jivacoustic

Having finished the recording sessions for Old English, we’re now in the process of producing first cut mixes for them to audition – 7 tracks done, 5 to go. Hopefully we’ll have a CD of the mixdowns available by late Monday or early Tuesday.

Last week’s blog post mentioned some video work we’ve been doing, and we posted Anthony John Clarke’s ‘Pitlochry’ – YouTube link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s51H4UW6-0

We’re delighted to share another video this week – again it’s Anthony John, but this one’s a bit different: firstly it’s an Al Stewart Song (‘Like William McKinley’), and secondly the audio as well as the video was recorded right here.

For those whose RSS feed doesn’t seem to like video content, here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ONprUcXHc

Guitar lessons, would you believe it? We were asked if we’d do some teaching (yes, we were more than surprised) – it’s something new for us and unexpected but, no they weren’t joking, it was a serious request. Nothing too technical or overburdened with theory – just some basic chord shapes and picking and strumming patterns etc… so, having prepared some stuff we popped around and set someone on their first unsteady steps on what will hopefully become a lifelong journey.

We’ve enjoyed playing at two care homes this week, both new to us – one in Whickham and one involving a 200+ miles round trip to perform in Whitehaven. Smiling faces all round, tears of happiness, some hula dancing – fun times indeed.

The week was rounded off nicely with a visit to Fool’s Gold Steve & Carol for an evening of food, wine, putting the world to rights, a triple ukulele jam  (we borrowed their guitarlele and ukes – including a blue ‘Flying V’) and there were even some jokes around the dinner table (must have been the wine). We bought their 4-track EP CD, making a donation to their ‘Help for Heroes’ fundraising… best of luck with the launch (we’ll be there) and the extended spots in local clubs.

Jimmy & Val (jiva)
www.jiva.co.uk

A week and a half this has been… Taylor Roadshow, video editing and uploads, audio recording, and an appearance at BAAFest. The sun is shining both in reality and metaphorically here.

We’ve attended numerous Taylor roadshows and have always been impressed with the presenters, players, premises and the guitars of course. It was good to see Steve and Carol (Fool’s Gold) and to swap tales of how this guitar or that guitar sounded like this or like that or how one preferred this wood combination or that shape or this finish or those tuners and all other possible permutations. It was nice too to walk away with some freebie mementos of the occasion (tee shirts and coasters)… but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

This particular roadshow will long live in our memories as the day we welcomed Coco into our family. As always, we arrived early so we could bag a good seat and have a lingering ogle at guitars… and, to our surprise (and a serious dent in our retirement funds) we spied the very guitar that we had dreamed might some day cross our paths – the perfect 6-string twin brother for Chalise (Val’s custom build Jumbo 12-string that we bought on our wedding day at Taylor Guitars in 2009). Same beautiful materials, same Jumbo size/shape (no cutaway though), Cocobolo back and sides, sunburst Spruce top, matching fretboard and headstock inlays, a delight to play and a sweet balanced sound that is a joy to the ears.

Chalise (12-string) left             and             Coco (6-string) right.

In spite of only one public performance this week we’ve been busy with music-related stuff – some ours, but mostly projects for friends and contemporaries.

We’ve been working on some videos for Anthony John Clarke, not only for songs on his latest album, but also for another idea that’s beginning to take shape (can’t say too much yet on that one). The video we did for ‘Pitlochry’ is now on his YouTube Channel.

For those whose RSS feed doesn’t seem to like video content, here’s the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s51H4UW6-0

Old English ventured into the Blue Room to spend two days recording for their ‘Pressed!’ CD – everything seemed to go well, so we’re now working on some initial mixes.

And then, our sojourn to BAAFest (Bellingham All Acoustic Festival) 2012 – in spite of a sunshine morning the sky clouded over and the air was a little damp by the afternoon when we did our 30-minute slot. Playing in a marquee in May in Northumberland isn’t always the warmest environment, but our cold fingers coped well… and, and, and… it was Coco’s debut performance! Many thanks to Paul and Fiona (LanderMason) for having us at the Festival, an enjoyable day indeed.

Next week promises to be busier still, no surprise there then…

Jimmy & Val (jiva)
www.jiva.co.uk

It’s been a very satisfactory and fulfilling week – it seems like forever since Keith Taylor was canvassing for suggestions for past folk club guests who would make Cramlington Folk Club’s 40th year a very special one. We’re very lucky that our two favourites were among those invited to do just that. February saw Allan Taylor putting on a great performance (with jiva as one of the support acts), and now Anthony John Clarke in April too!

Anthony John did a great show, old favourites interspersed with songs from his latest album ‘Laughing at Clowns’… and the icing on the cake was when he did our very own ‘One More Song’ to finish before coming back for a well-deserved encore. And the candles on top of the icing on the cake was that Anthony and John and Julia stayed with us for a couple of days. Good food, wine, whisky, great company, late night conversations and plenty of music… who could ask for more? Who indeed?

The house seems kind of quiet now, but that doesn’t mean we’ve not been busy… audio and video editing have taken up a fair amount of time, and we have our new song ‘Lately’ to get into our regular repertoire – it’s been out twice already, and has been very well received both times. First outing was at a care home, and second was in a church in Hartlepool where we were supporting Claire Hamill and her band. We were asked by a Hartlepudlian club organiser if it would be OK for his band to do ‘Lately’ – heck, yes! It’s an honour to have others performing our material… we’ll be looking forward to hearing a band treatment of the song.

In the meantime we’re looking forward to playing at BaaFest (Bellingham All Acoustic Festival) and a very busy May filled with lots of performances, good times one and all… see ya!

Jimmy & Val (jiva)
www.jiva.co.uk

Lately we seem to have had a bit of a lull on performing – but we did find time to pop in to Cramlington (our local folk club) for a singers night… just for a change we did songs with only the two 6-string guitars, no quintessential jingly jangly 12-string in the mix and no ukuleles either! We also headed off the Bridge End in Ovingham for the opening night of a new venture – a cross between a musicians session and a singaround… the theory was to have tunes and songs where people could join in unless the artist requested otherwise. Indeed there were tunes, there were songs, there was some joining in, and there were lots of people there – so much so that it was standing room only as the night wore on… get along there and support this new venture, it’s on the third Wednesday of each month and run/organised by local group Canny Crack.

Lately we’ve been driving up and down the A1 a lot – three recent visits to luthier Mark Challinor in Silsden as work progresses on Missy (Jimmy’s Taylor 855 12-string) – and lately we’ve been to Cumbria to see Cathryn Craig & Brian Willoughby give a super performance in Ullock Village Hall.

And lately it’s been a good week on the care homes front – it’s always great to have activity organisers get in touch (either they’ve listened to the tracks on our promotional CD, or looked at the website or maybe YouTube, or we may have been recommended, or they might have seen us performing somewhere, or it may be that we’ve played for them before and they want us back again). This week the jiva hotline has indeed been blessed with such calls.

And we have a new song! Remember we mentioned last week that we’d been tinkering with an idea – well, we’ve done a first cut which we’d like to share with you…

Lately by jiva uk

A bit of a change for us – no vocals from Jimmy, and no guitar or uke from Val… Jimmy plays, Val sings.

Let us know what you think…

Jimmy & Val (jiva)
www.jiva.co.uk