Friday 1 July 2011

village life

men at work

After Glasto Saturday was a day off and it was much needed. It was the first Saturday off for about six weeks so I really enjoyed it. I was still smarting about the the lack of consideration shown to the Spirit of 71 performers. The more I think about it the angrier I become. Anyway I won’t bore you with the entire catalogue of management errors.
Sunday was a huge contrast. The weather was beautiful as we set off in The Ramblin mobile for Mollington. This is an idyllic village just north of Banbury and where my old friend Peter Jones and his wife Pam live.

yours truly getting vocal advice from an octagenarian
- peter in white shorts

Peter is an old friend from early days when the EBB still lived in Warwick. He says the place is quite lively now which is great and was much needed. It used to be such a dead place that virtually shut down at around 9.30pm. Peter and the EBB and friends were involved in all sorts of escapades and it was so nice to sit in the sun and reminisce about the old days. Peter took all of the early EBB black and white photos. He is still a keen snapper and as a photographer he is developing a growing clientele locally. He has a good memory and we could have sat chatting about the old days for hours and hours. It brought back very happy memories.

The village had hosted its Summer Fete during the day and it had all gone very well. We eventually set off for the village hall where we found a keyboard amp that had been lent to us and the village hall pa system which was more than adequate. I plugged it all up using the keyboard amp as a monitor. We did a little sound check and we were ready. Then it was back to Peter’s gaff where we sat in their garden in glorious sunshine. Pam had made a lovely meal for us and she makes a proper cup of tea English style. Expeditions abroad have always been slightly marred for me by the lack of proper tea in a cup and saucer and on hot sunny day it is a delight.

After dinner we went back to the hall and Luke and I ensconced ourselves in the kitchen where we tuned up and went through our pre gig rituals. Unlike Glasto my little rider was duly delivered and soon Peter made an announcement and we were onstage.


luke has an inbuilt camera detector that works up
to 100 yards

The show was much longer than the Glasto show and we played almost every thing we had. Luke sang his songs and the whole thing went very well. After we chatted with our audience. I had a lovely chat with a lady in her eighties who was a choral singer. She gave me some good tips about light and shade in a vocal performance which was very sweet.

We signed a few autographs and that was it. We all went back for coffee at the home of a neighbour of Peter and Pam. John is a drummer with Roger Chapman and we had a lot to talk about. His wife Tess is a designer and she had Luke dressed in some cool pieces in no time at all including a very cool kilt. He says he wants more so we’ll see what develops there. What a poser! I wasn’t like that at his age ha ha! That is a lie.

new and old friends

I preferred the Mollington gig to the Glasto episode by a country mile. It was a kind of FDPFAFDW hybrid. Great people, we were properly looked after and a good time was had by all, including us. It was very late by the time we hit the road and another dawn was creeping away as we arrived back in London.


Thank you Peter, Pam and all we met in Mollington. It was lovely.




all photos by dave randell








peace

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mary could not get Bob's chariot across the mud at Glastonbury which I think is unacceptable given the price of Glastonbury tickets. Provisions should have been made to get people across the mud in wheelchairs in fact to get anybody across the mud. They make enough money. Complain - ask for a refund in part I would! See what the organisers have to say to that! Also unacceptable was the way Edgar was treated or mistreated as I see it! We should all get together and start an alternative Glastonbury festival that isn't even in Glastonbury!

Anonymous said...

Here, here. The whole spirit of Glastonbury appears to be missing........ not just 71.

Anonymous said...

I spoke with Chris Jagger this evening. He felt that the main problem with Glastonbury was that people tended to be passing on their way to other stages & not stopping for more than a minute or two. But he added that Arthur Brown's set pulled a good crowd & he hung around to watch Rob & Luke too. There is film of ODO on youtube....where did the backing band come from?

peace

Tony H

Anonymous said...

Seems like the FDPFAFDW idea is a real goodie. Are you going to do more of the same next year? I am seriously looking forward to booking one if you do. Fancy a trip to Devon?
All the best
Pete Tandy

Anonymous said...

How sad to witness on you tube Edgar running through the motions on ODO.What was often in the hands of EBB an electrifying and spiritual event has been reduced to a kind of My Ding-a-ling type blues jam.

Anonymous said...

Well ya can't please all of the people all of the time LOL. Edgar and Luke's set was really great and ODO worked for us who were there. The youtube clip does not reflect the experience. I have to say I saw the the EBB many times and ODO was not always all that. Edgar's power still comes through though if you get to see him. It was a jam with people he'd never even met.
If you are going to be so critical at least say who you are.
Sam

Anonymous said...

Well put Sam! Edgar's creative talents mean he cannot stand still frozen in time. Edgar could just go round churning out the same old same old and making a living but I for one am glad he chooses to express the now. These are differnet times, different struggles. Also Edgar is kind of damned if he does and damned if he doesn't do ODO. YOu just can't please some folk can you?

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with the last 2 comments. Why do some people insist on looking back? Heard Edgar recently and was very impressed with the new stuff and even more by the way his vocals have devekoped. As he said himself in a recent post, he is not a museum.

Pete

Anonymous said...

Really poor that Glastonbury took the money from people but couldn't even ensure wheelchairs could get around the site.

As for Edgar and Luke's set I was really impressed. ODO was great to hear again but was the "museum" section. The new stuff was much more impressive.

Thanks for putting up with the situation and giving us "mud treaders" some great music.

Cheers
Don

Anonymous said...

I was chatting to Edgar at Leicester. I was surprised by how interested he was in local affairs and he is a very clued up guy. He chatted about his Castaway show in York. He is definitely not stuck in any kind of rut.

He said he is determined to turn the current crop of songs into something massive sounding. A new band perhaps?

So the man has a plan. Mean while I have to say the new material is striking an original. Some of it is simply, surprisingly beautiful. Luke fits in so well and his own songs show great promise. Powerful.
Its clear that they really enjoy each others music.You can feel it.

Check out one of the few performers who remain fresh and current after so many years. See you at York? Should be very interesting.
Peace
Jack

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