Vienna Calling

Christmas in Austria, Germany and Belgium.

 

The Open Road

Despite my recent acquisition of a kindle, I still buy quite a lot of books.  Not having the money to buy them first-hand and squeaky clean, I often go to charity shops and second-hand bookshops.  Not only are they cheaper but you can also find books that are no longer in print, and often really lovely editions of things.  Plus, I have a slight prejudice against WH Smith’s ever since a snotty shop assistant kicked me out for reading too much of a book without paying for it.

One of my favourite second hand bookshops, The Open Road, is located at the crossroads in Stoke-by-Nayland, a small village in the Suffolk countryside.  Owned and run by (my) ex-teacher and poet David Charleston, it sells books from a range of different genres from art and music to nature and history, although mainly specialising in fiction and poetry.  All books are in good condition, competitively priced and displayed well.

As well as the books, there are events in the shop.  There have been exhibitions of sculpture, photography, collage and paintings, readings by poets and novelists and performances by musicians.  Mark Mason, who writes for The Spectator, has given a talk about his book ‘Walk the Lines’ where he describes walking the London Underground, but over ground.  Terence Blacker has performed music from his latest album.  I myself attended a reading by Ros Barber of her new book The Marlowe Papers, in which she has created a novel in verse, exploring the theory that Marlowe was the mastermind behind Shakespeare’s work.

If you’re ever passing through Suffolk I recommend dropping in.  It really is a lovely place – although I may be slightly biased as whenever I go, I get a cup of tea, a chat and a good book at a slightly discounted price.

More information about The Open Road.

Dawn, Dusk and the Bits In-Between - Part II

Some film photos from my summer in Switzerland.



 

Waiting for the Wave

The launch of Bob Walton's pamphlet of poems on 19^th November at The Promised Land, Cardiff, brought together music and poetry, English and Welsh into a stimulating and enjoyable evening with performances from five different artists.

Walton opened the evening with his poem 'Occasion', exploring the tender moment of picking a ripe raspberry. He also created special images from other everyday moments in other pieces – a coastal walk, a phonecall with his father about the football – but he also performed work concerned with the exotic and the imagined, describing war in the East and jazz musician Don Cherry's visit to Marrakesh.

Musician Pete Judge performed a few pieces solo on the trumpet including the famous 'Bye Bye Blackbird', but also displayed his talents on a rotary valve tenor horn, playing on it a medley of pieces from around the world.

Naomi Alderson, runner up of the John Tripp Award 2011, performed two poems from what she jokingly dubbed her 'Adele' set, about the aftermath of a break-up. Another poem, 'Engaged', played wittily off the dichotomy of engaged and vacant and her last piece (originally written for Pecha Kucha) dealt powerfully with a reaction to the Tsunami, linking and reworking images from the event to the speakers own life.

Geraint Rhys played an enjoyable set on guitar, singing in both Welsh and English and accompanied by percussionist Steve Eyers and Llyr Lewis, twice winner of the Urdd Bardic Chair also performed (although I have no idea what he was saying as the majority of his poetry is in Welsh).

 

Naomi Alderson performing with the slides at PechaKucha Night at the Chapter Arts House, 24th January 2012

 

 

 

Geraint Rhys with his original song 'Take Your Time'

Another thing I went to lately was Art Club and Curry at Milgi (www.milgilounge.com).  Every month on a Monday night they lay out craft supplies and prepare a tasty meal all for the small price of £5.  This month we wove yarn around crossed sticks to make God's Eyes, a Mexican spiritual object.  All the fun of primary school art class but with cocktails!

Summer in the City

Wandering around Vienna in the sunshine.

 

Sundark and Riverlight

A relatively small but dedicated band of followers turned out to see Patrick Wolf at the Gate Arts and Community Centre on 7^th November. Touring on the back of his latest release 'Sundark & Riverlight' – an album of acoustic versions of songs selected off of his previous albums – Wolf is marking ten years since becoming a recording artist, and what a great ten years they have been.

 

Showcasing some of his finest songs in their most stripped down form (he is accompanied by a violinist, an oboist and a cellist but rarely more than one) he dances from piano to ukulele to harp to viola, his voice soaring easily over the all-familiar notes. Playing tracks as early as 'Tristan' right through to 'Time of My Life' and 'House' from his 2011 album 'Lupercalia', he shows a care and love for all the music that he has created.

 

Although the acoustic has worked better on some songs than others ('Hard Times' is much less powerful than the original) others are infused with a new warmth and meaning, such as 'Oblivion' and 'Paris'. 'London', too, has perhaps improved under a more mature touch – Wolf himself admits to reconnecting with the song saying 'I used to not like it, but now I do.'

 

Despite technical hitches, Wolf remained unfazed and the audience unperturbed, laughing at a failed visual. After forgetting how a song went he joked 'You're never going to want to come to any of my concerts again.'

 

After cutting an ambitious 25-track set list with the help of the audience, he finishes with a heartfelt version of 'Teignmouth' before his encore, the inevitable but no less enjoyable 'Magic Position'.

 

At the end of this ten year journey Wolf has proved himself to be a strong performer and a flexible and talented musician. This tour and record are the perfect celebration of everything that has come so far.

The support was called Abi Wade and she was amazing, playing cello, percussion and singing all at the same time.  She is definitely worth a listen (click here).

The Most Noble Blood of All This World

Gregory Doran's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar translates the play effectively from ancient Rome to modern Africa whilst losing none of its power. An all-black cast, traditional music and costumes lends a fresh urgency to the fear of tyranny from a continent that has been home to so many. The exposure of instability and pettiness of politics is also heightened by both Caesar and the conspirators.

 

A sinister shadow is cast over the returning hero in the opening scene by the presence of propaganda-like posters. Jeffrey Kissoon's Caesar also gives subtle nods to more recent dictators, dressed in an Idi Amin style safari suit and displaying a touch of Stalinesque paranoia in the scene where he debates going to the senate, pacing up and down the stage.

 

Although in most productions portrayed as the noble idealist among jealous and petty politicians, Brutus too is flawed. Paterson Joseph plays him as self-righteous rather than morally superior which leads him to a tactical blunder – his 'gallant' sparing of Mark Antony leads to his ultimate downfall.

 

The conspirators as always display a level of pettiness and squabbling of power-grabbing politicians and the often likeable Antony is here arrogant and sly. The famous 'Friends, Romans, countrymen' speech is delivered strongly in front of a changeable crowd, almost parodying the fickleness of public opinion.

 

Doran's production has brought the discussion of the ethics of political murder into the foreground by dusting the cobwebs off the play, and giving it a well carried off boost.

 

From rsc.org.uk