Current favourite cd of the year so far is "Place I Left Behind" by the Deep Dark Woods. This is a new band to me - introduced to me by Bob Harris via his shows on Radio 2. The band come from Saskatoon in Canada.
I managed to get my hands on an "evaluation" copy prior to its release earlier this year, but actually bought it on cd because I enjoyed it so much.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
The Woody Pines
Went along to a new venue for me the other night - Leith Folk Club. Leith Folk Club have recently moved (about the turn of the year I think) from their old location to the Victoria Park Hotel in Ferry Road.
On Tuesday night, they were playing host to The Woody Pines, who I had seen a couple of years ago at the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles. After humming and hawing about whether to go or not, I contacted Leith Folk Club to see if tickets were available and managed to reserve tickets which was a good thing as it ended up being a sell out gig.
Anyway went along on Monday night, and really enjoyed a good night.
Old Dollar Bill supported Woody and the guys, and played a short set of about 5 numbers - quite enjoyable - a couple of the numbers felt very Steve Earle ish.
Then after a short break The Woody Pines came on stage - for those of you who are unaware of the band, they play a sort of Americana style of music based on Viper Jazz, Country Swing and Ragtime. The band played two sets of about 50 minutes each, coming back on stage for a two song encore.
The venue was very busy and their were obviously a large number of Woody fans who are not regulars at the Folk Club - including about half a dozen ladies who were up dancing to a number of the faster tracks.
I enjoyed my first experience of Leith Folk Club and am thinking of returning next week to see the Coal Porters.
Needless to say CDs were purchased.
On Tuesday night, they were playing host to The Woody Pines, who I had seen a couple of years ago at the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles. After humming and hawing about whether to go or not, I contacted Leith Folk Club to see if tickets were available and managed to reserve tickets which was a good thing as it ended up being a sell out gig.
Anyway went along on Monday night, and really enjoyed a good night.
Old Dollar Bill supported Woody and the guys, and played a short set of about 5 numbers - quite enjoyable - a couple of the numbers felt very Steve Earle ish.
Then after a short break The Woody Pines came on stage - for those of you who are unaware of the band, they play a sort of Americana style of music based on Viper Jazz, Country Swing and Ragtime. The band played two sets of about 50 minutes each, coming back on stage for a two song encore.
The venue was very busy and their were obviously a large number of Woody fans who are not regulars at the Folk Club - including about half a dozen ladies who were up dancing to a number of the faster tracks.
I enjoyed my first experience of Leith Folk Club and am thinking of returning next week to see the Coal Porters.
Needless to say CDs were purchased.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Scottish hopes murdered by the All Blacks
Went along to Murrayfielf on Saturday to see Scotland take on the All Blacks.
During the build up the press made much of the confidence running through the Scotland team following the successful tour of Argentina during the Summer. Sadly the All Balcks soon shattered this confidence and absolutely murdered us - back to the drawing board for us I think.
One positive was that Scotland did lead the game briefly following Dan Park's successful penalty. However, as I said to Barry and Alan it probably just angered the Blacks.
During the build up the press made much of the confidence running through the Scotland team following the successful tour of Argentina during the Summer. Sadly the All Balcks soon shattered this confidence and absolutely murdered us - back to the drawing board for us I think.
One positive was that Scotland did lead the game briefly following Dan Park's successful penalty. However, as I said to Barry and Alan it probably just angered the Blacks.
Raul Malo - Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
On Friday night, I had the privilege of seeing Raul Malo in the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh. For those who are unaware of this great singer, he is probably best known to the general public as being the lead singer of the American Country band, the Mavericks.
The concert was billed as an intimate Evening with Raul Malo, and I wasn't sure what format the concert would take - last time I saw him in Edinburgh he was solo - just his voice and a guitar, then when I saw him in Glasgow earlier this year he was with a full band. On entering the venue, all that was on the stage was three mike stands, a guitar stand and a small table - so obviously no band.
The support act was an American singer by the name of Alyssa Bonagura. I had never heard of this singer before, but was impressed enough by her to purchase the cd that she had on sale. She performed a good set which ran for about 40 minutes - just her singing and playing the guitar. She has a a myspac page that you can check her out on.
At nine o'clock Raul Malo came on stage accompanied by Michael Guerra who played the accordion. Raul then proceeded to sing for just under two hours (he was meant to be on stqage for 90 minutes). Raul played a varied set consisting of tracks from his solo albums, cover versions of songs by the likes of Jim Reeves, Englebert Humperdinck, Roy Orbison and J D Souther, and stripped down Mavericks songs. Accompanied only by his guitar and Michael's fantastic accordion playing, Raul had the audience eating out of his hand (except for the idiot who shouted out the Raul should get back with the Mavericks - although a larger part of the audience booed the heckler).
Alyssa joined Raul onstage for part of the encore, then left again to leave the last couple of songs to Raul and Michael.
Once again this powerful vocalist blew me away with his performance (and has me thinking about going through to Glasgow to see him in January).
The concert was billed as an intimate Evening with Raul Malo, and I wasn't sure what format the concert would take - last time I saw him in Edinburgh he was solo - just his voice and a guitar, then when I saw him in Glasgow earlier this year he was with a full band. On entering the venue, all that was on the stage was three mike stands, a guitar stand and a small table - so obviously no band.
The support act was an American singer by the name of Alyssa Bonagura. I had never heard of this singer before, but was impressed enough by her to purchase the cd that she had on sale. She performed a good set which ran for about 40 minutes - just her singing and playing the guitar. She has a a myspac page that you can check her out on.
At nine o'clock Raul Malo came on stage accompanied by Michael Guerra who played the accordion. Raul then proceeded to sing for just under two hours (he was meant to be on stqage for 90 minutes). Raul played a varied set consisting of tracks from his solo albums, cover versions of songs by the likes of Jim Reeves, Englebert Humperdinck, Roy Orbison and J D Souther, and stripped down Mavericks songs. Accompanied only by his guitar and Michael's fantastic accordion playing, Raul had the audience eating out of his hand (except for the idiot who shouted out the Raul should get back with the Mavericks - although a larger part of the audience booed the heckler).
Alyssa joined Raul onstage for part of the encore, then left again to leave the last couple of songs to Raul and Michael.
Once again this powerful vocalist blew me away with his performance (and has me thinking about going through to Glasgow to see him in January).
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Okay - like my attempts in the past in keeping a diary, I have failed to keep my blog up to date (although looking at some other blogs that I have followed this isn't unusual).
I am going to restart this blog - although I have given it a new title, and will try to tidy up the layout etc over the next few weeks.
Since my last post sometime last year, I have continued going to concerts and have seen the following over the last year :-
2009
Simple Minds (although I really only went to see the support band - OMD!!) - SECC
Depeche Mode - SECC
Phil Cunningham's Christmas - Queen's Hall
2010
Raul Malo - Classic Grand, Glasgow
The Wiyos - Eastgate, Peebles
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - Queen's Hall
Dan Berglund's Tonbruket - Queen's Hall
The Coal Porters - Eastgate, Peebles
The Woody Pines - Eastgate, Peebles
Scottish National Jaz Orchestra - Queen's Hall (2nd time this year)
Sharleen Spiteri - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
The Wilders - Eastgate, Peebles
Pokey LaFarge - Eastgate, Peeles
Pete Molinari - Sneaky Petes
Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham - Queen's Hall
Heidi Talbot - Eastgate, Peebles
OMD - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
I have also continued with my flirtations with Sado-Masochism - yes, I renewed my season ticket for Edinburgh Rugby. This means that I get to sit (usually on a wet Friday night) in the cavern that is Murrayfield watching my team getting beat (occasionally winning it must be said) by rugby teams that seem to bring a noisier and sometimes larger travelling support than we can attract.
I have also continued with my other interest of reading - unfortunately I seem to be buying books quicker at the moment than I can read them.
Tomorrow night, I am off to see Raul Malo at the Queen's Hall and then off to see Scotland beat the All Blacks at Murrayfield on Saturday (it's got to happen at some point) - will update the blog about these sometime over the weekend (I promise).
I am going to restart this blog - although I have given it a new title, and will try to tidy up the layout etc over the next few weeks.
Since my last post sometime last year, I have continued going to concerts and have seen the following over the last year :-
2009
Simple Minds (although I really only went to see the support band - OMD!!) - SECC
Depeche Mode - SECC
Phil Cunningham's Christmas - Queen's Hall
2010
Raul Malo - Classic Grand, Glasgow
The Wiyos - Eastgate, Peebles
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - Queen's Hall
Dan Berglund's Tonbruket - Queen's Hall
The Coal Porters - Eastgate, Peebles
The Woody Pines - Eastgate, Peebles
Scottish National Jaz Orchestra - Queen's Hall (2nd time this year)
Sharleen Spiteri - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
The Wilders - Eastgate, Peebles
Pokey LaFarge - Eastgate, Peeles
Pete Molinari - Sneaky Petes
Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham - Queen's Hall
Heidi Talbot - Eastgate, Peebles
OMD - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
I have also continued with my flirtations with Sado-Masochism - yes, I renewed my season ticket for Edinburgh Rugby. This means that I get to sit (usually on a wet Friday night) in the cavern that is Murrayfield watching my team getting beat (occasionally winning it must be said) by rugby teams that seem to bring a noisier and sometimes larger travelling support than we can attract.
I have also continued with my other interest of reading - unfortunately I seem to be buying books quicker at the moment than I can read them.
Tomorrow night, I am off to see Raul Malo at the Queen's Hall and then off to see Scotland beat the All Blacks at Murrayfield on Saturday (it's got to happen at some point) - will update the blog about these sometime over the weekend (I promise).
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Let's Ballad
Last night I saw Richard Hawley at the Queen's Hall - a brilliant concert by one of my favourite musicians.
The night started well as we were walking past the Queen's Hall to go to the Dragon Way Chinese Restaurant for a meal, when I noticed that the centre doors to the Queen's Hall were open, and we could see Richard and the band carrying out their rehersal/soundcheck.
After a good meal in the Dragon Way, we headed back to the venue and were just about to enter when the fire alarms went off - we were prevented from entering whilst the building was evacuated - turned out that the dry ice/smoke stuff had set off the alarm - we waited patiently for the fire brigade to turn up and reset the alarms.
Got into the venue and headed for the bar - bought a couple of drinks then headed over to the merchandise stand, where I parted with my hard earned cash (no laughing there) to buy a T shirt. a limited edition print and a bookmark.
The support band were the Smoke Fairies - two young English girls who play a sort of folk/alt country/delta blues style music - they were joined for this concert by a guy playing the drums and another guy playing violin. Musically they were very good, but the girls seemed a bit nervous when talking to the audience. Once they finished their set, I popped out and bought a box set of three cd singles from them.
Richard Hawley and his band came on stage at 9pm. This tour was to promote his latest album "Trueloves Gutter", and Richard had previously announced that he would be performing the tracks from this new album with maybe a few old songs thrown in. Despite a few problems with the sound, and the monitors failing this was a great concert - the new songs sounded great live (mention must be made regarding David Coulter who amongst other things played the musical saw - I would not have believed that it was possible to get such noises out of a saw if I hadn't seen it being played in front of me), and the old songs were brilliant - especially the new version of Run For Me.
When Richard came out for the encore, he played a brilliant solo version of Troublesome Waters, before being joined on stage by the rest of the band.
All in all this was a great concert and hopefully it won't be too long before Richard Hawley returns to Edinburgh.
The night started well as we were walking past the Queen's Hall to go to the Dragon Way Chinese Restaurant for a meal, when I noticed that the centre doors to the Queen's Hall were open, and we could see Richard and the band carrying out their rehersal/soundcheck.
After a good meal in the Dragon Way, we headed back to the venue and were just about to enter when the fire alarms went off - we were prevented from entering whilst the building was evacuated - turned out that the dry ice/smoke stuff had set off the alarm - we waited patiently for the fire brigade to turn up and reset the alarms.
Got into the venue and headed for the bar - bought a couple of drinks then headed over to the merchandise stand, where I parted with my hard earned cash (no laughing there) to buy a T shirt. a limited edition print and a bookmark.
The support band were the Smoke Fairies - two young English girls who play a sort of folk/alt country/delta blues style music - they were joined for this concert by a guy playing the drums and another guy playing violin. Musically they were very good, but the girls seemed a bit nervous when talking to the audience. Once they finished their set, I popped out and bought a box set of three cd singles from them.
Richard Hawley and his band came on stage at 9pm. This tour was to promote his latest album "Trueloves Gutter", and Richard had previously announced that he would be performing the tracks from this new album with maybe a few old songs thrown in. Despite a few problems with the sound, and the monitors failing this was a great concert - the new songs sounded great live (mention must be made regarding David Coulter who amongst other things played the musical saw - I would not have believed that it was possible to get such noises out of a saw if I hadn't seen it being played in front of me), and the old songs were brilliant - especially the new version of Run For Me.
When Richard came out for the encore, he played a brilliant solo version of Troublesome Waters, before being joined on stage by the rest of the band.
All in all this was a great concert and hopefully it won't be too long before Richard Hawley returns to Edinburgh.
Catching Up No 5 - Phil and Aly
Saw Phil Cunnigham and Aly Bain at the Queen's Hall (looks as if I've got a season ticket for this venue).
The usual tunes from the duo, but with some new jokes from Phil.
Great concert as usual
The usual tunes from the duo, but with some new jokes from Phil.
Great concert as usual
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)