Fiddle, Accordion and Didgereedoo
As Chris, Jon's brother, said, Jon oozed music. John and "Fly me to the moon" are inextricably linked. He also often rendered "Let it snow", and "missed the saturday dance..." - But as Jon showed us ... there are many other ways to make music....
Lordhigh said...
One chapel service at School in my final year (1994/5), a small band had been put together to lead the school in singing a new "trendy" hymn. I believe the band was Bernadette Wong on the organ, Ben Grierson on guitar and Greg Coates on drums. Whoever was responsible for this idea had kindly distributed word sheets to everyone on arrival at chapel but Jon and I were the only people who knew the tune (due to finding it in Frankie Carleston's office a few days before).The play over started with Bernadette playing like she was wearing a pair of boxing gloves, Greg banging away exuberantly and Ben doing his best…..Then the singing began; Jon and I in full voice. The only problem being that Jon had decided to sing in the style of a rather bad Elvis impersonator which promptly reduced me (and the rest of the choir) to tears of laughter whereupon all singing stopped. The cacophony of Bernadette, Greg & Ben (sorry guys!) limped on to the bitter end, accompanied only by varying degrees of whimpering and full on belly roars of laughter from within the choir (with Elvis making the occasional, short lived comeback).
Oli said...
"Oh Jonah he lived in a whale. Oh Jonah he lived in a whale. Oh he made is home in that whale's ab-domin', Oh Jonah he lived in a whale." I can still hear Jon quoting these lyrics, and every time he gets to the 'ab-domin' part it makes me smile.
Squidstew said...
One of the last times I saw Jon was in his final year at Rossal, after he'd completed his A-levels. All the DC 6th formers seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the pubs of Cleveleys by the time I dropped in to visit from Uni. Who could forget hurtling up and down the prom between Clevleys and Rossal in a knackered old mini on a warm summer's evening, the windows down, the stereo up, and Jon sat in the back giving a perfect rendition of You Never Give Me Your Money?
Tom Turtle said...
the time when jon, wearing only his ever-present p-j trousers and an enormous fern leaf, in a small amphitheatre in some untraceable part of durham, at five in the morning after some ridiculous night, sang Dido's Lament in his perfect and beautiful falsetto.
Andy said...
Here's to you and your scaffold pole cum didgeridoo Jon.
Lord of the rim said...
Jon, mysterious ladies and myself dancing naked on a roman bridge while he was playing dirty acordeon.......
Benjamino said...
I'm pleased someone mentioned Jon's didgeridoo - a fine example of his ability to turn something mundane into something extraordinary and by coincidence capable of making very loud and ridiculous noises. Fly Me to the Moon was also one of his classic performances, but he also seemed to relish the civilised destructiveness of Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.
Adding to this...
Does anyone remember the full details of Jon's aquirement of an accordian? As far as I remember it, one afternoon in Port Sunlight, Jon came accross a man with an accordian. He started chatting and, being charmed by Jon, the man took him home and give him his own spare Accordian. It took Jon two weeks to teach himself to play....
I know he also started to learn Jewish folk tunes to play on his viola at weddings the weddings he was being comissioned to film.
Any other rememberances of Jon's music....?
Lordhigh said...
One chapel service at School in my final year (1994/5), a small band had been put together to lead the school in singing a new "trendy" hymn. I believe the band was Bernadette Wong on the organ, Ben Grierson on guitar and Greg Coates on drums. Whoever was responsible for this idea had kindly distributed word sheets to everyone on arrival at chapel but Jon and I were the only people who knew the tune (due to finding it in Frankie Carleston's office a few days before).The play over started with Bernadette playing like she was wearing a pair of boxing gloves, Greg banging away exuberantly and Ben doing his best…..Then the singing began; Jon and I in full voice. The only problem being that Jon had decided to sing in the style of a rather bad Elvis impersonator which promptly reduced me (and the rest of the choir) to tears of laughter whereupon all singing stopped. The cacophony of Bernadette, Greg & Ben (sorry guys!) limped on to the bitter end, accompanied only by varying degrees of whimpering and full on belly roars of laughter from within the choir (with Elvis making the occasional, short lived comeback).
Oli said...
"Oh Jonah he lived in a whale. Oh Jonah he lived in a whale. Oh he made is home in that whale's ab-domin', Oh Jonah he lived in a whale." I can still hear Jon quoting these lyrics, and every time he gets to the 'ab-domin' part it makes me smile.
Squidstew said...
One of the last times I saw Jon was in his final year at Rossal, after he'd completed his A-levels. All the DC 6th formers seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the pubs of Cleveleys by the time I dropped in to visit from Uni. Who could forget hurtling up and down the prom between Clevleys and Rossal in a knackered old mini on a warm summer's evening, the windows down, the stereo up, and Jon sat in the back giving a perfect rendition of You Never Give Me Your Money?
Tom Turtle said...
the time when jon, wearing only his ever-present p-j trousers and an enormous fern leaf, in a small amphitheatre in some untraceable part of durham, at five in the morning after some ridiculous night, sang Dido's Lament in his perfect and beautiful falsetto.
Andy said...
Here's to you and your scaffold pole cum didgeridoo Jon.
Lord of the rim said...
Jon, mysterious ladies and myself dancing naked on a roman bridge while he was playing dirty acordeon.......
Benjamino said...
I'm pleased someone mentioned Jon's didgeridoo - a fine example of his ability to turn something mundane into something extraordinary and by coincidence capable of making very loud and ridiculous noises. Fly Me to the Moon was also one of his classic performances, but he also seemed to relish the civilised destructiveness of Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.
Adding to this...
Does anyone remember the full details of Jon's aquirement of an accordian? As far as I remember it, one afternoon in Port Sunlight, Jon came accross a man with an accordian. He started chatting and, being charmed by Jon, the man took him home and give him his own spare Accordian. It took Jon two weeks to teach himself to play....
I know he also started to learn Jewish folk tunes to play on his viola at weddings the weddings he was being comissioned to film.
Any other rememberances of Jon's music....?
posted by Thrine at 12:04 pm
1 Comments:
Thrine,
Yes I remember the accordian aquiring incident well. He got it from a bloke that he had met through a friend that he drank with in the Bridge Inn in Port Sunlight. The guy was a musician, who played the accordian and Jon had had a go doing some sessions, playing the fiddle, round at the house with another guy who played the flute. After a few weeks Jon towed up with the accordian that he'd bought from from this accordianist as he was moving to North Wales to get married and needed the cash (it all seemed a bit sudden). Jon had no idea how to play it, so we spent the rest of the evening both having a go, squarking away. The next three weeks was very noisy. Jon would spend most of the day and evening playing it and even, most nights, fall asleep with it on the couch. Essentially, he taught himself whilst nearly driving me round the bend...
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