Trodden paths
August 15, 2008 | 1 Comment |
Every now and then a band steps away from trodden paths and creates something really beautiful. I came across the latest single of Radiohead and the accompanying video. The video was made without any traditional cameras:
“In Radiohead’s new video for “House of Cards”, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.”
An amazing end result. Both musically and visually. I love the dissolving objects as the view point moves forward. Almost like things are swept away by a soft wind. Together with the high pitched voice of the singer… well, judge for yourself. I think it’s one of their best songs, to be honest.
The itch (you cannot scratch)
August 9, 2008 | 3 Comments |
Tonight we watched a program about the toughest pubs in the UK. Well, apparently there are quite a few. Each pub featured was introduced with this famous guitar lick… tada… tada… ta… daahhh…. Lots of reverb and a really, really good guitar lick. We both could not remember the title of the song… That’s when it starts. The intch. The itch you cannot scratch. Arggg…!!! When you can’t remember something: the name of a song, the name of a film, the name of an actor… Is there something more annoying??
Unfortunately you can’t log on to Google and find a guitar lick like “tada… tada… ta… daahhh….”. It’s not that advanced yet. So it’s back to manual work and inspect the iTunes library. And indeed, I found it. It was “Bad To The Bone” by George Thorogood… Very appropriate!
Enjoy the video… b..b..b..b..b..bad….
It might happen again…
December 13, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Yesterday night I watched “The Pink Floyd story”, a documentary on BBC 1. Now Pink Floyd hold a special place in my heart. Not only do I like their music very much, I also have very fond memories of my younger years related to their music.
“Dark Side of the Moon” was my very first rock album which I got as a present from my parents while on a holiday in England. I nagged for days and days so eventually my dad bought the cassette for me. Back home I played the little tape endlessly on a very primitive Phillips cassette deck. I must have driven my parents nuts….
The last live European performance of the “The Wall” was in Dortmund, Germany and me and some friends were determined to be there. We traveled to Dortmund and had to spend the night on the street, each of us in a sleeping bag, in front of the box office of the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund to get our tickets. No internet bookings then… just stamina and cheap Schnaps to keep you warm.
I was in Berlin with friends when Roger Waters did his live version of “The Wall”, shortly after the wall between East and West Berlin had collapsed. It was an incredible experience: more than 100.000 people from all over the world and we had an amazing journey through former Eastern Germany: a collection of ghost towns and bleak buildings, untarmacked bumpy roads and people with poverty written all over their faces.
I was there on the “Momentary Lapse of Reason” concert in the “Kuip” in Rotterdam, just after Roger Waters was kicked out of the band. A truly awesome multimedia spectacle, worthy of Pink Floyd.
Last nights documentary finished in a remarkable way. While it had always been pretty certain that their recent joint performance at Live 8 (2005) would be THE last Pink Floyd performance as a band, the old geezers were cautiously positive about a (last?) joined concert. So, it might happen again…
Peatbog Faeries
November 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today I got hold of the latest CD of the Peatbog Faeries titled “What Men Deserve To Lose”. Peatbog Faeries are a local band from Skye. Their music is a combination of traditional Scottish sounds from bagpipes, flutes and fiddles mixed with synths, drums and guitar. What you might call “fusion”….
The album contains 10 songs, most of which were written by Peter Morrison who - according to the bands official website - lives in Dunvegan.
After listening to it a couple of times today, I really appreciate it. The booklet that comes with the CD has a page for every song giving a short history of the song. Also, there’s a short story on the most important things one needs to know about faeries. The story also explains the title of the CD: faeries are a thieving lot although they only take what men deserve to lose.
If you’re into Scottish tunes with a twist, this album is a great buy.
My favorite song: The Invergarry Blues
Overall rating: 4 out of 5
[digg-me]
All kinds of things…
October 4, 2007 | 2 Comments |
After some very nice days, autumn seems back on track so there really was no reason to go out today. In stead I did some prelimenary investigations for some home improvement for the coming winter. First, we need to tile the utility room, the room where we keep the washer, the tumble dryer and other devices. It’s a bit of a “wet” room, so a tiled finish is better than current finish with paint.
Second we need to finish the loft area. Currently it’s a bit “rough”… you see all the roof trusses, the insulation material and bare floor boards. Right now the plans are to finish it with a combination of tongue and groove cladding (”schrootjes”, for our Dutch readers) and plaster board. The latter will be a challenge because the loft hatch is way too small to get the plaster board through. We’ll see…
Remember I wrote about our visit to the Runrig concert at Loch Ness? Well, the act of one of the bands on the program - Great Big Sea - impressed me quite a bit. Today, while browsing a bit in YouTube videos, I came across a clip of theirs. Judge for yourself…
They also got other clips on YouTube but most of them cannot be embedded in a website other than YouTube’s. This is without doubt a copyright issue. However, when the clip is done playing, a small array of other playable clips from GBS is shown in the YouTube player.
Duncelt
September 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Yesterday evening was the closing show of the Duncelt festival in Dunvegan. It was a light show depicting a local legend about a piper being brought into the world of the faeries where he has to perform a number of challenges.
The show was impressive and was performed largely on a stage set in the waters of Loch Duvegan, by a group of people called “te POOKa”. The audience was more or less directly involved as the majority of the performers made their entrance through the group of spectators standing at the car park: faeries, goblins, a scary looking chap with a hood, the piper, a dancer with a hoop…
The show and the music were really nice although the storyline was a bit hard to follow at times, as the actors appeared not to wear microphones. But alas… the drift of the story was clear and the great weather, the surroundings, the music and the mystical characters did in fact create a special atmosphere for me. The show ended with impressive fireworks when the piper had completed all his challenges.
We went over to the Early Bird Enterprises booth and enjoyed one of their lovely venison burgers. A great evening!
Back home…
August 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
We’re back from Inverness… and a memorable weekend it was!! We did a bit of shopping of Friday afternoon, then went to “Beat the Drum” on Saturday and did some more shopping on Sunday. We stayed at friends of ours in their house in Culbokie, a little village close to Inverness.
Visiting “Beat the Drum” was without doubt a very special experience and the highlight of the weekend. The bands performed on a field of a farm near the village of Drumnadrochit, the home town of the Loch Ness monster about a 40 minute drive from Inverness. There were about 17.000 people attending, which is like a complete invasion for a small town like Drumnadrochit.
The music was great, the organization of the event spotless and smooth but the weather was absolutely horrendous and totally gruesome. It rained all day, without stopping… And not just a drizzle but an all-day solid and steady shower. So by seven in the evening the whole field was covered in a thick layer of mud. It was our estimate that after the show, the field would have to be ploughed and seeded again to restore its original state. It was that bad…
Luckily we were well prepped and wore our rain suits so we stayed relatively dry. However, after so many hours in the rain you start to get cold and by 8pm there were people with signs of hypothermia. Obviously those received immediate medical attention.
Although all eyes were geared towards Runrig - a very famous Scottish band - I was personally very much impressed by the performances of The Great Big Sea - a Canadian band from Newfoundland - and Wolfstone, another Scottish band. Wolfstone had a front man who played the fiddle and I thought he played absolutely amazing. Their music was a good blend of Scottish folk and rock… and if you’re into that sort of music, both bands are really worth your attention! You will find them on the iTunes store…
Well, looking back it was a great experience. It’s really amazing to see the different kind of people attending: basically young and old having a party and their spirits high as can be… not at all lowered by the appalling weather. The crowd danced and jumped on the beats of some of the fast paced songs.
It turned out to be a real happening…
Beat the Drum
August 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we’re off to Inverness for a couple of days to do some shopping and go to the open air music happening “Beat the Drum”. This event starts Saturday afternoon and goes on until about midnight with a gig of the famous Scottish band Runrig as the finale. Click here to check out the event on the web.
Although the weather looks a bit ominous we’re in good spirits and will let you know about our adventures in the big city!
Glastonbury 2007
June 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
I decided to watch a little television before going to bed and by accident saw a coverage of The Who playing at Glastonbury 2007 (Glastonbury is a yearly music event, comparable to what we have in Holland: Pink Pop, Low Lands etc.). Amazing! These guys just keep on rocking: Pinball Wizard, See me Feel me… all mixed in a great “Tommy” medley. I’m always particularly fond of the opening guitar strum from Pinball Wizard, and I must say Pete Townshend still plays a mean guitar…
One of the striking things was that during some takings of the audience I noticed people in their early twenties singing along with these golden oldies. The music from Tommy must be - well… at least 40 years old and was written and performed when those young ones were not born yet. Obviously their music keeps touching people, like you see with lots of other “bands of old”…
Well… I turned up the volume really high and enjoyed it immensely!!!
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