I've got a friend who is a publisher.  Amazon demand as much as 80% discounts on his titles.  It sometimes costs them to sell books on there.  It's literally insane, a perfect example of capitalism eating itself.

Cohen B-K was on fine form last night in Launceston.  A good start to the year's concert going.

Shocking that Amazon take 50% of the sale price!  And as for those who defraud the artists like that...  

Like when they announced the original US dates, they have left plenty of opportunities for filling in extra dates too.  Tempted, but it will probably be beyond me, given that will also involve travelling to London and an overnight stay.

More locally and more affordably, there are a number of gigs coming up:

7th March: Blackbeard's Tea Party @ The Plough, Gt Torrington (sorry that this clashes with Bella Hardy in Exeter, though)
13th March: Sound Of The Sirens @ the same venue
21st March: Bob Fox @ Launceston Folk Club
26th March: Fairport @ Corn Exchange, Exeter
4th April: Kris Drever @ The Plough

Being an ultra fan of Rush, I'm going to see them in Toronto this August - but this news is going to make a couple of my friends unbelievably happy.

A new show going out this week on Ginger Feather FM with it already having had several plays on Mixcloud. That's what happens when I get round to listening to some new music and adding it to the playlist!

So tune in at 8 o'clock this evening to hear two tracks from Tommy Emmanuel's album Accomplice Two plus...

Martin Simpson, ATFK, Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves, Aisling Urwin, Beans on Toast, Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol, Honey and the Bear, The Haar, The McCalmans, Ross Ainslie and Mossy Christian

https://www.internet-radio.com/station/gingerfeatherfm/

https://www.mixcloud.com/cmbertram/off-the-beaten-tracks-23-february-2026/

Wealthy proggy people of the UK - rejoice!  Rush are coming to the UK

March 2027
8 & 10 Glasgow
12 & 14 Manchester
16, 18 & 21 London

Last year's album of the year was bloody obvious to me from the very first listen (Cardiacs - LSD).  

This year's?  The same.  If it ain't this I'll eat my flat cap....

Just marvellous....

Is anybody after a copy of Maart's Fairport songbook?

I've just bought a job lot FC collection and there's one of these in there.  Will check it out when I receive the package next week, but if you are wanting one drop me a line.

D

Interesting statement from The Magpie Arc today:

Just a heads up everyone, all of our CD’s and vinyl are now off Amazon so if anyone is looking and you see “items unavailable” it’s only unavailable from there, you can still buy our new album Gil Brenton and all our other albums on CD and vinyl from us directly at our webshop here….

https://themagpiearc.company.site/


And on download from Bandcamp here…

https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/


Why?

It’s not some grand statement, just simply that for every CD we sell there at £12 they are now taking over 50% of that as their cut and the old “but you’ll be in a shop window in front of hundreds of millions of potential buyers and new fans” line is complete nonsense, much the same as that other thief Spotify.

Also, and this is the biggie, a hugely increasing number of rogues are buying there with the sole intention of “returning an item” to get a refund from the seller, which Amazon automatically comply with, and then tell the buyer to keep the item or give it away as it’s too much hassle for them to administer. And then said rogues are straight off to Music Magpie to exchange the free CD or album for cash.

It’s just another kick in the teeth for artists (and indeed sellers of all kinds) to deal with and we’re not going to let that happen to us any more.