30 day song challenge - day twenty-five: song to make me laugh

Mitch Benn, when he is on form, is pretty much guaranteed to make me collapse into giggles. It's unfortunate that so many of his tracks get lost in the regularity of The Now Show, where there have been some absolute crackers.

For example, and this is one I vividly remember from its broadcast 13 April 2007: as Benn acerbically noted

"...I find myself in an uncomfortable situation this week. You see, [Manchester] United are playing Watford in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday and I really want them to win - and win decisively. Not because I've had a change of heart, but rather because the game is game is LIVE on BBC One [cue me already laughing as I was listening] and if it overruns [cue savvy audience members getting on board with what this means] there will be dire consequences schedule-wise [cue MUCH hilarity in the audience]

And even more brilliantly, that same episode of The Now Show included this brilliant analysis of Johnny Cash's house committing suicide...



Postscript: My friend George once texted me JUST as a Doctor Who episode was about to start saying 'shall I call you now?' (though he was VERY much joking, I resisted the urge to scream!). So I can definitely empathise with a songwriter who feels like this:

Apparantly I'm quite funny when watching Doctor Who

Neil has only just stopped laughing at my inner 10 year old being released when I watch Doctor Who.

Fear, excitement, giggles and anguish. I think he should have photographed me.

Next week... Neil Gaiman's episode. I stuck my fingers in my ears and covered my eyes during the 'Next Time' trailer.

SPOILERS TO AVOID!!!

30 day song challenge - day twenty-four: song to play at my funeral

I won't be there so you play what you like folks

Though I quite fancy the soaring glory of the theme for Claudia Cardinale's character (Jill's Theme) in Once Upon a Time in the West.

"A scary man mumbling nonsense over a savage clatter": The Fall summarised

Tom Ewing perfectly summarises The Fall in The Guardian 'Film and Music' section today.

The band is forever a scary man mumbling nonsense over a savage clatter: next to that, the precise nature of said clatter is irrelevant.

Or, as John Peel put it: "always different but always the same".

Helped by a beard - why the Tories have not been demolished in the current UK elections

Blimey, the facial hair that is the Liberal Democrat party must be feeling pretty hard done by: they're effectively taking all the cuts aimed at the gormless fizzog that is the smug Tory party. There are scarcely any hairs left unscathed amongst the LibDems. Punished only partly covers what has happened.

Increasingly, the Tories must feel it's almost a good thing they didn't win an outright majority, for the all the grumblings some felt at allowing the LDs to sit at the high table of pointlessness (aka the Cabinet). Tories have been able to get pretty much ALL their 'slash, burn and privatise' agenda through, AND have found a convenient 'beard' to draw the ire of voters disgruntled at that agenda. It's all in the name of 'balancing the deficit' but by their own admission the Tories have said they would always have wanted a smaller state regardless of the economic situation....

In effectively abandoning several of the most high profile Liberal Democrat policies - and assenting to some that didn't seem to be on anyone's manifesto - the LDs have successfully pissed off their core voters, alienated the waverers who had been attracted by the promises (how empty do they seem now?), and proven their irrelevance to the Tory majority.

Only if the LDs actually find some metal and start voting down Tory legislation will anyone think they are in the coalition as anything more than a beard.

30 day song challenge - day twenty-three: a song to play at (my) wedding

Hmmm...

How about Nina Simone "Just in Time"

Inspired by Julie Delphy...

Colin McIntyre - RIP

Awh, sad to hear of the death of Colin McIntyre, long-time presence in the East Midlands and noted for his Thrillers seasons which have run each summer at Nottingham's Theatre Royal for many years.

He was a nice man, and with a wonderful teasing humour befitting someone who knew so many people in the theatre industry.

30 day song challenge - day twenty-two: a song listened to when sad

Hmmm.... do I want to wallow, drift into melancholia?

Pachelbel Canon in D never fails to bring on the tears. Though I know I heard it before then, I do still associate it with the film Ordinary People.



But of course that is a somewhat bastardised version, and the 'proper' classical version is the one closest to my heart.

30 day song challenge - day twenty-one: a song listened to when happy

Heard this not so long ago and it just made me smile from ear to ear.

Pure - The Lightening Seeds

30 day song challenge - day twenty: a song listened to when angry

Should this be one to calm me down or vent my rage?

Never Stop by Echo and the Bunnymen was always a good one for me to blast down the neighbours and scream at the top of my voice... (Live and record versions both given here)

30 day song challenge - day nineteen: a song from favourite album

All I seem to do is moan about how hard these are to choose!

In much the same way as a favourite artist is hard to choose, so is a favourite album. Logically, a favourite album would be Different Class by Pulp, but I've already had Common People and I-Spy as tracks on here. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. is pretty awesome though.

How about a well-played album?

Picaresque by The Decemberists has had a lot of playing, but again I've already had This Sporting Life from that great album, and previously praised the bonkers narrative of The Mariner's Revenge Song!

What about Laura Marling's wonderful debut Alas, I Cannot Swim? That's had a lot of airplay, especially Night Terror.



What about a long-term favourite: Buena Vista Social Club - much played over the years, with Chan Chan remaining a favourite for making me feel pretty chilled.

Gah -- it's too hard. Ask me another day!

Theatre Review: Royal Gala Performance of Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Saturday 30 April 2011

The Scottish Play: a dark tale about the ursurping of Kings; about blood feuds between families; about the murder of husbands, wives, families and servants; about bloody deeds and bloody thoughts; of the instability of countries and belief.

Perfect then as a follow-up to THAT event on Friday 29 April 2011, especially with HRH Prince of Wales in the audience as the President of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Michael Boyd's efforts to josh at the end of the play didn't feel THAT convincing...

The play itself is a rather curious production, but fascinating to see: Jonathan Slinger is great as the titular king, tortured by doubts at various points, trying but not entirely believing in the prophecies that grant him power. The transformation of the witches is weird on many levels, but I rather liked this envisaging of them as it made an unnerving contrast to regular interpretations of the Weird Sisters (hey: I read the Sandman novels and they make play with variations of these characters). Certainly, the creepy-factor is upped and then some to change the witches in this way, though I'm still a bit too freshly believing in the magisterial version of Macbeth with Patrick Stewart to be totally convinced. (Indeed, in that respect what WAS really nice was to see the reappearance of the excellent Scott Handy as Ross: brilliant performance.) There are many good performances in this production, not least from Steve Toussaint who had been so good in the Nottingham Twelfth Night production we saw last year. (Which I shamefully do not seem to have reviewed).

The music, as ever in RSC productions, was wonderful: all hail our three cello players with Craig Armstrong's music. Haunting and brittle in turn. The sets also are wonderfully conceived - not least the additional entrance available at the back of the stage at balcony level. And the use of the broken/complete stained glass windows was magical.

Definitely worth seeing, though perhaps unlikely to win plaudits as a best ever Macbeth.

Notes:
Plenty of nobs in the audience, and we probably could have blagged our way up to the do afterwards had we been so inclined. (or not - security felt v discrete). We never actually saw HRH - we were in the circle, facing the stage, but he was clearly seated underneath us due to the turning of heads in that direction at various moments. There was even some efforts being made at surreptitious photo taking by excited attendees. Rather amusing to watch from above.

Prince meets children

Reviews will spoiler particular casting decisions but it depends if you're attending.

Guardian Review
Telegraph Review
Stage Review

Dear Mr Moffat - my head hurts

I can't be alone in thinking "my head hurts" and I think that Doctor Who is both cause and cure!

30 day song challenge - day eighteen: song you wish you heard on the radio

It would have to be something REALLY obscure ---- because between 6Music and the dark regions of Radio 3 pretty much everything I have has been played on the radio in some form. I could choose something by Einsturzende Neubauten as they don't get a HUGE amount of airplay, or I could choose something heard at a gig (such as Jeff White or Felix) or something produced by friends (Rob McMinn or Spunk).

In the end I'm selecting something from the majesterial Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Because they don't get played on radio enough.

Is it over yet? In praise of Grace van Cutsem

Don't know who she is? Well, I think she's my heroine of the week for her presence in lots of the pictures of a certain event this week.

Yes: in the marriage of a boy from a broken home, funded by the state to the heiress of a multi-million pound fortune, the star of the show was Grace van Cutsem, one very irritated small girl, bored and distressed by the noise of a crowd of yelling strangers.

I felt somewhat the same way: it's all very well getting to dress up but it's all the other stuff that can spoil a day out.