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

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Sometimes it feels like there's never any good weather in Cardiff.  I wish I was back in the south of France.

Nice, January 2012

The End of the Road

I got some photos developed from the summer, including a couple of pictures from the End of the Road festival.  I think that half of the joy of film cameras is having to wait to see the photos.  By the time that you get them back you’ve almost forgotten and when you look through them you see all of the things you did and it’s like living them all over again.

 

End of the Road is a small festival in north Dorset and was honestly such a good weekend that I almost don’t want to ruin it by making it bigger by telling people how great it was.  Not only was there a fantastic line up of dreamy, folky music, the festival had a cinema tent, comedy, stalls of vintage clothes, books and jewellery and some of the best food I have eaten this year.  Above everything was the care that had been taken on even the smallest things.  There was a trail through the woods covered in fairy lights and plaster fairy children which was just so magical, sculptures where you least expected  them and even live peacocks.  Almost every band commented on how beautiful and well done the festival was.

 

The music was a combination of bands I love and bands that I now love having seen them.  Alabama Shakes played an awesome set as the sun set on the Saturday night, and I’m pretty sure that Brittany Howard is the only person in the world that can say things like ‘The sun’s gone down, it’s time to rock and roll!’ whilst sounding genuinely awesome and not clichéd.  A very receptive but slightly sweaty crowd greeted Mercury Prize nominees Alt-J in the Big Top Tent, where they played from their successful debut album.  Cold Specks and Grizzly Bear both played really good sets and First Aid Kit’s cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s America was so beautiful (listen to it here).  Although Dirty Beaches synth blew half way through a song they recovered well and I spent a happy hour lying in the sun listening to the Deep Dark Woods.

Beach House played on the Woods Stage on the Friday night and they were incredible.  It was fully dark and they were backlit for most of the set with the whitest of light – all you could see was their glowing silhouettes.  Their music, so dreamy and moving, mixed with the darkness and all those people (and possibly the gin I’d been drinking) created this amazing atmosphere.  I didn’t want them to ever stop playing.

Another clear highlight was Patti Smith, who played on the Sunday night. She has such a talent for performance, I honestly think that she’s the coolest person in the world. She stormed through her set urged on by cheers from an adoring crowd, leaving with the words ‘Have a good festival, have a good night, and have a good fucking life. Live life, work hard, be free.’

 

 

A Defence of the Kindle

People are often surprised when they find out that I have a kindle. I suppose in many ways I am completely typical of the kind of person that would hate them. I study English Literature. I write with a fountain pen. I wear vintage clothes, take photos on film and listen to records. I'm not into technology – I have had the same phone since I was fourteen and cannot see the point in the iPad. And yet I that the kindle is absolutely amazing.

My main problem with books is that they take up so much room. Well, one book doesn't but if you're like me and can't see a Waterstones without popping in then the books tend to accumulate and slowly, slowly take over. Although I've moved out, my parents haven’t converted my bedroom into something exciting like a private cinema or studio – mainly because they have nowhere else to store the books I cannot fit in my new house. Every time I move I break my back filling box after box with paperbacks I've picked up here and there. When I was a child I was limited to only taking one book on holiday as, had I been given the choice, it would have been a suitcaseful. So when the kindle came out my mum told me that I just had to get one. (This has by no means put a stop to my book buying though, merely slowed it.)

The design is amazing. I'm not exactly sure how it works but the screen is created to look as much like a page as possible. There is no backlight so it doesn't hurt your eyes and you soon forget that it's not paper in your hands. It's easy to work and smaller and lighter than most books. Plus you can buy books anywhere that has Wi-Fi, and although you can no longer meet the man of your dreams when he asks you about Dorian Gray, (500) Days of Summer style, you can now finally read Harry Potter on the train without feeling like a big kid.

My mum's favourite feature is that you can increase the font size. It's true that you can get many books in large print, however most of these books are by Barbara Cartland or about Kipper the Dog – which is fine, if that's what you like. But my mum doesn't. She's interested in lots of things – art and geology and natural history – and although her eyes are getting worse, her mind is not. This feature of the kindle is perfect for her, by allowing her to read all the things that she wants too, comfortably.

My sister also has a problem with finding books she can read. This is because she lives abroad, and while this is interesting and new and exciting it does have a few drawbacks. Not being able to buy party rings is one. Having only one bookshop with an English Language section in the entire city is another one. As well as the limited selection they are also very expensive – up to three times what they cost on kindle. For her, it's much more convenient and cheap to buy from the internet straight to her kindle.

The most common objection voiced when discussing the kindle is people saying: 'Oh, but I like having a book, holding it there in my hands.' Who are they kidding? Paperbacks are among the least remarkable things in the world. The interesting thing in any book – in every book – is the words. It's the way that a story, a message or an opinion can be transferred from the mind of someone you have never met to yours over hundreds of years or hundreds of miles. And with the kindle you can literally thousands of books by thousands of people. All in one place, in your hands. Now that is what I call amazing.

Bricks and Paint

I saw this graffiti in Cambridge the other day and I thought it was some of the best street art that I've ever seen in England.  Mostly all you see is tags, but this is really great.