Didn't expect to find myself here ever again. In the past I have used live music as a way of mending a broken heart, and I'm sure it will work again. It's something to do with the energy and creativity - in fact it's about using soul to mend a heart, whatever the style of music.
In the absence of any tickets booked, I started to think back over live performances I've seen that will help me through. Some are sad, and feed the melancholy - others take you right out of it.
In no particular order -
Little Feat - Long Distance Love
Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up
Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
Smokey Robinson - Tears of a Clown
Beach Boys - God Only Knows
Kinks - You Really Got me
Candi Staton - You Got the Love & Young Hearts Run Free
James Taylor - You got a Friend & Fire and Rain
Captain Beefheart - My Head is my only House
Patti Smith - Because the Night
Van Morrison - Someone like you
Sufjan Stephens - Impossible Dream
and last for now
Country Joe and the Fish - Here I Go Again
Not exhaustive, just off the top of my aching head. Remembering them feels quite therapeutic.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Doncaster's own
Back in 1990 I moved to Sheffield with a husband and two young children. We lived a seven minute car journey from the city centre ( I timed it door to door to the City Hall), in a green and leafy suburb. I had been nervous of moving back to a city from the wilds of West Yorkshire. There was a good reason for the move though - I wanted my children to have the experience of a Steiner education. It turned out to be a great decision. Sheffield was emerging from one of its lows. The Student Games were being held there. There was world music at every turn, a thriving folk scene, the Leadmill and of course the fantastic City Hall venue. All of this could have been a source of great frustration if we hadn't moved on to the most amazing avenue in Nether Edge.A cul de sac with a huge shared green in the middle and 75 children under 16 living there. Babysitters were legion, though we were all particularly fond of the sisters who lived next door. At the drop of a hat we could decide to go to a concert at very short notice. I saw Alan Stivell,the legendary Breton harpist at the Leadmill on the spur of the moment one Sunday night in this way. But the best last minute on a Sunday concert was when I spotted that John McLaughlin was playing the City Hall one summer Sunday evening. The Hall was half empty, but the audience made up for it with their enthusiasm. His voice had a hint of South Yorkshire still, and it was very much a home coming for him. His band were incredible. I especially remember the percussionist, and then his partner, Katia Labecque came and joined him on stage.
At a fabulous and extraordinary meeting of the Bakewell Vinyl Club last Sunday night (thanks Keith and Sue!) we played some John McLaughlin and I was reminded of that long ago summer Sunday night.
At a fabulous and extraordinary meeting of the Bakewell Vinyl Club last Sunday night (thanks Keith and Sue!) we played some John McLaughlin and I was reminded of that long ago summer Sunday night.
Friday, 20 January 2012
Rhythm of the Saint
I have just watched a Paul Simon concert on BBC4,filmed last June in the States. I realised that it's about twenty years ago that I saw him live. The Arena in Sheffield opened as a new concert venue in about 1991. The first artist to play there was Paul Simon, with one of the best bands I have ever seen live. He had already enjoyed renewed success with Graceland, but I had fallen in love with Rhythm of the Saints and its Brazilian influences. I first came across Milton Nascimento on that album, and I had a little fantasy that he might be a surprise guest on that tour. Sadly he wasn't, but the musicians on stage that night made up for any disappointment I felt. We were about ten rows back from the front, and the atmosphere was wonderful.
Paul Simon seemed old twenty years ago ! - no offence meant, but I had grown up with his music from childhood. To see him tonight, in the film of last year's concert, he didn't seemed to have lost anything in those years - in fact he had gained another amazing group of musicians, and a whole new generation in the audience.
Back in Sheffield all those years ago, the Arena was brand new, and the security people were taking their role a little too seriously.
We were probably a well behaved audience too, watching an old musical hero in unfamiliar arena surroundings. As the band struck up 'Call me Al', Paul Simon encouraged us to 'dance for the Arena'. I guess he knew his was the first concert to be held there. We needed no further encouragement. Everyone got to their feet.
I went to other concerts at the Arena over the next few years, Dire Straits. Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Van the man. I came to dislike it as a venue. I couldn't see the point of going to a live concert where you relied on cameras and screens to see the musicians.
My love affair with Brazilian music was influenced by Paul Simon and I have him to thank for that.
We went to the concert with our Sheffield neighbours. Alan had once given Art Garfunkel a lift when he came across him hitching on the outskirts of Sheffied, and my then husband had missed the chance to jam with Paul Simon at a folk club on the outskirts of Liverpool back in the early sixties, because he was 'washing his hair'! Happy days!
Paul Simon seemed old twenty years ago ! - no offence meant, but I had grown up with his music from childhood. To see him tonight, in the film of last year's concert, he didn't seemed to have lost anything in those years - in fact he had gained another amazing group of musicians, and a whole new generation in the audience.
Back in Sheffield all those years ago, the Arena was brand new, and the security people were taking their role a little too seriously.
We were probably a well behaved audience too, watching an old musical hero in unfamiliar arena surroundings. As the band struck up 'Call me Al', Paul Simon encouraged us to 'dance for the Arena'. I guess he knew his was the first concert to be held there. We needed no further encouragement. Everyone got to their feet.
I went to other concerts at the Arena over the next few years, Dire Straits. Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Van the man. I came to dislike it as a venue. I couldn't see the point of going to a live concert where you relied on cameras and screens to see the musicians.
My love affair with Brazilian music was influenced by Paul Simon and I have him to thank for that.
We went to the concert with our Sheffield neighbours. Alan had once given Art Garfunkel a lift when he came across him hitching on the outskirts of Sheffied, and my then husband had missed the chance to jam with Paul Simon at a folk club on the outskirts of Liverpool back in the early sixties, because he was 'washing his hair'! Happy days!
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
In search of the lost cassette and how I discovered Caetano Veloso
Many years ago I lived and worked in Casablanca for a year. I had gone there on a whim, running away from a political and economic atmosphere very much like this one, and the threat of another dreadful winter. Funding had run out on my job, and I had split up with my boyfriend of the time. I travelled light and within a couple of weeks found myself with a job and a shared apartment. We had no music in the flat. One day I was in a car with some new friends driving through Casa, and we passed a smiling girl with fair curly hair driving her car at a roundabout. I can't remember if she followed me home, or if I just bumped into her again within a couple of days, but somehow we became great friends. She was French, working as a nurse. She introduced my flat mate and I to a great crowd of young French Moroccans. She also gave us a cassette player and a selection of cassettes, all anonymous. One cassette was by a Brazilian singer, and I adored it. She told me he was very popular in France, but I never got his name. I left the flat in 1981 and gave her the tape and cassette player back, though I fully intended to return to Morocco once I had sold my house in Manchester. I have been hoping to hear those songs and that voice ever since. When Paul Simon worked with Milton Nascimento I thought it might have been him. I listened to Joao Gilberto and Gilberto Gil, but never had that rush of recognition.My son then told me about Caetano Veloso - in fact we went to watch Almodovar's Talk to Her together, and there is a very emotional scene at a party, where Caetano performs. I listened to as much of his work as I could get hold of at the time. In 2007 I went to see him in concert at the Barbican - an amazing night, with an audience of mainly Brazilian and Portuguese fans, singing along and waving flags! I had read his autobiography by then, knew about his time in exile in London, and his involvement in the Tropicalia movement in Brazil.I still haven't heard the songs I listened to so many times in my Casablanca flat, but I discovered a singer who has become one of my all time favourites.
I was reminded of Caetano by a friend's face book post of him singing a Bob Dylan song this week - I hadn't listened for a while, so it was great to rediscover him. And I still search for that lost cassette.
I was reminded of Caetano by a friend's face book post of him singing a Bob Dylan song this week - I hadn't listened for a while, so it was great to rediscover him. And I still search for that lost cassette.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Long Time Comin'
This is a response to a recent concert that stirred up a lot of history.
It could have been as long as a year ago that I heard a rumour that Crosby and Nash would be touring soon.
Back in April I saw that they were on at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in early September. My good friend Keith and I decided we had to go and see them whilst we had the chance.
I liked the idea of seeing Graham Nash on home ground, so tickets were booked, and every so often there would be a flutter of excitement as we talked about the concert. I'm sure some people thought we were just a pair of old hippies off to see another pair of even older hippies. There's always the danger of disappointment, when musical heroes age. I had seen the Byrds at Bath in 1970, but I hadn't seen the Hollies or any combination of Crosby Stills and Nash when I was younger.
I read a good review of their recent concerts, but we didn't do a lot of homework or research - just going with the flow.
When the band walked on stage and launched into 'Eight Miles High' we were up there, giddy with excitement! Astoundingly powerful. Then Graham Nash introduced 'Bus Stop' the old Graham Gouldman Hollies' song, for his sister in the audience.
The set went from strength to strength - all the old favourites you could hope for, and some newer songs I recognised from their 2004 album. There was no sense of nostalgia. these were familiar and unfamiliar songs, played by a band at the top of their game.
The banter, the affection, the sense of respect filled the hall, audience to performers, band member to band member. It just kept getting better, and yet there was a sense that the musicians could still go further.
Harmony all around. Graham Nash had old friends and family in the audience. He had received an honorary doctorate that day from Salford University - cue jokes about prescribing for Crosby.
They played for an incredible three hours, with a short, less than 15 minute break.
Emotions flooded back - many of those songs and their lyrics seem to be hard wired in my brain. We talked about how we used to listen. Was it the intensity of youth, or the intensity of the experience of listening to a favourite album again and again in candle lit rooms?
Their political and environmental message - as well as the very personal messages in songs like Our House and Teach Your Children,became the template for our lives and attitudes - romantic and realistic - full of loving kindness and affection.
There was David Crosby's son, adopted and then reunited with him, James Raymond, who had inherited his father's talent for music and song writing, playing in the band.
There were some strange connections for me. My boyfriend of those far off days, Derek Taylor, introduced me to Crosby Stills and Nash's music. He played in a band called Dhyani with a member of Greasy Bear, Steve Whalley. Other members of Greasy Bear included Ian Wilson ( later of Sad Cafe) and Chris Lee ( C P Lee of Salford University among other claims to fame). Who should I bump into on the way out but Ian. And then Chris posted a fabulous photo of Graham Nash in his doctor's robes on facebook.
Keith and I couldn't resist trying to work out how old Crosby and Nash are, though age had nothing to do with the power of their performance, unless it was down to experience and constant practice. Nash is 68 and Crosby 70. It feels like someone has moved the goalposts yet again on what possibilities for creativity the years might bring. Have no fear.
Ironically, outside Bridgewater Hall was a seething mass of fluorescent jacketed policemen, road blocks, closed roads and car parks, all in preparation for the Conservative party conference, and the trouble expected in response to the policies of the present government.
It could have been as long as a year ago that I heard a rumour that Crosby and Nash would be touring soon.
Back in April I saw that they were on at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in early September. My good friend Keith and I decided we had to go and see them whilst we had the chance.
I liked the idea of seeing Graham Nash on home ground, so tickets were booked, and every so often there would be a flutter of excitement as we talked about the concert. I'm sure some people thought we were just a pair of old hippies off to see another pair of even older hippies. There's always the danger of disappointment, when musical heroes age. I had seen the Byrds at Bath in 1970, but I hadn't seen the Hollies or any combination of Crosby Stills and Nash when I was younger.
I read a good review of their recent concerts, but we didn't do a lot of homework or research - just going with the flow.
When the band walked on stage and launched into 'Eight Miles High' we were up there, giddy with excitement! Astoundingly powerful. Then Graham Nash introduced 'Bus Stop' the old Graham Gouldman Hollies' song, for his sister in the audience.
The set went from strength to strength - all the old favourites you could hope for, and some newer songs I recognised from their 2004 album. There was no sense of nostalgia. these were familiar and unfamiliar songs, played by a band at the top of their game.
The banter, the affection, the sense of respect filled the hall, audience to performers, band member to band member. It just kept getting better, and yet there was a sense that the musicians could still go further.
Harmony all around. Graham Nash had old friends and family in the audience. He had received an honorary doctorate that day from Salford University - cue jokes about prescribing for Crosby.
They played for an incredible three hours, with a short, less than 15 minute break.
Emotions flooded back - many of those songs and their lyrics seem to be hard wired in my brain. We talked about how we used to listen. Was it the intensity of youth, or the intensity of the experience of listening to a favourite album again and again in candle lit rooms?
Their political and environmental message - as well as the very personal messages in songs like Our House and Teach Your Children,became the template for our lives and attitudes - romantic and realistic - full of loving kindness and affection.
There was David Crosby's son, adopted and then reunited with him, James Raymond, who had inherited his father's talent for music and song writing, playing in the band.
There were some strange connections for me. My boyfriend of those far off days, Derek Taylor, introduced me to Crosby Stills and Nash's music. He played in a band called Dhyani with a member of Greasy Bear, Steve Whalley. Other members of Greasy Bear included Ian Wilson ( later of Sad Cafe) and Chris Lee ( C P Lee of Salford University among other claims to fame). Who should I bump into on the way out but Ian. And then Chris posted a fabulous photo of Graham Nash in his doctor's robes on facebook.
Keith and I couldn't resist trying to work out how old Crosby and Nash are, though age had nothing to do with the power of their performance, unless it was down to experience and constant practice. Nash is 68 and Crosby 70. It feels like someone has moved the goalposts yet again on what possibilities for creativity the years might bring. Have no fear.
Ironically, outside Bridgewater Hall was a seething mass of fluorescent jacketed policemen, road blocks, closed roads and car parks, all in preparation for the Conservative party conference, and the trouble expected in response to the policies of the present government.
Monday, 4 July 2011
The ones that got away!
I am having a busy summer of concert going, which will no doubt create a few more historic gigs of the future. Recently I have been thinking about some of the ones who have got away. I have been incredibly fortunate to have seen many of my favourite artists - some more than once, but there have been some notable exceptions. I didn't get to the Isle of Wight when Hendrix played, though I knew many who did. I didn't see the Doors at the Roundhouse, but my friend met them arriving at Heathrow. I saw the Grateful Dead at Ally Pally, Pink Floyd and Country Joe at the Bath Festival in 1970. I caught up with the Stones at Knebworth. I saw Fleetwood Mac, but with Stevie Nicks, not Peter Green. Likewise, Steve Winwood, but not Traffic. Clapton without the Cream. Bob Dylan in his later career, not with the Band. The Byrds, but not the Eagles. Wings but not the Beatles. Manchester University famously turned down the free Wings concert so they went to Salford instead. I was in my local pub, the Cross Keys in Eccles, when the news came through. I have seen Nico several times, but never the Velvet Underground.David Byrne, but not Talking Heads. Little Feat with the incomparable Lowell George. Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant.
The ones I feel have got away include Joni Mitchell,though I have seen James Taylor and Jackson Browne more than once, and hope to see Graham Nash in October! Stevie Wonder is another regret, though I am not sure I'd want to see him now, but I have seen the Temptations and Smokey Robinson.Leonard Cohen is a regret too.
Who knows - I got to see Ravi Shankar a few weeks ago, in his 90s and still amazing. If they keep on playing concerts, I'll keep on buying tickets!
The ones I feel have got away include Joni Mitchell,though I have seen James Taylor and Jackson Browne more than once, and hope to see Graham Nash in October! Stevie Wonder is another regret, though I am not sure I'd want to see him now, but I have seen the Temptations and Smokey Robinson.Leonard Cohen is a regret too.
Who knows - I got to see Ravi Shankar a few weeks ago, in his 90s and still amazing. If they keep on playing concerts, I'll keep on buying tickets!
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Entertaining angels... Sufjan Stevens
This isn't a historic gig in the sense that it happened a long time ago - it's historic in the sense that I will never forget it!
Mid May the founder members of the Bakewell Vinyl Club went to the Manchester Apollo to see Sufjan Stevens. I had seen him a few years ago at Green Man. I had a quick look at youtube to catch up with what he's doing now, and was looking forward to seeing him, but not entirely sure what to expect.
One of the drawbacks of age and experience, and having been to lots of concerts, is that you can't help analysing performer's influences, and actually you just have to accept that they are doing it in the here and now for their fans and their generation.
Funkadelic, psychedelic,Rufus Wainwright's angel wings,Gang Gang Dance and Darwin Deez dance moves - and especially Flaming Lips stage show as seen at Green Man last summer. As I tried to interpret what was going on on stage, I was completely overwhelmed by the spectacle and energy of the performance, the music, the colours, the costumes and movement. And then he would suddenly change pace, come to the front of the stage and pick up a guitar to sing something calmer, quieter and familiar.
He gave a presentation about an artist who had influenced him with his folk art depictions of aliens and other worlds. He talked about the power of sound and movement. The audience were with him all the way through the shifts of mood and energy.
He talked about Space and galaxies. He took us on a journey through the Universe. There were moments when I found it uncomfortable, a complete sensory overload, especially within the confines of a building. Flaming Lips' show was diffused by being an outdoor performance. This was energy bouncing back off the walls and ceiling. There was a point when I thought I wouldn't be able to stand up when the time came to leave - was I having some kind of drug related flash back from my misspent youth? It was intense and it was brilliant, over two and half hours of performance, with a 25 minute song towards the end, Impossible Soul - check it out on youtube - it takes up three videos!
So we talked about it in the car all the way home to Bakewell, and the next day I was still trying to make sense of it when I spoke to my daughter on the phone. Some of her friends had been there. One of her friends had been to a Steiner school, as had she when she was younger. Sufjan Stevens had also been Steiner educated and suddenly all became clear. Rudolf Steiner's Planetary Spheres and their influence - the stars are us, we are starlight. I'd moved heaven and earth ( well, house and home) so my children could go to a Steiner school and was devastated when it closed its doors. Anthroposophy was a big part of my life for some years, and I had heard Sufjan mention eurythmy and theosophy during his performance and hadn't made the connection.
A concert I won't forget.
Mid May the founder members of the Bakewell Vinyl Club went to the Manchester Apollo to see Sufjan Stevens. I had seen him a few years ago at Green Man. I had a quick look at youtube to catch up with what he's doing now, and was looking forward to seeing him, but not entirely sure what to expect.
One of the drawbacks of age and experience, and having been to lots of concerts, is that you can't help analysing performer's influences, and actually you just have to accept that they are doing it in the here and now for their fans and their generation.
Funkadelic, psychedelic,Rufus Wainwright's angel wings,Gang Gang Dance and Darwin Deez dance moves - and especially Flaming Lips stage show as seen at Green Man last summer. As I tried to interpret what was going on on stage, I was completely overwhelmed by the spectacle and energy of the performance, the music, the colours, the costumes and movement. And then he would suddenly change pace, come to the front of the stage and pick up a guitar to sing something calmer, quieter and familiar.
He gave a presentation about an artist who had influenced him with his folk art depictions of aliens and other worlds. He talked about the power of sound and movement. The audience were with him all the way through the shifts of mood and energy.
He talked about Space and galaxies. He took us on a journey through the Universe. There were moments when I found it uncomfortable, a complete sensory overload, especially within the confines of a building. Flaming Lips' show was diffused by being an outdoor performance. This was energy bouncing back off the walls and ceiling. There was a point when I thought I wouldn't be able to stand up when the time came to leave - was I having some kind of drug related flash back from my misspent youth? It was intense and it was brilliant, over two and half hours of performance, with a 25 minute song towards the end, Impossible Soul - check it out on youtube - it takes up three videos!
So we talked about it in the car all the way home to Bakewell, and the next day I was still trying to make sense of it when I spoke to my daughter on the phone. Some of her friends had been there. One of her friends had been to a Steiner school, as had she when she was younger. Sufjan Stevens had also been Steiner educated and suddenly all became clear. Rudolf Steiner's Planetary Spheres and their influence - the stars are us, we are starlight. I'd moved heaven and earth ( well, house and home) so my children could go to a Steiner school and was devastated when it closed its doors. Anthroposophy was a big part of my life for some years, and I had heard Sufjan mention eurythmy and theosophy during his performance and hadn't made the connection.
A concert I won't forget.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)