La Stupenda

Dame Joan Sutherland 1927 - 2010.  The gretaest voice of the twentieth century.

Tall trees

I have been marvelling at the beautiful pictures of trees on It's always tea-time. The stillness and clarity made me think of this lovely recording of Tall Trees in Georgia by Eva Cassidy. I hope you enjoy it, Margaretha.

End of the festival

This weekend saw the end of the North Devon Festival which has been an absolute feast of music. It ended for me on Friday night at the Queen's Theatre, where John Mayall lived up to his status as "legendary."

He had a really good band, none yet as famous as past members of his Bluesbreakers but watch this space as there was a lot of talent on stage with him. Not having any video footage of the current line-up, I offer you a clip from 2007 with Buddy Whittington.


My dear friend over at 60goingon16 is in Hyde Park at this moment enjoying the Hard Rock Festival. We 60-somethings never forget our musical roots!

Out of time

I always seem to be out of time these days. However, the title of this post isn't about my hectic schedule but a reminder that I am going to see Chris Farlowe perform tonight and Out of Time is, of course, his most famous number from 1966. Here, courtesy of YouTube is the early version:

I don't know about you, but I think he is one of those people who looks and sounds better forty years on:

A legend and an ego

I have done it at last: having waited for more than 40 years, I have seen Bob Dylan live in concert. Admittedly, we had to take it on trust that he was really there on that distant stage in the NIA in Birmingham, but he kindly wore a white hat so that we could pick him out from the black-hatted members of the excellent band that shared the stage.
So, we couldn't really see him, we couldn't recognise even the most familiar songs, he didn't speak to us but we were there and I wouldn't have missed it for anything. He was Dylan being Dylan and I loved every second of the performance. One absolute certainty about the Bob Dylan Concert Tour is that each performance is unique, you couldn't recognise Blowin' in the Wind in Cardiff, but you couldn't recognise it in a different way in Birmingham.

My son has written an excellent piece on the concert in particular and on Dylan in general here. He draws an important distinction between the man and his songs; the audience and the critics are divided between those who are disappointed when their old favourites sound very different and those who are there to enjoy the 'Dylan experience'.

On Tuesday evening, the MM and I went to Colston Hall in Bristol for the Gary Moore concert. The first hour was excellent; Buddy Whittington (picture from his official website) had the audience totally engaged and I think most of us would have been happy for him to fill the rest of the evening's programme.

Then he left, to make way for Gary Moore, who deigned to put in an appearance 45 minutes later. During the long wait, his sound engineer cranked up the volume way beyond the level of human comfort. The audience, who had clapped and foot-tapped through Buddy Whittington's performance, sat still and tense, enduring and not enjoying the sound. After four numbers, my husband indicated that he could stand no more and we joined a growing number of people who left the hall with aching heads and ringing ears.

We had only previously heard Gary Moore on CD; he is hugely talented as a guitarist and vocalist. Surely only mediocre musicians need to hide behind excessive loudness? And this was beyond excessive, way beyond the legal limit for noise in an enclosed area. What an oversized ego the man has to treat his audience in this manner. If you were thinking of attending one of his concerts, take ear defenders (our standard earplugs were no help), better still, stay at home and listen to him on your own sound system.

That was the only blip in an otherwise excellent week of good news, excellent company, fine food and wines, comfortable hotels and an evening with the legendary Bob Dylan.

The week ahead

I am going to be away for a few days, venturing into a few of those alien places that I usually avoid: cities. Short visits are bearable, indeed they can be very enjoyable, with the certainty of a rapid return to the country.

On Monday I will be in Exeter for my six-monthly hospital appointment which I will off-set with a visit to the lovely cathedral.
Then on to Bristol for two days of relaxation in a good hotel and an evening at Colston Hall for some blues:

On Wednesday, another city, another hotel and another concert: Birmingham to see Bob Dylan who will be looking and sounding a lot older than in this clip, but who cares?

I will report back on Friday.

Sondheim and Dench

I was in the mood for some Stephen Sondheim music today and found plenty to choose from on You Tube. I couldn't resist this Judi Dench version of Send in the Clowns. What a combination of talents.

Who knows where the time goes?

Another day filled with distractions but no time to write about them. This morning I started preparing bedrooms for the Christmas visitors, then I went into town to buy a few gifts. I had an appointment with my hairdresser, something I normally find very relaxing and enjoyable but today I was filled with dread, having read my son's description of his bout of nausea when having his hair cut. I bore this spoiling of my little treat in mind when choosing his Christmas present!

The rest of the day has disappeared in a flurry of small domestic chores and now I can't get my brain to construct a few simple sentences. Instead, I'll give us all a treat with some Nina Simone....

Autumn melancholy

We are enjoying a few sunny days just now, but there is a decidedly autumnal nip in the early morning and evening air. As the evenings draw in, but it isn't yet cold or dark enough for cosy fires and welcoming lights, I have a tendency towards melancholy. Nothing serious, you understand, I am boringly optimistic in my outlook on life, but I find myself listening to the blues and reading more poetry than usual; I look out my 'comfort books', take up the knitting needles and dig out the unfinished quilts. I suppose it is the opposite of spring-cleaning: I'm getting ready to snuggle down for the winter but feeling a bit sad about the passing of summer.

We have had two consecutive rainy summers so perhaps we can all be forgiven for feeling a bit gloomy about the approach of winter. One of the casualties of the rain has been our family gathering at Westonbirt in July, for an open air concert and champagne picnic. The last one we attended was in 2006, when we saw Van Morrison. Thinking of that, I have been listening to his Veedon Fleece album - just the right sentiments for my current mood. I was going to share some of it here but, surprisingly, there isn't any on YouTube, my search was not in vain, however, because I came across a wonderful clip title: If Van Morrison wrote a song about Emily Dickinson .... The song is The Belle of Amhurst by the band Quoting Napoleon. Perfect for a melancholy Thursday. Watch out for Caspar David Friedrich's 'Woman at the Window', which I featured in a post in September.

Elkie Brooks - Lilac Wine

I'm going to sit under the moonlit lilac tree with my glass of wine.

An evening with Chris Barber

Elkie Brooks - Don't Cry Out Loud (1978)

My post on Lorna Sage's memoir, Bad Blood, has triggered a host of emails full of people's childhood memories. Maybe I'll venture into that area in another post one day, in the meantime here's a piece of music that will resonate with some of you.

Enya - Caribbean Blue

This seems such an appropriate piece to mark the occasion of A and A's wedding in the Caribbean. I hope the reality is as magical as this fantasy!

Oh Holy Night

To make up for the disappointing Dickens on television in the run up to Christmas, here is some lovely Kiri Te Kanawa.

THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET - 'ROUND MIDNIGHT

As promised!

All that jazz

Art Themen is reputedly one of the most gifted saxophonists in the world today. The saxophone is my favourite instrument, so I was delighted when the MM told me he had tickets for the Art Themen Quartet concert at the Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple. I was surprised that someone of that calibre would play such a small venue but surprise turned to disbelief when we arrived last night to find that he wasn't playing in the theatre itself but in the Gallery Bar, which only holds about 50 people.

Despite the fact that there were only 47 of us in the audience, the quartet gave a world class performance and, like all jazz musicians, had a great deal of fun giving it. The highlight of the evening for me was my introduction to the sopranino saxophone; although I must have heard it on recordings, I hadn’t seen it played before last night. It was magical, especially in the hands of such a master.

I can’t say much about the other members of the quartet, except that they were excellent musicians. Being a gig rather than a concert, there were no programme notes and all I picked up was that all three had played in Ronnie Scott’s band, albeit in different decades; the pianist treated us to a selection of Ronnie Scott’s jokes.

It was a good evening with a BUT. The music was not my favourite kind of jazz, it was technically brilliant and my head was fully engaged in appreciation of the artistes’ skill but my heart was rarely touched. I had hoped for some Blues, after all that is what the saxophone can do better than any other instrument in my very humble opinion.

I'll post Thelonious Monk playing my kind of music on saxophone. (I'll have to do it as a separate post because I haven't mastered the art of embedding!)

Billy Joel - Leningrad

I was born November '45 so these are all images from my lifetime. (Does anyone else remember those 4-minute warning drills?) Following the comments about war on my Mothers and Sons post, I'd just like to say - make fun, not war!

Pearl's A Singer Elkie Brooks

Some more Elkie, this time for Duck. Belated birthday greetings!

Elkie Brooks - Lilac Wine

Today is the MM's birthday. This is for him but I hope evryone will enjoy it.

New National Anthem of South Africa