Paul Franklin with Dire Straits: On The Night
Posted: 11 Aug 2005 4:03 am
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This is not news. It's a review of the DVD--thanks for the tip, Tony; I'm watching it again, and my girlfriend, to whom I'm married, over common law and time, would like to watch it again, it's that good.</font size="1" color="#8e236b"></p>
The trucks pull in, the load-in begins, the credits roll as the band gets off the bus, and as the stage is built in the classical age colisseum; the crowd begins to file in and a high drone comes from somewhere, punctuated with a beeping that sounds like the signal of a distant satellite, Calling Elvis, maybe an invocation of spirit (?) as Mark Knopfler and associates take the stage--and after the quiet cue of brushes on a snare, a series of four sixteenth-notes from an instrument not often seen on the rock stage. The notes pick up energy, like a train at full tilt, and Paul Franklin is too, already.
It's still daylight, you can see him play; he's focused, he's intent, Knopfler is cool, relaxed with the undeniability of the beat, and begins to soar over the train rolling down the steel tracks. And that's just intro. And there are those chords--and that high sound, and it's not lonesome--what's he doing? Look at those 32nd notes, listen to that! The camera lets us watch....
The Walk of Life takes on a country flavor for a moment; Mark Knopfler is smiling; this steel works very well. "On pedal steel... Paul Franklin!" He's on the back neck now, the one closest the audience.
Some of you will ask, what's he playing?
(Many of you will know). That's like asking me what kind of dress Jackie O was wearing. It's a D-10, with a row of four toggles between necks, eight-pointed stars for fretboard inlay; the fascia is two pieces of differently-hued veneer, with a badge that I can't see--the cameraman doesn't care, and there's no product placement--maybe it's a custom-built.
This is some Heavy Fuel indeed.
But wait, what's that at his right flank?
Why's he got a second guitar, when he's got a double-neck? It looks right; there are two of everything--guitarists, big drum kits, keyboard stations. It looks like a steel, but he's not playing it....
It's dark; the music has changed. Long about Brothers at Arms, there's a low drone--there's only one bass, no fretless around--and this has a growl to it, and there it is, the guitar at his right is now on his lap, that was just a stand. Is that a soundhole? It's an oblong box, like a pedal steel, 10-string machine head, and it's magnificent.
It's now fully night; keyboards and saxes sing duets, Knopfler has picked up an etched chrome National, Juliet to his Romeo.
And the show has just begun. We can already see that it is worth the price of admission.
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Which, for us, was cheap: 99c. + shipping.
In the middle of the protracted ending of Private Investigations, the picture freezes--I've gotten ripped off. No, there are two discs. Ending interruptus; it picks up where it left off on disc 2. Is this pirated? A counterfeit? Who cares, that ending is too long anyway, a lot of time that the pedal steel could have been playing.
I highly recommend the DVD of this show; but if you want it, don't buy it from Charlie Wong Kee from Singapore.
I'm thinking of changing my name. At least for journalistic purposes.</font size="1" color="#8e236b"></p><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Charlie McDonald on 11 August 2005 at 05:12 AM.]</p></FONT>
This is not news. It's a review of the DVD--thanks for the tip, Tony; I'm watching it again, and my girlfriend, to whom I'm married, over common law and time, would like to watch it again, it's that good.</font size="1" color="#8e236b"></p>
The trucks pull in, the load-in begins, the credits roll as the band gets off the bus, and as the stage is built in the classical age colisseum; the crowd begins to file in and a high drone comes from somewhere, punctuated with a beeping that sounds like the signal of a distant satellite, Calling Elvis, maybe an invocation of spirit (?) as Mark Knopfler and associates take the stage--and after the quiet cue of brushes on a snare, a series of four sixteenth-notes from an instrument not often seen on the rock stage. The notes pick up energy, like a train at full tilt, and Paul Franklin is too, already.
It's still daylight, you can see him play; he's focused, he's intent, Knopfler is cool, relaxed with the undeniability of the beat, and begins to soar over the train rolling down the steel tracks. And that's just intro. And there are those chords--and that high sound, and it's not lonesome--what's he doing? Look at those 32nd notes, listen to that! The camera lets us watch....
The Walk of Life takes on a country flavor for a moment; Mark Knopfler is smiling; this steel works very well. "On pedal steel... Paul Franklin!" He's on the back neck now, the one closest the audience.
Some of you will ask, what's he playing?
(Many of you will know). That's like asking me what kind of dress Jackie O was wearing. It's a D-10, with a row of four toggles between necks, eight-pointed stars for fretboard inlay; the fascia is two pieces of differently-hued veneer, with a badge that I can't see--the cameraman doesn't care, and there's no product placement--maybe it's a custom-built.
This is some Heavy Fuel indeed.
But wait, what's that at his right flank?
Why's he got a second guitar, when he's got a double-neck? It looks right; there are two of everything--guitarists, big drum kits, keyboard stations. It looks like a steel, but he's not playing it....
It's dark; the music has changed. Long about Brothers at Arms, there's a low drone--there's only one bass, no fretless around--and this has a growl to it, and there it is, the guitar at his right is now on his lap, that was just a stand. Is that a soundhole? It's an oblong box, like a pedal steel, 10-string machine head, and it's magnificent.
It's now fully night; keyboards and saxes sing duets, Knopfler has picked up an etched chrome National, Juliet to his Romeo.
And the show has just begun. We can already see that it is worth the price of admission.
<font size="1" color="#8e236b">
Which, for us, was cheap: 99c. + shipping.
In the middle of the protracted ending of Private Investigations, the picture freezes--I've gotten ripped off. No, there are two discs. Ending interruptus; it picks up where it left off on disc 2. Is this pirated? A counterfeit? Who cares, that ending is too long anyway, a lot of time that the pedal steel could have been playing.
I highly recommend the DVD of this show; but if you want it, don't buy it from Charlie Wong Kee from Singapore.
I'm thinking of changing my name. At least for journalistic purposes.</font size="1" color="#8e236b"></p><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Charlie McDonald on 11 August 2005 at 05:12 AM.]</p></FONT>
