'Saving Mr Banks'

I was taken to see the new Emma Thompson film, 'Saving Mr Banks', at the Ritzy in Brixton this evening. It tells the tale of Walt Disney persuading PL Travers to allow him to film 'Mary Poppins'. Obviously he was ultimately successful but it took 20 years.  Emma plays Mrs Travers and Tom Hanks is Disney and there's a great and warm cast supporting them. I particularly liked Paul Giamatti who played her driver in Los Angeles.

The film flits between scenes in the LA rehearsal studios where the film is painfully born and the outback in Australia where Mrs Travers grew up with her alcoholic father and weak mother. We see scenes from her childhood and how her father encouraged her flights of fancy, see him gradually becoming more obviously an alcoholic until an accident that signals the end for him. We then meet her aunt with distinct Poppins tendencies...

I don't know how 'true' the film is, of how Mrs Travers gradually thawed from her prickly and demanding start to becoming more human and I don't really care. Disney is cast as the hero, sharing her story of a loved but flawed father and gradually wearing her down until she signs over the rights to the book. Both Emma and Tom Hanks were excellent and worked well together - I thoroughly enjoyed the fillum and would recommend it to anyone with a smidgen of imagination.

There are a few clips from 'Mary Poppins' in the film and they just served to underline how little time I have for Dick Van Dyke's cockerney Burt the chimney-sweep but he's part of the overall Poppins experience so that's that. I have two distinct memories of 'Mary Poppins':

1. Seeing the stage show in the West End and, at the end, Mr Banks going up to the bird lady on the steps of St Paul's with his tuppence and asking if she would do him the honour of feeding the birds on his behalf; and

2. Being in the audience for the first rehearsal of the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony when Lord Voldemort and Cruella DeVille were menacing the children and then Mary Poppins floats down to save the day (lots of her actually - well, she is practically perfect after all). I remember exclaiming 'Poppins!' out loud when I saw her floating down with an open umbrella but I don't think anyone noticed...

I now have a third memory. 'Let's go fly a kite...'. 

Advent #6 - 'I'm Going Home'

Four or five years ago Justin Lee Collins did a documentary on Channel 4 about the Christmas No 1 over the years which ended with him trying to make a new Christmas No 1 record. He rounded up a load of folks from the classic '70s hit making machines and got them together to record 'I'm Going Home'. It was available to download immediately after the programme and I did. I've only just found this video of the recording of the song and wanted to share it as my Advent Calendar Number 5.



I play this endlessly every year - I think it's a damn good song! I've never seen this video from the programme before so I'm eager to share.

The song is sung by David Essex and with guitar and drums from Dave Hill and Don Powell of SLADE along with Jona Lewie and members of the Glitter Band, Showaddywaddy and Mud. It was written and produced by Rob Davis of Mud (yes, the one with huge ear-rings and flares) who also wrote Kylie's global hit 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' (so he knows how to write a song).

I don't think this was ever released properly which is a shame because it really is a good song and it's great to see the old-time glamsters still going strong. Enjoy!

Advent #5 - 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'

I love Annie Lennox's version of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' from 'A Christmas Cornucopia'. It's exactly as it should be sung - loud and uninhibited and joyful. I like the penny whistle and the 'traditional' drumming and it blends excellently with Annie's voice. The video is a triumph with Annie leading her band through the snow covered wood and into the village. It's a mix of old and new and it all works for me.

Advent Calendar #4 - 'Happy Christmas (War Is Over)'

And a move back to the olden days for the next advent calendar window to open. The early '70s produced a raft of great Christmas songs that we all listen to today and this is one of them, 'Happy Christmas (War Is Over)' by John and Yoko. Yoko is still campaigning so join her online to support the message that war is over (if you want it).

In the meantime, enjoy their Christmas anthem:

Theatre Is Still Evil

So, Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra are no more. I missed the news a couple of weeks ago but have now caught up. After a two year round the world adventure the project is over and the band go their separate ways. Amanda is moving into a house in New York State with Neil and then heading down to Australia for the winter to play some gigs and write her book. I'll miss the madness.

It's been a very strange ride with Amanda and her boys with some ups and downs but never any quiet. I remember Kickstarter and supporting the project, getting excited as the total crept up and went past the $1m mark. And then getting gifts of songs ever now and then - I remember listening to 'Do It With A Rock Star' on loop the day I downloaded it and it's still one of my favourite songs.

Going to the London art and rock shows at Village Underground and writing on a naked Amanda with a purple felt pen. Then, later, seeing the band at Koko and, later still, at the Roundhouse. I was so proud of the Roundhouse gig - a rock star jas arrived. And she sang naked to the Daily Mail.



The band may have gone with the project but the music is still here. Go on, listen to it and enjoy.

Thank you Amanda, Michael, Chad, Jherek and Thor - rockstars one and all!

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra “Do It With a Rockstar” (FULL UNCENSORED - NSFW) from Amanda Palmer on Vimeo.

Advent Calendar #3 - 'She Hates Wrapping'

On day 3 of my advent calendar we have She Makes War performing 'She Hates Wrapping' - her version of The Waitresses great Christmas song, 'Christmas Wrapping'.

She Makes War is really Laura Kidd and I first came across her when she played bass in Viv Albertine's band at the Royal Festival Hall when Viv supported Siouxsie at Yoko Ono's Meltdown. She impressed greatly!

New Suzanne Vega Album in February 2014

I'm delighted to report that Suzanne Vega will release an album of new songs in February 2014. It's got the interesting name of 'Tales From The Realm Of The Queen of Pentacles' (and I've got no idea what that refers to).

Suzanne's last few, self-released, albums have been in the 'Close Up' series of re-recording some of her classic songs according to different themes. It's been great hearing how Suzanne interprets older music for this century and decade but it's much nicer to have brand new songs to listen to and explore.

Here's a short video of Suzanne talking about the new album:

Vivien Leigh in 'The Deep Blue Sea'

On Saturday afternoon I was taken to see a 'lost' Vivien Leigh film, 'The Deep Blue Sea'' at the British Film Institute on the Southbank. According to the curator of the Vivien Leigh series no organisation claims ownership of the film, it's not available on DVD and can't be re-mastered until the rights are clarified, so we saw an early print of the film, flaws and all. It was a bit jerky in places and, in others, the colour went odd, but it was perfectly viewable.

It's from a script for a play by Terrence Ratigan about a middle aged woman who falls for a younger man and leaves her safe husband (a judge) for the more hand-to-mouth life with the younger ex-RAF pilot. Vivien is the woman and Kenneth More (in his first film) is the young lover. It's, ultimately, a destructive relationship but it serves to free Hester (played by Vivien) from her husband. From trying suicide and weeping buckets she emerges as the strength in the relationship as she frees the young More from a relationship he's not equipped to handle.

I can see why it wasn't a big hit back in the day, it shows life in London after the war as a bit run-down and a bit dreary but it also shows a spark of life. There are very few smiles or real laughs in the film and it rather wears you down with the honesty of it all and, oddly, with Hester's integrity. She's left her husband to shack up with a younger bloke but when it all falls through she doesn't go crying back to her husband, she has the integrity to recognise that it all happened for a reason. That reason was that she wasn't happy with her former life so she would be foolish to go back to it. I can respect that and Vivien's portrayal of it.

I saw another Vivien Leigh film earlier last week, 'A Yank At Oxford', which was an altogether different kind of film. She played the young wife to an older book seller in Oxford and Robert Taylor played the yank in the title. That was a much younger Vivien in the '30s before she played Scarlet O'Hara with none of the subtlety of her 'Deep Blue Sea' performance. This was a dour Vivien with all the feeling she'd acquired over the previous decade or so.

I'm pleased I saw it.

Advent Calendar #2 - 'City of Christmas Ghosts'

Open today's door on the advent calendar and find Goldblade with Poly Styrene singing 'City of Christmas Ghosts'. I loved this song when it first came out in 2009 - it was Poly's first punky song in ages where she sings in what she thought of as her 'punk' voice. I think it's marvellous. And I love the DIY video of Poly and John Robb walking along the sea front at Brighton at night.

It was odd listening to this song for the first time at Christmas 2011 when Poly had left us earlier that year, particularly the line, "Raise a toast to the ghosts of the friends we lost last year". Poly had left us for higher places but left a great body of work behind for us to discover and enjoy. I always raise my glass for Poly.

The single is being re-released on 9 December to raise money for charity (including St Michael's Hospice that looked after Poly at the end) so please download it or buy the limited red or green vinyl single. There's also a Facebook page so spread the word please and join in the chorus, "La, La, La-la Christmas ghost!"



Namaste Poly.

Advent Calendar #1 - 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree'

Welcome to my Advent Calendar!

A few years ago I created my own Advent Calendar by posting different videos of Christmas songs each day in December up until Christmas Eve. I'm doing the same thing this year since there are new songs to share.

The first door you open on the calendar leads to 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' by Kim Wilde from her new Christmas record, 'Wilde Winter Songbook'. Kim had a hit with this song back in 1989 with Mel Smith so it's nice to have an updated version, this time with Nik Kershaw. It takes the piss out of the video of her and Ricky slightly worse for wear singing on the train home last year after a party. It's great fun and I can't wait to see her sing it live just before Christmas.