CENTENARY Theatre presents Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads at The Brindley in Runcorn from September 4-8.
The monologues include A Chip in the Sugar, A Lady of Letters, and A Cream Cracker Under the Settee.
viernes, 24 de agosto de 2012
Liverpool Arts: Last Choir Standing finalists reunite
THE finalists of BBC’s Last Choir Standing are reuniting this autumn for a pair of concerts.
Liverpool’s Sense of Sound will be joined by Wales’ Ysgol Glanaethwy to perform pieces both together and separately.
The first event takes place at Liverpool Cathedral on November 3, with a repeat at Venue Cymru, in Llandudno, on November 24.
Ysgol Glanaethwy are regular winners at the Music Youth Festival , where they have received seven Outstanding Performance awards, as well as attending festivals all over the globe in countries including Switzerland and China.
They recently won the youth category in Budapest’s Musica Mundi Festival and have been named ambassadors of the Llangollen Festival.
Musical director Cefin Roberts says: “Sense of Sound made such an impact on the members of our youth choir on Last Choir Standing.
“Today we have a completely new ensemble of singers and I know that these new members will have the same joy of listening and working with such a diverse and amazing choir.
“We are also excited that we will be singing a few songs with Sense of Sound in the concerts, and hope that this will create a new synergy of sound and music making.”
Liverpool-based Sense of Sound are one of the UK’s most successful contemporary choirs, and have collaborated with many major artists including Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, Damon Albarn and Paco Pena.
Musical director Jennifer John says: “Whenever I hear Ysgol Glanaethwy sing, my heart opens a little more.”
Liverpool Arts: DANCE MUSIC: Fatboy Slim’s big party comes to Liverpool
HE helped close the Olympic Games and DJ Fatboy Slim is bringing his Big Beach Boutique to Liverpool at the end of this month.
Well, sort of: August 31 will see selected cinemas screen Live From The Big Beach Boutique and FACT is one of them.
A long-time tradition in Brighton, this year’s two-day event took place in June at the Amex football stadium in the seaside town, home to Fatboy Slim’s beloved Brighton and Hove Albion FC.
It saw the likes of Carl Cox, Luciano, 2 Bears and Maya Jane Coles playing to more than 40,000 fans.
Cinemas will be decorated with Fatboy Slim’s signature smiley face and cross bones visuals, while fans will be greeted by a pre-show mix tape specially compiled by Norman.
The Liverpool screening starts at 9pm.
Liverpool Arts: DANCE MUSIC: Fatboy Slim’s big party comes to Liverpool
HE helped close the Olympic Games and DJ Fatboy Slim is bringing his Big Beach Boutique to Liverpool at the end of this month.
Well, sort of: August 31 will see selected cinemas screen Live From The Big Beach Boutique and FACT is one of them.
A long-time tradition in Brighton, this year’s two-day event took place in June at the Amex football stadium in the seaside town, home to Fatboy Slim’s beloved Brighton and Hove Albion FC.
It saw the likes of Carl Cox, Luciano, 2 Bears and Maya Jane Coles playing to more than 40,000 fans.
Cinemas will be decorated with Fatboy Slim’s signature smiley face and cross bones visuals, while fans will be greeted by a pre-show mix tape specially compiled by Norman.
The Liverpool screening starts at 9pm.
Liverpool Arts: Coughlan back for city’s Irish festival
THROUGHOUT her 25-year career, Mary Coughlan has drawn heavily from her heroes – Billie Holiday’s grievous, teary outpourings, the husky flirtations of Peggy Lee, Van Morrison’s soulful wails, the defiant chanteuserie of Edith Piaf.
Her smoky, bluesy, boozy drawl has always been a seduction, no matter what the subject. The vocal marrying of sardonic wit, visceral rage and the tenderest of sorrowful regrets means that every song is her own.
She’s returning to Liverpool to play Liverpool Philharmonic’s music residency at St George’s Hall as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival.
“I love playing Liverpool,” she says.
“The first time I played, the local promoter took us on the ferry down the Mersey and we did the entire Beatles trail. We had a great time.
“I think my most memorable gig in Liverpool was in The Philharmonic. I met a woman after my gig there and we talked about The Magdalene Laundry. Maybe she will read this and get in touch.”
This year’s Liverpool Irish festival will run over 10 days and two weekends, rather than three as in previous years.
With pretty much the same number of events the festival will be busier, particularly on weekends, with a choice of more events for festival-goers to attend.
As always, music will be at the heart of the festival, with the third year of the splendid Irish Sea Sessions at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
There will also be music at The Capstone, Rodewald Suite, Sefton Park Palm House and Eric’s.
MARY COUGHLAN plays St George’s Hall on October 18.
Liverpool Arts: Monologues at Brindley
CENTENARY Theatre presents Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads at The Brindley in Runcorn from September 4-8.
The monologues include A Chip in the Sugar, A Lady of Letters, and A Cream Cracker Under the Settee.
Liverpool Arts: Spector – Enjoy It While It Lasts
SPECTOR'S debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts will take the east London quintet (Christopher Burman, Fred Macpherson, Thomas Shickle, Jed Cullen and Danny Blandy) beyond comparisons to The Strokes, The Killers and Kaiser Chiefs. There are clearly nods to their indie peers, with pompous choruses and geek-chic attire, but unexpected touches, more reminiscent of seventies glam-rockers Roxy Music and eighties' New Romantic acts, help the hotly tipped band break the mould. First single Never Fade Away sets the tone with its sharp synths, playful percussive clapping and Macpherson's broad delivery.
Tracks such as Chevy Thunder and Celestine introduce a Bruce Springsteen machismo to the record. With songs like these, Spector should see themselves climbing up festival line-ups in the year ahead.
Rating: HHH
Arcane Roots – Left Fire
ARCANE Roots first sparked interest with a reinvented, modernised cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit after being asked to feature on Kerrang! Magazine's Nevermind Forever covers album while unsigned. Andrew Groves, Adam Burton and Daryl Atkins' progressive approach to the Nirvana classic is an insight into the experimental ability of the up-and-coming band.
The Surrey-based trio uniquely blend several genres into one, proving to be a sensational combination of rock, pop and metal, with harmonising vocals and intense guitar riffs that are immensely heightened in their live performances. You Are, Rouen and In This Town Of Such Weather are stand-out tracks.
Rating: HHHH
Of Monsters And Men – My Head Is An Animal
HAILING from the bastion of artistic endeavour that is Iceland, Of Monsters And Men are the new indie darlings, gathering momentum and garnering global acclaim with their debut album. My Head Is An Animal is a cheery-sounding collection, with catchy singles such as Dirty Paws and Little Talks. Despite comparisons to US band Anathallo and London group Fanfarlo, the raw talent from the six-piece – members include Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir, Ragnar Thorhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Arnar Rosenkranz Hilmarsson, Arni Gudjonsson and Kristjan Pall Kristjansson – for infectious, organic songwriting is clear. They just need to be given the time to develop and find their niche.
Rating: HHH
Roxy Music – The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982
FRONTED by Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music are one of the finest bands this country has produced, beginning as a blistering art-rock combo with a taste for the avant-garde, thanks to the presence of synthesiser Brian Eno.
Their back catalogue is to be admired greatly, with only the odd exception here and there. But there is nothing this package contains that could convince Roxy Music die-hards to part with their money again. The two discs of singles and B-sides are padded out to the extreme – many tracks are duplicated with only minor differences and the remastering of each studio album adds little to the original mixes. This re-release doesn't get the effort it so rightly deserves, but is a must-have for any loyal collectors.
Rating: HHHHH
Liverpool Arts: CLASSICAL: Tasmin’s delight at Delius and the RLPO
TO SAY Tasmin Little is having a busy 2012 is something of an understatement. The last month alone has seen her in the US, Wales, London (in the Wallace and Gromit Prom) and a fortnight in Australia.
Tonight she will play her second Prom of the season – this time alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
“It’s been the most fun,” she says with a laugh.
“I never like to complain and say I’ve been so busy, because everything I do I take on myself and I agree to do it. And everything has been lovely.”
Next Thursday’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall reunites the 47-year-old with the Liverpool Philharmonic, with whom she has been a regular performer during her three-decade career. And secondly, she’s playing Delius, the composer she’s championed since she started performing professionally in the 1980s.
It’s the 150th anniversary of Delius’s birth, and playing his violin concerto at the Proms is a first for Little.
The concert will be broadcast on Radio 3. But Liverpool audiences will get to hear it played again live at a concert at the Philharmonic Hall in November.
Meanwhile the Phil’s 2012 Prom also includes a London premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ 9th Symphony, and Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. It will be the first time Little has worked with conductor Vasily Petrenko.
THE Liverpool Philharmonic plays at the BBC Proms on August 23. Tasmin Little will also appears with the orchestra at the Philharmonic Hall on November 17.
Liverpool Arts: Galleries debut for comedy theatre
NEW theatre company Class Act Theatre is taking its first production into art galleries as part of the Mathew Street Festival.
Founded by West Derby-based actor John Busow, the company is launching with free performances in four different venues.
Eleanor Where Are You? is a comedy set in Liverpool, where some one has stolen Tommy Steele’s Eleanor Rigby statue, which sits on Stanley Street.
Busow says: “I thought, wouldn’t it be great to start a company and get actors I’ve worked with over the years, and some great writers and directors I know to come on board and make it a sort of super hub?
“Sometimes it feels hard to get stuff seen in Liverpool if it’s not about football or gangsters, or really wacky.”
ELEANOR Where Are You? is performed at the View Two Gallery in Mathew Street on August 22, Studio 2 in Parr Street on August 23, Penny Lane Gallery in Allerton on August 24 and The Brink in Parr Street on August 25.
Liverpool Arts: Galleries debut for comedy theatre
NEW theatre company Class Act Theatre is taking its first production into art galleries as part of the Mathew Street Festival.
Founded by West Derby-based actor John Busow, the company is launching with free performances in four different venues.
Eleanor Where Are You? is a comedy set in Liverpool, where some one has stolen Tommy Steele’s Eleanor Rigby statue, which sits on Stanley Street.
Busow says: “I thought, wouldn’t it be great to start a company and get actors I’ve worked with over the years, and some great writers and directors I know to come on board and make it a sort of super hub?
“Sometimes it feels hard to get stuff seen in Liverpool if it’s not about football or gangsters, or really wacky.”
ELEANOR Where Are You? is performed at the View Two Gallery in Mathew Street on August 22, Studio 2 in Parr Street on August 23, Penny Lane Gallery in Allerton on August 24 and The Brink in Parr Street on August 25.
Liverpool Arts: BOOKS: Strong line-up for literature festival
POET Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Charles Dickens’s great-great-grandson are appearing at Frodsham’s first literature festival.
Duffy, a University of Liverpool graduate, will be speaking at Frodsham Community Centre on September 5, while Gerald Dickens will be performing a dramatised version of A Christmas Carol at the Heathercliffe Hotel on September 2.
Festival patron Tim Firth, the Warrington-born writer of Calendar Girls and new film The Wedding Video, is running an afternoon writing workshop for young people aged eight to 12 on September 9.
Tickets have already sold out for some events at the festival, Weaver Words, which runs from August 29 to September 9.
Festival manager Lynn Pegler says: “The response to Frodsham’s first literature festival has been amazing.
“Already two events are sold out and there are very few tickets left for the Poet Laureate.
“Lots of community organisations and schools have got involved and will be running their own events alongside the festival. The support from everyone in the town has been fantastic.”
Also appearing will be Dr Who writer Eddie Robson, who will launch a science fiction-themed weekend on Saturday September 1.
Comic book creator Tim Quinn, who has worked as scriptwriter, editor on everything from Beryl the Peril and Korky the Cat to Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, will take his audience through 150 years of comic strips in a talk on August 31.
FURTHER details at www.weaverwords. org.uk
Liverpool Arts: Spector – Enjoy It While It Lasts
SPECTOR'S debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts will take the east London quintet (Christopher Burman, Fred Macpherson, Thomas Shickle, Jed Cullen and Danny Blandy) beyond comparisons to The Strokes, The Killers and Kaiser Chiefs. There are clearly nods to their indie peers, with pompous choruses and geek-chic attire, but unexpected touches, more reminiscent of seventies glam-rockers Roxy Music and eighties' New Romantic acts, help the hotly tipped band break the mould. First single Never Fade Away sets the tone with its sharp synths, playful percussive clapping and Macpherson's broad delivery.
Tracks such as Chevy Thunder and Celestine introduce a Bruce Springsteen machismo to the record. With songs like these, Spector should see themselves climbing up festival line-ups in the year ahead.
Rating: HHH
Arcane Roots – Left Fire
ARCANE Roots first sparked interest with a reinvented, modernised cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit after being asked to feature on Kerrang! Magazine's Nevermind Forever covers album while unsigned. Andrew Groves, Adam Burton and Daryl Atkins' progressive approach to the Nirvana classic is an insight into the experimental ability of the up-and-coming band.
The Surrey-based trio uniquely blend several genres into one, proving to be a sensational combination of rock, pop and metal, with harmonising vocals and intense guitar riffs that are immensely heightened in their live performances. You Are, Rouen and In This Town Of Such Weather are stand-out tracks.
Rating: HHHH
Of Monsters And Men – My Head Is An Animal
HAILING from the bastion of artistic endeavour that is Iceland, Of Monsters And Men are the new indie darlings, gathering momentum and garnering global acclaim with their debut album. My Head Is An Animal is a cheery-sounding collection, with catchy singles such as Dirty Paws and Little Talks. Despite comparisons to US band Anathallo and London group Fanfarlo, the raw talent from the six-piece – members include Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir, Ragnar Thorhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Arnar Rosenkranz Hilmarsson, Arni Gudjonsson and Kristjan Pall Kristjansson – for infectious, organic songwriting is clear. They just need to be given the time to develop and find their niche.
Rating: HHH
Roxy Music – The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982
FRONTED by Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music are one of the finest bands this country has produced, beginning as a blistering art-rock combo with a taste for the avant-garde, thanks to the presence of synthesiser Brian Eno.
Their back catalogue is to be admired greatly, with only the odd exception here and there. But there is nothing this package contains that could convince Roxy Music die-hards to part with their money again. The two discs of singles and B-sides are padded out to the extreme – many tracks are duplicated with only minor differences and the remastering of each studio album adds little to the original mixes. This re-release doesn't get the effort it so rightly deserves, but is a must-have for any loyal collectors.
Rating: HHHHH
Liverpool Arts: Spector – Enjoy It While It Lasts
SPECTOR'S debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts will take the east London quintet (Christopher Burman, Fred Macpherson, Thomas Shickle, Jed Cullen and Danny Blandy) beyond comparisons to The Strokes, The Killers and Kaiser Chiefs. There are clearly nods to their indie peers, with pompous choruses and geek-chic attire, but unexpected touches, more reminiscent of seventies glam-rockers Roxy Music and eighties' New Romantic acts, help the hotly tipped band break the mould. First single Never Fade Away sets the tone with its sharp synths, playful percussive clapping and Macpherson's broad delivery.
Tracks such as Chevy Thunder and Celestine introduce a Bruce Springsteen machismo to the record. With songs like these, Spector should see themselves climbing up festival line-ups in the year ahead.
Rating: HHH
Arcane Roots – Left Fire
ARCANE Roots first sparked interest with a reinvented, modernised cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit after being asked to feature on Kerrang! Magazine's Nevermind Forever covers album while unsigned. Andrew Groves, Adam Burton and Daryl Atkins' progressive approach to the Nirvana classic is an insight into the experimental ability of the up-and-coming band.
The Surrey-based trio uniquely blend several genres into one, proving to be a sensational combination of rock, pop and metal, with harmonising vocals and intense guitar riffs that are immensely heightened in their live performances. You Are, Rouen and In This Town Of Such Weather are stand-out tracks.
Rating: HHHH
Of Monsters And Men – My Head Is An Animal
HAILING from the bastion of artistic endeavour that is Iceland, Of Monsters And Men are the new indie darlings, gathering momentum and garnering global acclaim with their debut album. My Head Is An Animal is a cheery-sounding collection, with catchy singles such as Dirty Paws and Little Talks. Despite comparisons to US band Anathallo and London group Fanfarlo, the raw talent from the six-piece – members include Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir, Ragnar Thorhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Arnar Rosenkranz Hilmarsson, Arni Gudjonsson and Kristjan Pall Kristjansson – for infectious, organic songwriting is clear. They just need to be given the time to develop and find their niche.
Rating: HHH
Roxy Music – The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982
FRONTED by Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music are one of the finest bands this country has produced, beginning as a blistering art-rock combo with a taste for the avant-garde, thanks to the presence of synthesiser Brian Eno.
Their back catalogue is to be admired greatly, with only the odd exception here and there. But there is nothing this package contains that could convince Roxy Music die-hards to part with their money again. The two discs of singles and B-sides are padded out to the extreme – many tracks are duplicated with only minor differences and the remastering of each studio album adds little to the original mixes. This re-release doesn't get the effort it so rightly deserves, but is a must-have for any loyal collectors.
Rating: HHHHH
Liverpool Arts: Having the time of her life
TACKLING difficult issues like sexual abuse, assisted suicide, school shootings and organ donation, Jodi Picoult’s stories don’t often end with a “happily ever after”.
So, in writing a fairytale for young adults with her 16-year-old daughter, Samantha Van Leer, has Britain’s biggest-selling female adult fiction author gone soft?
Apparently not. This is not your run-of-the-mill story, as it involves a fairytale prince called Oliver trying to escape the pages of a book and making contact with Delilah, a 15-year-old loner who is shunned by most of her classmates and has become obsessed with the book in which the prince appears.
It’s a far cry from the young adult fiction world of vampires and werewolves which has taken off in recent years thanks to the Twilight series.
But Jodi and Sammy are aiming for a slightly younger target audience, from age eight upwards.
Jodi credits her daughter with the idea, although Jodi’s name is in bigger print on the front cover. And Sammy is aware that some might accuse her of nepotism.
“I know that her name has definitely helped me in this,” she admits. “She has definitely given me a leg-up in the process. She already had an agent so we didn’t need to find me one. But I know that we wrote this book together, so I’m not worried.”
Indeed, Sammy thought of the idea when she was daydreaming in a French class three years ago. She phoned her mother, who was on a book tour in Los Angeles, and the collaboration resulted in two years of weekends, school holidays and evenings spent side by side at Jodi’s computer, crafting the story.
“We took turns typing and literally spoke every sentence out loud,” Jodi recalls. “I learned that if you think it’s hard to get your daughter to clean her room, it’s even harder to get her to stay focused on finishing a chapter when it’s nice outside.”
But they didn’t have many creative differences while they worked on the novel together.
“We argued, politely, about the simple stuff, like whether Oliver should have black hair or blond hair – and I won that argument,” says Jodi.
“Sammy wanted the fairytale sections to be dark and creepy and gothic, but I wanted them to be light-hearted and sort of Shrek-like. She said absolutely not.
“I thought, ’I’ll let her write it that way, then I’ll fix it’, but she was right and we did it her way.”
Jodi’s job wasn’t made any easier considering she was writing another book at the same time – on the Holocaust.
“It was a real challenge because the adult book I was writing at the same time was very dark and depressing, so to have to shift between that and Between The Lines was like whiplash.”
Writing together has brought the pair closer and has given Sammy a greater understanding of what her mother does for a living.
“I always watched her just go up into her office and, eight hours later, come back down. I never really knew what she was doing. And after living through it I know just how hard she works,” Sammy reflects.
Jodi, 46, a jovial mother-of-three from New Hampshire, goes into a different, darker world from her happily-married, affluent “schoolmom” life when she writes her adult novels. Her office overlooks Moose Mountain at the large colonial-style family home, set in 11 acres.
Sammy recalls the hours her mother would spend up in that office when she was younger, but she didn’t begrudge the time she spent working.
“I let her do her thing, I just never really knew quite what she did. I guess I always saw the glamorous side of her life. On her book tours all I saw were her fans and the big events and the dinners. I never saw how much she was working, all the plane rides.”
She was, however, aware that her mother was famous. “It was a little bit weird when we’d be on a family vacation and someone would come up and ask to take a picture. But to me she’s just a normal mum that cooks dinner and tells me to clean my room.”
Jodi, who won the Richard & Judy Best Book award in 2005 for her novel, My Sister’s Keeper, had a blissfully normal childhood herself. She was born on Long Island, New York. Her mother was a nursery school teacher while her father worked on Wall Street.
After studying English and creative writing at Princeton University, she had a succession of jobs – in finance, editing textbooks, teaching and writing advertising copy – while writing in her spare time.
She married her college sweetheart, Tim Van Leer, an antiques dealer, and gave up work to look after their three children when they were small. But when her husband came home she’d hand them over to him and escape to write.
She received hundreds of rejections, finally finding an agent, but her books were a slow burn, receiving attention by word of mouth rather than advertising. It wasn’t until her fifth or sixth book that she became noticed in America and it was with My Sister’s Keeper that she found fame in Britain.
So could this be the start of an illustrious writing career for Sammy?
“I heard my mum say earlier that the next thing I’m going to write will be my college application,” she laughs.
“But we have talked about a sequel to this.” Sammy will be the last of the children to leave home for college, but Jodi says she’s not worried about empty nest syndrome.
“I don’t worry about it as much as my husband does. I like to think there’s an opportunity there to spend a lot of time travelling and for him to come on tour with me, which he hasn’t been able to do because he’s been with the kids. I think it’s going to be a new adventure. Plus we’ll stalk her at college!”
BETWEEN The Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer is published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £12.99. Available now
Liverpool Arts: Preview
North Wales International Music Festival
THE newly-promoted City of St Asaph, once again plays host to the North Wales Music Festival, which runs for eight days from September 22. It takes place in the cathedral, a few yards off the A55 and is an easy run from Merseyside on a summer’s evening.
It was founded by the composer William Mathias, who died 20 years ago, and concert-goers pass his grave on entering the cathedral. As usual there are starry names, including cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, The King’s Singers and the Chilingirian Quartet, who play Mozart, Haydn and Brahms. Pascal Rogé has piano music by Faure, Ravel, Debussy and Poulenc, and gives a masterclass and Paul Mealor and the Aberdeen University Choir have concerts and community events.
Royal harpist Hannah Stone gives a recital and premieres a new work by Karl Jenkins whose Armed Man will be sung. Red Priest bring theatrical baroque in a programme including Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales wind up proceedings on the final Saturday with Andrew Gourlay conducting Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, the Mastersinger Prelude of Wagner and Daniel Jones’s Cello Concerto with soloist Paul Watkins.
The concert opens with the Anniversary Dances of William Mathias, whose daughter Rhiannon will give the address at Festival Eucharist on Sunday morning. Full details on 0800 411 8881.
Reviews
World Premiere Recordings of Vaughan Williams and William Mathias (Somm)
THE 2nd Piano Concerto of Mathias is one of his finest works and, here, has been recorded by Mark Bebbington and the Ulster Orchestra conducted by George Vass. It is coupled with his early 1st Concerto, and the Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra of Vaughan Williams. These are all world premiere recordings, and the programme notes are by Michael Kennedy and Rhiannon Mathias.
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra / Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (Naxos)
MARIN ALSOP and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra present good accounts of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra and his Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta on two CDs of major and minor Hungarian music. The Concerto used to be the kiss of death at the box office, but concert-goers now recognise an exciting orchestral showpiece. The Night Music in the string work is suitably eerie and likely to make the hairs on the neck rise.
While Bartok is a major voice in the world, the same can’t be said of his compatriot Eugene Zador. He spent much of his life in Hollywood as an orchestrator, but his Children’s Symphony, Five Contrasts, Hungarian Capriccio and Csardas Rhapsody, make pleasant listening.
Liverpool Arts: Last Choir Standing finalists reunite
THE finalists of BBC’s Last Choir Standing are reuniting this autumn for a pair of concerts.
Liverpool’s Sense of Sound will be joined by Wales’ Ysgol Glanaethwy to perform pieces both together and separately.
The first event takes place at Liverpool Cathedral on November 3, with a repeat at Venue Cymru, in Llandudno, on November 24.
Ysgol Glanaethwy are regular winners at the Music Youth Festival , where they have received seven Outstanding Performance awards, as well as attending festivals all over the globe in countries including Switzerland and China.
They recently won the youth category in Budapest’s Musica Mundi Festival and have been named ambassadors of the Llangollen Festival.
Musical director Cefin Roberts says: “Sense of Sound made such an impact on the members of our youth choir on Last Choir Standing.
“Today we have a completely new ensemble of singers and I know that these new members will have the same joy of listening and working with such a diverse and amazing choir.
“We are also excited that we will be singing a few songs with Sense of Sound in the concerts, and hope that this will create a new synergy of sound and music making.”
Liverpool-based Sense of Sound are one of the UK’s most successful contemporary choirs, and have collaborated with many major artists including Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, Damon Albarn and Paco Pena.
Musical director Jennifer John says: “Whenever I hear Ysgol Glanaethwy sing, my heart opens a little more.”
Liverpool Arts: Laura Davis: When is a nude too rude?
WHEN is a nude too rude? If recent events at Edinburgh Airport are anything to go by, a nude is too rude when it greets you in international arrivals.
That’s at least according to a number of shocked passengers, who complained about a poster of Picasso’s Nude Woman in a Red Armchair that advertised an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
One of a sequence of portraits that Picasso made of his model Marie-Thérèse Walter, it’s a sensuous image made up of a series of voluptuous curves – the arms of the chair echo the shape of her body – and a lover is placing a kiss on her left cheek.
The knee-jerk reaction from airport officials was to cover it up – provoking bemusement from National Galleries of Scotland’s director-general John Leighton, who pointed out that the advertising industry is free to use “all kinds of images of women in various states of dress and undress”.
It’s very likely in fact that, not long before, those who made the complaints had been reading an in-flight magazine containing some of these very adverts.
Leighton expressed surprise that “a painted nude by one of the world’s most famous artists is found to be disturbing”, describing the work as “a joyous and affectionate portrait of one of Picasso’s favourite models”.
Edinburgh Airport has since backed down and has apologised to the organisators of the Picasso and Modern British Art exhibition.
Last week, a spokesman revealed the original decision had been reviewed and the cover removed.
Leighton makes a good point – we think nothing of semi-naked women being used, very often in an objectifying manner, to sell perfume or shampoo, yet nudity in certain art works can scandalise.
In 2004, Yoko Ono’s work My Mummy was Beautiful – banners featuring photographs of a woman’s breast and pubic hair displayed throughout the city centre as part of the Liverpool Biennial – drew complaints from an enraged public who dammed it as “gratuitous female nudity” and “unnecessary sensationalism”.
Customers marched into stores along Church Street, where the banners were hung, to air their disapproval and Liverpool City Council received angry letters about Ono’s large image of a breast being hung on the side of St Luke’s “bombed out” Church.
Admittedly, one of the two images did show a little more than would be permitted on post-watershed TV, but not as much as classical sculptures which often, to put it bluntly, show full frontal male nudity.
As anyone who works for a newspaper can tell you, it’s the disgruntled who shout the loudest. Sadly, pleasure seems to be a less compelling force than unhappiness when it comes to letter writing.
And even if you take the attitude of public opinion be damned, you can’t always get it right.
In 2002, when the BBC screened its version of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet, a novel about lesbian women in the Victorian era, it braced itself for a flood of complaints about the graphic sex scenes.
Complaints came but not the ones they were expecting. Instead of being appalled by the eroticism, viewers were disappointed the first episode was not raunchy enough.
Liverpool Arts: Laura Davis: When is a nude too rude?
WHEN is a nude too rude? If recent events at Edinburgh Airport are anything to go by, a nude is too rude when it greets you in international arrivals.
That’s at least according to a number of shocked passengers, who complained about a poster of Picasso’s Nude Woman in a Red Armchair that advertised an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
One of a sequence of portraits that Picasso made of his model Marie-Thérèse Walter, it’s a sensuous image made up of a series of voluptuous curves – the arms of the chair echo the shape of her body – and a lover is placing a kiss on her left cheek.
The knee-jerk reaction from airport officials was to cover it up – provoking bemusement from National Galleries of Scotland’s director-general John Leighton, who pointed out that the advertising industry is free to use “all kinds of images of women in various states of dress and undress”.
It’s very likely in fact that, not long before, those who made the complaints had been reading an in-flight magazine containing some of these very adverts.
Leighton expressed surprise that “a painted nude by one of the world’s most famous artists is found to be disturbing”, describing the work as “a joyous and affectionate portrait of one of Picasso’s favourite models”.
Edinburgh Airport has since backed down and has apologised to the organisators of the Picasso and Modern British Art exhibition.
Last week, a spokesman revealed the original decision had been reviewed and the cover removed.
Leighton makes a good point – we think nothing of semi-naked women being used, very often in an objectifying manner, to sell perfume or shampoo, yet nudity in certain art works can scandalise.
In 2004, Yoko Ono’s work My Mummy was Beautiful – banners featuring photographs of a woman’s breast and pubic hair displayed throughout the city centre as part of the Liverpool Biennial – drew complaints from an enraged public who dammed it as “gratuitous female nudity” and “unnecessary sensationalism”.
Customers marched into stores along Church Street, where the banners were hung, to air their disapproval and Liverpool City Council received angry letters about Ono’s large image of a breast being hung on the side of St Luke’s “bombed out” Church.
Admittedly, one of the two images did show a little more than would be permitted on post-watershed TV, but not as much as classical sculptures which often, to put it bluntly, show full frontal male nudity.
As anyone who works for a newspaper can tell you, it’s the disgruntled who shout the loudest. Sadly, pleasure seems to be a less compelling force than unhappiness when it comes to letter writing.
And even if you take the attitude of public opinion be damned, you can’t always get it right.
In 2002, when the BBC screened its version of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet, a novel about lesbian women in the Victorian era, it braced itself for a flood of complaints about the graphic sex scenes.
Complaints came but not the ones they were expecting. Instead of being appalled by the eroticism, viewers were disappointed the first episode was not raunchy enough.
Liverpool Arts: Having the time of her life
TACKLING difficult issues like sexual abuse, assisted suicide, school shootings and organ donation, Jodi Picoult’s stories don’t often end with a “happily ever after”.
So, in writing a fairytale for young adults with her 16-year-old daughter, Samantha Van Leer, has Britain’s biggest-selling female adult fiction author gone soft?
Apparently not. This is not your run-of-the-mill story, as it involves a fairytale prince called Oliver trying to escape the pages of a book and making contact with Delilah, a 15-year-old loner who is shunned by most of her classmates and has become obsessed with the book in which the prince appears.
It’s a far cry from the young adult fiction world of vampires and werewolves which has taken off in recent years thanks to the Twilight series.
But Jodi and Sammy are aiming for a slightly younger target audience, from age eight upwards.
Jodi credits her daughter with the idea, although Jodi’s name is in bigger print on the front cover. And Sammy is aware that some might accuse her of nepotism.
“I know that her name has definitely helped me in this,” she admits. “She has definitely given me a leg-up in the process. She already had an agent so we didn’t need to find me one. But I know that we wrote this book together, so I’m not worried.”
Indeed, Sammy thought of the idea when she was daydreaming in a French class three years ago. She phoned her mother, who was on a book tour in Los Angeles, and the collaboration resulted in two years of weekends, school holidays and evenings spent side by side at Jodi’s computer, crafting the story.
“We took turns typing and literally spoke every sentence out loud,” Jodi recalls. “I learned that if you think it’s hard to get your daughter to clean her room, it’s even harder to get her to stay focused on finishing a chapter when it’s nice outside.”
But they didn’t have many creative differences while they worked on the novel together.
“We argued, politely, about the simple stuff, like whether Oliver should have black hair or blond hair – and I won that argument,” says Jodi.
“Sammy wanted the fairytale sections to be dark and creepy and gothic, but I wanted them to be light-hearted and sort of Shrek-like. She said absolutely not.
“I thought, ’I’ll let her write it that way, then I’ll fix it’, but she was right and we did it her way.”
Jodi’s job wasn’t made any easier considering she was writing another book at the same time – on the Holocaust.
“It was a real challenge because the adult book I was writing at the same time was very dark and depressing, so to have to shift between that and Between The Lines was like whiplash.”
Writing together has brought the pair closer and has given Sammy a greater understanding of what her mother does for a living.
“I always watched her just go up into her office and, eight hours later, come back down. I never really knew what she was doing. And after living through it I know just how hard she works,” Sammy reflects.
Jodi, 46, a jovial mother-of-three from New Hampshire, goes into a different, darker world from her happily-married, affluent “schoolmom” life when she writes her adult novels. Her office overlooks Moose Mountain at the large colonial-style family home, set in 11 acres.
Sammy recalls the hours her mother would spend up in that office when she was younger, but she didn’t begrudge the time she spent working.
“I let her do her thing, I just never really knew quite what she did. I guess I always saw the glamorous side of her life. On her book tours all I saw were her fans and the big events and the dinners. I never saw how much she was working, all the plane rides.”
She was, however, aware that her mother was famous. “It was a little bit weird when we’d be on a family vacation and someone would come up and ask to take a picture. But to me she’s just a normal mum that cooks dinner and tells me to clean my room.”
Jodi, who won the Richard & Judy Best Book award in 2005 for her novel, My Sister’s Keeper, had a blissfully normal childhood herself. She was born on Long Island, New York. Her mother was a nursery school teacher while her father worked on Wall Street.
After studying English and creative writing at Princeton University, she had a succession of jobs – in finance, editing textbooks, teaching and writing advertising copy – while writing in her spare time.
She married her college sweetheart, Tim Van Leer, an antiques dealer, and gave up work to look after their three children when they were small. But when her husband came home she’d hand them over to him and escape to write.
She received hundreds of rejections, finally finding an agent, but her books were a slow burn, receiving attention by word of mouth rather than advertising. It wasn’t until her fifth or sixth book that she became noticed in America and it was with My Sister’s Keeper that she found fame in Britain.
So could this be the start of an illustrious writing career for Sammy?
“I heard my mum say earlier that the next thing I’m going to write will be my college application,” she laughs.
“But we have talked about a sequel to this.” Sammy will be the last of the children to leave home for college, but Jodi says she’s not worried about empty nest syndrome.
“I don’t worry about it as much as my husband does. I like to think there’s an opportunity there to spend a lot of time travelling and for him to come on tour with me, which he hasn’t been able to do because he’s been with the kids. I think it’s going to be a new adventure. Plus we’ll stalk her at college!”
BETWEEN The Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer is published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £12.99. Available now
Liverpool Arts: MUSIC: Dervish to play city’s Irish Festival
IRELAND’S representatives in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest is playing the Epstein theatre in October as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival.
Fronted by singer Cathy Jordan, Dervish is made up of Liam Kelly (flute/whistles), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Martin McGinley (fiddle), Brian McDonagh (mandola) and Michael Holmes (bouzouki/guitar).
The band was founded when a group of musicians from the north west of Ireland came together in 1988 to record an album of local music, The Boys Of Sligo.
They were inspired by the project and decided to develop the informal gathering into a working band.
Whether representing Celtic music at major festivals, playing at the great wall of China or performing for 250,000 people at Rock in Rio, they continue to travel the globe, flying the flag for Irish music wherever they go.
Sligo-based Dervish, which relates to any group of poor but spiritual people who become enraptured by music, are particularly popular in America, where they have signed a contract with New York-based company Kells Music.
Liverpool Irish Festival is a celebration of traditional connections and contemporary links between Liverpool and Ireland.
The annual event, which runs from from October 11-21, includes a packed programme of music, film, drama, heritage, literature and lectures.
Popular events such as heritage walks, pub music sessions and ceilidhs will also return.
DERVISH play the Epstein Theatre on October 11. Further details on the Liverpool Irish Festival at www.liverpoolirish festival.com
Liverpool Arts: BOOKS: Strong line-up for literature festival
POET Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Charles Dickens’s great-great-grandson are appearing at Frodsham’s first literature festival.
Duffy, a University of Liverpool graduate, will be speaking at Frodsham Community Centre on September 5, while Gerald Dickens will be performing a dramatised version of A Christmas Carol at the Heathercliffe Hotel on September 2.
Festival patron Tim Firth, the Warrington-born writer of Calendar Girls and new film The Wedding Video, is running an afternoon writing workshop for young people aged eight to 12 on September 9.
Tickets have already sold out for some events at the festival, Weaver Words, which runs from August 29 to September 9.
Festival manager Lynn Pegler says: “The response to Frodsham’s first literature festival has been amazing.
“Already two events are sold out and there are very few tickets left for the Poet Laureate.
“Lots of community organisations and schools have got involved and will be running their own events alongside the festival. The support from everyone in the town has been fantastic.”
Also appearing will be Dr Who writer Eddie Robson, who will launch a science fiction-themed weekend on Saturday September 1.
Comic book creator Tim Quinn, who has worked as scriptwriter, editor on everything from Beryl the Peril and Korky the Cat to Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, will take his audience through 150 years of comic strips in a talk on August 31.
FURTHER details at www.weaverwords. org.uk
Liverpool Arts: Laura Davis: When is a nude too rude?
WHEN is a nude too rude? If recent events at Edinburgh Airport are anything to go by, a nude is too rude when it greets you in international arrivals.
That’s at least according to a number of shocked passengers, who complained about a poster of Picasso’s Nude Woman in a Red Armchair that advertised an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
One of a sequence of portraits that Picasso made of his model Marie-Thérèse Walter, it’s a sensuous image made up of a series of voluptuous curves – the arms of the chair echo the shape of her body – and a lover is placing a kiss on her left cheek.
The knee-jerk reaction from airport officials was to cover it up – provoking bemusement from National Galleries of Scotland’s director-general John Leighton, who pointed out that the advertising industry is free to use “all kinds of images of women in various states of dress and undress”.
It’s very likely in fact that, not long before, those who made the complaints had been reading an in-flight magazine containing some of these very adverts.
Leighton expressed surprise that “a painted nude by one of the world’s most famous artists is found to be disturbing”, describing the work as “a joyous and affectionate portrait of one of Picasso’s favourite models”.
Edinburgh Airport has since backed down and has apologised to the organisators of the Picasso and Modern British Art exhibition.
Last week, a spokesman revealed the original decision had been reviewed and the cover removed.
Leighton makes a good point – we think nothing of semi-naked women being used, very often in an objectifying manner, to sell perfume or shampoo, yet nudity in certain art works can scandalise.
In 2004, Yoko Ono’s work My Mummy was Beautiful – banners featuring photographs of a woman’s breast and pubic hair displayed throughout the city centre as part of the Liverpool Biennial – drew complaints from an enraged public who dammed it as “gratuitous female nudity” and “unnecessary sensationalism”.
Customers marched into stores along Church Street, where the banners were hung, to air their disapproval and Liverpool City Council received angry letters about Ono’s large image of a breast being hung on the side of St Luke’s “bombed out” Church.
Admittedly, one of the two images did show a little more than would be permitted on post-watershed TV, but not as much as classical sculptures which often, to put it bluntly, show full frontal male nudity.
As anyone who works for a newspaper can tell you, it’s the disgruntled who shout the loudest. Sadly, pleasure seems to be a less compelling force than unhappiness when it comes to letter writing.
And even if you take the attitude of public opinion be damned, you can’t always get it right.
In 2002, when the BBC screened its version of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet, a novel about lesbian women in the Victorian era, it braced itself for a flood of complaints about the graphic sex scenes.
Complaints came but not the ones they were expecting. Instead of being appalled by the eroticism, viewers were disappointed the first episode was not raunchy enough.
jueves, 23 de agosto de 2012
viernes, 3 de agosto de 2012
Liverpool Arts: Lobsters to star in St Helens festival
FIERY stilt walkers, dinosaurs, acrobats – and an escapologist who fights his way out of clingfilm are all performing on the streets of St Helens this week.
Magic, comedy dance acts and giant lobsters will also be showing off their skills in the town’s three-day Summer Streets festival.
Other highlights include The Foodies – a comedy chef and his hopeless trainee, Tiny the Dinosaur, an amazingly life-like dinosaur, and a children’s show inside the stomach of a 30ft long sleeping pig.
Meanwhile, Squashbox Theatre will entertain audiences with puppetry, storytelling, live music and comedy routines.
Barrie Grunewald, St Helens Council’s deputy leader, says: “We’re thrilled we’re able to deliver this new event brimming with wild and wonderful street acts that will amaze and enthral audiences of all ages.
“It’s top-drawer entertainment from across the world – and it won’t cost a penny to see it.”
SUMMER Streets runs from today until Saturday. Further details at www.whatson insthelens.com
Liverpool Life: Wine: Try some medal-winning Reds to mark the Olympics
HURRAH to fellow Lancastrian Danny Boyle for a splendid Olympic opening ceremony and now what better way to celebrate the world’s finest sporting event than with medal-winning wines.
You may have seen gold, silver and bronze awards alongside wines. The most common are from the International Wine Challenge (IWC) and the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA). Among others, there’s also the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC).
Each spring tastings begin; weeks later awards are announced. But a tip – as it’s happened to me – make sure that you buy the winning vintage. More than once I’ve been tempted online by an award-laden wine, only to receive another vintage – not the prize winner.
This year the 29th IWC saw 425 gold medals awarded, 1,637 silver medals and 2,715 bronze medals. Browse winning wines at www.internationalwinechallenge.com
The Decanter World Wine Awards was in its 9th year this year and had its largest ever entry of 14,119 wines. Find a winner at www.decanter.com/dwwa/2012/
Winners of the IWSC – after blind tastings and chemical analysis – can be seen at www.iwsc.net/search2012/wine
Read on as, with the help of a tasting team, I try to whet your Olympic tastebuds. This week, favour gymnastics with reds – but both reds and whites as the Games progress.
Marks & Spencer Chianti Classico Riserva Castello della Paneretta 2008 (RRP £13.99. Bronze, Decanter. Gold, IWC) Made from Sangiovese and Canaiolo grapes, this hearty chianti was aged for a year in French oak to lend texture and roundness. A garnet colour with a light, red cherry aroma, it has a complex flavour dominated by fresh blackberries, which linger agreeably on the palate. MT
Marks & Spencer Mattiske Road Barossa Valley Shiraz 2010 (RRP £16.99. Silver, Decanter. Gold, IWC.) Balanced, ruby-rich Australian shiraz. A bright sharp nose gives way to refreshing blackberries and lingering cocoa flavours, this hedonistic shiraz is matured for 18 months with minimal interference in oak resulting in a beautifully rounded wine, satisfying without being overbearing. SO
The Society’s Exhibition Malbec ( £9.99 www.thewinesociety.com Silver, IWC. Gold, Decanter.) Malbec is a grape that thrives in the high altitudes of Argentina’s Mendoza region and this is an excellent example of this rich, fruity wine. Despite the full body of its 14% alcohol, there’s a light, raspberry flavour at first tasting which deepens to a fuller, plummy finish. It has a more complex structure and flavour than many supermarket Malbecs. BM
Novas Colchagua Carmenere Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva 2009 (£9.99, www.virginwines.co.uk Gold, IWC 2011) Bold yet soft, rich but gentle, this fruit-laden wine is a blend of one of my new-favourite grapes carmenère and cabernet sauvignon. A grinding of pepper runs through its full body and it was stunning with spice-roasted lamb. JC
Leyda Pinot Noir, Las Brisas Vineyard, Leyda Valley 2010 (www.tanners-wines.co.uk, £16.30 Bronze, Decanter. Gold, IWC.) This wine exhibited in A Taste of Gold in June, celebrating the winners from IWC 2012. The thin-skinned pinot noir grape produces light-bodied wines but with an earthy flavour and fruity complexity. This is a classy and classic example. JC
Liverpool Arts: WHEN Jools Holland says big band, he means it.
There was an impressive gaggle of musicians on stage at the Phil – five saxophones, five trombones, three trumpets and a huge rhythm section crowded around the central piano.
The auditorium was packed too – filled with toe tapping music fans.
His recent shows have been at the Echo arena, but the Phil worked better, offering superb acoustics and a more intimate feel.
It’s a music lover’s venue, and it really suited his style.
But Jools is one of life’s music lovers. He presents one of the only music shows left on BBC TV, mixing old with new, picking the best from every genre.
Dressed in all black save for bright red shoes, he presided over one of the more eclectic bunches of musicians it's been my pleasure to listen to in a long time.
Looking at them on stage in ballgowns and Hawaiian shirts, jeans and smart trousers, they looked like they didn’t belong in the same bus queue, let alone on the same stage.
But this wasn’t a show about looks, it was a show purely about the joy of music, and when the band began to play it was clear that they were in perfect harmony.
Even the solos were a real treat – Chris Barber’s trombone section during Sunny Side of the Street had the crowd crying out for more and Gilson Lavis pulled off the rarest of feats by performing an enjoyable drum solo.
There were guest sets from the excellent Louise Marshall, godfather of ska Rico Rodriguez and perennial favourite Ruby Turner.
But the star of the show had to be Gregory Porter, who won the crowd over from the first sublime syllable of Let the Good Times Roll.
Even in a silver blazer and what looked like a peaked balaclava, the Grammy-nominated jazz singer was the coolest man in the room, tingeing every line with heartfelt soul.
He’s a definite star in the making, and one we need to see more of in Liverpool in the very near future.
There was plenty of audience interaction as Jools urged the crowd up on to their feet, leading the singing, clapping and cheering at every opportunity.
While his recent shows at the Echo arena were good, this show was great.
Partly that was down to the venue, partly to the crowd and partly to the mixture of artists, but whatever the recipe it made for a must see show for any music fan.
Jade Wright
Liverpool Life: Restaurant review: Tinker’s in Southport
Alistair Houghton tries a taste of Tinker’s in Southport
THANKFULLY, I no longer associate the word Masterchef with Vic Reeves’ nightmarish vision of a bulb-headed Loyd Grossman hovering over a darkened studio.
Because today, Masterchef is a gladiatorial cookfest where shouty hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode pile the pressure on a parade of wannabe chefs.
Just as the X Factor has spawned a new generation of chart stars, so Masterchef alumni are now turning their TV success into reality across the country. Just to the left, for example, is the latest recipe from winner Claire Lara, of Oxton.
And now Southport has its own piece of Masterchef magic, with series finalist Jay Tinker’s eponymous restaurant.
Former doorman Tinker has used his TV success as a springboard into the restaurant business. And that, as I found, is good news for this corner of Southport.
A couple of Saturdays ago, on a whim, M and I decided to head to Southport for some sea air – and I thought we could give Tinker’s a try. I called that lunchtime, expecting it to be fully booked, but was able to get a table for 6pm.
“I should let you know”, added the Tinker’s spokeswoman, “that we’re having problems with our alcohol licence so we can’t serve alcohol tonight. But you can bring your own.”
So I did. Not that I need an excuse to pop into Southport’s Inn Beer Shop, the narrow treasurehouse of bottled beer that’s packed with fine ales to take away. We grabbed a couple of bottles, walked to the other end of Lord Street and headed into Tinker’s.
There was only one server on, handling four tables, but she did so with aplomb.
Once we’d ordered, we were given a basket of bread with cream cheese and herby oil on the side while we perused the menu.
Before visiting I’d toyed with trying Tinker’s mini fish and chips . But in my day job I’m a regular at business networking bashes, where cones of mini fish and chips have become a bit of a staple. So in the end I went for another deconstructed classic Brit dish – a breakfast salad.
With wee wedges of black pudding, chunks of hot fried potatoes, deliciously richly crispy bacon, a delicately poached egg and some leaves, the ensemble was topped with tomato sauce reminiscent of but superior to Mr Heinz’s.
At breakfast, you want a full English to leave you heavy bellied and waddling. But, as befits a salad starter, this dish was light enough to leave me wanting more.
Liverpool Life: Look of the week: Katy Perry on the red carpet in Rio
U.S. singer and actress Katy Perry
KATY PERRY oozes grown up glamour at the premiere of her movie Part of me 3D in Rio de Janeiro.
The superstar pop songstress looked stunning in a dazzling silver lace Dolce & Gabbana floor-length gown which hugged her curves in all the right places.
See what you’ve lost Russell Brand!
Liverpool Arts: Rugged scenery inspires exhibition
THE imposing rocky landscape of Snowdonia is the subject of Dot-Art’s latest exhibition.
A collection of images by Liverpool-based freelance photographer Craig Magee is going on display at the gallery next week.
The main focus of his work is architectural and landscape photography, both for personal projects and commercial clients.
Those included in the exhibition are taken from his non-commercial body of work and attempt to convey the feeling of a range of North Wales locations through use of light, colour and form.
Magee says: “I feel North Wales is like no other place when you consider the mix of landscapes that are contained in such a relatively small area.
“Snowdonia is probably my favourite place ever, the imposing rocky peaks of Ogwen valley and the copper ore blue river beds of Coed-y-Brenin.”
He takes a traditional approach to photography, shooting each image on Kodak film with a 4x5in large format camera.
This gives the work a large amount of detail and rendition of colour that he feels cannot be matched with digital.
He says: “A slower, more methodical method, as opposed to the often rushed feeling shooting digital provides with its instant results.
“While each image is a record of maybe only a few seconds of time, at most, every one is a reminder of a longer moment, the time spent looking for the shot, setting up the camera, then waiting for that decisive moment to press the shutter release.”
SNOWDONIA is at Dot-Art, Queen Avenue, from August 13 to September 28.
Liverpool Arts: Instrument choice like being in a sweet shop
DAME Evelyn Glennie is returning to Liverpool for the first time in a decade, appearing at the Philharmonic Hall on August 18 as part of this year’s DaDaFest.
The last time the 47-year-old played at the venue was in 2002 when she performed David Horne’s percussion piece, Ignition, with the RLPO.
Now she’s returning, this time alone and with “just a small group of instruments” to present An Evening With Evelyn Glennie.
Audience members can expect a half-hour recital, including contemporary and classic works for percussion such as Steve Reich’s Clapping Music, followed by a talk about her “journey as a musician, what sound is to me, and my personal relationship with the instruments”.
Glennie describes deciding what instrument to play as like going into a sweet shop, adding: “Which ones do you choose?
“You go with the mood, you go with the atmosphere of the hall, the audience, and just how you feel at that particular moment.”
It’s quite some sweet shop though.
Over the last quarter of a century, Glennie has amassed a collection of almost 2,000 percussion instruments.
“There are quite a lot to be sure,” she laughs.
Liverpool Arts: Masters of comedy trio at Eric’s
COMEDIANS Steve Harris, Kai Humphries and Damian Clark take to the floor at Eric’s in Mathew Street tonight.
Harris is described as “a master of the obvious and a Ninja of the not so obvious”.
Humphries is a happy-go-lucky Geordie comedian and compere who was a 2009 finalist in the So You Think You’re Funny? annual comedy competition.
And Clark burst into the Irish and UK comedy circuit in 2005.
Ernie’s Stand Up Comedy Club will be compered by Yorkshireman Craig Murray, a rising talent on the comedy circuit.
ERNIE’S Stand Up Comedy Club is at Eric’s tonight at 8pm.
Liverpool Arts: Energetic orchestra to rock Liverpool
LIVE 7-piece project Submotion Orchestra are bringing their blissful tones and weighty sub-bass to Eric’s.
The Leeds musicians incorporate deep bass-driven grooves and dense textures in their progressive live dubstep sound.
Drummer Tommy Evans says: “We had a pretty long and pretty heavy lock-in the last time we played in Liverpool, which was hard to forget. Other than that, it’s a city we all love playing in and have fond memories of lots of venues around town.”
Having been formed in early 2009 as an experimental live project, the band have quickly established themselves as one of the most exciting up- and-coming acts this year.
“If you’ve not seen us live expect energy, commitment and soul,” adds Tommy. “The live show has more attitude than the record, and, in walking the thin line between acoustic and electronic music, we bring together the best of jazz, dubstep and electronica.
SUBMOTION Orchestra play Eric’s on October 24.
Liverpool Arts: I’m going to show you Brits a seriously good time
Swedish DJ Avicii tells Emma Johnson how much he’s looking forward to appearing at his first UK festival
FROM Vegas to Vancouver there is no escaping man of the moment Avicii. The creator of tracks like Levels, Penguins and Bromance, he has blown up faster than any DJ in living memory.
Not bad considering the Stockholm-born star is just 22.
You heard right yes, yet another super-Swede storming the charts.
“I guess we inspire each other,” the young producer suggests by way of explanation for his home country’s domination of the dance scene.
“We’ve had really strong producers for the last 10 years and the guys that really got me into producing were the Swedish House Mafia and Eric Prydz. If not that, it must just be something with the water in Sweden. . .”
Like so many of the new breed DJs, Avicii’s career started off in his bedroom: “A friend of mine told me about a program that could be used to make music without playing any instruments.
“I was intrigued and downloaded a demo to try. I got hooked from day one.”
Back then he was better known by his real name Tim Berglig, the Avicii moniker is taken from the name given to the bottom circle of hell in Buddhism: “When I tried to register on Myspace, that account that name was taken, so I put an extra ‘i’ in the end of it,” he explains. “Since that I’ve really grown attached to the name.”
Despite worldwide fame as Avicii (in the US he is so well known he appears in an advert for Budweiser) he also produces under the aliases Tom Hangs and Tim Berg (Bromance).
“Tim Berg is a little more underground,” he reflects. “Not super underground, but it’s more experimental. Avicii is a little more of my big room melodic sound.”
Now working with many of the musicians who inspired him as well as the likes of David Guetta – the pair were nominated for a Grammy this year for their joint production Sunshine – last month saw Avicii playing alongside Madonna at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
“That was one of the highlights of my whole career to date if I’m honest,” he says. But that could all change come August when finally Avicii will make his UK festival debut right here at Creamfields and he seems as excited about it as the fans.
He says: “Creamfields has an amazing reputation and is probably one of the coolest dance festivals in Europe. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things so I’m very excited.
“I’ve never played at any UK festivals before so I’m looking forward to checking out how you guys do it. I’ve heard it can get very muddy!
“I’m going to put absolutely everything into the show and hopefully show you Brits a seriously good time!”
One thing he had better put in the show is Levels. First heard way back in 2010, the song which samples Etta James’ Something’s Got a Hold On Me finally got a proper release late last year and reached number four in the UK singles charts. The uncannily similar sounding Flo Rida track Good Feeling made it to number one shortly afterwards.
“Levels actually started out as a remix of another track and was originally meant to have a different vocal line,” Avicii explains. “I heard the track Finally Moving by Pretty Lights, which used the Etta James vocal and I fell in love with it. I placed the Etta sample on Levels instrumental and it just worked so well.
“I’m such a huge fan – I think she was a truly incredible talent. Voices like hers don’t come around very often.”
Looking to the future it is hard to imagine anything less than Swedish House Mafia/David Guetta levels of world domination for Avicii but he isn’t planning things out too much.
He says: “I’m incredibly lucky to do what I love for a living. In terms of future goals, or a five year plan, I just want to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as possible. My manager is the one with the big plan. Hopefully I’ll be doing what I’m doing for longer than five more years!”
AVICII will be headlining the South Stage at Creamfields on Saturday, August 25.
miércoles, 1 de agosto de 2012
Liverpool Life: A little summer sun at last so nature grabs its chance
Sean Bradbury picks the best new offerings from the Post Flickr group
THE Liverpool Post Flickr group got up close and personal with their subjects this week.
Les Day captured two liver birds tripping the light fantastic on top of a lamppost.
Dave Edwards found a rainbow of colours when walking through the wildflower meadows in Kirkby.
And Steve Wallace's shot “Gatekeeper” caught a sunburst butterfly delicately perched on a thistle head.
SEE more Flickr pictures and join the Post’s group at www.flickr. comgroups/liverpool dailypost08/
Liverpool Arts: THEATRE REVIEW: The Last 5 Years, The Actors Studio
STEPHEN FLETCHER’S fledgling production company Life in Theatre may be just two shows in but its name on the programme is fast becoming a sign of quality.
For its second venture, the Liverpool-born performer returns to the Actors Studio where its first, A Life in the Theatre with Andrew Schofield, was well received just a few months ago.
This time he stars alongside the effervescent Helen Carter in another two-hander, Jason Robert Brown’s one act musical The Last 5 Years, which charts a relationship from beginning to end in both directions simultaneously.
If that sounds complicated, fear not, it’s only confusing on paper. On stage, we witness the relationship backwards through the eyes of struggling actress Cathy Hiatt – it opens with her clutching a tear-stained farewell note – and forwards from the perception of her husband Jamie Willerstein, a novelist.
The couple interacts just once – during a touching wedding scene – before they’re swept away towards their optimistic first meeting or heartwrenching separation.
Already having proved himself a versatile actor on the Liverpool stage, from Royal Court Christmas comedies to Tennessee Williams at the Playhouse, Fletcher is a perfect fit for the role of Jamie, making a smooth transition from excitable romantic to jaded divorcé-in-waiting.
Carter (Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi, No Wise Men) is always eminently watchable but she brings something extra special to Cathy, keeping her just on the right side of the line between passionate and oppressively clingy.
It’s a genuinely moving tale in which it’s impossible to take sides but it’s the comic moments that stay with you – particularly Carter’s sarcastic showstopper A Summer in Ohio and Fletcher’s The Schmuel Song, which he gives a delivery reminiscent of Danny Kaye.
Laura Davis
Liverpool Life: Key Facts
FILION SUITES RESORT & SPA, BALI, CRETE
BEST FOR: Couples, singles and families looking for a peaceful sunshine break on a budget.
TIME TO GO: The weather is great from spring through to autumn, with mid summer months the hottest.
DON’T MISS: Panorama restaurant, for food, atmosphere and great views. Book ahead to get a Friday night table.
NEED TO KNOW: Filion is 15-minute drive from the nearest shops, so pack any crucial supplies or factor in that you’ll need to travel a little bit to get to Bali.
DON’T FORGET: Book your boat trip in advance, as they don’t run every day of the week.
Abi Jackson was a guest of lowcostholidays.com which offers seven nights’ half-board at Filion Suites Resort & Spa on Crete from £307 in this summer’s programme, based on two adults sharing and including return flights ex-Gatwick. Reservations: 0800 111 6271 and www.lowcostholidays.com
viernes, 20 de julio de 2012
Liverpool Arts: SPOTLIGHT: Emily Brogden, acting director of Chester Festivals
Emily Brogden, acting director of Chester Festivals
Tell us a bit about your job The job involves anything and everything because we are such a small team. I lead the organisation and report to the board making big decisions on the cultural landscape of Chester. However, it has also involved carrying a giant lily pad through the streets for Amber Ray, burlesque performer of MBNA Chestival Vaudeville Weekend!
What inspires you? Innovative and fun ideas, quality artistic product and a hardworking and committed team around me.
What show/event/exhibition are you most looking forward to in the next 12 months? In the next 12 months we have a diverse, entertaining and informative Chester Literature Festival (October 14-28), and finally, our fabulous children’s Lit Fest GobbleDEEbook (October 20-27).
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? I can safely say I’ll still be working in the arts. I have such a huge respect for this industry. People, resources and budgets can often be spread thinly, but because the passion is there, we continue to make things happen.
What makes you laugh? Do you find that whenever you are lifting something heavy, particularly with the help of someone else, that you get the giggles at the most unhelpful moment and lose all ability to “lift and shift”?! No?! Well these are called the “heavy giggles”.
What’s your hidden talent? Keeping a smile on my face when someone’s being negative.
Liverpool Arts: FILM REVIEW: The Dark Knight Rises is brilliant and brutal
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (12A) Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson Director: Christopher Nolan Duration: 164 mins.
DIRECTOR Christopher Nolan completes his dark and brooding trilogy based on the DC Comics crime-fighter in suitably grandiose fashion, delivering not only the longest film in the series but also the most brutal, violent and satisfying.
Replete with more than an hour of footage shot on IMAX cameras to enhance picture quality and truly immerse the audience in the pulse-quickening action, The Dark Knight Rises ends Nolan’s tenure on a giddy high.
It’s to the London-born film-maker’s credit that he resisted the urge to jump on the 3D bandwagon for the caped crusader’s swansong.
Certainly, the breathlessly orchestrated action sequences, including the spectacular opening aboard a huge C-130 Hercules transport plane, would draw bigger gasps in the eye-popping format.
However, Nolan has always focused on the characters and their twisted psychologies, and he puts all of them and us through the emotional wringer in this final chapter, co-written by his brother Jonathan.
The script is a little too cute in places, inadvertently giving away one major plot point well in advance, but it certainly doesn’t hurt our enjoyment to be two steps ahead of the good guys.
Christian Bale brings typical intensity to the title role and the tender bond with Sir Michael Caine’s lackey continues to tug heartstrings.
Thankfully, Tom Hardy’s electronic vocals have been improved since the early trailers for the film so his masked villain is largely intelligible and Anne Hathaway slinks away from Michelle Pfeiffer’s memorable portrayal of Catwoman but still purrs some choice one-liners.
It is eight years since Batman falsely assumed responsibility for the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) in order to bring the anti-crime legislation into effect and crush Gotham’s criminal fraternity.
The caped crusader is a fading memory and crippled billionaire Bruce Wayne (Bale) has become a virtual recluse, holed up in his manor with trusty butler Alfred (Caine).
Liverpool Arts: Laura Davis: The neon lights aren’t quite so bright on Broadway
I’M YET to see a TV drama that comes anywhere near to accurately depicting my experience of working in journalism so it’s perhaps a little unfair to base my opinions of life behind the scenes of a Broadway show on the NBC series Smash.
Who I am to say whether it’s entirely realist to burst spontaneously into song in a bowling alley like a scene from Grease 2, be forced to whisper-sing Happy Birthday Mr President to a famous director in his penthouse apartment or get accidentally hooked on sleeping pills as the result of a freak combination of a sore throat and a limelight-scrobbling mother.
When it comes to switching on the next episode of Smash, I actually don’t care.
I want to believe that it’s possible for Debra Messing to write the whole book of a musical on an A4 notepad with a perfectly sharpened HB pencil, while looking both effortlessly chic and Einstein intelligent in her tortoiseshell reading glasses and white shirt.
I want to believe the world is full of scrupulous theatre producers like Anjelica Huston, who are able to balance a strong moral conscience with savvy business acumen while still finding time to fall for a bartender with a hidden talent for central heating repair and chuck a few cocktails in her nasty ex-husband’s face.
I want to rig a live orchestra to my bedroom curtains so the action of drawing them each morning is accompanied by the sound of the band tuning up before a show – just like Smash’s opening credits.
And I’d swap my big stack of theatre programmes to be able to fast forward the dull better-stick-in-a- pop-song-to-keep-younger- audiences-happy bits of real life so that it becomes one long stream of exciting choreography, big ballads and snappy dialogue.
If, in reality, behind the scenes at Broadway isn’t the way it’s depicted in Smash then frankly it’s been invented wrong.
Countering the misconceptions of the glamorous lives Broadway actors lead is the book Making it on Broadway by David Wienir and Jodie Langel, which, since it came out in 2004, has been shocking wannabe musical theatre stars into signing up for engineering courses.
Told through the voices of real life Broadway performers, including Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander, it reveals the cockroaches, crises and chicanery behind their supposedly charmed existence.
Despite what it says in the song, it turns out that the neon lights aren’t quite so bright on Broadway – it’s much more dramatic than that.
Authentic Broadway life is not complete without money worries, stalkers, co-stars with wandering hands, embarrassing bar mitzvah performances, disappointed family members, broken marriages and broken Tony awards.
And even if you do eventually make it into a top-billed role – after years of sleeping on a friend’s lice-ridden sofa, walking miles home because you have no subway money and dodging obsessive fans – there’s no guarantee you’ll ever get another one.
It seems that even with handsome-but-selfish director Derek and needy prima donna Ivy, the world of Smash is a fluffy paradise compared to the back-stabbing, soul destroying reality of Broadway backstage.
Now that would make a good musical.
Liverpool Life: Look of the Week: Marion Cotillard
French Actress Marion Cotillard attends the world premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises"
I IMAGINE it is hard for Marion Cotillard to look anything less than gorgeous with that divine visage and fine French style.
Here she is at the New York premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in a fantastically frothy Christian Dior affair.
Luckily the spikey (and slightly scary) Louboutin heels toughen up the look. Trés sexy.
Liverpool Arts: Classical Column 190712
Preview
RLPO Summer Pops Season
RECENTLY at the Wigmore Hall, a mezzo-soprano ended her recital by singing as an encore of the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow – there was not a dry eye in the house. It is very right and proper that those wonderful Broadway and Hollywood songs of the last century increasingly find their place alongside the great masters of song like Schubert and Schumann.
The best of them are being recognised as an important genre in their own right. Kim Crisswell joins John Wilson and the RLPO on Saturday night to celebrate Hollywood’s leading ladies with many of the songs made famous by Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Lena Horne and more.
Orchestral music is not forgotten as Wilson includes amongst other things, The Carousel Waltz, which to my mind stands alongside Strauss as one of the finest of its kind. There is a preview of some of the programme tomorrow night when Crisswell, Wilson and the RLPO entertain the crowds at the Pierhead and they will also hear Thunder and Lightening Polka, Crown Imperial and Candide Overture.
It’s all part of a general letting down of the hair, before the Orchestra has a summer break, climaxing on Sunday evening with soprano Elizabeth Watts and Carl Davis presenting popular classics from concert hall and opera house, including Puccini, Mozart, Stars and Stripes for Ever and the Last Night of the Proms routine. Four weeks of relaxation follows for the band before the London Prom on August 23.
Reviews
Neeme Jarvi conducts Saint-Saens (Chandos), Saint Saens Organ Works (Hyperion)
AFTER their glittering release of the music of Debussy, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra follows up with Neeme Jarvi conducting a programme of that under-estimated composer, Camille Saint-Saens.
Omphale’s Spinning Wheel, Danse Macabre and the Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah are joined by six lesser known but attractive pieces in spectacular recorded sound from Chandos. The composer lived too long and was considered out of date when he died in 1921 but he is due for a revival. Hyperion adds to the argument by releasing Volume 3 of his organ music played by Andrew-John Smith on the composer’s own organ at the Madeleine, Paris. Three Breton songs are quite delightful and, in tackling the Fantasie for mechanical Aeolian organ, the organist admits that he has managed to play most of the notes in this first recording. The composer did not expect it to be played by human hand, just on the machine but the Madeleine instrument having no bells, Adrian Bending steps in to add chimes. The programme is completed with three of his pieces for religious ritual and a delightful Sarabande.
Liverpool Life: Restaurant Review: The Little Manor, Thelwall
Thelwall’s Little Manor has had quite the facelift. Emma Johnson finds it looks good on it
THEY do say you can have too much of a good thing. Take rice pudding for instance. I like it – on occasion – but I would not like to have to live off it for any length of time.
Yet that is precisely what I found myself doing after I tripped over on my way back from holiday and broke my jaw in two places. Dramatic I know.
Thankfully I was lucky enough to avoid the discomfort and indignity of having to have my jaw wired shut and am fully healed now (I think). But for the best part of a month I was reduced to living off calorific mush, so to speak.
Needless to say eating out was off the cards for a while – what adult wants to ask for their food to be puréed?
It was during my “confinement” that I came to hear about the new-look Little Manor in the Warrington suburb of Thelwall.
The Little Manor is quite the piece of Cheshire history. Originally built back in the 17th century for the Percival family (their crest still adorns the walls) it passed from family to family over the next few hundred years before becoming the Cottage Restaurant and Guest House in 1950.
Its fortunes ebbed and flowed in the following decades. The name was changed to the Little Manor some time in the eighties and during the nineties it was a popular hangout for well-heeled Cheshire set types.
My husband and I had not been there for some years but on hearing of its refurbishment, under the ownership of the Brunning and Price pub group, and always on the look out for a good gastropub near home, I resolved to check the place out as soon as my jaw was back in action.
That opportunity came on Saturday evening (on the advice of a pal we had booked a table but you don’t have to, if there are none free they run a waiting list from behind the bar) and found the place bustling – a mix of couples and big groups some dressed up and out for the night, others still out from the afternoon judging by the jeans and wellies.
There is nothing revolutionary about the Little Manor refurb – country pub is the look, with fireplaces, stone floors and pub paraphernalia aplenty. But where so many chain pubs feel fake, there is a pleasing air of authenticity to the design.
We ordered a bottle of wine at the bar (Le Campagne Viognier £18.95) from a very reasonably priced yet varied list and were shown to our table and handed menus.
I was disappointed to see they were paper ones but perhaps that is because the chef likes to change the offering regularly. Judging by the number and variety of dishes on offer they are certainly not short on ideas in the kitchen.
MID-JULY MIX by Monkeybicycle
Songs for the Road
It’s summer. Time to say goodbye to the office and that awful business casual attire, and get away to your favorite relaxation spot, wherever that may be. The day-to-day responsibilities of your regular life fade into the rear view mirror and what lies in front of you is nothing but a good time (Note: Poison’s Nothing But a Good Time will not be included on this mix tape—sorry).
But before you can get to all that fun in the sun there is the travel, the time in between. That’s the space this mix tape is meant for. It’s not for listening to at home or at the beach; it’s for the world on that line that connects A and B on Google Maps. These songs, chosen carefully by Monkeybicycle’s editors, are the map. Let them guide you as you go, mighty traveler.
STEVEN SEIGHMAN
1. Unobstructed Views, Death Cab for Cutie:
Every time I hear this song I think of a scene from a movie. In that. Scene someone is driving through an empty tunnel, or across a bridge in the dead of night. This song feels lonely and vast. I imagine who is driving the car in the scene in my head is running away from something, and not headed toward anything, it is best listened to at night, preferably near a tunnel or bridge.
2. Life During Wartime, Talking Heads:
This song is obvious in its roadliness. It’s about being on the run and its beat is impatient, waiting to get out the door. If you’re a few minutes behind on your travel schedule, put on this song and you will make up the lost time for sure.
3. Chinese Apple, Loose Fur:
I remember hearing this song on a road trip once. It was nearly sundown and I was passing, alone, through an especially Americana part of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Something about those last rays of light in the sky, mixed with Mennonite décor, Shoo-fly pies, and the soft, poetic sounds of Jeff Tweedy made that the perfect moment. Chinese Apple is an ideal prescription for winding down after a long day on the road.
J.A. TYLER
4. We Are Young, Fun.:
Yes, this is overplayed as shit on the radio, but the album is literally loads of fun, and this song in particular is infectious in the best possible way.
5. Somebody, Jukebox the Ghost:
This band has been glorious for years, and “Somebody,” the first track on their third album, is a rad and lifting song that drives for you. Maybe this will finally solidify the monstrous audience they deserve.
JESSA MARSH
6. My Father’s Gun, Elton John:
When thinking about roadtrip songs, I can’t help it, my mind goes to “Elizabethtown,” the dorky 2.5 hour long rom-com starring Kirsten Dunst as the founding Manic-Pixie-Dreamgirl archetype. I love this movie, and I simply don’t care who knows it. And as it is a Cameron Crow movie, I also adore the music in it. “My Father’s Gun” plays TWICE in the movie because it’s just that good.
7. Graceland, Paul Simon:
I moved to Memphis last July and I recently fell in love with it on a deep, almost blasphemous level (by that I mean that I’ve caught myself saying things like “I don’t even miss Chicago because Memphis has everything I like about Chicago plus HEART, MAN!”). After falling in love with Memphis, I stole my fiance’s copy of Graceland and listened to the second track on repeat whenever driving through the city. And I have reason to believe that we will all be received in Graceland.
SHYA SCANLON
8. Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen:
As could any reader of this blog, I could go on about how intensely redundant and backwards this song is–from the shy, noncommittal chorus to the absurd “garage band” stand-ins and OMG-the-hunk-is-gay reveal that concludes the insipid video–but while all other seasons represent some element of toil (fall, incipient loss; winter, dogged denial; spring, simply becoming), summer is a season of blissful, effortless surrender. As I unto Jepsen’s insistent, dimensionless commercial-ready pop. It’s the song I want to blast while driving through the small, un-recovering towns on my way to a series of self-consciously “upstate” picnics and swims.
LAURA CARNEY
9. Drive, Incubus:
This is the literal answer, but I’d be remiss if I did not acknowledge this as a road trip song as I have vivid memories of gripping the steering wheel of my little Honda tightly when I was 23 years old and thinking, That’s right, I should “be the one behind the wheel.” I was usually on my way out to some ridiculous bar in my hometown and would not likely “choose water over wine” that night, as the song abstractly advises. There, I brought the literal back to abstract again. Thank goodness.
10. A Day in the Life, the Beatles: [Editor's Note: There is no Beatles song on this playlist, because the Beatles are nazis about their copyright laws. Instead, please put the player on pause, and then listen to this song that you have (hopefully) already previously illegally downloaded on to your hard drive, or, you know, just go here.]
During a difficult period, I took an amazing road trip from Seattle to New York with my then (and current) boyfriend, but at the time the relationship was fresh. While driving through the Rockies, I insisted that we listen to this song when it was my turn to drive the huge SUV we’d rented. I’ve been informed by said current boyfriend that the twisty, veering curves I navigated while listening to Sir Paul sing about grabbing his coat and hat were not the Rockies at all but rather some hilly area near Mt. Rushmore. Regardless, hearing “somebody spoke and I went into a dream… aah.. aah.. aah…,” etc., and then, you know, the amazing crescendo at the end… well, it was just intense. I’m pretty sure All You Need Is Love came on immediately after.
11. Don’t Stop Me Now, Queen:
A few years after that, I was living on my own again and attending lots of dance parties at my brother’s house where people regularly belted out “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Somebody to Love.” And it was always sweaty. I preferred this one, mostly while driving alone. I like to think that’s an improvement from the Incubus “hit” six years earlier. I took a three-year hiatus from driving and once I was able to do it again (which only required seven trips to the worst place on the planet, the Baltimore DMV), all I wanted to do was sing, “I’m gonna go, go, go, there’s no stopping me.” Oh, and, “That’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit”—definitely the best line in this song. (It’s because he had reached 200 degrees, he was going so fast. That never happened to me, though.)
***
–Monkeybicycle is a literary journal that lives both in print and online. It’s currently celebrating its tenth year on earth with a new web format and print issue, which you should pick up.
TweetLiverpool Arts: Review: Alison Krauss, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
WITH her easy Southern charm and winsome blonde looks, Alison Krauss makes a perfect poster girl for the alternative country scene.
Now in her early 40s, Krauss’s 26-year career has seen her grow far from her bluegrass roots to the point where touts are eagerly selling tickets outside a sold-out Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
It’s not hard to see why Krauss inspires such devotion and acclaim (she has won an incredible 26 Grammy Awards). Her voice is an exquisite thing of beauty and the backing she receives from her superb band Union Station is often simply breathtaking, so much so that Krauss frequently steps back from the mic to let them have the spotlight.
Guitarist Dan Tyminski and dobro player Jerry Douglas both get their moments on centre stage, with Douglas’s dizzying fretwork on a Paul Simon and Chick Corea-inspired instrumental is one of the night’s undoubted highlights.
Despite her willingness to play her fiddle and be one of the boys, Krauss is the undoubted star of a show which tends to concentrate on the slower- paced and more tragic songs from her back catalogue (a fact she amusingly alludes to when she lists the various troubles that befall the unlucky Wild Bill Jones on the song of the same name).
Krauss’s choice of material, from her tender covering of The Foundations’ Baby Now That I’ve Found You to a lovely reading of Richard Thompson’s Dimming of the Day, all show the range of her remarkable vocals but her version of Keith Whitely’s When You Say Nothing At All sadly cannot escape the depressing spectre of Ronan Keating.
Judging by the reaction to each song, Krauss’s long term followers and newer fans attracted by her collaboration with Robert Plant and her film work with Cohen Brothers (a beautiful a cappella version of Down To The River To Pray is a lovely highlight), are more than satisfied but as good as Krauss and her band are, there’s a nagging feeling that they are rather going through the motions during what is an incredibly slick performance.
As Tyminski (who was George Clooney’s voice double in O Brother, Where Art Thou) launches into I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow for probably the umpteenth time of his career, one can’t help thinking that Krauss should be stretching and challenging both herself and her band to a greater extent.
Jamie Bowman
Liverpool Arts: The Post's 50 events for fun and culture this summer
WHETHER summer is a wash out or cracking the flags there are plenty of cultural events to enjoy in Merseyside. Laura Davis and Jade Wright select 50 to go to over the next few weeks and months
1. THE organisers of the annual Threshold Festival are holding a one-day event as a fundraiser for next year.
Taking place at Camp and Furnace, Greenland Street, on Saturday, July 28 it will feature music, art, fun and games while showcasing some of the best emerging talent in Liverpool.
Featured bands include We the Undersigned, 69 Watts, Bolshy, Dominic Dunn and Vanessa Murray, The Thespians, Triphazard and Thom Morecroft.
Family friendly events include The Littlepool Art Prize for children, judged by Liverpool Art Prize 2012 winner Robyn Woolston.
CantmixWontmixShdntMixDontMix will be hosting have-a-go DJ tasters, while there’ll also be a vintage clothing swap shop, big screen retro gaming and a prize for the most flowery summer hat.
Chris Carney, Threshold’s artistic director, says: “This event is all about three things – music, fun and raising funds for Threshold 2013. We are really excited about the line-up and also eager to make our annual main event more open to families.
2. AFTER a trip to the planetarium, the universe starts to wobble for a group of young people in Liverpool.
In 20 Stories High Youth Theatre’s new production, Ruby and her gang start to experiment with teleportation, Jason is feeling so small that he’s starting to become invisible and Abdul has to choose between Nigeria and his one true love.
The Universe and Me is at The Black-E tonight and tomorrow before touring to Manchester’s Truth About Youth Festival. Tickets are £3 (£2 concs) from 0151 709 5109.
3. THE Everyman and Playhouse’s Summer School is returning for another year, giving children interested in drama and acting that chance to have fun in a professional theatre environment.
Professional theatre practitioners will use acting exercises and games to develop skills in voice, movement, improvisation and storytelling, culminating in a short performance piece at the end of each week.
All abilities are welcome, no performance or acting experience necessary.
Places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and cost £100 per week (payable in advance). The course, for seven to 10-year-olds, runs from August 13-17, 10am-4pm. Further details on 0151 709 4776.
4. AUTHOR Tony Hawks will be at Picturehouse at FACT for a screening of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis plus a Q&A on Saturday, July 21.
He’s giving away a pair of tickets to the first two Moldovans who come to the cinema with their passports. The screening takes place at 4pm.
5. THE Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada, David Guetta, Skrillex, Tiesto, Afrojack, Avicii, deadmau5, Calvin Harris and Example are among the big names at this year’s three-day dance fest, Creamfields.
A new Nation stage has been added to the tfestival and will be showcasing talent from UK DJs.
This will include a performance from DJ and producer Jordan Suckley who recently secured a monthly show on BBC Radio 1.
The festival starts on Friday August 24 with a night offering three silent discos featuring music choices from more than 10 different DJs, and continues through the weekend with both the Saturday and Sunday night offering multiple stages with live DJ sets.
Creamfields has sold out of day tickets for Saturday August 25, two-day non-camping and the limited ticket offer has also sold out. There are now only a limited number of tickets still available.
Details at www.creamfields.com
6. BROADWAY star Kim Criswell will join the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the first of two free concerts taking place at the Pier Head this weekend.
She will sing a range of classics from the Hollywood’s golden age, including There’s No Business Like Show Business and Stormy Weather, on a waterfront stage tomorrow evening.
Fresh from the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall last week, John Wilson will conduct the RLPO in an evening celebrating the silver screen.
The programme will feature songs from the musicals Carousel, Annie Get Your Gun, Funny Girl and The Sound of Music as well as a selection of music by The Beatles to mark the pop group’s 50th anniversary.
Before the RLPO begins, there will be performances by young opera singers Danielle Thomas and Nick Hardy, former stars of the city’s performing arts festival, accompanied by the Liverpool Signing Choir.
The Liverpool Youth Orchestra will be playing at locations around the Pier Head as the audience arrives.
Sue McAdam, Music on the Waterfront event manager, says: “We want to encourage people coming to the Friday night concert to bring a chair and have a picnic and really enjoy the ambience of what will be like a picnic at the Proms event.
“The waterfront is an absolutely awesome location to have a free concert.
“People can come along and enjoy the view of the World Heritage Site as well as listen to the music.”
It’ll be standing room only at Saturday’s concert when Smooth Radio presenters will introduce some of the station’s best loved artists.
Paul Carrack, the distinctive voice of Mike and the Mechanics classics The Living Years and Over My Shoulder, will take to the stage to deliver some of his biggest hits, including How Long?.
Internationally renowned tenor Russell Watson will be performing his own unique brand of rousing classical-pop crossover.
The line-up also includes British trio Honey Ryder, New York singer-songwriter Nell Bryden and singer-songwriters Scarlette Fever and Ben Montague.
Both concerts are open air so audience members are advised to dress appropriately for the weather and check the event’s website for updates.
This is the fourth year of Liverpool’s On the Waterfront events.
Last year’s included Spring on the Waterfront in April, Reflection on the Waterfront in July, featuring a 3D light show by Czech artists The Macula, and the return of the Mersey River Festival in September.
In total they attracted 250,000 people, bringing in more than £10m to the local economy.
Music on the Waterfront takes place at the Pier Head this weekend with John Wilson conducting the RLPO tomorrow, 6.30pm-9.30pm and Love Live Music with Smooth Radio on Saturday, 6pm-10.30pm. Both concerts are free and unticketed. Further details at www.liverpoolonthewaterfront.co.uk
7. PROFOUNDLY deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie will perform a diverse recital at the Philharmonic Hall on Saturday, August 18.
The programme will include Ilijas by Nebojsa Zivkovic, Clapping Music by Steve Reich, Rhythmic Caprice by Leigh Howard Stevens and her own work.
The concert will be followed by an insightful talk about her unique connection to music, challenging the listener to ask where music comes from. It will be British Sign Language interpreted.
Liverpool’s Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra will open the event with its new 10-minute work The Jasmine Flower, performed with the Merseyside Signing Choir and Shanghai Deaf School.
8. TRY your hand at digital SLR photography on one of Open Eye Gallery’s photowalks.
On July 28, McCoy Wynne will be hosting a Cityscape workshop, while Mark McNulty will be showing beginners how to take street and even photography on August 4.
The one-day events aim to de-mystify the digital single lens reflex camera, helping participants to take some outstanding pictures.
After an introductory session at Open Eye Gallery, at Mann Island, the workshop moves outside for them to test their new skills on a specially tailored photowalk.
Aimed at beginners and people who understand the basics but want to be more creative, the courses cover all the essential tips and techniques including getting the correct exposure and understanding the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO, learning about composition and light, lenses, colour temperature and white balance.
To take part, you’ll need your own DSLR camera and appropriate dress for the weather. The photowalks, priced £80 (£60 concs) are limited to a maximum of 15 people so make sure you book ahead at www.openeye.org.uk or 0151 236 6768.
9. JOHN REILLY has recorded with Bryan Adams and can claim Sean Connery as a fan, but the thing he’s most excited about is playing a gig in his hometown.
“My mum’s a Phelan from Scotland Road and the Reillys are from Aigburth,” explains Reilly. “It was a big family, all kinds of music. Dad was the youngest of 14 kids. Mum was one of nine. I have three older sisters, so I grew up wearing their cast offs.”
The singer moved to Sheffield at 18, but he’s still a proud Scouser, and a devoted Evertonian. He’s looking forward to playing The Cavern this month.
“I’m looking forward to a reaffirmation of my roots and identity, and of course the Walker Art Gallery,” he says. “I miss the tangible sense of a shared and unique culture, a sense of pride that our city survived the late 70s and 80s when its soul was in danger of being suffocated. Now I tell everyone I meet, wherever I am in the world, to visit Liverpool.”
John Reilly plays The Cavern on July 27
10. DISNEY Live! presents Mickey’s Magic Show at the Echo Arena from August 29 to September 2. The master magician joins forces with professional illusionist Michael Barron and a host of Disney friends to perform the magic of the films live on stage. Tickets £16.50-£23 from 0844 800 3680.
You can also take part in a treasure hunt at the Albert Dock to win tickets to the show. Find out how at www.albertdock.com
11. JAMES BURTON has played on some of the most influential guitar riffs in popular music. Elvis Costello says he is one of a few players who musicians call “legendary”, while Pete Townshend calls him “probably the most important guitar player in American music.”
He’s best known for playing guitar for Elvis Presley from 1969–1977.
“Elvis was a wonderful entertainer,” smiles Burton. “One of the best. It was an honour and a privilege to play alongside him.”
Burton will be performing some of the songs he played with Elvis when he plays the James Burton Weekend at Fort Perch Rock, New Brighton.
“I’ll play some of the Elvis songs,” he says.
“I like playing Suspicious Minds and the Trilogy, but anything goes.”
His back catalogue reads like a who’s who of popular music – he played alongside Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jerry Lee Lewis,The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Simon and Garfunkel, The Righteous Brothers and The Mamas and The Papas.
“I’ve had a great life and I’ve been so lucky to work with so many wonderful people,” says Burton.
“I always enjoy playing live, particularly in Merseyside. I’ve been coming here for years, decades, and I always have a great night.”
James Burton plays three nights – Elvis Night on Friday, July 20, a double header with Albert Lee on Saturday, July 21 and Los Pacaminos, featuring Paul Young and James Burton, on Sunday, July 22.
12. IT’S not just all about The Beatles at the Liverpool Academy of Arts this summer.
The gallery has extended its annual Come Together exhibition, usually focused on all things Fab Four, to cover all Merseyside pop bands.
The show runs from August 14-30 and you can still submit works for inclusion. Find out more at www.la-art.co.uk
13. THE Royal Court is running a heritage tour of its Grade II-listing building on Tuesday, August 7.
See behind the scenes of one of the country’s finest art deco theatres after it has completed the first phase of its £10.6m renovation scheme.
Tickets for the hour-long tour are £5, with the whole sum going towards the building’s restoration.
More details at www.royalcourtliverpool.co.uk
14. JOIN comedian Gareth Berliner and comedy actor Kiruna Stamell (Life’s Too Short, Cast-Offs) as they entertain you with their real life rom-com exposing discrimination on route.
A Little Commitment is at The Unity on Thursday, August 30. Tickets £10 (£8 concs) from www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
15. IMAGINE yourself on Time Team with a session of simulated digging at the Museum of Liverpool. The 30-minutes sessions are being run as part of the Festival of British Archaeology, July 24 and 25; 11am, 1pm, 2pm. Further details on 0151 478 4545.
16. SENSE of Sound is hosting a singing masterclass at The Bluecoat on July 28 for those who aspiring to be a singer or already performing and wishing to improve their vocal and harmony skills. Further details and tickers, priced £25, from www.thebluecoat.org.uk
17. THE Pantaloons theatre company is performing Oscar Wilde's classic comedic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest outdoors at Speke Hall on Wednesday, August 15. Tickets, priced £14, (child £7) at www.nationaltrust.org.uk
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