The South Queensferry Arts Festival 2005 is over as of this afternoon. I spent a (fairly) quiet afternoon in the Priory Arts Centre, chatting to visitors, tidying up, searching for keys, and playing selections of OOTB tracks from the “Out of Bounds” compilation to unsuspecting punters. Tracks that seemed to work best in the large and echoey space were:
Lindsay West – Newcastle
Meursault – A small stretch of land
Colin Donati – Klingons
Impossible Songs – Rainy Friday
Big Jim – I found love
The Clevelands – Miles of clear
Jill Hepburn – Groovy enough for two
Lisa Paton – Here come the Vampires
Lindsay Sudgen – My disgrace
CBQ – Very small
Norman Lamont – Anywhere but here.
Popular Artworks (based on my observations):
Alison Hutton – Evolution
Fiona Graham – numerous small and interesting pieces (wire & paper)
Mike Spring – Spanner Man
Carrie Thomas – Worlds
There were many events running throughout the week, film, music, walks, displays and exhibitions – I’m looking forward to next year. It will be bigger and better.
I enjoyed Saturday the 10th the best: Tommy Mackay, Norman Lamont and the Innocents and impossible songs played in an unusual evening of music and (short) art films. The mixed media idea is great – the films and our eclectic music and differing styles really worked well.
Songs we played were:
That’s my baby
All the vows
How I hate
I miss that boy
Happy like
Rainy Friday
She’s a waitress
Twin song
The hugely talented Nelson Wright (from Flowers for Algernon) joined us on djembe and the hugely prolific (songwriter & sound scapemeister) Norman Lamont played bass on a couple of songs. Dave O’Hara twiddled the knobs and made it sound good and did some early Christmas shopping.
Highlights? Tommy’s “Zoinks! a tenner”, easily the best first line of any song and of course the “Rock critic who swallowed McFly”. Norman’s “Callback/Fallback” and “Ballad of Bob Dylan”. Impossible songs? Well I like battering out “how I hate” and the wah wah on “Twin song” and Ali’s vocals on “I miss that boy” are pretty spine tingling. Next time who knows what?
Of course there would be no festival without the hard work and commitment of Gary Smith at Common Ground Arts (and the rest of the committee). Contact Gary at commongroundarts@onetel.com
www.impossiblesongs.com
http://fairytalemanagement.blogspot.com
www.mp3tunes.com/impossiblesongs
www.angelfire.com/music2/wordswaitingformusic/blog/
www.myspace.com/impossiblesongs
The other guitars in my life are an Ibanez “Martin 1930” copy and a cheap jumbo Jim Deacon (with cutaway). I bought the Ibanez in 1982 and though the octaves are a little out I like it, the wider classical neck and the small hourglass body are all very tactile and comfortable so it’s snug and easily playable. I’ve written a lot of songs on this guitar. It did have a pick up on it at one time and I gigged it for a short while in the early eighties. It also spent time in Aberdeen as a student guitar in the late 90s, but I felt sorry for it and rescued it from potential destruction. The JD is a bit of a heap; ok for strumming and fiddling with and the electrics are reliable if nothing else. Played it a lot in the mid 90s when, to be honest I wasn’t all that bothered about guitars (or what I was playing on them!).
