Highland Heartbeat

[Malcolm MacWilliam]

Maybe this should b moved to another forum? Tonight in my area of south central PA, on PBS, Highland Heartbeat with Fiona Kennedy of Tartan TV hosting musical performances, etc. from Scotland. I'll be tuning in!

AND, how does one get Tartan TV? I looked at listings of shows, they look very interesting. Probably can only receive with satellite?

Malcolm MacWm.
42nd,77th Highland Regts., GrenCoy
ASM British Brigade
www.britishbrigade.org
www.muskets-of-the-crown.org

[LadyGriffin]

We had it here last night.

It was not what we had expected. Only about half of the songs were even Scottish. Good music though. Great hearing some Gaelic being sung.

The outfits for the ladies had a lot to be desired. Lots of Kilt "don'ts". And backlighting them when they walked down the isles was a definate NO-NO!

They said that the show was going on tour, and would be in MPLS MN in Sept. May have to spring for tickets on that one...

Julie

[Malcolm MacWilliam]

Lady: You are "right on" with your critique of Highland Heartbeat. I found myself flipping channels between it and Return of the King (which I've seen several times!). However, the traditional music that was played was good (i.e. Rantin' Rovin' Robin), Highland scenery is always worthwhile, and I was happy to see Jim Malcolm!! Jim was in Harrisburg, PA about two years ago which is only a few miles up the road from me and I saw him in a very small concert. Although he plays some contemporary stuff, I enjoy his accent and the harmonica/guitar combo.

Malcolm

[SteveB]

Highland Heartbeat made it to New Hampshire Public Television as part of their fund raising programme. The ladies outfits were horrible at best. The show was very U.S. oriented in its presentation. A small amount of Scottish music, and a very tacky stage presentation at times. All of the young singers (male and female in white shirt, black trousers and poorly displayed tartan neckties. The only piping was three people with pipes during a small part at the end. It sounded like a digitized piper was the audio and the three pipers were just window dressing. Most of the kilt wearing would be good for the don't thread.
This was followed by "Visions Scotland" an aerial tour of Scotland. I was hoping for some of Alex's beautiful work, but was disappointed with the shots taken by helicopter. In one ground section the host goes into a shop on the Royal Mile and comes out with a kilt, U.S. style tux shirt, a clip bow tie, white hose, badly placed flashes, an Argyle cut waistcoat, with a Prince Charlie Coatee, over sized evening Sporran, and ghillies laced totally wrong. ( The kilt hire gone wrong). The only "do" was there was no kilt belt. It was interesting to see the expressions on the faces of the local people that walked by in the background. They were probably laughing as hard as I was. The friend I was watching this with saved it on the DVR, so that we can go back and investigate the real parts (if any) of the two shows. BTW the DVDs were made by a New York Station in 2005.

[wnblair]

They are going to show it on Milwaukee public television next Wednesday the 11th.

I'm going to record.

[macwilkin]

Lady: You are "right on" with your critique of Highland Heartbeat. I found myself flipping channels between it and Return of the King (which I've seen several times!). However, the traditional music that was played was good (i.e. Rantin' Rovin' Robin), Highland scenery is always worthwhile, and I was happy to see Jim Malcolm!! Jim was in Harrisburg, PA about two years ago which is only a few miles up the road from me and I saw him in a very small concert. Although he plays some contemporary stuff, I enjoy his accent and the harmonica/guitar combo.

Malcolm

Aye, I saw Jim this past September at the SW Missouri Celtic Festival. Jim was passing through on his way to St. Louis, and played a special concert on Friday evening. I was very impressed with his stage presence, style and passion, especially for the works of Burns. His CD of the latter is excellent! To top that off, he's a very nice fellow and a fisherman tae boot!

Hopefully he will be back in our "neck o' the woods" soon.

Regards,

Todd

[Jimmy]

I read an article in the Scottish Sunday Post that was very critical of this programme saying it was more or less an embarassment to American viewers

[pastorsteve]

I saw it on this weekend and kept going as I thought it was yet another Irish touring dance/song troupe.

[beowulf67]

I saw this on our PBS station this weekend during their fundraiser. They did have a local piper in the studio with them and at the end mentioned he would be at the Highland games we are having in June.
So that as a nice little bit of free advertising for us.

[Tim Little]

For those in the Boston area, this will be on 'GBH 2 tonight from 9 to 10:30.

Given the above reviews, I'll still probably put it on for a bit and see how long I can take it.