Canterbury Cathedral Christmas Gig

[Deleted]

IA plays JT @ CC

Just received a copy of the Canterbury Cathedral Magazine 'The Gift'. a couple of small ads show up in it for Ian's gig in December. Nothing major but I've attached them here.

Anyone else going?

[tootull]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8016766/Canterbury-Cathedral-to-host-gig-by-Jethro-Tull-singer.html


www.theway.co.uk/feature.php?id=8204

Cheers!

[Deleted]

Sept 22, 2010 10:20:12 GMT -5 tootull said:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8016766/Canterbury-Cathedral-to-host-gig-by-Jethro-Tull-singer.html


www.theway.co.uk/feature.php?id=8204

Cheers!

Cheers!, I missed the telegraph report during my daily scan through the on-line press , so thanks for adding it.

[tootull]

Sept 22, 2010 17:30:42 GMT -5 @quizzkid said:

Sept 22, 2010 10:20:12 GMT -5 tootull said:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8016766/Canterbury-Cathedral-to-host-gig-by-Jethro-Tull-singer.html


www.theway.co.uk/feature.php?id=8204

Cheers!

Cheers!, I missed the telegraph report during my daily scan through the on-line press , so thanks for adding it.

Very good. All together now for our music favourite Jethro Tull. That's my agenda.

[Deleted]

Just received this from Canterbury Cathedral and have their permission to post it here.

They have a very limited number of Jethro Tull T shirts made especially for the concert on the 18th December.



Tee-shirt front



Tee-shirt back

The concert is now completely sold out and we would like to give you the opportunity of an advance purchase of the T shirts as they will sell out very quickly on the day.

The T shirts are extremely good quality, in black only and printed on both sides.

They have small, medium, large, XL, XXL

They cost £10 and every penny will be donated to The Canterbury Gift for the Canterbury Cathedral appeal.

If you would like to purchase a T shirt, please call them ASAP on

01227 464764

They can send you the T shirt [+ £2.50 p&p for up to 2 T-shirts [in the UK]] or you can collect on the day from our offices in Burgate, which is right next to the Cathedral.

Web: www.thecanterburygift.com


I'll try and get clearer images.

[Deleted]

Anyone else here going to the Canterbury gig?

[Stormmonkey]

Dec 9, 2010 13:01:59 GMT -5 @quizzkid said:

Anyone else here going to the Canterbury gig?

Nope, I'm not. Not one of the lucky going to see this concert.

Hope you have a great evening!

[Nonfatman]

I am pleased to report that our Quizz Kid has made it to the Canterbury Cathedral gig, after a seven hour slog through the snow!

He is sitting in the fourth row as I write this. Greg Lake is the surprise opening act. The show is under way.

And, folks, let me say that Quizz has a little surprise coming that's going to knock your socks off, but I'm not saying what it is. All I can say is that it will blow you away!

Brought to you by The Real Time Jethro Tull Board!

Jeff

[TM]

Hi folks,
Here's the setlist as it's being played....

Lifes a long dong
We 5 kings with the cathedral lay clerk choir
Jack in the green
Set aside
...A reading of marmoon
In the grip of stronger stuff
Christmas song
Holly herald
A poem by a member of the 17c Yorkshire gentry read by Mathew butler CE of the Canterbury gift
Another Christmas song
Backs prelude in C major by John O'Hara
Bourse
End of part 1
Greg impart 2


more to come....

[Silkenmist]

Dec 18, 2010 14:44:49 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

I am pleased to report that our Quizz Kid has made it to the Canterbury Cathedral gig, after a seven hour slog through the snow!

He is sitting in the fourth row as I write this. Greg Lake is the surprise opening act. The show is under way.

And, folks, let me say that Quizz has a little surprise coming that's going to knock your socks off, but I'm not saying what it is. All I can say is that it will blow you away!

Brought to you by The Real Time Jethro Tull Board!

Jeff

Hi Jeff:

This is great news that Pat made it through all the snow to attend this concert. I, as well as everyone else, will be expecting a full report.

Regards,

Silken...

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2010 15:41:41 GMT -5 TM said:

Hi folks,
Here's the setlist as it's being played....

Lifes a long dong
We 5 kings with the cathedral lay clerk choir
Jack in the green
Set aside
...A reading of marmoon
In the grip of stronger stuff
Christmas song
Holly herald
A poem by a member of the 17c Yorkshire gentry read by Mathew butler CE of the Canterbury gift
Another Christmas song
Backs prelude in C major by John O'Hara
Bourse
End of part 1
Greg impart 2


more to come....

Ah the joys of cutting and pasting something on the quick, sent from a phone that was being operated in the dark by a man who is half blind!

The set list was...

Life's a long song; Although my mistyped alternate title may raise a smile or a frown depending on which keyboard you are sitting behind
We 5 kings;, supported by the Lay clerk chiior of the Cathedral;
Jack in the Green;
Set Aside;
A reading from Marmion,by Sir Walter Scott, read by Ian;
In the grip of sttronger stuff;
Christmas Song
Holly Herald
A poem written by a 17th Century memeber of the Yourkshire gentry, read by Matthew Butler, the Chief Executive of "The Canterbury Gift";
Another Christmas Song;
Bach's prelude in C Majo;r palyed by John O'Hara
Bouree.
End of Part 1 - 15 minute Interval
A reading from 'Luke'; by Ian
I believe in father Christmas; Greg Lake and Tull
Bach's Toccata and Fugue; played by Dr David Flood on the Cathedral's Organ
followed by
Bach's Toccata and Fugue; played by Florian Ophale played on Gibson Les Paul
Lucky Man; - Greg Lake and Tull
A Prayer of Thanksgiving; - from 'Rev' Ed[ward?] of Canterbury Cathedral
My God!;
God rest ye merry Gentlemen supported by the Lay clark choir of the Cathedral;
Aqualung;
Locomotive Breath;
Thick as a Brick [the very final lines only].

more in a moment.....

[Deleted]

The weeks events leading up to the gig were a little mad really.

I had bought 4 tickets when the gig was first announced, the intention was to go with Mrs Q and two friends of ours, who are very big Tull fans.

Slight deviation necessary to expalin about the friends we had planned to go with. I had worked with Mike but on sifferent sides of the table so to speak. We were then, back in the 80's just work acquaintences. Then, at the very FIRST UK convention over in Feltham, Mrs Q and I found ourselves standing next to Mike and his wife in the queue to get in; "Excuse me, don't I know you?" we said almost simultaneously to each other; since that time he and his wife and me and Mrs Q have been strong and very firm friends.

Anyway, when the tickets had been purchased, I called him to say I had got a couple of tickets for him. he said that he couldn't make it as he was liable to be on holiday at that time. No worries, I was sure I could get someone who would use them.

And I did, another friend said he and his wife would be interested. so all was good.

A couple of weeks before the gig I called to reserve a couple of hotel rooms for us all. All done, the hotel was a short walk to the Cathedral and allowed plenty of opportunity to eat, drink and enjoy Canterbury before and after the gig.

Then my mate Mike and I spoke on a work issue and he said their holiday had been put back a few days and that they could go after all; I had already offered my spare tickets, but no worries as he'd managed to get a couple of 'spares' from elsewhere. We arranged to meet up in Canterbury pre-gig for a meal.

As last week started out the weather reports became more and more gloomy with threats of serious snow over the week-end of the gig. We were hopeful that it would hold over until the Sunday or Monday and that at least the trip down would be OK. Knowing Ian's professionalism and his 'show must go on' attitude we expected that he and the band would get down to the gig before Saturday, and that it was unlikely to be a cancelled show; so we had to make all efforts to get there.

The couple who were going with us had offered to drive. Great a 4x4 and lots of comfort if the journey takes a little longer than it's normal 1 to 1.5 hours from where we live.

So, journey planned, hotel booked, tickets in sweaty mitts, we were sorted.....

Then, Thursday night the first signs of snow, not too bad, but already there were problems with the transport system and the customery UK inability to deal with more than 2 inches of frozen water faling from the sky.

OK, we could still do it, I took my car out to check on the state of the roads that night. [in truth we went out for a curry] and all seemed reasonable.

Then, Friday at 4.00 I got a 'phone call from my mate to say that he had decided that they would not risk travelling.

I 'phoned the hotel to try and cancel their room. 'Sorry, but our policy is any cancellation after 4.00pm will result in a full charge', "WHAT? It's only 4.15!".

Whilst I tried to argue this one out between an increasing list of assistant mangers, under mangers and finally the manager herself, it looked like I was going to have to pick up a sizable bill for an empty room. Sense prevailed at around 11.00pm that night when I finally picked up a message that they had relented. I suspect that they had a late booking request from another fan attending who thought they might have a problem getting travel home after the gig, and they could re-let the room.

Still there was still the issue of how to get to Canterbury. Whilst I was in the early stages of arguing with the hotel, Mrs Q was checking out the scope to go by train. All we got from the on-line information sites was 'Severe disruption to services due to snow'. Things looked bleak [excuse the pun], then the 'phone rang, it was my mate Mike who we had first got tickets for.

Mike asked how we were getting there.
'Not sure, it doesn't look good'.
'Well, we may go by train, but if not we will drive, and we'll pick you up, but we can't leave until around 11.00'.

There is a God!

Overnight it snowed, and it snowed and it snowed.....and then it snowed some more.

So, next morning we were waiting on and making constant 'phone calls to each other to check it out.

11.30 am - OK it's on, we're going! We agreed that I would drive to meet them near the tunnel where they would cross the Thames.

The roads were ungritted and traffic was at little more than a standstill, since many people were trying to access town centres to do their Christmas shopping, still an hour and a bit later we had covered the first 6 or 7 miles to meet up with Mike and his wife. We transferreed everything into his car for the trip, including shovel, a couple of giant thermos flasks of coffee and blankets in case it was going to end up as a night in the car on the motor way.

We hit the A2 to Canterbury, it was slow but it was at least moving. A few hours later, thanks to Mikes driving skills [he's a Canadian and obviously very adept at driving in bad weather conditons] we hit the outskirts of Canterbury. I promised Mike and his wife that I'd stump up for a decent meal if we got there in time.......

The first slip road off to Canterbury we approached was solid with stationary cars, people were out of their vehicles and the queues looked pretty bad with no likelihood of moving, Mike managed to take pretty swift evasive action to get us back out into the main lanes again. We thought that we'd find a way into the city from the south, relying on his SatNav and my 'phone GPS.

It was a hell of a detour, finally getting off the main road and crossing back towards Canterbury by snowfilled country lanes. We finally got onto another road into Canterbury and it was gridlocked. To travel approximately 1.25 miles took us nearly two hours. and then as we approached the inner ring road around the city, we were diverted eleswhere away from our hotels and the Cathedral. Looking at the clock and the traffic jams we were not going to get there in time.

The next roundabout we hit, where we could at least try to get off the 'ring road' to get to our hotels, was locked up completely. However great thanks goes to the bus driver in front of us who got out of his cab, walked around the roundabout and literally got every driver in front of his vehicle to inch forward so that he could move his bus through; we managed to tailgate him around and then we were on the last legs of our trip or so we thought.

Half of Canterbury town centre consists of pedestrianised or restricted access streets, I think we drove against pretty much every one of them.

Mike dropped us at our hotel and went onto his. We got in our room just minutes before 6.30pm, 15 minutes to doors opening and an hour to the gig, no time to eat, just get changed and over to the Cathedral.

Then the 'phone rang, it was Mike, there was no car park at his hotel and the only place he could park meant he had to go back out onto the main road and that would almost certainly mean that he would miss a chunk of the show. I called our reception and asked if he could park there. 'Only if its a car registered in my name' came the answer. 'Yes it was' I said.

Mike again skilfully, albeit probably illegally, managed to circumvent the one-way streets to get into our hotel car park. I'd dashed down to meet him and when we got in there, we managed to take the last remaining space. I checked 'my car' in, although embarassingly I had to ask Mike for the registration details before he went off back to his hotel.

A quick dash back to the room finish getting ready and then Mrs Q and me were off to the gig.

A short walk down the snowy, icy, slushy streets to the Cathedral gate and then the shorter walk from there to the Cathedral doors.


Canterbury Cathedral -18-12-2010 - To prove I actually got there! ;D

It was filling nicely, we walked down to the area we were sitting in, The seats were unreserved/un-numbered and allocated by area. we were lucky and got a couple of 4th row seats. Mike and his wife were also in the same area as us but had said not to hold a seat for them in case they were late and could not find us, we would see them afterwards for a meal.


Canterbury Cathedral -18-12-2010 - The view from the fourth row

We settled down and then the woman sitting next to me told me that the slip road into the town centre, we had first thought about going down had been blocked by a jack-knifed lorry and that access into the town centre was made worse by a second jack-knifed lorry on one of the ring road roundabouts. Police had advised that delays were taking up to 5 hours on that route.

There were plenty of empty seats and it was fast apporaching show time....

I'm going to split this into instalments for three reasons,

1. Beacuse it's already a bit long,
2. Because I can do the review as a seperate piece because, believe me, it was a great show and deserves a review that isn't lost in my precursor 'story' above;
and finally,
3. Because it's my story and up to me, so damn the critics

[Deleted]

Oh. by the way,

At the end of this there will be a little competition for our board members, with some prizes from the gig, courtesy of the Jethro Tull Board and the very nice people at The Canterbury Gift,

So pay attention those at the back!

[Deleted]

As a precursor to the review, this was taken by my mate Mike inside the Cathedral grounds where his hotel was located.



snow flautist

I love the way that 'jaunty' angle almost implies he is on one leg.

[tootull]

Dec 19, 2010 11:33:27 GMT -5 @quizzkid said:

1. Beacuse it's already a bit long,
2. Because I can do the review as a seperate piece because, believe me, it was a great show and deserves a review that isn't lost in my precursor 'story' above;
and finally,
3. Because it's my story and up to me, so damn the critics

This stood out. LOL Critics & Tull, since APP it's been a rough ride.

Thanks










Nothing is easy

[Deleted]

The journey had been awful, and we heard stories of several fans who had also made the trip under much more stressful circumstances than us; some had travelled from places like Southampton on the train only to get stymied at stations where they had to change, forcing them to travel back to London and try to come back out into Kent by another train route. My hat is well and truly doffed to them, true fans indeed.

The audience were informed that the Kent County Constabulary had broadcast via BBC Kent Radio that if anyone attending the concert was stuck in traffic they should abandon their cars and walk to the Cathedral! Ian later said that they had been advised to stay overnight and avoid travelling back until the morning, which I'm told he did in the very early hours.

It was announced that the concert would start soon but that since travelling was so bad if anyone in the side aisles wanted to move into empty seats in the centre, to get a better view they should do it now, there was a general rumble as a small exodus of people moved over to the main nave of the Cathedral.

To the back of the stage area, just in front of the altar, we could see Ian donning a replacement hat for his now traditional stage black doo-rag. John O'Hara had been tinkering around at the back stage area for some time.

The 'intro' background music died down and Ian wandered to stage centre with his 'Santa' hat on, "Hello! I'm trying to keep this at the front" he said as he pointed to the bobble at the end of the cap, "if it moves to the back, feel free to jump up here and straighten it"....."no, don't" he quickly added.

He announced that a few of the guests would not be attending due to weather conditions. Anna Pheobe had called him, feeling very bad, to say she couldn't travel over from Europe as she had her bag stolen with her personal possessions and had not been able to get a flight. Gavin Esler the BBC correspondent, anchor man and novelist, who was to be a guest reader, had been kept in London by the weather and the BBC wanted him around and not trapped in Canterbury. He did say there would be a special guest and that Greg Lake had made a 5 hour one way trip and had managed to get there but had not had the chance to soundcheck.

Florian, we were told had managed to get the last flight out of Germany 'with 12 seconds to spare', and had arrived at Gatwick as it prepared to shut down at 1.30 am, driving straight over to Canterbury.

The band had ambled out behind Ian and they opened with

Life's a long song - It's been a bit of a while since both Me and Mrs Q have seen Ian play .

Now, I have to admit the thing that was immediately noticeable was how Ian didn't struggle with his voice. It was noticeably stronger. I was very impressed as he and the band delivered one of my all time favourite songs. He and Florian played together really well, and the overall sound quality [from where we were sitting] was excellent. It would be interesting to hear from anyone else who attended if that quality was the same throughout the Cathedral.

Ian then introduced We Five Kings. The band would be supported by the Lay Clerk Choir of the Cathedral;

Jack in the Green followed, introduced by Ian as an alternative to the Christian viewpoint, amaking the case that 'it was a view that had been around a couple of thousand years before'. It was a great rendition and again the guitar and mandolin work between Ian and Florian was a joy to listen to [and watch from close quarters].

Ian introduced Set Aside; in the same way that he did on the US tour, about the ludicrous agricultural policies which see land being left fallow, whilst millions throughout the world starve. 'Depressing stuff' he said, 'but don't worry, it doesn't last long', it was really good, and seemed too short by half as the acoustics of the Cathedral made it sound so good.

As he did at St Brides, Ian then read an extract from Marmion,by Sir Walter Scott. I suspect Ian may have been taking acting lessons from his son-in-law

The band took their places again as Ian introduced In the grip of sttronger stuff, which he dedicated to our recent Q&A guest, Dave Pegg, 'a man who enjoyed a drink or two and who 'had been revived on more than one ocassion by paramedics....but don't worry, nowadays he is merely just a normal ......alcoholic'.

So, far Ian's voice had pretty much shown no sign of faltering, it sounded better than I had heard for many a year, even Mrs Q commented on how good he sounded.

What would a 'Tull' Christmas concert be without Christmas Song. Ian took to the stool and again played a blinder.

A short gap and then into Holly Herald described by Ian as a couple of carols with a bit added by himself.

The concert was held in support of The Canterbury Gift an organisation set up to suppport the upkeep of Canterbury Cathedral; Ian welcomed Matthew Butler the Chief Executive of The Canterbury Gift to the stage rwho introduced and read'A poem written by a 17th Century member of the Yourkshire gentry'.

Ian then sat back at the stool, centre stage, and said that a few years after he wrote A Christmas Song he wrote another, and inspriationally called it Another Christmas Song;.

A short break for Ian, but before that he introduced Bach's prelude in C Major which would be played by John O'Hara, followed by another Bach piece which would be played in a cocktail lounge jazz style.Bouree.

The brought us to the end of Part 1 and a 15 minute interval.

The first half had a half decent lightshow with simply lights played against the gothic spledour of the Cathedral interior, as people moved back stage long shadows played out on the back wall as if from the play 'Murder in the Cathedral'. The setting was simply fantastic, everyone around us, mostly representatives of the Cathedral, seemed very impressed with the first half.

The second half opened with A reading from 'Luke' by Ian. I'll pick up that old 'Gideon's Bible and check that out for you sometime!

The band came back on stage as Ian introduced 'Nanook of the North', or rather Greg Lake, who had trekked to the show through snow and traffic jams to get to the show.

As Ian introduced the band and they were setting up, it dawned on me how the whole thing invoked thoughts of the inner cover of the Aqualung gatefold sleeve, they looked like they could have been there to ransack the place.

Greg Lake performed I believe in Father Christmas; backed by Ian and friends. I'm a bit of a softie at heart [believe that at your peril ] and I love this song, but having heard theit take on it at the Cathedral I think they should get together and release a version featuring Greg and Florian's guitar work supplemented by Ian's flute, it sounded great.

Ian then spoke about the work of 'The Gift' in relation to the Cathedral's organ and said that the next couple of pieces would essentially be the same, Bach's Toccata and Fugue, firstly being played by Dr David Flood on the Cathedral's Organ which would be followed by a thrash-rock version played by Florian Ophale. Both were impressive and really showed the virtuosity of Dr Flood on the organ and Florian on Gibson Les Paul, the acoustics of the Cathedral again playing their part.

Greg Lake came back to the stage and backed by Ian and friends and played a great version ofLucky Man [another ELP/Lake ballad which brings a lump to this old softies throat]. John O'Hara played a bloody good impression of the 'Kieth Emerson' sound, all without the need to draw a knife. Something which I think, from the look on his face, wasn't lost on Greg Lake. [John O'Hara to perform with The Greg Lake Band at some time in the future? I wouldn't be surprised]

Ian then introduced A Prayer of Thanksgiving; - from 'Rev' Ed[ward?] of Canterbury Cathedral - My apologies, my notes were scrappy here, I will check it out with my contact at 'The Gift' tomorrow and add the Reverends full name]. [glow=red,2,300]UPDATE[/glow] - It was in fact Canon Edward Condry, who undertakes a whole raft of fundraising endeavours on behalf of "The Canterbury Gift". If you are in the Canterbury area and want to support "The Gift" further, he is giving a talk on his fundraising advebtures on 17th January at 6.15pm - Tickets available from 01227 464764.

Ian then drew our attention to The Reverand George Pitcher, who had been busying himself around the stage. The Reverend is known to Tull fans as the man who has coaxed Ian into performing at St Brides in the past. Ian took the opportunity to let us know that there would be a 'bucket collection' towards the Cathedral Organ restrarion fund at the end of the gig.

Ian then introduced My God! by saying that The Rev George Pitcher really enjoys this song, and whilst it was at one time considered a little controversial he thought that it was a little tame.....a great version of an old favourite followed, dispel thoughts of the old warhorse songs that could be dropped, this version really did bring back thoughts of the 'religously impudent' group who were pictured inside the Aqualung cover.

God rest ye merry Gentlemen followed and the band were again supported by the Lay Clerk Choir of the Cathedral;

Then two really nice rendtions of Aqualung and
Locomotive Breath;.

Aqualung was similar to the one palyed recently in the US but with a short introduction played on the Cathedral organ; and I have to admit the whole song was received [by me at least] as a breath of fresh air, it was masterfully played and arranged, and suited the environemnt in the Cathedral perfectly. Yes it did have the 'squeezy' thing but verily it was good!

The band left the stage to great applause, with Ian returning a few moments later sitting at the stool with his parlour 'Martin' with Florian on acoustic to his left. They then went into an extended acoustic intro to Locomotive Breath, if they have done this intro before in this form then for some starnge reason it's passed me by......but, if I'm not too late, it was ******* brilliant.

The applause kicked in immediately at the end, Ian quickly picked up his acoustic, strolled up to the mike, played and sang

'So you ride yourselves over the fields, and your wisemen don't know how it feels, to be thick as a........'

The 'congregation' responded with "BRICK"

The band bowed, waved good-bye and that was that......for the show at least

For some reason the lighting changed for large parts of the second half as the main Cathedral lights were not dimmed for the whole performance, but that is a very small, and probably unecessary gripe.

Whether the weather and the arduous trip made it seem better than it was I don't know, all I can say it was well worth it, one of the best gigs I've enjoyed in 40 odd years of following 'Tull' .

The quality of the band, the venue and what was an exceptional gig deserve more than a few lines, so no apologies from me for the length of this review.

Lots of other stories to tell, loads of people I knew, Martin Webb of AND was there over with my mates, and several other people came over to say 'Hi' to me and the board. Possibly prompted in part by our advertisement in the concert programme that we took out in order to sponsor, in our own small way, the programme [an original idea if ever I heard one] and a great cause. The advertisement was on behalf of all the board members and wished Ian, the band and the Canterbury Gift every success for the show.

Something they certainly achieved.

A copy of the programme [and your Board's ad] will be posted soon along with a competition to win some goodies from the concert.

[Nonfatman]

That's quite a journey, Pat! Good thing Mike came through in the end.

I think I have a good title for Part 1 of your story: 'The Canterbury Odyssey'

Great photos of the Cathedral, and that 'one-legged snow flutist' could not be more fitting for the occasion!

Jeff

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2010 16:28:16 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

That's quite a journey, Pat! Good thing Mike came through in the end.

I think I have a good title for Part 1 of your story: 'The Canterbury Odyssey'

Great photos of the Cathedral, and that 'one-legged snow flutist' could not be more fitting for the occasion!

Jeff

I did think about calling it "The Canterbury Tales 2012", but I thought that it might be considered that it wasn't an original idea, since Geoffrey Chaucer did it first.

and yes, I need to thank a few people, some here via the board, others privately since they would not relish the 'publicity' of their involvement in getting things done being discussed online/publicly.

But a huge debt of gratitude to my mate Mike and his wife, great company and great friends.

[Stormmonkey]

Pat,

You must be beat after such a long and trying trip! Glad to hear your friends could make it along after all and you all didn't have to face the misery of sleeping in a car with blankets, thermos tea and coffee for dinner and worst of all - no IA concert at Canterbury Catherdral.

Splendidly decent of you to do a write-up so soon after the concert. I really enjoyed reading it (between advert breaks during a fascinating ITV documentary with David Suchet -Hercule Poirot- on the history of the Orient Express) - wish I could have gone to the concert myself. I'm sure the whole experience was quite magical/atmospheric. Sounds like the concert was superb. You lucky man!

"Overnight it snowed, and it snowed and it snowed.....and then it snowed some more." - this line from your first piece reminded me of that literary colossus Roger Hargreaves and his fine canon of work -the Mr Men books, not to forget the Little Miss books although I've yet to delve into those old texts. I could hear the voice of the late Arthur Lowe as I read that line above. heehee.

I'm sure all the snow made the event even more memorable. I wonder who built the one-legged flutist snowman? That's one guy who wants to "get out of the heat. heat-heat-heat-heat!" duh, now I'm just being silly.

Thanks again for the excellent write-up and photos!

Brian.

[Nonfatman]

Superb write-up, Pat, what an amazing and memorable experience! Your review made me feel almost like I was at the show with you.

Thanks for all your innovative ideas on the board, the real time coverage of that amazing event, the "little surprise" that you have coming up for the board, the second Christmas contest you have planned, etc., etc.

Oh, and I've got a title for Part 2 of your story: 'The Canterbury Ecstasy'

Jeff

P.S. Part 3 was 'The Canterbury Recovery' I am sure.

[Silkenmist]

Dec 19, 2010 18:00:26 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

Superb write-up, Pat, what an amazing and memorable experience! Your review made me feel almost like I was at the show with you.

Thanks for all your innovative ideas on the board, the real time coverage of that amazing event, the "little surprise" that you have coming up for the board, the second Christmas contest you have planned, etc., etc.

Oh, and I've got a title for Part 2 of your story: 'The Canterbury Ecstasy'

Jeff

P.S. Part 3 was 'The Canterbury Recovery' I am sure.

Hi Pat:

What a nice report you gave of this exciting event you attended. Thank you. It did make me quite happy to hear you attest to Ian not struggling with his voice, especially with the opening song of Life's A Long Song. Sounds like you had a wonderful night and made me feel as if I were in attendance with you. Thank you for being as specific about each song as you were.

Regards,

Silken...

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2010 17:32:07 GMT -5 Stormmonkey said:

"Overnight it snowed, and it snowed and it snowed.....and then it snowed some more".; - this line from your first piece reminded me of that literary colossus Roger Hargreaves and his fine canon of work -the Mr Men books, not to forget the Little Miss books although I've yet to delve into those old texts. I could hear the voice of the late Arthur Lowe as I read that line above. heehee.

Brian,

I think my old English teacher would love you for comparing my writing with Roger Hargreaves, but I'm not sure if I should take that as praise or not .......There are other 'author's' I would have preferred...but then again I suppose Mr Hargreave's series of books left him relatively well respected and very rich.

and I'd be happy if some one of Arthur Lowe's calibre was to turn many of our extended pieces into audio books. ;D

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2010 18:15:18 GMT -5 Silkenmist said:

Dec 19, 2010 18:00:26 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

Superb write-up, Pat, what an amazing and memorable experience! Your review made me feel almost like I was at the show with you.

Thanks for all your innovative ideas on the board, the real time coverage of that amazing event, the "little surprise" that you have coming up for the board, the second Christmas contest you have planned, etc., etc.

Oh, and I've got a title for Part 2 of your story: 'The Canterbury Ecstasy'

Jeff

P.S. Part 3 was 'The Canterbury Recovery' I am sure.

Hi Pat:

What a nice report you gave of this exciting event you attended. Thank you. It did make me quite happy to hear you attest to Ian not struggling with his voice, especially with the opening song of Life's A Long Song. Sounds like you had a wonderful night and made me feel as if I were in attendance with you. Thank you for being as specific about each song as you were.

Regards,

Silken...

Thanks Pearl, maybe a bit verbose, but I think it's worth presenting it as a package with as much info for the fans who just couldn't be there to experience it.

keep well.

Pat

[TM]

Pat,

Thanks so much for taking us into the Cathedral with you for this special evening!

And I'm glad you made it home safe as well!

Paul

[Mix]

Nice review Quizz.
Great to hear Ian's voice was good too!