Coronavirus

[Mike T]

* Dear Ivan has never quite developed into a decent human being and it was at that concert that he finished a song, stretched out his left arm and just let go of the neck of his Stratocaster.

Clearly the roady should have been there to catch it. Clearly.

The roady was at the side of the stage.

Simple physics came into play.

I then heard the clatter of a expensive guitar bouncing up and down, saw the death look from The Man and the look of fear in the roady's eyes.

Rock 'n' roll? All human life is there!

Great story.

But simple physics - curved space-time? Far from simple. Took Einstein to work it out ....

[Flem]

Grace Slick - Lovely voice, regularly listened to in this household.

Indeed, quite a voice. I can't listen to 'Let It Go' without singing along with gusto (but zero ability) and even screeching along to the music. A good one for in the car. And I can listen to her singing White Rabbit for hours on end.

[Flem]

Mmmh. I used to like Van Morrison*. Front row at a concert once in Hull - I could have touched the hem of the garment! But he has made the same album over and over for...nearly fifty years!

A steadily declining career from Astral Weeks? As with Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Joseph Heller (Catch-22), Elvis Presley (Rock 'n' Roll). Does artistic genius develop with experience or just become a matter of improving technique?

After all ...even Dylan's best decades are behind him.

(I seem to have some trouble remaining logged-in for more than two minutes at a time.)

I think claiming it's 'the same album' is pushing it a bit! And I'm not sure I'd agree with 'steadily' declining after Astral Weeks. Veedon Fleece is up there with Astral, in my opinion, and perhaps even higher. And Tupelo Honey wasn't too shoddy. I'd say there have been periods of rapid decline, but also some reasonably stable periods. So rather than 'steadily declining' I think I'd go with something like 'fluctuating but with a definite downward trend'. (Not quite so pithy, admittedly.) However, from the heights of Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece, there was only one way he could go. And as for his character, he's hardly unique in being a musician deficient in decency, is he? Mr 'Grumpy Boots' Zimmerman comes to mind since you mentioned him, and Nina Simone could hold a tune and give a tinkle on the old joanna with some aplomb but I wouldn't have liked to have been in her entourage. (Actually, that last bit's not true; I would have been over the moon, although probably not for very long.) Not that that's an excuse, but I think you can separate the music from the person, and it does perhaps make those who aren't so deficient a bit special. I don't think anyone ever accused John Prine, for example, of lacking in decency, did they? (See what I did there? Dragged this sub-thread back on topic.)

And, yes, great reminiscence, by the way.

[Oracle]

Methinks graham is talking to himself.

(I seem to have some trouble remaining logged-in for more than two minutes at a time.)

I think claiming it's 'the same album' is pushing it a bit! And I'm not sure I'd agree with 'steadily' declining after Astral Weeks. Veedon Fleece is up there with Astral, in my opinion, and perhaps even higher. And Tupelo Honey wasn't too shoddy. I'd say there have been periods of rapid decline, but also some reasonably stable periods. So rather than 'steadily declining' I think I'd go with something like 'fluctuating but with a definite downward trend'. (Not quite so pithy, admittedly.) However, from the heights of Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece, there was only one way he could go. And as for his character, he's hardly unique in being a musician deficient in decency, is he? Mr 'Grumpy Boots' Zimmerman comes to mind since you mentioned him, and Nina Simone could hold a tune and give a tinkle on the old joanna with some aplomb but I wouldn't have liked to have been in her entourage. (Actually, that last bit's not true; I would have been over the moon, although probably not for very long.) Not that that's an excuse, but I think you can separate the music from the person, and it does perhaps make those who aren't so deficient a bit special. I don't think anyone ever accused John Prine, for example, of lacking in decency, did they? (See what I did there? Dragged this sub-thread back on topic.)

And, yes, great reminiscence, by the way.

[gej]

Great story.

But simple physics - curved space-time? Far from simple. Took Einstein to work it out ....

I think you will find that Newtonian physics gives an adequate approximation to the trajectory of a dropped guitar.

[Graham Breeze]

I think you will find that Newtonian physics gives an adequate approximation to the trajectory of a dropped guitar.

Your mention of guitars reminds me:

I saw The Who when they first played at Leeds University Union (the over-rated “Live At Leeds“ was recorded on a later occasion) and was standing directly in front of Townsend as he dutifully smashed his guitar at the climax of the show - acts performed on a very low platform then. As the group retired to the luxurious "green room" that students naturally provided and before I had time to consider stealing his battered Rickenbacker (?) his roady/guitar tech. instantly whisked the pieces away to glue the neck back on for the next show – so all just showbiz eh Pete, nothing to do with teenage angst?

The guitar smashing act had reached the attention of the illustrious Italian film director, Michelangelo Antonioni, and when he came to England to film his, rather marvellous, Blow-Up, (after considering the Velvet Underground and Tomorrow) he decided he wanted The Who to perform this stunt in his movie, but they couldn’t/ wouldn’t, so the Yardbirds got the gig after Antonioni saw their live act. The Yardbirds never smashed up their guitars but it was three days pay so hey! The clip is on YouTube in an Elstree studio recreation of the Ricky-Tick club, allegedly off Oxford Street (although the actual club was in Windsor - but that's the movies for you), so you can see Jimmy Page perform and then watch Jeff Beck smash up a cheap prop breakaway semi-acoustic guitar (Beck usually played a Stratocaster) – everyone is miming of course.

Although the Yardbirds story always makes great play of the group also having had Eric Clapton as lead guitar (whom I saw them with a couple of times, and then with the superior Jeff Beck) there was very little overlap between the three guitarists (this wasn’t the somnambulant Eagles) and the track in the film called Stroll On is one of only two songs which Page and Beck recorded together. Stroll On is a blatant rip-off of Tiny Bradshaw's The Train Kept A-Rollin’ for which copyright use for the flm could not be obtained; so Keith Relf just made up some new words** to the same tune and it was recorded (with Page and Beck) on 3/5th October 1966 in Chelsea, ie immediately before filming between 12-14th October 1966. All five members are given a composer credit (even Jim McCarty, the drummer). The Yardbirds knew the tune to The Train Kept A-Rollin' because they had recorded it (in Memphis with Sam Phillips and New York with Roy Halee) in September 1965 with Beck so one can compare and contrast the differences on a Yardbirds box set CD - before concluding that Stroll On with Page is better.

In the film after the theatricals David Hemmings grabs the broken guitar neck and flees the club and then throws it down onto the "Oxford Street" pavement.

I think I might have kept Townsend's bits a little bit longer.

** musical theft is a fascinating subject and the best discussion, in a rock context, is Clinton Heylin's It's One For The Money.

For Derby Tup!

[Mike T]

I think you will find that Newtonian physics gives an adequate approximation to the trajectory of a dropped guitar.

Apparently they used Newtonian equations to get to the moon and back - but relativity is required for GPS, and to explain the motion of Mercury.

[Travs]

i am told that Leisure Facilities (i.e gyms) are currently scheduled to be able to re-open 4th July.

[Witton Park]

i am told that Leisure Facilities (i.e gyms) are currently scheduled to be able to re-open 4th July.

and when in two weeks time if cases are zippo?

It's still ticking along just above zero here in Ea
East Lancs. Blackburns R was probably up to 1.5 today as we had 3, the highest for a week or two I think. Mind you the rest of the East Lancs towns were 0 or 1.

[Stagger]

Well, what ever our government had been advised to carry out isn't particular clever as we are now second on the death list behind the USA.

Strange we want to quarantine our own people coming back from abroad.

If I were a foreign country personally all UK citizens would be banned.