FORD & HAWKEN AT ROCKCON - THIS WEEKEND

John Ford and John Hawken will both be at ROCKCON 2010: Weekend of 100 Rock Stars - The National Rock & Roll Celebrity Show, Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center 2 Meadowlands Plaza, E. Rutherford, NJ:

FRI JULY 30th 2010: 6pm–11pm –
SAT 31st JULY: 1pm-10pm –
SUN AUG 1st 2010: 1pm-9pm
Tickets $20 Advance /$30 Door & up - VIP Early-Bird Passes & Special Hotel Rates Available
@ Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center 2 Meadowlands Plaza, E. Rutherford, NJ 07073

John Ford & Ian Lloyd will be doing a 30 min set together on Saturday at 6 PM and later again that evening. Impromptu jams may occur throughout the weekend!

Along with John Ford, John Hawken will be at the Strawbs table (with an occasional trip to other bands he's been involved with). Do go and see them there.

Website: www.nationalrockcon.com

40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
VOL 1: STRAWBERRY FAYRE (2CD)
VOL 2: RICK WAKEMAN & DAVE COUSINS (CD+DVD)

STRAWBERRY FAYRE (2CD)

I now have information on the much-awaited first recordings from the 40th Anniversary last September. Scheduled for release on 5th October, Vol. 1 is a 2CD set of highlights from the whole weekend, with a 16 page booklets with photographs and line-up details. The track listing is below.

We will shortly open up the usual pre-ordering process with Witchwood Records where, if you order online before a date in August (TBC, but either 14th or 21st) your name will be included in the Strwaberry Fayre booklet only (we're not including names in the Wakeman /Cousins release). I hope you will be able to support this release in this way, as many of you have before. I'll e-mail the Strawbswebnews list/Witchwood as soon as this is available.

Both packages are priced at £15.99 plus p&p from Witchwood Records; we'll be offering a pre-order special price for both at £27.00 plus p&p.

Strawberry Fayre track listing

CD1

1. Heartbreak Hill – Strawbs (Heartbreak Hill line-up)
2. Starting Over – Strawbs (Heartbreak Hill line-up)
3. Landslide – Cry No More
4. Don't Leave Me Here – Cry No More
5. Skip To My Lou – Dave Cousins & Blue Angel Orchestra
6. Hellfire Blues – Dave Cousins & Blue Angel Orchestra
7. On My Way – Acoustic Strawbs With Sonja Kristina
8. All I Need Is You – Acoustic Strawbs With Sonja Kristina
9. Autumn – Strawbs (current line-up)
10. Lay Down – Strawbs (current line-up)
11. Angie – Zeus
12. True Love – Zeus
13. October To May – Rick Wakeman & Dave Cousins
14. Can You Believe – Rick Wakeman & Dave Cousins

CD2

1. Blue Angel – Strawbs (Blue Angel line-up)
2. Cry No More – Strawbs (Blue Angel line-up)
3. Alice's Song – Cathryn Craig & Brian Willoughby
4. That Ol' Guitar – Cathryn Craig & Brian Willoughby
5. Copenhagen – Acoustic Strawbs
6. Josephine – Acoustic Strawbs
7. Together Apart – John Ford
8. Floating In The Wind – John Ford
9. Song Of A Sad Little Girl – Dave Cousins & Ian Cutler
10. Grace Darling – Dave Cousins & Ian Cutler
11. Flies Like A Bird – Fire
12. Father's Name Is Dad –Fire
13. Evergreen - Acoustic Strawbs &The Royal Artillery Orchestra (conducted by Robert Kirby)
14. Where Silent Shadows Fall - Strawbs (current line-up) & RA Orchestra (conducted by Robert Kirby)

For info on musicians and, in due course, previews/reviews, see main Strawberry Fayre page.

RICK WAKEMAN & DAVE COUSINS(CD+DVD)

The CD contains the music, but the DVD also contains the anecdotes, chat and banter which made this performance such a delight.

Track listing

1. The Hangman And The Papist
2. Witchwood
3. Martin Luther King's Dream
4. October To May
5. Temperance Of Mind
6. Can You Believe?
7. A Glimpse Of Heaven
8. The Shepherd's Song

The main page for this album has been added - there'll be previews, reviews and comments in due course.

A WEEKEND OF MUSIC

Over the weekend of 17/18 July, there were two separate Strawbs-related events in West London: the Hampton Hill Summer Festival, featuring an appearance by Cry No More and the Strawberry Hill Music Day in the grounds of Strawberry Hill House which featured both Acoustic Strawbs and Brian Willoughby's band, the Three Mustgetbeers (cut down to an acoustic duo of Brian and Big John owing to Dr. Bob's indisposition). There's a new page, written by Pete Bradley, about the The Three MustGetBeers on Strawbsweb, check it out.

Dick Greener review and pix from Strawberry Hill and Pete Bradley review and pix of Cry No More now uploaded.

31 JULY KNOWLE GIG CANCELLED

NB Please note that the Acoustic Strawbs Knowle gig announced for 31 July has been cancelled by the promoter.

ACOUSTIC STRAWBS - US TOUR, SEPT 2010

More dates added to the Acoustic tour in the US in September: datesheet currently looks like this (other dates are yet to be confirmed/added - watch this space !!)

Thur 9 Sept, The Ark, Ann Arbor MI
NEW - FRI 10 SEPT, ABBEY, CHICAGO IL
Sat, 11 Sept, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH
Sun 12 Sept, TBA
Mon 13 Sept, TBC
NEW - TUE 14 SEPT, THE TURNING POINT CAFE, PIERMONT NY
Wed 15 Sept, Music on Main Street, Woodbridge NJ
Thu 16 Sept, Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville PA
Fri 17 Sept, Strand Theatre, Lakewood NJ
Sat 18 Sept, Towne Crier, Pawling NY
NEW - SUN 19 SEPT, UNIVERSITY CAFΙ, STONY BROOK NY
Tue 21 Sept, BB King's, New York NY
Wed 22 Sept, Showcase Live, Foxborough MA
NEW - THU 23 SEPT, GE THEATRE, SCHENECTADY NY (EIGHTH STEP AT PROCTOR'S)
Fri 24 Sept, Redhouse, Syracuse NY
Sat 25 Sept, Lovin' Cup, Rochester NY
Sun 26 Sept - TBC

The gig details page has now been uploaded. Further details on unconfirmed dates to follow when we have them.

SANDY DENNY AND THE STRAWBS: ALL OUR OWN WORK: THE COMPLETE SESSIONS

June 2010 sees the release on CD of the complete Sandy and the Strawbs sessions which took place in Copenhagen in 1967. This is the first time that the whole of the All Our Own Work album has been legitimately released on CD. The lavishly illustrated packaging includes extracts from Dave Cousins' diary of the time and never before seen pictures of Sandy.

The master tapes have been remastered by Chris Tsangarides and sound fantastic, bringing out elements of the music we've never heard before on either the old Pickwick release in 1973 or the Hannibal release (Sandy And The Strawbs). And there are various demos and outtakes from the period, including two Dave Cousins songs "Indian Summer" and "The Falling Leaves" which have never before seen the light of day, and a version of "Pieces of 79 and 15" with a Cousins lead vocal.

Track details and Preview by Dick Greener

SECRETS, STORIES AND SONGS
DAVE COUSINS' COLLECTED LYRICS - LIMITED EDITION
WITH CD OF READINGS BY DAVE COUSINS

PUBLISHING AUGUST 2010

This newly produced full colour book (including some lyrics from the depths of Dave's archived notebooks which have never seen the light of day) runs to nearly 400pp. See a chapter page.

Click on the cover shown on the right to see a larger version.

Each song includes a commentary from Dave Cousins about the song, and where non-standard, information about the guitar tuning the song is played in. See a sample page . Another sample page on the main Secrets, Stories and Songs page.

There are some fantastic never before seen photographs and some facsimile reproductions of original Dave Cousins hand-written lyrics.

The book comes with a 17-track CD which features Dave reading various lyrics. Listen to Beside The Rio Grande from the album Deep Cuts.

The book has a limited edition of 1000 copies and is now available through Amazon.

STRAWBS AT THE BBC

Universal's major compilation of live tracks from BBC sessions/live appearances WAS releaseD on 12 July 2010.

Volume 1 (In Session, 1CD) features sessions tracks from 60s and 70s shows Top Gear, Sounds Of The Seventies etc.
Volume 2 (In Concert, 2CDs) comprises three hour long concerts broadcast by the BBC in 1971 (Wakeman's last show with Strawbs), 1973 (BATS line-up) and 1974 (Hero And Heroine line-up).

Track details

You can order on Amazon:
Vol 1 (£7.99)
Vol 2 (£11.99)

WITCHWOOD IS 10 YEARS OLD

July 10 saw the 10th anniversary of the Yahoogroups Strawbs discussion forum, Witchwood. Populated by 300 or so hardly souls, it was founded by Steve Young on 10 July 2000, who sent the first message at 5.51am that morning.

It's amazing to think that this has been going on for a decade!!! In addition to all the great comments on matters (mainly) Strawb-related, from all around the world, we've introduced the noun "Witchwooder" to the world, and added to the number of fancy badges you can wear to gigs.

Happy birthday Witchwood, here's to the next decade.

Browse 10 years of Witchwood postings. You'll need to be a YahooGroups member, but otherwise, the message archive is open to all.

Monthly e-mail update

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