PASS IT ON weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement volume 18 17th September 2023

SIDETRACKS AND DETOURS

present

PASS IT ON

weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement volume 18

17^th September 2023

Good  (please insert part of the day wherever you are ). Thank you for having a read with us. Once again our volunteer team of writers have put some varied and  relevant stories on to the PASS IT ON pages. Michael Higgins, for instance shows no sign of flagging, as you can tell from his thorough ruminations on what went on at the last night of the proms the other evening. Steve Bewick serves his Jazz On Air with Hot Biscuits and Peter Pearson reassures us that its All Points Forward as he takes us walking with Bloodliners. Meanwhile  Ralph Dent celebrates Old Crow Medicine Show and our Island Insights from Norman Warwick reveal that someone has run away with the spoon ! He also shares news of a forthcoming exhibition at The Lanzarote Art Gallery and applauds that the Lanzarote Government has pledged strong support in dealing with the horrid problems caused by the recent earthquake in Morocco. Norman, then,  is obviously busy but , nevertheless, has not forgotten that the Canary League that accommodates a couple of teams from Lanzarote held its opening football matches of the season last week.. There´s a home derby coming up,…and no doubt we´ll hear about it.

CONTENTS

Logo RESEARCHING HISTORY

RULE BRITANNIA

LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS

& THE WAR OIF JENKINS´EAR

review by MICHAEL HIGGINS

Jazz On Air

Hot Biscuits  served  by STEVE BEWICK

A Readers Perspective

speaking about Bloodliners

All Points Forward by PETER PEARSON

logo recorded music

REMEMBERED MUSIC

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW: Jubilee

review read by RALPH DENT

Island Insights

Did The Dish Run Away With The Spoon ? +

enquiry by NORMAN WARWICK

what´s next

Logo RESEARCHING HISTORY

LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS

RULE BRITANNIA

 & THE WAR OIF JENKINS´ EAR

review by MICHAEL HIGGINS

When the conductor Henry Wood (left) initiated The Last Night of the Proms at London’s Albert Hall in 1895, to finish off the Promenade season of classical music, patriotism flourished.  He added his Fantasia of British Sea Songs to it, including Rule, Britannia! And in future years Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory and Parry’s Jerusalem were added to the final jollification, becoming a tradition of flag waving and foot stamping. Somewhere along the way, too, Rule Britannia lost its comma and exclamation mark and subtle word changes seemed to applaud Britain ruling the waves with the world’s largest navy. Ah, the good old days.  But have they really gone, or are they still here?

When James Thomson (right) penned the words of his poem-song, Rule, Britannia!  For a masque called Alfred in 1740, he presumably gave little thought to what a problem he would give the future BBC and post colonial apologists.

 

Neither, indeed, did his writing partner, David Mallet, who wrote a lampoon of that song already set to music by Thomas Arne (left) – and newly titled The Mermaid– in a masque called Britannia 15 years later. Thomson had originally co-written  Alfred, a Masque, with Mallet for Frederick, Prince of Wales, during the War of Jenkins’ Ear, and War of the Austrian Succession (1739-1748), and it was here that Rule, Britannia! first exhorted Britannia to rise from the Azure Main and repel all boarders.

The masque, as its name implies, was actually about the life of Alfred the Great and his struggle to repel the Viking hordes of the ninth century in their longboats. It exhorts the West Saxons to rule the waves of England and prevent her inhabitants from being sold as Scandinavian slaves.

But, somehow, ‘Rule, West Saxonland!  West Saxons, rule the waves!’ Would not have charmed the ears of a government keen to stress the ‘Britishness’ of the new country after the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 and the subsequent Jacobite Rebellions and the threat  of a  landing by Bonny Prince Charlie, which eventually occurred five years  later. Indeed, Scots were officially to be known as ‘North Britons’ and English folk as ‘South Britons’ for the rest of the century. The song, Rule, Britannia! was sung at the end of Alfred as a battle cry to Great Britain in her struggle with Spain and Jacobite- supporting France.

The original chorus went:

Rule, Britannia! Rule the waves;

Britons never will be slaves.

And the last verse exalts the muses, ‘still with freedom found’ to repair to this’ Blest Isle’ with its matchless beauty and ‘manly hearts to guard the fair’.

Arne’s tune turned Mallet’s later mutilation of the song into a hilarious affirmation of Britain ruling the waves and possibly mermaids. The comma and exclamation mark were taken out of the chorus and an ‘s’ added to ‘rule’ to make ‘ Sing rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves’, an affirmation of fact instead of an aspiration.  For one thing George IIs navy did not do was rule the waves. 

The parody has sunk with time but the change to the chorus of the original over the years has stuck in Last Night of the Proms attendees’ ears. And it is the ‘ruling reference that now seems to rankle in concert watchers minds if not their ears.

 I lived for part of my childhood and all my teen years in Canada and when I returned to England in my early twenties I was struck by the lack of outward shows of patriotism on the part of English folk.  In Canada everyone flew the new Canadian flag (the maple leaf rather than the old red ensign) and was proud of the idea of Canada as a shining muse to the world – a sort of promised land  stretching ‘from sea to shining sea’ as highlighted in the song, O Canada.  When I asked for any sign of patriotism back in England I was directed to The Last Night of the Proms as a flag waving extravaganza for ‘true Britons’.  It was, but again, British and not English. It took many years before the St George Flag was allowed to fly in England due to its being hijacked by the National Front. But when the old national flag finally was taken back into the English bosom, patriotism (football excepted) suddenly became frowned upon. Yes, both it, the Union flag, and British Isles flags were waved but so were other flags too. But did it matter so long as one had a flag to wave and that song to sing?

Ah, the song!  It hearkened back to British Imperialism, war at sea and Jenkins ear – which may or may not have been sliced off by an evil Spaniard. And implied Jingoism, nationalistic triumphalism, and general Britishness, seemed out of place in what the some idealists hoped would be a ‘diversified’ and ‘international’ performance.  The BBC and The Proms musical hierarchy tried to ban it as an anachronism in today’s post-colonial world. Brexit and the Ukraine War have brought a new impulse.

The elites do their best to do away with the song but the public fight back and insist on its inclusion. The BBC has had to back down after protests and the song is still sung. This year the Remainer activist group, Thank EU for the Music, handed out free EU flags to make a political statement in the Albert Hall for the finale. And they thanked the BBC afterwards They may have outnumbered any British flags but I can’t help thinking how bizarre it was for that flag to be waved to a song about Britannia rising from the Azure Main and aspiring to rule the waves. Were Remainers flying the flag in sympathy or subservience? Were they asserting that the EU rules after all?  Brexiteers grumbled that it was like flying the old Fleur de Lys at a Bastille Day Parade. Music lovers grumbled that all they wanted to do was listen to the music.  And there wasn’t Wessex banner in sight!

And then again with so many institutions, local authority buildings and churches flying the Ukrainian flag these days, surely a song originally meant to extol the fight against foreign invasion – or foreign imperialism- can’t be all that bad.  And I am surprised that an enterprising lyricist, with an eye to the Black Sea, has not come up with a topical update of the words to: ‘Rule Ukrainia, Ukrainia rule the waves!  Ukrainians never, never, shall  be slaves’. Slovo Ukraine.

But until then I suppose we will have to follow the rule and stick with Thompson’s rousing chorus that Arne lifted to such dizzy  musical heights in 1740, for as long as the spirit to sing it lasts, and enough concert goers have ears to hear.

photo cakes We will have to sit back and think of England, Alfred and the cakes, and Jenkins’ poor ear preserved all those year in a jam jar!  Poor Jenkins, what would he have made of it all? 

logo Jazz On Air

Hot Biscuits served by STEVE BEWICK

Next week Hot Biscuits jazz broadcast brings you the sensual duo of Richard Wetherall, piano and Ulrich Elbracht, guitar from a local Sunday jazz session.

Also included in the programme is Adrian Cox Music, a group who released Now Is Spring – 1st January 2020
this was the first all original album featuring music written by Adrian and co written with the wonderful Joe_Webb. A second album of original music followed in October 2002. I will be playing the ensemble´s Gun Hill Rag.

I shall also play something by The Michael Hughes Trio, with their not so traditional line up of vibraphone, drums and guitar.

Listen out for Tebu Muziki delivering  `Deep`.  Tebu is a talented, Manchester based musician with powerful and introspective sounds, blending African, Latin and Caribbean musical influences.

You will also hear the composer and pianist Simon Deeley  with his Blue Haze Band partners, Ian Cooper on bass and Charlie Russell on drums.

n 2014 Simon moved from the West Midlands to the Welsh Borders, UK. 

Now living in a new area, he had to forge new playing links, and the new partnerships he formed led to the formation of the Simon Deeley Quartet in 2015. 

One of the main reasons that Simon formed the quartet was, that he wanted to have a group that would perform his own compositions. Certainly, in the last few years, composing has come to be the most important area of his career. 

At the beginning of 2016 the quartet recorded the album CROSSING BORDERS (nine tracks of original compositions by Simon) and toured it through the Spring and Summer.

By the beginning of 2017 two members of the band had to drop out due to logistical reasons, and so Simon formed another band, this time with the brilliant, dynamic saxophonist from Abervergavenny Martha Skilton and bassist Ian Cooper, a stalwart of the Brecon jazz scene and Brecon Festival regular. They joined the Hereford based drummer Charlie Russell from the original quartet. With Simon in the piano chair, this then was the line-up of the new quartet. Simon Deeley’s Blue Haze Quartet was born. 

The choice of the name Blue Haze came from Simon’s observation of the hazy-blue colouring of the distant hills of his new border home, a place, which he feels has had a strong, positive effect on his creative output. 

The new band began rehearsing in the Spring of 2017 , and then in the August of that year, they recorded the album FROM THE BLUE HILLS. This album is made up of eleven tracks, again all originals composed by Simon. 

Covid slowed down the great progress  the had been making in creating a live fan base, and then marth left to become a mum.

Still, things are now moving forward again with an excellent second album having been released.

We conclude the show with a piece called Meditation by Martin Speake (left) , who studied classical saxophone at Trinity College of Music. At that time there were no jazz courses in London, but he met some future jazz musicians at the college, including pianist Simon Purcell, saxophonist Mark Lockheart and the members of saxophone quartet Itchy Fingers who were studying at the Royal Academy of Music. He toured Europe, South America, Africa and the USA with Itchy Fingers appearing at major jazz festivals and playing on their first two CDs Quark (Virgin Records) and Teranga (Venture). In 1986 they won the Schlitz Young Jazz Musicians of the Year Award, which was televised by the BBC.

​In 1988, he left the group to develop his own projects, which have been many and diverse, and establish himself as a composer and improviser. Martin is as comfortable playing personal interpretations of the music of Charlie Parker with his quartet, free improvising with drummer Mark Sanders, playing standard ballads in duet with Ethan Iverson and Indian music with Dharambir Singh and Sarvar Sabri.

He has recorded 23 cds under his own name of diverse projects including the internationally acclaimed ECM release Change Of Heart with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson and Mick Hutton and Intention (Ubuntu Records) in 2018 with Ethan Iverson, Fred Thomas and James Maddren.

​He started his own record label Pumpkin in 2007 and has released 10 cds so far. SPARK is an improvised duo with drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders, TWO NOT ONE a duo with guitarist Colin Oxley playing standard songs. Two albums with Barry Green, Dave Green and Jeff Williams entitled GENERATIONS and LIVE AT RIVERHOUSE. ALWAYS A FIRST TIME featuring Mike Outram and Jeff Williams in 2013 and in 2014 SOUND CLOUDS with improvising classical pianist Douglas Finch and THE QUIET MIND with Mark Sanders and Oren Marshall. Recent releases are ZEPHYR with violinist, violist, singer Faith Brackenbury, DUOS FOR TRIO – MUSIC OF BELA BARTOK with Matthew Forbes and Phelan Burgoyne. UNQUIET QUIET with Phelan Burgoyne’s trio with Martin and Rob Luft.

​Martin has also performed with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson, Loose Tubes, Stan Tracey, Bhavani Shankar, Billy Jenkins, Django Bates, Bob Wilber, Conrad Herwig, Don Weller, Ronan Guilfoyle, Alison Bentley, The Style Council, Ann Pigalle, Kadam, saxophonist John Williams, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Jim Mullen, Dave Cliff, Julian Arguelles, Ephie Resnick and the Royal Shakespeare Company among others.

He is lead alto saxophonist in the London Jazz Orchestra conducted by Scott Stroman and has formed THELONIOUS to study and learn all the compositions of Thelonious Monk with valve trombonist/pianist Hans Koller, bassist Calum Gourlay and James Maddren. His main creative outlets are a trio with guitarist Mike Outram and US drummer Jeff Williams performing original music and Charukesi with tenor saxophonist Alyson Cawley, guitarist Mike De Souza and drummer Will Glaser playing Indian/Arabic/Turkish inspired groove music.

​In 2018 he continued his musical relationship with Ethan Iverson touring the UK and releasing Intention(Ubuntu) also featuring James Maddren and Fred Thomas.

​Martin is a committed jazz educator and in addition to Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance he teaches at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Youth Jazz Collective Summer School. He was external examiner at Birmingham Conservatoire for several years and also taught at Middlesex University.. ​He is involved in a British Jazz Oral History project of his own and has interviewed a number of important musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Geoff Simkins, Dave Cliff, Pete Saberton and many others. These interviews can be read: here 

​Martin Speake LTCL has a BSc in Nutritional Medicine and has his own practice for clients who want to improve their health through diet and lifestyle changes.

Our weekly Hot Biscuits is an eclectic jazz programme and we are confident that every show offers something to everyone. So, if  this looks interesting then pass it onto friends and join me at www.Mixcloud.com/stevebewick/ 24/07

A Readers Perspective

speaking about Bloodliners

All Points Forward by PETER PEARSON

I am very pleased that our editor, Norman Warwick, has decided to celebrate the thousandth  edition of Sidetracks And Detours with a five day consecutive series of blog posts looking back on the career of John Stewart, (right) a songwriter for whom he and I and thousands of  so-called Bloodliners have a huge respect.

Last week I mentioned a forthcoming tribute album to Nanci Griffith with an array of established and emerging artists performing their versions of her track. I am particularly pleased about this because I had a couple of gripes about a similar recording that was released to showcase Nanci´s material shortly after her death. That one was called Trouble In The Fields, and whilst the artist selection was more than fine, the song selection

Did you hear Trouble In The Fields, that first  Nanci Griffith tribute? My gripe was not artist selection but rather that the songs they had been allocated or had been chosen did not always feel appropriate to their particular skill sets..

eaders will already know that I am fan of Eric Brace (left) but, in my honest opinion,  I Wish It Would Rain does not suit his voice.

Likewise,  hearing John Stewart virtually narrating Last Of The True Believers remains a jarring experience. Why John

Why John doing could not have delivered  his solo version of Sweet Dreams., a song co-written and recorded with Nanci several years earlier, I have no idea.  A solo version exists on several of his own label releases-most notably his live Dark 30 full band live double album.

I have only heard snatches from More Than A Whisper, this second  tribute album to Nanci. It is preceded by a release last week of a box set of her early Philo albums reissued by Craft Records.

Songs are stories, of course, and can be told in different styles and voices. Harry Chapin even named one of his albums Short Stories. Guy Clark named an album Songs and Stories.

Songs, like stories, can be plot led or character led, and it seems Norm reckons that John Stewart songs are stuffed full of intriguing and identifiable characters. I would agree with Norm 100% on that (and we don´t normally agree 100% on anything about the music we both love !). Maybe, though, that is another secret ingredient of John Stewart music: It comes to matter to us as individuals for varying reasons

Norman tells me his favourite John Stewart character is Willard, a title character on the album that followed California Bloodlines. (right)

My favourite  character is Cody. I’m quoting from my copy John’s book American Sketches here,   the one signed by John and Dave Batti for me at Bury Met. Of Cody, John says ´Cody is based on John Steinbecks’s character of the old man in The Red Pony. (left) It was written one night in Chadds Ford Pennsylvania in 1967.´ In concert, John often prefaced Cody with a narration of Looking For the Wind and that is my favourite combination.

Willard, John writes was a real guy who worked for Andrew Wyeth (the painter) and slept in the barn (because he wanted to) He was a total alcoholic. He had his wine, his work and cigars. He was a loner and such a nice guy. Being basically a lonely guy myself I almost envied the way he was.

Norm has told me that John Stewart songs always semed to provide him with what some would call aphorisms but he saw as codes to live by. Perhaps because he considers himself a sing-writer himself who is disappointed that his songs have never broken out into public awareness he identifies with John´s wish  that ´maybe some lonesome picker will find some healing in my songs´.

There are so many scores of great lines woven into John Stewart songs, I am not sure I could pick a favourite, However, I have said before that my Dad was a great fan and loved The Eyes Of Sweet Virginia. The line –and I don’t want much I just want it all –used to crease him.

John’s intro to Mother Country is another favourite. There was a story in the San Francisco Chronicle———.

Yes, Peter, that was  a line that famously goes on to say ´that of course I forgot to save,…..and that resonates with me because there are thousands of stories I forgot to save, and doing so has led me to becoming another type of character John introduced us to, those guys who ´talk about the books they never wrote !

I hear that Norm recently made friends with Spotify and is currently experimenting with all sorts of playlists, but because has the service on his  desk top app he to listen to it at his desk,. He must, John Stewart CDs he can play in the car and if so, he must surely do so every day around the coastline and through the volcano fields of Lanzarote I asked him if that is the case and he replied that there are some albums that are perfect for driving, with songs like Lost Her In The Sun and Spinning of The World.

My own pride and joy is my hi fi system. I really only use the internet and pc as a way to preview or audition music. I usually listen in the evening. I find I have less distractions then.

I guess all Bloodliners will always remember their first ever John Stewart gig, and will also have their my favourite venue. Norm has previously written here that his first ever Stewart gig was at The Bloomsbury Theatre in London and considers The Winning Post in York as his favourite venue.  That might be because the venueis  in the region of his birth. Although Norman settled in Lancashire when his parents moved to Rochdale, his grandparents still lived in his birthplace of Tadcaster only ten miles from the racecourse and this famous pub. On his way to the John Stewart gigs he would call in at his nan´s on the way having bought fish and chips for three, Norm, nan and unc, at the best chippy in the world in Stutton. he loved the Winning Post, too, because it seemed to be the gig where he would see people he knew, and of course, Chris Hudson (or was it Lawrence?)  was always a genial host.

I can understand that affinity with the Winning Post but I’d have to say the Turf, Dalry, in Scotland was my favourite venue. It was John’s home from home. It was three evenings of concerts with no repeat of set lists, allaying concern about what that journey might be like  on the motorway home  For me the Dalry gigs were about meeting American Bloodliners whoi had previously only been internet correspondents who over the years of those gigs became real friends.

John Stewart gigs were always exciting. He had a good, strong vibrato voice and used it to good effect He could deliver folksy Americana ballads, love songs, country, and hard, driving rock. His overlaid guitar work, particularly in the studio, was fantastic and indeed, we shouldn´t forget his instrumental albums. He was a great songwriter, with some songs being covered by the great and good. He was tall, televisually good looking and witty,….. in other words he was a star ! But he seemed  to have been a star who never actually quite became a star !.He said, in song of course, that he wanted to be Elvis? I think he was hindered by being so multi-talented, like a footballer (Paul Madeley, if you remember) who is good enough to play anywhere if someone is injured, but can´t quite get into the team and own a position.

The honest answer is I don’t know. But don’t underestimate the extent of his fame. I think luck plays a big part in most careers. That and how far you are prepared to go to sacrifice yourself to the whims of others. Plus he was not in with the in crowd.

Peter Asher produced Willard and look at the cast on that album. James Taylor, Carole King et al.

But John never stayed with Peter Asher. If he had-who knows?

I remember my landlady in Dalry being perplexed as to why I would travel  there for 3 days of concerts at a pub in Dalry by some yank she had never heard of. I said everyone knows a John Stewart song. She says I don’t. I said do you know Daydream Believer –she said yes. Bingo!

The music industry has an obsession with Nashville. I would argue few Americana acts are actually famous. Most live and work in Nashville or at least make records there. John was from LA and pitched some demos in Nashville but did not persevere.” Never going back to Nashville any more”

Gold hit the UK charts  and Paul Gambaccini (left) said in mock surprise (he was a big fan) on a radio show hand over from Noel Edmonds. He played John Stewart on Radio 1!

John got fed up with the constant  record label request for hit singles and ploughed his own furrow. He must have been one of the first to ditch the record labels and create his own. Having gone down that route he was only ever going to be preaching to the choir.  I doubt he was poor. He appeared on US TV and was revered by many in the business. He has a strong legacy.

Perhaps that loner quote from John says it all, though.

Nanci G was in with the in crowd but, to give her credit, she mentored upcoming fellow artists. Mary Gauthier relates that Nanci was the only one she knew who stood in the wings of the opening set and then said great job before gifting her with her guitar -apparently a Nashville tradition.

So, Nanci got the posthumous tribute albums.

Still there is time yet for John Stewart fans to one day get the tribute album we all feel John Stewart deserves,. Jim Musselman owner of Appleseed Records is a big John Stewart  fan and, of course, in the lateness of his life John recorded with that label, delivering a quite superb album in The Day The River Sang.

The Bloodliners, John´s fan base that identified itself on the release of California Bloodlines can only hope that fellow Bloodline Jim Musselman might contemplate something of as tribute on Appleseed.

Ed´s note. I certainly agree with Peter´s painstakingly fair evaluation of John Stewart work. I also think that The Day The River Sang emerged as something we could surely not have envisaged at that stage of John´s career. At last, what he had here was something most of never thought we would hear John again, a proper studio produced album. Not only was it produced but it was also produced with very appararent empathy. There were ballads and there was rock and even some new characters to befriend hidden within the lyrics of the songs. It was, in a sense an album that showcased his skills, lyrically, on guitar, in song-building and his vocals and clarity of diction. As an album, I guess i would even call it my favourite, or at the very least, the first among equals ! Thanks for sharing all this Peter. Some evocative stuff.

logo recorded music

REMEMBERED MUSIC

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW: Jubilee

review read by RALPH DENT

An album titled Jubilee would seem most appropriate for Old Crow Medicine Show (left) , a band that never comes up short as far as energy and exuberance are concerned. Their eighth album overall, it coincides with their 25th anniversary as a band and serves as a companion piece to last year’s Paint This Town, a record that quickly rose to number one on both the Americana and bluegrass album charts.

Jubilee ought to be no less successful. Not only does it boast a similar celebratory sound — as evidenced by the rowdy, upbeat enticement of “Keel Over and Die,” “I Want It Now,” “Wolfman of the Ozarks,” and “Belle Meade Cockfight” —  but the fact that it also finds an array of A-list names contributing their talents ought to draw attention as well. The guest list includes Willie Watson, who makes his first appearance with the band in over ten years, Sierra Ferrell, and, perhaps most significantly, Mavis Staples, who turns in a sterling performance on the moving and modestly-titled closing track, “One Drop.”

Not that Old Crow Medicine Show isn’t capable of delivering all on their own. The sweetly sentimental sounds of “Miles Away” (co-written by the band’s defacto leader Ketch Secor and bluegrass belle Molly Tuttle), the rambling narrative titled “Ballad of Jubilee Jones” and the enthused and affectionate “Smoky Mountain Girl” all testify to their ability to match their more robust outpourings with the tender trappings shared through beautiful balladry. So too, their reverence for their roots finds them reaching back to early influences, beautifully expressed in the guise of three beautiful archival-sounding folk tunes, “Daughter of the Highlands,” “Nameless, TN” and “Allegheny Lullaby.”

Of course, any Old Crow Medicine Show album could be considered lacking if it didn’t boast at least a few songs ideally suited to live performance and a sound akin to a rousing revival. The jaunty “Shit Kicked In” and fit that description to a tee. As a result, Jubilee is everything one might expect from an Old Crow album, that same combination of depth and delight that’s made them a bastion of bluegrass and Americana icons. Every song testifies to their seemingly effortless indulgence, resulting in a joyful combination of intellect and ability. Those qualities alone are sufficient enough to prove their prowess.

The prime source for this article was written by Lee Zimmerman American Songwriter

logo recorded music

REMEMBERED MUSIC

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW: Jubilee

review read by RALPH DENT

An album titled Jubilee would seem most appropriate for Old Crow Medicine Show, a band that never comes up short as far as energy and exuberance are concerned. Their eighth album overall, it coincides with their 25th anniversary as a band and serves as a companion piece to last year’s Paint This Town, a record that quickly rose to number one on both the Americana and bluegrass album charts.

Jubilee ought to be no less successful. Not only does it boast a similar celebratory sound — as evidenced by the rowdy, upbeat enticement of “Keel Over and Die,” “I Want It Now,” “Wolfman of the Ozarks,” and “Belle Meade Cockfight” —  but the fact that it also finds an array of A-list names contributing their talents ought to draw attention as well. The guest list includes Willie Watson, who makes his first appearance with the band in over ten years, Sierra Ferrell, and, perhaps most significantly, Mavis Staples, who turns in a sterling performance on the moving and modestly-titled closing track, “One Drop.”

Not that Old Crow Medicine Show isn’t capable of delivering all on their own. The sweetly sentimental sounds of “Miles Away” (co-written by the band’s defacto leader Ketch Secor and bluegrass belle Molly Tuttle), the rambling narrative titled “Ballad of Jubilee Jones” and the enthused and affectionate “Smoky Mountain Girl” all testify to their ability to match their more robust outpourings with the tender trappings shared through beautiful balladry. So too, their reverence for their roots finds them reaching back to early influences, beautifully expressed in the guise of three beautiful archival-sounding folk tunes, “Daughter of the Highlands,” “Nameless, TN” and “Allegheny Lullaby.”

Of course, any Old Crow Medicine Show album could be considered lacking if it didn’t boast at least a few songs ideally suited to live performance and a sound akin to a rousing revival. The jaunty “Shit Kicked In” and fit that description to a tee. As a result, Jubilee is everything one might expect from an Old Crow album, that same combination of depth and delight that’s made them a bastion of bluegrass and Americana icons. Every song testifies to their seemingly effortless indulgence, resulting in a joyful combination of intellect and ability. Those qualities alone are sufficient enough to prove their prowess.

The prime source for this article was written by Lee Zimmerman American Songwriter

Island Insights

DID THE DISH RUN AWAY WITH THE SPOON ?

enquiry by NORMAN WARWICK

I am not too sure how and when I first came across “The Spoon In Concrete” the first time. It could have been by someone posting on Facebook that they had found it. Somewhere it was described as the smallest (& free!) outdoor museum in the world. It intrigued me. I looked it up. I had to laugh.

There is very little information on how it all started, whether the spoon was planted there on purpose or it’s a random fault from the ground tiles factory. I didn’t find much about how it all became a “thing” either but, believe it or not, “The Spoon in Concrete” has its very own Trip Advisor page now!!! See it here.  In fact it’s currently ranked as number 12 of things to do in Playa Blanca!!!

Although the recommended duration of more than 3 hours, that seems a bit excessive to me. It probably includes the actual search time. Because once you find it, there is only so long you can stare at a spoon half buried on a slap of pebble-studded concrete. Maybe it’s because I was lucky enough to find it quickly enough, about 45 minutes, I’d say. Other people claim it took them days. Other people never found it.

It has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 which is pretty good. And nobody qualifies the activity as poor or terrible. The vast majority says it’s excellent. It is described as an activity for family, friends and couples, which seems to cover pretty much everyone. Lone travelers, do not get discouraged. This is for you too as long as you like spoons. And concrete.

How did I go about it finding it? Because I DID find it, I’m weirdly proud to say. The day came when I fancied a leisurely stroll by the sea front but in a different spot than my usual scenery as I live in Puerto del Carmen. Then it came to mind: let’s go to Playa Blanca and look for “The Spoon in Concrete”!!!

Well, in preparation for it I checked Trip Advisor again, chuckled again at some of the reviews. Seriously, some of them are hilarious. I have included a selection of them below for your benefit. I looked up the photos provided there and tried to memorise every detail: the concrete tile’s size and pattern, the position of the spoon in relation to the corners of the tile, the size of the spoon, the amount of spoon being exposed… Oh yeah, if I was going searching for the Cutlery Grail of Lanzarote, I was going to be thorough.

My friend and I arrived at Playa Blanca. I won’t disclose where we parked to keep the location a secret as much as possible. We set out to look for it. Well, mainly me. My friend kept looking at me and giggling like I was a lunatic. I was dismayed to see that the pattern of the tiles on the ground was different to the ones on the photos I had seen… Would “The Spoon in Concrete” have disappeared with the partial renovations of the Playa Blanca promenade? Oh no!

Also, I felt like a prize idiot staring at the ground, scanning left to right, right to left as we progressed on our path. “Are you having fun yet?” my friend said, teasing me. I started to feel like I was never going to find it, plus I was missing out of enjoying the sea views. But in all fairness, it wasn’t my first time in Playa Blanca and I had seen those views plenty of times.

Anyway, at one point, I looked up and something told me I was getting closer to it (again, can’t give any more details without spoiling it for other people). Surely enough, a few more steps and there it was.

Pretty much what I expected: a partially buried metal spool on the floor. I started jumping up & down with joy! “Let’s take a picture!”. Of course, it is customary to take a picture when you find it, especially the “one with the shoes” where everybody that has found it with you points at the spoon with your feet, framing it, and take a photo of it while standing. Or the one pointing at it with your finger. I had seen other ones, people laying on the ground with their face next to it… When you find it, go for it, be creative!

“It doesn’t take much to make you happy, does it?” My amused friend said. No, it doesn’t, I thought, when a sense of accomplishment washed over me. In any case it’s a bit of harmless fun. Something different. A laugh. Well, if you have a sense of humour, of course.

Happy “Spoon in Concrete” hunting, everyone!!!

Just occasionally, at least  up until July 2023, vsitors, even residents might trip over one of Lanzarote´s almnost buried secrets.

Update July 2023. Sadly, someone has dug up the spoon in concrete, and it is no longer there. What was a fun period for many for a few years has come to an end, and is now consigned to history.

Playa Blanca lived this past Monday an emotional afternoon on the occasion of the beginning of the Fiestas de la Virgen del Carmen, in homage to the generations of fishermen and their seafaring tradition. And she has done it hand in hand with Canarian folklore and the story written and interpreted by one of her neighbors, the young teacher Raquel Rodríguez. This passage has been a journey through southern history with which the town has reaffirmed its signs of identity in an encounter as significant for its people as it is the revelry around the adoration of the Patron Saint of the sea

In the party held at the La Aurora center in which several generations of fishermen and fishing families converged, and Raquel Rodríguez already said it, that in Playa Blanca “it is difficult to find lifelong families that are not or have been related to the more than sacrificed productive, artisanal and sustainable activity key in the development of the town,  on which some thirty families of the village continue to depend directly”, in addition to the added value that “fishing supposes for the catering sector and local and insular tourism”.

The children Abián and Igara also participated in the popular expression, who narrated passages of the history and cultural heritage of Playa Blanca, as well as songs of the land, with heartfelt lyrics written by anonymous neighbors for this occasion, in the voices of Fabio Martín, Jessica Cedrés, Anita and Cristian Morales and Aquilino Martín,  accompanied in the touch by a group of parranderos of the municipality and the dance of the couple formed by Ana Martín and Rubén Valiente.

Playa Blanca refreshed his memory through this event organized by the Festival Commission of the town with municipal support. The public went from the courtyard of La Aurora to one of the halls of the building to discover the marine exhibition inaugurated by the famous southern fisherman Blas Francisco Martín González, popularly known as ‘Pacheco’, a sample mounted with care by neighbors full of photographs, models, fishing gear and even an old craft boat owned by the neighbor Dolores Cabrera González.

He remembered the story of homage to the town that the writer and researcher Agustín de la Hoz said in the sixties that “Playa Blanca is where its men are all sailors, tanned with wind and garúa, very honest and possessors of the most intimate secrets of their sea”.

And it is true that the task of transmitting that legacy to the younger, native and foreign population is necessary, because apart from fishing and bravely facing the sea, which is no small thing, and doing endless work on land, such as tying hooks, making nets and fixing fish, among many others, the men and women of Playa Blanca were taught in values.  to depend on one’s own work and to create community by being a people of solidarity. The City Council of Yaiza, represented at the event by councilors of the municipal government, congratulates the Festival Commission for this noble initiative and the entire town for its well-deserved tribute.

Island Insights

LANZAROTE ART GALLERY visual arts

preview by Norman Warwick

Exhibition; Temple Hall by Alicia Riquero

Inauguration 8^th September 2023

Lanzarote Art Gallery

María Ladrón de Guevara (right) is pleased to present, the Exhibition “Temple Hall” the first solo exhibition of Alicia Riquero in Lanzarote Art Gallery (LAG), which is an atmospheric space in Costa Teguise. which is committed to innovation, transparency and artistic quality. LAG aims to promote contemporary art in the city so that it becomes a place of reference for art lovers. Lanzarote Art Gallery is supported by a professional team from the art sector, in which artists, curators, dealers, interior designers and architects contribute their knowledge and experiences to make a difference in this exciting activity.

The Exhibition, “Temple Hall,” is the first solo exhibition of Alicia Riquero in the gallery. Lanzarote Art Gallery is an art gallery in Costa Teguise, which is committed to innovation, transparency and artistic quality. It aims to promote contemporary art in the city so that it becomes a place of reference for art lovers. Lanzarote Art Gallery is supported by a professional team from the art sector, in which artists, curators, dealers, interior designers and architects contribute their knowledge and experiences to make a difference in this exciting activity

Certainly the artist seems very grateful to The Lanzarote Art Gallery, with its beautiful live space, fantastic virtual gallery site, support network and ArtSpace publicity facilities.

Thank you for the warm welcome to Art Space by Ladrón de Guevara at the Lanzarote Art Gallery, Alicia says,  and The Lanzarote Art Gallery responds by saying it is an honour to be able to introduce you to the talented artist and her stunning works of art. Alicia is internationally recognized for her unique approach and ability to capture beauty in her creations.

photo With an outstanding career, Alicia has exhibited in numerous art galleries in Europe, earning recognition and applause from art lovers around the world. Her distinctive style and ability to combine different techniques and visual elements have captivated critics and collectors alike. Alicia has distinguished herself by her ability to convey emotions through her works. Her paintings and sculptures reflect exceptional depth and sensitivity, inviting the viewer to immerse themselves in a world of beauty and reflection. We are very pleased to have Alicia Riquero here in our gallery and we are sure that her exhibition at the Art .

Island insights can certainly recommend that visits to its live or virtual space will reward you with some fantastic pieces of art,, such as this by Alicia shown left, a wealth of excellent artists, and sound advice about how, and why, to build an art collection if that is what you wish to do.

The live space in Costa Teguise is a high-emnd looking gallery space with perfect lighting, easy to follow footpaths atound the exhibitgions, stunning sea views and helpful staff. Set in a cemi-circle of lovely restaurants you make a real day of it, with a morning vist, then dine at any of these fin eateries before hiring a surf board and heading out to, and then coming in from the sea with dudes.!

Island Insight

LANZAROTE CABILDO (GOVERMENT) PLEDGE AID TO MORROCO AFTER EARTHQUAKE

The Cabildo of Lanzarote has pledged assistance (LEFT) to Morocco after the earthquake on Friday that has so far cost more than 2,000 lives.

Cabildo President Oswaldo Betancort said the Cabildo would do all it could to inform residents on Lanzarote about family and friends in the area. Staff from the island’s Geoparque who were attending a congress in Marrakesh have been located and are safe.

Francisco Aparicio of the Emergency Consortium said that firemen who specialize in collapsed buildings would be among the resources offered to the Canarian Government, which is co-ordinating assistance with the Moroccan Home Office.    

Police on Lanzarote have reported receiving several calls from residents who felt the earthquake on Friday night, 500 kilometres away.

Island Insights.

U.D. LANZAROTE AND MY SEASON TICKET

PHOTO When I was a lad I had a season ticket with my dad at Old Trafford, in the halcyon days of Best, Law and Charlton. Our seats were directly behind Sir Matt Busby´s onlñy fopur rows below us. I do´t remember him ever urging omn the palyers or berating them in any way.

All that is more than fifty years ago now and when I retired here to Lanzarote eight years ago I didn´t expect for one minute that I would be watching live football. Here, in this heat, really? However, after seeing Ian Lane´s market stall (read below)  I bought a season ticket for UD Lanzarote, the island´s biggest teamin the heart of Arrecife, who play in an a Canary Island league. With crowds of around 1,500 creating a raucous atmosphere surroundiong fottball played at lower professional clubs in the UK and top amateur leagues.. When covid hit, , crowds were banned and matches played behind closed doors, but even that had to come to an end, and there was a twelve month hiatus.

Live football came back last season, but I didn´t, as I now had a comfy arm chair season ticket, watching United on Sky. There is however, only so much a life-long fan can take of false dawns. new signings and the same old problems.

So, when reading the piece below in Gazette Life, it´s time to dig dep into my pocket for the 30 euros it costs a pensioner to sit ion the sun and shout encouragement to the lads on the filed. ´Avanti, avanti¨, or, when the red and yellow cards tumbling like confetti, tranquillo, tranquillo,´or oh come on ref. You´re a ……and that´s the same in any language it seems.

There have been many changes in personnel at UD Lanzarote over the summer but none more notable than our new 52-year-old Argentinian manager, Leonel “Pipa” Gancedo

Pipa has had an incredible playing career, making his debut in the top flight of Argentine football with Argentine Juniors at 19 years of age. At 23 he signed for one of the most recognized clubs in world football, River Plate. Pipa spent five incredible years with the Mighty River winning five domestic trophies, including the Copa Libertadores – South America’s equivalent to European Champions’ League.

The very calm Argentine then moved to Spain and played in La Liga with Osasuna and Real Murcia for four seasons. He continued playing football at a good level until the age of 47 and even watching him in training now it seems that he could still do a job on the pitch.

what´s next logo  The Monday to Friday daily Sidetracks and Detours blog returens tomorrow, Monday 8^th September, so celebrate our 1,000 edition on Wednesday 20^th September. Regualr readers will not be surprised to learn the celebration consists of five consecutive ar chive pieces about the late Anerican singer-writer John Stewart, as previewed in today´s All Points Forward column by our Ameircana correspondent Peter Pearson. it will be a week of considered reviews, happy memories of great gigs and amazing albums. Don´t Misst. The we´´ see you round corner with next Sunday´s Pass It On, packed to the brim with interesting reading.

The Monday to Friday daily Sidetracks and Detours blog returens tomorrow, Monday 8^th September, so celebrate our 1,000 edition on Wednesday 20^th September. Regualr readers will not be surprised to learn the celebration consists of five consecutive ar chive pieces about the late Anerican singer-writer John Stewart, as previewed in today´s All Points Forward column by our Ameircana correspondent Peter Pearson. it will be a week of considered reviews, happy memories of great gigs and amazing albums. Don´t Misst. The we´´ see you round corner with next Sunday´s Pass It On, packed to the brim with interesting reading.