Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Dad
I'd like to share that today is the fourth anniversary of my Dad's passing. A great Husband, Dad and Grandad, greatly missed.
Gypsy Jazz
Of course, it was bound to happen.
I don't know about you, but when it comes to making lists, I often omit one of the first things I should have noted down.
For example, my Jazz list in my previous post. I forgot to note 'Gypsy Jazz'.
That is to say the kind of Jazz played by Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt during their tenures with 'The Hot Club Of Paris' back in the 1930s.
This form of music, I'm happy to say, is still alive and vibrant, the torch being more than competently carried aloft by such skilled contemporary artists as Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg, Angelo DeBarre, Florin Niculescu, Luc Sylvain, Fapy Lafertain, Romane and many others.
Thanks to the marvels of modern technology (i.e. 'YouTube'), you don't have to take my word for how good this music can be. Please go along and check it out, or better still, support live Gypsy Jazz whenever you get a chance- venues for which are a bit thin on the ground in the UK, but they are there nonetheless.
The energy and technical skill is generally pretty stunning.
In fact, that's the start of 'Things you really should do before the next recession / ice age' or some other jaunty, uplifting title.
This will be a list in no particular order of things I think everybody should do / experience if they haven't already.
1 Go and see live Gypsy Jazz.
2 Go and see 'The National Theatre Of Brent' live on stage.
3 Listen to 'I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue' on the radio.
4 Watch 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' and 'The Big Lebowski' at the cinema- or on DVD- then check out the rest of the Coen Brothers' canon.
5 Go to the Lake District (in the North of England). Actually, don't- it'll get too crowded...
6 Read Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.
7 Get up on stage and have a go at some kind of live performance- or write something for other people to perform..
8 Go to 'The Globe Theatre' in London and see some Shakespeare.
9 In fact support any live performance that takes your fancy- it may well all disappear under a cloud of legislation one day.
10 Watch 'Monty Python's Life Of Brian'.
More to follow- suggestions appreciated.
While you're here, you might be interested in viewing the list of theatre productions I've seen- which seems to be a paltry amount...
Twelfth Night (1970) RSC, (Adwych)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1971) ?
Decameron ‘73 (1973) (Roundhouse)
From Moses To Mao (1974) Le Grand Magic Circus (Roundhouse)
(A play about the depression in Canada in the 1930s) (1977?) ? (Young Vic)
Once In A Lifetime (1979) RSC (Aldwych)
Not In Front Of The Audience (1982) Not The Nine O'Clock News Live (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1987) National Theatre Of Brent (NTOB) (Tricycle)
Button Moon (1991?) ! (Beck Theatre, Hayes)
Animal Crackers (1998) Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester (Barbican) Three times...
Mr Puntilla And His Man Matti (1998) Right Size (Albery)
Love Upon The Throne (1998) NTOB, (Comedy)
Beauty And The Beast (1998?) (Dominion)
The Man Who Came To Dinner (1998) Steppenwolf Theatre Of Chicago (Barbican)
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe (1999) RSC (Sadler’s Wells)
The Messiah (2000) NTOB, (Bush)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (2000) Steppenwolf Theatre... (Barbican)
Excentricus (2000) Cirque Eloize (Sadler’s Wells)
The Wonder Of Sex (2001) NTOB, (Lyttelton, National Theatre) Twice.
Blue Man Group (2007) (New London Theatre Drury Lane)
Pantos I have personally been in (amateur productions, of course):
Sinbad
Aladdin
Jack And Jill Beyond The Hill (which I wrote)
Jack And The Bean Stalk
Humpty Dumpty
Plus several musical revues- and many gigs with various bands.
Not good enough to give up the day job, sadly...
I don't know about you, but when it comes to making lists, I often omit one of the first things I should have noted down.
For example, my Jazz list in my previous post. I forgot to note 'Gypsy Jazz'.
That is to say the kind of Jazz played by Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt during their tenures with 'The Hot Club Of Paris' back in the 1930s.
This form of music, I'm happy to say, is still alive and vibrant, the torch being more than competently carried aloft by such skilled contemporary artists as Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg, Angelo DeBarre, Florin Niculescu, Luc Sylvain, Fapy Lafertain, Romane and many others.
Thanks to the marvels of modern technology (i.e. 'YouTube'), you don't have to take my word for how good this music can be. Please go along and check it out, or better still, support live Gypsy Jazz whenever you get a chance- venues for which are a bit thin on the ground in the UK, but they are there nonetheless.
The energy and technical skill is generally pretty stunning.
In fact, that's the start of 'Things you really should do before the next recession / ice age' or some other jaunty, uplifting title.
This will be a list in no particular order of things I think everybody should do / experience if they haven't already.
1 Go and see live Gypsy Jazz.
2 Go and see 'The National Theatre Of Brent' live on stage.
3 Listen to 'I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue' on the radio.
4 Watch 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' and 'The Big Lebowski' at the cinema- or on DVD- then check out the rest of the Coen Brothers' canon.
5 Go to the Lake District (in the North of England). Actually, don't- it'll get too crowded...
6 Read Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.
7 Get up on stage and have a go at some kind of live performance- or write something for other people to perform..
8 Go to 'The Globe Theatre' in London and see some Shakespeare.
9 In fact support any live performance that takes your fancy- it may well all disappear under a cloud of legislation one day.
10 Watch 'Monty Python's Life Of Brian'.
More to follow- suggestions appreciated.
While you're here, you might be interested in viewing the list of theatre productions I've seen- which seems to be a paltry amount...
Twelfth Night (1970) RSC, (Adwych)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1971) ?
Decameron ‘73 (1973) (Roundhouse)
From Moses To Mao (1974) Le Grand Magic Circus (Roundhouse)
(A play about the depression in Canada in the 1930s) (1977?) ? (Young Vic)
Once In A Lifetime (1979) RSC (Aldwych)
Not In Front Of The Audience (1982) Not The Nine O'Clock News Live (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1987) National Theatre Of Brent (NTOB) (Tricycle)
Button Moon (1991?) ! (Beck Theatre, Hayes)
Animal Crackers (1998) Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester (Barbican) Three times...
Mr Puntilla And His Man Matti (1998) Right Size (Albery)
Love Upon The Throne (1998) NTOB, (Comedy)
Beauty And The Beast (1998?) (Dominion)
The Man Who Came To Dinner (1998) Steppenwolf Theatre Of Chicago (Barbican)
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe (1999) RSC (Sadler’s Wells)
The Messiah (2000) NTOB, (Bush)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (2000) Steppenwolf Theatre... (Barbican)
Excentricus (2000) Cirque Eloize (Sadler’s Wells)
The Wonder Of Sex (2001) NTOB, (Lyttelton, National Theatre) Twice.
Blue Man Group (2007) (New London Theatre Drury Lane)
Pantos I have personally been in (amateur productions, of course):
Sinbad
Aladdin
Jack And Jill Beyond The Hill (which I wrote)
Jack And The Bean Stalk
Humpty Dumpty
Plus several musical revues- and many gigs with various bands.
Not good enough to give up the day job, sadly...
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Offline...
I start this entry with a touch of frustration- my internet provider currently has problems in my area (‘HA’ postcode- which isn’t as funny as it sounds). Consequently, I’m writing this offline, and rather pessimistically expect there to be a problem uploading it.
If you are reading this, I was probably wrong...*
Because of the delay, and my advanced years, I’m now trying to remember the gist of what this post was supposed to be about.
I think I mentioned about not finding it terribly easy to write on a personal level in the public domain. So, with that thought in mind, and with your indulgence, I’ll gabble on about things I find interesting.
I don’t know how your memory is (I feel a bit understimulated in my current job, which I’m sure is having an entropic effect on my few remaining grey cells), but it sometimes seems I can remember stuff from the 60s and 70s better than I can remember stuff from within the last few days.
People accuse you in this situation (unfairly I feel) of not being interested, and therefore not listening and taking things in to begin with.
In my case, I tend to be rather tied up in my own head thinking about what I could be creating musically or lyrically, what I could or should be doing, e.g. when can I spend quality time with the woman I Love, have I devoted enough time to being with my kids, when should I take Mum out to lunch and and what do I need to order from iTunes or Amazon..? You know- the important things.
I get sidetracked easily, too... but hey, I just realised that I AM writing personally, so all I can say here is ‘watch this space’- I may surprise you and myself yet.
Things I like to do:
√ Collect Music, Films, Books and TV programmes. Of course, I like to watch / listen and read them.
√ Be where there are big skies, bigs seas, big hills, big lakes and fresh air, strolling with my Beloved.
√ Meet up with my kids.
√ Eat good food.
√ Drink red wine.
√ Be in good company.
√ Create music / jam with fellow muso types.
√ Make people happy.
√ Share.
√ Care.
√ Laugh.
√ Hopefully occasionally change a person's outlook on the world in a positive way.
A lot of this you’ll already know from my profile.
Things I don’t like doing...?
X Indulging in small talk about things I'm not really interested in. I don't think I'll be headhunted by The Samaritans any day soon...
X Having to remember things and list them...
X Driving in cities with naff one way systems.
X Dealing with people who are drunk in a bad way- when I happen to be sober.
X Listening to people who constantly complain and don't do anything positive to help remedy the thing they're complaining about.
Actually, going on to things I don’t like generally, I’d have to include:
X 'Reality' television, or any kind of programme that sets out to embarrass and belittle people or show them in a bad light (documentaries about dictators not included).
X Tabloid journalism.
X Religious fundamentalism in ANY religion.
X Political correctness taken to the nth degree. Of course we shouldn't treat someone crappily because they're different from us- but for heaven's sake, let's not lose our perspective (or indeed sense of humour) here.
X Wishy washy admin staff and procedures and general corporate ineptitude (if there is by some long shot a General Corporate-Ineptitude reading this, I apologise profusely for the misunderstanding).
X Celebrity culture- e.g. the media believing it's of interest to everybody what Britney Spears or Posh are up to at any given moment. And celebrities who apparently start from humble beginnings then have to have their mix of sparkling and still Evian water served at exactly 12 degrees centigrade (probably having their grapes peeled too) and who then turn up late for gigs and snub their fans before and after.
√ Actually, credit where it's due- Tom Cruise seems to devote a lot of time to his fans before premieres (if his recent outings in Leicester Square are anything to go by. Good on him and others like him I say).
X Singers who 'growl' at the beginning of a line because they mistakenly believe it makes them sound soulful.
X Singers who are actually better dancers than they are singers (Fred and Gene excepted)- and who are not particularly good at dancing. Stop making records! Stop! Now!
Saying that, I don't like it when people get too snobby about music. Jazz (of which I like most branches) is one of those divisive areas. I used to like the Crusaders back in the 70s (pre Street Life), and one disparaging remark someone I was speaking to about them made was that they were 'just a bunch of technicians'. Also, I used to go and see a great live band called Morrissey Mullen back in the late 70s / early 80s, and one wag (or perhaps another word beginning with 'w') on the door at the 100 Club (I think it was), responded to my remark about supporting live jazz with the denigratory remark: 'if you can call it that' referring to whether it could truly be classed as Jazz. All I knew was that everybody always seemed to have a damn good time when they played. Unless the point was that people weren't meant to enjoy Jazz..? Nah.
Actually, Jazz covers such a big area: Trad, Bebop, Modern, Fusion, Ragtime, Dixie, Swing, Jazz, Acid, Big Band, Latin, New Orleans, Cool, Modal, Hard Bop, Funk, Free and probably a few I've not thought of. Someone once made the sweeping statement that they don't like Jazz. I feel they probably hadn't really listened, or perhaps couldn't get to grips with one particular form and therefore wrote the rest off. Truth to tell, his tastes were a bit too 'Pop' for my liking.
If I said I liked Classical music, I'd be telling the truth generally, but I can't honestly say I like Strauss waltzes, or could comfortably sit though a Stockhausen concert without wanting to die. Having said that, Stockhausen is still alive and will in fact be 80 next year and is possibly a jolly nice chap, so Happy 80th Birthday for next year Mr S.
Moving on...
I'm not a big fan of the kind of Country music that has a plodding beat and seems a bit insubstantial, lyric wise. Seemed very popular in Great Britain some years back at the Wembley Country festival. I do like Country Rock, Bluegrass and some New Country. And wasn't 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' a great film with a terrific soundtrack? Yes indeed.
Folk- yes, there's some fine Folk music around. Of course, that can be another arena of snobbery- just ask Bob Dylan about Newport- but it's nice to see young artists still supporting this style of music. I particularly like Kate Rusby- a wonderful voice.
Opera- it's mainly Puccini I like, but Cantleoube, Catalani, Bizet, Verdi et al have created some moving pieces. On the vocal front, Gregorian chants I like.
I like early Windham Hill music, which gave rise to the New Age category- but there's too much blandness within that genre for my liking.
Rock- well, I guess I've listed a lot of that in my profile.
Blues- of course. From any period of time- except possibly The Renaissance.
Pop- BIG arena. Yes some, no others. 60s and some 70s mainly good, 80s 90s 00s mainly not, in my humble opinion.
I'll have to try and make some 'favourites' listing, which will give me something to think about.
For now, possibly having bored you into submission, I'd just like to hop onto the book and film side of things to advise those of you that haven't yet read 'Northern Lights' by Phillip Pullman to do so ASAP, as the film 'The Golden Compass', which name is derived from the American title of the aforementioned book, is released in early December.
I read this and the rest of the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy a few years back, and they are truly great books.
Also, keep an eye out for the remastered 'Bladerunner (The Final Cut)' at the cinema, which should be stunning.
A final thing I don't like:
X Being a grumpy old git.
*If you aren’t reading this- it’s probably because I forgot to post it...
If you are reading this, I was probably wrong...*
Because of the delay, and my advanced years, I’m now trying to remember the gist of what this post was supposed to be about.
I think I mentioned about not finding it terribly easy to write on a personal level in the public domain. So, with that thought in mind, and with your indulgence, I’ll gabble on about things I find interesting.
I don’t know how your memory is (I feel a bit understimulated in my current job, which I’m sure is having an entropic effect on my few remaining grey cells), but it sometimes seems I can remember stuff from the 60s and 70s better than I can remember stuff from within the last few days.
People accuse you in this situation (unfairly I feel) of not being interested, and therefore not listening and taking things in to begin with.
In my case, I tend to be rather tied up in my own head thinking about what I could be creating musically or lyrically, what I could or should be doing, e.g. when can I spend quality time with the woman I Love, have I devoted enough time to being with my kids, when should I take Mum out to lunch and and what do I need to order from iTunes or Amazon..? You know- the important things.
I get sidetracked easily, too... but hey, I just realised that I AM writing personally, so all I can say here is ‘watch this space’- I may surprise you and myself yet.
Things I like to do:
√ Collect Music, Films, Books and TV programmes. Of course, I like to watch / listen and read them.
√ Be where there are big skies, bigs seas, big hills, big lakes and fresh air, strolling with my Beloved.
√ Meet up with my kids.
√ Eat good food.
√ Drink red wine.
√ Be in good company.
√ Create music / jam with fellow muso types.
√ Make people happy.
√ Share.
√ Care.
√ Laugh.
√ Hopefully occasionally change a person's outlook on the world in a positive way.
A lot of this you’ll already know from my profile.
Things I don’t like doing...?
X Indulging in small talk about things I'm not really interested in. I don't think I'll be headhunted by The Samaritans any day soon...
X Having to remember things and list them...
X Driving in cities with naff one way systems.
X Dealing with people who are drunk in a bad way- when I happen to be sober.
X Listening to people who constantly complain and don't do anything positive to help remedy the thing they're complaining about.
Actually, going on to things I don’t like generally, I’d have to include:
X 'Reality' television, or any kind of programme that sets out to embarrass and belittle people or show them in a bad light (documentaries about dictators not included).
X Tabloid journalism.
X Religious fundamentalism in ANY religion.
X Political correctness taken to the nth degree. Of course we shouldn't treat someone crappily because they're different from us- but for heaven's sake, let's not lose our perspective (or indeed sense of humour) here.
X Wishy washy admin staff and procedures and general corporate ineptitude (if there is by some long shot a General Corporate-Ineptitude reading this, I apologise profusely for the misunderstanding).
X Celebrity culture- e.g. the media believing it's of interest to everybody what Britney Spears or Posh are up to at any given moment. And celebrities who apparently start from humble beginnings then have to have their mix of sparkling and still Evian water served at exactly 12 degrees centigrade (probably having their grapes peeled too) and who then turn up late for gigs and snub their fans before and after.
√ Actually, credit where it's due- Tom Cruise seems to devote a lot of time to his fans before premieres (if his recent outings in Leicester Square are anything to go by. Good on him and others like him I say).
X Singers who 'growl' at the beginning of a line because they mistakenly believe it makes them sound soulful.
X Singers who are actually better dancers than they are singers (Fred and Gene excepted)- and who are not particularly good at dancing. Stop making records! Stop! Now!
Saying that, I don't like it when people get too snobby about music. Jazz (of which I like most branches) is one of those divisive areas. I used to like the Crusaders back in the 70s (pre Street Life), and one disparaging remark someone I was speaking to about them made was that they were 'just a bunch of technicians'. Also, I used to go and see a great live band called Morrissey Mullen back in the late 70s / early 80s, and one wag (or perhaps another word beginning with 'w') on the door at the 100 Club (I think it was), responded to my remark about supporting live jazz with the denigratory remark: 'if you can call it that' referring to whether it could truly be classed as Jazz. All I knew was that everybody always seemed to have a damn good time when they played. Unless the point was that people weren't meant to enjoy Jazz..? Nah.
Actually, Jazz covers such a big area: Trad, Bebop, Modern, Fusion, Ragtime, Dixie, Swing, Jazz, Acid, Big Band, Latin, New Orleans, Cool, Modal, Hard Bop, Funk, Free and probably a few I've not thought of. Someone once made the sweeping statement that they don't like Jazz. I feel they probably hadn't really listened, or perhaps couldn't get to grips with one particular form and therefore wrote the rest off. Truth to tell, his tastes were a bit too 'Pop' for my liking.
If I said I liked Classical music, I'd be telling the truth generally, but I can't honestly say I like Strauss waltzes, or could comfortably sit though a Stockhausen concert without wanting to die. Having said that, Stockhausen is still alive and will in fact be 80 next year and is possibly a jolly nice chap, so Happy 80th Birthday for next year Mr S.
Moving on...
I'm not a big fan of the kind of Country music that has a plodding beat and seems a bit insubstantial, lyric wise. Seemed very popular in Great Britain some years back at the Wembley Country festival. I do like Country Rock, Bluegrass and some New Country. And wasn't 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' a great film with a terrific soundtrack? Yes indeed.
Folk- yes, there's some fine Folk music around. Of course, that can be another arena of snobbery- just ask Bob Dylan about Newport- but it's nice to see young artists still supporting this style of music. I particularly like Kate Rusby- a wonderful voice.
Opera- it's mainly Puccini I like, but Cantleoube, Catalani, Bizet, Verdi et al have created some moving pieces. On the vocal front, Gregorian chants I like.
I like early Windham Hill music, which gave rise to the New Age category- but there's too much blandness within that genre for my liking.
Rock- well, I guess I've listed a lot of that in my profile.
Blues- of course. From any period of time- except possibly The Renaissance.
Pop- BIG arena. Yes some, no others. 60s and some 70s mainly good, 80s 90s 00s mainly not, in my humble opinion.
I'll have to try and make some 'favourites' listing, which will give me something to think about.
For now, possibly having bored you into submission, I'd just like to hop onto the book and film side of things to advise those of you that haven't yet read 'Northern Lights' by Phillip Pullman to do so ASAP, as the film 'The Golden Compass', which name is derived from the American title of the aforementioned book, is released in early December.
I read this and the rest of the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy a few years back, and they are truly great books.
Also, keep an eye out for the remastered 'Bladerunner (The Final Cut)' at the cinema, which should be stunning.
A final thing I don't like:
X Being a grumpy old git.
*If you aren’t reading this- it’s probably because I forgot to post it...
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