http://youtu.be/cOXJFFfxuNY
I have put a poster up in the Ilfracombe Tourist Information Center, for the ukulele workshop's. I'm hoping for new work from holiday makers in Ilfracombe, Bude and surrounding areas. I have taken a few pictures on route.
Video clip of Ilfracombe harbour
http://youtu.be/cOXJFFfxuNY More information in the ukulele workshop's here http://paulclews888.weebly.com/ukulele-workshop.html
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When to practice your musical instrument. For guitar or ukulele lessons, face to face in North Devon, or anywhere else in the world by Skype click here http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html
The Vaults Bar used to be underneath the Collingwood Hotel in Ilfracombe, North Devon. It was an L shaped room with awful acoustics. As a young band in North Devon, it was a great venue. It could be hired, with the bar for £20. Bands would charge £1 on the door, and always get 100 or 120 people through the door. The ceiling was very low, the walls were a very rough texture, but despite the acoustics, the atmosphere was always electric. Sweat would be dripping down the walls. The first band I saw there were Cut & Run. This was the tail end of 1985. I had not long moved to Ilfracombe, from Great Wyrley, Staffordshire. I thought they were great. I remember them playing Silly Thing on that occasion, still one of my favorite Sex Pistols songs. I later became friends with members of Cut and Run. My own band, The Pyromaniacs From Outerspace played many gigs there, both as headline and support act. I have many videos of the gigs. Sadly, they are all on VHS, so consequently, have not been seen for years. Some of the other bands I saw there were, Cult Maniax, Fatal Attraction, Beat the Retreat, Burning Fantasy, Blyth Power, The Gotham City Gangsters and The Stan and Eddie Chain. The first time ever saw Jive Turkey was at the Vaults Bar. They were a Torrington band, doing Stranglers covers. They went on to to become a great band with Radio 1 air play.The last gig I played at the Vaults Bar was with The Backtrackers. It was a party for the Sure Start. Someone stole my capo at that gig. Of course, the Collingwood Hotel is now knocked down after a fire, and the Vaults Bar was closed years before that. Whenever I walked past the derelict bar, before the fire, I would have a tear in my eye, and a lump in my throat. I could hear the muffled sound of ghost bands still bashing away. But they've all gone now, not even the ghosts can be heard. There is nothing like it in Ilfracombe now. I do miss the venue and the great times I had there as both a performer and as a member of the audiences. What memories of the Vaults Bar do you have? What bands did you see gig there? The Backtrackers http://paulclews888.weebly.com/backtrackers.html This video contains some of the bands that played at the Vauls Bar. It was recorded about 1986, on Ilfracombe sea front, next to the Carousel Bar in the Victorian Pavilion. Also knocked down, and replaced by the Landmark Theatre. It was uploaded by Guy Roberts. See me with the Pyromaniacs From Outerspace at 1:55 with my Tokai Strat. I am still using it today. You can also see Eldon Evans on drums. Beat the Retreat, Fatal Attraction, and Burning Fantasy are also featured. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbUqv_qNxXw Jive Turkey 50 Dollar Bill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GycTj6EFzg Never Say Goodbye Johnny Ray http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxKyZwASTCU Giro Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL9-7lit5Gg Cult Maniax (do not watch if offened by strong languge) The Fix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-ymOrp1Ck Lucy Looe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmZ7mEBqB8k No More Beach Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_nsLNjCJaE Road To Nowhere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lCXnUW2MHY American Dream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FubjTrPNwU0 Blitz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uGSwR8y1Ys Cities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPySWMR7imQ The Amazing Adventures Of Johny The Duck And The Bathtime Blues http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6FvdY1bpQU Black Horse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji24Qm17S_g Harry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ28vVXsnDk Poison Pen Letter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6U4WTTqPBI Blue Baby http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLsmokxdPP4 Cool Cats Dancing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g71U3DL50-U Blyth Power
Inside the Horse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObRXb5xTP9k Chevy Chase http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTeiiR5qaFc Bricklayer's Arms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS7jKnNdbcI Stitching Time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Np-qwwLS1w The Bishop At The Gate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPiPyFR80l0 I've heard it said that learning to play the guitar is fun. Well, I completely disagree. I remember when I was learning to play some 35 years ago, the little fun that was to be had, was soon replaced with frustration. Many times, I could have happily just chucked the guitar out of the window. I believe, that anybody can learn to play the guitar, in this respect learning to play is easy. But not everybody will. What stops them? Why do people give up having started to learn?. Motivation. I'll say that again, motivation. What motivated me all those years ago was 'to play in a band'. It was the age of punk. All you needed apparently, was three chords (not true) and a safety pin. The band was put together and named before any of us could even play a single note. The band had two 'guitarists'. Neither of us could play a thing, so I use the term 'guitarist' loosely. We came to it from opposite points of view. He took all the strings off his guitar except the bottom two, cranked up his expensive amp, and sounded what I thought at the time, fantastic in about a week. He had tuned the two strings (what I now know to be a fifth apart), and played with one finger. Me on the other hand, started the long process of learning to play properly. It took me ages. The motivation was to play in a band. I kept the motivation bigger than the problems. It seems simple doesn't it? Practice for 15 minutes every day. What's stops these well meaning people from doing this? The answer has many versions as wanna be guitarist quitters. What's your excuse? Too tired? Not enough time? We don't have any chocolate ice cream in the fridge? After all, one excuse is as good as another. I somehow kept my focus. Once I had mastered the bar F, a momentous moment in any guitarists career, (ask any of them), It was a very short time after this, the band recognised me as the best guitarist. Not long after this, the other guitarist in the band quit. He'd given up on his rock star dreams, and I don't think he ever played the guitar again. Well, let's be honest, he never really learned to play anything. Me on the other hand kept going. Wouldn't it be great to play that classic Chuck Berry intro to Johnny B Goode? 'It's the only lick I'd ever want to learn' I said at the time. Having mastered that, I thought Layla by Eric Clapton had a great riff. I didn't like the song much, but loved that riff. Mastered that, and so it went on. You never stop learning the guitar. In fact, that's true for any instrument, except the kazoo and maybe the triangle. You learn to live with the frustration. So what are the benefits of learning to play a musical instrument? For me, that first punk band was great fun. So have the 20 or so bands since. All have been tremendous fun. It has enabled me to meet and converse with some amazing people. When I moved from Great Wyrley, the village I was brought up and schooled in, to Ilfracombe, playing guitar enabled me to meet people, and make new friends. This list could go on for ever, but ultimately it has given me a career and business. This started, not with guitar playing, but recording other bands on my 4 track recording studio. I still record demo's, jingles and other similar things today, but the technology is far more sophisticated now. I ran Flipside for 7 years. This was a shop in Ilfracombe selling records, CDs, videos and of course, musical instruments. I play in a band called The Backtrackers. A function band playing weddings and parties all over the Uk. My main income is from teaching. All day long, 6 days a week, privately and in schools teaching guitar and ukulele. Well, what a life playing music has done for me. From punk band to teacher, a fantastic, and in many ways unplanned journey. I didn't know back in the early 80's where I'd be today, but I'm glad to be here. I never made it to rock star status, but then again, I don't think I ever really want that. So what is your motivation to carry on? What is your excuse to quit? I look forward to your questions and replies. If you would like to book guitar or ukulele lessons in your home, school or by Skype.
http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html If you would like to book The Backtrackers for your party, wedding, corporate event, or function. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/backtrackers.html If you would like to book time in my recording studio. http://paulclews888.weebly.com/16-track-multi-track-recording-studio.html I was talking to a couple of boys from Ilfracombe Infant School about the names of the parts of the guitar. 'It has a head, it has a neck and it has a body' I explained to them. "Why doesn't it have any arms and legs"? Enquired the youngest of the two. "If it had legs, it would run away" replied the eldest boy. Find out more about my guitar & ukulele lessons http://paulclews888.weebly.com/guitar--ukulele-lessons.html
Electric Bike Day On Exmoor
A couple of weeks ago, Robert Zarywacz (@robertz on twitter) invited me to join him in a prize he had won. It was a days electric bike cycling from http://www.experienceexmoor.co.uk/ (@experencEXMOOR on twitter). Mrs Z was not keen to take part, so I immediately said yes. For me it meant a really early start, getting up at 6am, because I am on holiday at Tamar Lake. I got an early night in the night before, but unfortunately, woke at 1.30am, then was unable to get back to sleep. Really tired, I set off back to Ilfracombe at 6.15am to be picked up by Robert at 9.25am. When we arrived at ExperiencEXMOOR, Neil gave us an explanation about how the bikes worked, including pannier bags for our packed lunch, sun cream and cameras. Also, an impressive list of free charging points, stretching from Ilfracombe to Lynton and Lynmouth. After a little paper work, and a helmet fitting, it was time to test the bikes around the court yard. I went first. Now before I arrived, I had assumed, being electric bikes, you wouldn’t have to pedal, but this is not the case, you do have to pedal, otherwise they just stop. The first thing you notice is they accelerate like a formula 1 racing car. With a couple of turns of the pedals you’ve hit 30 kph. It takes a little getting used to. After a short while we were both ready to start a great adventure. With a rough plan of the route we wanted to take, which would take in Lynton and Lynmouth, and the Valley of the Rocks, we cycled up the drive and turned left on to the road for the first time and headed for the Hunters Inn. http://twitpic.com/ahz67c When we arrived at The Hunters Inn, knowing Julian Gurney’s (@NTExmoorRanger on twitter) office is near there, we checked to see he was home. He was, and with only a brief conversation about cake, Robert and I had an ice cream. http://twitpic.com/ahqo7d Soon we were off again, heading towards Lynton Steam Railway http://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/ for another brief stop. http://twitpic.com/ahqm6h http://twitpic.com/ahz5pv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQ2ma3njUk&feature=youtube_gdata_player And so on to Lynmouth. Approaching Lynmouth, we were beginning to feel the affects of half a days cycling, and considered not going down into Lynmouth, because of the massive climb out afterwards. “We could cycle down and take the cliff railway back up” I suggested. “Are you sure they take bikes?” Robert asked. “Not sure no, about 85%” I replied. With no mobile phone or internet signals we were unsure what to do. So has with so many of life’s great decisions we flipped a coin. Heads we go to Lynton, tails we go to Lynmouth. The toss http://twitpic.com/ai3omv Heads we go to Lynton, tails we go to Lynmouth. I secretly hoped for heads. I really couldn’t face that climb out of Lynmouth. http://twitpic.com/ai3pyg Down we go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyDbA8SaiQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player At the bottom of the hill we stopped. We decided to check out the cliff railway, to find out if they did take bikes. They did. Neil, then happened to see us and caught up with us at the cliff railway. He asked how we were doing. All was well. We had planned to have our packed lunch at Lynmouth, and recharge our bike batteries. We had a choice of charging points, and chose The Glen Lyn Gorge http://www.theglenlyngorge.co.uk/ therefore recharging with the power of water. We left our bikes at the Glen, and went for a wonder around Lynmouth, and to eat lunch. We wanted to give the bikes a good charge, so we had an hour to kill. We had lunch by the river. http://twitpic.com/ahz5g6 http://twitpic.com/ahuh6w Afterwards went for a walk around the town. http://twitpic.com/ahs44n http://twitpic.com/ahuhfp http://twitpic.com/ahuhhi http://twitpic.com/ahuhss After 1 hour 15 minutes we were back in the saddle heading for The Valley of the Rocks via Lynton. We didn’t take the cliff railway after all. With the help of our charged up batteries, getting to The Valley of the Rocks was not as bad as imagined. We rested our selves recharged the bikes one more time. The cherry pie looked amazing, we couldn’t help ourselves. http://twitpic.com/ai7gz5 After the cherry pie, it was time to pass though The Valley of the Rocks, see the white lady http://twitpic.com/ahuij4 http://twitpic.com/ahui45 and head for home. We cycled on through Woodybay, onto Martinhoe, passed the Hunters Inn one more time. Finally pushed on up the hill to drop the bikes back to Neil. A very tiring, but really enjoyable day. Robert dropped me back home, I drive back to Tamar Lakes after doing a couple of jobs at home. Arrived back at the caravan at 9.15pm Shower! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
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