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Mary Irvine: Another Musical Interlude

Music Out in the Sticks

Sunday night (29th Sept) I went to church. Nothing unusual there you may think. No, except that people who know me will realise this was not to attend a service! There must be another reason. There was! It was to spend an hour listening to classical music – my tastes are eclectic. The event was held in the Alexandra Parish Church. A large imposing building with lots of banners, mostly woven by hand, I would suspect. There has been a Flower Festival the previous day and the various displays were still on show. All quite splendid but my favourite was the representation of the Burning Bush.

Quite a good turn-out but not so big that I didn’t have a whole row to myself. Do wonder if that said more about me or the rest of the audience…

The group was The Stockbridge Piano Trio, violin, cello and piano, who gave a very accomplished programme. Bit disappointed there was no Mozart, as had been stated on a flyer I’d seen, but most enjoyable, nevertheless. Did check out their website and they do have a very wide and impressive range of music to offer. Well worth seeing should the opportunity arise. You can even book them yourselves for special events.

Was interested to note how busy the Church was through the week.

www.stockbridgepianotrio.co.uk
www.alexandriaparishchurch.co.uk

Open Mic-ing

Read another person’s poem, prose, advert, etc. Yeh, no problem! Lecture to 300 people? Done that, fine. Take an assembly for 500 teenagers? Got several t-shirts for that one! Do research and teach at an approved school amongst some ‘right ringers’? No problem. Get up and read my own creative work at ‘Rio’s in front of an unknown audiences where alcohol is served? No way! Forget it!
Monday, 30th September was my third appearance on the stage at Rio’s. OK, so the first time my legs were like the proverbial jelly and I honestly thought they would fail to remove me from said stage. But it’s great – Last Monday at Rio’s. Sorry, didn’t hear you, try again. That’s an esoteric allusion. Go to Rio’s open mic event last Monday of the month – just to listen, there are some damn good unsung writers out there – or to present a scribbling of your own. The venue is like visiting a time warp – for those of us who go that far back. Fantastic atmosphere, due in no small part to performance poet and organiser of these evenings, Robin Cairns. Love his wit and command of words!

Particular favourites of mine are the young men – still angry as they ever were – whose use of the English language and their skill in playing with its nuances and subtleties are very effective.

Last night’s special guest was Tim Turnbull, new to me, but not any longer. Check out ‘Troll’ and ‘Mysteries’ on you-tube. Very accomplished, talented, witty and he’s from Yorkshire. What more can a fellow Tyke say?

Check out Robin Cairns on facebook for future events.

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