The Gallow’s Rant, October 2010

Alistair Hulett’s Sporadic Newsletter.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Gallows Rant, the sporadic newsletter first started by the late Alistair Hulett and now dedicated to ongoing news about his music. The next six months offer Alistair’s fans an exciting time with several new CDs of his music to be launched, a tribute concert at ‘Folk in the Foothills’ this coming weekend and one in Glasgow staged by Celtic Connections on January 28, 2011.

News

Folk in the Foothills, Sunday, October 17, 2010, Tribute to Alistair Hulett, starting at 5pm in the restaurant at Jamberoo Valley Lodge.

Celtic Connections, January 28, 2011, Tribute to Alistair Hulett
Artists confirmed to appear are Roy Bailey, Dick Gaughan, James Fagan & Nancy Kerr, Karine Polwart, Rory McLoed plus special guests. Concert will be held at the Star Folk Club, St Andrews in the Square, G1 5PP, Glasgow. For more information contact Celtic Connections.

Alistair’s version of The Internationale as recorded on ‘Dance of The Underclass’ will be used on an exciting new website based on the Paris Commune of 1871. The Internationale was originally written in that same year by Eugene Pottier in the aftermath of the Commune. Alistair’s version with more than 86,500 hits, can be viewed on YouTube. The Paris Commune site will contain a section on Pottier and specifically The Internationale. For more information contact Alan L. Stewart nwauthor@gmail.com.

Dave Swarbrick together with The Jason Wilson Band have recorded, ‘Proddy Dogs and Papes’, for their upcoming album. For more information contact http://www.jasonwilsonmusic.com

The band, Triskelion, have recorded a version of ‘Buy Us A Drink’ on their new CD, ‘Music on Fridays’, which is available for purchase and download from their website at www.triskelionmusic.com.

Pit Baeuml, of Heilbronn, Germany has translated Alistair’s song ‘New Age of the Fist’ into German and an MP3 recording is available from: www.kraniche-musik.de or www.alice-dsl.net/klaus-peterbaeuml

Website

The Alistair Hulett Website is currently being reworked. Thank you all for your patience during this process. We are grateful to Phil Snell for his work on the site and to Linda Leib who was the previous designer.

Tributes

Syndey, Memorial/Tribute at the Vanguard, 2 May 2010
The Memorial/Tribute to Alistair Hulett, organised at The Vanguard, 42 King Street, Newtown, was a magnificent event and a fitting tribute and celebration of Alistair’s life and musical legacy.

We wish to thank: Roaring Jack, Kate Fagan, Urban Guerillas, Sydney City Trash, Handsome Young Strangers, Hunter Owens, Martin Pearson, Wheelers & Dealers and Kate Delaney, Blind Man’s Holiday, Martin Pearson, Andy Carr and Tim Anderson. Special thanks to Steph Miller and Kate Fagan for their help in making the event possible.

A great review of this concert has been written by Gordon Mignot for Michael Hunter’s newsletter, Fiddlestix. In case you haven’t seen Fiddlestix before, it’s a terrific email newsletter, produced in Australia and aimed at fans of Fairport Convention and other related bands. For information contact Michael Hunter on michaelh@beagle.com.au. The article will also appear shortly on www.alistairhulett.co.uk. A DVD of the event will be also be available shortly to view and download from Alistair’s website.

Glasgow, Star Folk Club, 13 May 2010
The concert was a personal tribute to a man who was a dearly loved friend of the club. The event involved a group of people who have a long association with The Star – and who were also Alistair’s pals. Thank you to the Star, Mick West, Gavin and Claire Livingstone, Jim King, Ken & Trish Caird and John McCreadie, Toni Woods and Peter Nardini. The event raised £550 for the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund (see below).

German Articles

German-speaking fans can find various articles about Alistair written by Eckhard Franke by logging onto: http://www.nuemmes.de/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=14&Itemid=86

Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund

The Fund was officially launched at the Sydney Memorial/Tribute held on May 2 at The Vanguard in Sydney, Australia.

The Trustees of the Australian Fund are: Tim Anderson (Chair), Alison Hulett (Secretary), Ralph Rogers (Treasurer), Margaret Perrott and Bob Fagan. Contact:email hulettpopov@mac.com or write to The Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund, 3/2 Glen Street, Milsons Point, NSW 2061.

The Trustees of the UK Fund are: John Hamill (Chair), Fatima Uygun (Secretary), John Powles (Archivist) and Jimmy Ross. Contact: The Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund, 2/1, 66 Kenmure Street, Glasgow G412NR, Scotland.

The aim of the Fund is to:
· support, develop and nurture musicians involved in social justice issues; and
· support musicians in need.

This will be achieved through grants, donations, the presentation of concerts and recitals, and the production of recorded and published music. All future proceeds from the sale of Alistair’s CDs and merchandise, as well as royalties from his music, will go towards this Fund.
If anyone is interested in donating to this registered charity, please email Fatima Uygun at alistair.hulett@gmail.com. Further details of the Fund will shortly be available on www.alistairhulett.co.uk.

A big thank you to Attila the Stockbroker, David Rovics and the Punters on their May tour and at Glastonwick for their donation of £200 towards the UK Fund.

And a huge thank you to Margaret Perrott, fan and friend of Alistair’s and Trustee of the Australian branch of The Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund for her donation of $20,000.

Merchandise on sale

A ‘Roaring Jack Tribute to Alistair Hulett 2010′ t-shirt is available for $20/£14 and a “Smoke of Innocence” cotton tote bag for $10/£8 by emailing alistair.hulett@gmail.com . Payment can be made via cheque/bank transfer or PayPal. Price includes postage.

Tea towels of Alistair’s adaption of Robert Burns song, ‘A Man’s a Man for a’ That’ for the Govanhill Baths campaign is available for $10/£8 including postage. Money from the sale of the tea towels will be divided between the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund and the Govanhill Baths Community Trust.

Alistair’s music on iTunes, Amazon and other download sites

Full albums and individual tracks from all of Alistair’s CDs (including some rare and out-of-print) are available for purchase/downloading on iTunes. All proceeds will go towards the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund.

Upcoming Initiatives

Radio documentary

There will be a documentary produced by Lea Redfern on Australia’s ABC National Radio on the life and music of Alistair Hulett. The program is due to air in November 2010, but the exact date will be published on www.alistairhulett.co.uk as soon as it’s finalised.

Solo CD of unreleased tracks coming out soon

A solo CD of Alistair’s unreleased tracks spanning the last 10 years is currently being produced and will be available by early 2011. Check on www.alistairhulett.co.uk for updates.

Tribute CD coming soon!

A tribute CD of Alistair’s songs recorded by other artists will be out early next year with a launch at Celtic Connections at the Alistair Hulett Tribute Concert on January 28th 2011, ‘Continuing traditions of resistance through struggle and song’. The CD includes covers from June Tabor, Niamh Parsons, Handsome Young Strangers, Irish Rovers, Roy Bailey, Rory McLoed, Sheena Wellington, Swing Guitars, Kate Fagan and more.

Advanced orders can be made by contacting alistair.hulett@gmail.com.
All proceeds will go towards the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund.

The Gallow’s Rant, October 2010