This evening I
was wearing my other musical head, at South Shields Folk Club, where there was
an entertaining, and true, banjo story
and also many burger tales (or should it be tails!).
John, a banjo
player, who is also a model railway enthusiast, was at a model railway
exhibition some years ago. He was
playing his banjo to entertain himself when the stall was quiet. Another stallholder complained to the
exhibition manager, instead of approaching John first, and the manager told him
to stop playing, which he did reluctantly.
John returned to the same exhibition last year – the other stallholder
was nowhere to be seen and it turned out that the exhibition manager was
dead! John reckons this was the curse of
the banjo!
Burger jokes:
Heard in Tesco
‘I’ll have a fiver each way on that burger’
A certain
supermarket is selling a new line in burgers – My Lidl pony
My wife and I
ate horseburgers from Tesco, they were good but we got the trots
I bought a
bottle of Bacardi, a bottle of navy rum and some burgers – white rum, dark rum
and Red Rum.
I showed the
assistant in Tesco’s the barcode and she handed me a zebra.
Ann
Alex
3 comments :
Apropos of nothing in particular and banjos in general, in Dublinese, the verb 'to banjo' means to commit a violent act against some usually innocent bystanders (This may apply to jazz audiences listening to banjo solos). For reference see Christy Moore's song 'The Crack was Ninety in the Isle of Man'. This may explain the curse of the banjo...but on the other hand, maybe not.
I'm surprised (or maybe not!) to find that there is a prejudice against banjos in the jazz world as well as in the folk music world. In folk, the bodhran drum is also joked about - it's a one-sided drum held in the hand, and it's more difficult to play than you'd suppose - I know as I've tried. Perhaps all musical instruments are good if played well, so I wonder how these prejudices get started?
Ann Alex
The problem with the Bodhran is that nobody knows the correct pronunciation unless they live in a hamlet situated close to a peat bog near Tipperary. However, the pronunciation is probably totally different in Kildare - it certainly is in Jarrow.
As regards the unmentionable - Bloody Awful Noise Jazz Oddity - Its failings are in melodic charm, harmonic depth, and the ability to sooth the savaged breast. In it's favour, it is lethal in a game of Conkers.
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