>> Was The Cavendish an Edinburgh establishment? I seem to remember >> reading something about it, possibly in a recent book about dancing >> history. > G. W. Lockhart's book, _Highland Balls and Village Halls_ (Luath Press, > ISBN 094648712X), has a 2,5-page chapter called `Tim Wright and the > Cavendish Band'. > The Cavendish was a former riding school and stables near Tollcross in > Edinburgh and must have been a rather fashionable place for dancing (not > country dancing) from the 1930s. It's mentioned in a lot of books, I think there's a chunk about it in Elizabeth Casciani's "Oh, How We Danced" as well. I would have said "popular" rather than "fashionable" - it was never very upmarket. It still operates as a disco. I used to live near it (in the area of Edinburgh locally known as the Pubic Triangle) and could set my clock by its closing time, even though it was 200 yards away; the screams and crashes of breaking bottles were a dead giveaway. That was in the mid-80s before E and the club scene arrived, but as far as I can tell the Cavendish hasn't moved on much. It ought to feature in an Irvine Welsh story but I don't know if it actually does. Tim Wright's band got themselves a niche as the semi-official BBC Scottish dance band. Their smooth "big band" sound fitted the BBC ethos better than the accordion-based groups. (Come to think of it, that kind of slick, creamy sound has made a big comeback; you could effortlessly blend the Tim Wright Band into a contemporary dance mix). =================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> =================== Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
