Marjorie

: coraline73; November 22nd, 22:18

Current Mood:: bouncy

In which there is more Rock!
I only realised a couple of weeks ago that Thea Gilmore would be playing in Bristol as part of her Wintertide tour, so I was happy to find that there were still tickets available, so last night found me heading over to Bristol (second time in two weeks - whereas normally I go very rarely,as I hate the traffic!)

When I arrived it was to an apologetic note on the door at the venue to say the doors wouldn't be opening until 8p.m. (The tickets said 7) - happily however I bumped into a coupe who were also arriving for the gig, and the three of us went off to a nearby pub for a quick drink while we were waiting - (of course, there are those who would say one shouldn't go off for drinks with strangers, but hey, you've got to live a little!

When we came back a little after 8 the doors were open, and when I went in, I bumped into a friend of mine & her husband. I hadn't known she was a fan of Thea's, so it came as a (nice) surprise.

The show was in a hall at the Bristol Folk House - it felt a little like a school hall, to start with, however, once the music started that was all forgotten.

The show was opened by Rod Clements (late of Lindisfarne), which was fun, then Thea herself came on after the interval.

She was accompanied by Nigel Stonier (gutiar, vocals, and occassional piano) and by 'Fluff' (violin, vocals and percussion) and the music was mostly from her new 'Strange Communion' album, so lots of new music, (for some of which, Rod Clements came back on stage) as well as one or two covers.

The evening seemed to pass very quickly, and before we knew it we reached the encore stage. Thea explained that while it's a while until Christmas, to help us all to get into the festive spirit she and the band had made a dart-board of really cheesy christmas songs (Fairy Tale of New York was excluded for being too good) and a member of the audience was invited to select one by the throw of a dart, to be sung in an (in)appropriate style....

We got 'So here it is, Merry Christmas' sung as a slow ballad... which, I think we can all agree, is an excellent way to sing it :-)

It made for a delightful end to the evening. And then, wnen it was over, there was the opportunity to say hello to Thea and the other musicians and to buy a copy of the new CD.

A most excellent evening.
Orinignally posted at http://margomusing.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-which-there-is-more-ro.html where there are more pictures, and some video.

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Thoughts about Rain

: coraline73; November 21st, 16:04

Current Mood:: sad

Current Music:: Thea Gilmore - Red White And Black | Powered by Last.fm

The last couple of days have been very wet and wild, although nothing compared with what has been happening in Cumbria - my heart goes out to the people whose homes have been flooded, and of course to the family and colleagues and friends of P.C. Bill Barker.

While the flooding at my home was nothing like like as bad at that faced by the people in Cockermouth, or those in Gloucester last year, but the sheer helplessness, the long drawn out time it takes to sort eveything out (rotting carpet, anyone?) and the sense of fear every time it rains hard, for years afterwards is much the same.

I have finally (after 3 flood-free years) got to the point where I no longer wake up in a cold sweat when there is a rain storm.

I just hope that those affected now will be able to put their lives back together, too.

(Originally posted at http://margomusing.blogspot.com/2009/11/thoughts-about-rain.html )

Tags: flood, rain, storms

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Jonathan Coulton & Paul and Storm

: coraline73; November 17th, 14:17

Current Mood:: cheerful

In Which there is Jonathan Coulton, Paul & Storm and lots of Rock!

So, last night was the Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm gig in Bristol.

I've been looking forward to it ever since I saw that they were coming to Bristol, and I have to say that the show lived up to and beyond my expectations!

I arrived early having offered to help out with merchandise, and met with Paul and with my fellow Merchandise Minions, and started selling the occasional T-Shirt and CD.

The venue is fairly small - it's called 'The Tunnels', and, as the name suggests, is in, well, a couple of tunnels. They are part of the sub-structure around the railway station, although these particualr ones are arches under the station approach rather than under the railway itself. One tunnel has the bar and a seating area (and the merchandise table) and the other the stage & seating - I think for around 175 - 200 people.

I'd only previously seen Jonathan and Paul & Storm when they appeared as Neil Gaiman's support band when he did a Graveyard Book reading in Manchester last October, and on that occasion we only got one song from each of them. This time, I'm happy to say, there were lots and lots of songs. (although no tambourine-playing authors)

Paul and Storm opened the show with, appropriately enough, 'Opening Band' - they later asked how many of us had *not* seen them live before (answer: all but 3 of us!) and also treated us to lots more music, including 'Frogger! The Frogger Musical' , 'Live' and 'Nun Fight', before giving us 'The mother's Day Song' and 'The Captain's Wife's Lament' (With enthusiastic audience participation on all the Dejected Arrrs.

Lots of Fun.

During the interval I was kept busy selling lots of Dejected Arrr T-shirts (and other stuff. But mostly shirts) and had to dash to get back to me seat when Jonathan Coulton came on stage for the 2nd half...

There was, unsurprisingly, a lot of audience participation. In fact, Mr Coulton described us as the 'singy-est audience since Dublin', and let us sing 'Still Alive' by ourselves,

with hardly any Headline Singer participation at all - this led, inevitabley, to consideration as to whether there was anyone in the audience who could play guitar, which would allow for the possibility of a gig going ahead without any singer or band at all!

(Link for Video of I Crush Everything in case the embedding isn't working)

Lots of favourites - Code Monkey, Creepy Doll, Skullcrusher Mountain, I Crush Everything, Mandelbrot Set, You Ruined Everything, Mr FancyPants (with An explanation that 'pants' doesn't have quite the same meaning in American as it does in English..), I'm Your Moon -

There were people wandering up to the stage to leave little offerings of Jaffa Cakes at regular

The Future Soon, Shop Vac, and, then, as the evening was drawing to a close, we all had a quick lesson in how Zombies sing (ragged, none to tuneful) in order to perform our part...

After which there was just time for a couple of quick encores ('Talk with George' and 'the 1st of May' song, which I won't embed here as it's not exactly safe for work...) and lots of happy, clappy people joining in!

We were then very busy selling more T-Shirts and CDs as people left, and once eveyone had gone, were able to lend a hand packing up the unsold stuff, and to have a chance to chat a little to Jonathan and to Storm.

I didn't get home until almost 1.30 in the morning, totally exhausted, but I can't remember last time I had so much fun.

Oringinally posted at http://margomusing.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-which-there-is-jonathan-coulton-paul.html

Tags: jonathan coulton, music, paul & storm

A walk In the Country

: coraline73; November 10th, 18:35

Current Mood:: cheerful

Orinianally posted at http://www.margomusing.blogspot.com/2009/11/walk-in-country.html

It was chilly today, but around lunchtime the sun came out, so I decided to forget about the housework, and to head out for the afternoon.

I went to Stourhead, which is owned by the National Trust, now. The house is not open in the winter, but the park is open all year round, and it's a lovely place to go for a walk.

There is a lake, with ornamental bridge, miniature Parthenon, and temple of Apollo, not to mention the grotto, thatched cottage and neoclassical summerhouse.

Its a little late for the best of the autumn coours , but there were still some lovely acers clinging on to the last of their crimson leaves, and plenty of beech leaves in every shade of copper. There are masses of rhodedendrons and although it's the wrong time of year for their flowers they have that dark green, shiny foliage against which the other colours show up beautifully.

I didn't see any deer this time - which probably had a lot to do with the high number of dogs and small and excited children around - but there were ducks, and swans upon the lake.

I saw several robins, and blackbirds, and a few chaffinches and something which may or may not have been a goldfinch.

All in all, it was a very

After my walk, I headed to the farm shop where I bought 3 different types of local apples, and some Medlars (the last, simply because I have never had them before, and know them only from Shakeapeare and other literary sources. They will have to be kept for a while to ripen properly, and it does appear that opinion is divided as to whether they are worth eating or not, but it will be interesting to see what they're like.

And as an added bonus, I got a lovely big paper bag to take my groceries home in, which proved very popular with Tybalt once I had emptied it of fruit.

A Good Day.

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In Which There Is (you guessed it) Another Writer

: coraline73; September 28th, 10:07

New post up here

Information

: coraline73; April 27th, 10:15

My LiveJournal is just to enable me to comment on friends' pages.

My Blog can be found at Margomusing.blogspot.com - please read and comment there.

Thank you

coraline73

Marjorie

In Which there is Jonathan Coulton, Paul & Storm and lots of Rock!

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