Buskers, Blues and Blue Buses

“We’ve jist been on a summer holiday”, appropriate really cos we had a cliff in our apartment bedroom *– you remember Cliff (he lives in Bearbados)  *see last blog

Ah wis gonnae try an get this musicky blog out before we went on holiday. But, as Ra-bear Burns once, kinda said.. the best laid plans o’mice an’ bears gang aft agley – ah didnae manage. But, ahm on a week aff fae work, so ahm back on the blog-trail. It’s taken a while, ‘cos I started this way back in May and, to cattle long story short, we’ve herd a lot of moo-sic since then. Oh,….sorry, ah seem to get a bit cow-ey there, (must’ve been the wee calf)

This blog was kinda inspired by some of the street entertainers seen lately an’ live music we’ve caught recently. So I’ll go thru it in order of writing, an’ more or less as it was writ.
Ah almost called this blog – Just GRRRin & Bear it

Sat 16th May15, 09.50am; outside St.John’s Kirk:- The sun is now shining, and the air is still quiet. I’ve just left Nero’s coffee shop (where I’d gone for bloggy ideas) but it was just unsettling noise – for some reason I couldn’t settle (the noise probably), so I read the paper looking for anything interesting. That’s when I found out that BB.King had died the day before. Mmm, that might be the ‘interesting’ I was looking for. The blues legend, who honed his craft busking on the streets of Mississippi died at the age of 89.
So, with music in mind, I have a question (or two)
Why do buskers, street ‘entertainers’ (so-called) play the same tune/song again an’again? Here’s a few PERTH BUSkERs we’ve seen. Should they be required (by law, if necessary) to move pitch regularly to give shop staff (who can’t move and escape the noise) a break (Mrs.P’s in retail btw).
Some of them appear (to this bear) to think that, as their audience moves past, changing continually, that they can play the same stuff over and over.
This is just laziness – unless (& I can sympathise) they’re just learning their craft.
Play a bigger set – more, and different songs. Then move along. Swap with someone else.
Trade is equalised, and everyone gets a shot at the lucrative (or not) pitch.
10.00am; Melodious church bells sound above me.
Yesterday, Friday (15may15) 2.30pm:- I could hear the (not naturally unpleasant) sound of Andean pan-pipes playing in the High Street…., 2 streets away from where I was sitting at the time (1/2 Sixpence) having a cider. Mrs.P met me there after finishing her work, complaining about a fiddler with a 3-tune repertoire whose sound had penetrated her brain, like a saw, for what seemed like hours.
So, being ‘Superherobear’, (and champion of the tone deaf under-bear) I thought I’d grump on Mrs.P’s behalf. Hence, this blog.
Firstly, I should state, there are some very talented individuals out there- I even picked up a business card a few weeks back from one singer. Some of the young kids (mid-teens) are brilliant – enthusiastic AND tuneful. We pointed one guitar guy to try his luck at Greyfriars pub– where Peter and Pauline host live music sessions.!

But, there are some lazy chancers out there.
– folk with (over) amplified ‘backing’ tracks. The Opera Singer, the Andean piper, you know who you are.
Recently, I noted that it seemed every corner of town had a ‘Romanian/Hungarian’ accordion player – like some sort of musical look-out surround-sound system (think Colditz/Great Escape).
A siren wails past….like a doppler effect baby – nearer, NEARER, NEARER, then gone – wa WA WA wa wa.
Annoyingly (now that I’ve got this busky music idea to develop), on the High Street today (Saturday), there are NO buskers. The nearest I got to bus-king (or Brian Souter, who runs a not-unsuccessful bus company from Perth), was a very pleasant & knowledgeable BUS driver, with a 1967 Bristol single-decker outside the concert hall. He told me he ran the Stagecoach vintage fleet and that this [HDV 639E] was the company’s very first bus (May ’81). He also told me that next Saturday (23may) was the ‘running day’ at the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum in Kelty. Obviously you’ve missed this (‘cos it’s now July), but there is an ‘Open Weekend’ on 15/16 August. This is worth a visit, although, typically, you wait to see one old bus and then 27 of them come along together.

 To compound the silence, a line (is there a collective noun?) of Tia-Chi-ers went quietly through the motions. A friendly ‘chier’ asked me if I’d like to Tai-Chi an’ I said no, but I’d recommended that he should try cheese instead…(did ye see what I did there..?) I go home..

12.10pm; I come back out, to meet Mrs.P for lunch. Still no music on street….weird !
Has a new law been passed since yesterday, an’ street music’s now illegal?
Is there a buskers convention taking place somewhere?
That was back in May, so now, after completing the holiday blog last week (Vini, Vidi, Formaggio), I’ve come back to this blog today ( Sat 18th July) an’ guess what?
It’s ‘National Busking Day’ !!, can you believe it?
I didn’t know such a thing existed, and today of all days…spooky timing.
I was made aware of this when watching a bloke on TV saying that buskers have to audition, and register to get a licence to play on the London Underground.
Now, to me, on one paw, a formal scheme like this might weed out some of the less musically gifted individuals, and thereby raise the quality (and variety) of the tunes on the street. On the other paw however, it might prevent/dissuade some of the new kids who are just finding their way in the musicky world. Either way, on the spot quality checks by the music police, or PRS (Performing Rights Society) might be able to determine whether some of these musicians have waived their right to perform in our society

They (PRS) might also check if Debenhams are licensed to publicly play intrusively loud music into the street?
Before I move on from this particular grump, it struck me that, even among the limited repertoires, there must be some ‘common’ or ‘standard’ tunes that all, or most of them will belt out in some fashion. How cool would it be if, like a ‘flash-mob’, at some pre-arranged time or signal, all the buskers in the street simultaneously played the same tune/song… (eg. Whiskey in the Jar – Mrs.P likes this)
That might make folks smile, and we might forgive some of the irritants.

  I was reminded of one concert I wouldn’t be going to, when I picked up a copy of ‘MOJO’ in the airport recently. Fleetwood Mac on Tour playing in Glasgow (8july) – this , probably, last-in-a-lifetime opportunity, came along with too high a price-tag at a time when even the moths in our wallet are feeling the pinch. This was the ‘classic’ Rumours, 5-piece line-up that I bought (on vinyl) back in the day. I love the original more bluesy sound of the early band, from the ‘60s, but these guys are ‘awesome’, these were the guys that got me buying records way back in my youth. To those folks that managed to see them on Tour, (and I know who some of you are) – it’s not that funny, I’m as green as the Manalishi, wi’ jealousy. Maybe I shoulda got Mrs.P to shake her moneymaker a bit more. Oh well.

In between the holidays and now there’s been a fair bit of music, we saw the Proclaimbears at the Concert Hall, then caught Liam Clayton and The NSA at the Green Room on the same night (23may)

 

As this blog has developed a music theme, I should mention that the music festival season is now upon us: Glastonbeary, I luv White, P in the Dark (now moved to Strathallan) and, as it takes me ages to actually complete a blog (left-paw typing remember), some of these events have now been and gone.

A couple of weeks ago (5th July) Mrs P an me went tae Dundee for the ‘AlmostBlue’ – Music weekend we reckoned we’d probably have a kebab an’ a drink in memory of our friend Mick who shared blues music weekends with us in Dundee, Edinburgh and Orkney. Cheers.
Dundee’s a good weekend, ‘cos the music’s played in various pubs across the city centre…an’ it’s all free!! More cheers!!

We went through late on the Sunday afternoon…an’ thought it wiz strange that a lot of folk on the train were wearing black & white, and there was more than a few trilbies scattered about the carriage. I found out at the first bar we went into that Madness were playing in Montrose…
MADNESS !, 10 miles up the line, Today !…GRRR, missed it. Close, but no cigar as they say.
If we’d gone, I’d have put the shades on, the hat, offered Suggs a beer an’ said, “Welcome tae SKA-tland!”

 

Anyway, the emphasis now in Dundee seems to be ‘live’ music in general, rather than purely ‘blues’ oriented. We went into Pillars (a pub, quelle surprise!) an listened to Mathers & Wares playin’ blues for a couple of hours then (following the programme timetable) went in search of more music. We found Decades (a big bar) with Blues Hat well into their set of mostly 60’s/70’s chart covers. We stayed (& danced even) until they took a break and then headed along the street past DC Thomson’s Courier Building – [spiritual home of Oor Wullie, The Broons, Desperate Dan, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, Gnasher an’ all those favourites from The Dandy & The Beano] until we reached BrewDog. No music, but a seriously good, ‘treacly’, pint of Alice Porter. The rain which had started, then stopped. Mindful of the train times we headed back towards the river, ending up in The Bank Bar and listened to Dave Anderson & Steve Webster.

 

Last couple of weekends (17/24th July), we’ve gone to the Edinburgh.Jazz ‘n’ Blues Festival – havin’ bought tickets to see a few bands.Now we’re skint, we might be on an enforced diet by the end of the month.
Poverty an’ death…, mmm, might just have the right credentials tae write my own blues song…. How hard can it be? Ah’ll get back to y’all on that.
Anyway, we saw an’ heard some crackin’ bands : Mr.Sipp was great (smells of lavender, says Mrs.P), an hour of excellent blues. He was followed on stage by the Royal & Southern Brotherhood – who I didn’t think lived up to their billing as a ‘super-group’. Technically, individually very good, they didn’t appear to us to be a ‘group’, coupled with the predominance of funk/soul (I know, if we’d read the programme properly, we should’ve expected this) when we were looking for more of a blues evening than a James Brown one. Mud Morganfield & Lurrie Bell at the Festival Theatre, with their Blues from Chicago put on a great show, although (I have to say I did think about the Strathallan music fest) when all you could see of Mud was his lime green tie in the dark.
2 days, 7 bands at the Spiegel Tent – all good. The Willie Hayes band, Brandon Santini on harmonica, Boris the ebay guitar, The Jensen Interceptors gave an energetic performance (bit like the car), Ben Rice (that’s his steel guitar in the main image).
I was all set not to like Moreland & Arbuckle after the start of a very heavy, dark set, but with Dustin Arbuckle on moothie, they came out with some good ol’ (contemporary) country/blues. Lookin’ like hillbilly truckers from Wichita, Kansas (although neither had red shoes, so I don’t know whether to believe them). They rocked. Aaron Moreland (on guitar) occasionally strode, at serious pace, across stage like a beardy Wilco Johnston*. Most excellent dude!

Red Stripe made me think of Richard E.Grant – [if he’d played Hugh Grant’s role in the film ‘Music & Lyrics’] – happy, up-beat sound with the harmonious sassy vocals and some sexy sax ‘n’ brass made for a jumpin’ evening. Mrs.P wis dancing, it wis braw. An’ the Blues Bros put in an appearance too.
It was nice to see the collaboration between artists/bands – filling in, jamming, supporting each other. Or maybe they just love being on stage, being in the spotlight. Either way, this bear (& Mrs.PolarBear) loved every minute of every show.
The climax to the weekend, on Sunday, was the Willie Dixon tribute at the Queens Hall, with a collective line-up of, Maggie Bell, Micky Moody, Papa George, Ben Rice, Brendon Santini
Ah love the way Tim Elliott (Blues’n’Trouble – saw them upstairs at the Playhouse back in the early 80’s) just moves so loose, while looking like a ‘40s movie P.I. in his oversize suit, an’ playin’ his moothie.
Maggie Bell at 70 yrs can still belt out a toon. The only disappointment of the evening was that the end came too soon. BOOO!
I should apologise, I was too busy listening to the music to remember how I’d have to describe it later. My musical journalistic amnesia will never get me working for Rolling Stone or NME, actually as long as ah don’t make ony enemies (NME’s – d’ye see whit ah did there?), I’ll be happy.

Click EJBF_2015 to see what we saw.

We pitched camp in Dalgety Bay on the Fife Riviera wi’ Mrs.P’s rellies, (cos it wis closer to Edinburgh, an’ that’s where they lived) and even here there was a music festival. The PKD Festival was just setting up at the time we past in the morning, so we never heard any of it – maybe next year. For a local show, it had managed to snare some big names (no, not Georgios Michaelopolopolopolous) Big Country, The Jam (bits of), who were also playing in Perth that weekend. When I say Perth, it was actually Scone Palace at the Rewind Festival . So much tae see at the same time…..
REWIND line-up included OMD, Bananarama, Kid Creole….. it’s a mostly ‘80’s music with dayglow pink/green lycra very much evident around town. Very, em…colourful, if not very tasteful.
A veritable cornucopia of musicological mastery to choose from. More music than you can shake a stick at.

Talking of colour, Blues. Why is it that colour for this music? I had that musical question in my head when I started thinking about festivals. So, here’s a wee exercise for you (yes, you at the back of the room) If there was ever a ‘ColourFest’ where the artists name included a ‘colour’, who might be on the bill? Here’s a few tae get you started: Peter GREEN, GREEN Day, ORANGE Juice, RED Hot Chilli Peppers, BLACK Eyed Peas, PINK, Barry WHITE, Cilla BLACK, WHITE Stripes, MAROON 5, BLACK Sabbath, BLUE, Caro EMERALD, King CRIMSON, Bobby BROWN, LEMONheads, SILVER Bullet Band, GOLDen Earring, Deep BLUE Something, Simply RED, Deep PURPLE
Eh,.. so, off you go.

Ah had a look at the Glastonbeary line-up. I have to say, not many bears, (BEARt Bacharach- saw him finishing his set (27june), Bella BEAR, Super Furry Animals, BEARCUBS) but, there are more than a few aminals on the list (I like lists)
CATfish (& the Bottlemen)
DeadMAUS
The MaccaBEES – they macca honey (Yum!, as cousin Winnie would say)
WOLF Alice
King Gizzard & The LIZARD Wizard
PUSSY Riot (I’m sure I namechecked them in a previous blog on Russia)
GOAT – very popular in Wales I’ve heard)
HINDS (Oh deer. Sorry)
CARIBOU (mmm…deep fried with a side salad – very tasty)
FLAMINGOds
ZIBRA

To be honest, some of these (OK, most of these) I’ve never heard of. But, I’ll maybe do a search on EWEtube to see if I might acquire a taste for any of them. I’ll let you know.
Here’s one artist no-one’s heard:- The might’ve been almost famous French Mime Crooner – Charles ‘asnaevoice

If Mr Eavis asked me (with Mrs.Ps help naturally) to suggest a few names to play down on his farm….. this lot’d be included. (For legendary talenty reasons, I’ve included a few ex-musicians, ceased to be singers, members of the choir- invisibule as it were nudge-nudge, know what I mean?)
Poleclaimbears – seen @ Concert Hall last month           
Bearoncé
West Fife (a bear band fae Inverkeithing)
Robeart Palmer…., totally addicted to cheese..
Bear City Rollers – they played Perth for the Xmas Lights a few years ago.
Robeart Johnston – one of the all-time great bluesmen. Technically, he was 20/30 years ahead of Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds – ‘Terrapin Blues‘, a song about his pet turtle, and the haunting song ‘Dead Chimp Blues‘ about the death of his primate pal, down at the crossroads at Kelty (where the old A90 meets Station Road)
Mucky Walter (Findhorn Delta All-Stars)*
Seal…..mmm
Bear Naked Ladies, or Naked Lady Bears, either will do.
Bear-y White (aka The Walrus of Lurrve)
Beary Manilow
Gary Bearlow (Mrs.P went tae see him @ the Omni Centre (19jun) in a well, a ‘live’ relayed broadcast of his concert @.O2) – She enjoyed this except for getting her foot stood on in the heffalumpy stramash as the girls danced ‘roond their handbags’* (a traditional Scottish dance style)
(Oh aye, memo to Omni Centre staff – turn the music UP, and the lights DOWN – BEFORE customers complain)
Senso Unico – we saw them on holiday – (that’s the Italian ‘One Direction’)
Polar Bear – arctic cool jazzists – they’ve even recorded a track about the wet bit at the bottom of our garden here at PB-Towers – Tay. How did they know?
(*You’ll need to wait until my 2nd book is published, to find out more about him)

Some people might think that I’ve just added ‘bear’ into a word for ursine effect…., an’ they’d probably be right

On a sad musical note, James Last, the German easy-listening muzak-meister, and icon of the 70’s brown/beige era, died aged 86 while we were away on holiday. (not that he was on holiday with us).
There was a funny story about James Last and a rhinoceros…but..Mrs.P says you’ll have to ask someone else…spoilsport. I thought it was funny,..something about the horns at the back an’…

Today (1aug), while taking a break from typing this blog, I went into town…and guess what? – Better than a bus load of buskers, I caught the last hour of a free outdoor concert. Part of the Southern Fried Roots Festival, this annual events brings some serious talent to Perth, and is well worth checking out if you get the chance. We saw the Carolina Chocolate Drops at this a few years back…, very tasty!

So, there you have it…, what started off as a minor musical grump about buskers ended up on a much bigger stage with the Blues elite. You could say we’ve gone from the sub-fine to the ridiculous(ly good) in the space of one blog and several weeks of summer.

And on that note (D#), I’ll bring the curtain down on this

“Rewind?, No. Fast Forward to the end. C’mon get aff “….., oh, Mrs.P’s woken up and wants to use the computer. I’d better go now.

In the words of Jim Morrison.
“This is The END”

*… ooh, mustn’t forget, in 18914 (back in Sept 2014) I said I’d let you know what I thought about the Wilco Johnson / Roger Daltrey CD I was listening to – ‘Going Back Home’. All I’ll say is…GRRReat!! It made this bear feel good!!
OK, this is the real END
– – – – – –

2aug15: Late, late musical news just in: Cilla Black died. Spooky, I’d name checked her earlier in this blog.

8aug15: 11.00am: (Perth High St): Later, late musical news; This wee lass justifies the presence of buskers. If they were all as good, I’d make it mandatory far all High Streets to have one…very nice tone, volume and a voice with an edgy raspy twist in there somewhere. I’d only gone up town for Mrs.P to go to the opticians and caught this future star performing.

 

I didn’t know how seriously good and professional her approach to music was until tonight while adding some final details to this text. Rosie Sullivan fae Lewis – remember the name

8aug15: 4.30pm: Even later, late musical news….(I’ll get this blog finished yet): Ah wis heading out tae Tesco’s for a couple of pizzas this afternoon an’ was aware of music comin’ fae the park. So, I went to investigate… and it was Dougie MacLean!!.  Dougie MacLean, playin in our front garden!!  He finished wi ‘Caledonia’ – providing the perfect (& Scottish) ending to this meandering musical marathon…

 

…except for the Pipe Bands playing this morning (9aug)