Sue's Blog - Some assembly required.

Jitterbug

I don't understand Jazz.
We went to River Rhythms last night and it was pretty busy.
"Oh", quoth I, "Must be a good band tonight".
I had neglected to check who was on as I was just so happy to be going again. We haven't been for a couple of weeks due to the invasion of the Summer Festers.
I failed to take in that the crowd were mostly of a more mature persuasion.

The band were not exactly jazz........more of a mixture of rhythm & blues, jazz & a little bit of swing.
They could have done with a lot more of the swing.
The music was often depressing. One song being called........"It's Cheaper to Keep Her"......which referred to a husband tiring of his wife and kids and wanting to bugger off but being told it would cost him much more that way and he should stay and put up with it.
Apparently, an old grandad had passed on this little gem.
One wonders how the wife and kids felt about all this but their feelings were not adequately explored, meaning not worth mentioning at all apparently.
Also, as the guys playing in the band (all super musicians I am sure) looked like they were probably all grandads themselves, with a couple of great grandads thrown in,.........I wonder just what century the original grandad, who shared his wit and wisdom, was born in.
As I said, before I wandered completely off the point, I don't understand jazz.
The jazz songs go on for ever.
Rarely, there is one I recognise but, the jazz musicians seem to delight in stretching each song out to breaking point.
They seem to add endless twiddly bits and nonsense words (Gary thought they were speaking in tongues), which results in a song that lasts about 20 minutes and the audience having lost the will to live after the 15th verse.
They have false endings too.
The poor guy who does the announcements was waiting in the wings to come on and do his half time bit, when they had about 4 different false endings to a song. They would stop.........go quiet for what seemed like 30 minutes (seconds probably) and then just as he went to step on the stage.......they would start up again.
It was quite funny to watch......he was in and out like a fiddler's elbow.

They were into the name dropping big time too.
"Oh when I played with Scabby Knees Duncan and Scratch My Own Arse Harrison back in 1911"....................blah, blah, blah.

BUT, never let it be said that I don't try to look on the bright side.....I often fail, but I do try.
There were some bloody good dancers.
It would have been far better if the band had played some more of the swing stuff, because when they did, the dancers got up.
I love watching people who can dance do their thing.
I think the dance they were doing is called The Jitterbug.....I could be wrong.......probably am.
Anyway, it was very lively and wore me out just to watch.
I wish I could do it. I would go to lessons if I had someone to go with but to be honest I doubt I would have enough puff now.
Watching the dancing saved the evening for me..........oh that and a really good odd person that Gary took a picture of for me.
I am waiting for him to send it and then I will put it on here.
It takes all sorts and Milwaukee, like Folkestone, has it share of all sorts.

posted by Sue Banks @ 10:16 AM