Phil Gillam: If music be the food of love . . .
From cocktail bars to Carluccio's, from the Peach Tree to pretty little shops popping up everywhere, and from top exhibitions at our museum and art gallery to top entertainment at Theatre Severn, there's a terrific vibe about Shrewsbury these days.
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It's always been a beautiful town of course. Now it's an exciting one too.
And Shrewsbury seems so much more musical than it was when I was growing up here. Maybe thats true of many other places too. Maybe its true of the world in general.
Yeah, when I was a teenager or in my early twenties, Id go and see bands at The Music Hall - Prelude, Fairport Convention, Camel, Be Bop Deluxe, Alan Hull (lead singer of Lindisfarne) on a solo tour - any of these ringing any bells?
And a little bit later at Tiffanys night club, I went to see The Stranglers, the Boomtown Rats, Ultravox, and, er
Pans People.
But beyond the Music Hall and Tiffanys, there didnt seem to be a great deal going on back then.
Now, Shrewsbury has live music all over the place, in many of the pubs in an evening, and on many a street corner in the town centre during the daytime.
Of course, we cannot talk about live music in our town without mentioning the incredibly successful Shrewsbury Folk Festival which each year attracts fans from far and wide. What a feather in Shrewsburys cap that has become.
Then theres the amazing Oxjam festival which took place recently, with dozens of bands, DJs, singers and instrumentalists using their talents to raise money for Oxfam.
The Buttermarket - another major venue which was nothing more than an abandoned warehouse when I was a lad - acted as the main centre for Oxjam, but then there was also The Hive and the Shrewsbury Coffee House, two more excellent venues, offering stages upon which musicians could cast their melodic spells and help raise money for a good cause.
Henry Tudor House, just off Wyle Cop, The Vaults and The Alb also presented Oxjam events.
It really is a marvellous spectacle.
Now, you can get very fancy and highfalutin about music, if you have a mind to.
For instance, Ludwig van Beethoven who - as far as I know - never saw the Boomtown Rats performing at Tiffanys, said: Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. And Albert Einstein who, I reckon, might have been a little alarmed at the sight of The Stranglers singing No More Heroes, declared: If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
Yeah, okay, I know what youre thinking. Beethoven and Einstein had a particular take on life. Their vision was lit up by genius.
But scratch away at those delicate words and I think we can all relate to what they had to say.
Finally, let me finish this little rant about music with mention of Mr Gareth Rhys Jones - surely a Christmas star plucked from the heavens
or at least from the streets of Shrewsbury.
You see. Its like this. A body with the sexy little name of Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID) ran a competition to find a musician whose masterpiece would accompany this years video to promote the towns festive offer.
Gareth, a 34-year-old guitar and piano teacher from Coton Hill, was selected by a panel of judges for his catchy and uplifting piece entitled This is Your Christmas.
Gareth said: I am so pleased to have been chosen for the Christmas video and to be involved in such a great production for the town. After enjoying the summer video, I saw this competition and jumped at the chance to put my music forward.
Good for you, Gareth. Youre one of the people bringing the music to Shrewsbury.
And on behalf of Beethoven and Einstein - and the Boomtown Rats - I thank you.
