Sunday 12 October 2014

Rock and Roll on top of the world

 

It was a great line up.

The hill at the top of the world offered a sweeping landscape of manicured and watered English countryside stretching downhill to the far and twinkling Southern coast, under an October moon.

First on were the duo Kami Thompson and James Walbourne “The Rails”

the rails

 

https://www.facebook.com/TheRailsOfficial/info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voFp8zTLhPQ

 

They were joined by Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson

 

http://richardthompson-music.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF7rq12UCUE

Other musician members of the Richard Thompson extended clan came onstage, spanning two generations (and probably shortly three).

Because of general excitement on the dance floor I don’t have the full play list, but the numbers were all rock classics, and there were great renditions of “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “A Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” and “Great Balls of Fire”.

The Richard Thomson family are no relation to me, by the way, other than of course the probability of a very distant relationship indicated by the surname. We have Scottish ancestors, which is a genealogical clue, but any resemblance in musical ability stops there. As Milton observed: They also serve who clap their hands and look vacantly at the band.

Just to show I can step out from distant cousinhood in the dispassionate promotion of Rock and Roll, here is a link to the latest offering from Dancing Mice, who are not Caithness Thompsons.

 

 

http://www.dancingmice.co.uk/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3c4TxciNeJZRm9xc2FMMk1IWXM/view?usp=sharing

However, the band is led by another Scot, Ian Deary, so perhaps I have not got too far away from distant cousins after all.

Still, I hope there is no shame in being moderately clannish for one moonlit night on the top of a hill in the English countryside.

4 comments:

  1. does facility with musical instruments & music in general correlate (modestly) positively with Spatial Ability? Is there an overlap (venn diagram-wise) with Spatial, Maths, & Music? is the relationship just at the high end (if one is spatially gifted, one may be musically inclined?)

    btw, after playing in bands i've noted almost 90% of the audience can't tell who was playing bass vs. who was playing guitar, etc. knowing that makes playing in front of people less stressful:)

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  2. Composition is certainly g related, assume that playing slightly less so, but learning a motor task (beyond simply keeping a beat) is demanding, requires much ability and plenty of practice. Don't know about links with spatial ability offhand, but can look at all that some other time.

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  3. Where was that concert ? Wheely Down ?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjnVHDp1xGA

    ReplyDelete