Saturday, May 27, 2006

Eshaness rocks!


Last night (Friday) saw the Eshaness CATS appeal musical evening, and I think it's fair to say it went really well. Over £500 was raised for the CT scanner fund (over £100,000 raised so far in total) and I think everyone had a good time. A million thanks to everyone who came along, took part and helped, especially all those responsible for baking, sandwich making, bannocks, serving tea, clearing and setting up. Special thanks to the Eshaness Hall Committee for being so helpful
The evening kicked off with the last performance (before they revert to their official title of the Tom Morton 2)of Johnnie and the Notions, which was enlivened by a broken string, forgotten words and forgotten tunes. Apart from that it all went fine! The 'Vinyl Choice' of the evening ( a kind of live jukebox, where folk brought along their long-unplayed vinyl singles and LPs) was unexpectedly successful,and will bear repeating I think on another occasion. Who would have thought the same person would ask for T Rex's Jeepster and Dorothy Moore's Misty Blue?
Da Peerie Lasses of Hillswick (Martha, Alison and Julie) played a blinder in my opinion, a lovely selection of fiddle tunes, and headliner Malachy Tallack, who lives in Fair Isle and is thus the UK's and possibly the world's most remote singer songwriter, was great. As was Stephen Laurenson on guitar.
The raffle was an epic, even by Shetland's raffletastic standards. Prizes included a Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling of Strathisla Speyside malt, a DVD player, meals at the excellent Braewick Cafe, loads of wine and beer, chocolates, toys and much else.
On a personal note, I was pleased that the wee collection of PA and disco gear I've acquired over the years worked - the Shure SM57 and SM58 microphones were bought from Kenny Johnson 20 years ago and were secondhand then - the new Phonic Powerpod mixer amp is really astonishing for the money, and even the two Soundlab direct drive turntables (a disastrous eBay purchase - both were seriously damaged when they arrived, having fallen through an inadequate box and been repacked upside down)worked fine. In fact, they made me realise how absolutely wonderful a 7-inch single can sound at high volume through stonking great 15-inch speakers: Reach Out I'll Be There has never been as good.

No comments: