Love, Poetry and Revolution - Monday 13th May 2024

The last time I wrote here, April was disappearing into the sunset. Given the amount of cloud and rain during the month, that was more metaphorical than literal. Ho, hum, pig's bum!

It may or not be the case.  Scrub that: it May be, is.

What's the craic, I 'hear' you ask?

It's a game of two halves, to be 'honest'. Allegedly, I am a 'parrot', sleep-wise, though not as sick as one. Over to you, Barry.

It's alright, I'm just messin'. I am toying with the idea of attempting to write entirely in clichés, but mixing them up and playing with them for the linguistic fun of it. I could try to do that, but it would take a while and I have other things I want to say today. 

So, it's time to get down to business.  Nose to the grindstone. Shoulder to the wheel. Pull my socks up. This post is not going to write itself.

Sadly, for all concerned, E's health seems to have plateaued again. I'm not sure who this benefits, not her nor our sons who are all being impacted by this.  For them, it's the worst of both worlds, having a mum who's there but not, and not having a mum who's still there.  As for E, this is not a life she'd ever wish for. I cannot begin to fully comprehend what she feels, day to day. Should I ever get to a state where I can't eat or drink, can't move, cannot speak, and so on, I would pray for it to end in as quick and as painless a way as possible.  By that stage, I don't think I'd even be there. Just a shell that looks like me.

It's by no means all doom and gloom, though. I won't let it be that way for me. I'd like to ensure it wasn't that way for those I love, too.

Q's daughter is settling into her new life in Amsterdam and has started her new job.  Much excitement.  Amsterdam seems cool and lively.  No sightings of a mouse on a stair in a windmill in old Amsterdam, so far.

I have spent quite a bit of time in Liverpool this month, with a couple of trips in close succession. I'm still here (there) in fact. 

During the weekend, Q and I went to Manchester (Manchest-aah) for the day.  It began with a meal in a pub by a canal near Deansgate station. This was a special meal with friends of E and me, who I'll call bbcC and bbcP.  bbcC  has known E since their secondary school days in Crosby, so this was quite a big deal (in my mind, at least), for Q and I. The chosen pub was great, the location was great and it was a lot of fun catching up. Even though I did get something in my eyes. We look forward to meeting up again, maybe in the 'pool.

Q and I were also in Manchester for another reason - we were going to see The Shires (and support - wonky chairs) at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM for short).  The tickets were a Christmas present for Q, as she's a big fan of The Shires. (No, they are not Hobbits)  It's the second time Q and I have seen The Shires together. The previous time was in Portsmouth, a very memorable occasion.  I remember the gig especially well, partly because of the curry I had before the gig. Vesuvius had nothing on it, and there I shall rest my case.

On this occasion, the gig was seated and I had managed to get us seats in the second row from the stage.  We had an excellent view and I always like to be as close to the stage as possible. Smaller venues are the best.

The Shires play an Anglicized version of Country music, though the support act, Alyssa Bonagura, is from Nashville.  As I've made plain before on countless occasions I don't get Country music.  Tonight I have decided to listen with as open a mind as possible, and, if nothing else, dive deep into my feelings about the experience.

The Shires tour is an acoustic tour (unlike Portsmouth), though they did have an Electric Piano, which might be considered cheating. I guess it's not practical to take a piano on tour, though you'd have thought the RNCM might have one lying around? (When Robyn Hitchcock played the Liverpool Philharmonic music room, he used their joanna.)

So, to the gig. The Shires (and Alyssa) went down a storm with the audience, who were clearly up for it.  The band seemed to get an equally good buzz from the audience response.  Q loved where we were seated and this is clearly the sort of music that does it for her. 

What about my response?  As a lover of music, I was looking for something that I could latch on to and enjoy.  I riffed off the enjoyment that Q and the audience were clearly getting from the performance and that energy charged me and carried me through the gig.

Ben and Crissie (for they are The Shires) are clearly good singers and players. They harmonize well. They have great interpersonal chemistry, too. They write their own songs (I think Ben is the main writer),  though they did do one Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers cover (I think it's called 'Islands in the Stream').  So what doesn't work about it for me?  I gave this a lot of thought during the gig. 

The tunes all seemed to be in the same register. There don't seem to be any musical surprises, either melodically or rhythmically. Once a song started, you knew where it was going, the only question being for how long. The lyrics? There are a lot of love songs. Nothing wrong with that. I love a good love song (sorry!) I just didn't get the sense that any of the lyrics were very personal or real.  For me, they seemed very banal and clichéd. 'Moon in June' kind of stuff.  In short, none of the words moved me.  As an example, one of the songs that Crissie introduced was about her late father. The words she spoke before the song about her father, were more moving than the lyrics themselves. 

The problem with love songs is that most of the love words have been overused, so to write a good love song you need to steer away from those.  The other thing I felt was that the words were so literal, that there was no room to find your way into the songs, to make them mean something special to you. I like ambiguity in lyrics, maybe even opacity. There's none of that. During the love songs, I started thinking about Roland Barthes' excellent book 'A Lover's Discourse' which does dig deeply but playfully into love, relationships and feelings.

I'm not slagging The Shires or Country music off, just trying to understand why, with very few exceptions, it leaves me unmoved.  I guess it's my problem, but one that has worked well for me this far, so it may never change.  Never say never, of course.

One thing is certain. I will go to more Country gigs, as in turn Q will join me at some of my less extreme musical fanaticisms.  I'm sure I'll see The Shires again, too, and be glad to.

Most importantly, we had a fun day out in Manchester.  Making memories, that's what it's all about. (Not the Hokey-Cokey)

High Llamas /  'Sisters Friends'  / 'Hey Panda'

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