The Great Cucumber Mystery

A couple of weeks ago we bought a cucumber on the way home from a walk along Vallis Vale. Within two minutes of leaving the shop it had disappeared and there was a tell-tale hole in the carrier bag. We immediately re-traced our steps, but it was nowhere to be seen. Relating this story the next day to some Fromians, they told us the area where the rogue vegetable went AWOL was once notorious as a red light district. Its name? Badcox.

On the whole, it was folking good...

In my blog of the 8th Jan, I expressed my concerns about the line-up of the inaugural Frome Folk Festival, which is drawing to a close as I write.  I needn't have worried (too much).

The quality of the performances was, given the nature of an event like this, inevitably varied, ranging from the mundane to the startling. Attendances were healthy and  - with the odd notable exception  - the event was pretty much glitch free.

Dyer : Cummings' bassoonist wonders
if there's a breakfast rider in the contract

I can only report on the Saturday as we had to return from whence we come today, but it kicked off at the Cheese & Grain at the unlikely hour of 9.15am with local combo Dyer : Cummings. Belying their tender years, this quartet was completely unfazed by a dozy, morning audience's lackadaisical response and put in a highly commendable and energetic shift.

Then to a dreary room in the Masonic Hall to hear Rivers of England. Playing as a duo, their set hinted at how interesting the material might be, given more ambitious arrangements for a larger line-up.

Back to the C&G and Festival Patron and local resident, Cara Dillon, enthusiastically introduced Winter Mountain, while failing to mention that they are the first signing to her and husband Sam Lakeman's new label. Which might go some way to explain her enthusiasm. Their voices were beautiful, but does the world need a Simon & Garfunkel clone?

Jackie Oates puts on a brave face in the
light of  Weekender's criticism

We once saw Jackie Oates play solo aboard an industrial barge. She was terrific. But her set with her band yesterday was lacking in variety. She's a talented woman, but needs more light and shade in her repertoire.

At the Westway Cinema next, for Belshazzar's Feast (festival organisers please note - the sight lines are terrible). We only caught half an hour, but they were witty, entertaining, highly skilful and delivered far more than their rather wimpy last album, Find The Lady, promised. An act to catch up with at length elsewhere.

We had to leave the Feast to attend a singing workshop. Now, while Mrs Weekender has sung in amateur choirs, my vocalising has been mostly limited to audience participation at gigs. But the thought of 90 minutes in the company of Caroline Radcliffe must have struck a (vocal) chord somewhere. It was terrific. Caroline had us singing Swedish and Gaelic folksong and performing complicated rounds and harmonies. Experienced singers lined up besides novices and the whole thing was conducted in a terrific spirit. Bravo for participation.

But then the low spot of the day. Back to the Westway for Elfynn. They were late going on (no explanation offered) and suffered technical problems throughout. Their stand-in singer made her nerves quite clear and it was easy to see why their brand of folk-rock rose and fell very quickly in the 1970s. I hope their ceilidh this morning was more successful.

The Cheese & Grain puts the flags out

So to the finale - Jamie Smith's Mabon and Spiers & Boden at the C&G  - via a quick diversion to the Masons for half an hour of the inexplicably delayed Daturas. Interesting line-up (the only sighting of the Lesser Spotted Pedal Steel all day) and intriguing, passionate songs. But their sulky presentation did little to endear them to those of us of a certain age.

Jamie Smith's Mabon (not to be confused with 'Mabon' - the reason for that is a long and seemingly acrimonious story of family feuds) were absolutely superb. Where Elfynn sounded dated, this lot married a rock rhythm section to a traditional front line and the result was fresh, powerful and hugely entertaining. Smith is simply one of the best accordion players I have ever seen. But would they upstage the top of the bill? S & B came out with all guns blazing, proving a fiddle, a melodeon and a pair of stamping feet can be as exciting as any roaring rock band. It's been a while since we'd seen them, so was this new energy in response to Mabon's storming set? Or have they simply got more rock 'n' roll as Bellowhead goes from strength to strength? Whatever the reason, they married traditional song and dance to oodles of modern day oomph, and the result was hugely exhilarating.

John Spiers looks to the heavens for inspiration
(or at least the lighting rig at the Cheese & Grain)

So, 8 out of 10 from the judges: a score only slightly tarnished by the lack of activity in the town centre this mornng. A "Morris Market" was promised all weekend, complete with dancers. At midday today there was nothing going on. The music inside the venues may be quality, but it's out on the streets that the real impact of this event will be made with the people of Frome, most of whom will almost certainly not have been converted to the folkie cause.

But will it become a permanent fixture in the cultural calendar? Tickets for Frome Folk Festival 2013 went on sale yesterday.


http://www.fromefolkfestival.co.uk

Bras & Bravos

Randa Bott stares, smiling, out of the front page of the current edition of The List. She's promoting her lingerie shop on The Bridge. But between the magazine going to press and this weekend, the shop has put up the closing down notices. This is unfortunate  - not because I avail myself of Randa's goods (sorry not to be able to reveal that Weekender is a cross-dresser) - but because any one-off retailer in Frome that has to close down is bad news for a town that sells itself on its independent shops. And Opal's demise is a double whammy. Frome is proud of its bridge: along with nearby Bath, it claims to be the only town in Britain with shops along a river crossing. The cafe here has already shut, and Randa's imminent departure leaves a big hole in this historic retail strip.

Better news this weekend from The Black Swan - its 2012 Open Art Exhibition has just opened, and the quality and variety is excellent. We were particularly impressed by Annemarie Blake's wide screen, monochrome (and local) landscape, the manipulated photographs of Joseph Beveridge, Alison Shanks' witty ceramic toaster and the textures of Mark Nesbit's 'Titanic'. The gallery needs support, and it was encouraging to see so many people there this morning. Well worth a visit, for all sorts of reasons.

www.thelistfrome.co.uk

www.opallingerie.co.uk

www.blackswan.org.uk

The People's Hall?

The Cheese & Grain is something of a hot potato in Frome (sorry about the food metaphor...) This town centre community venue seems to be loved and loathed in equal measure. A glorified disco that leaches money hand over fist, says its opponents. An invaluable resource that combines local events with concerts featuring national names, trumpets its supporters.

It's certainly one of the reasons we bought a place in Frome, and you won't be surprised to hear that we are firmly in the pro- lobby. The place is a symbol of the town's commitment to the arts, but that's not all. It's not just a concert hall - farmers' markets, antiques & wedding fairs, craft shows, bingo all serve parts of the community that may not attend a musical performance. The Big Christmas Get-Together for those who could not afford a festive lunch was held there too.

The C&G is back on the agenda again now as the Town Council is proposing to move its offices there, investing in the upper floor, installing solar panels etc.

These are tough times. Local Authority spending is stretched. But every now and then leaps of faith are necessary on the part of our elected representatives. And stumping up the cash for benefits that cannot be measured can be justified.

http://www.cheeseandgrain.co.uk

http://www.frome-tc.gov.uk