The Cafe with the best view in the country - The search is on!

For some years, it has been a strongly held view in my head at least, that the cafe at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall has the best view in the country - with a fantastic cove, blue or stormy sea, seals, dolphins, the theatre behind - you need to go some to beat it.

However, a late decision saw Gilly and I drive down the road from Broadford to Elgol on the Isle of Skye last week and as a result, the Minack has lost it's crown. The Cuillin View Gallery & Coffee Shop at Elgol has got all of those things, but it also has the magnificent Cuillin and that does it for me! Not only that but John and Gail serve good coffee, play fantastic music and have a warm welcome for their customers. I expect the cakes are good too, but my diet forbade me to try them that day!


Contenders to top all this are welcome to put in a bid, but I don't expect a flood.....

The Isle of Skye Music Festival 2007 - Day 3

The second day of the festival was brighter and less wet, and with a lunchtime start following a 4am-ish finish the night before, we arrived to find a fairly subdued crowd, many probably recovering from the night before. This sad state of affairs meant that lots of punters missed the great set that The Low Miffs put out on the Mainstage in the early afternoon. You have possibly guessed by now that I hadn't done much homework for this festival, in fact I can honestly say that with one or two exceptions I had no clue at all about who the acts were, so it was all a bit pot luck as to who we saw, but this lack of forethought provided a day full of surprises - and this was the first. The Low Miffs are 5 young men, fronted by the diminutive but marvelous Leo Condie from Glasgow, played song after song of energetic music, performed with passion and showmanship, Condie first sitting on the edge of the stage with his silver topped cane, then racing around the stage, next leaping the fence to sing his impassioned appeals to the audience before returning to have guitar duels with his sidesman. Special mention to Thomas Brogan whose saxophone adds major extra dimension to the guitar heavy sound. Besuited and rather like a mini Llewelyn-Bowen, Leo Condie is a star on the rise - his voice is unaccountably large for such a small frame, goodness knows where he gets his energy from, but I hope to see lots more of these Low Miffs and I hope nobody ever tells them to slow down!

From the sublime to the ridiculous - Barry Peters - DJ extraordinaire with his "son" Kevin and partner in dance Derek Japan were pulling in an excited crowd in the non-stop stage tent. Side-splitting humour from Barry ("I've never been on stage this f@@@g early in the afternoon before" ) - who knew everybody and had been everywhere, and amazing dance routines from "Double Penetration" to the very best in disco music kept us rooted as the act unfolded to include a roller skate dance routine, break dancing and finally Barry's return from retirement to dance again as a trio - off came the pants to reveal sparkly gold tights and away they went - you really had to be there, we were, enjoyed a real feast.











After a break to recover from all that excitement we took up position in the Non Stop Stage tent to see the main event. But first there was Mark Olson, a man in an un-enviable position. Mark's music is mostly "acoustic" - guitar, fiddle and a little percussion or piano - and he was in a tent between Mungo's booming bass and the Union of Knives on the Mainstage, plus the crew was busy putting the gear together for the next act, so it was quite a triumph that we could hear and enjoy this lovely set from a man who sings American country style music with heart and soul, and to me he has more than a hint of favourite Dave Mallet in both music and lyric - check out his stuff on MySpace - it really hits a spot for me.






And so to the main event - at 5:45 pm in a side tent, the legend that is John Martyn was wheeled onto stage and set to for an hour - yes we had come some 400 odd miles and spent a small fortune on getting to this place for just this moment... John is nearing the end (Liverpool, Friday, we will be there!) of a hugely extended UK tour performing the album Solid Air in full, topped and tailed by other favourites, and having been to a few of the gigs, we thought we knew what might be coming. First change for this leg of the tour though was the inclusion of Foss Patterson in place of Spencer Cozens on keyboards, Spencer is currently on tour with Joan Armatrading. Foss is an old hand having played with John Martyn off and on for years,so it was good for us newcomers to see him live as well.











Martin Winnings is still doing sax duty, and while he has his detractors amongst some of the cognoscenti, but I like the way he watches John like a hawk and plays to his signals. Martin plays with a real passion too and has been a real asset to the lineup.


















John was on great form and started out as expected, exhorting the band "Come on girls, hurry up!" before launching into "Cooltide" but was soon ripping up the running order, sending back his acoustic guitar so that he could hang onto the Fender to play "Lookin' On" and later "Big Muff". From our vantage point we could see everything going on between John and the band and see the joy and pain in his face, and I hope he saw the tears that he put in my eye's too - tears of joy and wonder - John's music always invokes something in me that is more powerful than the sum of the notes and words alone - and the distance, cost and time were well worth every last bit as far as I'm concerned.














AlanThompson's bass and Arran Ahmun's drumming where as impeccable as ever and after a delighted crowd sang along with "May You Never" it was the passionate, electric, growling "Rock Salt & Nails" that closed this all too short set and left us once again bereft of the great man - at least 'till Friday.

The small tent was packed and the crowd keen and vocal - the sound from where we were - right at the front under John's nose - was less than hifi but good enough considering how everything is put together in the wings and wheeled on without there being time for a real soundcheck, and the reception for John was as huge as ever, we cheered and hollered and we nearly got an encore, but it was just too late for the schedule to be held up.












After all that there was nothing for it but to recover, eat and head back to the Shipping Forecast for some dancing - oh and Seth Lakeman - Folk's new superstar who we have managed to miss up to now - not by design you understand, just never been in the right place. This year though he is following us around the festivals! There was one of those interminable delays while they got the kit sorted out, then suddenly out rushes Seth from behind the stage and they're off on a musical romp with violins guitars and mandolins everywhere, horse hair shredded from his bow, earnest, solid looking and ever so confident, Seth took the big crowd for a white knuckle ride and wore us all out jumping and dancing. I have to confess to being slightly pre-occupied with trying to get the perfect Seth Portrait having found a new setting on the camera (judge for yourselves.....) but Gilly loved it and I promise to pay more attention at the next gig honest.





























What did grab me and hold my attention though was the stunning set played next by Session A9 - four fiddles, keyboard, guitar and new drum hero Iain Copeland on snare - Iain's playing was so laid back yet en pointe - I was captivated - the rest were pretty good too!! Dougie Maclean apparently said they are "the best band to come out of Scotland in a hundred years" - so there!

And that was it - well there was more, but we had peaked and it was time to go wake the campers again back at base. A quick word about catering - there wasn't much, but there was a refreshing mix of decent fast food available, including fresh fruit smoothies, salads, chips, falafel, porridge and baked potatoes - a welcome change from burgers and more burgers! A good day indeed - special thanks to new friend John for the coffee and the special stageside access for Seth Lakeman. We'll be back to the paradise that is Skye for sure, the festival will have to try a little harder though.

The Isle of Skye Music Festival 2007 - Day 2- part 2

The first tent on the right - and certainly the one with most consistent full on bass beat was Mungo's Sound System - a ramshackle booth with genuine tidal debris and some very home made but effective bass bins provided reggae lovers with a permanent haven in which to groove and catch whatever Mungo was serving up at the time. I have to say that Mungo seemed to be a permanent fixture too - a marathon session of mixing that put the other DJs in the shade - those bass bins never stopped pounding, whether the tent was empty, or heaving, Mungo just played on.

As the day wore on, the programme changed tack with rock and pop giving way to big beats, trance, and all manner of DJ sessions.













We caught Pipeheid in the Non-stop tent - 3 screens giving a visual backdrop - often slow motion water drops into puddles - aptly reminiscent of the large puddle at the back of the dance area - whilst the 2 DJs provided a soundscape to dance to - which lots of people where doing and clearly enjoying the mix - it was interesting to see how the 2 guys performed together, a lot of sideways glancing went on to check settings and to syncronise beats. Later on at the Mainstage, Mylo was doing his bit with a cuddly toy collie dog on the desk and a bottle of water on the turntable - once again there were lots of happy dancers.

Happy dancing too back at the Shipping Forecast - all manner of traditional music being provided using pipes, fiddles, whistles, accordions, you name it. One notable instrument was a 21st century version of the pipes similar to Nick Scott's uileann pipes - which always look like the contents of a plumber's scrap bag, but these were all chrome and plastic, and very modern looking. The dancing by the way was frantic by turns, other times it was almost tea dance sedate, but it was always happening and it was very noticeable here that the majority of both players and dancers were very much the young generation. By the time we had finished we had had a turn at the Gay Gordons, witnessed a very eager young lady capably organise a set to Strip the Willow, only to collapse in a drunken heap at the first hint of a swing, and so on and so on.

It was raining quite heavy off and on, but the site was coping quite well when we called it a night, needing our cuppa and a sleep in readiness for THE BIG DAY. Sorry, did I not mention it? John Martyn - oh yes - due up on stage tomorrow evening.....

Pictures by Gilly

The Isle of Skye Music Festival 2007 - Day 2- part 1!

Let's get the moaning out of the way first! FolkingAbout gets about a bit and we are quite happy to rough it out in festival toilets and wade through mud and beer cans to get around, but the organisers of the The Isle of Skye Music Festival could do with a re-think when it comes to camping facilities. We arrived in our caravanette to use the advertised "dedicated site" - only to be guided to the "quarry" - ie a hole in the ground, part filled with water, part with fly-tipping waste and with no water, no toilets and no security - no thanks! No sleeping in the car parks either - a health and safety edict apparently driven by the fear of our setting open fires and burning all the cars down. So we ended up forking out for a berth at a caravan site some 15 miles away, which meant no beer, more money - and our arrival back to the caravan site just before dawn - and even in stealth mode "Harry" is no ballet dancer! The good news is that we had toilets and hot running water - but really we would think more than twice before going back if nothing changes.


The festival itself is run at the south end of runway 25 at Broadford airstrip, the mainstage being on the threshold and the remainder of the site stretching northward along the runway. So there was a goodly amount of solid tarmac under the feet, and where the runway ended, there was fairly well drained hardstanding which got wet and muddy, but not the deep swampy stuff you get in fields - thank goodness because it did rain a bit! The site is also compact with 4 stages and a sound-system tent all within yards of each other, all very handy, but it did lead to problems for musicians not playing with their amps on number10, especially in the traditional music tent "The Shipping Forecast".


All this messing about with campsites had sent us a bit sideways and we needed some music to get us straight again - Step forward Ash who - ok we admit it -we thought at first were Kasabian, 'til they played stuff we knew was by Ash, and who we then managed to miss due to a diary failure! Ash played what the NME rightly called a "rapturously-received set" featuring the hits - including "Girl from Mars" and "Angel Interceptor", and ending the show with "Twilight of the Innocents" - the title track of the next CD - a really exciting and almost prog departure for the trio whose repertoire is mostly guitar based pop songs, they had to resort to backing tracks for this, but we'll let them off because it sounded great and the large crowd really did enjoy it. The set was confident and triumphal, and the new single "Polaris" sounds to be a cracker.

It was a short step from Ash to Fiona Mackenzie who appeared with a guitarist whose name I didn't get, and keyboard player Rick Taylor who was excellent. Fiona sings many of her own songs, often in Gaelic, and her final piece - a trilogy composed by herself with lyrics from her poetic sister was really fine. Fiona has her debut CD coming out "sometime this year".

Outside in the rain, something rather good was going on in an old caravan - the DUKesbox is a mobile folk group with their own stage, sound system and transport all rolled into one - 3 chaps in splendid suits play the audiences choice of cover versions, selected via an old typewriter device, and they played all day and all night in their very own style. Check out that website for more.

Back with more from this day soon.....


All pics on this page - except for the green Ash one which I took - by Gilly.

The Isle of Skye Music Festival 2007 - Day 1

Gilly and I set out for the Isle of Skye Music Festival with plenty of time to spare, making allowance for delays and the ponderous pace of "Harry" the caravanette, so we were delighted when we found ourselves in good time to catch the regular Thursday evening session at the Plockton Inn.











Nine or ten musicians gathered in the corner by the bar and treated us to a range of good music, entirely unannounced, but well received. Highlights included John Prine's "Unwed Father's" and Linda & Richard Thompson's "I Want to see the Bright Lights Tonight." Plockton is a great place for music as it houses the The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music at the High School. Shepherd Neame's Spitfire Ale is also well received at the Plockton Inn.