Not necessarily. It could just be overcrowded, it could be that inexperienced or mediocre players predominate, and it could be that it's a paid session.
If it's overcrowded or the players aren't competent, then the anchor needs to be loud, rhythmically exact, generous, and above all, patient. It helps if they're really fecking good too. If it's a reallly good session, it doesn't need an anchor.
Michael I hear you. Sessions are to play.
When I say anchor it is not so much someone who will always be there trying to hold everything together. It is much less than that & at the same time much more. What can I say?
We love our session anchor. He's there every week without fail, welcomes new people, invites good players to visit, deals with any problems or requests the bartender or owner might have, lets us slag him and gives it back too, loves the music, and is just nice to be around. He will invite the shyer musicians to play, and help keep the tune hogs from overdoing it, but generally he just sits back and lets the thing run itself. Not every session needs someone like this, but we definitely appreciate what he does.
Michael where's the confrontation?
& the overcrowded sessions?
I am not asking about a referee or manager.
Not someone who is telling how it is going to be.
A good anchor is barely recognized, as such, during session.
I'm the guy who's there every week. I'm the one folks ended up looking to. I'm the one who arranged the session with the pub. The publicans assume I'm in charge, the other musicians assume I'm in charge, it was utterly organic and natural. Nobody really needs to be in charge...except when other people feel like someone needs to be in charge, and then everyone comes to me. [shrug] I strike up sets when needed. I ask the shy folks to start things. I glad-hand everyone, thank them for coming, ask about the family, keep a scattered band of musician friends who love the music in touch with each other, etc.
In reality I rule with an iron fist. I stomped in and said "Listen up buggers, I'm in charge here, and if you don't like it, you can sod off."
How many people do you have at your session? What instruments? That can determine whether it's crowded or not. A session with two guitarists and a melody player is crowded, unless one of the guitarists is a finger-picking whizz...
Definitions of overcrowded also shift according to how 'elite' people think their session is too, I suppose. To some, it's crowded with six, to others, sixteen. I was at a party the other night, and there were probably 40 musicians, but there were no more than 8 or so playing at any one time. It rocked: everyone was on a high, in the same groove, pulling together, and there were, as the landlord said in the morning, 'no individuals'. It should have been overcrowded, but it was mighty. Certainly no confrontation.
Yet another session the other night wasn't great. There were too many people, not enough listening, it pulled apart, and was a bit pants. But there was no confrontation. I think that tends to happen more when the musicians don't know each other very well. Then an anchor can be handy, if you're going to bother sticking the session out.
Thanks Robert. I am not advocating that any session designate a leader. {the terms get bandied about w/each revisited thread} Sessioning is a shared experience.
Though I do appreciate how gregarious a particular member can be. For instance, kennedy's session . . . & our fiddler in SW Florida. I suppose at times I have tended to turn to one person more than anyone else. When someone leads off the ears go to that person. Hopefully a session is fine with or without any one particular member.
The anchor doesn't - or shouldn't - "run" a session (unless it's a session for learners), but he or she should be the front man or woman for liaising with the house management, welcoming new members and visitors, and dealing with any problems that may arise - in short, an unobtrusive focal point whose objective is to make the session an enjoyable experience for everyone.
I agree with Robert about numbers. More than 8 or 10 playing at any one time and there will be problems with the ensemble (unless everyone is very, very good) which are basically due to the loss of eye contact and loss of acoustic details you get with with larger numbers.
You need an anchor where there isn't a strong Tunes culture. There
have been times at my session where it has fizzled out due to lack of
good enough players on the day.
This kinda begs the question - what is the minimum no. of people to have
a session? I'd say you need at least two - one of them a strong player
who knows lots of tunes. If you have 8 and nobody can play very well, that's not a session. But maybe it could be salvaged if one of them
is good enough to lead it.
Culture is something you can build over time.
In the absence of your strongest player some one else can lead off. You do whatever it takes. You are not going to fill someone else's shoes at 1st. But, hey, everyone has to start somewhere.
(I was deliberately differentiating between "crowded" and "overcrowded". Sure you can have 10 and it's great, when everyone is listening and responding. But even two can be overcrowded if they don't listen.)
We don't do the anchor thing. Does that mean we are adrift? Yeah, I guess so. We like it that way.
Most of the time we are a small crew adrift on the open sea of the music. A fairly tightly knitted raft afloat the endless ebb and swell of tunes. Sometimes, a currach or two will seek us out and we throw them a lifeline. Often they attach themselves to our raft with ease and although it effects the steering, it doesn't matter. We are not averse to a change in direction, we like it. Sometimes the change in direction is exciting. But, alas, sometimes it's backwards. But it doesn't matter, it's not for long. It's a pain for us all to have to paddle for a bit, against the flow, but it's not really a problem. Sometimes you just let it go and they paddle away and you wave goodbye. It's not a problem.
Sometimes though, a great feckin steamer steams in and drowns you in its wash. There's nothing you can do except remind your self that steamers never stick about for long.
"LAST TUNE FOLKS" the barman cries. And the steamer stokes its boiler and off she goes. We don't paddle behind her, we've longsince cut adrift. A simple reminder that it's not the last tune at all, merely the last tune tonight, is more than enough to keep us afloat.
At our local sessions, there is a woman who is perfectly capable of leading a session. She plays flute and hammer dulcimer at the local sessions and her husband plays the bodhran. This woman and her husband do most of the work of coordinating the sessions; sending out e-mail messages to remind people of the sessions; dealing with restaurant and pub owners; and maintaining the web site of the local Celtic Music Society.
I guess this means Mrs. B is our unofficial session anchor.
Just for the record--I really envy you people who live in places with more than just a very few people who know how to play Irish tunes. At any level. Count yourselves lucky.
I like Kennedy's description, above. And like SWFL, I find myself in that role by default, so that's how I try to do it. In my neck of the woods, somebody's got to, or there's no Irish session at all.
llig's maritime images instinctively made me think of The Raft Of The Medusa, the painting by Gericault famously used by The Pogues on one of their album covers.
Even if a session is not 1/ overcrowded with unfriendly, inexperienced, mediocre, confrontational and elite players, it could be useful to have 2/ an individual who liaises with the manager, contacts musicians when necessary, (cancellation, etc.) welcomes (or otherwise!) newcomers and is spokesperson for the silent majority. If s/he willing to give out a contact number/e-mail address, communication before or after the session could help forestall "1/".
Prefer to think of it as a "session host" or "session facilitator". I've filled the role before (as oldstrings describes), and was there to introduce newcomers to the session regulars, passed comments from the group to the pub management and back the other way, and would keep things moving to start a tune if no one could come up with one.
I've suffered sessions filled with elite (and aloof) players, sessions with a dominatrix dictating the flow and tempo (terrible!), but also enjoyed truly welcoming sessions where you sit in and play what you can and where despite ability, you are always welcome to start a tune. Ideally a start-up session will evolve to the latter and eliminate the need for an "anchor".
The last time I even thought about this was during a thread named something like . . . " Is there an alpha - player in your session ? " Maybe they said something about a host or facilitator. I don't remember. What I do remember is a few terms got kicked around & I think toward the end of the thread the the posts' were something like . . ." That's it right there . . . yeah, an anchor. Not that other thing they were talking about."
"O.K. then. Our work's done here. Let's play some tunes."
& then today it's all 'Medusa's Raft flating adrift at Waxy's, stoking the boilers, all on a Sunday.'
I will rephrase my bloomin' question:
[ I would like to hear your thoughts on] Which qualities in a drifter make for a good session host &/or facilitator.
Just kidding. & Really . . . everyone. . .It's always* a pleasure!
Good old teetotaller - you couldn't meet a nicer guy, or a better banjo player.
There used to be an Anchor session round these parts as well: http://www.thesession.org/sessions/display/181
As for a session anchor, unless it is a beginner session and the so called anchor person knows exactly what he/she is doing and appreciates what the session represents and who in it is doing what, etc, there shouldn't be any need for an anchor. If there was a need for one it wouldn't be a session I'd want to attend. If someone ste themself up as the anchor without approbation of session peers, maybe they'd want to precede the term anchor with a silent "w"......sorry if someone else has already cracked that one.
I noticed above the comment that some sessions have a dominatrix. We would like one to come to our session my self ,Captain Bpart, Thug et al look forward to it.
Fridays The Cumberland ,Byker, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Yer darn straight Mix. Added bonus, we've got a 'tab' for the session, and occasionally we run over, but when we do, no worries for this fella, they keep me liquidated regardless.
Oh yes, another note we always must bring up in these anchor/alpha/facilitator/coordinator discussions is the difference between those of you in big cities with loads of musicians and plenty of sessions that have run for years and years, and those of us out here in the cultural countryside. It’s a totally different dynamic. Expectations for the big city where you’ve got gangs of musicians and sessions galore are simply not valid for where a lot of us are at.
Basically, if there wasn’t someone keeping it together, it wouldn’t be there. That’s how the cultural ‘country’ works.
In the cultural ‘big cities’, it would be there galore, regardless.
The perceptions and expectations of London or Edinburgh are simply 180 degrees different from say, oh, SW Florida, for example. We do what we can with what we have.
Wow, good catch random notes. You ever get that feeling you're repeating yourself?
"Anchor is a great word; I'm going to start using that as well, fantastic.
Alpha player, coined for use in Irish music sessions, is a Barry Folye creation, I believe. He uses the term freely in his classic “Field Guide to the Irish Music Session”.
Anchor is much better, I concur, and as made abundantly clear here already, the best anchor is the invisible one, guiding with musical skill and fáilte, only stepping from the shadows to administer justice upon wayward exotic percussionists and random Bluegrassers who refuse to stop noodling.
It may be that in more heavily developed Irish cultural areas, there is no need for an Anchor.
But in the remote outposts here we do require them, as the newbie to veteran ratio (ed) is obviously always quite high, and Anchors are not a luxury or an option.
I disagree with SWFL's suggestion that big cities with lots of sessions don't need session anchors/hosts/etl al. My experience with most sessions in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere over here is that they have a really obvious session hierarchy. There are a few exceptions but even these have a sort of de facto leader. In most cases sessions have anchors or leaders or whatever you want to call them and you can figure out who they are pretty quickly. A lot of the sessions in Colorado had far more anarchy.
Maybe the hierarchy is less noticeable when you're around the top, hence Michael's assessment that his session has no "leaders." When you're at the algae-level of the musical food chain, you pay attention to it and you know it's there. You'd be daft not to.
>The perceptions and expectations of London or Edinburgh are simply 180 degrees different from say, oh, SW Florida, for example.
Actually SWFL, you'd be surprised - eg, how *local* our local session is, and yet how much it derives its strength from its local SE London power base. Granted there are in London big sessions with big names, sometimes top-heavy - too many chiefs and not enough indians, or the opposite, just loads of braves running round going woo woo woo. But I don't think we suffer from either malaise. So if we have it mostly right, maybe we're unique?
Well said Alf I agree anyone who spends her time fighting to get tunes out of a set of pipes is worthy of respect.
I would certanly go to a session she if she was leading .
Silver Spear, if you are a Newt, I hope your last name isn't "Gingrich".
On television many years, I remember watching Kermit the Frog interview a new Muppet named Gingrich the Newt who aspired to be Speaker of the Swamp.
Keeping a session going in a place where most people aren't familiar with the cultural traditions and customs of Ireland and Scotland is difficult.
We need a session "anchor/coordinator/facilitator".
Also, we have to deal with very restrictive local laws concerning the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverges in public places such as restaurants and bars. For example, giving out free beer to anyone is strictly forbidden here (even in a so-called "private" club).
And, last but not least, most of the local fiddlers seem to be more interested in old-time folk music such as Appalachian-style playing instead of Irish or Scottish music.
When you've mastered amphibian then you will become reptilian. The biggest pitfall to avoid at that stage is the infernal compulsion to assume the job of session anchor; especially when no such function is called for. Best not to linger there -- and risk becoming a dinosaur -- but to hurry on to the mammalian stage.
Isn't it the in thing these days to think of birds as being dinosaurs that can (mostly) fly? The evidence apparently is that dinosaur remains have been found at both the the north and south poles. Skulls with big big eye sockets so they could see in the dark, night time lasting 7 months or something at the one stretch. Only warm-blooded creatures could have survived such harsh climtes. I must have read that somewhere in maybe The Readers Digest...or The Sun.... or some other esteemed publication....
Years ago I read in some paleontology thing that some scientists were able to figure out from the bones how a few veins and arteries may have gone through the animals. Apparently these structures were more consistent with warmblooded, rather than coldblooded critters.
I kinda like to agree, but sometimes I have the sneaking suspicion that scientists (and I'm one, albeit at a more hole-digging level rather than the guy who forges the shovels) can prove anything to support their underlying belief systems. If you want to believe that humans are nice creatures you can go off and discover that we possess a group of neurons in the prefrontal cortex which fire off when we are aware that someone else is suffering. And if these cells don't work in your brain you're a psychopath. However this theory doesn't explain that psychopaths are actually part of our normal every day society, and the genes determining their continued survival have not been eradicated. So we as a society probably need them! Then on the other hand if you are a scientist who takes a dim view of human existence you just need to look at our forebears, chimpanzees, to see what a tribal and violent heritage we have.
Science? gimme an idea and I'll prove it for you.
When the dinosaurs where kicking about, the Earths tectonic plates were not where they are now. So what was at the poles then is very diferent now. The sandstone that Edinburgh is built from was formed from giant sand dunes from when Scotland was at the equator.
Sometimes, the proof for something is so overwhelming that you can concider it fact.
Yeah I'm aware of that michael. It's the huge eye-sockets for seeing in the dark that offers evidence of dinos being in polar locations.
>Sometimes, the proof for something is so overwhelming that you can concider it fact.
And yep I agree. At sea level water invariably boils at 100deg C, and so on. It's the more arcane "findings" I was concerned with.
Is there a Bureau of Plate Tectonics where I can lodge a complaint? Moving Scotland away from the equator was definitely not the way forward. Imagine, Arbroath a tropical, sunny beach!
I've never heard of this large eye socket theory, but there is a lot of controversial evidence for both warmbloodedness and coldbloodedness. Basically paleontologists don't agree on this one or have a clue, since the evidence goes either way and there isn't much of it left.
There is no Bureau of Plate Tectonics, unfortunately. Also, since this probably occurred during the Jurassic Period, it is too late to file or lodge any complaints.
"It's the huge eye-sockets for seeing in the dark that offers evidence of dinos being in polar locations."
Or being nocturnal ?
Or sticking their heads in the sand (ref. ostriches) ?
"Papa Doc" Duvalier's wife, the mother of the next "hereditary president for life" of Haiti (" Baby Doc") should have, herself, been called "Mama Doc." Maybe she was. Dunno about that. They were all reputed to have been warm blooded, and large eyed. As there are no survivors from their sessions, we have no evidence what they played, or how they played.
Polar bears don't hibernate, the winter is their top feeding time, out on the sea ice hunting seals. Pregnant females hole up in snow holes to give birth, but they don't hibernate.
The one abut the ostrich with its head in the sand comes from people watching them graze, heads down, in the grass.
A lot of prey animals, especially ones that have evolved to graze on the plains like deer and equines, have large eyes so they can see what's happening around them, even when their head is down grazing.
Yes. Grazers have to feed to feed for long hours, so at dusk and at night. But predators like the big cats have really good night vision and their eys are not especially big compared with a horse or a water buffalo.
Hey, SWFL Fiddler - I guess that you must be be regarded as "the session anchor" in your pub, if you're the only one that gets free beer after the tab has run out!
Hey, fauxcelt - we've some pretty daft laws in our country these days, but thankfully its not yet an offence here to give away free beer!
Hey, sessionites - I've been giving some thought to the use of that expression: "session anchor". "Session killick" might be more traditional.
(And if you've never heard the word "killick", you'll have to look it up).
Um....SWFL, don't take this for impertinence but, would you say that you have large eyes, or small? Do you look on your session as a flock to be cared for, or as a collection of God-sent dupes?
If you take the later view, you needn't feel ashamed to say so; as you would have the same viewpoint as many session anchors of my acquaintance. This next question will satisfy a pet theory of mine: would you say you bear a physical resemblance to Boss Tweed?
So this killick has got me thinking. Not everything on board gets used at one time. Now, I cannot image anybody walking into a session with a large stone & a rope tied around. Except during hurricane season in Florida.
But I like the image of ships sailing. Some sessions are sloops, some are barques. And of course if it's a river you have no sails. Follow the river, hope the riffles are few, take the rapids. & if there's a keeper or waterfall you don't necessarily portage. Helps if someone has been over them before. One way or another you rarely stay dry.
Mix, until a few years ago here in Arkansas, the liquor laws were even more restrictive than they are now due to the influence of certain churches.
Restaurants weren't allowed to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday unless they were a so-called "private club". Liquor stores are closed on Sundays and grocery stores which sell alcoholic beverages still aren't allowed to sell them on Sundays.
A few years ago, the state legislature changed the law so people could decide whether or not restaurants in their town could sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays. Some towns voted yes and some voted no. This is known as the "local-option" law. We live in one of the cities that voted "yes" and both of us did vote for this law.
I don't know whether or not this sounds "daft" to you but the state legislature has done crazier things in the past. I can still remember hearing jokes about running and hiding in a safe place until the state legislature finished meeting.
Faux - we had a similar situation some years ago on this side of the Atlantic - not in England though, but in Wales.
Initially, this was at the "county" level - with some counties electing to be "dry" on a Sunday. Later, this was changed from "county" level to "district" level.
The last county to be "dry" on a Sunday was Gynnedd, in North Wales. When the system changed from county to district level, all of Gynnedd went "wet", apart from the Llewn Peninsula, in the remotest (NW) part of that county. And even that district finally went "wet" - about 12 years ago.
I'd love it if my session featured a Preserved Killick, ship's steward of the HMS Surprise. As in: "Killik! Killick, there! Lite along a pot of coffee, hot and hot." To which he would reply under his breath: "There they go again with all their scraping; and never a proper tune you could dance to."
Thank you for the lessons in Welsh geography and legal history Mix. It was interesting to someone who has never been to Wales or any other part of the UK.
Some of these churches who were opposed to changing the laws governing the sales of alcoholic beverages are still trying to get the local-option law repealed. These same people are also trying to get rid of the state lottery. I guess they don't want anyone to have fun.
It's not that many years since you had to go to a hotel to get a drink on Sunday, in Scotland. They were open for 'bona fide travellers' whereas the pubs had to stay shut.
The most important criteria for a good anchor is to have a specific gravity greater than that of water. I cannot believe the discussion has gone on so long without addressing this key point.
"The most important criteria for a good anchor ..." Not necessarily, if it's a sea anchor, which would merely slow things down, whereas a bottom anchor would bring things to a dead stop
Not knowing anything about it, I suspect flying prehistoric monsters would have been warm-blooded: otherwise, if they'd encountered a chilly breeze while flying, they'd maybe have gone torpid like amphibia in the cold and plummeted out of the sky every time. Just a thought.
Things in the contemporary natural world as we know it seem unerringly well-adapted to their normal environment (except for us, though that's another story). I have assumed this was true of prehistoric life also.
As we have wandered into sailing esoterica, it may be of interest that the anchor used to be called a "deadman". Mountaineers still use the term to describe an object which can be buried in the snow on a steep slope where there are no trees or rocks to tie to.
Mix, I should think that would be better than a "fowled" anchor such as a chicken or a turkey.
And, no, our local session anchor isn't a chicken or a turkey (in the straw).
At the local old-time folk music session where I play my acoustic bass, one of the fiddlers gets teased about being he "fowl" fiddler because he likes to play Turkey In The Straw and Chicken Reel.
P Killick ~ "Which I move that from now on, in the article of session anchor, them of you wot can spell the name shall spell it with a silent 'w' thus: session 'anchor."
Thanks lazyhound for recognizing the use of a drogue is quite different from mooring to a deadman.
Thanks to all who have kept things lively. I appreciate you more on this than on those discussion where I keep the 1st aid kit next to my laptop.
To the few who think they might tame me, I know you well enought to say ~ the 'w' is not silent.
Cheers ;)
haven't read all those things above but my 'session anchor' of all anchors is Mick O'Connor _ the 'late' banjo head of all heads and it's only because he's anchored the boat right back and his masterly command is well respected by all who've played with him
as a young pushy backer it use to annoy me a bit but now i know he is the true 'anchor man' of London and i totally respect his command of tempo in this respect
update
I have not been to session since the end of December. Our host is exploring a separate reality. My session mates have moved to a new location. I look forward to playing with my mates again. Hopefully by April.
enjoy your play ~ enjoy your mates.
Cheers!
Session Anchor
Session Anchor
I would like to hear your thoughts on the qualities of a good session anchor. For starters someone who loves playing with people every week.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
If a session needs an anchor, there must be something confrontational and/or unfriendly about it
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
Not necessarily. It could just be overcrowded, it could be that inexperienced or mediocre players predominate, and it could be that it's a paid session.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Dragut Reis
Re: Session Anchor
If it's overcrowded or the players aren't competent, then the anchor needs to be loud, rhythmically exact, generous, and above all, patient. It helps if they're really fecking good too. If it's a reallly good session, it doesn't need an anchor.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Dragut Reis
Re: Session Anchor
We session in a friends' house & he is 'drifting'
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
We have one... oh, wait, I misheard.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Mark Harmer
Re: Session Anchor
Michael I hear you. Sessions are to play.
When I say anchor it is not so much someone who will always be there trying to hold everything together. It is much less than that & at the same time much more. What can I say?
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
We love our session anchor. He's there every week without fail, welcomes new people, invites good players to visit, deals with any problems or requests the bartender or owner might have, lets us slag him and gives it back too, loves the music, and is just nice to be around. He will invite the shyer musicians to play, and help keep the tune hogs from overdoing it, but generally he just sits back and lets the thing run itself. Not every session needs someone like this, but we definitely appreciate what he does.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by kennedy
Re: Session Anchor
if it's overcrowded, it's confrontational. Overcrowded means too many and therefor there will be confrontation regarding who is extraneous
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
Is having an anchor a British or American thing? (Or elsewhere in the world too?) Don't think I've been to a session with an anchor.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by minijackpot
Re: Session Anchor
That's probably true in most situations, yeah. Sometimes it just means that it's a bit pants though.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Dragut Reis
Re: Session Anchor
Ah, this old saw, eh?
What I do as the anchor is to prevent the boat from drifting when it's at rest. I firmly secure the craft to the sea bed using a large metal chain.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
Michael where's the confrontation?
& the overcrowded sessions?
I am not asking about a referee or manager.
Not someone who is telling how it is going to be.
A good anchor is barely recognized, as such, during session.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
How did I become the anchor?
I'm the guy who's there every week. I'm the one folks ended up looking to. I'm the one who arranged the session with the pub. The publicans assume I'm in charge, the other musicians assume I'm in charge, it was utterly organic and natural. Nobody really needs to be in charge...except when other people feel like someone needs to be in charge, and then everyone comes to me. [shrug] I strike up sets when needed. I ask the shy folks to start things. I glad-hand everyone, thank them for coming, ask about the family, keep a scattered band of musician friends who love the music in touch with each other, etc.
In reality I rule with an iron fist. I stomped in and said "Listen up buggers, I'm in charge here, and if you don't like it, you can sod off."
No, not really, that was sarcastic.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
How many people do you have at your session? What instruments? That can determine whether it's crowded or not. A session with two guitarists and a melody player is crowded, unless one of the guitarists is a finger-picking whizz...
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Dragut Reis
Re: Session Anchor
SWFL how did you know we have a seagoing session?
There's even a surfboard in the rafters.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
Definitions of overcrowded also shift according to how 'elite' people think their session is too, I suppose. To some, it's crowded with six, to others, sixteen. I was at a party the other night, and there were probably 40 musicians, but there were no more than 8 or so playing at any one time. It rocked: everyone was on a high, in the same groove, pulling together, and there were, as the landlord said in the morning, 'no individuals'. It should have been overcrowded, but it was mighty. Certainly no confrontation.
Yet another session the other night wasn't great. There were too many people, not enough listening, it pulled apart, and was a bit pants. But there was no confrontation. I think that tends to happen more when the musicians don't know each other very well. Then an anchor can be handy, if you're going to bother sticking the session out.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Dragut Reis
Re: Session Anchor
Thanks Robert. I am not advocating that any session designate a leader. {the terms get bandied about w/each revisited thread} Sessioning is a shared experience.
Though I do appreciate how gregarious a particular member can be. For instance, kennedy's session . . . & our fiddler in SW Florida. I suppose at times I have tended to turn to one person more than anyone else. When someone leads off the ears go to that person. Hopefully a session is fine with or without any one particular member.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
The anchor doesn't - or shouldn't - "run" a session (unless it's a session for learners), but he or she should be the front man or woman for liaising with the house management, welcoming new members and visitors, and dealing with any problems that may arise - in short, an unobtrusive focal point whose objective is to make the session an enjoyable experience for everyone.
I agree with Robert about numbers. More than 8 or 10 playing at any one time and there will be problems with the ensemble (unless everyone is very, very good) which are basically due to the loss of eye contact and loss of acoustic details you get with with larger numbers.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Session Anchor
Nice turn of phrase, lazyhound, 'an ubotrusive focal point'.
Also, as random_notes points out, I'm in Florida. A session anchor is necessary in hurricane season. Heck, sometimes we tie the whole pub down.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
That was 'unobtrusive', unlike my extra post to correct my shoddy spelling, which is intrusive.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
You need an anchor where there isn't a strong Tunes culture. There
have been times at my session where it has fizzled out due to lack of
good enough players on the day.
This kinda begs the question - what is the minimum no. of people to have
a session? I'd say you need at least two - one of them a strong player
who knows lots of tunes. If you have 8 and nobody can play very well, that's not a session. But maybe it could be salvaged if one of them
is good enough to lead it.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Hup
Re: Session Anchor
Culture is something you can build over time.
In the absence of your strongest player some one else can lead off. You do whatever it takes. You are not going to fill someone else's shoes at 1st. But, hey, everyone has to start somewhere.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
That's me. I arrange where we sit, who sits where, fees, dfrinks, requests, get the other lazy gits to play, and general trouble shooter.
I love power.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Session Anchor
(I was deliberately differentiating between "crowded" and "overcrowded". Sure you can have 10 and it's great, when everyone is listening and responding. But even two can be overcrowded if they don't listen.)
We don't do the anchor thing. Does that mean we are adrift? Yeah, I guess so. We like it that way.
Most of the time we are a small crew adrift on the open sea of the music. A fairly tightly knitted raft afloat the endless ebb and swell of tunes. Sometimes, a currach or two will seek us out and we throw them a lifeline. Often they attach themselves to our raft with ease and although it effects the steering, it doesn't matter. We are not averse to a change in direction, we like it. Sometimes the change in direction is exciting. But, alas, sometimes it's backwards. But it doesn't matter, it's not for long. It's a pain for us all to have to paddle for a bit, against the flow, but it's not really a problem. Sometimes you just let it go and they paddle away and you wave goodbye. It's not a problem.
Sometimes though, a great feckin steamer steams in and drowns you in its wash. There's nothing you can do except remind your self that steamers never stick about for long.
"LAST TUNE FOLKS" the barman cries. And the steamer stokes its boiler and off she goes. We don't paddle behind her, we've longsince cut adrift. A simple reminder that it's not the last tune at all, merely the last tune tonight, is more than enough to keep us afloat.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
Tight knitted sessions are grand.
cheers!
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
At our local sessions, there is a woman who is perfectly capable of leading a session. She plays flute and hammer dulcimer at the local sessions and her husband plays the bodhran. This woman and her husband do most of the work of coordinating the sessions; sending out e-mail messages to remind people of the sessions; dealing with restaurant and pub owners; and maintaining the web site of the local Celtic Music Society.
I guess this means Mrs. B is our unofficial session anchor.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
Just for the record--I really envy you people who live in places with more than just a very few people who know how to play Irish tunes. At any level. Count yourselves lucky.
I like Kennedy's description, above. And like SWFL, I find myself in that role by default, so that's how I try to do it. In my neck of the woods, somebody's got to, or there's no Irish session at all.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by John Galt
Re: Session Anchor
llig's maritime images instinctively made me think of The Raft Of The Medusa, the painting by Gericault famously used by The Pogues on one of their album covers.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Session Anchor
"it could be that inexperienced or mediocre players predominate" - Robert.
There are *other* types of session??
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Rick Payman
Re: Session Anchor
Yeah, go down to Waxy's on a Sunday and have a listen.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Dragut Reis
Re: Session Anchor
Even if a session is not 1/ overcrowded with unfriendly, inexperienced, mediocre, confrontational and elite players, it could be useful to have 2/ an individual who liaises with the manager, contacts musicians when necessary, (cancellation, etc.) welcomes (or otherwise!) newcomers and is spokesperson for the silent majority. If s/he willing to give out a contact number/e-mail address, communication before or after the session could help forestall "1/".
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by oldstrings
Re: Session Anchor
Prefer to think of it as a "session host" or "session facilitator". I've filled the role before (as oldstrings describes), and was there to introduce newcomers to the session regulars, passed comments from the group to the pub management and back the other way, and would keep things moving to start a tune if no one could come up with one.
I've suffered sessions filled with elite (and aloof) players, sessions with a dominatrix dictating the flow and tempo (terrible!), but also enjoyed truly welcoming sessions where you sit in and play what you can and where despite ability, you are always welcome to start a tune. Ideally a start-up session will evolve to the latter and eliminate the need for an "anchor".
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by jleedee
Re: Session Anchor
The last time I even thought about this was during a thread named something like . . . " Is there an alpha - player in your session ? " Maybe they said something about a host or facilitator. I don't remember. What I do remember is a few terms got kicked around & I think toward the end of the thread the the posts' were something like . . ." That's it right there . . . yeah, an anchor. Not that other thing they were talking about."
"O.K. then. Our work's done here. Let's play some tunes."
& then today it's all 'Medusa's Raft flating adrift at Waxy's, stoking the boilers, all on a Sunday.'
I will rephrase my bloomin' question:
[ I would like to hear your thoughts on] Which qualities in a drifter make for a good session host &/or facilitator.
Just kidding. & Really . . . everyone. . .It's always* a pleasure!
* !!!???**
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Anchors aweigh
Medusa's Raft floating adrift . . .
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Drifter's Session
BTW, Michael, that last post was the most beautiful thing you've ever written here. You're good at this.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
Here's a pub session with an anchor ...
http://www.thesession.org/sessions/display/337
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
Good old teetotaller - you couldn't meet a nicer guy, or a better banjo player.
There used to be an Anchor session round these parts as well:
http://www.thesession.org/sessions/display/181
As for a session anchor, unless it is a beginner session and the so called anchor person knows exactly what he/she is doing and appreciates what the session represents and who in it is doing what, etc, there shouldn't be any need for an anchor. If there was a need for one it wouldn't be a session I'd want to attend. If someone ste themself up as the anchor without approbation of session peers, maybe they'd want to precede the term anchor with a silent "w"......sorry if someone else has already cracked that one.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
I noticed above the comment that some sessions have a dominatrix. We would like one to come to our session my self ,Captain Bpart, Thug et al look forward to it.
Fridays The Cumberland ,Byker, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by bazouki dave
Re: Session Anchor
Domiatrix. eh? Sound like "Miss Whiplash" .. Calamity Jane and Whip Crackaway maybe?
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
No-one has mentioned the "free beer" factor:-
I you are a session "casual", you probably won't get free beer from the landlord.
If you are a session "regular", you will occasionally get free beer from the landlord.
But if you are a session "anchor", you are amost guaranteed to get free beer from the landlord.
Still, they deserve it don't they? It's thirsty work welcoming newcomers to the session, inviting people to play etc.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
We have a hard core.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Session Anchor
Yer darn straight Mix. Added bonus, we've got a 'tab' for the session, and occasionally we run over, but when we do, no worries for this fella, they keep me liquidated regardless.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
Oh yes, another note we always must bring up in these anchor/alpha/facilitator/coordinator discussions is the difference between those of you in big cities with loads of musicians and plenty of sessions that have run for years and years, and those of us out here in the cultural countryside. It’s a totally different dynamic. Expectations for the big city where you’ve got gangs of musicians and sessions galore are simply not valid for where a lot of us are at.
Basically, if there wasn’t someone keeping it together, it wouldn’t be there. That’s how the cultural ‘country’ works.
In the cultural ‘big cities’, it would be there galore, regardless.
The perceptions and expectations of London or Edinburgh are simply 180 degrees different from say, oh, SW Florida, for example. We do what we can with what we have.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
...and Llig, that's some fine prose poetry there, well done.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
This is the thread I was talking about earlier ^
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15163
The Alpha Player in the world of Session Politics
September 16th 2007 by Reverend
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
earlier quote;
"Yes, anchor. Most good sessions have anchors. But the trick with the best sessions is when you can't tell who they are."
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
Wow, good catch random notes. You ever get that feeling you're repeating yourself?
"Anchor is a great word; I'm going to start using that as well, fantastic.
Alpha player, coined for use in Irish music sessions, is a Barry Folye creation, I believe. He uses the term freely in his classic “Field Guide to the Irish Music Session”.
Anchor is much better, I concur, and as made abundantly clear here already, the best anchor is the invisible one, guiding with musical skill and fáilte, only stepping from the shadows to administer justice upon wayward exotic percussionists and random Bluegrassers who refuse to stop noodling.
It may be that in more heavily developed Irish cultural areas, there is no need for an Anchor.
But in the remote outposts here we do require them, as the newbie to veteran ratio (ed) is obviously always quite high, and Anchors are not a luxury or an option.
# Posted on September 21st 2007 by SWFL Fiddler"
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15163#comment314338
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Session Anchor
I disagree with SWFL's suggestion that big cities with lots of sessions don't need session anchors/hosts/etl al. My experience with most sessions in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere over here is that they have a really obvious session hierarchy. There are a few exceptions but even these have a sort of de facto leader. In most cases sessions have anchors or leaders or whatever you want to call them and you can figure out who they are pretty quickly. A lot of the sessions in Colorado had far more anarchy.
Maybe the hierarchy is less noticeable when you're around the top, hence Michael's assessment that his session has no "leaders." When you're at the algae-level of the musical food chain, you pay attention to it and you know it's there. You'd be daft not to.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
>The perceptions and expectations of London or Edinburgh are simply 180 degrees different from say, oh, SW Florida, for example.
Actually SWFL, you'd be surprised - eg, how *local* our local session is, and yet how much it derives its strength from its local SE London power base. Granted there are in London big sessions with big names, sometimes top-heavy - too many chiefs and not enough indians, or the opposite, just loads of braves running round going woo woo woo. But I don't think we suffer from either malaise. So if we have it mostly right, maybe we're unique?
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
I'd forgotten that that was me that said that.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
Silver spear, if you are who I think you are you are certainly not an algal life-form.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
Maybe, Alf. I might be an amphibian, preferably a salamander or a newt.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
The only anchors where I used to play were on the dominatrix's forearms- I saw them when she stretched over to hand out the music...
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Here Lyeth
Re: Session Anchor
Well said Alf I agree anyone who spends her time fighting to get tunes out of a set of pipes is worthy of respect.
I would certanly go to a session she if she was leading .
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by bazouki dave
Re: Session Anchor
Silver Spear, if you are a Newt, I hope your last name isn't "Gingrich".
On television many years, I remember watching Kermit the Frog interview a new Muppet named Gingrich the Newt who aspired to be Speaker of the Swamp.
Keeping a session going in a place where most people aren't familiar with the cultural traditions and customs of Ireland and Scotland is difficult.
We need a session "anchor/coordinator/facilitator".
Also, we have to deal with very restrictive local laws concerning the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverges in public places such as restaurants and bars. For example, giving out free beer to anyone is strictly forbidden here (even in a so-called "private" club).
And, last but not least, most of the local fiddlers seem to be more interested in old-time folk music such as Appalachian-style playing instead of Irish or Scottish music.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
When you've mastered amphibian then you will become reptilian. The biggest pitfall to avoid at that stage is the infernal compulsion to assume the job of session anchor; especially when no such function is called for. Best not to linger there -- and risk becoming a dinosaur -- but to hurry on to the mammalian stage.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Absent a self-governing session, give me a session with a warm-blooded anchor any day.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Yes, Atahualpa Quigley, I should think she would want to avoid turning into a "Tyrant"-isauras Rex.
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
Something tells me our discussion hostess is in no danger of becoming a "Mama Doc."
# Posted on December 18th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Dinosaurs may have been warmblooded.
Raaar.
I'm sure the Velociraptors Ate the Bucks of Oranmore is a great tune.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
Boss Tweed may have been warm blooded.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Isn't it the in thing these days to think of birds as being dinosaurs that can (mostly) fly? The evidence apparently is that dinosaur remains have been found at both the the north and south poles. Skulls with big big eye sockets so they could see in the dark, night time lasting 7 months or something at the one stretch. Only warm-blooded creatures could have survived such harsh climtes. I must have read that somewhere in maybe The Readers Digest...or The Sun.... or some other esteemed publication....
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
I would be happy to go to a session run by a bird , I fact I often play with one.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by bazouki dave
Re: Session Anchor
Years ago I read in some paleontology thing that some scientists were able to figure out from the bones how a few veins and arteries may have gone through the animals. Apparently these structures were more consistent with warmblooded, rather than coldblooded critters.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
I kinda like to agree, but sometimes I have the sneaking suspicion that scientists (and I'm one, albeit at a more hole-digging level rather than the guy who forges the shovels) can prove anything to support their underlying belief systems. If you want to believe that humans are nice creatures you can go off and discover that we possess a group of neurons in the prefrontal cortex which fire off when we are aware that someone else is suffering. And if these cells don't work in your brain you're a psychopath. However this theory doesn't explain that psychopaths are actually part of our normal every day society, and the genes determining their continued survival have not been eradicated. So we as a society probably need them! Then on the other hand if you are a scientist who takes a dim view of human existence you just need to look at our forebears, chimpanzees, to see what a tribal and violent heritage we have.
Science? gimme an idea and I'll prove it for you.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
When the dinosaurs where kicking about, the Earths tectonic plates were not where they are now. So what was at the poles then is very diferent now. The sandstone that Edinburgh is built from was formed from giant sand dunes from when Scotland was at the equator.
Sometimes, the proof for something is so overwhelming that you can concider it fact.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
Yeah I'm aware of that michael. It's the huge eye-sockets for seeing in the dark that offers evidence of dinos being in polar locations.
>Sometimes, the proof for something is so overwhelming that you can concider it fact.
And yep I agree. At sea level water invariably boils at 100deg C, and so on. It's the more arcane "findings" I was concerned with.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
Then why don't polar bears have huge eye sockets? And why do ostriches have huge eye sockets?
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
Is there a Bureau of Plate Tectonics where I can lodge a complaint? Moving Scotland away from the equator was definitely not the way forward. Imagine, Arbroath a tropical, sunny beach!
I've never heard of this large eye socket theory, but there is a lot of controversial evidence for both warmbloodedness and coldbloodedness. Basically paleontologists don't agree on this one or have a clue, since the evidence goes either way and there isn't much of it left.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
Atahualpa Quigley, is a "Mama Doc" a female physician who has children?
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
There is no Bureau of Plate Tectonics, unfortunately. Also, since this probably occurred during the Jurassic Period, it is too late to file or lodge any complaints.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
"It's the huge eye-sockets for seeing in the dark that offers evidence of dinos being in polar locations."
Or being nocturnal ?
Or sticking their heads in the sand (ref. ostriches) ?
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by David50
Re: Session Anchor
"Papa Doc" Duvalier's wife, the mother of the next "hereditary president for life" of Haiti (" Baby Doc") should have, herself, been called "Mama Doc." Maybe she was. Dunno about that. They were all reputed to have been warm blooded, and large eyed. As there are no survivors from their sessions, we have no evidence what they played, or how they played.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Boss Tweed, reputedly a warm-blooded creature, had small eyes, and was not reckoned to have been any good at all with a concertina.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
polar bears hibernate.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
and use sense of smell mostly
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Session Anchor
Polar bears don't hibernate, the winter is their top feeding time, out on the sea ice hunting seals. Pregnant females hole up in snow holes to give birth, but they don't hibernate.
The one abut the ostrich with its head in the sand comes from people watching them graze, heads down, in the grass.
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by ...
Re: Session Anchor
I didn't know the Duvaliers played music as well as trying to run (or, should I say "ruin") Haiti. What type of music did they play? Voodoo music?
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
I wonder if having large eyes helps throw the foreground out of focus so they can see better what is happening beyond the grass.
Maybe small eyes are easier to evolve than sunglasses.
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by David50
Re: Session Anchor
A lot of prey animals, especially ones that have evolved to graze on the plains like deer and equines, have large eyes so they can see what's happening around them, even when their head is down grazing.
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
Yes. Grazers have to feed to feed for long hours, so at dusk and at night. But predators like the big cats have really good night vision and their eys are not especially big compared with a horse or a water buffalo.
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by David50
Re: Session Anchor
So to be a good session anchor you need binocular vision not the wide screen herbivor view ? Or did I miss something there ?
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by bazouki dave
Re: Session Anchor
Wide screen sounds a bit more inclusive. I'll look for herbivore. But not goats or sheep (slotted pupils). Too tame though maybe.
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by David50
Re: Session Anchor
Hey, SWFL Fiddler - I guess that you must be be regarded as "the session anchor" in your pub, if you're the only one that gets free beer after the tab has run out!
Hey, fauxcelt - we've some pretty daft laws in our country these days, but thankfully its not yet an offence here to give away free beer!
Hey, sessionites - I've been giving some thought to the use of that expression: "session anchor". "Session killick" might be more traditional.
(And if you've never heard the word "killick", you'll have to look it up).
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
The horse would probably make a better session anchor than most people I know. She could see the drunk guys with bodhrans coming miles away.
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session Anchor
Um....SWFL, don't take this for impertinence but, would you say that you have large eyes, or small? Do you look on your session as a flock to be cared for, or as a collection of God-sent dupes?
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
If you take the later view, you needn't feel ashamed to say so; as you would have the same viewpoint as many session anchors of my acquaintance. This next question will satisfy a pet theory of mine: would you say you bear a physical resemblance to Boss Tweed?
# Posted on December 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Session killick
So this killick has got me thinking. Not everything on board gets used at one time. Now, I cannot image anybody walking into a session with a large stone & a rope tied around. Except during hurricane season in Florida.
But I like the image of ships sailing. Some sessions are sloops, some are barques. And of course if it's a river you have no sails. Follow the river, hope the riffles are few, take the rapids. & if there's a keeper or waterfall you don't necessarily portage. Helps if someone has been over them before. One way or another you rarely stay dry.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
Mix, until a few years ago here in Arkansas, the liquor laws were even more restrictive than they are now due to the influence of certain churches.
Restaurants weren't allowed to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday unless they were a so-called "private club". Liquor stores are closed on Sundays and grocery stores which sell alcoholic beverages still aren't allowed to sell them on Sundays.
A few years ago, the state legislature changed the law so people could decide whether or not restaurants in their town could sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays. Some towns voted yes and some voted no. This is known as the "local-option" law. We live in one of the cities that voted "yes" and both of us did vote for this law.
I don't know whether or not this sounds "daft" to you but the state legislature has done crazier things in the past. I can still remember hearing jokes about running and hiding in a safe place until the state legislature finished meeting.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
Faux - we had a similar situation some years ago on this side of the Atlantic - not in England though, but in Wales.
Initially, this was at the "county" level - with some counties electing to be "dry" on a Sunday. Later, this was changed from "county" level to "district" level.
The last county to be "dry" on a Sunday was Gynnedd, in North Wales. When the system changed from county to district level, all of Gynnedd went "wet", apart from the Llewn Peninsula, in the remotest (NW) part of that county. And even that district finally went "wet" - about 12 years ago.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
Sorry, typo: should have been " LLeyn" Peninsula.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
or is it LLywn?
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
I'd love it if my session featured a Preserved Killick, ship's steward of the HMS Surprise. As in: "Killik! Killick, there! Lite along a pot of coffee, hot and hot." To which he would reply under his breath: "There they go again with all their scraping; and never a proper tune you could dance to."
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Sorry.... back to Welsh geography.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
Thank you for the lessons in Welsh geography and legal history Mix. It was interesting to someone who has never been to Wales or any other part of the UK.
Some of these churches who were opposed to changing the laws governing the sales of alcoholic beverages are still trying to get the local-option law repealed. These same people are also trying to get rid of the state lottery. I guess they don't want anyone to have fun.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
It's not that many years since you had to go to a hotel to get a drink on Sunday, in Scotland. They were open for 'bona fide travellers' whereas the pubs had to stay shut.
# Posted on December 21st 2008 by minijackpot
Re: Session Anchor
The most important criteria for a good anchor is to have a specific gravity greater than that of water. I cannot believe the discussion has gone on so long without addressing this key point.
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by AlBrown
Re: Session Anchor
"The most important criteria for a good anchor ..." Not necessarily, if it's a sea anchor, which would merely slow things down, whereas a bottom anchor would bring things to a dead stop
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Session Anchor
Not knowing anything about it, I suspect flying prehistoric monsters would have been warm-blooded: otherwise, if they'd encountered a chilly breeze while flying, they'd maybe have gone torpid like amphibia in the cold and plummeted out of the sky every time. Just a thought.
Things in the contemporary natural world as we know it seem unerringly well-adapted to their normal environment (except for us, though that's another story). I have assumed this was true of prehistoric life also.
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by nicholas
Re: Session Anchor
As we have wandered into sailing esoterica, it may be of interest that the anchor used to be called a "deadman". Mountaineers still use the term to describe an object which can be buried in the snow on a steep slope where there are no trees or rocks to tie to.
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by oldstrings
Re: Session Anchor
... and why does the British Royal Navy use a "fouled" anchor as its insignia. It wouldn't seem to convey an impression of good seamanship.
... and does your session have a "fouled" anchor?
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Session Anchor
Mix, I should think that would be better than a "fowled" anchor such as a chicken or a turkey.
And, no, our local session anchor isn't a chicken or a turkey (in the straw).
At the local old-time folk music session where I play my acoustic bass, one of the fiddlers gets teased about being he "fowl" fiddler because he likes to play Turkey In The Straw and Chicken Reel.
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
P Killick ~ "Which I move that from now on, in the article of session anchor, them of you wot can spell the name shall spell it with a silent 'w' thus: session 'anchor."
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Session Anchor
PS "Which coffee will be ready when it's ready."
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Session Host
Thanks lazyhound for recognizing the use of a drogue is quite different from mooring to a deadman.
Thanks to all who have kept things lively. I appreciate you more on this than on those discussion where I keep the 1st aid kit next to my laptop.
To the few who think they might tame me, I know you well enought to say ~ the 'w' is not silent.
Cheers ;)
# Posted on December 25th 2008 by Ben Steen
Re: Session Anchor
"Tame" you? Random_notes? I have enough trouble just taming myself.
# Posted on December 25th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Session Anchor
haven't read all those things above but my 'session anchor' of all anchors is Mick O'Connor _ the 'late' banjo head of all heads and it's only because he's anchored the boat right back and his masterly command is well respected by all who've played with him
as a young pushy backer it use to annoy me a bit but now i know he is the true 'anchor man' of London and i totally respect his command of tempo in this respect
# Posted on December 31st 2008 by hungry grass
Re: Session Anchor
It's Lleyn.
# Posted on December 31st 2008 by suesinger
Session Anchor (host)
update
I have not been to session since the end of December. Our host is exploring a separate reality. My session mates have moved to a new location. I look forward to playing with my mates again. Hopefully by April.
enjoy your play ~ enjoy your mates.
Cheers!
# Posted on March 7th 2009 by Ben Steen