Movies & Rizdales

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Another day in London where we dropped in to the Richmond Tavern to see The Rizdales at their monthly Saturday afternoon residency. We parked at the Covent Gardens, got to the show early, and camped out at a table near the front where we took some pictures (at left). Bev Camp was there dancing and a few others got up as well. Not a crazy afternoon, but some stalwart fans who enjoyed the show. 

There seems to be a lot of interesting events happening at this bar; we should come more often. We especially like these afternoon shows as we are no longer "long ball hitters".

Tara greeted us and we chatted briefly as they were setting up. The sound system worked well. They played lots of country classics and several of their own. I especially liked hearing "Lucky Enough" from their 2019 album of the same name, and "High Heeled Home Wrecker" from their Radio Country (2007) album. We stayed around for the first set and headed home at the break. Tom encourages people to stay longer saying they'd be playing the "good stuff" in the next set. Hey Tom, it's all good stuff!

Today Blair Heddle returns on guitar (pictured above). We are really impressed by his playing — do I detect finger and thumb picks? He, and Tara's violin, complement the solid base and rhythm of Tom on guitar, Oscar on bass and Carl on drums. They are quite polished and seem to be having a lot of fun. If you like country music, you'll love the Rizdales.

Ps. We came into the city to see the "Sheep Detectives" — a recent movie playing at a Cineplex in town; can't recommend it enough. On the way home we stopped in to Brown & Dickson Books (they're part of the "Back to the Fuschia" store on Elias in east London). Kate found a book featuring some "big eyes" artwork by our niece Noelle! The last time we were there was to pickup a book that had some of my band photos.

Kanagroos

I've written at various times about our uncle Mac Dixon, my mother's brother, and his service during WW II. Especially the horrible experiences of the 1944 D-day landing on Juno Beach. I knew he had served with the 1st Hussars out of London (that's where he signed up and the regiment where he was discharged). But he also served in a newly formed regiment, the "Kangaroos", after he had been wounded in action. It turns out that the Kangaroos were land based armoured troop carriers cobbled together in August 1944 — very late in the war, very early after D-day. The Facebook article I have cribbed here gives some of the details of that forgotten part of history.

See also

• War time photos of William (Mac) Dixon.
• Canadian Kangaroo Regiment Archive (re: William (Mac) Dixon)
• “Mac” Dixon and the “BOLD” at Juno Beach Center
• William (Mac) Dixon (this blog 2020)
• Mac's brother: Sgt. Walter Dixon (this blog 2021)
• Oral History — Mac Dixon (this blog 2022)
• Oral History — Correspondence (this blog 2022)
• Home from Overseas (1945) (this blog 2024)