the day of a band and a boat in Bristol....

When it comes to music, I know what I like, and there's so many bands and artists whose work I love to watch or listen to. That's across most genres  - with the exception of garage and cheesy pop. I hate both ... oh and ABBA. I really abhor ABBA...always have and always will.

But there's one band I've been adoring for a number of years...The Black Seeds .I've mentioned them on the blog before, here  http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/summer-sundae-days.html

and they're from New Zealand. Last year I managed to see them play live , and made a promise to myself that I would definitely see them again somehow.
But when I interviewed lead vocalist Barnaby Weir last year,he didn't think that they would be back in Europe this year.

Well I'm pleased to say he was wrong...and that's why I found myself hotfooting down the M5 for a quick 300 mile trip to see them. On a boat in Bristol. And I'm so pleased I did...because although I enjoyed their festival appearance...it was like foreplay. Seeing them in a hot,crowded room, at night ,giving their all, was the main event.....

What a magical , hot July evening....sipping a few ice cold beers on the top deck of the Thekla with Frankie, managing to catch the last few rays of the sun, admiring the views as we did so...

Even the ladies loo had a porthole view....

And then, down into the bowels of the boat, to a surprisingly large room for the Black Seeds...

So why do I like this band so much?

Well, the Black Seeds know what it's like to engage an audience.  Infectiously catchy reggae, funk and soul rhythms get the party start right from  "Sometimes Enough." There's an energy, a synergy about the band members too - vocals from Barnaby Weir and Daniel Weetman are so strong, whether singing solo or together.

Add some incredibly good guitar work, the nattiest drums and percussion, the sound is already so full, but when the sax and trumpet come in...I'm in heaven.

I'm not the only one. This is a band you can't stand still and watch....from the opening numbers, bottoms in the audience are twitching in time to the music. By "So true" an all time favourite of mine, people are dancing where they stand...unable to take their eyes off the band.

There's such a good atmosphere....Barnaby chatting in between songs....all eighteen of them. You can't say you don't get good value at a Black Seeds gig.....the set lasts very nearly two hours. Yet the band still leave us wanting more....and as people stream off the boat....the newbies who haven't them live before are vowing to return when the Black Seeds come back to Europe.

 

That's good news says Daniel....it makes their three week pilgrimage here worthwhile.  With eight hungry mouths of band members and their families to feed, the trip has to pay its way. There are cds and tickets to sell...a fan base to be built....and good times to be had, with the lads on tour and away from day jobs baking, gardening, and lots more besides.

Next year, why don't you join the party? Make it your new Year resolution to come and see a Black Seeds gig...a far pleasurable option than losing weight, giving up drinking or something even more unpleasant.

You'll be so glad you did...Frankie certainly did, even though she played it cool after the show...as Daniel nicked my trusty old Marantz. Luckily, I'd already done the interview.....

In the meantime, I leave you with this - a lovely version of  "Cool me down" from the Black Seeds playing at Lowlands Festival last year....

 

A day of remembering the bookshops in Bristol

I had a trip down Memory Lane last week. Or rather, up and down Park Street in Bristol.

 Visiting my Mum for a few days in North Somerset , I went into Bristol to see a close friend for an afternoon. We met on Whiteladies Road ...an old stomping ground of mine when I worked at the BBC there years ago. I'm not going to tell you how many years ago though...that's classified information.

In those days, I worked in the reference library at the BBC. It was the perfect job for me, my first after getting my degree...working on lots of interesting programmes, finding out lots of information, goingout filming occasionally and meeting the most unlikely and interesting people in the BBC canteen at lunchtime.

I loved it all....but if I did manage to tear myself away from the place,  I would leave the booklined  Reference library and push off down to Park Street.

It may be dominated by the imposing Wills Memorial Building which was opened in 1925...but the attractions that Park Street had to offer me were all the bookshops.


They were all branches of Georges. Art bookshops, two if I remember correctly, an academic bookshop, a second hand bookshop. Were there five or six altogether ? I adored my quiet interludes perusing the shelves, buying books ,inhaling the perky, fresh as paint perfume of the newly published books, and the pervading mustiness  and acidy tang of the old secondhandbooks.

Georges had been started by seventeen year old William George in 1847 and was sold to Blackwells in 1929 which kept the old business name on the front of the shops. They're not there anymore....but there's one branch of Blackwells on Park Street.

 

That stands next door to what was the main Georges shop on the corner

 

 

 

Here it is, back in 1936...today it looks very different...it's now a Jamie's Italian restaurant.

 

But further down Park Street I noticed the Last Bookshop....one of a chain of three small remainder shops. Seeing a huge sign saying that every book costs £2 , I dived in...and within five minutes found two paperbacks on my wanted list. Now that's what I call a result! On the way out though, I noticed the for sale sign attached to the shop sign. So is the shop for sale or one of the flats above?





As I walked back up the hill there was one more bookshop though...

Obviously raising money for a very good cause, the shop was busy....but it's a pity that the only new bookshops I've seen opening recently are charity bookshops. Low rates for charities on the high street plus low prices of books on the internet make it very difficult for independent bookshops to survive these days

But it was a lovely afternoon on park Street, remembering happy times in bookshops gone by...

Today's track is one that I really like...Oh Saci by the Bookshop Band.

Now this band intrigues me....they write songs about books and play them in bookshops  sometimes with the author. How good is that? Breathing life and music into and attracting customers into bookshops. How good is that? I hope they can come to Leicestershire soon.....

Click on the link here to listen....

http://youtu.be/p1acNkqxvcM