rainbow clouds, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
Lovely clouds at this time of the year - all to do with the angle of the sun apparently. Find out more at www.cloudappreciationsociety.org
Groanbox Boys
Groanbox Boys - Michael, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
Went to see a fab band at the local(ish) Tin Hut - the Groanbox Boys!
From their website : The Groanbox Boys are the NY/London-based
music duo, Cory Seznec and Michael Ward-
Bergeman. Their third extensive UK tour over the
past 15 months kicks off on May 1, 2008. The tour is
over 30 dates long in just over as many days, and
marks their first time performing in Scotland. Another
new element is the addition of special guest Paul
Clifford on percussion for the Spring tour.
Groanbox music is a highly unique blend of quite a
few styles, influenced particularly by Old Time,
Mountain, Gypsy, World Folk, and Blues music. The
boys perform on accordion, acoustic guitar, banjo,
harmonica and odd pieces of percussion, including
their self-made “Freedom Boot”.
Paul Clifford is adding several distinct instruments of
his own to the Groanbox soundscape, including a
large calabash (African bottle gourd) similar to the
instruments used in in West African griot and popular
music,and a large yew tree stump, which must be seen
and heard to be believed.
Their foot-stompin’ sound features unconventional
arrangements weaved together by tight vocal harmonies
sung with raw intensity. Cory plays fingerstyle
and flatpicking guitar, clawhammer, plectrum, and
three-finger banjo, and blues harmonica. Michael
plays the accordion, hammering out a deep, full bass
and accompaniment with his left hand, and authentic
melodic lines with his right. Banging out the percussion
with their feet using a “stompbox” and a set of
“ghungroo” (Indian ankle bells), their performances
are marked by a rich, distinct sound and unending
energy.
To grasp their uniqueness one has only to look at their
unconventional blend of instruments, including the
fretless gourd banjo - a deep, funky instrument modeled
on the banjos played by the slaves on southern
plantations - and their homemade Freedom Boot.
“The Boot” is the Groanbox Boys’ synthesis of
rhythm sticks used around the world in myriad folk
music traditions. It is constructed with a large dowel
with 420 bottle caps screwed on to it, a black boot
fastened at the bottom, and topped with Bolivian goat
toenails, rings, Guatemalan worry dolls, a Thai good
luck phallus, and other mementos from their travels. A
shimmering golden scepter with an astounding percussive
ring, the Freedom Boot draws a crowd like
nothing else, and gets people dancing in no time flat.
At their core, the Groanbox Boys express a desire to
continue the traditions established by the great folk
musicians of the USA, but also do precisely what their
predecessors did: play folk music their own way, putting
their hearts and souls into it and all their idiosyncrasies
as well! The Groanbox Boys have toured extensively
throughout the UK and the east coast of the
USA. They have released two albums: Smokestack
Trilogy in 2006, and Fences Come Down in 2007.
An album of material recorded on their Spring 2008
tour should be released in late 2008, which will be
supported with a more extensive tour of the UK.
“Multi-cultural eclecticism, dynamic performances
and a joyous, foot-tapping folk heart…Rich but relaxed,
vibrant but subtle, Fences Come Down is
highly recommended to those who love colourful and
characterful roots music” -Maverick Magazine, May
2008
“Utterly Enthralling. This is music that goes deep into
the roots of popular music. Mixed in here is West
African Griot songs, Deep South blues, Nashville
harmonies, Eastern European gypsy dances, even a
touch of English Morris Dancing….Dig underneath
the fingernail of modern popular music and you get
to the quick. There – in the raw, living, tissue – is
where you’ll find the Groanbox Boys. It’s not a show.
It’s life.” -Ben Chu, The Independent, April 2007
“Wonderful vocal harmonies, unusual arrangements,
beautifully played and a real old mix of stuff…..from
Parisian Jazz to deep Mississippi Blues detouring to
Appalachia on the way.” -John Adams, The Bottleneck
Blues Club”
And from me…
A wonderful mix of blues and jazz and a wee bit of other stuff thrown in, the music appealed to all ages that were present at the Tin Hut… the youngest being 5 (I know cos he is my son!) and the eldest being, well a lot older than that.
One of the best bits of the band, apart from the wonderful banjo and the absolutely gorgeous 1920 concert guitar (swoon) was the Freedom Boot. This was made from a 6ft piece of dowel and has bottle tops screwed into it not unlike a lagerphone - for more info see the www.groanboxboys.com website.
after the storm
after the storm, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
Thunder, lightning and heavy rain were the order of the day on Saturday - I’ve never seen so much rain in such a short time here, and certainly haven’t seen the water rise so quickly before. In the short space of time between my going outside and taking this photo the field next to the river had flooded and was overflowing into the river.
The roads were blocked in places, but it does appear to have been fairly localised as some places escaped the rain altogether.
turbines
turbines, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
Love them or hate them… they are going to be part of the landscape for a while to come. Are they green? Does their ‘greenness’ depend upon where they are situated? Are there places where wind turbines should or shouldn’t be? It’s a controversial subject for sure.
viola!
viola, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
We visited the Raemoir Garden Centre today (Sunday) and I was rather taken with all the flowers that were blooming already. I love violas but I can’t spend money on flowers at the moment as we’ve already spent a fair bit on the veggie seeds etc.
first swallow 2008
first swallow 2008, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
I’m sure that I’ve seen swallows earlier in the year than this before - but nonetheless, I was very happy to see them flitting around the garden this afternoon.
One swallow does not a summer make, but what about four of them? Has summer arrived? Well as it started to rain a couple of hours after I spotted them, I guess it has!
The osprey has returned, and this time I saw two of them flying around. I hope that they will breed successfully and that they’ll be kind to me and pose for the camera instead of looping the loop when I’m not watching.
A touch of winter
kildrummy bw, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
It might be March but the snow has finally arrived in Aberdeenshire. It’s not unusual to have snow at this time of the year - in years gone by it’s been white from October to April.
The warmth of the March sunshine has meant that the snow has melted a little inbetween the showers so the main roads are clear. There were some spectacular snowdrifts though - wonderful to see, especially if you don’t have anywhere important to go!
Happy Easter
easter nests, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
What a lovely snowy weekend we’ve had for the start of spring - the snow keeps coming down, but it’s interspersed with lovely warm sunshine so the roads are relatively clear throughout the day.
Thankfully we were not inundated with chocolate eggs - I saw on one of my msn contact’s messages that they had received 104 eggs between their children!! That’s ridiculous isn’t it. These were J’s only chocolate eggs - a wee packet of the co-operative Fair Trade mini eggs. He enjoyed making these nests from rice crispies and more fair trade chocolate with some organic cranberries thrown in for good measure.
We had fun decorating some of the eggs from our hens - we boiled some in turmeric which enhanced their natural colour and some in red cabbage which turned the shells a pale blue. (if they’d been paler eggs you’d have seen more of a difference in colour)
white butterbur
butterbur, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
It’s been a fair old while since my last post but I spotted a clump of these near the river yesterday.
John Gerard wrote in The Herbal, “Of Butter-burre…the leaves are very great like to a round cap or hat, called in Latine Petasus, of such a widenesse…it is big and large enough to keepe a mans head from raine, and from the heate of the Sunne….This groweth in moist places neere unto rivers sides, and upon the brinks and banks of lakes and ponds.”
According to Plants for a Future it flowers from April… so this appears to be early. Anyone know anything about flowering times?
Solar Powered
Solar Powered, originally uploaded by The Neepster.
I rather liked the way the setting sun was captured in the light at the front of the house - ok, I had to adjust my position accordingly in order to catch the sunlight in the glass, but it just shows that you can find an ordinary object and turn it into something special with the aid of your camera.
We’ve enjoyed some lovely sunny days this week - very frosty at the start and end of the day, but find a spot out of the wind (of which there has been little for the last 2 days) and you could be mistaken for thinking that we were in April rather than February.
Good? or bad? Well, it’s certainly unseasonal in terms of temperature, but I can’t fail to welcome a couple of warm and sunny days at any time of the year!
