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Elizabeth.
Posts: 5470
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Posted:
17 Sep 2005 at 12:17 |
Original guitar hero Davey Graham is one of those seminal talents who changed the way music is made. While doing so he influenced musicians right across the spectrum. In the sixties, when people were more prepared to listen to something outside ready made categories, folkies listened to him in amazement and blues players with envy.
Venue: Pleasance Cabaret Bar - 8:00pm
Admission: £8.00 (£6.00 concession)
Will Hodgkinson's fascinating interview with him(July15th ) in the Guardian is worth a read!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1528304,00.html |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
20 Sep 2005 at 21:42 |
Advance tickets are available for this show and you can buy them at the Archie Fisher gig tomorrow.
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JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
22 Sep 2005 at 02:23 |
You can also reserve them by e-mailing Paddy
ebort@ed.ac.uk |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
22 Sep 2005 at 11:49 |
| .,, |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
23 Sep 2005 at 13:58 |
"De diddly dee, de dede de,
De diddly dee, de dede de,
De de de de, de dede dee
That's the tune they call Angie" |
wherriebob
Posts: 1502
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Posted:
23 Sep 2005 at 14:13 |
Bump for this as everyone must have played it (or tried to) when learning guitar. Simon & Garfunkel stole it, inter alia, and never gave any credit for its origins ; on their first album I think "Wednesday Morning 3 am" and added lyrics about blagging a shop.
Jeezoh |
wherriebob
Posts: 1502
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Posted:
23 Sep 2005 at 14:17 |
| Re-bump although it must be sold out. |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
23 Sep 2005 at 14:19 |
| It's not, although I'd get there early. |
Onny
Posts: 12843
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Posted:
23 Sep 2005 at 14:26 |
| You'd surely get in late nowadays though JohnJ, wouldn't you? |
Elizabeth.
Posts: 5470
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Posted:
23 Sep 2005 at 23:35 |
Well...just back from this gig. So disappointing. We know Davy has been a wonderful and inspirational musician who could play the socks off very near every other guitarist you can think of - but tonight must have been one of his 'off' nights. His playing was not up to scratch - yes, you know you're listening to somebody who was, even could still be fantastic, but it just didn't happen tonight. He seemed confused and latterly tired, and much of the faster stuff he attempted was fluffed and sounded awful.
I was sorry to have seen him like this - I'd rather have missed this gig.
His support was singer guitarist Mark Pavey, and there was a couple of Gaelic songs from a fine singer called Graham Neilson. |
Onny
Posts: 12843
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Posted:
24 Sep 2005 at 09:37 |
| I don't suppose you recall who won the raffle, do you? |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
24 Sep 2005 at 11:18 |
Yes, it was very much a "curate's egg" gig. There were parts which were excellent but much of it was very disappointing.
I agree that he seemed confused and tired, although he had already been in town two or three days before the gig so he'd had plenty of opportunity to have been "well rested".
Having not seen his concerts at The Acoustic Music Centre, I'm not a position to compare and contrast these performances. However, I got the impression that he was still a "bit rusty" and, maybe, getting pushed back into things too quickly. Certainly, he isn't the same performer that I remember from years gone by. |
spike
Posts: 1823
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Posted:
24 Sep 2005 at 14:20 |
| Glad to hear Graham Neilson was appearing. He's a Mod Gold Medallist and a lovely singer. His album ' New Boat , Old Rocks' is worth seeking out ! :) |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
24 Sep 2005 at 14:50 |
Well, "excellent" is a bit of an exaggeration, I suppose. :-)
However, there were some enjoyable moments.
Not too many, I admit. |
Scott-
Posts: 667
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Posted:
24 Sep 2005 at 20:55 |
Is it not a bit naive to expect to hear the Davey Graham of 40 years ago?
I've never heard him play live and only know of his playing through his recordings and reputation, but having read the Guardian article it's a wonder anyone turned up for the gig, including the man himself! |
Pict
Posts: 1954
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Posted:
24 Sep 2005 at 21:55 |
How sad. I am a great admirer, and was desperately frustrated that I couldn't go. Now I realise I was fortunate.
Sic transit... |
Gordon
Posts: 703
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Posted:
25 Sep 2005 at 11:07 |
Going to see him could always be a bit hit or miss. I saw him at one of the earliest Inverness Folk festivals, and he really was embarrassingly bad. He had to take a break after about 10 mins, and was on another planet.
On the other hand, I once saw him at a lunchtime gig in Stirling Uni in the early 70's, where he played a lot of Irish music. He was absolutely mesmerising - unbelieveably good. Indeed, I was so inspired by what he was doing with trad music that I really got into playing stuff on the guitar, using tunings etc, and that led me to the mandolin and cittern. So it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that gig was a turning point for me.
You can hear some of this (plus other nice bluesy things and a couple of renaissance pieces) on the album 'The Complete Guitarist', which I think came out in 1978.
Some of his work has dated a bit, but this particular disc might be of most interest to readers of this forum with its high Irish trad content. Still a really great album IMO.
Let's try to look on the bright side. It's pretty amazing that he's playing out again at all.
Dagger. |
Brian Sparkplug
Posts: 85
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Posted:
25 Sep 2005 at 20:28 |
I don't think anybody was going to into this gig thinking that this would be the Davey Graham of 40 odd years ago, it never happens (with the exception of Stefan Grappelli) but this was something different. Anybody who plays music (and has the occational drink) knows that if you start playing and drinking at the same time then your still pretty much able to play after 4 or 5 pints but if you try and start playing after said pintage, the saying all thumbs..... comes to mind. Now, I don't think this was Daveys problem on the night but that's what it sounded like except, worse. I've also heard that he gets very nervous but he seemed fairly chatty on and off stage??
You could tell the man new what he was trying to do, his pitch was was perfect, the best part of the show for me was his ability to tune his (or that Mark guys (strange relationship btw, exploitation???)) guitar up and down and round and round within seconds was great. But alas his co-ordination was non-exsistant. It was bad when he was finger picking but severely exposed when he attempted to use the pick itself, I thought he was using a cheese grater on the guitar when I couldn't see his hands at one stage!
I got the feeling that he ended up singing songs to try and escape the guitar but that's not really his game and fell apart pretty quickly.
I think most people went for a nice trip down memory lane but came away fairly depressed by what they saw.
Hopefully this was just a blip on the road back to form for Davey but I'm afraid he may not be given the time or many more chances. |
JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
26 Sep 2005 at 09:48 |
Brian,
After reading Scott's comments, I thought about Stefan Grapelli too. He was playing brilliantly well into his eighties. So was Svend Asmussen(still alive as far as I know). Many great musicians, while quite not the same as in their youth, mature wonderfully.
Of course, Davey has been "off the road" for many years and has had many problems. Although some parts of the performance were ok, I would generally concur with your description of events and assessment of the situation including--Dare I say it? - your comments in parenthesis.
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JAJ
Posts: 10751
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Posted:
26 Sep 2005 at 09:52 |
Further
"Anybody who plays music (and has the occational drink) knows that if you start playing and drinking at the same time then your still pretty much able to play after 4 or 5 pints but if you try and start playing after said pintage, the saying all thumbs..... comes to mind. "
And yes, I know that only too well! :-) |
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