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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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

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); Paul Wight (drums).

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.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Singin' The Blues

Watching the League One play-off final between Sunderland and Charlton Athletic, which ended in a heartbreaking last-minute goal that gave victory to the Londoners, left me with mixed emotions and, despite which side of the river you are from - Tyne or Wear - it seemed as though we should be united in our grief at the failure of a local team to dunk a team from quite a few rivers south.

In football, it doesn't work like that, irrespective of the fact that a Sunderland win would have brought Newcastle and Sunderland closer to playing moneyspinning derby games the community in the pub set down the demarcation lines - one fan's joy another's sorrow.

There's racism in football but it isn't just related to the colour of your skin, it's also down to the colour of your shirt. Friends, families have been distanced by the politics of what, at the end of the day is, just a game and, despite what Bill Shankly was once quoted as saying, it isn't much more serious than life and death.

Which brings me around to a comment by Branford Marsalis in last month's DownBeat.

"I cheer for The Saints, I want them to win. Notice I don't say I want us to win. My father helped me understand that "we" benefits the team, but it doesn't really benefit you since you don't receive any of the largesse of their success. So you need to create a line that delineates what you support from what you actually are." 

There's a life outside of football, jazz or whatever your penchant is and, what's more, it's all the sweeter when you return...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to play me some blues...
Lance

2 comments :

Steve T said...

I've never got the concept of judging people by how many stretches of water there are between where I was born and where they were born. Nor have I ever found it helpful that others do, including politicians when it suits them.

JERRY said...

Couldn't agree more, Lance. Sunderland til' I die, but I like NUFC to win, or 'boro (as long as they are not playing us!!). When I came North (1968) many people would go to whichever home game was on - so I was quite familiar with and comfortable with St James's Park. I hate the modern tribalism which reflects societal change where people no longer respect difference, no longer respect each other, just turn inwards and hate!
Remember Bobby Moncur? Remember Pop Robson? There were no absurd taboos back then.
I was at Wembley yesterday and was disappointed by the result - though frankly not surprised - and witnessed the unedifying sight of SAFC fans fighting each other two rows in front of me after the final whistle! It's not life and death - there are no enemies - and if you get to the point of hitting each other and even your "friends", where does the madness go next?

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