Desert Storm

 

Having returned from an eventful trip to the desert in Abu Dhabi i thought I'd share some of the experiences.

Being lucky enough to make it to the airport through the last big dump of snow I was pleased to be escaping the cold, wet, wind and snow to the warmth and dryness of the desert in Abu Dhabi.

I was met at the airport by my friend Dominic# who was to be my host, tour guide and jinx for the next 9days.

# name has not been changed in order to out the guilty.

Here is a brief rundown of events in chronological order...

1. A failed attempt to negotiate with the car park attendant resulted in having to pay the penalty for someone loosing his car parking ticket.
2. Having planned the holiday to catch 2 weekends for maximum effect - the first night was alcohol free due to a religoius holiday. The desert was drier than expected.
3. A snorkelling trip to the Gulf of Oman had to be shelved due to high seas.
4. Camping on the beach beside these high seas, we had to evacuate the campsite from the incoming tide.  Campsite Evacuation
5. Day trip to Oman didn't happen as we were refused entry mainly due to the border guard and his AK47 stating that Dom's store discount card was not suitable ID. There was no argument from me on this part.
6. Hiking a wadi up to its source had to be abandonded after 14ft high bamboo grass became impenatrable and several stumbles nearly resulting in the creation of a human kebab.lucky Dom in the wadi
7. 4x4ing further up the main canyon in a thunderstorm with Dom's heavy foot helping the 4x4 off 'off' road until it became stuck. The crumbling canyon walls and torrant of water were only narrowly avoided due to the kind help of 14 Arabs who wondered why the heck we were driving towards 'big water' the rescue party
8. Ideas to venture into the desert to swim in a highly saline pool vanished after the pool we were seeking had vanished.
9. Raw Eel sushi disagreeing with me
10. Being ejected from the palace for wearing sandals
11. A trip on dune buggies was planned but failed to materilise as did the Jet Skiing - but that was mainly due to high waves and low hangovers.
12. The Abu Dhabi Wakeboarding competition cancelled due to extreme weather
13. The camel racing was cancelled by high winds        camel on a day off 

where did you park the car Dom?

the only 'high ground' to be found

I think I'll draw the list to a close on the number 13. Still a great time was had, and thanks to Dom for making it a memorable one.

Update on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 1:46PM by John Alexander

Map of Mishaps

Majorstuen - Celtic Connections

I did have my reservations when I saw an array of fiddles take to the stage on sat night but this was quickly swept aside by a dazzling performance from Norwegian group Majorstuen.

Not only great music but the well thought out stage moves provided a very visual element to their instrumental music. Creating images of a modern day epic western, surely there is a Hollywood soundtrack or two in their set list.  

A gem of a find and thoroughly entertaining.

www.majorstuen.biz

Natalie Merchant - Celtic Connections

The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, the grandest of Celtic Connections venues was the setting for 10,000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant.

A low key appearance saw Natalie Merchant perform with a backing of 2 acoustic guitarists and a cellist. Things started ok, but I got the impression it would take a few songs for her and the band to warm up and get into things. This didn’t happen.

The 2 guitarists failed to boost the sound enough, and it seemed to me they were unsure of the songs, as a number of obvious mistakes were made, and at a few points Natalie stopped the song in order to whisper what I assume were the words to one of her band.

This stopping of songs became more and more an irritation. She did it frequently. Stopping to speed things up, stopping to burst out laughing and stopping to ask the audience what the words were to her own songs were.

Now, every performer makes mistakes and forgets the words occasionally however it was the manner in which these mistake were attempted to be correct which ruined the show. This constant stopping prevented any mood from being created with her obvious talent and superb singing. The band also seemed hesitant in their playing so never really got into it.

She even admitted before a few songs that the songs were unrehearsed and she hoped they would get through it. I hoped they did too, but they didn’t.

When Irish group Lunasa appeared to play backing for a couple of poem songs to be released on her new album the sound was instantly lifted. Fine musicians that they are - Lunasa new the songs, even if Natalie didn’t.

By the end of the show I began to cringe, none more so when Natalie got a member of the audience to come up and sing with her, whilst the girl in the crowd did an excellent impromptu job, I was really hoping to hear Natalie perform a full song on her own without interruption!! Aaarrgh. Especially after paying £20 for a ticket.

Maybe next time don’t make the mistakes so obvious, it is hard not to notice mistakes when they are highlighted in such a way, or maybe nextime rehersals would avoid this completely and we can hear the superb songs that Natalie Merchant has to offer.

Texas Songwriters Night - Celtic Connections

 I managed to scoop up the very last ticket just over a week ago for this night, and I am glad I got it.

They are used to doing things big in Texas but it's a rare opportunity to have an evening with big hitting lyrical songwriters in Glasgow - Tom Russell, Kimmie Rhodes, Slaid Cleaves & Sam Baker

The format for the evening meant they all took it in turn to share their stories and songs with a captivated audience.

Tom Russell kicked things off with his strong stage presence and style which would draw obvious comparisons with Johnny Cash.He featured a few new songs, one being 'Roll The Credits' written for the rolling of the credits in a movie.  Next in the running order, Kimmie Rhodes who had Beth Neilson Chapman join her for a few songs, a highlight of which was the Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris hit ‘Love and Happiness’ ( which Kimmie Rhodes co wrote with Emmylou).

This was my first opportunity to see Slaid Cleaves play live – I’ve been a fan of his for sometime and by the sounds of the crowd he had a few more in the audience. He performed a fantastic quirky song called 'Horses & divorces', and finished off with belting out ‘One Good Year’ on his old Gibson guitar.

Sam baker is a frequent visitor to Glasgow and I always like his humour and his stories. He has previously mentioned the story of how he was caught in a bomb blast on a train in South America years ago which he was lucky to survive but resulted in him sustaining severe injuries to his hands. It was only last night that I realised he was a right handed guitarist who had to re learn the guitar left handed because of this, which shows his utter dedication and passion for music. His vocal delivery is very unique and make his lyrics all the more poignant.

The night was topped of by an encore of Townes Van Zandt songs – another great Texas songwriter.

A thoroughly enjoyable night, and a spellbound audience listened to every lyric sang.

A possible regular format for future Celtic Connections shows? I hope so.



A Decade Ends

As 2009 draws to a close, and the realisation that the Y2K fear of the new millenium was a distant 10 years ago (oh how things were simpler back then) I thought it may be interesting to point out a few memorable events or objects of the the last 10 years.Let me know your own favourites / worst of etc..

in no particular order...

1. budget flights
2. ipod
3. web price checkers
4. google
5. smoking ban
6. spotify
7. Fuel Prices
8. Banking Crisis
9. September 11th
10. Co2

Also, things that I hope will remain forever in this decade..

1. the term noughties
2. George Bush
3. big brother
4. wags
5. talent shows
6. spam in particular ‘transfer of inheritance monies’ emails
7. banking crisis
8. Political Correctness/religious oversensativity
9. Low slung trousers
10. Txt spk