All That JAzz

Last night we attended 'All That Jazz' at the Waterfront Hall - no, not the film but the live concert with Cleo Laine, Johnny Dankworth, Jacqui Dankworth and Alec Dankworth (as Sly & the Family Stone say - 'it's a family affair). This is the one sad and sorry photo I managed to capture before the battery gave up on my wee digital.


Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth (to give them their full titles) are both octogenarians but have more vitality and energy than the likes of Ms Sinead O'Connor - they, and their family, gave an outstanding performance (sadly it was probably not recorded). It was a delight to sit through a concert of highly professional and entertaining performers. Dame Cleo's voice has lost none of its edge over the years, she may have slowed down a bit but there was no diminution in quality. Her daughter, Jacqui, also has a powerful voice and together they were just incredible - their rendition of 'Woman Talk' was, for me, one of the highlights of the night.

This was another of those concerts which we left feeling that we had not been short-changed. Here was a group of people who not only performed professionally but enjoyed what they were doing, as did the audience (from the 5 week old baby to the 90 year old woman - though one of them did sleep through the whole performance). From the word go Johnny, Cleo et al achieved instant rapport with the audience by chatting to (and with) us about the music and even a little bit of family history. It was a night to remember and hopefully one to be repeated - we all hope with Johnny that it will not be another 7 years before they are invited back.

A canto of cranes - reprise

Those cranes again but with the 'thing with the ring' looking as if she is trying to train them to jump through the hoop or conducting them in an industrial symphony.

And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,

Making in air a long line of themselves,

So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,

Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.

Dante.

Dreams

‘Dreams’ consists of forty large metal panels in a grid formation, which is etched with portraits of a group of children. The centre of each section, formed in glass and back-lit, will glow at night holding the dreams of 9,000 local children. The project fuses together a strong sense of our ‘metal crafting’ heritage and the spirit of our children’s ability to dream. DSD NI

Le ballon noir

I saw this balloon in the river near the Waterfront Hall and thought it would make an interesting picture so I lined it up in my sights and just when I thought I had it situated perfectly off it would go. It was as if it had a life of its own (not unlike the red balloon in the film of the same name).


Now you may think it was the current or the wind that caused it to move but, if you have a look at the piece of video I took, you will notice that another balloon and bottles nearby do not move at all.


It took me ages to catch the photo to the right.

Skinhead O'Connor

I have just, belatedly, found a review on the great wee azoo's blog of Sinead O'Connor's performance at the Waterfront Hall and I am pleased to see that I was not imagining things i.e. just how woeful a performance it was. My other half informs me that it was a really good concert and her friends, who were there, think so too. Well, I beg to differ - it was pathetic.

... oops sorry! Dr. Em didn't think it was a good concert after all - even though she has tells me I'm wrong about Ms O'Connor's performance because all the fans think she was great. But then they would anyway because that's what fans do and if the fans think she was great - then she must have been great?

And as for those who listened to the concert on radio and thought her voice was great (see the comment on azoo's blog) well I'm afraid to have to inform you that all the engineers have to do is tweak a couple of buttons and anybody can sound great.

View from the Waterfront

Some pictures I took in the bar at the Waterfront and patched together to give a sort of panoramic view.

I just hope she wasn’t paid ….

In 1965/66 a singer named Twinkle was boo-ed off the stage at the Ritz Cinema in Belfast when a discerning audience thought her performance was not up to scratch. Well, it would appear that Belfast audiences are no longer so discerning because, in my opinion, the same treatment should have been dished out last night to one: Ms Sinead O’Connor. I must admit that I am not a great fan of hers but I expected much better, I had thought that after 20 years she would have finally perfected her art and delivered a professional performance.

She has been described as ‘one of the most exceptional vocalists’ who ‘can rival just about any female rock star of this generation’ - this from a review of a concert in September 2007, when her voice was described as pristine. Sadly this was not to be the case last night when her manner came across as lethargic and her singing as mediocre. I felt that, perhaps because it was a free concert, she just could not be bothered making the effort. OR, perhaps she just doesn’t like Belfast audiences.

She walked on stage, took the microphone from the stand, started singing and stood rooted to the spot for the whole of the evening’s performance. A tailor’s dummy would have shown more life and would probably have delivered the songs with more energy and panache. At times she was difficult to hear because she didn’t seem to want to raise her voice above a whisper and on the odd occasion when she did resort to the ‘powerful voice’ for which she is renowned it was only to be fleeting and made her performance seem incredibly disjointed.

Eventually, I decided I could stand no more and left. In the foyer I discovered I had not been the first, or only, person to leave mid-performance and others agreed with me that her performance was extremely boring. I just hope she wasn’t paid for such a mind numbing experience.

Anybody wishing to judge for themselves can listen to the concert here:

Somebody else agrees with me.

its ev ry where (apparently)

... and nowhere, baby - that's where it's at!!

I photographed this in the foyer of the Waterfront Hall last night just before attending a concert with the Ulster Orchestra (more of which later) and I really can't say what it is supposed to represent. I should have read the little plate below the poster but I was in too much of a hurry to get into the bar. Thirst before art. (c:

A canto of cranes - second movement

... and still they come.

These are quite close to my previous post and as blueboat points out 'Belfast's skyline is full of cranes '

Autumn leaves

The sculpture 'Sheep on the road' by Deborah Brown at the entrance to the Waterfront Hall

He flies through the air ....

I took a walk round past the Waterfront Hall, to photograph one of the buildings nearby, and spotting a group of skateboarders I decided to try for an action pic - most of which are fairly poor but I do like these two.


Sadly it's not the greatest camera in the world, which explains the lack of sharpness but I think you can get an idea of the action.

For a really cool skater action shot have a look here: