Blog of James Goodhead

The York Racecourse provided the venue for the 2006 University of York Graduation Ball. Before I arrived to the racecourse, a gastronomic meal at Low Petergate was the perfect way to start the evening. During my three years I had very often explored the gastropub experience, however, with the significance of graduation, gastronomy was certainly the correct choice despite it being at least four times the cost. Despite the exorbitant cost, a splendid environment, with exceedingly fine food (the most tender guinea fowl for main course) and a pianist who accomodated requests provided surprisingly excellent value for money. Speaking about the pianist, with a glint in my eye I requested Scott Joplin and within minutes Maple Leaf Rag and a unique version of The Entertainer with strong improvisation was played for my table.

A couple of mild ales were quickly quaffed at The Golden Fleece post-meal. Feeling very buoyant, I made my way by taxi to the venue. The York Racecourse, which memorably held Royal Ascot in 2005, has a main Grandstand set over three floors and this provided the setting for the evening’s festivities. On arrival, after greeting a number of my contemporaries, I made my way towards the casino. After riding my luck by beating the dealer more times than losing at Blackjack (21), I celebrated with a Gin and Tonic whilst listening to the Jazz Band. An hour passed, and I heard tremendous excitement from the downstairs dancefloor. Out of pure curiosity, I went to the area and to my disappointment a band called Goldie Lookin’ Chain were playing. The song I listened to was pretty unedifying and the words talent, musicianship, professionalism and enjoyment would not be applicable in describing the couple of minutes I experienced. Unfortunately, all of the bands on the main stage were hugely disappointing as they only accomodated for the common denominator. 

To recover from the previous ordeal, I queued for the notorious dodgems that brought back countless childhood memories. When I was set loose in the dodgem, my frustration was certainly released to everyone’s anguish. The couple I dined with were also in a dodgem at the same time as me and after hitting them at high speed they seemed particularly unimpressed. Meeting Victoria a couple of days after the incident, I was informed she was unfortunately suffering from the vagaries of whiplash in the neck. I can only place the blame on Goldie Lookin’ Chain and to apologise I offered never to listen to their music again. This was gratefully accepted and I strongly encourage others not to listen to that particular band either after my experience!

Further light-hearted conversation followed and to my surpise light started appearing from the sky. I took this as a signal to leave as I had an important Jazz and Blues society meeting the following morning. My memories will be generally positive as the people I went with and subsequently met made the evening infinitely more enjoyable than the intrusive noise that could have seriously compromised the whole evening.