Of MCE and men and more music...

[curiouswombat]

Whenever I see 'use Tiny MCE' as an option when uploading to archives I have a mental image of my every word being entered on tiny keyboards by tiny mice. Now we have the MCE British Superbikes on TV - and again my brain has inserted an 'I'. So I see mice on bikes.

S2C, about to go to bed, suggests having both together Tiny Mice riding Superbikes. They would need string attached to the handlebars, he thinks - but would have trouble leaning into corners. 'More bits of string attached to weights and pulleys' I suggest.

Of course it made me think of Biker Mice from Mars - and ThisMaz and TalesofSnape will understand why I wanted them to be Byker Mice - with proper Byker accents.

So now I have Byker mice riding superbikes with the aid of weights, pulleys, and bits of string...

Almost as surreal as my brain - I said in comments to my post yesterday that as so many people seemed rather taken with Albannach I would post my very favourite clip of them from You Tube. I had thought it might be a bit long, but as so many of you agree with me that it is a wonderful sound, here they are busking under the Scott Monument in Edinburgh.

When S2C and I first visited Edinburgh together we had not long seen a TV documentary about Mad King Ludwig and his tastes in architecture. We came to the conclusion that the Scott Monument was actually built as a Zeppelin defence for Princes Street, in the style of MKL.

So, here we have something harking back to wild Highland Celtic traditions, underneath the epitome of Lowland Scots romanticism, packaged for the English in the style of Mad King Ludwig...

If you want to hear Albannach live you have a much better chance of doing so if you live in the USA - here is their tour schedule for the year.

Oh, and Aya, the young man on the right, dances exactly how I would to this music - exactly how I did to anything similar when I was his age, too.

Comments

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

I like them! Not sure I'd be up for listening to a long concert, but it was great fun.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is fun, isn't it? Actually they do sing occasionally - there is a free EP here to download (http://www.albannachmusic.com/independence.html) and you can also hear samples of all the tracks off their albums - and Jacqui Holland, the lady in the band, has a lovely voice.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Alas, they won't be anywhere near my part of the US but I love that video.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is a lovely way to cheer yourself up on a dreary day - as today is, here. There is a free EP to download here (http://www.albannachmusic.com/independence.html) - and you can sample their other albums there on their website too.

[jerusha]

That is so cool! It looks like they're having a lot of fun.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Don't they just? I would be so tempted to dance along.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've seen those mice, but it was more Wallsend way, than Byker.
On the other hand... It might have been a kid on a skateboard.

I do like the way the lad on the right dances.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I love the way he dances - it looks just right, somehow.

One day I feel there should be stories about tiny biker mice from Byker... or maybe Wallsend.

[manoah.livejournal.com]

They remind me of The Wicked Tinkers!

Fun!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think it is wonderful music to listen to if I'm feeling down - it is almost impossible not to smile.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I'm fond of the Uilliean pipes and the bhodran: you can play them in the parlor without driving all the nails out into the yard.

Too bad they don't get anywhere near the Gorge at George; I know some people who play at that kind of battle music who would enjoy the show (and who went to Fringe last year for the music, now that I think of it).

Julia, who loves the pipes but gets tachy from drums.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Ah - you'd have preferred the Kathryn Tickell piece I posted yesterday better then...

[meaghann.livejournal.com]

If I can dream up crows doing magic, then biker mice are not much of a stretch :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Biker mice on super-bikes would certainly be fun to watch.

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

Byker mice sound like much fun, a very tittilating thought.

Albannach are great, it would be hard to stay still with that drumming. I was fascinated by the length of their kilts, but they would certainly be much warmer than the knee length version.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that some of the elements of the mice conversation might be lost for you depending on which TV shows are seen where - Biker Mice from Mars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biker_Mice_from_Mars) were around in the 190s - whereas Byker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byker) is an area of Newcastle - quite near where I lived for some years, and also near where my husband comes from.

Albannach wear traditional belted plaids of the type that were banned by George the 2nd; a length of material gathered by hand (kilted) and held in place around the waist with the leather belt, rather than the 'dress kilt' which was invented in the nineteenth century, with the stitched-in pleats.

You can take the 'end' bit of plaid and wrap it over your shoulder, too, if it is very cold! It is the type of kilt worn by re-enactment societies etc.

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

The reference to Biker Mice did go over my head. It probably never made it to Australia. I'm learning a lot from you, I didn't know about Byker either. Not to mention, that the information about the kilts was also interesting. Looking at Albannach reminded me that once upon a time most men wore some sort of dress, rather than trousers.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! Thanks for giving us a bit more.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

My pleasure!

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

I had already seen this video before, and loved it to bits. It's a great video, and they're a great group.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I love where they are playing in this almost as much as what they are playing!

[wormwood-7.livejournal.com]

Very energetic performance:) The Scott Monument is a monstrosity peculiar feature in the city landscape. A Zeppelin or two is exactly what it needs.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The Scott Monument is... well it is certainly a feature of the cityscape.

[makd.livejournal.com]

They're fantastic!!!! They remind me a bit of two of my favorite groups, Les Tambours du Bronx (http://www.myspace.com/tamboursdubronx) and TAO Drums of Japan (http://www.drum-tao.com/en/) and the two soundtrack CDs from Battlestar Galactica. I have their CDs and listen to 'em all the time.

Thank you for the download link; you are the best!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the link, too! I have heard the TAO Drums before but not Les Tambours - and I do like stuff with that deep beat behind it!

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

I like the long kilts. Very sensible in the north. :)
That monoment would make a great set for an episode of Dr. Who.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are very like the older, more traditional, kilts - a length of fabric gathered and held in place with a thick leather belt - and certainly a sensible length. The long heavy boots help in the winter, too, I would think!

The Scott Monument is right in the very heart of Edinburgh, but people usually show it with the grass on one side of it, where Albannach are playing, rather than the main shopping street which is at the other side of it. This picture (http://www.arrakeen.ch/uk2002/020%20%20Sir%20Walter%20Scott%20monument.JPG) does give you more idea, though - I'm not sure they could close enough space around it to film an episode of Dr Who... although you are absolutely right.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Here i was picturing Ralph, from the Beverly Cleary novel (http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Mouse-Collection-Beverly-Cleary/dp/0064410048/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1336464573&sr=8-2) (a childhood favorite of my sister and I) and you went and took it in a whole different direction.

Really fun video, though I was a little worried that the one guy was going to dance right out of his kilt for a minute there... I'll bet their fun live!

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Those aren't kilts. There are rules about the pleats that have to be followed for it to be a kilt. Those are tartan skirts.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Oh - I hadn't come across Ralph before - he looks fun.

Actually, despite what Tales says in her comment, I would say they are definitely kilts - they are in the style of the original kilted plaid worn by highlanders for hundreds of years - the garment outlawed by George 2nd.

The Victorians set the 'rules' for how many pleats there should be in the formal, stitched, 'gentleman's' version that we see today sold as kilts - but they would have been looked on as a rather effete and useless garment by the seventeenth century highlanders who would have undone their leather belts that held the plaid 'kilted' and use it as a blanket.

These guys grew from the re-enactment scene, and also see the formalised kilt as a sign of the sanitisation of history by the English overlords...

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

You know they have a booking form there. Maybe you could book them for Writercon...

Re: Byker Mice, please no... When Ant and Dec start voicing cartoons we'll never escape them.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Can you see them in a hotel in Coventry? Would you come if we did?

And you are quite right - they would doubtless get Ant & Dec to voice th Byker Mice. Pity.

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely consider it, and if they'll go from Scotland to the US for a gig, then surely Coventry isn't so much to ask - and now you've made me want to listen to The Men They Couldn't Hang.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Hmm, they don't have anything scheduled for August, so I think I'll pass this on to the Irish Faire organizers and see if they might fit them into the schedule on the fly. I'll also tell a friend of mine in Colorado to watch for them in September. Lovely fun!

- Erulisse (one L)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

and see if they might fit them into the schedule on the fly.

Oh - wouldn't that be fun? I do hope you can manage it!

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Whenever I see 'use Tiny MCE' as an option when uploading to archives I have a mental image of my every word being entered on tiny keyboards by tiny mice.

Exactly the image that leaped to my mind when I started reading your sentence!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think, sometimes, that I should Google it to see what it actually means - but I don't really want to lose that mental image!