Category: Music

A busy time gone by …

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Music, Street Art, Volunteering

I’ve been very busy lately, hence the lack of recent input to my blog. It all started with Yardworks, followed by volunteering at the Glasgow Mela, and this past weekend I was volunteering at Doune The Rabbit Hole festival, more information on each of these follows:

Yardworks

One of my favourite events is Yardworks, held at SWG3, this annual street art festival is one of my favourite weekends in Glasgow. The event, held on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June, is one of Europe’s biggest dedicated to street art and graffiti – with artists and writers from across Glasgow, the UK and Europe coming together to paint and draw, creating an explosion of colour.

On the nearby railway arches, wall spaces and boards in the yard, the highly skilled artists including Smug, Ejek, Rogue One and many others worked side by side with some of the most celebrated names from around the globe – including Zurik, Bublegum, and Balstroem.

Smug + Bublegum + The Guzler

I was there on the Saturday with my mate Jim and his 10 year old grandson Jack and It was so good to be able to meet and chat with friends old and new, Jack was enthralled by the talent on display and expressed an interest in trying out some spray painting himself in the future.

Jack and his favourite mural

Sunday saw me back again, this time with my friends Gary and Jan Gammage, it was great to see the works develop and to see the eventual finished articles. Gary & Jan were interested in the many different techniques used, spray paint, palette, brush and the use of stencils in the development of the pieces.

It was a brilliant weekend, great art, good food and fun in the company of friends, what more could you ask for.

My photographs from the weekend can be found here.

Glasgow Mela

Sunday the 26th found me in Kelvingrove park volunteering at the Glasgow Mela, an annual multicultural music and dance festival. The Mela began in 1990 as part of Glasgow’s year as the European City of Culture and has grown from being an indoor event at the Tramway to an outdoor extravaganza, with something for all the family.


I was assigned as the Artist Liaison for the Navras (main) stage, which kept me busy for the whole day. At this stage, we had a variety of acts, dance, music and performance arts. Amongst the acts that entertained me and the crowds were Deesh Sandhu, Hunterz and the headliner Jaz Dhami and his band.

Being busy for most of the day I missed out on some of the other activities on offer but did manage to grab a nice lamb curry for lunch from one of the many food outlets on site.

Doune The Rabbit Hole

Doune the Rabbit Hole is an intimate, independent music & arts festival located amidst the glorious ancient oak trees of the Cardross Estate, near the Lake of Menteith, in Stirlingshire. Starting in 2010, at a site near the town of Doune (hence the name!) they have been celebrating the very best of Scotland’s independent arts scene alongside amazing international guests. This year’s line-up included main stage headliners like the legendary Patti Smith and Band, multi-million selling Scottish singer-songwriter Amy MacDonald, homegrown, world-famous talent Belle & Sebastian, English post-punk duo Sleaford Mods and Bellshill natives and superstars Teenage Fanclub, one of my son Graeme’s favourites (the video below is for him). I really enjoyed the set by Esperanza, a Glasgow Ska band, they took me back to my youth.

I was the artist Liaison on the Bandersnatch stage which had a sort of folkie and blues vibes, and thanks to Chris Blackmore, the Stage Manager and Phil the Sound Engineer, the atmosphere there was pretty chilled and relaxing and we had some really entertaining artists on stage including The Mary Wallopers, Rachel Sermanni and John Francis Flynn, it was good to see and listen to Erin Bradley-Scott perform, Erin is one of my favourite art groups, The Cobolt Collective, she certainly is a talented lady. It seems like I can never get away from street art and artists, I even came across a nice piece by Ross MacRae next to the Jabberwocky stage, I really like his work.

There was also some exceptional food on offer, although there was a crew canteen I gave it a miss at times to sample the fare from Barnacles & Bones, Shawarmarama, and the Pizza Geeks.

As this was a weekend camping festival and I didn’t feel like camping, I decided to book a room in Willow Court, one of Stirling University’s halls of residence, overall this was a great choice. Another great weekend and I’m looking forward to heading back again next year

A Musical Month

by theholmesteader, posted in Celtic Connections, Glasgow, Music, Street Art

I had a musical month in January with the 27th outing of Glasgow’s winter music festival, Celtic Connections. My volunteering role as an Artist Liaison meant that I met many great artists from near and far, heard some fabulous music, and met friends old and new amongst the many other volunteers at the festival, at many of the great venues around the city. A few of my favourites being the MacKintosh Church, St Luke’s and the Old Fruitmarket.

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The 18 days of music and events brightened up the dark January nights for me with a great mixture of concerts, late-night sessions and even The National Whisky Festival at SWG3 where good food and whisky were to be found with loads of great food, especially that offered up at Julie’s Kopitiam at the Acid Bar

Americana was high on my list of favourite acts with concerts by Anais Mitchell and The Bonny Light Horseman at St Luke’s and the Old Fruitmarket, Frazey Ford, with support from Edinburgh’s Adam Holmes & the Embers.  One of my first concerts this year was with the Canadian Duo Cam Penner and Jon Wood at the Strathclyde Suite with the London based all-girl Bluegrass band, the Midnight Skyracer.

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After listening to so much of it, I have starting to enjoy Traditional Scottish Folk music from bands such as the ever-popular  Ímar, who more than satisfied a capacity audience at the City Halls, Rura, The Ciaran Ryan Band, and many new and up and coming musicians such as Hannah Rarity, a new album was launched on the night by  Chris Gray at Oran Mor. 2019’s Danny Kyle Winners, young talented multi-instrumentalist Malin Lewis the ever-popular (and busy) Sam Mabbet from The Canny Band and Luc McNally showcased new work while supporting Miller, MacDonald & Cormier.

The Finnish ‘Nordgrass’ band Frigg supplied an interesting mix of Nordic tradition and American bluegrass in their music, theirs was a sell-out at the City Halls and judged by their CD sales on the night, were extremely popular.  The concerts are hugely popular with a mix of old oldies and the young, they make for a great fun night out.

The Roaming Roots Revue in the Old Fruitmarket saw a full house (following a full house the previous night at the Royal Concert Hall) being presented with ‘Born To Run’, a 70th-birthday tribute to The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, this was a fantastic night with Roddy Hart And The Lonesome Fire’s house band supporting guest singers such as Lisa Hannigan, Karine Polwart, Craig Finn, Jonathan Wilson, Ryan Bingham, The Rails and Glasgows own Phil Campbell.

I even managed to take in a little bit of soul with the fantastic J.P. Bimeni and his backing band, The Black Belts, who set Oran Mor on fire with a similar tremendous soul-filled set, it was one of the best shows I have seen in a long time, and as another volunteer said: “That guy is a superstar, why have I never heard of him before?”

As usual, some street art appeared through the month with the St Luke’s and the Winged Ox mural by SMUG, and me finding a mural in tribute to late Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison by Alex Coyle, in Allison Street in the southside of Glasgow. Alex stated that he wished to raise some awareness for the charity Tiny Changes set up in Scott’s name following his death.

Also new this month is EJEK‘s latest in a series of pieces at the entrance of Ad Lib on Hope street, this time it’s a fine portrait of Aretha Franklin, it certainly is worth popping frequently as the mural at the door is changed by him on a regular basis.

Homeward Bound

by theholmesteader, posted in International, Music, Street Art, Thailand, Travel

Well, that’s me at the end of my trip to South East Asia, I’m currently in Bangkok airport waiting to board my flight home. I think the city wanted to say goodbye to me in a fitting manner, I drove to the airport during a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain.

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I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I’ve enjoyed myself immensely, more than I thought I would, however, it’s time to come home and spend a bit of time recharging my batteries before my next trip.

While I’m at home, I will update my site with all my stories and photographs of the trip, there have been many requests from my fellow travellers to see it, and too bring back so many memories.  During the last couple of days wandering the city, I did manage to find some street art, these are just off the top of the pile, there are much better pieces to follow.

On the Town

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Music, Street Art

I had a bit of a pub crawl on Friday, I had arranged to meet my son Graeme for lunch starting off with a pint in Brewdog’s Doghouse on Hutcheson St. Looking for something different for lunch we went round to Mikaku, Glasgow’s new Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant on Queen St. Lunch there was brilliant, the Ramen and Yaki Gyoza’s were excellent, all washed down with a nice pint of Asahi. The large Blade Runner styled mural by Rogue One along the main wall made it more enjoyable for me.

Graeme had to collect some records from Mono in King St., where I bumped into Nick, a friend from the Barn in the Gorbals, so we stayed a while for a beer with him. We were joined later by some of Nicks mates, including Conzo & Globel, (which reminded me that I hadn’t posted my wide angle shot of their Yardworks piece, you can see it above).

A good few pints later we decided to move onto the Scotia Bar on Stockwell St, this turned out to be a great choice, the beer was very good and we happened to be sitting next to a guy called Danny, Danny, a visiting American music teacher, who had his fiddle with him, was desperate to play some of his traditional music in Glasgow, we eventually convinced the staff there to let him play, we, and the punters in the pub, really enjoyed his playing and he was asked for more and more tunes. After a few too many beers and eventually after getting Danny on a train to Edinburgh, I drifted home after a really great day out with Graeme, I certainly felt a wee bit fragile in the morning.

 

Un-Connected

by theholmesteader, posted in Celtic Connections, Glasgow, International, Music

Now that Celtic Connections is over for another year, I can try and get back to normal again. I’ve really enjoyed my involvement in the festival, heard some great music, and met loads of interesting people along the way.

For my final week, I was involved in gigs at the Mitchell Theatre, The Old Fruitmarket and the O2 Academy, the bands performing were Smith & McClellan, Josie Duncan, Symbio, The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, Julietnorth, Karine Polwart and finally The Dead South supported by the Hooten Hollers and the Pretty Archie at the Academy, each of them were interesting and different in their own way.

I never got much chance to take photographs, but I really loved the imagery of the Old Fruitmarket when it was empty.

Old Fruitmarket
Old Fruitmarket
Old Fruitmarket

I’m off to Reykjavik later this week so I hope there will be plenty of photo oportunities.