Execrable is a brilliant word, many years ago when I was obliged against my better judgement to attend St. Mirin’s Academy Paisley, we had a teacher who loved to throw words at us and this was one of his favourites, “ Kelly you’re efforts at trying to understand this subject are execrable, write that word down 50 times” I’m sure you get the picture. The Academy in those days was best described as a kind of jail with educational opportunities.
The word sprang to mind tonight when I was watching the end of the Olympics, the Chinese end of it was as expected fantastic, we, Great Britain had an 8 minute slot to sell the next games in London and as a result we now have 4 years to persuade the world that the musical interlude we provided will not happen again, as my old teacher would have said that was “execrable”
Wrinkly rocker Jimmy Page and some girl unknown to me came out of the roof of a London route master bus and waded into some unknown piece of high powered tuneless garbage, the appalled hosts looked quite alarmed.
I fancy that those who were mumbling to each other were discussing the possibility of some kind of interference causing the screeching, others struggled to maintain their famous inscrutability, noises are quite rightly already being made about not trying to compete with the Chinese spectacle and if this was anything to go by we had better not.
Perhaps some kind of diplomatic apology would be in order, a promise perhaps to start our games by setting fire to the perpetrator Jimmy Page and using him to fire up the torch, that would be a step ahead of the rest of the world, brilliantly innovative and sure to be applauded universally by everyone who witnessed our embarrassment today. My mate, musician Davie Spiers’s dad (a pianist) used to say about one of his and our favourite musicians Django Rheinhart, when comparing him to today’s rock stars, that he could make better music than them while falling downstairs drunk with his guitar wearing boxing gloves and tonight he was right, 4 years to repair the damage, let’s hope.
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11 comments:
We Great What! Good heavens man we are not great at anything. Our time has passed-if it ever was-it is time we gave up thinking about the empire I think!
Anyway us poor wee third world Scots, waste of space, will always be told our place by our english masters-and don't you doubt it for a minute. Just spend a few minutes looking at statements Boris and his cronies have made.
I know you are fishing for a bite when referring to Jimmy Page but really you should do some research into the people you are slating.
Jimmy Page is recognised as exploring and using many forms of Eastern and exotic scales and modes in his music. He is most probably one of the first people to have recognised the importance of foreign cultures in modern music.
Surely, as he is doing so much to promote inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, you should be praising him and not sneering at him.
(Anonymous) 24/08/08
I can’t make much sense of this but I’m reminded of the saying “it’s never difficult to spot the difference between a ray of sunshine and a whinging Scot. With a grievance”
(w goodwin) 25/08/08
Good for him if he is doing all these things but, his ‘gig’ at the Olympics was dreadful.
Anyway Rheinhart was a musician and a great one, Page is a rock star, not the same thing IMO.
A correspondent on another blog makes the point that while Defence (and Scotland) rate only a part-time minister, we have a full time Minister for the Olympics.
Another point of my own: Brown, Jowell and God knows who else were there to greet the Olympic team, but none of them find the time to turn up when dead soldiers are brought home.
What's your take on those two points Bonny Lad?
(Macnasty) 26/08/08
I have no problem with the ministers, it’s not really an issue except perhaps for you and other desperate types.
As far as dead soldiers are concerned, I have spoken about this before and I will say again, It sickens me when I see the willingness of some low life characters to exploit dead soldiers and their families.
That means you !
Kelly, let's pause a moment to reflect on your 10.25 reply to my post.
You are saying that while British service men and women are being killed in an illegal war in Iraq and a stupid war in Afghanistan, it is acceptable for the Ministry responsible for their deployment to be run on a part time basis by a semi detached Minister.
Councillor, many sevice people and their families are Labour's natural supporters. You have just said that neither you or Labour gives a damn for their welfare.
And dont give me any more crap about 'using dead soldiers,' because,Councillor, I was in the services. I do wear my poppy with pride and I do weep when another coffin comes home.
D'you know Terry boy, I do believe you got to me this time. Wont happen again
(Macnasty) 27/08/08
“D'you know Terry boy, I do believe you got to me this time. Wont happen again”
It just has you badge kissing flag waving hypocrite, leave the dead alone, show some dignity.
Hi Terry,
I'm not sure how being a rock star precludes being an inventive musician. For example, Radiohead are undoubtedly superstars, but you'd sound like a right muppet if you didn't say their use of jazz structures and electronica in an indie setting wasn't pionerring.
The same goes for inventive mainstream hiphop artists like Nas and Kanye West: both giant names with an eye for reappropriating and recontextualising existing forms of music to fit their ends.
Django was pretty good considering his shortage of fingers...
(Nick) 10:44
Maybe it’s just a generation thing Nick I haven’t heard of any of the names you mention, I think the youngsters are getting ripped off by the music industry just as we were with the Beatles and the Stones etc. when I hear their music now it’s mainly crap, they were more salesmen than musicians, same today.
I regard myself as one of the lucky ones, due to a combination of circumstances which saw politics become more important to me I found folk, jazz, blues, ragtime, political music & song and a whole new world which still sustains me, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Reinhardt & Grappelli, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, Ella, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Leadbelly, Dylan and the great popular singers like Sinatra & Tony Bennett etc. still I hope you enjoy your music and I hope you will see the light some day.
Not sure I need to see the light... I'm fond of quite few of the names you mention. I'd agree with you about The Stones and The Beatles, mainly just because I don't particularly like their music (and I find the Scouse four somewhat hypocritical).
Maybe you should give the more conscious end of hiphop a go? Artists like Blackalicious, Common and Mos Def talk about race, class and gender, and their music draws heavily from the traditions of gospel, funk, soul, jazz and blues. Better still, there's not a gangster in sight.
If you like your wig-out free jazz, look up the collaboration between folktronica whizz kid Kieran Hebden and stunning jazz drummer Steve Reid, it's tip top.
While I'm recommending stuff, try this: Beirut, who play a blend of Eastern European folk, French chanson and orchestral music.
It's not all Oasis and the charts these days!
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