Category: Music and dance

An end to ‘nailing the start but messing up the finish’

I find that when I am memorising any sort of sequence – song lyrics, dance moves, lines for a presentation – I usually over rehearse the beginning and…

Good times at Shambala

I think I often say this when I come back from a music festival, but Shambala is one of the best festivals I’ve been to. It could be…

A rockabilly festival and a 2CV convention – an extraordinary night out in rural France

At some point in the future I would like to spend some time living in the area of rural South West France where the French side of my…

Compressing my ‘cello

Yesterday I compressed my ‘cello – that is, I turned the tuning pegs, winding up the slack in the strings and gradually started to increase their tension. At…

Belly dancing, Charleston and keepy-uppies – civic participation in action

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gooD14xRh4&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1] This morning I was delving further into Bowling Alone (more notes to follow); by this evening I found myself performing at the Charity Gala, Oak View School…

Hello St.Pancras

For all the publicity in London about the opening of the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras, passengers leaving Paris on its inaugural day wouldn’t have been any…

With reference to the Edith Piaf song

Gergiev and the LSO at the Salle Playel for a spot of Stravinski and Ravel

Last night I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the LSO perform at the Salle Playel. The auditorium was reopened back in September after being fully…

The Metropolisians

My mate Ronan is in a band called the Metropolisians. A month or so ago they won their heat in a battle of the bands contest for which…