'Fat Blokes' at the Purcell Room, Southbank

Last night I went to see some fat blokes dancing and talking on stage in 'Fat Blokes' at the Purcell Room. 'Fat Blokes' is a show by Scottee, a mix of cabaret, political diatribe, performance art and a challenge to the way we think about people who are overweight. Are they overweight or are they the right weight for them at that time? There are some serious and complex issues wound into and about body weight - not least the health impact - and these are explored in this show.

According to the blurb:

Fat Blokes is a (sort of) dance show about flab, double chins and getting your kit off in public by artist and forward facing fatso, Scottee.

Fat Blokes uncovers why fat men are never sexy but always funny, always the ‘before’ but never the ‘after’ shot.

It’s made in collaboration with choreographer Lea Anderson and four fat blokes who’ve never done this sort of thing before.

Prepare yourself for a show about pent up aggression, riot grrrl and the hokey cokey.

This is fat rebellion.

We have Scottee and his gang of four fat blokes, Asad, Joe, Sam and Gez. They dance, they talk and tell us their stories, they face challenges - what might happen next? There's a group dance or a monologue from Scottee and then one of them tells us his story. Joe tells us he grew up being bullied for being fat and that fat is a political issue; Asad tells us he loves big men but hates his own body and is on a diet, he also tells us he hasn't spoken to his father for two years; Sam tells us how he ended up having a glass being buried in the back of his head in Soho; and Gez tells us that he loves his body as it is. There are some powerful stories here.

Scottee also challenges himself and his gang with two tasks: choose to eat in public and choose whether to take a thin pill, depending on how they feel. Two chose to take the pill to make them thin.

Loud, brash music, great lighting and some creative choreography worked well with Scottee's monologues and the blokes' stories. It was an enjoyable and challenging show, thought-provoking and fun. Well done chaps!

Viv Albertine at The Purcell Room

Tonight was the long-awaited gig by Viv Albertine at The Purcell Room on the Southbank. This was the first time I've seen Viv properly headline a gig and it's nice that it was at a 'proper' venue like The Purcell Room. I supported Viv's PledgeMusic appeal to fund her excellent first solo album ('The Vermillion Border') and I hope there'll be many more.

I never saw The Slits back in the day but I've seen Viv play five times this year:

• Her promo gig at the 12Bar Club and I helped pay for the band (and was honoured to do so) and heard her reading an extract from her autobiography due to be published next year;
• As part of the line-up for John Cooper Clarke's great evening of entertainment at the London Palladium;
• Twice supporting Siouxsie at the Royal Festival Hall during Yoko Ono's excellent Meltdown festival.
• And now Viv headlining her own gig at The Purcell Room.

And she just keeps getting better! She's got a tight bunch of musicians around her that get the sound she wants to create and tonight was the first time I've seen her with lights to highlight (and lowlight) her songs. An excellent gig all round!

She came on in a noticeable shiny red latex top and launched into 'Don't Believe' after asking the women in her band if they believed in love - they didn't. I, however, loved the nod to the New York Dolls when she said 'L.U.V.'. We had a good selection from the album and 'If Love' from the ep, a well structured set that moved along nicely. Favourites tonight were 'Couples Are Creepy', 'In Vitro' and the show closers of 'I Want More' and a great version of 'Confessions of a MILF' (I love the line 'I chose being an artist over being a wife, now I'm going to lead a very lovely life').

Half-way through the gig she told us that in the old days she used talcum powder when she wore rubber but now it was a case of smearing lube on herself when she wore her latex top and it had started melting and coming out at the wrists. Brutal honesty never hurts.

After much clap clap clapping Viv came back alone saying the band had all headed for the beer and wine and she started playing 'Hookup Girl' during which the band appeared, one by one, to join in. I've never seen Viv play 'Hookup Girl' before so that was fun. She then went into 'Still England', one of my favourites, name-checking what she likes about England which bounced along nicely and in the musical break in the middle the glitter ball was turned on in a wow moment. I've not seen Viv play the whole song before, usually she ends at the musical interlude bit but this time continued. Viv took off her guitar and picked up pages printed with the names in the song and read them out as the bass turned into a disco riff for the remainder of the song, finishing with "Tosser, wanker, nutter, cunt" and the lights went off on the last word. Very dramatic.

Much more clap clap clapping and Viv came out again to tell us that she'd be doing a signing in three minutes. Cue me to scarper into the foyer to get a place in the queue to find I'm at the front, waiting for Viv to arrive. When she did she met a friend and was diverted so set herself up at the ice-cream stand! So I joined the hubbub around her to say hello.

When I met Viv I'm afraid I went all fan-boy. I saw she had the pages of names from 'Still England' so I asked if she'd sign the page that included Poly Styrene and she hunted through them to find that page and signed it for me. I said that I loved 'Disco Still England' and she seemed to be delighted when I told her I'd been at the 12Bar gig. I then asked for a hug to which she said of course so long as I didn't mind getting lube on me - as if I would. We hugged! 

Thanks Viv! Looking forward to seeing you again!

Ray Davies at The Purcell Room - 'Americana'

On Saturday we went to see Ray Davies at the Purcell Room being interviewed about his new book, 'Americana', that tells the story of his relationship with America.

It opened with Ray doing a short reading from the book and then showing us a home-made film he'd pieced together on his computer. It's based largely on video clips he took during his Storyteller tour of America a couple of weeks after 9/11 when flights were routinely cancelled so he had to travel mainly by car. Travelling those vast distances on the road with only a driver showed him different aspects of the America he'd travelled so often with The Kinks in the air. It finished up in New Orleans a couple of years later where he'd settled to write but got shot instead.

It was quite fascinating in some respects, if only for the clips he'd chosen to show us, such as the many shots out of hotel bedrooms of the tall buildings everywhere, of driving into cities that all looked the same, of his hotel rooms. The film lasted for about half an hour and then out came Ray for an interview with John Wilson for about an hour, including some random questions from the audience.

I've been to quite a few of these 'in conversation with' things and usually the interviewer isn't terribly prepared or likes to voice their own thoughts and theories (yawn) rather than letting the interviewee talk (and it's them we're there to hear). In this case John Wilson did really well, relevant questions, keeping it flowing and picking some good audience questions.

He tried to get an honest answer about why The Kinks were banned from touring in America in the mid/late 60s and got as much of an answer as Ray is ever likely to give. That was all in the context of Ray writing many of his most English songs over the same period and whether that was a reaction against being banned from touring America. I think the conclusion was that it was since he tends to write about what's around him - which is one reason for going to New Orleans to write.

Some quite random bits of information came out in discussion, like Ray having dinner with Candy Darling and not realising that she was a he, meeting the Warhol people and the back room of CBGB's, and Wayne/Jayne County. He said that after 'Lola' he just seems to attract 'them'. And meeting Candy is not the inspiration for 'Lola' since the meeting was after it was a hit. I saw a film about Candy a few years ago if you're interested.

There was a quite long session on New Orleans and the shooting, him winding up in hospital and asking if he'd chase after the mugger again, to which he answered 'yes' since it was a fight or flight thing and his instinct in that situation was to fight. It was all quite fascinating but Ray managed to say a lot without really answering the question. He has his secrets and will dole out information when he chooses. He finished by teasing us with a new album for which all the songs are written.

Mr Davies was looking in good form, skinny as ever and, when he eventually turned up to sign books he was in his coat and scarf and with a glass of beer. There was a huge queue to get books signed and when it was my turn for a few seconds with him I asked whether there were any plans to record the 'Come Dancing' songs. His answer was that he'd love to. I said I'd seen it four times and also the concert version last year which perked him up a bit and he said it was a great cast to which I had to agree. It was a great cast with great songs and a good show. It should be staged again and recorded.

The book is now on my pile awaiting reading - my pile of rock autobiogs and biogs is growing so I should make a dent in it really...

The Unthanks - 'Ship Building'

Here's a lovely video of the The Unthanks' version of 'Ship Building'. It's from their last album, 'Songs From The Shipyard', that tells of the rise and fall of the shipyards of the North East over the 20th century. I saw them perform this live back in October 2012 when they sang the whole album at the Purcell Room in London.

The Unthanks - 'Ship Building' from Mikey Levelle on Vimeo.

The Unthanks - 'Songs From The Shipyards' at The Purcell Room

This evening I went to see those Unthanks lasses perform their new record, 'Songs From The Shipyards' live at the Purcell Room in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It's the soundtrack to a documentary made up of film clips over the years since 1910 about the shipyards on the River Tyne. The Unthanks - Rachel and Becky, Niopha, Chris and Adrian - sat underneath a big screen that showed the documentary and they sang and played along to it.

It's a collection of songs that describe the ups and downs of shipbuilding on the Tyne, of the men who built those ships that sailed the world and created trade routes that fed the country, defended our island  and went to war in the Falklands. The skyline of cranes, of ships being built beside the back to back terraced houses of Wallsend, the closure of Swan Hunter and Scotswood Road. I remember some of the scenes shown in the film, vague memories of skeletal cranes on the riverside and factories with walls black with coal dust and smoke. It's all so very different today.

I was particularly taken with the song 'Big Steamers' about those ships that roamed the oceans of the world bringing food back to our little island. It reminded me of my Dad who was in the merchant navy in his younger days, travelling round the coasts of Africa. He left the merchant navy to be an apprentice engineer and he then built the machines that built other things. None of my immediate family worked in the shipyards but they're part of the proud heritage of every Geordie.

There was also a touching version of 'Shipbuilding', the Robert Wyatt song made famous by Elvis Costello in the '80s. They sang it against footage from the Falklands war and groans at the sight of Maggie Thatcher. That sets the tone for the rest of the film and the record as the decline sets in and the shipyards close, with the refrain of 'You might steal our future but you'll not steal our glory'.

If you get the chance to see them on this current short tour then you should. And get the record. It's a melancholy feast and one I'll play for the memories. The Unthank sisters grew up on the banks of the Tyne in the same little village as me. I remember things that they won't because of the age difference, but it's lovely to hear them sing of things that mean something to me even though it's history to them. Thank you, lasses, it was lovely to see you again. It's a great record.

Buffy Sainte-Marie at Meltdown

I've fallen behind with my blogging due in part to the Olympics but mainly because my laptop died on me last week. I need to do a mammoth Olympics blog but the day after the Closing Ceremony is not the right time. Instead I'll tell you about something that can only mean joy - Buffy Sainte-Marie has been back to London for two shows on the Southbank as part of Anthony Hegarty's Meltdown festival and I attended both (indeed, had guest list tickets to both but that's showing off).

The first event on Monday 6 August in the Purcell Room was originally billed as, 'An Interview With Buffy Sainte-Marie' but, due to the absence of an interviewer became, 'Buffy Sainte-Marie - A Multimedia Life'. We were treated to a slideshow of Buffy's photos over the years to get us in the mood and then on she strode with the confidence of an experienced public speaker. Buffy spoke for the next hour or so, delivering an entertaining and thought-provoking talk about indigenous peoples and how the ordinary peoples of Europe had suffered for centuries under the same rulers that invaded the Americas.

She then did a Q&A, answering questions the audience had previously written down. I had three questions answered:

• 'No No Keshagesh was originally called AIM Elijah - what does that mean?' - Elijah refers to Elijah Harper, a Native American politician in Canada who blocked constitutional changes that hadn't been agreed with native peoples. AIM refers to the American Indian Movement.
• 'What was the last record you bought?' - Alabama 3
• 'If you were in the Olympics what sport would you take part in?' - Buffy pulled a face and said, 'naah' she wouldn't be in the Olympics since she lacks the competitive gene. She loves flamenco dancing but if she was being chased by a tiger she'd be the meal!

As a teacher, Buffy gave us three book to read as homework: 'Indian Givers' by Jack Weatherford, 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown and 'The Female Brain' by Louann Brizendine.

The second event was a gig in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and we were treated to a full two hours set. She walked onto the stage in a glitter jacket and with glitter in her hair with her band of Jesse, Leroy and Mike (also known as Juno award nominees Bruthers of Different Muthers). The setlist was:

Piney Wood Hills
Cho Cho Fire
I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again
Mister Can't You See
Cripple Creek
Still This Love Goes On
Up Where We Belong
No No Keshagesh
Universal Soldier
Darling Don't Cry
Until It's Time For You To Go
Working For The Government
Little Wheel Spin And Spin
Soldier Blue
Generation
The Big Ones Get Away
Cod'ine
Blue Sunday
You're Not The Loving Kind
Goodnight
Look At The Facts
The Priests Of The Golden Bull
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Starwalker
He's An Indian Cowboy At The Rodeo (encore with pow wow dancing).

There were two big highlights for me. The first came with 'Darling Don't Cry' when I was transported back to Belleville in Canada in 2005 and the theatre erupting into pow wow singing as the mainly First Nations  audience sang along and lifted the roof with their beautiful sound. The second was hearing 'Generation' for the first time played live.

Since it was an extended set then Buffy played some songs that she doesn't normally include in her set and 'Generation' was one of the additions. It's from the 'Buffy' album from the early 70s and a song I recall hearing for the first time back in 1976 on a BBC2  programme about Buffy. It was released again a couple of years ago when all of Buffy's early 70s albums were re-released. A mighty 'wow' for that song. The chorus ends with the line, "I just want to dance with the Rosebud Sioux this summer" and I was wearing my rosebud shirt to celebrate Buffy in London.

It's always good to see Buffy play live and the Queen Elizabeth Hall is a good venue to see her. My one beef about the Meltdown is that Buffy wasn't mentioned in any of the promotional materials for the series other than on the main poster that listed everyone - or, at least, I didn't see any mentions. Why was that, Meltdown people?