Monday 15 January 2007

A Pirate Bag

A little bit of bagism to keep you going...

Pirate Jenny

Last year I made a CD of all the different versions of 'Pirate Jenny' I'd found, about 20 of them from all sorts of people from Lotte Lenya and Marianne Faithfull to Steeleye Span (yes, honestly, their version was called 'The Black Freighter'). I don't know why, but I've been fascinated by that song for ages and it was relaunched in my brain by Patti Smith's Brecht evening at her Meltdown in 2005. I have a good version by Ellen Greene on her 'It's In His Eyes' CD from last year but I now have another version by her (courtesy of Christopher) from the 1976 cast recording of 'The Threepenny Opera' which I'm listening to at the moment. Ellen's 1976 version is much rawer and emotive. And speaking of Ellen ...

Little Shop Of Horrors

Spent a very enjoyable evening at the Menier Chocolate Factory on Saturday seeing 'Little Shop Of Horrors' for the second time. The first time was when it was in preview and by now they've all grown into their parts and it shows - they're tighter and more relaxed at the same time (if you see what I mean). I was most impressed with Sheridan Smith as Audrey (the role created by Ellen Greene) who was excellent throughout the show and who has a very good voice and presence. It was also a nice link with Nicola Blackman who we saw in 'Aladdin' last week since she played Ronette in the original London cast way in 1983 or thereabouts. It's a small world. I hope the show transfers to the West End - it would be nice to see it bigly on a big stage.

Bearlesque

Another show at the end of last week was the delightful Bearlesque, balloon-dancing, Viking pole-dancing, Madonna virgin-ing and shorts-popping Bearlesque. Let's face it, they don't really have enough material to fill a whole evening themselves but I don't really care - they're fun! I thoroughly enjoyed the evening (especially as it came at the end of my weekus horribilis) and would love to see them again. I failed to get a photo of Freddy's 'splashdance' moment since my camera batteries died on me just at the wrong time. I won't try to compete with Chris's photo homage but here are a couple of mine...

The Viking pole-dance is such a good image that they should trade on as the troupe grows in experience and expands the repertoire. A bear flying round a pole with a horned helmet and cape billowing in the breeze works wonders for the audience, getting them all attentive and ready for the next act. I certainly wouldn't have the nerve to do it!

Alegria

Yesterday was full of happiness and joy. Firstly through booking tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil's show, 'Alegria', at the Royal Albert Hall on my birthday. Secondly by making a ringtone of Kirsty MacColl's excellent song, 'Alegria', which builds and builds until it explodes into 'Us Amazonians'. It took an absolute age to make it, editing down the original track with music software into a 15 second segment, but it was worth it. It sounds excellent.

What other ringtones could I make ....?

3 comments:

redhairedqueer said...

I've always wanted a ringtone of the beginning of Public Image when John goes, "Hello, hello ... Hello, hello ... ha ha ha ha ha."

chrisv said...

Getting snipping Owen... that sounds like a challenge!

Owen said...

Easy peasy - already done and emailed to Lady Miss Right Nasty. A perfect 15 seconds of ring tone.