sidetracks & detours present PASS IT ON # 66 Weekly supplement Sunday 8 9 2024

sidetracks & detours

present

PASS IT ON # 66

Weekly supplement Sunday 8 9 2024

CONTENTS

All Hear The Call; COME FOLLOW YOUR ART by Akela

1 A degree of separation  ED AMES by Dutton The Button

2  Following Festivals RADIO 2 PRESTON  by Alfred Michael

3  Jazz In Reading  FORTHCOMING EVENTS

preview by Jazz In Reading

4 Jazz On Air HOT BISCUITS  presented by Steve Bewick

5  Literature THE PEARL BY JOHN STEINBECK

discussed by Joseph Aloysisu

6  Live Music FORTHCOMING GIGS previewed by Manchestet Folk

7 Recorded Music CHART HITS reviews by Sound Roots

8 Reader´s Perspective. All Points Forward

THE WRECKING CREW by Peter Pearson

9 Island Insights THROWING SHAPES TO SHADOWS

by Norman Warwick

All Hear The Call

COME FOLLOW YOUR ART

by Akela

Thanks for joining us. Our team of excellent volunteer writers are joined today by two or three of our invisible angels, those ghosts between the lines, who offer us spiritual, spatial and temporal context. These complement a reader´s perspective as provided in a linear narrative by the caring, sharing and often daring Peter Pearson. We have all the usual listing agencies like Jazz In Reading, and the folkie news from Manchester Folk and Sound Roots. We kick it all off with a recommendation and a plea from Dutton The Button and as always we close with another Island Insight from her husband Norman Warwick. Enjoy your reading, and remember we have around 1,200 arts related free to read articles in our easy to negotiate archives.

1 A degree of separation

CHECK OUT THE TRACK

by Dutton The Button

My husband, Norm, doesn´t fully approve, I don´t think, of my not-so-secret musical love affair with the ghost of Ed Ames. When I first heard Ed´s tracks on Spotify, about twelve months ago, I fell head over heels and now have full Spotify playlists of his work.

Ed Ames (left) Edmund Dantes Urick (July 9, 1927 – May 21, 2023), known professionally as Ed Ames or Eddie Ames, was an American pop singer and actor. He was known for playing Mingo in the television series Daniel Boone, and for his Easy Listening number #1 hits of the mid-to-late 1960s including My Cup Runneth Over, Time, Time, and When The Snow Is On The Roses. He was also part of the popular 1950s singing group with his siblings, the Ames Brothers.

I did manage to persuade Norm to listen to some of Ed´s albums, which he dismissed with the comment that, ´well, he´s not John Stewart´. He did like Ed´s voice and vocal mannerisms, which he likened to those of Matt Monroe, adding and they´re both in the middle of the road.

So today I urge you to have a listen if you can to Leave Them A Flower. In my opinion the lyric and song are right up there with the songs of environmental concerns of the sixties and is delivered in displeased Pete Seeger (right) like condemnation.

All this will be dismissed  because of what Norm perceives as Ed´s lack of street-cred, but hang on, check out the liner notes.

Save Them A Flower was written by the late Wally Whyton, (left) who came through the skiffle and folk eras to become a radio 2 disc jockey presenting a weekly BBC country music programme prior to Bob Harris.

Born in London, England, Whyton grew up listening to jazz , blues , and folk music , and learned to play first the piano, then the trombone, and finally the guitar. In 1956, while working in advertising, he formed the Vipers Skiffle Group , which became the resident band at 2i’s Coffee Bar in Soho. After a string of hits produced by George Martin , including Whyton’s song Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O, the group broke up in 1960, and Whyton went on to work in television.

Photogenic and soft-spoken, Whyton typically wore a cardigan when presenting the children’s programmes Small Time, Lucky Dip, Tuesday Rendezvous (in which The Beatles made their second television appearance, performing Love Me Do ), Five O’ Clock Club, Ollie and Fred’s Five O’Clock Club and Five O’Clock Funfair for Associated Rediffusion and Rediffusion London.

Whyton typically performed a song whilst playing his guitar on the children’s programmes. He was also a presenter on the BBC ‘s Play School (1966) and Play Away (1973).

He subsequently hosted Granada TV’s Time for a Laugh. From the 1960s to the 1990s he was a presenter on BBC Radio 2 , mainly fronting folk and country music programmes.

One of these was “Hello Folk” and another “Country Club”. In the 1970s “Hello Folk” was broadcast from London, on BFBS. In 1976 he toured Germany, visiting the Forces Folk clubs introducing artists such as  The McCalmans and Mike Harding.

Despite his busy schedule as a broadcaster, Whyton continued to find time to record. In addition to recording an album of Woody Guthrie songs, Woody Guthrie’s Songs for Children, he wrote and recorded the conservation anthem, Leave Them A Flower and an album titled “Growing Up with Wally Whyton” that included medleys of children’s songs.

The cover of Whyton’s It’s Me, Mum! was featured on Steve Carter’s Worst Album Covers Ever Made.

Whyton presented a regular programme for the BBC World Service until a few weeks before his death from lung cancer in January 1997.

So Wally was a folk and country music writer, player and presenter  in the same era as Norm was performing with Lendanear. Perhaps the connection between Ed and Wally might make Norm a little more receptive to Mr. Ames music. Then I remembered how Norm and Wally had something of a public falling out on Radio 2, when Wally read out a review by Norm of Guy Clark´s album Boats To Build. Norm was quite dismissive of that album and Wally said he should give it time and he would come to recognise it as one of the great country albums of all time.

Still Norm did give it time, and for the past twenty years at least he has referred to Guy as a great storyteller.

So, Norm, give Ed Ames some time and you will eventually realise his greatness.

2 Following Festivals

BBC Radio 2 PRESTON

by Alfred Michael

Up here in the great outdoor musical venue in the sky we tend not to associate the word Festival with Police ! So I was a little bit surprised to see that police were voicing some concerns whilst offering safety first advice about the forthcoming Radio 2 concert in the park in Preston.

The police force has said it is “well prepared” for a BBC music festival which is taking place this weekend. So that was the reassuring note.

BBC Radio 2 in the Park is being held this weekend in Preston’s Moor Park and features headliners in The Pet Shop Boys and Sting.

For the first time the festival will span three days, opening with a “pre-party” featuring sets from an array of BBC Radio 2 presenters including Sara Cox, Vernon Kay and Rylan.

Officers will be providing a high-visibility presence and will be “joined by specialist teams to ensure safety for all visitors”, Lancashire Police said.

Ch Insp Julie Rawsthorne said: “We are really looking forward to this exciting event coming to Preston and we are well prepared for the large crowds expected over the three days.”

She also said police wanted to “ensure that it is enjoyable for everyone”.

They have also issued a warning that drones will be banned between 12:00 – 23:59 BST on each of the three days of the festival.

The festival will also see performances from the Manic Street Preachers, Sugababes, Craig David, Snow Patrol, Travis and Sister Sledge.

It is the Pet Shop Boys’ second time headlining the festival – having first topped the bill in Hyde Park in London five years ago.

“That was a great night,” singer Neil Tennant told Radio 2 breakfast show host Zoe Ball. “I think it’s good, though, that we’re going up north.”

The band will perform the greatest hits set from their ongoing Dreamworld tour, which includes singles like Suburbia, Rent, Left To My Own Devices and It’s A Sin.

“There’s a possibility we might have a special guest,” said Tennant, but “they haven’t agreed to it yet”.

The band will close the festival on the Sunday night, with Sting topping the bill on the Saturday.

The singer-songwriter will perform with his new trio, dubbed Sting 3.0, playing stripped-down and reworked versions of his biggest hits.

“I want to give a full picture of my entire career, so of course I will sing Roxanne, of course I will sing Message In A Bottle, and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, but there will be some deep cuts too,” he told Ball.

“I’ve never been to Preston in my life so I’m really looking forward to it, I really am!”

3 Live Jazz

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

previews by Jazz In Reading

Clare Teal Five
The Haymarket, Basingstoke

Saturday 21 September  7:30pm

previews by Jazz In Reading

She’s back! Expect exhilarating swing from award-winning jazz vocalist and long-time Radio 2 and Jazz FM broadcaster Clare Teal and her marvellous band, who return with a fabulous new show celebrating the hits and hidden gems of the Great American and British Songbooks, plus contemporary covers and originals. The concert will also include favourites from her DVD, The Fireside Sessions.

Teal’s live shows are constantly evolving, always richly infused with jazz and critically renowned across the country for their fabulous arrangements, interspersed with Clare’s warm and witty storytelling.

As one of the UK’s greatest interpreters of popular song and much-loved performers, Clare and her band (Jason Rebello – piano, Ferg Ireland – bass, Will Cleasby – drums, and Dave Archer – guitar) guarantee an evening of inspirational, uplifting music.

Live Jazz

HOMAGE: Greats Of Jazz Trumpet

Saturday 14 September 7:45pm
The Alan Cornish Theatre
Oakwood Centre, Headley Road
Woodley, Berkshire RG5 4JZ

previewed by Jazz In Reading

Ewen Baird teaches and plays around his Oxfordshire base and holds an MMus in jazz performance from Birmingham Conservatoire.
 
Martin Pickett is a freelance jazz pianist, teacher and original jazz composer.
 
Steve Kershaw is named ‘one of the countries best bass players’ by Jazz Views and delights in bringing together players from all over the world.
 
Mike Goff plays regularly around the South East, produces and promotes events and co-runs Goring Community Jazz Club.

Andy Townsend is a graduate of the Army School of Music and formerly a band member of REME (Regiment of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers).

Annually he performs many professional engagements in jazz quartets, sextets, shows and big bands. Also a qualified Bandmaster (LTCM) Andy holds teaching posts in schools in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
 
Tonight with the Quartet he will pay homage to the jazz repertoire of trumpet greats like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard.

4 Jazz On Air

HOT BISCUITS

presented by Steve Bewixk

Next week’s show features the improvisations of Alan Holdsworth, reinterpreted by Gary Husband, presented by my colleague Gary Heywood-Everett.

There is even more to tempt you, with Gil Scott-Heron Spirits Group, and even some Jazz at The Lincoln Center with an introduction to the `Freedom Suite.`

We will also feature a new single from the  Ilario Ferrari Trio and Soft Machine‘s `Hazzard Profile, Part 1.`

We will close the programme with Sam Norris´, Small Things.

Follow the link below and when what you hear proves of interest to you then please PASS IT ON and invite others to join us at

 www.mixcloud.com/stevebewick/ 24/07

5 Literature

THE PEARL by John Steinbeck

remembered by Joseph Aloysius

The Pearl is a novella by the American author John Steinbeck. The story, first published in 1947, follows a pearl diver, Kino, and explores man’s purpose as well as greed, defiance of societal norms, and evil. Steinbeck’s inspiration was a Mexican folk tale from La Paz, Baja California Sur, which he had heard in a visit to the formerly pearl-rich region in 1940.

The book was adapted as a Mexican film named La Perla (1947) and as a cult Kannada movie Ondu Muttina Kathe (1987). The story is one of Steinbeck’s most popular books and has been widely used in middle and high school classes.

In fact I remember how often my grandson-in-law told me many (many, many) times that The Pearl is a novel, and about the English teacher who introduced him to the work. Apparently my grandson-in-law, Norman Warwick, so loved the book that when the class were instructed to write a review for their homework Norman did so, employing perhaps for the first time at fourteen years old, his purple prose, that a university lecturer, years later, (Norman didn´t go to University until he was fifty), said that rather then purple prose Norman was writing in ´hideous, gargantuan sentences that often seemed baffling and never ending´, of the kind to which readers of  sidetracks and detours have become accustomed..

The Pearl is sometimes considered a parable, as Norman wrote in his essay, that was subsequently read, by Mr. Drury, the school´s inspirational mentor, to all the then pupils of Prestwich Heys Boys Secondary Modern School For Boys.

So now you know who to blame!

6 Live Music

PETER´S FIELD

previews by Manchester Folk

The wonderful Peter´s Field, featuring Sean Cooney, Eliza Carthy and Sam Carter deliver their signature“wonderful and inspirational performance” again on Thursday 17th. October. at The Old School Rooms, Edgar Wood, Long Street, Middleton.

Following its remarkable debut at FolkEast on the 205th anniversary of Peterloo, we are pleased to announce tickets are now on sale for Peter’s Field.

Written by award-winning songwriter (and member of The Young’uns) Sean Cooney and featuring Eliza Carthy and Sam Carter, this new Rochdale-made work marks one of the most momentous days in working-class history. 

Consisting of 15 original songs and a spoken narrative, this story of struggle, tyranny, liberty and hope, tells how, on 16th August 1819, 60,000 working people gathered peacefully in Manchester to advocate parliamentary reform at a time when most people did not have the right to vote. Their violent dispersion, in which 18 people were killed and hundreds injured, became known as the Peterloo Massacre

After a standing ovation from the full house at FolkEast, don’t miss this excellent and thought-provoking work this October.

The Young’uns at Christmas

Mon 23 December 2024
Hallé St Peter’s

With their heart-on-the-sleeve storytelling, warm harmonies and relentless repartee, don’t miss Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle (the award-winning stand-up comedian) when they make their eagerly awaited return this winter.

Manchester Folk Festival 2025:

THE LONGEST JOHNS
Fri 21 March 2025
New Century Hall

To celebrate over ten years of pitching and rolling in brotherly harmony, Jonathan ‘JD’ Darley, Andy Yates and Robbie Sattin are bringing the “rock ‘n’ roll of 1752” back to Manchester.

.

7 Recorded Folk Music

THE OFFICIAL UK FOLK CHARTS

reviewed by Sound Roots newsletter

The Folk On Foot Official Folk Albums Chart Show announced the Official Folk Albums Chart for August 2024 (Tues 3rd September) with a run down of current placings for albums released in the UK by UK and Irish folk, roots and acoustic artists.

You Promised Me A Lifetime (RCA), (left) by Myles Smith remains at number 1for the third non-consecutive month, marking a significant and exciting arrival for this new major folk/roots crossover artist. Smith’s global tour starts its North American leg on September 18th.

In a typically quiet UK August for new releases, new entries are sparse with just two new entries in the top 40 of the UK Official Folk Albums Chart.

Sam Carter’s ‘Silver Horizon’ (Captain) makes the top 20, arriving in at number 19. At The Barrier says of Sam, ‘We have a lot of such artists, all one step away from a wider breakthrough. This may just possibly be his, and is keenly deserved’, also say it is, ‘A primal scream in whispered form.‘
 

Our second and only other new entry is ‘Donegal’ (Compass) by Irish stalwarts and Donegal natives Altan, arriving in at number 35. Released on the iconic US-based Compass label, the album captures their blend of Irish language singing and instrumental prowess, honed over thirty-five years. Folk Alley says, ‘Donegal captures the pensive, the melancholy, and the jubilant in Altan’s exuberant jigs and reels and in their tender, evocative, and playful ballads and songs.’

Elsewhere in the chart a notable number of albums return up the chart, no doubt as a result of strong festival performances across the summer. These include Tumbling Paddies (moving 13>5) with ‘The Journey So Far – Live’ (Sharpe Music), ‘The Pendulum Swing (Cooking Vinyl) by Katherine Priddy (17>7) and Tapir (21>14) with ‘The Kingdom Their God And The King Of My Decrepit Mountain’ (Heavenly).

The Official Folk Albums Chart is compiled by The Official Chart Company and produced by English Folk Expo. The Official Folk Albums Chart Show is presented by Folk On Foot with the support of English Folk Expo.

8 Reader´s Perspective. All Points Forward

THE WRECKING CREW

by Peter Pearson

The Wrecking Crew is the name popularly given to a collective of studio sessions musicians based in Los Angeles who played on nearly all the studio recordings in the 1960’s and early 70’s at the peak of the pop boom.

Most of the players had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The group had no official name in its early years, and when the name the Wrecking Crew was first used is a subject of contention. The name was in common use by April 1981 when the (now famous) drummer Hal Blaine used it in an interview with Modern Drummer. The name became more widely known when Blaine used it in his 1990 memoir, attributing it to older musicians who felt that the group’s embrace of rock and roll was going to “wreck” the music industry.

There has been a minor tiff between Carol Kaye,the lone female bass player in the collective, and drummer Blaine over the origins of the name Wrecking Crew. Carol Kaye maintains that they were never referred to as such and that the name was invented by Blaine to promote his 1990 book. She says the word The Clique might have been used to refer to them.

Whatever their name, their origins date back to the demise of the studio system at the big film companies in the late 1950s.  This resulted in the inevitable breakup of the big studio orchestras. With these formal orchestras no longer in place, but with an ever-increasing need by producers to record soundtracks for television and film, a new generation of studio musicians found a growing demand for their services. At the same time, early rock ‘n’ roll began sweeping the country. These factors combined to create an unprecedented demand for top-notch studio players able to handle a variety of session work, from soundtracks to jingles to singles. As the established studio players who had come up with the big orchestras prior to World War II began to retire, in stepped the future members of the Wrecking Crew, to take their places.

Session players were active in other areas of the country; Nashville had its A Team that backed country acts and popular singers like Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline. There were others on the East Coast and in the South. However, as the rock and pop boom exploded, Los Angeles became the top recording location in the States and musicians migrated to the area.

Unlike in modern days with multi-tracking and digital techniques, at that time instrumental backing tracks were recorded with an ensemble playing live in the studio.

Studios were expensive to run and the handful with suitable facilities were constantly booked around the clock. Songs had to be recorded quickly with the fewest possible takes. In this environment, Los Angeles producers and record executives had little patience for needless expense or wasted time and depended on the service of reliable standby musicians who could be counted on to record in a variety of styles with minimal practice or takes. Most, though not all, were able to sight read the musical notes.

Even with the advent of albums and liner credits these musicians never received credit on the finished product and it was not until much later, with the release of Hal Blaine’s memoirs followed by a documentary film by Denny Tedesco, son of Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco, that the full extent of their involvement was revealed.

One of the early adopters of the Wrecking Crew was Producer Phil Spector, (right) creator of the “Wall Of Sound” and hits such as the Ronnettes´ Be My Baby and Baby I Love You. The Righteous Brothers were amongst others in his stable of artists.

In the documentary film Brian Wilson sings the praises of the Wrecking Crew. Whilst the Beach Boys played on and recorded their early recordings, when leader and founder Wilson started to concentrate on production, creating ever more complex and large scale arrangements, starting with the Pet Sounds album with tracks like God Only Knows, the services of the Wrecking Crew were utilised in favour of the group members. So Hal Blaine played drums, not Denis Wilson, Carol Kaye played bass guitar, Billy Strange, lead guitar. There was not a Beach Boy, other than Brian Wilson, in sight.

Not only did members of the Crew work miracles, playing a first-take, no-glitch version of The Little Old Lady From Pasadena, for example, but in many cases, they composed iconic parts without which songs like The Beat Goes On or These Boots Were Made For Walking would probably not have become hits.

According to Hal Blaine (left), nine times out of ten the producer or arranger would tell us to use the charts as a guide, that’s all. We were encouraged to go for it, to go beyond what had been written. We had the opportunity to create, to be a team of arrangers.

Carol Kaye, was described as the greatest bass player I’ve ever met, by no less than Brian Wilson. Reported to have played on something like 10,000 sessions, she wrote basslines for songs from California Girls to the Theme from Shaft.

Did the other Beach Boys and other instrumentalists mind being replaced? Well they featured on vocals and they were relieved of tedious studio sessions. Moreover they, not the Wrecking Crew, were the names on the album credits.

The Monkees almost at the start of their recording career were reported as being unable to master musical instruments. Fundamentally they were actors. Interviewed for the film, drummer Micky Dolenz says he thought of the Monkees as being an acting gig. He was only too pleased to have members of the Wrecking Crew play on the albums. Attending the sessions, he says he learned from watching them. Eventually he took formal drumming lessons so that he was able to play live in concert. 

For most in the Crew being a studio musician was a career they chose to remain in. The pay was good and the work was full of variety and plentiful, albeit the long hours kept them away from their family. It often resulted in mariage break ups and or missing their children growing up. It was almost unheard of for them to go out on the road. If they did they were in danger of losing their studio chair. Sometimes Hal Blaine might do a Nancy Sinatra evening concert but he would make sure to be back on his studio chair promptly the following morning.

Amongst their number were some surprising names, given their musical careers after the Wrecking Crew. Glen Campbell was a member before he was recruited into the Beach Boys and subsequently built a huge solo career on the back of some famous Jimmy Webb compositions. Interestingly, when recording these Jimmy Webb songs, he engaged the services of his past colleagues in the Wrecking Crew. Now, after finding out that Glen Campbell was a highly regarded member of the Wrecking Crew, my initial thought was, well, he doesn’t seem to fit the mould; so I decided to research his background more thoroughly. It turns out that he was one of the exceptions in that he could not sight read and was self taught on his various instruments. However, a fellow Crew member is quoted as saying: “Campbell was the best guitar player I’d heard before or since. Occasionally we’d play with 50 or 60 piece orchestras. His deal was he didn’t read music, so they would play it one time for him, and he had it”. 

Another stellar member was Larry Knechtel who later joined Bread and, as a Crew member, arranged and played on Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters for which he received a Grammy. It was his story that lead to the book, The Wrecking Crew, by Kent Hartman. Another member was one who is becoming ubiquitous in these pages since I started writing these pieces. Leon Russell, after leaving Tulsa for Los Angeles with David Gates, found himself a job as a keyboardist in the studio and came to be regarded as a member of the Wrecking Crew, before eventually following a solo career and then becoming a studio owner and producer. I have to confess that I had no idea of his background before I started researching these pieces. I was never a fan of his but having heard him discuss his musical career and being now aware of his background, I am mightily impressed.

The Wrecking Crew (left) were most frequently used in Gold Star Studios, United Western Recorders, Capitol Records Studios, Columbia Records Los Angeles complex, and the RCA recording facility. They might spend a morning in one, an afternoon in another and evening in yet another. The work was high pressure, gruelling and could result in burn-out.

It is said that if a rock-and-roll song came out of an L.A. recording studio from between about 1962 and 1972, the odds are good that some combination of the Wrecking Crew played the instruments. No single group of musicians has ever played on more hits in support of more stars than this superbly talented, yet virtually anonymous, group of musicians.

Two of their members, drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, were among the inaugural sidemen inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and the entire Wrecking Crew was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2010, Blaine was elected into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. He was such a dominant drumming force in the days of the Wrecking Crew that he had a rubber stamp made printed with the words “Hal Blaine Strikes Again” (see photo above) which he used both to mark his music charts and leave on the wall of the drum booth in every studio he played.

By the early 1970’s a number of developments within the industry contributed to their demise.

The rise of the singer songwriters brought with it more self-contained musical units. Artists began to stipulate in their recording contracts that they be allowed to play their own instruments on records. By the mid-1970s, technological advances such as 16-track and 24-track tape recording machines and automated large-format multi-channel consoles made it viable for instruments to be recorded, often close-miked, onto separate tracks individually, reducing the need to hire ensembles to play live in the studio. Synthesizers could approximate the sound of practically any instrument. Eventually, drum machines would become the norm, which could be specially programmed to keep beats in place of a drummer or be used for click tracks played in musicians’ headphones, making it easier to overdub or re-record any part in-synch and achieve a more uniform and consistent tempo.

Of course the demise of the Wrecking Crew was not the end of the studio musician. They became a different animal with the advent of the singer songwriter and then the classic rock bands of the 1970’s and early eighties.

Typical of the hired hands behind the hits of that generation is a collective whose moniker is more about kinship. Next week I will profile their story and the changes in the music industry post the Wrecking Crew period.

Note:The primary sources for this writing are: The Wrecking Crew documentary film – 2008 and the Wrecking Crew book by Kent Hartman – 2012.

9 Island Insights

THROWING SHAPES TO SHADOWS

by Norman Warwick

Regular readers will understand what I mean when I say that the last few weeks have cast us in the roles of extras in every hospital drama on tv. My wife, Dee, and I seemed to have been recently cast as extras in Casualty on a permanent basis. We missed several gigs we were looking forward to enjoying and, indeed, looking forward to telling you all about, and we apologise that we were unable to do so.

However, in the words of the strangely bearded Canned Heat and ZZ Top, we´re on the road again.

Nevertheless, despite being given a clean bill of health and a certificate of fitness, we then discovered that the first concert we had intended to review for you on our return was in fact an important religious event in the church of Los Remedios in Yaiza. Even when we learned that fact we thought the lovely Ladies Choir Of Yaiza might have been performing but a few quick phone calls to the friends we have in that choir failed to confirm that fact so we realised we would have to take some sidetracks and detours to find a musical event to review.

Of course, the wonderful thing about Lanzarote is that it is itself a brilliant screenplay to any musical. Seriously who can walk around the island and not look up at skies of blue and clouds of white. We are an island of bright, blessed days and dark, sacred nights. We have the colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky and also on the benches as a rest for people walking by. We really do see friends shaking hands and saying “How do you do?” and its their way of saying I love you. I hear babies cry and I watch them grow and I know they´ll learn much more than I´ll ever know.

Lanzarote is, itself, a wonderful world.

And just about wherever you are on the island you can find arts and culture and folk lore music within a couple of kilometers diameter.

So on Sunday night (1^st September)) we headed off into our nearest town of Playa Blanca. We even knew of two bars adjacent to each other which are actually one venue, where the moored yachts serve as stately homes for the summer. Most evenings, The Captain and Tennille step ashore for some fine dining at one half of the establishment: that half being known as the Oasis Asian Restaurant. This sedate, yet sartorial, dining room is tended by polite and friendly staff and a young maitre´d who loves his job and, therefore, is very good at it.

Eight o´clock is a good time to book for your table because at half past nine the other half of this venue becomes an open air night club with a floor packed with dancers in front of a male and female duo: the girl with a husky and attractive voice that ranged from Janis Joplin´s throaty growl to Minnie Riperton´s sweet and soulful sound. The guy had a great voice, if with a slightly different, but complementary, vocal range.

Their voices merged well and created sweet and soulful harmony.

Their Elton John medley was sensational and of all the wondrous sights and sounds I love on Lanzarote I never thought I would add a version of Sweet Home Alabama, originally by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The duo delivered a fantastic version of Have You Ever Seen The Rain, written by John Fogarty and recorded with his band Credence Clearwater Revival.

I usually cringe at Elvis imitators, simply because none of us can copy the unique, but that they put together half a dozen of Presley´s best tracks, beginning with Suspicious Minds, was very, very impressive.

Certainly, the dancers were kept happy and the atmosphere was enhanced by the fact that by now darkness had fallen and the lights on the masts of the yachts fifty yards away created a wonderful low constellation of flickering stars.

One of my favourite songwriters, Rodney Crowell, once wrote of Stars On The Water, and moonbeams on the bays down in Louisiana, and tonight the Marina Rubicon down in Playa Blanca matched all this. The Oasis restaurant sits beside a beautifully shaped and huge swimming pool that was now empty. It was being crossed slitheringly, glitteringly by apparent snakes riding the still surface in reflections of the small coloured lights in the trees.

From any table in the restaurant the dancers on the floor in the nightclub were visible, throwing their shapes in the shadows, or dancing like loons as another popular song would have had it. Written by Marc Bolan Cosmic Dancer was recorded as T Rex, surely its lyrics were referring to these utterly carefree dancers.

We left their company a little early, after a couple of Gin and Tonics, ready for our cocoas and our beds. We hadn´t danced, because we remembered that recent pride had only led to a fall.

Instead we linked arms and walked meticulously towards our car, and never touched a crack in the pavements.

It is our biggest tick as a vote of confidence in the artists when I am still singing what I had heard, as I drive home. However there were other big ticks tonight: The duo picked a simply buzzing playlist. Of course, they were behind a sound desk that contained that playlist and was full of recorded lead lines and rhythm sections that can become oppressive unless employed sparingly.

On the way to the car, we sat for a rest on one of those rainbow coloured benches and discussed our choice of starters, Tacos Mexican, which had been sweet and soft. Our choice of dessert of a Nutella Crepe and ice cream had been so much more than the sum of its parts.

We closed our eyes to think back to our main course: Dee´s was Chop Suey de Pollo and she says it was full of flavour and very tasty.

Mine had been Thai Chicken Curry and I could have dreamed of those mild flavours on that bench all night, but instead I was wakened by the faint strains of what must have been an encore song,

Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Y arriba, y arriba
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré 

My overall memory of the night is of trying to remember the title of a Beatles song, because I know it had a germane questioning line in its lyric that I wanted to answer.

It came to me before we got home.

The song was Baby You´re A Rich Man.

The lyrical question was was ¨How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?”

The answer, to continue The Beatles theme, was….. I feel Fine !

Our hard working team of hard working contributors to not only these pages but also to our Monday to Friday daily not for profit blog, Sidetracks And Detours will set out on Monday 9^th September to find all roads less travelled. They are never really off duty, but we have heard rumours about some mysterious goings on down at the Golden Gate Fields horse-race course, so we have secured an access all areas pass so they can investigate further. I think you might learn the names of the usual suspects. On Tuesday they will be opening a box of Thirty Candles, but on Wednesday they will join me here on Lanzarote for an evening at the eclectic Tourism Awards, with a much loved island musician among the nominees. On Thursday the team will be reminding us of some great songwriters who aren´t mentioned often enough in despatches and by Friday, they will be delivering a recommendation of a book to aid aspirant and established song-writers alike. So that will be the end of  their busy week and the start of a busy weekend of watching the football on Saturday (and building a bigger bookshelf for the new book). Come Sunday 15th September we will publish  PASS IT ON  # 3 and then head off down those sidetracks & detours again, the following day. Meanwhile we thank all our contributors.