Canterbury Beer Festival

In message , Manky Badger wrote

What beers appeal to the female palatte and does this imply that these are unsuitable for other Real Ale fans or the first time male festival visitor who is used to drinking something else?

Following on from Manky Badger's message. . .

It may be a tradition going back to the first(?) Canterbury BF circa

1980. A wonderful day in two marquees in the park. Coach drops us at 11am and is picking us up after 11pm. Fancying a stroll round the town we did so and heard a wonderful crescendo of classical music from the backside of the Cathedral. Just the ticket we thought. If that was the rehearsal we might pop in for the full concert this evening. So we did. The Guildford symphonia playing in the cathedral were rubbish. Towards the end the leader packed up his violin and stood behind the conductor waving his bow as a sort of assistant conductor!

So it may just be a local thing - Unless CAMRA hired the cathedral or gave free afternoon tickets to the players in the Guildford Symphonia.

PS. Why not join C.A.M.R.A. - Campaign Against Music Ruining Ale.

Manky Badger27/7/03 10:44 AM

Not having been there, I don't know just how bad...

Local live music can be anything from very good to very bad depending on the genre and your individual taste in music; on the ability of the musicians/singers?; and on they way it is presented or amplified.

IMO good music and good beer go very well hand in hand. Whether it's quiet instrumental jazz or some Celtic folk or a string quartet. Sometimes say - a little instrumental jazz - small PA system - goes OK in the background.

There are lots of very good musicians around all over - hungry for paid work. 100-150 quid for a couple of hours solid playing. Why not have a quiet tent or alternate musicians with a small cover charge for the music.

However people good at organising beer are often not good at organising music... Especially if they decide to put on their mate's son's rock band. CR

This is the crux, isn't it - "good" music - it rarely is though.

In message , Pandora writes

Sometimes its not a matter of taste, some musicians are simply crap at what they do yet manage to get hired. Or sometimes (like yesterday in Derby) the equipment is mishandled till the music becomes unlistenable.

Festival organisers seem skilled at finding these bad performers, probably driven by price and strange belief that any music is better than none.

On average your good music *will* be my crap, not 'might be', however well performed or presented. Any entertainment you force on everyone is more likely than not to annoy a lot of people.

Festivals that can't or won't offer a choice to listen or not need to reconsider having music at all.

There is only one festival where, on walking to the bar, I don't hear countless bitching about the awful music. And that is Dover where they have subdued classical music in the background. It's been my experience that no one likes the brand of band generally trotted out at festivals.

MB

In message , Manky Badger writes

At Peterborough next month I will stand in the music tent for the stuff I like (if I can fight my way through the heaving crowd), I'll stand in the bar or outdoors during the 'crap' (crap because I don't like it - they don't seem to hire geriatric has-beens).

Thanks to that choice I've never heard a complaint about music there. Some festivals get it right. Classical music is not the answer... you hear no complaints because its quiet - why impose it at all?

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 0:54:40 +0100, Paul Shirley wrote (in message ):

So you do understand the relationship between price and quality?

It's a bit rich of you to sneer at someone else being "probably driven by price".

Still haven't got the kill-file concept yet Jeff