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
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