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New York Tartan Week -
2005 |
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Diary:
FRIDAY APRIL 1ST
19.30 BST - Concert in Albert Halls, Stirling. Great concert, great atmosphere, but we really are April Fools for arranging a concert the night before Tartan Day as our schedule is very tight.
23.20 BST – Leave Albert Halls for Jamie’s house where I’m going to stay the night as it is closer to Edinburgh Airport than Greenock.
SATURDAY APRIL 2ND
00.10 BST – Arrive in Jamie’s, quick cup of tea and pack cases, transferring Stirling concert gear into case.
00. 45 BST – Bed (at last!)
03.45 BST – Get up, get shower and get to airport.
05.00 BST – Check-in at Edinburgh Airport for flight to London.
06.30 BST – Board on time, but plane sits at the side of the runway for 55 minutes because of London air traffic control.
08.40 BST – Plane finally lands in London. Ground staff make heroic efforts to help us make the 09.30 connection to JFK, but to no avail : we miss the flight and are put on standby for the next one. It looks almost certain that we will miss the Tartan Day parade where we are supposed to be singing!
11.30 BST – Finally take-off for New York, and, to make up for the disappointment of missing the Tartan Day parade, we get an upgrade. Michael weeps with unadulterated joy !
12.00 EST – Land at JFK. Approximately 1,500 people at US immigration – we will never make the 1pm parade without a miracle.
12.15 EST – Jamie performs a miracle by blagging an immigration official to take us right to the front of the queue.
12.30 EST – Having just gone up a ladder by jumping the immigration queue, we slide back down a snake because they have lost Ivan’s case ! This delays us by around 40 minutes.
13.10 EST – Finally in a big yellow taxi, we head for Manhattan Island and the junction of 6th Ave and 57th where our double decker bus is waiting for us, along with most of Scotland’s Lord Provosts and Provosts, Neil Ross our REL Records producer (with his video camera which he is using to make a Caledon documentary) and our North American stalwarts, the fabulous Peg and Bill Dunlop (who followed us last year all the way to the Sydney Opera House and the Edinburgh Festival).
14.15 EST – Clutching our luggage and dodging the police cordons, we finally reach the parade bus, and jump on as we are being announced over the PA system. One minute after arriving on the bus we are rocking NY with I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), much to the delight of the Rt. Hon Liz Cameron, Lord Provost of Glasgow who does a Caledon-inspired jig in the middle of the avenue !
14.30 EST – End of the parade and we head to our hotel on 43rd and 3rd to check-in and have a shower and forty winks before heading out to Grand Central Station for our next gig.
17.30 EST – Walk to Grand Central to perform in the Scottish Village, Vanderbilt Hall at a reception given by the Provosts and Lord Provosts of Scotland. Here we meet up with some old Caledon friends, including Liz Cameron (Lord Provost of Glasgow), Colin O’Brien (Provost of Stirling), Fiona Kennedy (founder of Tartan TV) and her delightful daughter Hannah, Gus Noble (President of the St Andrew Society of Illinois, where we are honorary members) and Alan J Bain (President of the American Scottish Foundation). Not for the first time, the sound engineers are disastrous and my microphone is NOT on ! Dagnabbit ! I am not pleased, to say the least, but at least the food is good ! In any case, we steal the show with 500 Miles and make LOTS of new contact
s.
19.30 EST – Head back to hotel for some well-earned rest and try to re-adjust our body clocks in preparation for tomorrow’s concert, and (more importantly) tomorrow’s visit to the Comfort Diner for a real NY breakfast!
SUNDAY APRIL 3RD
09.30 EST – Caledon stride out as one in the company of Peg, Bill, Neil and Irish Tenor Ronan Tynan, for a real American breakfast at NY’s famous Comfort Diner. There is no messing as Neil and I go straight for the “Gutbustin’, Lumberjack Special” : 8oz steak; 2 eggs, over easy; 2 sausages; 4 strips of crispy bacon; fried potatoes; 4 American blueberry pancakes with maple syrup; 4 slices of white toast; one glass of orange juice and several cups of tea. The others content themselves with much of the same (minus the pancakes) and 90 minutes later we stagger back to the hotel to prepare for our train journey to Connecticut.
12.00 EST – We walk the short distance to Grand Central and board the train for the 50 minute journey.
13.30 EST – Arrive in Redding, CT. where the lovely Luanne Stoner, who has organised our concert, meets us in the big, black Cherokee. The concert is a first for us as we have never played to a non-Scots audience : even though we have played many concerts abroad, they have normally been for audiences full of people who wish to celebrate their Scottish roots ; this is not the case here as they are mostly of English extraction !!!!!
16.00 EST – Concert in Redding Centre begins with The Star Spangled Banner. Audience goes crazy for our blockbusting arrangement and it sets the tone for the rest of the concert – quite frankly, they LOVE us! Great friends from Greenock, Tom and Betty Glancy are in the audience along with their daughter Lisa. Also in the audience are my brother-in-law and his wife, Dr. and Mrs. Laurence Kirwan with their daughters (my nieces Felicity and Lilibet) and my sister-in-law Fenella Pearson.
20.00 EST – Back on the train to Manhattan and then with Ivan to Ronan’s flat where we promised to come and hear his new album which is number two in the crossover charts. Ronan has played me tracks from the album a number of times down the phone, but this is the first time I’ve heard it in the flesh, and it sounds fabulous. The Universal guys have really captured his sound and done a great mixing job – Neil Ross take note for our new album in September !
MONDAY APRIL 4TH
01.30 EST – Too late and too tired to go back to the hotel, we crash at Ronan’s pad.
09.30 EST – Breakfast at the Comfort Diner but this time we content ourselves with just 4 strips of bacon; 2 eggs over easy; 2 sausages; fried potatoes; 4 white toast; orange juice and tea – no room for pancakes today !
12.00 EST – Reception hosted by Caledon buddy Colin O’Brien, the Provost of Stirling, where we perform Scots Wha’ Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled : very suitable since the reception has been organised to introduce the American people to William Wallace’s sword, brought over from the Wallace Monument and its first time outside Scotland for more than 800 years. Many dignitaries are in attendance from both Scotland and the US, including many well-known (although, not by me) NY politicians from the Mayor’s office. Voice feels a little tired – a mixture of jet-lag, yesterday’s concert and late night malt whisky drinking with Ronan ! Silly boy ; when will I ever learn?
14.00 EST – Back to hotel for a siesta in preparation for the very exhausting evening ahead – no singing ; just eating. We are to pay a visit to the world-famous Grand Central Station Oyster Bar. I’ve been once before, and I am so looking forward to it. In fact it’s one of the reasons I had such a small breakfast this morning !
19.00 EST – We walk the short distance from our hotel to the Oyster Bar and have a fabulous evening. As an aperitif we order Gins and Tonic all round and peruse the magnificent menu. I plump for half a dozen oysters followed by the special – a huge seafood platter. We create a bit of a disturbance by being unable to control our laughter at Michael’s (now) legendary comment : normally kosher (although Michael lives by the maxim D.C.O.T. – Doesn’t Count On Tour) Michael has plumped for some soft shell crabs. He informs us, with a perplexed look, “I’m not quite convinced that I’m eating all the correct bits”. It transpires he has eaten every last bit of the crabs, including shells and claws !
22.00 EST – We stagger back to the hotel. Silly boy ; when will I ever learn?
TUESDAY APRIL 5TH
09.00 EST – Comfort Diner : you can guess the rest !
11.00 EST – Jamie and Neil visit Radio City Music Hall and have a meeting with the management. Neil would love to put on a show starring Scotland’s most famous tenors in this, NY’s most famous theatre. Ivan, Michael and I visit Ronan’s manager with the big man himself also in attendance.
15.00 EST – Back to the hotel to get ready for tonight’s performance at the Waldorf Astoria : The Icons of Scotland Awards Dinner.
18.30 EST – Presented by Caledon fan Fred McCauley the Icon Awards are being given to various famous Scots including Alan Cumming and Nicola Benedetti. Nicola can’t be there (shame as we have performed at a lot of functions together and she is a lovely girl and a great laugh) but both Alan and Fred record little messages for our documentary saying how fabulous we are and various other downright lies – they’ll do anything for a pint ! Most exciting for Michael and me is that we are sharing the bill (and our table) with our heroines, Fascinating Aida. Both Michael and I have their recordings at home and we think they rock ! Dilly Kean, who is the founder of “the old bag” (her term for F.A.) is a complete riot, and immediately informs us, “You would be huge in Berlin cabaret, darling!” and she will call her friend Lutz, who runs the Tipi-das-Zelt, (Berlin’s top cabaret venue) and tell him to book us. To be honest, so much alcohol has been drunk (silly boy : when will I ever learn?) that I take Dilly’s comment with a pinch of salt. In any case, in the words of Fred McCauley, Caledon rocked yet again !
23.30 EST – Return to the hotel via Roxy’s delicatessen on Broadway, where Caledon devour the world’s largest sandwiches. Michael’s is so huge that when the sandwich has beaten him into submission, it looks exactly the same size as it was when it was brought to the table ! This optical illusion confuses us so much that we forget to order cheesecake ! Surely I can’t come to NY and leave without having had cheesecake, can I?
THURSDAY APRIL 6TH
08.30 EST – Need you ask?
09.30 EST – Taxi to Hanover Square which used to lie in the shadow of the World Trade Centre. This, for me, is the most important event of our week. The British Memorial Garden in the square is being created by the UK as a gift to the good people of New York. It is a garden of remembrance and reflection in honour of the British victims of 9/11, of which there were many. The garden will consist of materials brought from all over the British Isles, and today the first Scottish materials are to be presented to the B.M.G. by The Earl of Caithness. Caithness Stone will be piped into the garden and we will sing some suitable music – quite an honour, we feel, as it is the first of Scotland’s many contributions to the project and we have been invited to contribute in our small way. Hundreds of people gather in the square, mostly in kilts, but also many ordinary New Yorkers are there. The local construction workers, who are making the usual building noise, down tools for the duration of the ceremony in honour of the event and the atmosphere has a wonderful sense of togetherness. A great day !
13.00 EST – Taxi to the Copacabana Club for a sound check for tonight’s Dressed to Kilt event. An honest mix-up with the organiser Geoffrey Carroll about our choice of repertoire makes the atmosphere tense, but we persuade Geoffrey to agree (reluctantly) to our choice of song : we know from experience that it is the right one.
15.00 EST – Back to hotel to change.
17.00 EST – Taxi to the Upper East Side where we are to sing at a reception for Sir Phillip Thomas, at the British Consulate in NY. Everybody who is anybody is there, including Scots Parliament Presiding Officer, George Reid, First Secretary of Scottish Affairs at the British Embassy in Washington DC, Susan Stewart, former Scotland and British Lions star Scott Hastings and Lady Connery (sans 007). Even if I say so myself, we sing magnificently ! Caledon unplugged, no mics, just Michael at a Steinway baby grand and our voices, and boy, we really make a statement with Burns’ hymn to the common man, A Man’s A Man For A’ That. There are more than a few tears in the eyes of the audience, and I must confess to a degree of dampness in the old eye department myself. However, no time to waste – we must say our farewells and hail yet another cab, back to the Copacabana for the fashion show.
19.00 EST – Dressed to Kilt is a crazy idea : a fashion show, full of the beautiful people, based only on kilts. We wear our wacky, orange, luminescent, lion rampant kilts, but we are made to look very pedestrian by some of the creations on display, including a polythene, see-through kilt that leaves nothing to the imagination, and positively cries out for more condensation to help cover the modesty of the “true Scotsman” who is wearing it ! Our turn comes and the backing-track for 500 Miles pumps out loudly from the house speakers. We parade up and down the cat-walk and D.T.K. judge Fred McCauley stuffs a dollar bill down my sock. Sorry Fred, I’m not that cheap ! Fellow judge, Micheline Connery is going crazy for our performance and gives us full marks. And, guess what – our choice of repertoire is proven right as Caledon win Best Live Act 2005 (and the crate of Johnnie Walker Gold Label that goes with it) !
FRIDAY APRIL 7TH
01.30 EST – Staggering into yet another cab (silly boys – when will we ever learn?) we head back to the hotel and our beds, covered in glory and lipstick (and that was just from the male models !), but disaster strikes as I realise I am deficient in the kilt department to the tune of one ! My Scottish National tartan kilt has been packed away with the other creations (including the sweaty polythene one, no doubt). I’ll have to sort that out when I get back to Scotland.
09.00 EST – We say a fond farewell to the Comfort Diner with one last huge breakfast and check out of our hotel. Ronan has kindly invited us to chill out at his apartment as our flight won’t leave until around 8pm and so we head uptown in yet another cab.
13.00 EST – Ronan takes us for lunch to his “local” a fabulous bar / restaurant named Bobby Vans, where Sinatra and the Rat Pack used to hang out. An Irish friend of Ronan’s owns the place, and we are made to feel very welcome by a number of his poker playing pals, and introduced to some very interesting cocktails (silly boy … etc).
17.00 EST – The final cab of our Tartan Week trip arrives to take us back to JFK and we board the London flight, gutted at the lack of an upgrade. Yes folks, it’s sardine class once again, but at least the plane is not busy and on the flight back I always try to sleep. I find a whole empty row and the back of the plane and stretch out, with my ear plugs in, for a nice long snooze.
08.30 BST – Touch-down in Heathrow and connection back to Edinburgh. It’s good to be home. I look forward, more than anything after a trip away to getting into my own bed : there really is nothing like it ! All, in all a very enjoyable and successful trip which will, I’m sure lead to lots of possibilities. Now it’s back to reality again and possibly Weightwatchers and Alcoholics Anonymous !
Alan
P.S. When I eventually, get to check my e-mails, I find that there is one from a guy called Lutz from Berlin. |
| Author:
Alan Beck - Tenor |
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