Saturday 26 June 2010

on the train home from York
On Saturdays it’s sometimes only a few quid more to travel first class, so here I am in a comfy seat, and a nice man has just brought me a hot mushroom sandwich and a cup of tea. Real crockery and metal cutlery too.

God bless folding bikes and cycle-friendly cities. I set off on my bike on Thursday morning for a gig 200 miles away, and I’ve had a great time cycling round York for the first time in 23 years. The cycle lanes work – cars don’t park in them, unlike in Glasgow where they are a complete waste of time and money – motorists don’t harass you, and I felt over-safety-conscious in my helmet and cycling gloves. On the way south I also managed to stop off in Edinburgh to dash into Jenners food hall for Brodies tea and chocolates. And with my one free hour in York I bought only a pair of jeans in the Sarah Coggles sale: it’s a shop which has been the downfall of my credit card statement in the past.

I’ve been there to enjoy the company of Shirley and Kate, and to have the great privilege of playing the arrangements that Dolly Collins wrote for Shirley’s singing.Much as we tried, we couldn’t persuade Shirley to sing in the show, although after a glass of wine she did delight us with unexpected bursts of song once or twice.

Thursday night’s dinner with singing legends outside Lowther’s, King’s Staith, York

On the face of it Dolly’s arrangements are very simple, but they're exquisitely judged, and the simplicity allows the songs to be very telling and powerful.  I’d love to edit the Shirley & Dolly Collins Songbook, not just so that other people could sing and play the songs, but to inspire musicians to come up with their own arrangements that are as sensitive and appropriate for traditional material. There’s a great research project in there – would anyone like to fund it, I wonder …

I’ve been enjoying the cheery hospitality chez Pamela, who also generously stepped out of the audience to join us in a few songs. This morning she told me that playing in front of Shirley was really nerve-wracking, like playing for the queen. Connie managed to get all of us singing in the dressing-room in the interval, and doing the actions to the Ghanaian equivalent of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. 

Playing at the NCEM is total luxury: I can’t think of another venue in the world where I could say ‘I’d like to play chamber organ, harpsichord, and fortepiano’ and get the response ‘OK, what pitch and temperaments would you like?’ When I was a student I would occasionally drop in here when it was still a dark old medieval church, with its box pews.

Is anyone else finding the keyboard on their iPhone less responsive since upgrading to iOS4?

later
Somehow I forgot to mention that by the side of the bath at Pamela's was one of Matt Bellamy's megaphones.