Highland Heartbeat

**Malcolm MacWilliam** · 1st March 09, 08:06 AM

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** · 1st March 09, 03:53 PM

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** · 2nd March 09, 05:46 AM

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** · 7th March 09, 10:45 PM

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** · 7th March 09, 11:04 PM

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

I'm going to record.

**macwilkin** · 8th March 09, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by 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

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** · 9th March 09, 07:38 AM

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** · 9th March 09, 10:00 AM

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

**Mael Coluim** · 11th March 09, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by cajunscot

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

Quite a Jim Malcolm fan club here! I met Jim, wife Suzie and kids at Grandfather's Mountain this year. If you don't have his latest CD the songs of Robert Burns, I highly recommend it.

**Tim Little** · 11th March 09, 08:32 PM

I have to say I watched this with pretty low expectations, but it wasn't too bad. Some pretty scenery to start with, anyway.

The Burns songs were definitely the highlight of the performance -- though I'll be forever spoiled by Eddi Reader's wonderful renditions -- and I always get a bit misty whenever I hear "Loch Lomond".

I'll jump right on board the Jim Malcolm bandwagon -- saw him live a couple of times previously with Old Blind Dogs -- though the hand gestures in "Rantin' Rovin' Robin" got to be a bit much for me, he has a fantastic voice. He and Darren MacLean did a great version of The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", and MacLean's mouth music medley was masterful.

The ladies were all in very good voice, in particular Maureen MacMullan -- who is presently studying here in Boston at Berklee College of Music and was WGBH's special fundraising guest tonight.

Music aside, the production seemed a bit campy -- Brigadoon-esque? -- and I wasn't crazy about certain song selections. As some have mentioned previously, the Scottish connections for some were tenuous at best. There was a pleasant version of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" for instance, but having just seen Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel perform the same song literally minutes before on 'GBH's broadcast of "Paul Simon and Friends" -- well, there's nothing like the original.

To keep this review somewhat on topic, I have to say that I wasn't particularly offended by the kilts. The lads switched between a Howie Nicholsby/TFCK concoction that pushed the fashion envelope a bit beyond my taste, and more traditional garb that seemed perfectly fine -- aside from the dreaded cream hose. I believe I spied Jim Malcolm in a pair of those fine Glenfinnan buckle shoes at one point -- though he was wearing breeks at the time. On the whole, however, it seemed to me that the ladies generally had it far worse from a wardrobe standpoint!

"Highland Heartbeat" will be coming live to Boston in September. I'm not likely to go -- I'm not even likely to buy the DVD or CD for that matter -- but I wouldn't consider this evening wasted watching the performance on TV, as long as I had an idea what I was in for.