Chris Spheeris is a Greek-American composer of instrumental music. He is a producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist.
Chris Spheeris has created some of the most enchanting instrumental music of this era. It has earned him platinum, gold, and Emmy awards. His music has been heard in Olympic skating championships, Miss Universe pageants, documentary films, daytime television dramas, and countless commercials.
'Out of my perversity I'd try to drive Mike mad. I'd be late, I'd love it when he would lose his temper and dominate me. I'd start to purr because he'd won.'
Lindsay Hoyle has with his change of rules stepped over the line, yet this is not the most pressing part of the shambles in parliament; “the worst scenes I have seen in parliament in the last fifty years” said one journalist.
Like most things exaggeration comes easily to British journalists, this was hardly a kin to the all out fighting seen in some countries when things go wrong:
Cries of ‘order order’ would have proved less than useless in those situations. The speaker was heckled, rightly, and a few people walked out in an orderly fashion, it was all very British.
What was wrong was the proposed debate in the first place, the assumption that if our MPs got together and said 'stop that Israel' would take any notice of a washed-up world power is laughable. I have even heard the word ‘insist’ used in the same context!
One has to ask why is this fervour directed at Israel and Gaza when thousands are dying in Ukraine and after two years of fighting and billions shovelled Zelensky’s way, demands for a ceasefire are not forthcoming in that region?
I would suggest it is partly because this is election year and the muslim vote, ever more important in certain areas, is uppermost in many MPs' minds. Long-term this is a lost cause as the demographics will determine that Islam-based parties will emerge; they already have with Aspire in Tower Hamlets showing the way.
The electoral commission has not allowed the first of the Islam-based parties to be established……
New ‘Party of Islam’ rejected by Electoral Commission over compliance with election law
The Express first reported on the party's attempted registration this weekend.
Anyone believing that is the end of it is living in a bubble. There will be a more normal approach that disguises the belief system that underpins these type of parties and once they have momentum the Islam factor will emerge.
So what did the shenanigans in Parliament achieve, apart from the remote chance the Speaker will join Bercow in hall of shame? Nothing at all: it will fill headlines for a couple of days, Cameron will resume his world tour and make more unaccountable statements to an empty room and all will carry on the same.
Still it’s good to know the new intake of MPs has such a caring and thoughtful and intelligent addition to its ranks…..
Bandwagon beckons….
Just one thing to add, there was no vote, good start though.
The Speakeasies' Swing Band! are a seven piece Swing/Jazz band based in Thessaloniki, Greece. The line up features Caterina Sisinni (vocals), Panos Karnoutsos (Electric Guitar), Manolis Stamatiadis (Piano), Panos Voularakis (Upright Bass), Giannis Ntalianis (Acoustic Guitar), Christos El. Papadopoulos (Clarinet) and Grigoris Oikonomou (drums). The Speakeasies' Swing Band! formed in 2010. The band's preview Extended play, Bathtub Gun, was released in 2012 and their debut album Land Of Plenty in 2015
The UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) has changed the way it calculates ‘excess deaths’ i.e. whether weekly recorded deaths are more (or less) than expected. The methodology had remained the same for at least half a century: to compare latest data with the average of the previous five years - a simple arithmetical task. Now a new system is used, weighting various factors and interpreting the results with statistical analyses that are far beyond the layperson’s grasp.
The change has been noted with suspicion by (for instance) Youtube commentators Simon Webb and Katie Hopkins. They and others think the government is keen to play down the figures because of the potential for public criticism. The inquiry into Covid and official actions taken started in 2022 and is still ongoing; will it be a face-saving whitewash?
Popular theories abound to explain the apparently anomalous increase in mortality. One, it’s fair to say, is the subject of systematic suppression in the media: the idea that the mRNA vaccines have adversely affected many people, sometimes fatally.
Other reasons are already provisionally accepted: that the lockdowns and other methods of social isolation led to delays in diagnosing and treating cancer, and to ‘deaths of despair’ as people harmed their health with overindulgence in alcohol and drugs. There was also the disastrous decision to ‘clear the decks’ in hospitals by moving elderly patients into care homes where they might infect others and where staff were afraid to look after them appropriately.
However there are a few additional possible reasons why the raw data for deaths in this country might have changed and will continue to change. You may be able to think of more.
The population is ageing
The real number of people living in the UK may be higher than the official estimates. Indirect evidence may come from supermarket purchases or even Facebook usage
Economic inequality is increasing and poorer people live less long, for various reasons. The statistics vary around regions of the country
For 2020-2022, male deaths outstripped female - the first time since 1981. Does this indicate that men, traditionally family providers, feel greater pressure and sense of failure in a declining economy and use less approprate coping strategies?
The NHS is failing, especially in the provision of GP services. The contract agreed under the Brown premiership released GPs from the obligation to provide evening and weekend cover and there is an increasing tendency for them to deal with queries remotely - that’s if one can get through on the phone in a reasonable time.
Not all of the above would explain the recent spikes, but it is clear that a subtler analysis is needed.
Blogger is acting oddly and I recall that MS Word has been censoring drafts for a year or two. Are Gates' myrmidons interfering here? So I submit this again in the hope that everything can go through as intended.
___________________________________
The energy that is being expended by the Conservative party in a vain attempt to stave off political annihilation in the forthcoming general election is but a sideshow in their path to oblivion. I could be wrong but even Lazarus would be hard pushed to save the day such is their state.
Should we care?
“An unelected body like the WHO, controlled and run by multibillionaires, should never be allowed to act in place of a democratically elected government."
I cannot remember a similar disclaimer such as the following on the government’s petition site, not exactly inspiring confidence in support of the sovereign nation over a signed treaty with an organisation that again is elected by no-one but sponsored largely by Bill Gates!
“The UK Government will not end our WHO membership. We are committed to working with the WHO to tackle the world’s health issues. We do not and will never cede sovereign powers through our partnership.”
If the UK signs an international treaty with the WHO then we will cede all sovereign claims as we do with so much else when international law is quoted.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Netherlands:
After the Upper Chamber fraction of the Conservative party (VVD) voted this week IN FAVOUR of compelling all local authorities to accommodate set quotas of asylum seekers (flying in the face of its own election manifesto policy and its Lower Chamber fraction's vote AGAINST this), the latest polling shows Geert Wilder's Freedom Party (PVV) would now gain 49 seats in Lower Chamber elections.
This is an increase of 12 seats since the election last November, all taken from the VVD, which now would only have 12; making the PVV fraction four times larger (!) than the VVD, which was the dominant party in the outgoing coalition ... Coalition formations talks due to continue tomorrow.
This poll result will only strengthen Geert's position.
Decarbonisation:
Still at least the march towards Net Zero is going well, alongside having to pay for gas and nuclear to be on standby for when the sun does not shine and wind does not blow, examples ad nauseam. We now have from the horse’s mouth so to speak another reason not to want to go the net zero route.
Energy bills must rise to pay for net zero, says Siemens Energy boss
"The WEF is a fanatical political organisation that uses fear and manipulation, like Covid hysteria, like the hoax of global warming, to really facilitate people thinking that somehow they're the saviours, but really all you're doing is helping them accomplish their goal, which really is a global public-private fascist movement, and fusion of big government, big tech [and] big money, to create a technocratic ruling elite, which conveniently is them."
"They want to create feudalism 2.0, in which we are serfs, and they are the lords ruling over us… That's what they're aiming for."
Enoch Powell on the Dick Cavett show in 1971, predicting the future:
"Large parts of parts of our cities will by the beginning of the next century will be occupied by a population which has nothing in common with the people of this country."
The strange and dangerous WEF is a magnet for the elite who spout endless garbage about how to run the world, every year virtually all the western leaders make a pilgrimage to Davos to mix with like minds, the WEF is an unelected forum with ever increasing influence, nobody voted for any of its members yet western leaders flock to Davos despite the nonsensical and elitist statements that emerge.
Why? We left the EU because those that voted leave wanted out of an over ruling self appointed body that gives itself ever more powers, why would we want to take notice of a world wide organisation or at least a western world one after having left a similar body, what is behind it all.
The same can be said of the WHO, run by a man associated with terrorists in his past it has no more justification than the WEF to exist, yet again we are in danger of signing up to treaties that are binding.
Where is the push back to all this, there is none and the pressure for changes that affect us all grows, just this week a couple of ‘elites’ made statements under the banner of the WEF…
Jane Goodall thinks the world would be better if the population were reduced by 90%.
Klaus Schwab says the world will no longer be run by superpowers like America… it will be run by the World Economic Forum stakeholders, such as BlackRock and Bill Gates.
A comment from elsewhere sums up the lack of true democratic rule.
“The Biden farrago only further exposes how the USA has silently reverted to a monarchical system.
Biden has no power, but the position of President does. Those powers are exercised in the name of the President by an inner coterie that includes officials and elected representatives using Presidential Executive Orders.
In Britain it is called the Royal Prerogative and Privvy Council using Statutory Instruments.
They live in a Republic, we live in a Monarchy. Neither of us live in a democracy.
It matters not whether the President is a drooling senile geriatric, or that the King is on his deathbed. They decide nothing and need to be capable only of breathing as everything is decided in their name.
The EU doesn’t even pretend that it’s a democracy.”
In many ways it all gives the impression that the elites have handed over power to a higher authority. Judging by recent events they can’t even be bothered to go through the motions of governance.
It has all become too easy. Layer upon layer of authority is created and ‘friends’ get the opportunity to suck at the taxpayer’s teat without ever putting in a shift. Grift at all levels becomes the norm.
We are insulted with appointments of people we would not in the real world have running a whelk stall. David Cameron, yes he of the ‘I will implement the result of the referendum post haste’ who then immediately resigned has returned as Foreign Secretary. He who had to start a war to cement his legacy alongside his idol Blair is now thought to be ‘the man’ to do deals to cement peace. He is already acting as though he never went away and this piece of largesse from a country in deep poo monetarily will shoulder the cost. He even has eyes on the NHS helping Gazans with flying in children for treatment.
Cameron - "We have found homes for 300,000 Ukrainians and a solid future for them in the UK"
We were told they would only be here temporarily. These homes could have gone to our thousands of homeless people.
As if the NHS has time on its hands not enough people to treat! Of course all MPs will back any measures of this type, but then they all have private medical insurance.
A short aside about the NHS: while waiting in the GPs surgery for my wife to be assessed I was drawn to the TV screen above the reception area that showed an endless series of slides on how to help the NHS by basically not using it or save it money by buying your own medication over the counter.
It finished with two slides telling non-nationals and immigrants that they can sign on here and it is not a problem. The second slide showed two documents crossed out and the words “If you have no documents you can still sign on and access NHS services it is not a problem.” Occasionally you really could not make it up.
The list of failure and false claims for improvement in society and the general population grows daily and all the time the antisemitic party waits in the wings to take over. Is this the best the country or any other of the major powers can do, or are we just going to succumb to the inevitable?
I see nothing that would make my cross on a piece of paper worth the effort to make the trip to a polling station. The third rate occupiers of the green benches don’t deserve to be there and at least I can take the George Carlin attitude to it all.
Editor’s note: the results of this week’s two by-elections seem to show no significant increase in support for Labour; instead there was a big stay-away by disillusioned Conservative voters. Analaysis by veteran journalist Richard North here. A friend recently surprised me when he said he thought Labour could lose the next General Election.
The energy that is being expended by the Conservative party in a vain attempt to stave off political
annihilation in the forthcoming general election is but a sideshow in their path to oblivion. I could be
wrong but even Lazarus would be hard pushed to save the day such is their state.
Should we care?
“An unelected body like the WHO, controlled and run by multibillionaires, should never be allowed to act in place of a democratically elected government."
I cannot remember a similar disclaimer such as this? On the government's petition site not exactly
inspiring confidence in support of the sovereign nation over a signed treaty with an organisation that
again is elected by no one but sponsored largely by Bill Gates!...
“The UK Government will not end our WHO membership. We are committed to working with the WHO to tackle the world’s health issues. We do not and will never cede sovereign powers through our
partnership.”
If the UK signs an international treaty with the WHO then we will cede all sovereign claims as we do with so much else when international law is quoted.
ELSEWHERE................
After the Upper Chamber fraction of the Conservative party (VVD) voted this week IN FAVOUR of
compelling all local authorities to accommodate set quotas of ' asylum seekers (flying in the face of its
own election manifesto policy and its Lower Chamber fraction's vote AGAINST this), the latest polling
shows Geert Wilder's Freedom Party (PVV) would now gain 49 seats in Lower Chamber elections.
This is an increase of 12 seats since the election last November, all taken from the VVD, which now
would only have 12.
Making the PVV fraction 4 x larger (!) than the VVD, which was the dominant party in the outgoing
coalition ...
Coalition formations talks due to continue tomorrow. This poll result will only strengthen Geert's position Still at least the march towards net zero is going well, alongside having to pay for gas and nuclear to be on standby for when the sun does not shine and wind does not blow, examples ad nauseam, we now have from the horse's mouth so to speak another reason not to want to go the net zero route.
Fox News guest PERFECTLY summarises the World Economic Forum's 'Great Reset' agenda, in just one minute:
"The WEF is a fanatical political organisation that uses fear and manipulation, like Covid hysteria, like the hoax of global warming, to really facilitate people thinking that somehow they're the saviours, but really all you're doing is helping them accomplish their goal, which really is a global public-private fascist movement, and fusion of big government, big tech [and] big money, to create a technocratic ruling elite, which conveniently is them."
"They want to create feudalism 2.0, in which we are serfs, and they are the lords ruling over us… That's what they're aiming for."
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751222339663008187
An MP sees the light but only in a vain attempt to save his job, it’s the cynic in me.......
We MPs Need to Recognise That What We Did to the Country During Covid Was Wrong
The strange and dangerous WEF is a magnet for the elite who spout endless garbage about how to run the world, every year virtually all the western leaders make a pilgrimage to Davos to mix with like minds,
the WEF is an unelected forum with ever increasing influence, nobody voted for any of its members yet
western leaders flock to Davos despite the nonsensical and elitist statements that emerge.
Why? We left the EU because those that voted leave wanted out of an over ruling self appointed body that gives itself ever more powers, why would we want to take notice of a world wide organisation or at least a Western world one after having left a similar body. What is behind it all?
The same can be said of the WHO, run by a man associated with terrorists in his past it has no more
justification than the WEF to exist, yet again we are in danger of signing up to treaties that are binding.
Where is the push back to all this, there is none and the pressure for changes that affect us all grows, Just this week a couple of ‘elites’ made statements under the banner of the WEF........
A comment from elsewhere sums up the lack of true democratic rule.
“The Biden farrago only further exposes how the USA has silently reverted to a monarchical system.
Biden has no power, but the position of President does. Those powers are exercised in the name of the
President by an inner coterie that includes officials and elected representatives using Presidential
Executive Orders.
In Britain it is called the Royal Prerogative and Privvy Council using Statutory Instruments.
They live in a Republic, we live in a Monarchy. Neither of us live in a democracy.
It matters not whether the President is a drooling senile geriatric, or that the King is on his deathbed. They decide nothing and need to be capable only of breathing as everything is decided in their name.
The EU doesn’t even pretend that it’s a democracy.”
In many ways it all gives the impression that the elites have handed over power to a higher authority, they can’t, judging by recent events even be bothered to go through the motions of governance.
It has all become to easy , layer upon layer of authority is created and ‘friends’ get the opportunity to suck at the tax payers' teat without ever putting in a shift, grift at all levels becomes the norm.
We are insulted with appointments of people we would not in the real world have running a whelk stall,
David Cameron, yes he of the ‘I will implement the result of the referendum post haste’ then immediately resigned has returned as foreign secretary, he who had to start a war to cement his legacy alongside his idol Blair is now thought to be 'the man’ to do deals to cement peace, he is already acting as though he never went away and this piece of largesse from a country in deep poo monetarily will shoulder the cost, He even has eyes on the NHS helping Gazans with flying in children for treatment:
As if the NHS has time on its hands not enough people to treat! Of course all MPs will back any measures of this type, but then they all have private medical insurance.
A short aside about the NHS: while waiting in the GPs surgery for my wife to be assessed I was drawn to the TV screen above the reception area that showed an endless series of slides on how to help the NHS by basically not using it or save it money by buying your own medication over the counter.
It finished with two slides telling non nationals and immigrants that they can sign on here and it is not a
problem, the second slide showed two documents crossed out and the words “if you have no documents
you can still sign on and access NHS services it is not a problem”; occasionally you cannot make it up.
The list of failure and false claims for improvement in society and the general population grows daily and all the time the antisemitic party waits in the wings to take over, is this the best the country can do or any other of the major powers, or are we just going to succumb to the inevitable?
I see nothing that would make my cross on a piece of paper worth the effort to make the trip to a polling
station, the third rate occupiers of the green benches don’t deserve to be there and at least I can take the
Back we go to the 'good old days' when we were young and enjoying the new sounds of skiffle (Lonnie Donegan, Chas McDevitt, Johnny Duncan and others) and Rock and Roll which introduced young new British performers such as Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and many others.
But the one who stood out from the crowd was Joe Brown because he could actually play the guitar and play it rather well, as can be heard in the first video here. He has now been performing for more than six decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and has primarily been a recording star since the early 1960s.
"Robert Henry Arthur Wells (born 7 April 1962) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician best known for the musical Rhapsody in Rock, which contains elements of rock, classical and boogie-woogie.
"Wells was born in Stockholm. He attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm at the age of 7 in 1969 and four years later, at the age of 11, became the youngest person ever to attend the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. At the age of 16 in 1978, Wells won two major Swedish talent contests.
Wells's music was chosen as the official television theme music for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing."
This time from the Otta Orchestra I mentioned a few weeks ago, a seven piece all female 'orchestra' often supplemented by 'real' symphony orchestras on stage and in their albums:
"OTTA-orchestra is a Russian female instrumental group. Li Otta, whose name formed the basis of the band's name, is the band's composer and arranger. The group plays her music. The mention of the word orchestra is also not accidental. Music is based on the orchestral style of new age, world music.
The origin of the group dates back to 2007. At this time, Li Otta was brought in as an orchestrator to work with Russian guitarist DiDuLay. This is how his album “Music of Unmade Films” was born in 2007, which began the close collaboration of these two creative people working in the genre of instrumental music."
As promised and as requested, Friday music with a difference to celebrate Burns Night!
================================================
'The Merry Muses of Caledonia' is among Burns' best known, but least read, work. This collection of bawdy poems, some written by and some collected by Burns, ranges from celebrations of spirited women in 'Ellibanks', to misogyny in 'There was twa wives' and male fantasy in 'Nine Inch will please a lady'. These engaging poems are not lewd or distasteful but possess a great wit and charm.
"Many scholars and Robert Burns enthusiasts prefer not to mention his association with the Merry Muses of Caledonia because they don't like him to be associated with this sort of material. Burns allegedly made no secret of his interest in erotic verse and bawdy song but apparently he kept this in a locked drawer at home. Well, you would, wouldn't you?
"t was first published within three or four years of his death and of the original only two copies are known to exist but it has since been published several times in facsimile editions. Burns both wrote and collected this material so there is no knowing how much of it is actually his. While some of it is local and clearly from the hand of the bard he may also have collected other material during his tours around Scotland.
"It is also worth mentioning that some of Burns's most admired works were sanitised versions of the bawdy originals.
"Many people who read these verses are surprised at Burns' awareness and his macho attitude to sex more than 200 years ago. But then sex is not new and isn't it strange that each successive generation thinks that they have just invented it? It is also worth noting that some of the words used by Burns in this connotation are still in use today, including of course the "F" word. Some recent commentators have compared the Robert Burns of the late 1700's to the rock stars of today. Maybe that's not too far off the mark?"
More recently the film producer Harvey Weinstein was called a predator by quite a few women on his hit list. Just before disappearing from the scene completely he had the cheeky guts to say that he didn’t understand all the fuss that was created around his person. Our bawdy Burns was more open about his behavior and described himself as a fornicator in his poem with the same title. Mitigating circumstances ?
"Wi’ ruefu’ face, and signs o’ grace,
I paid the buttock hire;
The night was dark, and thro’ the park,
I couldna but convoy her.
A parting kiss, what could I less;
My vows began to scatter,
Sweet Betsy fell, fal, lal, de ral, And I’m a fornicator"
Burns knew his sexual flaws and accepted the responsibility like a true Freemason. In one of his letters he described his struggle: ‘[…] I have a sore warfare in this world; the devil, the world and the flesh are three formidable foes’. And he comments on this last foe: ‘[…] but the third is my plague, worst as the ten plagues of Egypt’. Ladies and gentlemen, wasn’t it Burns fellow scribe Oscar Wilde who said ‘I can resist anything except temptation’?"
After Leonid and Friends last year, another excursion into the hidden musical heartland Russia and such a vast country is bound to have more musical talent waiting to be discovered.
"Otava Yo (Russian: Отава Ё, ота́ва meaning "aftergrass") is a Russian folk rock band from Saint Petersburg, formed in 2003.
Alexey Belkin, Alexey Skosyrev, Dmitriy Shikhardin, and Peter Sergeev worked together as buskers on the streets of St. Petersburg for about three years. The positive feedback from the listeners inspired them to officially form a band in 2003. Of the initial members, only Shikhardin had formal musical education; the rest were self-taught. Initially the band was called Reelroadъ and they played The Pogues-styled Celtic punk, but later changed their name to Otava Yo and turned to Russian traditional music." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otava_Yo https://otava-yo.spb.ru/en/
Отава Ё - Про Ивана Groove (русское готическое R'N'B) - Otava Yo
Two of these videos feature bagpipes. Russian bagpipes? I didn't know they had a tradition of the pipes in Russia so I did a search and found this -
"The Volynka bagpipe (from the word ‘vol’ meaning ‘ox’), valynka \pipe (duda) \goat (kozel) \bubble (puzir) was, until recently, an unexplored part of Russian instrumental music. However, it is also an unexplored spot on the map of European bagpipes. Whilst Russians know relatively little about bagpipes, there are several images of bagpipes in European and Russian travellers’ drawings, references in lists of musical instruments of the Russian Empire before the mid‐19th century, several images in folk pictures (lubock) and in church chronicles as well as references in literature and folklore. In recent years, the media has introduced new, previously unknown, sources." https://www.bagpipesociety.org.uk/articles/2015/chanter/winter/the-revival-of-the-russian-bagpipe/
We went to a gig by Katie Hopkins on Thursday in a pub near Stroud. There was a demo opposite the pub and at the last minute someone smashed a glass door. Here is what I have sent to the local paper:
LETTER TO THE EDITOR (OF STROUD NEWS AND JOURNAL)
Dear All
As a witness to the 'window-smashing' at the Star Inn Whiteshill (Stroud News, 12 January) I should like to offer a couple of corrections. Firstly it was a strong double glazed door, and a good thing too as people inside might have been seriously injured by flying glass had the rock weighing several pounds come through one of the windows.
Secondly, your writer says 'There is no suggestion that the damage was linked to the protesters who gathered beforehand.' Allow me to make that suggestion. This was not the early hours suburban bus shelter vandalism common where I live, but an attack carried out before 10 p.m. when the room was still full of people facing the speaker at the end of her talk. I can hardly say the perpetrator was actually from the well-policed crowd of protestors gathered on the other side of the road, but it is not likely pure coincidence that someone came round the back of the property to do this to a crowded room. The febrile atmosphere generated by campaigners was bound to inspire a thuggish moron.
History is repeating itself. My mother grew up in East Prussia when the National Socialists took over and as with all extremist organisations the first target was dissidents: everybody must think the same way. All the teachers joined the Party and tried to browbeat my mother into doing the same, but her father forbade it. She had to fight classmates in the playground but was strong enough to beat them. The school library suddenly had big gaps on the shelves where books by socialists and Jews had been removed. The history teacher was sacked and replaced by the caretaker - who needs nuance when you know the right answer to everything?
So now I am the son of a war refugee, born abroad in a country that no longer exists, and I am seeing another lot of Puritans take over (as though we learned nothing from Cromwell's joyless 1650s Protectorate, but then what history do they teach in British schools today?) Go round Cirencester's Parish church of St John the Baptist as we did yesterday and see how the black-clad right-thinkers vandalised its frescoes during Henry's Dissolution. You cannot say you are inclusive if you claim a hotline to God and use a mailed fist to impose unanimity on the people. It begins with Kristallnacht in well-heeled Whiteshill and among the 97.9% White population of Stroud District, but where will it end?
You may not know the name but Steve Wickham is/was fiddle player with Scots/Irish band The Waterboys in the 1980s and here are a few songs from his solo career as well as some tales.
Steve Wickham is an Irish musician. Originally from Marino, Dublin, but calling Sligo home. Wickham was a founding member of In Tua Nua and played violin on the classic U2 song "Sunday Bloody Sunday", as well as recordings by Elvis Costello, the Hothouse Flowers, Sinéad O'Connor, and World Party. He is a long-standing member of The Waterboys. Wickham plays both rock and roll and traditional Irish music, and has developed a rock music technique for violin he calls the "fuzz fiddle".
Wickham is also accomplished with the mandolin, tin whistle, concertina, saxophone, piano, guitar and bones.
Not a Theme Night - Saints and Angels (Steve Wickham)
Pascal - Steve Wickham
Recorded live as part of Theme Night #31 - Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland.
Steve Wickham plays The Gold Ring
Pascal - Steve Wickham
Recorded live as part of Theme Night #31 - Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland.
All Will Be Well - Steve Wickham
Stopping By Woods
-------- -- -- -
In 1984 Wickham was in a band called InTuaNua who were one of the supporting acts when Bob Dylan played at Slane Castle in county Meath Steve tells how he met Dylan and was invited to perform with him:
"A tall American guy came over and told us that Bob would like to meet ‘the fiddler and the singer’. He brought Leslie Dowdall and myself over to see Bob in his quarters, an oasis of peace and tranquility away from the madding crowd. Bob came out of his tent to greet us, casually smoking a cigarette. Dylan’s eyes were startling and lined with heavy black eyeliner. He was wearing a jungle print shirt hanging open to the waist and a very robust looking pair of biker boots with brass hoops at the ankles. He looked otherworldly and spoke quietly. Bob praised InTuaNua and asked if Leslie and I would join him for a song during his set. Bob suggested that we play ‘Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat’. ‘It’s a regular blues’ he drawled in his familiar voice."
"Singer Linda Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona, and grew up surrounded by music. One of Ronstadt's early musical influences was the Mexican songs her father taught her and her siblings. Her mother played the ukulele and her father played the guitar. Following in her father's footsteps, she learned to play guitar and performed with her brother and sister as a trio.
In 1987 Ronstadt explored her Hispanic heritage by recording a Spanish-language album, Canciones de Mi Padre (1987), which was filled with traditional Mexican songs like the ones her father loved."
(In Mexico and other S.American countries the word 'linda' means beautiful and her parents and grandparents would be well aware of that when they christened her Linda.)
LA CIGARRA - Linda Ronstadt (Live - 1987)
Linda Ronstadt - El Crucifijo de Piedra - Yo soy El Corrido
Mi Ranchito (2016 Remaster)
Linda Ronstadt - Yo soy el corrido
Linda Ronstadt Opens Up About Health, Career, Mexican Heritage
In 1858 Camille Saint-Saëns composed his Oratorio de Noël for five vocal soloists, mixed choir, strings, organ and harp. The work, sung in Latin, is based on texts from the Old and New Testaments, the Psalms and Gospels, as well as the Catholic Christmas liturgy. A distinctive chamber music-like instrumentation, with lyrical soloistic parts and a modest choral part combine to create a basic pastoral mood which has led this Christmas Oratorio to become one of the most performed works by Saint-Saëns.
Saint-Saëns: Weihnachtsoratorium / Christoph Poppen / DRP
A small selection from around the world of other, and very different, Christmas musical offerings Including what is possibly the earliest Christmas carol (if carol is the right word for it.)
Christmas Song by St. Gregorios Orthodox Church, Trivandrum
Veni Redemptor Gentium
This is the oldest Christmas carol ever documented. Dates back to 4th century Rome. (Come, Redeemer of the nations) is a Latin Advent or Christmas hymn by Ambrose of Milan
Today, a mix of Irish, French and French Canadian:
Chieftains - A Breton Carol (1987)
The Christ Child's Lullaby - Celtic Christmas
The "Huron Carol" (or "'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime") is a Christmas hymn, written in 1643 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Christian missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people; the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born"). The song's melody is a traditional French folk song, "Une Jeune Pucelle" ("A Young Maid"). The well known English lyrics were written in 1926 by Jesse Edgar Middleton.
This version is performed by Heather Dale, and sung in Wendat (Huron), French and English.
As noted yesterday there are too many Elvis impersonaters out there and some of them make fake videos pretending to be the 'King'
There is one however who made no secret of his copycat Elvis style and that was the late Les Gray of the pop/rock band called 'Mud' and you have heard the song every Christmas for as long as you can remember.
Mud -
Lonely This Christmas
Love Unlimited -
It may be winter outside (but in my heart it's spring)
Darlene Love -
All Alone On Christmas (Official Video)
25th Anniversary of Darlene Love's annual appearance performing "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" on The Late Show with David Letterman. December 23, 2011. (I think 2014 was her last performance on Letterman with this song)
It wouldn't be Christmas without Elvis! Two problems finding suitable videos, one being the lack of good picture and sound quality. The other is trying to avoid the 'fake' Elvises out there and there are quite a lot so I hope I have the real one every time with these four.
Elvis Presley - On A Snowy Christmas Night, (HD)
Elvis& Priscilla Presley- Christmas in Graceland
Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas ('68 Comeback Special)
Elvis Presley - If Every day Could Be Like Christmas
My enforced restriction in drinking has meant no Christmas best buys this year, but I have managed to sample a lot of English sparkling wines, simply because they agree with me and are ever more available.
No longer can they be called a poor facsimile of champagne: they are a worthy comparison in their own right.
Climate change has over time made the champagne region begin to worry about the long term future for grape growing. This of course like all weather predictions could turn out to be a blind alley[ only time will tell. More worrying for the champagne houses is he cost of land: in recent years it has become astronomical as any land for vine production has to be within the designated area to be allowed to use the term champagne and there simply isn’t any left.
So small growers are selling up to the big houses and getting out of the business altogether, receiving offers they can’t refuse, leaving an ever smaller number of big growers and owners to dominate the business.
Even among the big boys expansion is limited so other areas are being considered and the South Downs in particular is a target for these outfits. No they can’t call it champagne but if the product is good enough it will sell regardless and what is now being produced in England more than holds its own on the world stage re sparkling wines. A few years ago we would have laughed at such a thought but here we are with some world class bottles.
Price was a big stumbling block for English wine and still is for still wines but the premium paid for sparklers puts them in a different category. No they can never compete with the cheaper Cava and Prosecco and other sparklers from the New World, but by concentrating on the premium end of the market the tax differences are to a great extent evened out and we certainly do compete.
Where we really excel is in vintage sparklers and we have a lot of them. In France the vintage bottles can reach eye watering levels of cash necessary to purchase them which is why most champagne is Non Vintage NV.
We do have NV sparkling here but the vintage section is where it gets interesting. Whilst being a vintage sparkler does not guarantee quality it does guarantee a more interesting product as each vintage has its own nuances. NV wines are blended from different vintages to get a more uniform standard in the bottle i.e. you know after buying brand x that any year is going to be in the same mould as previous wines; many people prefer that approach ‘a reliable taste and product that they can recognise’.
Although grapes used here do not have to conform with the champagne rules, that is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, Blanc de Blanc champagne is Chardonnay only, surprisingly there are eight grapes allowed in champagne the others are Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier, Arbane in very small quantities, and Voltis.
Outside of France many other grape varieties are used to make sparkling wine. Prosecco is made using the grape of the same name and Cava using Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo plus the champagne grapes are being added to the mix.
But back to the UK: the best of the country's sparklers are from the mainly chalk South Downs. Such has been the success that the French are buying land there partly to offset climate change and more likely to pick up relatively cheap acreage compared with home that can grow the grapes as well as champagne. Tattinger and Pommery plus Henkell Freixinet the German Spanish giant are the big players and Tattinger have released their first vintages here.
The best of the UK's vineyards are well spread across the south. Those with a big coverage and seen in supermarkets are the likes of Chapel Down, usually the cheapest but no drop in quality for the price, Ridgeview, and Nyetimber are the most prolific and none are to be sneezed at. Gusborne owned mainly by Lord Ashcroft do a range of sparklers including probably the best of them all a Blanc de Blanc a pricy £65 yet it is as good as any French equivalent; they even do a limited edition at £195 a bottle called Fifty One Degrees North, a lot of money for any champagne styled wine, yet their cheaper cuvees are a good to excellent buy and a special edition for Waitrose I can vouch for, but you won't go wrong with any of their offerings.
Many of the smaller vineyards do great work and turn out excellent wines. A short list of those I have sampled and liked includes Hambledon, Wiston who also do a splendid rose, Hush Heath another who do a splendid rose, Hattingley Valley, Camel Valley, plus many more all good and Waitrose have by far the largest range.
My own favorite is the one in the header above made from the Seval Blanc grape, a vintage wine that improves with age and is so smooth; their Chardonnay version is not to be sniffed at either.
So at Christmas give our own winemakers a go, you will be happily surprised.
