From: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org (avalon-digest) To: avalon-digest@smoe.org Subject: avalon-digest V9 #191 Reply-To: avalon@smoe.org Sender: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk avalon-digest Monday, July 26 2004 Volume 09 : Number 191 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [AVALON] Westonbirt [Jane Fraser ] [AVALON] Rock fashion ["M" ] To leave the list, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon-digest ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 12:05:48 +0100 From: Jane Fraser Subject: [AVALON] Westonbirt Another trip to a lovely part of England in beautiful Summer weather. We set off with some trepidation not knowing if a) the show was on and b) two nights in a row again would be too much for what remains of Ferry's voice. Having driven past the Arboretum on the way to our hotel and seen a frightening number of cars already there, we arrived earlier than intended and by a combination of skullduggery and blatant cheek ended up near the front of the queue. We were eventually allowed in only to find a roped off "dance area" in front of the stage which security assured us would be opened just before Bryan came on so we settled ourselves opposite the right hand side of the stage and waited....and waited....and waited. The news that Bryan hadn't been at the soundcheck was worrying and the seemingly interminable time they were taking to set up didn't bode well. The long wait was enlivened by a sighting of Isaac Ferry heading rapidly in the direction of the beer tent so at least we knew one member of the family was present. Finally Duel came on and their appearance was obviously too much for certain sections of the crowd. We were caught off guard by the immediate, unexpected charge for the stage and lost our front row slots but, hey, 2nd row between Bryan and Mick Green is OK. Duel actually weren't that bad but the less said about Linda Lewis the better. You know how it is on these occasions - you just want the support to get on with it and get off! A quick glance at the set list had confirmed no surprises in store. At long last it was Julia's turn and after an interesting little interlude when she had half the road crew at her feet fiddling about with the inner workings of her harp, the now usual announcement about the shortened set was made and was greeted with groans of disappointment and some booing. Julia suffered somewhat because of this but dealt with it with her usual charm and aplomb. Bryan sneaked on quietly and took his place at the piano and the opening notes of The Only Face were such a relief - better than last week despite his having been in action the night before. The Acoustic part of the show was fine and you would hardly have known there was a problem and he looked better too. Pale and interesting and very thin but definitely better. Thrill of it All was cut by at least one verse but apart from that the middle section of the show was fine too and Both Ends Burning was fabulous with the dancers making their first appearance which had the effect of Messers Smith and Green turning their backs on the audience as if they'd spotted something more interesting to look at. Chris Spedding seemed to be either contemplating the meaning of life or trying to figure out where he was and why, but played as brilliantly as ever as did the other guitarists. Good to see young Mark has learnt the words to the songs and he was singing along happily. Mick Green looks his old self and was thoroughly enjoying himself as usual. Paul was just immense but according to Bryan seems no longer to be "The Great". Not to worry - we knew and gave him a huge cheer. Ian Dixon must have a thing about violinists - he kept grinning across at Louise and making her laugh and Colin was having a ball. Things began to fall apart a bit after Tara when Ferry's voice seemed to crack and never really came back. He did the band intros after LITD in a much stronger voice than last week but I did wonder if we were going to get an encore especially after DTS when he started shaking his head and clutching his throat dramatically (the old ham). The crowd kept screaming for more though and back they came for LST with the band and audience doing much of the singing and Bryan putting in the occasional whoo-hoo which I don't think has been heard recently. Listening to comments among the audience afterwards and back at the hotel later on, people on the whole seemed to have enjoyed it but Bryan had better not start thinking he can get away with hour sets in future. There were discontented mutterings about the length of the show despite the explanation of illness. One woman was all for demanding a refund and a chap in the bar was holding forth about how he bet they didn't do that in London and that London audiences got two and a half hour shows - yeah, right. Anyway, overall not a bad show - not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a relief to see him looking so much better and obviously enjoying himself on stage again. Woke up this morning with that usual post gig feeling - you know, the aching back, sore legs and throbbing feet and wondered if I am perhaps getting too old for this concert going lark - but soon decided I have a few years left and if Ferry can do it, so can I. Jane ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 14:56:01 -0400 From: "M" Subject: [AVALON] Rock fashion Slight mention of BF in this New York Times article about indie designers dressing up and coming bands: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/fashion/25ROCK.html?pagewanted=1 The sartorial collaboration between budding fashion designers and charismatic rock bands is a familiar story in youth-driven style movements. In the 1960's, on Carnaby Street, John Stephen outfitted many of the mod groups like the Who, and Tommy Nutter on Savile Row created suits for Mick Jagger. Anthony Price, a British tailor and designer, created the glam tuxedos that made Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music into a fashion icon. During the heyday of punk in New York, in the late 1970's Stephen Sprouse dressed his Bowery street neighbor Deborah Harry, and David Bowie later paired with Alexander McQueen. M ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There was a young lady called M Whose real name was *ahem* *ahem* "The thing is," she said, "I'd rather get married" "And let them all know my new name then!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NP- Ash's Meltdown Live (*sigh* Tim Wheeler *sigh*) ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon ------------------------------ End of avalon-digest V9 #191 **************************** ======================================================================== For further info, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: info avalon-digest