Just watching/listening to the Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero playing this at the Proms.
The opening chords were as impressive as I expected, but then there seemed to be something missing.
Soon, I realised I had been subconsciously waiting for that Eric Morecambe moment. But she appears to be playing all the right notes, and in the right order.
I wonder if André Preview is watching.
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>> I wonder if André Preview is watching.
Who's he? Is he related to André Previn?
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Stick, wrong, end.
Preview is what Eric called him.
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>> >> I wonder if André Preview is watching.
>>
>> Who's he? Is he related to André Previn?
>>
It's Andy Preview anyway.
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Well I'll have missed that because I was one year old at the time of that show. A forget there's some older people on here.
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>> Well I'll have missed that because I was one year old at the time of
>> that show. A forget there's some older people on here.
>>
And don't you forget it you young Whippersnapper! o:-)
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>> Soon, I realised I had been subconsciously waiting for that Eric Morecambe moment.
Or maybe Les Dawson.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nNGlaiVypU
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Talking of comedians, I had the strangest experience the other night. But now I've started typing it I realise nobody else will be interested. So I'll stop.
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Don't be annoying Crankcase. Be a sport. Let's see it.
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I've enjoyed making Sweet Music In A Flat...:-)
Last edited by: Stuartli on Thu 25 Aug 16 at 14:23
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Yes, you're right AC - stupid post and if I could delete it now I would, but since I can't I'll tell you the feeble anecdote, but I will attempt to be succinct.
When I was about seven my dad told me a little story. I thought it was horrible. Then when I was ten he died and one of the things I was left with as a memory, of course, was the horrible story. Skip the maudlin stuff coming up and jump to the story at the end if you want.
I have mentioned said story to a number of people in later years, and they all generally agreed it was a horrible story for a little boy to be told by his Dad, and whatever was he thinking, and how strange, and so on.
Then the other night, I was listening to Spotify, and had it playing random stuff, and it was British radio comedians. One of them was someone I didn't know before, called Issy Bonn. And at the end of the routine, he told the same story.
It was a very odd experience. Firstly odd hearing the darned thing told at all, and I hadn't imagined the whole thing. And then realising my Dad had obviously heard this comedy routine, and told it to me as a joke, thinking I would get it, which I didn't. I had no idea until now that was so.
So now it's no longer a horrible story, it's a very feeble joke, and also, now I know, after 45 years, what he was thinking. A whole new light on him and that event. Just goes to show something or other I expect.
The story.
A Dad put his son on the top of the wardrobe and said "come on son, jump. I'll catch you". And the boy jumped, and the Dad let him fall and he broke his leg. And the Dad said "There you go son, never trust anyone, especially a relative."
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That's a good story Crankcase. Yours I mean, not the 'joke' which I suspect I don't fully get.
Issy Bonn rang a bell, but I had to look him up.
www.britishpathe.com/video/issy-bonn-the-famous-hebrew-comedian-1
I'd say that joke was one of his better ones:) Not a bad singer though.
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Well, the same session threw me Suzette Tarri doing "The New Butcher's", which I was much happier with. I quite liked that and I hadn't heard of her, either.
I can't find the full thing for non-signed up to stuff services, but a 30 second preview is here:
www.deezer.com/track/12369510
To put you out of any minor misery, due to the extraordinarily unfortunate timing of the 30 second cutoff, the completion of the sentence is "pound of pork sausages through the letterbox".
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>> A Dad put his son on the top of the wardrobe and said "come on son, jump. I'll catch you". And the boy jumped, and the Dad let him fall and he broke his leg. And the Dad said "There you go son, never trust anyone, especially a relative."
My own father used to tell a very similar story. Small world...
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>> My own father used to tell a very similar story. Small world...
Were you sophisticated enough to appreciate it was meant to be humour, AC, unlike me, who was faintly traumatised and thought it some sort of veiled threat?
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>> Were you sophisticated enough to appreciate it was meant to be humour, AC, unlike me, who was faintly traumatised and thought it some sort of veiled threat?
I did realise it was a joke, but didn't think it was very funny. A bit too grown-up and grim for a ten-year-old.
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>>
>>
>> I did realise it was a joke, but didn't think it was very funny. A
>> bit too grown-up and grim for a ten-year-old.
>>
Perhaps crankcase's father didn't realise it was a jewish joke, so failed to convey the underlying streak of self-mockery and literal irony? It's hard to appreciate them without an acquired taste.
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>> Perhaps crankcase's father didn't realise it was a jewish joke,
Now you mention it, it does sound a bit Rabbi Lionel Blue as I suppose it well might.
My favourite Rabbi Blue joke, or at least the one I remember, concerns a man who collapsed on the stage during a theatre performance. A doctor jumped up and examined him, pronouncing him dead.
A little old lady stood up in the balcony, shouting "Give him an enema!".
The doctor explained "He's dead, so it won't do him any good".
Shouted little old lady "Well it won't do him any harm!"
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>>
>> My favourite Rabbi Blue joke,
I'd forgotten him - thanks for the reminder of some good chuckles.
Another good teller was Milton Shulman and his imaginary character Goldberg.
Another favourite, I can't remember where from, concerned a man knocked down by a bus in Stamford Hill. A bystander stopped to tend to him, and wrapping him in his coat to keep him warm asked "Are you comfortable?"
No, replied the man, but it's a living.
They might all sound a bit heartless, scary, or not very funny to a child not familiar with the nuances.
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Or maybe Les Dawson.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nNGlaiVypU
Although Les claimed in his dubious (not exactly true..) autobiography to have been a pianist in a Parisian brothel, he did make his living at some point in his early days by piano playing. Sad to see it described as 'off key' playing when in fact it was far cleverer than that label implies. Firstly, he'd play the first few notes quite correctly, then at the first climax, would flatten the chord and continue from there. He could do it to anything, and always gave the impression it came very easily but he did have a gift for knowing exactly which parts of a piece to attack, and which bits to leave as written.
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Playing an instrument out of tune is actually much harder than it would appear.
Victor Borge - a superb pianist - was another who used the piano to great effect in his comedy routines.
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I think it's a lovely story Crankcase, and so true.
Your Dad was trying to warn you that everyone is not as they seem, but didn't realise you were too young to understand the message.
How sad you were never able to ask him what he meant instead of that misunderstanding for so many years.
So glad you've found the answer at last.
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Thu 25 Aug 16 at 16:56
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>>
>> Your Dad was trying to warn you that everyone is not as they seem, but
>> didn't realise you were too young to understand the message.
>>
I don't think that was the point of the joke, rather the point was there was no point, other than satirising some bizarre streaks in parents. What might have worked on the music hall stage lost something in the retelling I feel.
But I agree it's an interesting tale and conundrum, posing the question, why?
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