A Happy Christmas After All

Mrs Gruff may have been too pissed to put a decent welcome home dinner on the table (duck over-cooked, the skin still covered in salt and unbrowned, the vegetables raw, the roast potatoes leathery and rough inside) and angela too much under her husband's control to be of any use to me, but Christmas hasn't been a complete disappointment. I'm delighted to discover that Plymouth gin no longer burns my throat like paint stripper.

Happy Christmas one and all

All Along The Watchtower

Richie Havens:




The Grateful Dead:




U2 (Don't laugh!):




Bruce Yawnsteen:




Brian Ferry:




Keziah Jone:




Eddie Vedder:




Michael Hedges:




Chantel McGregor:




XTC:

Don't give up the day job boys.


The Erinn Brown Band:



Jeff Healey:



Neil Young:



Bob Dylan:



Jimi Hendrix (again):

Gary Mills

Not to be confused with Garry Miles.

The Delicates

Appalachian Spring

Looking for an uninterrupted presentation of a piece that has been one of my most liked, for a very long time, I cam across this, in three parts, unfortunately:


Apart from its sounding almost right what really struck a chord (resonated, in the modern idiom?) were the efforts of the conductor; reminiscent of music masters, perhaps long dead, who, knowing full well that they could never conduct outside the confines of the school hall, nevertheless gave themselves fully to the vicarious expression of their talent. Many a proud parent was grateful to the balding figure bowing modestly before him as he clapped his heart out.

I make no apology for publishing all three: