I got this a day or so ago from Claus von Weiss of the greatest band of the 21st century, Morris Open.
Dear Dale,
as I'm afraid your mailbox will be full up to the rim on your birthday, this little gift for you comes a few days early, but so with a little room left in the mailbox for the two attachements.
Actually this jig is not as undisputable as the title suggests, but in fact it's a strange mix of a jig and a slip jig instead. As I wrote it with you in mind of course it's all your fault in the end, isn't it. We had no Morris Open rehearsal in time, so here it's played just with whistle and harpsichord. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Have yourself a great birthday on the 25th and a mighty fine new year coming up, full of life's music (not that much blues!) and our good Lord's blessing.
I'm particularly blown away by this because Claus also penned and recorded "One For Dale."
I've suggested Morris Open do a concept Album. Claus has suggested the title "Over Dale and High, High Hill", which I like. I'd prefer "Aqualung," but Claus seems to have some kind of problem with it.
I have seen the future of Germany-Based Music From the British Isles and it's name is Morris Open.
Dale, would you humor me and give any detail you can on "Planxty Dale Wisely" as well? I really like that one a lot. I downloaded it from Mick's Virtual Whistle (www.fingertrip.net).
Steven - IDAwHOa - Wood Rocks
"If you keep asking questions.... You keep getting answers." - Miss Frizzle - The Magic School Bus
NorCalMusician wrote:Dale, would you humor me and give any detail you can on "Planxty Dale Wisely" as well? I really like that one a lot. I downloaded it from Mick's Virtual Whistle (www.fingertrip.net).
Planxty Dale Wisely was written by David de la Barre, a great guy and wonderful musician. Such a great guy in fact that I am tempted to forgive him for moving from my neighborhood to some forsaken place called Cape Cod and for playing the bloody small pipes (I won't even mention the great pipes) and singing strange Scottish songs when inebriated.
Planxty of course means "tune in honor of" and by a curious coincidence having to do with the phone number of an Islington flat where I once went to a party and met a very nice girl I totally failed to get off with (she went off with a party crasher), "Planxty Dale Wisely" happens to be a tune written in honor of Dale Wisely. By an even stranger coincidence this is the very same Dale Wisely who runs the Chiff & Fipple website and whose birthday it will be tomorrow. Now to completely boggle your mind and the odds, let me tell you that David de la Barre posts on this board occasionally as "Feadan" (very originial that, for sure) and that he actually knows Dale Wisely, it being the proper and cautious thing to only write tunes in honor of people we actually know, so that we don't, by way of unfortunate blunder, write tunes in honor of people who do not deserve the honor of having tunes in honor of them written in honor of them. Which, of course, certainly isn't the case in the case of Dale Wisely, who deserves the honor of having a tune in honor of him written in honor of him, especially by someone as ultra groovy as David de la Barre.
Last edited by Bloomfield on Thu Mar 25, 2004 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
The Weekenders wrote:Like Dickens, Bloomie appears to be being paid by the word.
Pure drop stringer?
( Image dropped for, um, er, obvious reasons! ed.)
Thanks for the explanation, Bloom.
I guess it would be dishonorable for the person that was honored to explain the honor that was placed on himself regarding the song of honor that was written to honor said honorable person. What honor would there be in that?
Steven - IDAwHOa - Wood Rocks
"If you keep asking questions.... You keep getting answers." - Miss Frizzle - The Magic School Bus
Bloomfield wrote:Planxty Dale Wisely was written by David de la Barre, a great guy and wonderful musician. Such a great guy in fact that I am tempted to forgive him for moving from my neighborhood to some forsaken place called Cape Cod and for playing the bloody small pipes (I won't even mention the great pipes) and singing strange Scottish songs when inebriated.
Planxty of course means "tune in honor of" and by a curious coincidence having to do with the phone number of an Islington flat where I once went to a party and met a very nice girl I totally failed to get off with (she went off with a party crasher), "Planxty Dale Wisely" happens to be a tune written in honor of Dale Wisely. By an even stranger coincidence this is the very same Dale Wisely who runs the Chiff & Fipple website and whose birthday it will be tomorrow. Now to completely boggle your mind and the odds, let me tell you that David de la Barre posts on this board occasionally as "Feadan" (very originial that, for sure) and that he actually knows Dale Wisely, it being the proper and cautious thing to only write tunes in honor of people we actually know, so that we don't, by way of unfortunate blunder, write tunes in honor of people who do not deserve the honor of having tunes in honor of them written in honor of them. Which, of course, certainly isn't the case in the case of Dale Wisely, who deserves the honor of having a tune in honor of him written in honor of him, especially by someone as ultra groovy as David de la Barre.
Thanks Bloomfield. That really clears things up.
Oh, and Zub, please stop posting all these pictures of yourself! Such narcisism is unbecoming.
Morris Open is indeed a terrific band. I got one of their CDs a couple of weeks ago, and my wife and I have been playing it constantly in the car as we travel. This is amazingly upbeat music, very well played. It is definitely related to IRTRAD, with a touch or Renaissance tossed in. The sample tunes, including the Undisputed Jig, will give you a good idea (be sure to note the superb sounding Tabor pipe in Somerset Wassail ).
What a wonderfully cross cultural world we have become: Germans playing English Morris dance music, white English dudes playing Kwela from Black South Africa (Positively Testcard, also highly recommended).
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