About us
- Bringing folk back to East Dulwich
- What will the evening be like?
- Are you coming by yourself?
- The Goose's music
- Would you like to sing or play at The Goose?
- Our venues
- Who is The Goose?
- How did the Goose get its name?
- Would you like to help?
Bringing folk back to East Dulwich
Folk is cool again, and that old stereotype of beardies with pewter tankards and fingers permanently welded to their ears has gone forever - if indeed it ever existed!
It seems a long time since the likes of Martin Carthy and Bert Jansch appeared in East Dulwich back in the nineties, and with the huge recent upsurge in interest in all sorts of Folk and Folk-influenced music, we felt the time was right to bring Folk back to the area.
We're now settled in our new venue at DHFC and have had some really great evenings there, with more to come! We have also gone back to our roots with a traditional cosy folk club upstairs at The Magnolia in Lordship Lane, with floorsingers and a raffle :)
We have given up our nights at Hooper's Bar in order to concentrate on more folk-orientated music than we were able to do there, as there are now other promoters in East Dulwich putting on the kind of music which we did at Hooper's.
back to topWhat will the evening be like?
DHFC
Doors open at 7pm (but see the note at the bottom of this section) and you can have a drink while listening to our resident Big Chill DJs Folk2Future. There is a bar with several real ales available.
There is a mix of seating. You can have a sofa if you bag one early or there will be chairs in rows too. Please note that seats are not reserved, so to be sure of a seat in a position you prefer you should come early. We cannot guarantee a seat if the event is very popular and you arrive after the advertised opening time, although there will usually be standing room.
If you have already bought a ticket, you are of course guaranteed entry. If you haven't, if the event is very crowded unfortunately we may have to turn you away, so we do recommend wherever possible that you buy your ticket in advance.
The live music will start at 8pm with a support artist followed by our headlining artist at 8.30pm. Then there will be an interval from 9.15pm to 9.45pm, then another support artist and then a second set by our main act at 10.15pm. This order and the timings may occasionally vary if there are circumstances outwith our control.
The live music will finish at 11pm, followed by more chilled DJing from Folk2Future.
The 176 night bus passes the door, so if you're lucky enough that it drops you off somewhere convenient, you can have a relaxed late evening without worrying about getting home! For details of other transport, see our find us page.
Note:We do our very best to open the doors at DHFC at 7pm. This isn't always possible as sometimes musicians are late or there are other circumstances beyond our control.
We take the view (and we hope you do too) that you would rather we had a thorough soundcheck to make the sound as good as we can than cut corners to let you in bang on the dot of seven.
Please understand that we will have been at the venue for most of the afternoon in an effort to make the evening as good as possible for our audience, so if you have to wait a little longer than 7pm to get in, please don't take it out on us!
The Mag(nolia)
Our evenings upstairs at The Magnolia are for traditional folk music, and run along the lines of a traditional folk club. There is no PA (but the acoustics in the room are very good!)
Doors open at 8pm with live music from 8.15pm to 11.15pm. There will be two sets from our main artist plus floorsingers in each half. There will be a late bar till 12.30am.
The Magnolia has excellent food so you can eat before or during the music.
If you like traditional folk music, of any country or culture, do come along - this evening can only continue if enough people come. Whether you sing or play yourself, like joining in choruses or just want to listen to others, we'll sure you'll have a great time!
back to topAre you coming by yourself?
We know that many people would like to come to Goose events but don't like going to things by themself. If your friends aren't into the same music as you, please don't let that put you off coming. Ask for Sue at the door (or email us beforehand) and we will do our best to introduce you to other people who have also come by themselves, or at least some other friendly faces! Hopefully you will end up knowing lots of people with the same folkie interests as you!
back to topThe Goose's music
There used to be - maybe still are in some places - heated discussions over what Folk is, or what it "should" be.
Our main criteria are that all the artists and support artists who we book in advance should be good, and that they should have what could loosely be described as a folk influence.
We will also only book people who we personally like listening to, on the basis that if we do, then probably you will too. We hope you'll come to see people you may not have heard before as well as those you have. That's how we've discovered great music in the past!
Our folkie musical tastes are pretty wide, so we expect to have a real eclectic mix from what some consider "pure" unaccompanied traditional Folk (we both love it) via blues, roots, world to nu folk, twisted folk, electronica, whatever.
As we've said elsewhere, from the hammered dulcimer to the laptop.
If there's someone you'd love to have come to the Goose, let us know, and if we agree we'll try to book them, budget permitting!
back to topWould you like to sing or play for the Goose?
We want to encourage up and coming singers/musicians, and particularly local talent. If you would like to sing and/or play at the Goose, please read the following carefully as we have different policies for our different venues.
DHFC
Our headlining artists at DHFC are very well known, and this is reflected in our ticket prices for this venue. We don't have floorsingers on these evenings. People who turn up "on spec" for a floor spot might be brilliant, or - they might not. If they're not, we feel that isn't fair on an audience which has paid good money for a ticket.
So we have decided that the artists supporting our headlining acts will be people who we already know and love (and the number of those is increasing all the time!)
So if you'd like to come and sing/play at DHFC, and we don't already know you, please send us a link to tracks online we can listen to, or let us have a demo CD - we are always happy to listen! Or tell us where/when we can come and hear you live.
Sorry but we only pay our headlining artists, though you'll get free entry and an appreciative audience!
The Magnolia
This is a traditional music night (of any country or culture!), and we welcome with open arms anybody who would like to get up and sing a song and/or play a tune! There will be no PA, and enthusiasm and the willingness to share the songs is much more important than whether you are a "good" singer.
Please get there early if you would like to sing or play, and leave your name on the door. We can't guarantee that you will get a spot, however, as this will depend on the number of potential singers on the night. If you have emailed us in advance to let us know that you would like a spot you are more likely to get one, but you will still need to be there early so that we know that you have actually turned up!
Please note that this is not an "open mic" night for singer-songwriters. There is no mic, and it is specifically for traditional music.
Singers and musicians will get a discount on entry - £5 instead of £6 (sorry, we had to put our prices up in 2010 to cover our costs). Sorry it's not free - we have to pay the main act.
We also have a headlining artist (or artists) on this evening, who will do two 45-minute sets and who will be paid. Our hope is that this will enable us to give gigs to traditional singers and musicians who are not yet well enough known for us to put on at our much larger venue at DHFC.
If you would like to be considered for a headlining gig at the Magnolia, please click here to email the Goose! and let us have links where we can listen to your music. Alternatively (and preferably, as we can listen to it in the car!) please send us a demo CD - email us for the address to send it to, grammar.
back to topOur Venues
DHFC
You can find details of where this is and how to get there on our find us page.
The Magnolia
You can find details of where this is and how to get there on our find us page.
back to topWho is The Goose?
Nyge is very lovely. He is part of Folk2Future, DJs who have regularly played at the Big Chill Bar in Dray Walk off Brick Lane and also at some of the Big Chill festivals.
- Listen to some Folk2Future music
- Listen to some of Nyge's own music: Flapjack Davey music
Oh yeh, he also DJs as Flapjack Davey, forgot that, confusing eh.
One of Nyge's other claims to fame is that he was a member of The Knights of the Occasional Table, who brought out such great albums as "Knees up Mother Earth", "Les Elephants du Paradis", "The Planet Sweet" and "John Barleycorn 2000". Yep, that has to be kind of folkie with a name like that . It "explores the rich seam of folk in a more modern context of synthesisers and loops", it says here ....
The Knights also had a session with John Peel (R.I.P.) and their single "Eden" was a single of the week on Radio 1's evening show in the nineties.
Nyge has many other claims to fame but he won't let me tell you them! We won't mention that reversible jacket then, eh, Nyge?
back to top
Sue got into Folk way way back in the sixties. She likes to brag that she was at Bert Jansch's first solo concert at St Pancras Town Hall, having sat open-mouthed throughout when she saw him for the first time at that so-atmospheric venue the Fairfield Halls in Croydon (well it was all new then, innit. All that folkie finger-picking stuff.)
Once she'd heard Martin Carthy, that was it really. A folkie for life. In fact Sue and Nyge got together as a result of discovering a mutual (platonic obviously) love of Mr Carthy at a party a couple of years back. How we came to discover it who knows, must have been fate.
Her only other claim to fame is that her slippers Lipp and Lapp have their own MySpace page. Some people think she is completely barking, but that is not true. She only barks sometimes, but is quite good at it. If you ask her nicely she might give you a demonstration.
Oh no, I can't resist it ..... here are Lipp and Lapp:
back to topHow did the Goose get its name?
A koan is a riddle which cannot be solved by the mind.
A tiny newly-hatched gosling is put into a large glass bottle whose narrow neck is just large enough for it to enter. It lives in the bottle until it is a fully grown goose.
The riddle is: How can the goose be released from the bottle, without either breaking the bottle or killing the goose?
The answer is: The goose is out! Please do not ask us to explain this, as we won't :) It cannot be solved by the mind, as we said .....
Oh - and conveniently, Sue already had the domain name registered, and of course our venues are just up the road from Goose Green ..... plus we found some nice Goose-related pix on a copyright-free clipart site .....
back to topWould you like to help?
As you can imagine, setting up and running the Goose is very time-consuming, particularly for newbies like ourselves! We already have some brilliant helpers, but anybody who could spare some time to put round flyers and posters (particularly outside the East Dulwich area) and help on the door or with the sound or lighting would be welcomed with open arms!
Please contact us if you think you could help!
back to top- Content © Sue Whitehead 2008
- Design © Flowww Web Development 2008
