Inspired

Two visits to Perth Concert Hall over the past few days have really inspired me.  During the first visit, I had a quick look at some of the images on display as part of the Perthshire Photographic Society exhibition.  (Note to self - go back for a longer look.)

I was entranced by Jean Burhouse’s montage of Perth buildings - and I spent a chunk of this morning snapping away - I might post some of my efforts later.

The second visit was last night to see the magnificent Perth Youth Orchestra annual concert.  I was blown away by some of the performances, but what made my night was the huge smile from daughter-child as the orchestra stood in response to the rapturous applause at the end.  A moment of magic!

New traditions at New Year

Since this is the second year that we've done it, I'm calling it a tradition! 

I'm talking about watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny.  I know it's pre-recorded, but there seems to be a really good atmosphere in the TV studio, and the performers all seem to enjoy themselves.  I should acknowledge that I'm a fan of Jools' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra - we saw them several years ago in Perth City Hall and they were fabulous.

So what were the stand out performances for me this year?

I enjoyed Paolo Nuttini's version of 'Lovin Machine'; and the technique and innovation from Rodrigo Y Gabriela; and I quite enjoyed Florence (without the Machine) doing 'My Baby Just Cares For Me'.

I was surprised to find myself enjoying the sartorially suave Mr Dizzee Rascal vs Nirvana.  (I wonder why Mrs Rascal named her son Dizzee?  Does he have siblings called Naughtee and Cheekee?)

But for me the stand out performance of the evening was Ruby Turner singing 'This Train' - check it out!

Do you have any new traditions that you'd like to share? Or, even, traditions that you'd like to introduce to family life?  

Christmas fun with Organic Demo

An interesting take on some old favourites.  Go on, smile!  You know you want to!

P.S. After posting this I went back to what I'd been listening to before - Franck's Panis Angelicus.  Slightly bizarre?

In praise of talent

Last night I had the great pleasure to attend (the second half) of an annual Christmas concert.  (There’s a story about why just the second half, but it’s not really relevant for now!)

The concert features young people from across Perth & Kinross.  We are very fortunate to have a wide range of musical options for our youngsters, thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of music tutors.

We are also blessed by having a wonderful concert hall, with possibly the best acoustics in Scotland.

We attended because Dolly D is now a member of the Perth Youth Orchestra – she plays cello.  The Youth Orchestra filled the very large stage in the Concert Hall, and produced a fantastic sound bringing out the best of the acoustics.  They played with energy, but also discipline, following the direction of the conductor. It was really wonderful to be there.

The Youth Orchestra were joined by the Perth and Kinross Chamber Choir who performed a goosebump-inducing version of “Steal Away”.

But in a night full of highlights, one piece stands out for me.  The Perth and Kinross Senior Brass Band played “Who is He?”, starting with two cornets playing alone.  They were perfectly in time, perfectly matched, perfect in every way – and my Dad would have loved it! 

I’m convinced that being involved in music like this is really beneficial for young people – developing discipline, playing together, using talents, learning new skills, and building confidence.  I didn’t have the perseverance to learn an instrument when I was younger, maybe it’s not too late?

So much energy, so much talent, so much to be thankful for.

Lyrics

"Hope is never light years away"

A phrase that leapt out from Athlete's new album - Black Swan.

The track is called "The Unknown".

No line on the horizon

I downloaded U2's new album last night and was listening to it in the gym today. I was stopped in my tracks by some of the lyrics to "Stand Up Comedy", especially these lines:

I can stand up for hope, faith, love
But while I´m getting over certainty
Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady

Out from under your beds
C´mon ye people
Stand up for your love...

God is love
And love is evolution's very best day

I'm not at all clear what the band intended by these words, and for myself I need to ponder further. But my initial reaction is to ask is this a picture of what the church has become/ what I've become?

Helping God across the road... hiding under the bed... rather than standing up for love?

And I think that the lines about evolution are the best thing that I've heard or read amidst the flurry of Darwin related stuff.

Silhouettes in the exits

I came across this CBS interview with Chris Martin of Coldplay. It seems to fit with a number of themes that are on my mind just now - including striving. It lasts 12 minutes or so, and I think it's worth watching - probably best to watch it before (or instead of) reading my ramblings below.




Watch CBS Videos Online

I love Steve Kroft's summary towards the end which includes this:

"They're... confident that they're not yet as good as they are going to be."

This epitomises the striving aspect that I was writing about yesterday. In Coldplay's position, it would be easy to cruise along in 'survive mode' for a while, using their back catalogue to generate royalties, resting on their laurels or just bumming around. Instead they're continuing to write new music - seeking the unattainable perfect song. I like that!

I thought that the way that Martin seeks feedback at concerts was intriguing - the silhouettes in the exits. Makes me wonder if we have learned where to look for genuine feedback on performance.

I agree with Chris Martin's sentiment:

"Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically..."

I'm pretty sure that my own worst performance occurs when I'm half-hearted about things.

I enjoyed the way that he didn't take himself too seriously, and admitted his difficulties in dealing with questions about his wife - there seemed to be an honest approach throughout the interview.

Also, I can identify with his electronic messages and scrawled notes - I'm struggling to organise the various scribbled notes that are cluttering the study at home, as well as dealing with all the electronic articles etc that I've accummulated in recent years. I carry a wee voice recorder with me in the car, so that I can capture any thoughts that come to me (my memory's not too great).

Finally, I liked the way that he gave credit to Dylan for the quip that he used. (I have a bit of a hobby horse about acknowledging the source of material!)

How do I know this stuff?

One of the TV highlights for me over the festive period was Jools Hoolands' Hootenanny - I think it's the first time that I've watched it. Of course, the R&B Orchestra were fantastic and he was joined by a host of talent. (You can still catch it on the BBC's iPlayer for a few days.)

Some of my favourites included Kelly Jones doing Handbags and Gladrags, Annie Lennox - Why, Sam Sparro - Black and Gold (I'd never heard of him before) and the Tings Tings (my current gym music). I was also stunned by Lily Allen's rendition of The Lady is a Tramp - she was fantastic!

As Motown is about to celebrate 50 years, Martha and the Vandellas were on. To be honest, the years haven't been altoghether kind and Martha's voice isn't what it used to be. But hearing them again motivated me to go and buy a celebration of Motown - 61 tracks for £6.49 from Amazon's new download service - a real bargain. As soon as I started listening to it, I was smiling and wanting to dance. The songs are so familiar - but I'm not sure how! My parents wouldn't have listened to this type of music, and in my teenage years I would have treated it with contempt - so how did it permeate my consciousness? I've got no idea - I'm just glad that they did! Here's Martha and the Vandellas when they were in their prime!

Magnificently weird or...

... weirdly magnificent?

I saw this bunch - Fleet Foxes - on Jools Holland last night and I still don't really know what to make of them. (There from Seattle like some of my blogger mates.) Also, if you can access the BBC's iPlayer, there was a very strange performance from Monkey's World and a classic from Al Green - Let's Stay Together.

Oh, and Dolly D enjoyed Pendulum - a sort of drum and bass popular beat combo m'lord.

The Freedom Trail

Before I begin properly, can I just say that I know how boring other people’s holiday snaps can be. So I’ve put them in a video thingy – you can choose to look at them or not. It’s entirely up to you and I won’t be offended if you choose not to.

One of the main features of the tourist-y side of Boston is the freedom trail – a red line that’s painted or embedded in the pavements leading from Boston Common to the Bunker Hill monument (or the USS Constitution, depending which route you follow at the last wee bit). Fortuitously our hotel was right on the trail towards the end – this was a handy navigational aid for us.

On our first full day we followed most of the trail – working backwards. This meant that we were going against the flow (aye, I know – nothing new in that for me), but also that we saw things from a slightly different perspective. Anyway wandering through the streets of the North End was really fascinating (although there did seem to be a lack of coffee shops open!)

By lunchtime we had arrived at Faneuil Hall where the ‘patriots’ plotted the Revolution. Anyway, right next to Faneuil Hall is Quincy Market, which is a great place to eat and be entertained. The central section of the Market is wall-to-wall food outlets serving almost every sort of cuisine – except haggis! Outside you’ll find street entertainers. Later on we discovered (or were misled if it’s not true!) that the performers have to audition to be allowed to do their stuff around the Market. They don’t get paid by the Market, they earn whatever passer-by ‘tip’ them. Some of them were really good. We saw a very good and funny juggler/clown, a group of kids doing breakdancing or hip hop or something (not sure about these sort of categories) and a very good singer/songwriter. I really liked her stuff – a bit of Suzanne Vega maybe? She’s called Cheryl B Engelhardt and if you look very closely you can see her in the bottom left corner of one of my photos. (What do you mean you didn’t look at them? I’m officially offended!) Cheryl has a website – it’s worth checking out and you can hear tracks from her second album on her myspace page.

Back to the Freedom Trail – it meanders on through the city centre past various sites of interest until it reaches Boston Common. If you’re ever in Boston it’s worth the walk, and you can get guided tours from the Park Rangers in period costume. However, I’d recommend taking one of the trolley tours, which will also let you see other parts of the city.

They may not have as much history as us, but they do it well – and probably know their history a lot better than we know ours.

The return of Jools

Jools Holland's fantastic Later Live returned to BBC2 this week. I thought that Elbow were pretty good. I really enjoyed the strings on One Day Like This, and the lyrics - especially the refrain:

It's looking like a beautiful day

So throw those curtains wide!

One day like this a year’d see me right!

But for me the star of the show was Imelda May. I loved the look and the sound. But then again it's all a matter of taste!

In praise of a software upgrade.

I usually find software upgrades a pain in the behookie - unnecessary downloads and restarts for no perceptible gain in functionality.

However, to my great surprise I'm quite enjoying the latest version of iTunes (8.0.0). I'm having a bit of fun with the 'genius' button. Now I know that it's just another way to try to get me buying more music from the iStore, and in essence it's no different from marketing ploys used by other companies, like Amazon. But it has one feature that I like - it generates playlists from your music library. It's much more random than I would be if I selected the music myself. I like that!

The big question is how long will I resist buying more music - that I hadn't intended to buy - from iTunes?

After housegroup

So we meet together every Tuesday night - have a chat, a cup of something, laugh together, study a chunk of the Bible, pray and then go our separate ways. Housegroup - for me the essential building block of the church. Intimacy, support, warmth - ye cannae beat it.

After a long or difficult day at work, it's sometimes hard to make the effort to go - and our group meets in our house! But it's always worth the effort. I may blog more about the significance of housegroups another time.

Tonight I want to briefly mention what I do after housegroup these days. We usually finish at about 10:00 p.m. and I head up to channel hop for half an hour before getting ready for bed etc. No channel hopping now though. It's straight to BBC2 to watch 'Later Live... with Jools Holland'. He presents a truly eclectic mix of music - some brilliant, some garbage. But fast becoming unmissable for me.

This week he introduced me to Melody Gardot - an outstanding young (22 I think) musician from Philadelphia. If you have access to the BBC's iPlayer - stop reading and go and watch it now...

... Are you still here??

If you don't have access you can find some of her stuff on YouTube. I've included a sample below. Enjoy!

A free lunch??

I was intrigued to see that Coldplay are offering their new single as a free download - for the next few days. I guess it highlights the role of the single in the modern music scene, i.e. a tool to promote the album.

The single is called Violet Hill, and it's OK. It's from their soon to be released album called "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends".

I've got no idea what that's about, but since my iTunes library is currently organised by album name there's a weird juxtaposition as Coldplay fade out and Vivaldi's Trumpet Concerto strides in gustily.

I think the 'Viv' will be more enduring, but Violet Hill is growing on me the more I listen to it.

The Scots version of YouTube?

Over dinner tonight I had to chastise Dolly D for verbally abusing her mother.

The radio was playing in the background (the excellent Bryan Burnett's 'Bring it on'). I heard a song that I loved - Ann Peebles version of I Can't Stand the Rain - see below. The Fish Wife (knowing how my mind works... well, up to a point!) said words to the effect:

"Your dad will be straight on to Amazon to download that after dinner."

The response was a dismissive - "Amazon! You mean, iTunes - ya choob!" At least, that's what I heard. Dolly D claims to have said and meant something different - a likely tale!

[For the benefit of non-Scots or anyone else struggling to make sense of this, the dictionary of the Scots Language contains the following definition:

TUBE, n. Add variant choob. Term of abuse for a person.

*Gsw. 1992 Ian Pattison More Rab C. Nesbitt Scripts 147: NESBITT. It's me! It's yir Da! BURNEY. I know it's you, ya tube!]

Unfortunately I was too slow to wheel out my 'you'll be grounded 'til you're 38 speech', as I was desperately trying to remember the name of the singer that started all of this. Luckily I know how the Fish Wife's brain works (... well, up to a point) so I knew that she would remember.

All of this nonsense has now got my brain working - what would other well-known websites be called if they were named in Scots? Any suggestions?

Van's blessing

Today is watercooler day over at Ethos (thanks to Camel Crossing for the link). I don't usually join in with these kind of things, and I didn't answer the question about music - but I thought that this fitted the general idea of Arts/Culture ... (I have commented before about my occasional difficulties with rules and conformity!)

As I was reading the Ethos post, I was listening to a Van Morrison concert recorded for Radio 2's music club - it's fantastic. I love the way that he takes familiar songs, gives them a new twist, and turns them into something even more magical - just listen to 'Have I told you lately' and you'll see what I mean.

It seemed to be something worth talking about at the watercooler.

At the start of the concert, Johnny Walker quotes Van Morrison:

"There's always tunes and words going on in my head. I don't know if it's a curse or it's a blessing."

Listen to the recording (I don't know how long it'll be there - so do it soon!) and make up your own mind.

A Scottish lament written by a Jewish guy from the Bronx

His Girl Friday has posted a beautiful song over at Wellied on Life.

The Ashokan Farewell has been a favourite of mine since I first heard it on Classic FM a few years ago. In fact, I've voted for it in the Hall of Fame every year since. There's a poignant Scottish feeling about it, which I adore and which usually brings a lump to my throat and a wee tear to the corner of my eye.

I hadn't really thought too much about the background to the song until tonight. In fact until tonight I hadn't really thought of it as a song - just a wonderful piece of music. Anyhow, as I was listening to it, I looked up the lyrics on the inter-webby-net, and I thought that they were reminiscent of some of Burns' love songs.

Then I found Jay Ungar's (the composer) website, which includes his story of the song. I'm amazed by this extract:

"By the time the tune took form, I was in tears. I kept it to myself for months, unable to fully understand the emotions that welled up whenever I played it. I had no idea that this simple tune could effect others in the same way."

The story is lovely, and so is the music. Good for the soul at the end of a working day!

These young people should be headline news

I've copied the title for this blog from Random Mum. I spent a large chunk of yesterday at the same event and was blown away by the talent, energy and commitment of the young people and their instrumental tutors etc.

There were several highlights:

As a proud dad watching Dolly D playing with two orchestras, and winning the string orchestra competition against the local rival school - for the gazillionth year in a row!

Hearing Perth Youth Orchestra playing to near professional standards - you should see them if you get the chance. I would have paid proper money to hear them. (Yesterday cost me £4.00 for over 4 hours of entertainment!)

Perth Academy Swing Band - playing the music that my dad loves, but more importantly and impressively the group is led and directed by one of the pupils. Amazing - he plays sax with the swing band and is the lead clarinetist with PYO!

A fantastic, uplifting day thanks to a huge number (literally hundreds) of young people, who we can rightly be proud of.

Ayrshire connections

(Not George Burley - from Cumnock - although I think he'll be a decent manager for Scotland!)

Tomorrow is Burns Night and I'll be wading up to my be-kilted knees in haggis and tartan at a Burns Supper. The austere side of me (there's another side? - I hear you say) doesn't really approve of Burns Suppers. I don't think Burns would have done all that tartan stuff, however, it's a charity fund-raiser and an 'obligation' thing from work. So I'll go and have a good time (I hope!).

Anyway, I love Burns. Like me he's an Ayrshire lad. I have always found his poetry evocative and moving and full of passion. He did us a great favour, in my opinion, by collating and saving hundreds of traditional songs.

In recent times, Eddi Reader has recorded a lot of Burns songs, and I have really enjoyed her approach. She was brought up in the same town as me, so I guess that she 'gets' Burns as well. The video below is Eddi singing 'Ae Fond Kiss'.

Why 'Ae Fond Kiss'? Well, it's a fine song, which she sings well. But there's another Ayrshire connection for me. The song is about the ending of one of Burns' affairs, with a woman named Nancy. That's my mum's name, so this one's for my mum.

Church will eat itself… I hope!

Last week I caught the end of “Pop Britannia – Two Tribes” on BBC Four. It was a documentary looking at the “struggle between the forces of art and commerce” in British pop music over the last 30 years. You know the kind of thing –

Stock, Aitken, Waterman versus Blur
X-Factor or Arctic Monkeys

It was well presented and quite uplifting to recall how the radical edge has always re-surfaced to challenge the production line approach. Towards the end the presenter comments:

“British pop always eats itself and creates something totally new.”

Hence the title for this entry.

For a long time now, I’ve been frustrated by the ‘production line’ approach to church services. The same basic formula week in, week out. Where is the innovation? The pulsating, creative response to our Creator God? John Drane wrote a book called ‘The McDonaldization of the Church’ and I fear that’s exactly where we’ve reached.

Time to take a fresh look, try some new approaches, different emphases.

Why do we limit our worship for a limitless God?