Here are the reminiscences of a (sodding) double bass player who played at Joe Brown’s dances at the Dunedin Town Hall.The Town Hall was the place for Dunedin people to go to on a Saturday night. It was also the venue for visitors from out of town. No visit to Dunedin would be complete without going to Joe Brown's Town Hall Dance.
The Town Hall was used for modern dances such as foxtrots, quicksteps, jazz waltzes and Latin American dances, while the Concert Chamber was used for old time dances such as the Military Two Step, The Albert’s and Circular Waltzes.
"The dances were a marvellous sight. It was very colourful with women in their beautiful ball gowns and crowds of people watching and enjoying the dances." He believes the beginning of the end of Joe Brown's Town Hall Dances came with rock 'n' roll and pop music: "When rock 'n' roll was introduced there wasn't enough room for people to do the ballroom dances. People used to dance with each other, not at each other," he declares.Mr Revill has now put away his double bass but his interest in music - particularly jazz - continues. He is a volunteer announcer with Hills AM Community Access
Do all double bass players hate pop music?
5 comments:
Why are you picking on double bass players? Isn't that like laughing at dwarfs?
...or going to a ball without Brylcream?
Laughing at dwarfs? My god you're a viscious bastard. Now you want to put brylcream on them.
Just wallpaper the sodding wall in your next post!
Interesting to read your brief comments on Joe Brown's Town Hall Dances. I'm currently writing a novel that features one of these dances in the first chapter, though the dance in this book takes place in the old Agricultural Hall, which was sometimes an alternative venue.
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