This is a blog for friends and family members to get a wee report of the things ive seen and my personal opinions about them.It is mostly inconsequencial shit barely rescued by a mild seasoning of spellchecker.
Members of the public are welcome , as long as you promise not to get offended.
Though the testimonies of the Scottish Workers are moving , inspiring and emotional what really comes out is the stories of the Chilean victims , some of them ardent loyalists of the armed services and establishment up to the point of being arrested and tortured by their own colleagues of only a day before.
Through the filter of speaking to an audience of a different country than their own they relate harrowing experiences that they would probably not even shared with their own extended Families.
Talk by Dr Stephen Mullen from the University of Glasgow, who explained how the digitised Stirling of Keir archives help tell the story
of a Scottish plantation owner in Jamaica. The picture above is Ham(p)den House which was one of the estates of the Stirling of Keir Family that functioned for over a century in Jamaica , the profits were mostly repatriated , or more accurately extracted , to Family and Investments in Scotland. This article by Stephen Mullen gives a more detailed picture of the slow , onerous though vital task of piecing together Scotlands , often shameful , imperial past. The video below features Stephen telling the story of Scotlands role , especially challenging the traditional narrative that the defeated Highlanders of Culloden were perpetual victims whereas they had a high proportion of slave owners in the Caribbean
I was very intrigued how this seemingly unstageable production could possibly be put on.The Wilderness Of Tigers team put on a rehearsed reading for members of the public.
They treat the story as an intimate Family Drama , leaving off the grand themes , philosophical debates and analysis of the Slav spiritual celestial identity vis-a-vis the material imperial world.So we do not see The Grand Inquisitor , The high debates of the High Priesthood or The Parable of the Onion , which is a wise choice as far as a continuous stageable coherent flow for the audience is concerned.
The whole production was like a mixture of Frasier , Taggart and Still
Game all rolled into one , this may seem an insult for a production based
on a Dostoyevsky classic but is really a compliment in how they bring
the stripped-bare Karamazov Family Drama to life in an engaging way for a
local audience.
This so-called rehearsed reading contained a bristling passion from the cast you would only expect to witness in the most gripping setting of the opening night of a polished full production.The cast seem to really believe in the work and it shows in the gripping way they hold the rapt attention of the audience.
This lecture was based on the 14,000 page diary of an overseer and then
plantation owner in western Jamaica. Compiled from 1750 to 1786, it is
regarded as one of the most important documents depicting the brutal
realities of the lives of black slaves in the Caribbean. The content
ranges in remarkable detail across work, health, death, slave rebellion,
sex and punishment as well as many other issues.
It is a fact that the slavemaster Thomas Thistlewood regarded himself , and was regarded as a dedicated and valid member of the Enlightenment without question by his peers even though he treated the slaves under his control as little more than labouring , exploitable commodities.
In this video Tom discusses Scotlands historical perceptions in the creation of Empire and its functioning.
According to the Citizens Theatre website "The highly acclaimed production tells the history and the tragedy of
Scotland, performed as a Highland ceilidh. Song, humour and drama are
intermixed creating a unique theatrical event that remains as vital and
relevant today as it was when 7:84 Scotland first presented it, over 40
years ago.
This extraordinary play looks at the exploitation and economic
changes in the Scottish Highlands throughout history. Ruthless evictions
of 18th-century Highland crofters in favour of the more
economically-viable Cheviot sheep give way to the development of stag
hunts in game parks in the 19th century, while the 20th century brings
the exploitation of resources during the North Sea oil boom of the
1970s."
The play was first performed to an audience that was the baby boomers of the generation of the late 50s parents who , according to the Historian Tom Devine formed "the high noon of conservative unionism" of the 1957 general election when the Tories were the party of choice for a Scottish electorate believing in Britain , The Establishment and adopting a patriotic servile attitude to their "betters". This does make the dialogue and commentary of the play appear to be a little "spelled-out" and unnecessarily preachy to todays audience that responds more to subtle , implicit messages.
"In a show that, with its frequent audience engagement, puts collective
action at its heart, it makes plain perhaps more than ever before that
the common people have to claim the power back. In terms of updates,
there is a brief Donald Trump pastiche, but really there is little need.
In a week where oil is back on the agenda, while a headline on a BBC
website spoke of the Highland Clearances as "progress", such a piece of
serious fun is a necessary pleasure"
You can see the play in this brilliant broadcast by BBC Alba
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
In this video Mark Thomas gives his take on the Artists For Palestine UK display advertising the arrest of Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour for writing a Poem against the ills of the Occupation and Settler Colonialism.
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
Alexei Sayle, Dave
Allen and the Yorkshire playwright Trevor Griffiths were early
influences on his political consciousness and his desire to entertain.
“I saw the play Comedians by Trevor Griffiths on TV in which he
discusses working class life and working class politics. I thought he
was an absolute genius, and it was a sketch by Dave Allen that my dad
used to explain to me how apartheid works. I declared myself an atheist
at 12, an anarchist at 16 and a Marxist at 18, I spent a year as a
Trotskyist and then went back to being a Marxist again. I’ve always been
an atheist though.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
"Enjoyment of the show’s final act is substantially contingent on an appreciation of protracted instrumentals, but whether you’re a fan of long-form cosmic gnarl or not, you’ve got to agree that nobody does it quite like Young. Come a 15-minute Love and Only Love he’s lost in his own fretboard in front of 13,000 people, deafeningly coaxing out the final chord longer than entire songs had lasted in the show’s opening phase. After that it’s approving dad hugs all round for the band, and a short time later, a curfew-busting encore of Fuckin’ Up – a tractor-strength reminder why every generation that values howling riffs and angry dissent will find inspiration in Young’s evergreen natural anthems."
The songs ive picked are because the recordings were taken from very near where i was.
After The Garden:
This review from The Scotsman gives a succinct accurate appraisal.
In an odd reflection of the British Empire as a system at work the voices we hear are of a Scotsman , an Ulsterman and a Welshman in the form of the interrogator , policeman who makes the arrest and a compassionate gaoler.
"While Casement's interrogation by hard-nosed Scotsman Captain Hall is
initially respectful, as played by Stephen Clyde with grim-faced
politesse, good cop turns bad the next day as Casement's secret life is
unearthed. Benny Young invests a seasoned hang-dog gravitas to
Casement's exchanges with Hall, even as Hall compares him to Oscar
Wilde, another sexual rebel “evangelical of art, Ireland and buggery,”
as he puts it. Over eighty-minutes of cut and thrust punctuated by
flashbacks that sees each scene captioned as a misplaced file might be,
Arnott gets to the core of both men with forensic insight in this most
intimate of psychological thrillers."
This documentary looks into the life and times of Casement and his background and motivations including his trips to The Congo and Peru.
Drama was one my favourite Yes albums , one that gave them longevity when it looked they may disappear into a lost haze of 70s music without making the jump into being a current progressive band with life into the 80s and beyond.
This is Machine Messiah from the opening concert of the European Tour
I read in a biography nearly 30 years ago they always meant to do an extended version of "White Car" but never got round to it , in the concert they stuck to the original enigmatic 80 second version.
Was really impressed , back to their heavy jazz blues with arabesque
overtones , no thrills , no gimmicks , no distractions making Dave Brock
guitar the centre of attraction.
Also like they never done silver machine which Ive always found a naff song.
The bass player Haz Wheaton was immense.
Check out the jamming on this video:
And as the comment in this video says - what a tune
An unobtrusive spare set greeted the audience , always a good sign because it allows the dialogue to rightly take the centre-stage.
In the video below the actors give their take on the play and what its main themes are.
"WHERE Waiting for Godot is a play that can't begin, Endgame is a play
that can't finish. The two amount to pretty much the same thing, a wry
comment on the futility of existence performed as a wry comment on the
futility of theatre. The irony is that the
deeper these plays sink into life's meaningless void, the more life-affirming they become."
Sitting in front of me (one seat removed) was a Friend that is a playwright herself and has seen many productions of the play , she was too busy dropping newspapers which the guy next to me had to retrieve
from under her seat whilst i was too busy being in the zone that one has
to be in order to decipher what the hell you have just watched on stage when
attending Beckett.The production in the video below is her all time favourite.
During the siege of Leningrad which lasted nearly 900 days and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands civilians the People of Leningrad still managed in all these deprivations an album of thanks to the Scottish ( especially Airdrie and Coatbridge) People , the Album sent from Scotland gave to the starving and besieged civilians, according to a Leningrad headmistress " ... the unexpected gift gave them a chance to convince themselves, by
demonstrating to others, that without food for their bodies, they could
satisfy, through their own efforts, the hunger of their soul for beauty
and art and harmony between nations."
"They trudged round the whole district, even during the blackout,
collecting over 6,000 signatures - many more would have been collected
but they only had a very short time-scale in which to gather the
messages and signatures. They had to get them to London, and
thereafter, they hoped, to Leningrad.
With great care these signatures and messages were pasted into the pages
of an album.
Margaret Plant designed the cover and decorated it with the local
Buchanan Tartan, and lines from Burns' 'A Man's a Man for a' That'.
A deputation of housewives including Agnes Maxwell took the album to London and handed it over to the Soviet Embassy.
In 1988 the 'Dear Allies' book, written by Margaret Henderson was
published by Monklands District Libraries. In this book Harry Walker
spoke of the feelings of all those involved at that time in 1941...
"We half-hoped that we would have some acknowledgement just to know that
it had reached its destination."
In June 1942 a telegram was delivered to Agnes Maxwell, in Park
Crescent, Airdrie. It confirmed that against all odds, the Scots Album
had arrived.
Harry Walker remembered, "It was a miracle... It was unbelievable that
women struggling with hunger and disease, and face to face with death,
should find time to respond to our pledge of solidarity and admiration.
The telegram was passed around with much gasping of disbelief, and
weeping for joy."
"The late Harry Walker attended the committee meeting on that auspicious evening :
.“The eyes of the world were
on Leningrad. We were all aware of the tremendous contribution of
women volunteers defending the city, night and day, against the fascist
forces.We had a large and enthusiastic women’s section in the Russia Today Society.
All the women were deeply affected by what they had been hearing about
Leningrad. They were desperately anxious to do something to feel part
of the vast struggle that was taking place. The plight of Leningrad was
the sole topic of discussion at that meeting. We agreed to act
immediately, for we could not know how long the besieged city would hold
out, the situation was so grave. We decided that a collection of
women’s signatures should be made in both Airdrie and Coatbridge and
somehow sent to the women of Leningrad with a message conveying our
admiration and feelings of solidarity.”
It is hard to believe he is 70 years old , he has been touring for 50 years , his voice is fine and sweet but most importantly his music seems even more current and poignant now than when it was written , a sign of the regression of Human and Civil rights of our times in this age.
Here is a chilling yet inspiration version of No Time For Love:
And he finished of with an aborted version ive not heard before called Lonesome Boatman:
This re-working of Ibsens play changes more things than just the words , but , importantly , it keeps faith with the original and adds more elements than mere scandal on a social scale , adding the very sinister dimensions of our very own under-investigated scandal among the powerful political elites.
"On the face of it, local councillor Helen Alving’s financial support
for the creation of a Childhood Trust and the donation of her ‘big
house’ to the Council to create a new looked-after children’s facility
seems to be a magnanimously benevolent gesture to honour her late
husband, the Captain.
With the unexpected arrival of her son Oswald 'from abroad’ however,
Helen’s carefully constructed reality is torn apart, and the ghosts from
their tormented past manifest grotesquely in shocking revelations of
political corruption and abuse.
Megan Barker’s dark and gripping adaptation of the Ibsen classic
exposes a litany of terrible secrets and the incontrovertible damage
these have caused."
The very intense and powerful productions left the audience emotionally exhausted , in the video below the set designer explains the process of coming up with the modern and minimal set than allows the script to play the central role with minimum distractions and allowing the audience to engage with the fullest imagination to the many lessons to be drawn from the present that this play first illuminated over a century ago.
" What Barker is trying to do, in other words, is to combine the outline
of Ibsen’s plot with a 21st century meditation on historic sex abuse,
and on the lengths to which some establishment figures will go to
conceal and perpetuate these crimes; and it has to be said that the
effort to shift the narrative in that direction often pulls the play
well out of shape."
It was very fitting that this high profile overview of Scotlands role in the "nefarious trade" at this years Glasgow Black History Month was hosted in what was once a Mansion built and owned by one of Glasgows Tobacco Lords.
It was quite a privilege to be addressed in a small setting by a World class academic who gave a talk virtually along the same lines to the assembled ranks of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament in the video below to a small intimate audience of less than 30 persons.
The title of the talk was Amnesia and Denial: Scotland and Transatlantic Slavery.This addresses the great paradox of Scotland being the main beneficiary of slave exploitation and yet also being in the forefront to abolish Slavery not only in British controlled areas but also non-British run parts of the New world.When compensation claims were made to provide reparations for the loss of slave-run businesses Scotland ( with about 10% of the population) accounted for 15% of the claims.Yet , consistently, petitions to end slavery at parliament in London prior to it being abolished amounted to a third of them coming from Scotland.More tobacco went to Glasgows ports than all the rest of the UK put together.
3.2 Million slaves were transported from Africa to the Caribbean and North America , though Scotland was only directly involved in 4,500 it run plantations and syndicated that exploited over half of them and their descendants , so though the participation of accruing the raw Human material was slight the vast infrastructures that absorbed then was vast.
Only recently is Scottish academic scholarship beginning to piece together the story in the last few years that brings shame , though ultimately a proper atonement, for Scotland in the 21st century.Scotland was not a victim but a main participant in the creation of the British Empire and Colonial project and all its excesses to the World suffered and still endures today and only by recognising its role can it help heals the scars and deep wounds that must be healed.
After the 46 minute mark a panel , including Stephen Mullan who conducts walking tours of the landmarks associated with Glasgows slave trading links ,discusses and adds more detail to the topics discussed.
The Govanhill Baths Community Trust was the location of this lecture of the iconic Mexican Painter and Muralist Diego Rivera.
Firstly there was an Introduction by Fatima Uygun on the nature of Art and Class , a brilliant piece of historical and cultural analysis with the added perception that all revolutions from the grassroots have always had the dimension of Artists articulating the currents of the time , which is why Art must belong to the People and not be co-opted by the establishment or commodifying commercial interests.
Colin Poole gave an in depth biographical account underlying the philosophical and intellectual currents that gave rise to Riveras art in revolutionary Mexico of the early 20th century.
You would think all thespians would welcome and relish the prospect of oppressed victims getting the chance to tell their own story in their own words, but apparently not the vile , sectarian , contemptible charlatan Maureen Lipman.But , as Al-Raee says in this article
says "The most sad thing about the people who are saying that the play is
advocating for terrorism is that none of them came and saw the play,"
says Al-Raee. "They don't actually understand what they are talking
about.".
From the website of The Freedom Theatre established by a combination of Jewish and Palestinian Artists the mission of this admirable social civilian project is "The Freedom Theatre is developing a vibrant and creative artistic
community in the northern part of the West Bank. While emphasizing
professionalism and innovation, the aim of the theatre is also to
empower youth and women in the community and to explore the potential of
arts as an important catalyst for social change."
The Board of The Freedom Theatre contains , according to clowns like Lipman , such terrorist advocates as Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler.
You can see the trailer for this highly passionate and humane play in this video
"As performed by an all male cast of six, there is an impassioned
partisan rawness to what follows, as we flit between the siege itself
and the men's lives afterwards far from their homeland. The latter is
told simply and directly without contrition, and when the tour guide
takes a selfie with the audience, it's as if the entire world is
captured in its light"
Islam and Pish were again on the menu for this show in front a large venue crowd , both subjects are very close to my heart.It was interesting to see how the material from his last summer gigs at the Stand in Edinburgh have evolved.The second half contained his experiences of UKIP and English Nationalism.
The set was almost similar to this 2 part recording from an earlier concert in Cheltenham
Part 1 Islam and Pish
"As the title suggests, Red Amnesia considers the selective
memory that erases past stains as contemporary China continues its
frantic sprint to become a social and economic superpower. Wang Xiaoshuai's
latest is somewhat bipolar, beginning as an unhurried mystery about the
harassment of an elderly widow before abruptly switching gears more
than halfway through to take an unsentimental plunge into the past.
Combining elements of melodrama and thriller with a strong political
subtext, this is a challenging work that guards its secrets closely but
builds cumulative power."
Though the article is quite wrong to describe the main characters home as a "shabby apartment" , for Chinese standards she lives in a well-off upper civil service quarter with leafy suburban streets away from the noise and air-pollution of Beijing with each apartment block having ample greenery and gardens of varies flora.The very kind of place that a successful apparatchik who negotiated the vagaries of Maoist times with all the guile and ruthlessness required would aspire hope to retire to.This becomes very pivotal to the plot and conclusion of the film.
"Having sold millions of records and headlined arenas around the world, Steve, Simon and Oscar
from Ocean Colour Scene have reached their landmark 25th anniversary.
To celebrate, the three of them will play a very special UK tour in
concert halls accompanied by Q Strings. These shows are the latest chapter in a remarkable career that’s
seen OCS rise from Breton shirt-wearing Stone Roses disciples to one of
Britpop’s biggest bands (their 1998 arena tour was the biggest by any UK
group that year). In their 25 years together, they’ve enjoyed five Top
10 albums, six Top 10 singles and a mantelpiece full of awards. But behind all the swagger and the style were great songs, with
words and melodies that found their way into your head and heart." The diehard fans could name every tune in 1 note , going hysterical
before the guys even strummed the first cord.The song below was a
particular favourite So Low
Pared down , it was remarkable how very much there is a distinctive Motown feel to all the songs , no matter the theme , whether happy or melancholy , the songs have an upbeat foundation and the kind of harmony one would expect if Marvin Gaye or Bobby Womack were writing and performing music today.
The Day We caught the Train
Though it was the first time i have seen them a lot of the songs sounded familiar , without realising i would have heard them many many times of the radio in the 90's , especially this one
One For The Road
