Friday 9 September 2011

Sad news this morning of the passing of Kenneth Elliott, whose work on the history of Scottish music was vast in scope, and still unsurpassed in rigour and depth. His Musica Britannica volume from 1957 remains the first go-to text for a wide range of material from the 16th and 17th centuries, and in the 1990s he also rescued my PhD thesis from an early demise, with a combination of encouragement and attention to detail. All of us who work on early Scottish music owe him a great deal.

I spent yesterday afternoon on the South Side at Roberts Towers (West Enders like myself are usually very disparaging about the South Side of Glasgow, but in reality it’s really nice), where Ali played me lots of songs and we had a look at his arrangements. As expected, my advice mostly consisted of ‘yeah, that’s great, do more of that’.

And this afternoon I looked in to Common Wheel on my way home to pick up the 1953 Humber that Neil has had in his care for a while. And what a great place to hang out on a Friday afternoon: a gaggle of happy folks hanging around an industrial estate in Maryhill enthusing about their ancient bikes and trying them out in their newly cared-for state. I got my first shot on a tandem (in both seats) and an offer of a loan of it too! The Humber now makes you smile when you ride it, and on today’s evidence it makes spectators smile too. It has a drum brake at the front and a coaster brake at the back, and extremely bright dynamo-powered lights. Uphill is hard work but the sheer weight gives you a very pleasurable sense of momentum. Chuck away your fixie and get yourself a three-speed roadster - pedal forward into the future on the past. Or something.