Ceroc Scorch at Southport 2014
There's a time and place for a new song - and as we heard with Tone Damli Aaberges' "Forty Years" - DJs across the land will given have a chance play soft sentimental crowd pleasers until your ears bleed. So it was with the Ed Sheeran "I See Fire" hobbitually played throughout Scorch this weekend - it's a nice tune and DJs will respond to it's ability to render a room compliant, engulfed in Sheeran's maudlin lyrics which are about as banal as they come. I hope it has a shorter half-life than the uniquely reflective Damli vehicle of bless'd memory.
That observation aside it was a grand weekend away - sun, wine, food, socialising and a certain amount of dancing.
The Ceroc team did well in preparing the weekender for a series of downpours which swept the country in no fixed pattern and left us surprised by sun when it came. The humidity did cause some problems in some of the dance rooms. We were struggling in the Chill Ourt room until Stu Bassie deployed his biggest fan on the job. Once in place this behemoth threatened to blow the svelte WCS dancers off course. More substantial jivers simply clung to the bar.
Nor did the rain spoil many parties and barbeques and random acts of sunbathing. It felt for the first time in some years like a summer weekender. And there was some relief in the cooling effect of the rain - even if the combination of humidity and over-use had the Mian Room smelling like a rugby players kit bag.
The vast majority of DJ's had crowds of folk dancing their shoes and socks off. To my ear once more there was more adventure in the music when the rooms were less full: though I missed a lot of afternoon sets due to illness and tiredness. Some stick to middle of the road - a dangerous place in my view - and one would have thought that while this might do in afternoon slots, the later night should be where music is adventurous as it happened it showed too little variety, hampered without a doubt by the absence of Sheena Assiph's brand of uplift - she beats as she sweeps as she cleans. Only Kevin Sambridge's set seemed to take a view that musical drama can be balanced with melodies we all know. It was the best of the Chill Out sets I heard.
Gary Stubbs wowed us in his Sack the DJ set full of that euphoric pizzaz we associate with Gary's dancing. And in the early evening Roger Brent and Simon Pius repeated their Camber success and it's great to know they have bags more tunes in the tank. That said a laurel, and hardy handshake, must go to Jamie Eddy who took us from the aforementioned Hobbitual tune to Maverick Sabre and way beyond in a dazzling set of contrasts and power. A more generous DJ would let us see his playlist but Eddy is mean, canny and under-valued. You should never, I'm told, work for nothing...long may his secrets remain just that.
That Ceroc can celebrate so many competition winners amongst their teachers is surely a great thing for them - not least because one of them makes it onto the advertising of a competitors event. That those who won the Grand Masters title this year are forgotten is regrettable - Jen Hoy and Gary Stubbs deserve full recognition for their efforts.
People enjoyed the sun and the rain, meat was incinerated, corks popped on champagne, music played so loudly at late night parties that they were shut down, beaches were walked in the sunshine and floors were covered in dancers. No big deal if it wasn't perfect - severiously - they never are, but this was a good 'un.
There's a time and place for a new song - and as we heard with Tone Damli Aaberges' "Forty Years" - DJs across the land will given have a chance play soft sentimental crowd pleasers until your ears bleed. So it was with the Ed Sheeran "I See Fire" hobbitually played throughout Scorch this weekend - it's a nice tune and DJs will respond to it's ability to render a room compliant, engulfed in Sheeran's maudlin lyrics which are about as banal as they come. I hope it has a shorter half-life than the uniquely reflective Damli vehicle of bless'd memory.
That observation aside it was a grand weekend away - sun, wine, food, socialising and a certain amount of dancing.
The Ceroc team did well in preparing the weekender for a series of downpours which swept the country in no fixed pattern and left us surprised by sun when it came. The humidity did cause some problems in some of the dance rooms. We were struggling in the Chill Ourt room until Stu Bassie deployed his biggest fan on the job. Once in place this behemoth threatened to blow the svelte WCS dancers off course. More substantial jivers simply clung to the bar.
Nor did the rain spoil many parties and barbeques and random acts of sunbathing. It felt for the first time in some years like a summer weekender. And there was some relief in the cooling effect of the rain - even if the combination of humidity and over-use had the Mian Room smelling like a rugby players kit bag.
The vast majority of DJ's had crowds of folk dancing their shoes and socks off. To my ear once more there was more adventure in the music when the rooms were less full: though I missed a lot of afternoon sets due to illness and tiredness. Some stick to middle of the road - a dangerous place in my view - and one would have thought that while this might do in afternoon slots, the later night should be where music is adventurous as it happened it showed too little variety, hampered without a doubt by the absence of Sheena Assiph's brand of uplift - she beats as she sweeps as she cleans. Only Kevin Sambridge's set seemed to take a view that musical drama can be balanced with melodies we all know. It was the best of the Chill Out sets I heard.
That Ceroc can celebrate so many competition winners amongst their teachers is surely a great thing for them - not least because one of them makes it onto the advertising of a competitors event. That those who won the Grand Masters title this year are forgotten is regrettable - Jen Hoy and Gary Stubbs deserve full recognition for their efforts.
Comments
Post a Comment