – Mike Harding

A fantastic new talent – Chris Hawkins, BBC 6 Music

http://kellyoliver.co.uk/

27th  June:  Singers and musicians.  Free entry

This singers/musicians night replaces the usual 1st Thursday in July to accommodate long-time Topic performer Roger Sutcliffe who traditionally plays at the club on the 1st Thursday in July, so please note there will be no singers/musicians night in July. (but plenty in August- see the next newsletter!)

NON-TOPIC STUFF.

A couple of folky events I've been asked to publicise:

John Watterson aka Fake Thackray is appearing at Kildwick & Farnhill Institute (BD20 9BJ) on Friday 7th June at 7.30 pm. Tickets £12.50 (from kandfinsitute@gmail.com).including Pie & Pea supper (veggie option). BYO alchoholic beverages.

Mel Biggs is running a weekend of melodeon workshops over  the weekend 14th-16th June 2019 in Whittonstall, Northumberland. All abilities from beginners upwards. For more info contact workshops@melbiggsmusic.co.uk  or you can ask me for more details.

TOPIC STUFF 

MailChimp. (see the last newsletter). No decision has been taken yet regarding the use of MailChimp to send out our newsletters etc.  If you feel strongly about us giving your email address to an outside organisation (which specialises in this field) please let me know: we will of course respect your individual wishes.

A few notes on the running of the club...

We would like to express our appreciation to the management of Glyde House for all the help afforded to us to enable us to keep the club running on a secure and stable basis, allowing us the use of the room and facilities: also the friendly and helpful bar staff for whom nothing seems too much trouble.

It's worth a mention to remind you that all the money taken on the door goes directly to the artists who come to perform for us: the usual arrangement is for a negotiated fee against 100% of the doortake. The club is funded solely by the raffle and membership fees, plus a small profit on things like the sale of Tykes News etc. The funds accrued go towards the relatively minor administration costs, and to cover the occasional shortfall if the doortake doesn't meet the minimum guaranteed to the guest on any particular night: also to maintain a reserve fund to cover any unforseen eventualities. So we are very grateful to everyone who buys raffle tickets.

For those who don't know, the sale of Vegan Burgers in the bistro area has become a feature of club nights for those who get that hungry feeling during the evening, thanks to the culinary skills of Phil McCowen.

MEMBERSHIP

If you would like to become a member of the Topic Folk club it still only costs only £5.00 for the year. Membership runs from 1st January and entitles you the lower ticket prices shown in this newsletter as well as the chance to become more involved in the workings of the club if you would like to. You can join or renew your membership on any club night. 

For performers who may be thinking of approaching the club for a booking, please email: info4topic@gmail.com

If you’re visiting the club for the first time, be sure to come and say hello, and if anyone has any suggestions for the club, for example if you would like us to try to book a particular artist, we’d like to hear them.

The Topic runs on Thursdays at Glyde House, Glydegate, Little Horton Lane  BD5 0BQ, 8.00 pm start. Like all the clubs in the area, our aim is to provide good quality live entertainment to suit all tastes of those interested in folk music, and we thank you for your continued support.

Floor singers are always welcome, especially in the first half, though may be limited when we have a booked support act - please check. Please try to get there by 7.45 pm if you’d like a slot – it helps the MC to plan the evening.

To find the Topic on Facebook search for "Topic Fc".

Tony Charnock