Under-appreciated interpretors

It's the singer songwriters who get all the glory, but just because they wrote the words it doesn't mean they are always the best people to communicate the message within the lyrics.  Of course, cover versions are often simply pale imitations of the orginal, but once in a while someone comes along who takes a set of lyrics to a whole new level.  The new June Tabor and Oyster Band CD does that with my favourite song, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', and last Friday I saw Barb Jungr do the most incredible things with the songs of Bob Dylan.



I've loved her work for years, but hadn't previously seen her live, and the best word I can come up with describe her performance is visceral.  It helped that were right at the front, no more than ten feet from her, and it was awe-inspiring.  I recall seeing her on BBC Breakfast once and the presenters did the usual 'You're going to sing for us, aren't you?' routine, and got much more than they bargained for.  She didn't get up from the couch, and just started, from cold at 08:30 in the morning, and with awesome power- poor old  Bill didn't know where to put himself as Barb stared into his eyes and sang a love long beautifully.

'Like A Rolling Stone' was imbued with a power and a viciousness that Dylan's voice just doesn't get across, and she finished with 'God On Our Side'.  When she sang the seventh verse...

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
...the fact that we were seeing her at the New Greenham Arts Centre, built on the site of Greenham Common, scene of the women's peace camp, and for so many years home to Cruise missiles, meant that a collective shiver ran through the audience.  We were sitting right by where, in 1958, a B-47 bomber was destroyed with a resulting radiation leak!

Her singing was great, and her introductions to the songs, including lots of 'Dylanology' were wonderful -at some times, funny, and at others extremely moving.  Her intro to 'The Man In The Long Black Coat' was excellent, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house when she told the story of the one-man audience at a gig when she first took 'The Songs of Bob Dylan' to New York.

She goes back there next month in triumph for sell-out shows over a week, and then she heads off to Austin, LA and SF.  If you can't get to see her UK gigs, buy the album, but the band that backs her on it, although really good, can't capture the power of seeing her live with only her pianist to accompany her.
 

Driving in Scotland - part 3

Back in my adopted homeland, having been told en route to 'Respect Roadworkers' - if I meet any then I'll remember that sage advice.

Can anyone tell me why Edinburgh drivers refuse to drive in bus lanes?  The notices every 400m say that the hours are 07:00 to 09:30, and 16:00 to 18:30, but between 09:30 and 16:00, hardly anyone ventures into them.  Part of the reason that traffic congestion in Edinburgh is so bad is that most of the major routes in the city are made into single lane roads by drivers' stupidity.  It really beggars belief that people can be so thick.

Driving in Scotland - part 2

As if driving in Scotland wasn't hard enough and dangerous enough already, Transport Scotland have a novel way of distracting drivers.  The illuminated signs on motorways have a purpose: to tell drivers when there's a hazard ahead, or inform them about how long it might take to get to a point further along their journey.  However, north of the border they are used to annoy and to help your attention wander.

Heading up the M6, all is sane, but then you hit the A74/M74, and the madness starts - it also features on the M8 and the Glasgow motorway system. (you'll note that punctuation doesn't figure on the signs).

'Bin your litter Other people do'
'Picking up your litter risks workmens lives' - I wasn't sure how my picking up my litter endangered anyone, but then I realised this one was ambiguous as well as being daft
'Drive smart save fuel' - an advert for Smart cars?
'Check your tyre pressure regularly' - but hopefully not at 70 mph in the second overtaking lane.
'Check your mirror for bikes' - I did, and there were none hanging off them
'Could you car share'
'Think about car share' - actually, I was thinking about Tunnock's caramel wafers until you distracted me
'Soft tyres waste fuel' - soft signs waste lives!
'Wear seat belts its the law'
'Car sharing save money reduce emissions' - since when has that been a sentence?
'Be a courteous driver' - wasted on me as I was by then screaming 'F*** Off!' at the signs.
'Dont drive and take drugs' - are prescription drugs included in this?

Why do they do this?  Does some overpaid bureaucrat sit at a computer typing in platitudes all day long, or are they randomly generated? 

Does Transport Scotland seriously believe, that as I speed up the M74, my driving experience is enhanced by this glib, fatuous nonsense?  If they want to improve the standard of driving in Scotland maybe they should try:

'Indicate occasionally' or 'Give us a clue what you intend to do next'
'Try driving in the driving lane rather than the second overtaking lane'
'Try driving in lanes rather than straddling them'

Is this really what devolved government has given Scotland - the right to become a laughing stock?

By the way, should anyone be incensed about these two most recent posts to my blog, I'm a Scot so I'm allowed to say what I like about my fellow countrymen and countrywomen! 

Driving in Scotland

The aggression which meant that the Scottish fighting man played a major role in the establishment and the maintenance of the British Empire, now finds its outlet in driving.  Up in Edinburgh for the Festival, and then the trip across country to sail to Arran, meant that I had plenty of opportunity to see the Scottish driver in full flow.



On motorways, what is properly called the second overtaking lane, or what the rest of the country colloquially calls the fast lane, is to many Scots the driving lane.  Never have I seen so many people get themselves out there, and then refuse to budge.  I saw one muppet drive for 20 miles along the M8 in that lane, and then dive across the other two lanes towards his exit.  Clearly there's a mindset that says, 'They shall not pass'.

In Scottish towns and cities it appears that different rules apply there compared to the rest of the UK.  Indicators are clearly seen as a sign of weakness: generally to be ignored totally, but if the driver is a wimp, to be briefly touched five or ten yards before the turning.

When turning left it is de rigeur to lurch towards the middle of the road in order to give oneself an easier job of making the turn.  Turning right, across the oncoming traffic, simply involves stopping in the road - as previously said, a signal would merely serve as a clue to help other drivers, and is clearly unthinkable.  I swear that some of the stuff I've seen wouldn't seem out of place in a third world country.

As an exiled Scot I love my country, but I'm baffled by why it has chosen to declare its independence from the rest of the UK by first of all changing its driving habits - I would have thought independence first, and then releasing a new Scottish Highway Code would have been more sensible.

As for Transport Scotland, the agency responsible for roads north of the border, it's a remarkable organisation...but more of that next time.

'She was a woman to whom life had been cruel...'

I was introduced to Frida Kahlo's work by Michael Marra's wonderful song about her imagined visit to Dundee's Tay Bridge Bar, and his song also shaped my view of her 'part-time' husband, Diego Rivera.  Yesterday we went to the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester to see the Kahlo / Rivera exhibition.



Knowing nothing of them, I went in with the sterotypical view of Kahlo as mistreated wife and exceptional talent, and Rivera as philandering bastard who did a bit of painting - as Marra puts it, 'a fat man of the naive school'!  Shame on me for knowing so little. 

I learned that Rivera's was undoubtedly the greater talent, but as a muralist his work isn't seen in galleries but on the walls of his native Mexico and in the States - most critics regard him as the greatest Mexican artist of the 20th century (not being an art connoisseur, I don't know how much above being the greatest ping-pong player in South Wonston that is, but it probably means he was pretty good).   I loved his work, from the portraiture through to the Mexican landscapes with huge cacti, and I'd like to see more of his murals.  There was a lovely book about the murals but at £135 it seemed more than a little bit steep.



Kahlo's work was weird but beautiful.  A huge proportion of her work was self portraits and in them she managed to make herself much less beautiful than she was in real life.  Alongside her work with its somewhat simplistic symbolism, were photographs by her one-time lover, Nicholas Murray.  In the photographs the unibrow is less defined, and what often looks to be not far off a moustache in the paintings simply seems to be shadow. 



I loved the way that the curator had resisted the glib opportunity to put Rivera's and Kahlo's paintings side by side, but had opted for separate rooms.  For example, it would have been too obvious to put their respective paintings of Natasha Gelman together and let the viewer compare their styles - far better to absorb each work in its merits and then reflect on the similarities and differences.  That also does Kahlo a favour, because while her work is the more striking, Rivera's picture of Gelman is the more accomplished piece of work (god, that was a bit of a Brian Sewell moment, wasn't it?)  

The rest of the gallery was a joy too, from the Pop Art through to the photographs of Butlin's at Bognor Regis - and the coffee shop was also good.   The best bit for me - maybe even better than the Kahlo / Rivera exhibition, were the Amberley Panels, or more accurately, Joy Gregory's modern take on them.

http://www.joygregory.co.uk/archive/details.php?proj_id=5

She has taken the nine Amberley Panels - 16th century images of strong women, with inscriptions in latin - and done modern versions.  Her photographs are stunning, and the inscriptions in English - I fell in love with them.  It's odd how the most unlikely pieces of art touch different people in very different ways. 




Pallant House Gallery is a great place for a day out, and Tuesday's are half-price which was an unexpected bonus.  It's well worth a visit.

Next week we'll be seeing the inestimable Michael Marra in concert at the 'Embra' Festival - I'm sure he'll do 'Frida Kahlo's visit to the Tay Bridge Bar', and it's bound to be even more evocative following our day out in Chichester.

Fi Glover's new radio show is, like, great

Travelling up to Beirut - sorry, London - earlier this week, I listened to Fi Glover's excellent new radio programme, Generations Apart.  Lovely stuff about people born in 1990 who Glover will follow over the next three years.

There was a guy who was a former drug addict, who had been convicted of assaulting his father - he kicked him in the head - but who came over pretty well.  Some of the interview was quite disturbing, but at least he was lucid.  However, the next woman was at, like, Cambridge and described as being, like, one of the most gifted students of her, like, generation.  Apparently she's also a playwright, which I guess means she, like, writes plays.  I bet her dialogue is, like, annoying.  She may be gifted, but she'll find it difficult to, like, get a job unless she smartens her act up.

Why do people adopt the omniword 'like', and what does it mean?  Is it just an infantile habit like smoking or farting in public, or do they think it makes them sound cool?  The reality is that it's profoundly stupid and deeply irritating - the hope is that it's just a fad and will, like, pass in the fullness of time.

Reaping what you sow

This unpleasant and discredited coalition is reaping the results of what it sowed when it announced, and implemented, swingeing cuts to public services.  The surprise for me is not that we are seeing violence on the streets, but that it took so long to happen.

On one level it's easy: what is happening is disgusting and needs to be stopped, quickly and firmly.  If that means that a few thugs and hooligans get hurt or, heaven forbid, killed, then so be it - go on the rampage, assaulting innocent people and looting shops, and you must expect what's coming to you.  I'm with the police 100% in their efforts to keep the streets safe.

That said, it's easy to understand why communities say, 'we've had enough'.  Unemployment in those London boroughs is way too high, community and youth centres are being closed, EMA has been abolished, and the increase in univeristy fees WILL deter working-class kids.  When the government tells those young people by its actions that it considers them to have no worth, then what future have they got?  Peaceful demonstrations will have no effect on this set of useless leaders, so it's hardly a surprise that they've taken to the streets.

Meanwhile, Cameron, Osborne, and Johnson are nowhere to be seen, and Teresa May is so far out of her depth that she is a national embarrassment.  If there is one ray of sunshine in this - and goodness knows it's hard to spot - it can only be that it might precipitate the fall of this rotten government.