Showing the way

Like synchronised swimming, rhythmic gymnastics strikes me as utterly daft but you have to recognise and admire the skill of the people doing it and the huge effort it must take to achieve proficiency.

The bits I saw of it in the wonderful SSE Hydro on the first day of the Commonwealth Games could be described as hell of a hard hula hooping and cleverly complicated keepie uppie.  Even at the height of the hula hoop craze of the 50s I couldn't manage more than a few simple rotations round my midriff so I did appreciate what these girls were doing (it's a girls only event) but I still think it's daft. 

Scottish number one in action

Glasgow was enjoying tropical weather that day and I lunched in the open air by the banks of the Clyde before heading for the squash at Scotstoun. This was terrific and caused me to regret that I ever stopped playing.  I suppose I wouldn't last five minutes if I started again but they say racketball is a game kinder to the more mature.  Looking at that video I'm not so sure.

Doubles in the glass

I've often wondered how on earth you could ever play doubles at squash and now I know.  The first rather obvious point is that you need a bigger court.  At Scotstoun three singles courts became two doubles courts by sliding the walls of the middle court towards one another and the glass box show court expanded sideways.  The players keep mostly to one side of the court and the game seems even faster and furiouser than singles.

When I played the scoring system used required a player to win serve before he could score a point but that is now an alternative to the standard system in which a point is scored on change of serve as well as during service.  That should reduce the length of matches and most of those I saw on my two visits took less than 30 minutes but one very exciting singles (won by Scotland) went on for an hour and a half.  That match plus a ladies doubles between Malaysia and New Zealand were more than enough value for the ticket money.

Scotland beating Malaysia

Another energetic racquets game that I used to enjoy playing is badminton.  The Commonwealth Games badminton is being played in the Emirates Arena, again a splendid venue.  It's just across the road from Celtic Park.

I was a bit disconcerted when I went in.  Four courts were simultaneously in action.  Four umpires were shouting out scores.  The public address was urging us to applaud teams as they left on completion of their matches and welcome new teams coming in.  The answer seemed to be to concentrate on one court and allow your attention to wander now and then.  Fortunately Scottish players were in action which gave me a focus and although they were outclassed in a couple of cases the mixed doubles match was a closely fought and exciting game in which we beat Malaysia.

Unbelievably he saved this

In addition to all of those I went to men's hockey and saw Australia drub Wales and India beat Scotland by a similar score although it was a much more closely contested game.

Guess the sport

The sport I originally set out to see was Artistic Gymnastics.  I only got a ticket in the second sale when unrequired reserved seats were released and although all the seats in the Hydro have a great view some are greater than others and for this event mine was one of those.

Just a blur

Up off the floor

Like the badminton an awful lot was going on at the same time.  Vaulting, parallel bars, high bar, beam and floor exercises. I used to be proud of my cartwheel and my handstand but how anyone can do a back somersault and land on a 4 inch wide beam defies explanation.  This was a great morning's entertainment for everyone except the poor English vaulter who despite all the soft landing mats did something nasty to himself and was carried out with his leg in a splint.

No doubt about which team this youngster is supporting

I got to another gig featuring young musicians.  These, from a school down south, were even younger than the Porty lot and there were many more of them.  With two enthusiastic teachers, one conducting and the other bashing the piano they romped through a set of big band numbers with commendable skill and presence.  I've only vague memories of musical activities at KHS but I'm sure we had nothing like this.

Billed as Woody Allen's piano player Conal Fowkes played and sang a range of numbers from the twenties by different American composers and players, some well known and some obscure.  It was a delightfully relaxing morning concert in the Tron Kirk that deserved a bigger audience.  Woody got a mention only once when for his final number Conal played a piece from the soundtrack of  Magic in the Moonlight, Allen's latest film.

I've just had a look at Conal's bio and see that the Jazz Festival organisers' Woody name dropping does him a disservice.  I also see that he was born in Zambia.  If I'd known that I'd have spoken to him at the gig.

Another delightful piano player, also at the Tron, was Paolo Alderighi who played a similar set but perhaps ranged over a longer timescale.  He finished off by playing a piece for four hands with his wife, Stephanie Trick.  It was a high speed, high octane performance and as he said beforehand, the improvisational nature of jazz adds an extra degree of danger to theundertaking.

Despite the rain the Grassmarket thronged with music lovers yesterday.  I don't know why these guys had to play in the open when others had the benefit of covered stages.  They are not the Salvation Army by the way.

There was more open air revelry today but I got hooked on the golf and shamefully stayed indoors and missed the Carnival Parade, the bands in Princes Street and a sun-drenched Grassmarket.

I felt a bit short-changed at the first Jazz Festival show I went to.  I was drawn to it by a wish to hear Abdullah Ibrahim, the grand old man of South African jazz.  I enjoyed his set but it only lasted 30 minutes.  The rest of the evening was not to my taste and although jazz is a pretty wide and elastic term none of it qualified in my view.  The second half was also too noisy and although I moved to the back of the theatre and stuck my fingers in my ears I decided to leave after 15 minutes or so. 

The Portobello High School musicians were much more to my taste at one tenth of the price.  They appeared in various combinations as a jazz combo, a blues band and the two girls sang individually and together with piano accompaniment.  They were very good and a lot of people had turned out to hear them at 10.30 on Saturday morning.

They were followed by a great fun Italian outfit called Bandakadabra.  They were keener on  audience participation than suits me but luckily I was far enough away to get off with clapping and swaying on the spot rather than being drawn into more extreme antics.

Another gig was a game of two halves in which a group led by Martin Kershaw played beautifully more than making up for the challenging free jazz style of  the Roby Glod Trio.  They were allegedly both playing music by or inspired by the same man (Lennie Tristano) but you could have fooled me.

After decades of blotting the landscape this unlovely building is on its way out thus improving the view from our flats.  Too much to hope that the adjacent high rise block will go the same way?

Opening my curtains on the last morning of the jazz course this was the scene.  A pretty red balloon floating over the Perthshire countryside at 7am.  Why and where was it going?  Maybe making its way to T In The Park where if this lovely weather persists the punters should have a great time.

We had a great time with our own little sub-division of the musical universe.  There was a brilliant concert given by the tutors last night and then we all performed in our various groups this afternoon to tumultuous applause from one another and from friends and family.  Maybe about a half of the players were youngsters so mums and dads picking them up were a large part of the audience, but I spotted George Duncan, described by The Herald as "jazz advocate, dapper emcee and board member with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra".  Looking for up and coming talent perhaps.

My own talent is more on the down and going side.  The week highlighted my many deficiencies as a saxophonist but my enthusiasm is undiminished.