Rare film footage - of me !!

[Ivan Kelsall]

Not a huge amount of Mando.content - A friend of mine found this YouTube clip of me & a group of guys jamming at the Bluegrass Festival in Abergele,North Wales in 1991.
That's me in the pink shirt,with my then 5 year old Stelling. The diminutive guy in specs.at the right rear,playing the Mandolin break,is my Irish friend Enda Donnelley.
The singing was very enthusiastic & has nothing whatsoever to do with 'harmony'.The guest band from the US that year,was 'Butch Waller & High Country' who brought the house down.They were terrific !,
Ivan;)
http://youtu.be/CWGqNZeVld8

[Bertram Henze]

Looks like a true "Capo Convention" :cool:

[AlanN]

Ah, field pickin, the best!

[JEStanek]

Video. Nice stuff.
CWGqNZeVld8

Jamie

[Ivan Kelsall]

The slight confusion near the ending is very deceptive - we were confused ALL the time !. Sadly,jam sessions such as that are all too rare at UK festivals these days,where individuals sit down & play 'for themselves' (seemingly), with no real attempt to 'jam' at all - very disappointing,& one of the reasons i've stopped going to many of them. I can play on my own any time (darn it !!),:crying:
Ivan:popcorn:

[journeybear]

How cool is that! Shot on Super 8, I suppose? Don't recognize the song. Do you have the lyrics for it somewhere? :confused:

[Ivan Kelsall]

Whatever it was shot on,i'm sure it was steam powered back then. I was totally unaware of it being done & never knew the clip existed. It turns out it was only up-loaded to YouTube very recently,to spare folks the pain.There's a few 'drop outs' in the clip (9 of us to be exact !!),but it's as good as could be expected.The song had no lyrics,there was just a lot of 'wailing in unison' going on,:grin:
Ivan~:>

[billkilpatrick]

i love it when old videos come back to haunt you - except the nude ones.

[Bernie Daniel]

Great video! Fine jamming too. In addition, to the mandolins and banjos - -couple of nice Martins and a mid-70's Gibson J-45 over there across the pond. Weren't those "sunbursts" kind of hideous in that era? Its not a mistake they all looked like that - but some of them without the adjustable ceramic bridge sounded really good.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Bernie - The most wonderful sounding Guitar i ever heard,is a Gibson J-45 that belongs to a friend of mine over in Ireland (he used to live close to me at one time). He bought it pretty cheap 30 years or so ago,as it hadn't been well looked after. He took it to a wonderful luthier over here inthe UK, Tony Zamatis,who built acoustic Guitars for folk like Eric Clapton.Zamatis stripped the badly cracked top finish off & re-varnished it 'natural' (un-stained),he refinished the back & sides as well. When my friend got it back he brought it to my home & i tell the truth when i say that that Guitar almost played itself !. It didn't resonate - it sang !. It's the most wonderful sounding & most responsive Guitar i've ever had the privilige to play.
Another 'well heeled' friend of mine tried to buy the J-45 off him,but it was a 'no sale' ,& this is guy who owns 2 custom built Martins & a few pre-war ones of various models.When he heard the J-45 he was floored by the volume & tone. I strongly suspect that the removal of the rather heavy original finish,just allowed the Gibson to come to life - whatever,Zamatis did a fabulous job. Sadly Tony Zamatis passed away in 2002,
Ivan
71064

[Mandolin Mick]

Ivan-

Hey, you can cook on the bango! :)

[Paul Cowham]

How cool is that! Shot on Super 8, I suppose? Don't recognize the song. Do you have the lyrics for it somewhere? :confused:

Sounded like "Rolling in my Sweet Baby's Arms" to me, lyrics here:

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/flatt-and-scruggs/roll-in-my-sweet-babys-arms-11658.html

Nice one Ivan, I enjoyed that, reminds me of my first experience of bluegrass which was the Edale Bluegrass Festival in 1996 (the last one there I think). My last bluegrass Festival was Didmarton in 2008, but thinking of going to a couple this Summer. I used to go to about 3 a year, and generally found that there was jamming but possibly not as much in the "field" but more in the bar. I agree that jamming in a field takes some beating (weather permitting..) :mandosmiley:

[journeybear]

Sarcasm is just wasted on some ... :crying:

[Ivan Kelsall]

Mick - Cookin' with gas Buddy,cookin' with gas !!!. Paul - Edale was the very first Bluegrass festival in the UK,started by Steve Reade from Derbyshire. It had been going for a few years before i even heard of it. I saw some of the top bands there over the years.The first year i went ,it was Laurie Lewis with the original band,"The Grant Street String Band". As usual (mostly), at Edale the weather was foul,it was the first weekend in June & it was snowing !. Laurie & the band had flown in from California the previous day & when they came on stage they were freezing. Laurie said that they'd never been anywhere so cold.
I saw 'Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mt.Boys' / 'Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver' / 'Hot Rize' & Tony Trishka's band that eventually became "Skyline" who had the great Barry Mitterhoff playing Mandolin.
When Ralph Stanley & the boys were there,Ralph mentioned that he & Carter & the band had been to the UK once before & had played the Royal Albert Hall. He asked the audience if anybody had been there - that was back in 1965 (i think) or early '66 - there was me & one other guy put our hands up. They played the RAH & about 8 months or so later,Carter Stanley sadly passed away,so i'm really glad i went.
I mentioned how cold Edale usually was. When Ralph Stanley & the Boys played there,i was talking to the late,great, Curly Ray Cline. I asked how they were coping with the cold & he said "Hell fire !,last night it was so cold,i nearly turned blue !". If anybody on here ever saw or met Curly Ray,you'd know that he was rather 'rounded'. The thought of a rotund,blue, Curly Ray bobbing about on stage playing Fiddle did wonders for the ole' chuckle muscle - great days,
Ivan
http://youtu.be/PyCqj5x7RC8

[Paul Cowham]

Sarcasm is just wasted on some ... :crying:

sorry journeybear, guess that was pretty silly although sarcasm can be difficult to pickup in a forum like this?

Anyhow, thanks for the info and film of Edale Ivan, really enjoyed that and brought tback some memories :mandosmiley:

[journeybear]

'sokay, s'salright. Can't put a wink after every bit of snarkasm - that kind of oversells and undermines it. ;) It's just, you know, this must be one of the most-performed and well-known bluegrass songs. The proof of that assertion is it's one that even *I* know the words to! :))

It's great this footage resurfaced. Shows how pervasive the interweb is, and how it has exploded the last few years. Video from years gone by would have more interest to me than the overabundance of mundane clips currently prevalent. One good side effect of so many people posting so many clips is that a few good ones show up in addition to all the blather and twaddle. Glad this got swept up in that tide. :mandosmiley:

[Paul Cowham]

nice one journeybear - as soon as you pointed out it was sarcasm I felt a bit foolish :redface:, but not always obvious when people are being sarcastic on typed text rather that when speaking to someone although I did think it was unusual that you asked what it was :))

Totally agree with your comments about tinternet and how its good to be reminded what gems are in it of you're prepared to look :mandosmiley:

Ivan, btw, I have a blue chip pick now which I don't like that much (prefer the tone I get from my dawg picks), if you want to try it I could let you have it at a reduced rate?
cheers,
Paul

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Paul - let me know when you're coming down to the Oddfellow's Arms again. I'd certainly like to try the 'bluechip' pick. A fellow 'Cafe member from Scotland bought one recently & he's well pleased with it.
From JB -"It's great this footage resurfaced....." .I was amazed when a friend of mine from Wales sent me the YouTube link.I'd totally forgotten about the Festival where the video was filmed.I think it only lasted a couple of years. It was put on by the same guy who now runs the 'Coastline Bluegrass Event' in North Wales UK,which for any UK readers,has changed venue this year,& is almost literally on the coastline - www.coastlinebluegrass.co.uk/,well worth going to,
Ivan

[Bernie Daniel]

Whatever it was shot on,i'm sure it was steam powered back then. I was totally unaware of it being done & never knew the clip existed. It turns out it was only up-loaded to YouTube very recently,to spare folks the pain.There's a few 'drop outs' in the clip (9 of us to be exact !!),but it's as good as could be expected.The song had no lyrics,there was just a lot of 'wailing in unison' going on,:grin: Ivan~:>

I just noticed your statement here Ivan -- steam powered? I guess it must be were you were but we definitely had electricity, cell phones, batteries, laptops and all the junk on this side of the pond in 1991! Then again I was looking at a photo of myself working in the lab in the 1990's and I did actually look kind of "youngish" -- maybe it was the white coat.....

BTW I loved your info on the J-45. I have a J-50 (circa 1973) from the same era in a case down in the basement. It absolutely sounds like a monster -- kind of like a hybrid between a Gibson and a Martin with the best features of both. I need to sell it one of these days. Sorry to hear your friend left you a decade later -- the instruments live on and we pass away.........

[Ivan Kelsall]

Purely as a matter of interest - to those interested - the Mandolin my friend Enda was (is) playing is a 'Fraley' F-5 style,made by the late John Fraley. Enda's had it for many years & it's very fine sounding instrument,
Ivan

[Darren Bailey]

Great to see that Ivan - rollin in my sweet baby's arms is a terrific song to be caught playing after all these years - and nice to see yourself minus 21 years I'll bet. How quickly it flies by.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Darren - Having reached the age of 66,i'm now getting younger everyday,do i mean younger ? - no !, infantile, that's the word. Re.being nice to see myself 21 years younger,i'm not quite sure about that - too much of a reminder of what's gone on between then & now in some respects,but we all go through that at one time or another. It's nice to hear myself play from 'another's vantage point,& nice to hear that i was playing ok as well. Having spent the last 5 1/2 years away from my Banjo,due to Mandomania,it would take me a few weeks to 'get back on the horse' i think. Every time i've had my Banjo out to play it,it seems very 'alien',
Ivan:confused:

[Bernie Daniel]

Hi Darren - Having reached the age of 66...[and having] spent the last 5 1/2 years away from my Banjo,due to Mandomania,it would take me a few weeks to 'get back on the horse' i think. Every time i've had my Banjo out to play it,it seems very 'alien'......

Agree on both counts! When I pick up a five string I can hardly remember how do a forward roll say nothing of the left hand -- but I was not nearly as far along as you were in picking that big chunk of metal...

[Ivan Kelsall]

Bernie - When i met Alan Munde for the first time over here in the UK with "Country Gazzette",he had Stelling # 12 (i think), & a Mark Leaf case.You can tell how long ago that was,Byron Berline had just left the 'Gazzette" to be replaced by Dave Ferguson (a terrific Fiddle player - i wonder what happened to him ?) & Geoff Stelling was still out in California. Alan Munde had a case sticker asking "Have you hugged your Banjo today ?". I never hugged my Banjo,but i cuddle my Mandolins every day.
My Banjo playing's as rusty as can be - all the notes are there, but the 'fluidity' has drifted off to a degree. A good workout for a couple of weeks & i'd be ok again (i hope). It's still all in my head,but it 'doesn't get out much',:))
Ivan:popcorn:

[Trevor Thomas]

Hi Ivan!

You mentioned Steve Read(e). He's still playing - in fact he's taken up the mandolin more these days. He also plays guitar. I play with him once a month in a pub in Sheffield.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Trevor - Yes,i know about Steve & his new 'Mandolin addiction'. I saw him at the Coastline Festival near Llandudno Junction carrying one around. He was into Banjo for several years,i suppose like me he decided that lugging around 16 Lbs of wood & metal wasn't for him. It's thanks to Steve, that Bluegrass Festivals got off the ground in the UK. Every festival we've ever had over here is as a direct result of Steve's efforts. We all owe that guy a heck of a lot of gratitude - a pity that he can be so 'prickly' at times though,but i admire him greatly for what he did for us at Edale back then,
Ivan