John Peel lives on for one starry night on Kerrera
Posted: Tuesday, 08 November 2005 |
When I came to live on Kerrera, one of the many things I thought I might have more time to do was start listening to John Peel on a regular basis again.....especially on those long winter evenings with little to do. For years I had been a very occasional listener, tuning in maybe three or four times a year, usually for the festive 50.....as a reminder of the days when I used to religiously listen every night, and he was reassuringly still always there, and still creating the most incredible mix of wonder and mayhem. Now at last I would have the time, and the sufficient lack of opportunity to go out required to become a devoted peelie listener once again. But of course it wasn't to be.....just a few weeks after arriving on Kerrera, and having not quite got round to tuning in even once......the old bugger went and died!
When the 成人快手 announced their intention to run a John Peel Day to commemorate the great man a year on, and encouraged people to organise gigs large and small.....well I decided it was the very least I could do.......and so on October 13th 2005, having joined forces with my chum Al of local "Paper Monkey" Oban FM DJ fame, Kerrera took its place amongst the 300 plus places around the country (and the world in fact) to host their very own John Peel night.
The gig took place on the most beautiful clear moonlit evening in the Old school high above the Sound of Kerrera, and all worries about whether anyone would actually turn up were turned on their head, as the school rapidly filled up. Standing outside the school I watched mesmerised as the lights of Duncan's ferry crossed backwards and forwards across the sound.....and the school reached capacity. I was trying to ring Duncan to say "no more" when the lights went out and he soon appeared.....having carried over just about the perfect number of visitors.
The audience were not I think disappointed. The school, with the help of Chris, Isla and Duncan had been transformed with a giant spinnaker hung from the cieling, a new stage built, a large projection screen and the walls covered in 12" LP covers of Peelie's favourite bands. The first band on "Pick Up Sticks" from Galsgow playing their debut live gig went down a storm :
. here's my prediction ....this won't be the last you hear of Pick Up Sticks!
The next act on Pinkie Maclure and John Wills had travelled over from Fife for the gig, but Pinkie had also travelled out of my distant past and into the present. I had shared a house with Pinkie some 18 years previously in London, but had lost touch, only to hear her name mentioned by the aforementioned Al' one day in the Health food shop in Oban, when talking about the up and coming group of Fife musicians called the Fence Collective.....of whom Pinkie and John are members. They played an amazing set:
, part of which featured an unannounced accompaniement by Sandy, aged 8 from Kerrera. Sandy made good use of the first bands drum set that were sitting unused to one side of the stage.....and ended up getting one of the loudest rounds of applause of the night! 
Pinkie and John just had time for an encore, before it was the hour for the audience to stroll down the hill to the ferry for their journey home.....accompanied by shooting stars, flat calm sea and silvery moonlight.
The gig got several mentions on Radio 1, including a long text sent in by someone on their way home, and read out in full on air at about midnight.
I have to say, and I am biased, I think John would have loved it all!
When the 成人快手 announced their intention to run a John Peel Day to commemorate the great man a year on, and encouraged people to organise gigs large and small.....well I decided it was the very least I could do.......and so on October 13th 2005, having joined forces with my chum Al of local "Paper Monkey" Oban FM DJ fame, Kerrera took its place amongst the 300 plus places around the country (and the world in fact) to host their very own John Peel night.
The gig took place on the most beautiful clear moonlit evening in the Old school high above the Sound of Kerrera, and all worries about whether anyone would actually turn up were turned on their head, as the school rapidly filled up. Standing outside the school I watched mesmerised as the lights of Duncan's ferry crossed backwards and forwards across the sound.....and the school reached capacity. I was trying to ring Duncan to say "no more" when the lights went out and he soon appeared.....having carried over just about the perfect number of visitors.
The audience were not I think disappointed. The school, with the help of Chris, Isla and Duncan had been transformed with a giant spinnaker hung from the cieling, a new stage built, a large projection screen and the walls covered in 12" LP covers of Peelie's favourite bands. The first band on "Pick Up Sticks" from Galsgow playing their debut live gig went down a storm :
. here's my prediction ....this won't be the last you hear of Pick Up Sticks!
The next act on Pinkie Maclure and John Wills had travelled over from Fife for the gig, but Pinkie had also travelled out of my distant past and into the present. I had shared a house with Pinkie some 18 years previously in London, but had lost touch, only to hear her name mentioned by the aforementioned Al' one day in the Health food shop in Oban, when talking about the up and coming group of Fife musicians called the Fence Collective.....of whom Pinkie and John are members. They played an amazing set:
, part of which featured an unannounced accompaniement by Sandy, aged 8 from Kerrera. Sandy made good use of the first bands drum set that were sitting unused to one side of the stage.....and ended up getting one of the loudest rounds of applause of the night! Pinkie and John just had time for an encore, before it was the hour for the audience to stroll down the hill to the ferry for their journey home.....accompanied by shooting stars, flat calm sea and silvery moonlight.
The gig got several mentions on Radio 1, including a long text sent in by someone on their way home, and read out in full on air at about midnight.
I have to say, and I am biased, I think John would have loved it all!
An occasional glimpse of life from the somtimes sunny south coast of the curious craggy island of Kerrera. You couldn't make this place up if you tried!
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