Propelled by inertia...

Playlist
Various – Rock & Pop Jukebox on Shuffleplay
Lucy Kaplansky – Live at Beachland Ballroom 10/2/06
Justin Rutledge – Man Descending
ELP - From the Beginning (Box Set)

More attempted Xmas shopping today – and further success on two fronts with some elusiveness remaining...

The lure of FOPP continued too and I partook of a 6 disc (5CD + DVD) box of Emerson, Lake and Palmer along with two DVDs, “The Lives of Others” and “The Muppets’ Christmas Movie” – the latter may well be a highlight of Xmas Eve along with the obligatory “It’s a Wonderful Life”...

Met with Anne around 5:30 and we drove over to the Pleasance for tonight’s Lucy Kaplansky gig...

First, a tasty dinner at Kismot, our first visit....

While the food was an age in arriving, it was worth the wait...

Then to the gig which was in the same small room as last December – almost a year ago to the day...

Once again we were right at the front but, tonight, annoyance from other audients was limited to just one episode of a lady at the next table humming along to a slow and sombre 12 bar blues based song from support, Justin Rutledge...



Mr R was excellent – all his songs were slow (an inspiring scenario for me) and most were beautiful – so much so that, post his probably too short performance, I made my way to the table at the door and bought his latest album, “Man Descending” – he signed it and I wittered some tongue-tied fanboy nonsense about having been in Canada earlier this year but not Toronto (for where he hails)...

Lucy Kapalansky opened her set with a fine cover of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” because, she explained, when she first started, the reason she did was because she loved playing great songs...

Over her six albums, there are certainly some great songs of her own...

As last year, she was suffering from a heavy cold and relied on throat sweets to help her through, while amended keys and melodies added a certain exclusivity to the superb (as ever) performance...

She had no set list as such and often played a song off pat which had been suggested by a member of the audience...

She also covered Robert Burns’ “Loch Lomond” for good measure..

A most enjoyable evening and I dug out a live recording from our Car CD Stash to accompany the journey home...

I listened to the Justin Rutledge disc and it’s even better than expected – I noted from the credits that Rheostatics’ Tim Vesely had a hand in some of the recording...

The title comes from a in line from Guy Vanderhaeghe's book of short stories which bears the same name, "A man descending is propelled by inertia; the only initiative left him is whether or not he decides to enjoy the passing scene."

Apt...

After “Question Time” and “This Week”, which included some straight talking from the founder of “The Big Issue” re trying to remove the dependency culture in the UK (all of which I agreed with), it was off to bed accompanied by a 1972 concert by Mssrs Palmer, Lake and Emerson...

Tasty...

Highlight of the Day : A new discovery...