Saturday, November 15, 2008

Photographer Max Natkiel shot thousands of pictures @ A'dam's Paradiso in the late 70s/early 80s. Not the performers, but the crowd... As fine a documantation of those bygone days those pics are, movie director Marc Geerards recently took things a step further. He located people in the original photgraphs and filmed 'em for a couple o' minutes as they are today.

No comments, just the visuals. The results deliver on various levels (just check the promo vid here) and should be able to connect on global level... First screening is at the Paradiso on November 26th... Well worth your time I figure...
I caught the “Audrey sings Nico” show at The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh last night. This was just the second time out for this celebration and if you’re down with the material then you’ll be aware that it’s not an easy thing to pull off.

It takes a certain amount of style in addition to a great voice and Audrey Redpath has those qualifications on stage. I know she was nervous about it but at certain points in the performance, it became even stronger because she was letting her own voice punctuate the material. The end of “Secret Side” was particularly strident to the point of being jaw dropping. This is a work in progress that will be extended into a full production as time goes on. As it stands this is a capsulation of an important canon of work. While the audience will undoubtedly be familiar with “I’ll be Your Mirror” and “Femme Fatale”, this short set really whets the appetite for more.

Audrey’s band is Brian Banford (bass), Mike Nolan (keyboards) and Alistair Wilson (drums). Whenever more shows are planned, you’ll hear about them here.

Eagleowl opened the evening’s entertainment with a dark, dreamy minimal Espers type folk portfolio. Always good to hear a harmonium thrown into the mix too. I picked up their cd ep and will report on that in due course.

Didn't stay for St Judes Infirmary because I'd been up for about 19 hours by that time. It was time to head for the train but I ran into Olaf Furniss of Born to be Wide on the schlep out.

The proceedings took place in The Voodoo Rooms as I previously stated. I always liked that room but the refurbishment has made it one of the best venues in town. Situated atop the CafĂ© Royal, it’s in a great location for the station too.

My pal Jon Graboff was in Edinburgh yesterday too. It’s always a pleasure to see him. His dayjob as guitar slinger with The Cardinals saw him play The Picturehouse, Auld Reekies newest venue. Very swish it is too. The town needed a decent sized place to entice larger acts. Not that there’s been anybody there since it opened that I’ve been down with seeing but in it’s (previous) day, REM, The Scientists and The Sisters Of Mercy all played there. The Picturehouse is like a bijou version of The Academy in Glasgow and acts would do well to consider two nights here as opposed to schlepping out to the Corn Exchange.
I didn't manage to post yesterday for a number of reasons. I was out clelebrating the 34th anniversary of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Scottish debut. Or was I?? Anyway, I found this via Kjell, who will have the pleasure of seeing The Quattros in Japan next week. Lucky so and so. Finally the gods have delivered him some rock'n'roll... I'll be back later but meanwhile, feast on this...