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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Postage

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Noise Abatement

I just wonder if folk out there have similar views to mine or whether I'm now in the 'grumpy old man' category. My gripe is with the sheer extent of music saturation - most of it irritating pap. It seems you can't go into a shop or a store without music blasting out - our local B&Q has music so loud you can't hear yourself think. I complain to the checkout folk but they look at you as if you're crazy.
A lot of TV (especially sport) has loud (louder than the conversation) rock music phased in behind any interviews or stats. Everywhere you go radios seem to be blasting out -- in folk's cars (doof, doof), over gardens, etc. Jobbing builders play radios you can hear streets away. On our local minibus service the drivers have radios going. Recently I experienced that plus a youngster playing an MP3 in the rear of the bus. Unwanted bitonal noise in stereo!!
Most of it is pop/rock with irritating DJs who love the sound of their own drivelling voices. I hate it and moan on about it a lot (which annoys my wife!). I just don't want any noise inflicted upon me that is not of my choosing.
It seems that the perpetrators (shops, TV) conclude this is actually what their customers want and maybe it is. It seems that folk these days just have to have 'noise' around them. But what damage is all this music saturation doing to live music promotion? I mean if you were a store employee who has just done an 8 hour shift with endless background music droning on, would you want to go to a music concert that evening? I don't know the answer and wonder what other music/jazz lovers think about it.
Roly

6 comments :

Lance said...

I remember a Bunny Berigan story. Bunny would go into a bar and, if there was a juke box, he would stuff the coin slot with chewing gum - Wrigley's doublemint - making the machine inoperable.
He said, "There's no reason in the world why some son-of-a-bitch with a nickel should impose his tastes on a roomful of people."
Unfortunately, you can't do that in B and Q!

Steve Andrews said...

Agreed! Extraneous "muzak" played too loud has ruined what little enjoyment remained in watching tele. The worst thing to me is muzak in Pubs. I can't abide it. I go to the pub for (i) a drink (or three) (ii) conversation (hopefully intelligent) without having to bawl into someone's cupped ear (iii) time to sit quietly away from family etc.. If I don't want to talk, I take a book or a 'paper.
Another major problem for most musicians that I know is that if the musical wallpaper is too quiet to hear properly you spend your time trying to identify what's going on, while your partner/wife/acquaintance gets progressively more irritated at your inability to maintain a conversation.
I expect it will spread even further, though - look out for Radio 2-style soft rock behind the sermon (played just too loud) the next time you go to church!

Liz said...

I totally agree Roly. When we go into a café/shop/bar and this dreadful stuff is churning out, I don't mess about, I just go right up to the manager & ask for it to be turned right down. I know I get black looks , but who cares? someone has to make a stand. I used to ask for extractors to be switched on in the smoking days too. I am not a person who "puts up & shuts up" it goes against all I stand for.
Liz

Hil said...

I vote with my feet. Was in a shop in Whitley Bay last week when I realized I just couldn't stand another minute of the awful music. Put the basket down and retreated fast.

Anonymous said...

During the wonderful "Ashes" test matches, whenever Sky Sports showed re-runs of some great batting/bowling moments they had to play beat music in the background!
Also, has anyone noticed that in a TV series like "Lewis" or other 'tec series, whenever the detective takes a surreptitious photograph with a modern camera, the resulting photograph is always in black and white? Also, whenever the cast switches on their 50" flat screen TV the sound comes across like my original transistor radio, circa 1955.
V. Meldrew.

Keith said...

Johnathon Meades in 'Off Kilter' described silence as a modern day luxury and bemoaned constant exposure to 'Drivelling pop noise and burger stench'
Keith, Dunfermline

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