**Celtic Connections 2021 announced!

**Celtic Connections 2021 announces its first live digital festival from 15th January to 1^st February 2021

Offers a unique content online fro the very first time, hoping to reach an even wider audience with special collaborations and workshops.

 

Donald Shaw, artistic director on Folk nights Radio Two, spoke of his long time collaborations  with American Dirk Powell and of the ceilidh bands he grew up with on the Argyll peninsula. Shaw visited Powell when the Transatlantic Sessions played several concerts over in America a few years back. Shaw likes to soak up the ambience of any region and celebrate our differences and also for the festival to engage internationally.

 

Folk music is about the community and is inter-generational. The old plus the new.

Celtic Connections is Europe’s largest winter music festival – welcoming over 2K artists over 300 events. 2021 will be the festivals 28^th year with some of the biggest names in Scottish music scene and beyond. The full program will be announced in early December – with some fo the well-known and bets-loved acts that have graced the festival stages.

 

Roots music is always at the heart of the festival that unites with cultures and music world wide. The festival will focus on creating new digital content commissioned projects filmed over some fo Glasgow’s iconic venues. To support and encourage creative industries and to protect Scotland’s rich musical legacy. 

 

A number of international artists will be filmed remotely and added to the line up. Shows will be available for a week .

Funded by Glasgow Life, Creative Scotland and the Scottish government.

https://www.celticconnections.com

Ticket Touts

I’ve been purchasing gig tickets online for some years now and it is only recently that I have discovered what a minefield it has all become!

It is ultra confusing online with so many Ticket outlets. If you google for the artist’s gigs the links that come top of the page are not necessarily the best outlets, in fact the reverse is true!

Tips; Safest way is to purchase primary tickets via the venue or artist’s website (the advice from the Albert hall box office). Or through the main ticket sellers, which are – Ticket Master, SeeTickets, Eventim, Ticketline, Gigantic. You can’t always judge by the google ratings.

The secondary Market – Is basically those who re-sell tickets. These sites buy up a number of concet tickets at the basic price and then re-sell these tickets at inflated prices - which isn't particularly good news for the public.

Some secondary websites can be fine, but it’s very hit or miss, so be wary and read the small print. The best re-sellers are Seatwave and GetMeIn, Check how tickets will be delivered. Make sure the company behind the website provides a full address, not just a post office or mail box number. And try its UK landline number.

Some outlets online won’t be responsible for lost tickets, so store them in a safe place – and one you can remember! 

Thanks to (legitimate) websites such as Seatwave and Get Me In!, it is now simple to buy  tickets for events abroad and has led to the growing popularity of festivals such as Spain's Benicassim and others. But be aware that there are foreign illegitimate sites also that are selling sometimes non existent tickets.

Ticket re-selling probably can’t be stopped, after all true fans might buy tickets for an event only to find they are unable to attend. The best protection is that the public are kept informed over what goes on. 

Ticket reviews link – Ticket website rip off

http://www.guardian.co.ticket-website-rip-off

Where Are Machines Taking Us - Does Being Online Control You?

‘Using’ the Internet can be a powerful tool for access and information and communication. I try to avoid getting ‘sucked’ into various online ‘tunnels’ – so I can stay in ‘control’. Once the powers that be controlled the Proletariat through wars and alcohol – today the Big Media Conglomerates control or ‘attempt to control’, through ‘Online Gaming’ and other Media.

These games are addictive just like other drugs, through the clever use of offering small rewards.

And Kindles? Well my son has a Kindle with a retro dark brown cloth cover and it actually looks rather cool. I also like the Kindle apps that offer access to libraries connected to our favourite topics. Yet my daughter prefers the feel of a hardback book under her hands. We are all different! 

We may ask ourselves where are machines taking us? Can a machine, no matter how sophisticated truly replicate the intricacies, interconnections and beauty of the Human Mind and mostly the emotions of the Human Heart. Can electronic sounds ever truly match the earthy realness of a beautifully crafted violin or flute, an Italian piano, a Gibson guitar, the scale of the clarinet or the ethereal beauty of the human voice…………?

After the World War a generation of young men was lost – today a generation is lost to Online Games. Who are the Winners?

I accidentally thought of this new verb for all this! – meaning we are numbed into this passive thinking… condoled. Stay in control!

 "Success is waking up in the morning and bounding out of bed because there's something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you're good at - something that's bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again."-- Whit Hobbs