a flickering patchwork
of shadows -
moths around the street light
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Two Concerts in One Week
First I saw James Taylor at the NIA in Birmingham on Sunday 5 July with two colleagues – escaping from three days of IB training at the NEC, and secondly I saw Leonard Cohen at Brooklands Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge on Saturday 11 July with a friend.
After we had booked the concert for James Taylor I checked him out on youtube – just to get a sense of the man again. I watched him in his twenties clearly uncomfortable and uneasy in front of the camera. His long 1970’s hair was a kind of shield hiding him. But the simple guitar man played beautifully.
And so fast forward 30 years or so to a rainy July evening in Birmingham and the NIA.
It seemed that everything needed was here to make a good evening, a great band, a good singer songwriter with a solid American folk pedigree.
But the evening fell flat as the songs unfolded. I think this was due to a number of problems. Firstly the location, the NIA is a vast soulless place. It was built as a sports arena, I think and it lacked atmosphere and warmth. Secondly the set was a soup of unnecessary colour and light. There were at least four things going on behind the band at any one time.
We thought he was trying to satisfy the needs of the half a dozen audiences he was trying to attract – the traditional folkies, a country audience, a young audience – the children and grandchildren of those first hippy listeners, the oldies – the grown up hippies themselves and those easy listeners who had stumbled across his latest CD.
I’m easily pleased really. I’m a simple consumer.
But the final nail in the coffin of the evening was James Taylor himself. His script that bridged the different songs was slick and polished enough. The one liners were delivered in a quiet unassuming voice. But he lacked raw exciting energy, strutting uncomfortably across the stage. At times he looked like a parody of an aging rock star from the sixties. He was a man going through his well worn performance. He could have done the concert blindfolded - a rock concert by numbers. At times I thought he was boring himself.
Leonard Cohen was different. I spotted an advert for the concert in a discarded Metro on a train back from London. Walking home I popped in to see my friend – a Leonard Cohen fan since the 1960’s. We despaired at the ticket prices; we reassured ourselves that they had sold out. We parted resigned to the fact we wouldn’t be seeing him.
But there we were on Saturday night. Two middle aged men queuing up to watch a 74 year old man hold an audience in the palm of his hands. And he did it for over two hours, with a sublime ease, as if he had been born for the part.
I knew we’d made the right decision to come as the first notes reached us. For Cohen had brought together musicians that produce a rich, tight and accomplished sound. I love the way he has fused beautifully electric and acoustic instruments.
I felt at home here with people that swapped seats with us so that I could sit next to the aisle – more leg room. At home with people that talked easily about the last time they’d been to a Cohen concert, then mentioned Nick Cave and The Boatman’s Call.
And he played everything on our wish list. I wanted to hear The Partisan - it was the absolute highlight of the concert for me – Boogie Street – where Sharon Robinson, Cohen’s co writer, sang a solo and Famous Blue Raincoat – a stunning performance. Of course he did Halleluiah but he must be pretty pissed off with that song by now.
A week earlier we had sat in the soulless National Indoor Arena, sheltering from a rainy July evening, watching an accomplished James Taylor go through his paces. But unlike that concert a week later we were outside under a grey sky that eventually rained down on us. We were captivated, totally enchanted – lost in the labyrinth of his songs and the gracious spell that Leonard Cohen cast.
After we had booked the concert for James Taylor I checked him out on youtube – just to get a sense of the man again. I watched him in his twenties clearly uncomfortable and uneasy in front of the camera. His long 1970’s hair was a kind of shield hiding him. But the simple guitar man played beautifully.
And so fast forward 30 years or so to a rainy July evening in Birmingham and the NIA.
It seemed that everything needed was here to make a good evening, a great band, a good singer songwriter with a solid American folk pedigree.
But the evening fell flat as the songs unfolded. I think this was due to a number of problems. Firstly the location, the NIA is a vast soulless place. It was built as a sports arena, I think and it lacked atmosphere and warmth. Secondly the set was a soup of unnecessary colour and light. There were at least four things going on behind the band at any one time.
We thought he was trying to satisfy the needs of the half a dozen audiences he was trying to attract – the traditional folkies, a country audience, a young audience – the children and grandchildren of those first hippy listeners, the oldies – the grown up hippies themselves and those easy listeners who had stumbled across his latest CD.
I’m easily pleased really. I’m a simple consumer.
But the final nail in the coffin of the evening was James Taylor himself. His script that bridged the different songs was slick and polished enough. The one liners were delivered in a quiet unassuming voice. But he lacked raw exciting energy, strutting uncomfortably across the stage. At times he looked like a parody of an aging rock star from the sixties. He was a man going through his well worn performance. He could have done the concert blindfolded - a rock concert by numbers. At times I thought he was boring himself.
Leonard Cohen was different. I spotted an advert for the concert in a discarded Metro on a train back from London. Walking home I popped in to see my friend – a Leonard Cohen fan since the 1960’s. We despaired at the ticket prices; we reassured ourselves that they had sold out. We parted resigned to the fact we wouldn’t be seeing him.
But there we were on Saturday night. Two middle aged men queuing up to watch a 74 year old man hold an audience in the palm of his hands. And he did it for over two hours, with a sublime ease, as if he had been born for the part.
I knew we’d made the right decision to come as the first notes reached us. For Cohen had brought together musicians that produce a rich, tight and accomplished sound. I love the way he has fused beautifully electric and acoustic instruments.
I felt at home here with people that swapped seats with us so that I could sit next to the aisle – more leg room. At home with people that talked easily about the last time they’d been to a Cohen concert, then mentioned Nick Cave and The Boatman’s Call.
And he played everything on our wish list. I wanted to hear The Partisan - it was the absolute highlight of the concert for me – Boogie Street – where Sharon Robinson, Cohen’s co writer, sang a solo and Famous Blue Raincoat – a stunning performance. Of course he did Halleluiah but he must be pretty pissed off with that song by now.
A week earlier we had sat in the soulless National Indoor Arena, sheltering from a rainy July evening, watching an accomplished James Taylor go through his paces. But unlike that concert a week later we were outside under a grey sky that eventually rained down on us. We were captivated, totally enchanted – lost in the labyrinth of his songs and the gracious spell that Leonard Cohen cast.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Purple Clematis
purple clematis
so dark it swallows sunlight
in the shadows
something darker
purple clematis
Photograph Purple Clematis by KTDEE
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
an idea from The Fire Sermon by T S Eliot
the summer
river at Richmond -
discarded
beer bottles paper plates
cigarette ends....
an idea from The Waste Land by T S Eliot
river at Richmond -
discarded
beer bottles paper plates
cigarette ends....
an idea from The Waste Land by T S Eliot
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Empty Classroom
June classroom
scattered chairs, empty desks
already forgotten
Photo A Place to Sleep by Hermin
Exam Hall
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Twilight Woods
darkening woods
thickens in the undergrowth
dissolves to black
Photo A Way Through the Woods
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Nightingale Bluebell wood
all night her call
echoes through the bluebell woods -
nightingale
Photo Bluebell Woods by clumsy and uncoordinated
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38327179@N07/3525125173/
Monday, May 25, 2009
Light on the Water
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Songs of Spring - The Isabella Plantation
songs of spring -
redstart and white throat
redpoll and
bullfinch, wood pecker,
sparrow hawk and pintail
redstart and white throat
redpoll and
bullfinch, wood pecker,
sparrow hawk and pintail
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Still Pond Azaleas
this dawn morning
Azaleas spill
into the still pond
Photo Richmond Park by paulafunnell
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulafunnell/2695050677/
Richmond Park Azaleas
late May
radiant
Azaleas
Photo Richmond Park Azaleas by sibsson
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbisson/2479454566/
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Heather
beaded heather
flowers white and purple,
a thick tapestry
Photo Isabella Plantation by KitL Kat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitlogan/2413370783/
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
On the way to Glasgow
under the great grey
weight of cloud
a ferocious green
Photo On the way to Glasgow by Angelrays
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrays/890739268/in/set-72157594346353713/
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wisteria
flowering wisteria -
woven
into the warm sunlit wall
Photo Wisteria by Nick Atkins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickatkins/468191744/
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tulips
red tulips, church yard
their cupped petals closed together -
palms in fervent prayer
Photo One of our Backyard Tulips by hz56n
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hz536n/3385271871/
Thursday, April 16, 2009
April Wedding
wedding party in the rain
her bare shoulders
his protecting arm
embraces rain drops and blossoms
Champagne and confetti
her bare shoulders
his protecting arm
embraces rain drops and blossoms
Champagne and confetti
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Gorse
Gorse
cold yellow flames
smothered in a bed of thorns
Gorse –
sharp dark needles
pierce the air
Photo Gorse by JeanM1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanm1/3150337277/
April Light
...
from puddles
blinding splinters
of the sun
...
Photo Sun Reflection
by kumquatgirl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kumquatgirl/4813799/
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Three Spring Haikus
...
outside the church
strewn with blossom
confetti
...
a glut of blossom
carried on the chill wind
into the gutters
...
this early April
northern light
so strong and clear
Photo Cherry Blossom in the Gutter by iheartpanda
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Cherry+Blossom+in+the+Gutter&l=3