Lights... camera...

It's always a bit of a shock when the clocks go back and the nights draw in, getting darker sooner, but it also means we're heading into the festive season and that means lights.

I like inspecting the Christmas lights and displays around town. Generally, we're not very inventive when it comes to Christmas lights and more doesn't always equal better. Sometimes it's the simple ideas that work best.

Carnaby Street usually puts on an interesting display and this year is no different. It's gone for paper chains, except they're not made of paper and they're huge. They work in daylight as well as night so should provide a consistent display.

The lights on Regent Street have been boring over the last few years, usually tied in to the latest cartoon film which is too commercial for my liking. Regent Street is one of the grand crescents of London and should be treated with respect when it comes to lights. This year is a bit different and it's gone all avant guarde with these motion-sensitive globes that change colour randomly (needless to say, they're white in all my photos but they do change colour). I'm not sure what they're meant to represent (if anything) but they're better that the heavy advertising of the last few years.

My local lights are, of course, lovely. Well, they're actually the same ones we've had up for the last few years but I like them, simple and cheerful. I got the bus home tonight and seeing them ahead of me on the road on Streatham Hill was like a warm welcome home.

If I find any other interesting light displays over the next few weeks I'll be sure to report them so watch this space.

The Queens of Lovers Rock at the Jazz Cafe

A shocking two days after the event and I finally have time to blog about being in the presence of the great Janet Kay and Carroll Thompson at the Jazz Cafe on Saturday night. Both operate under the title of 'Queen of Lovers Rock' (a gentle form of reggae for the uninitiated) so it's nice to see them share a stage.

I first saw them back in January at the Barbican and was impressed (and a little awestruck). Janet's been around forever, having her first hit in 1978 with the lovely 'Silly Games'. I wasn't that enamoured back then - I prefered my reggae to have balls and bite, more Linton Kwesi Johnson than Janet Kay. I've learned to appreciate other forms of reggae since then, particularly the great Jimmy Cliff and John Holt (John is playing the Jazz Cafe this week but he's sold out so no chance of my seeing him) and, of course, Desmond Dekker. I indulged a bit in the Trojan boxsets over the summer so have been exposed to loads of other singers and bands from the '60s and '70s I'd never heard of. I don't hear much reggae these days - at least outside my house - which I don't quite understand since there's so much good old stuff, or maybe the newer stuff doesn't cut it?

Janet and Carroll have their stage act down to a tee, sharing the stage and the band, showcasing someone else mid-set and leaving their hits till the end. They were on for over one and half hours and only left when they were rushed off due to a 'club night' starting after their set. They were great fun, chatting away to the audience, reminiscing and hardly ever still, too busy moving to the music and those reggae beats.

Carroll came on first for three songs, then Janet for three songs and then swapped back and forth in that pattern. Gentle, happy music. They've got complementary voices so work well together, but we didn't get any duets. It was nice to see them sitting at the side of the stage when the other one took the mic, singing along with the backing singers, obviously familiar with each others songs but they also seemed to like them.

The highlight of Carroll's part of the set is 'Hopelessly In Love' and Janet's is (obviously) 'Silly Games' (and yes, Janet can still hit the high notes). Janet also took over the drums to play the first half of 'Silly Games', which she seemed to relish. Other songs of note included Carroll's great version of 'Breakfast in Bed' (which I'd never dreamed of with a reggae beat) and Janet's 'You Made Me So Very Happy' (that was a thrill if only because it's the first time I've heard Brenda Holloway's great song live). It was also great to hear the band play some reverb-erb-erb-erb in a couple of Janet's songs - not heard that in an age! They've got great stage presence, not in a starry way, but they're professional and know how to work a crowd (and it was packed out for them on Saturday). All in all, it was a great night with some fun and funky music and lovely voices and songs. Why aren't they bigger?

After the show we headed over to the merch stall where I bought a copy of all the available CDs (five in total) - for some reason neither of their records are easy to get in this country which I don't understand at all. Janet's signed to Sony Japan and is big out there but just try to get any of her records over here! They've got a new joint record out, 'Side by Side', which has some great tunes. They did a signing afterwards so I happily queued for the chance of an autograph and I was rewarded with big smiles, hand shakes and the great Queens allowed me to take a photograph.

If you get the chance go and see them - you won't regret it.

Is This How Rumours Start?

Imagine my excitement when one of my Google alerts included the statement that X-Ray Spex were getting back together for a reunion gig at the Roundhouse on 6 September 2008 (yes, it was that specific).

Now, I love Poly and the Spex and this blog is named in honour of one of their songs. I was talking with Chris following the Pistols gigs about which other 'impossible' gig I'd like to go to and X-Ray Spex were name-checked. 'Impossible' in the sense of not even dreaming it might happen, just like the Pistols gigs came out of the blue.

'Germfree Adolescents' is 30 years old next year, so wouldn't a reunion be fab? I've still got my copy of the original vinyl as well as on CD. It's been re-released on CD several times, both as a stand-alone album and as the basis of a compilation, and it's been re-released again as a digi-pack edition. I was a big fan back in the day and still am - Poly was ahead of her time in her songs about consumerism and the environment.

I also love 'Conscious Consumer', the reunion album from the '90s that I only discovered a couple of years ago. It's not the raw Spex of the '70s (and why on earth would it be?) but there are some great songs on there, with Poly's words and Lora's sax wailing away. 'Party', the closing track on the album, is one of my favourites, a simple little song that does it for me everytime, putting a smile on my face and making my feet twitch.

Poly's solo work is few and far between but well worth tracking down, 'Transluscence' and the 'Gods and Goddesses' EP. She still sings occasionally - most recently on a duet with Brian James on his latest record - and turns up around the place whether it's on Don Lett's 'Punk' DVD a couple of years ago or backstage at the Pistols gigs at Brixton a couple of weeks ago.

Not sure I've ever mentioned it on here, but I also tracked down a Lora Logic compilation CD from Canada. I bought Lora's 'Essential Logic' EP back in the day and it was great hearing that again on the CD.

Hhmmm... a Spex reunion.... now, wouldn't that be a fab thing?

God Save The Sex Pistols

According to God Save The Sex Pistols the Brixton gigs were filmed by Julien Temple along with scenes of the Pistols around London. Sounds like the DVD will be a documentary rather than a 'live' show. Release is planned for 'spring/summer 2008'. The site also includes a reference to the London Paper interviewing Paul Cook and him saying that the Pistols will play the O2 next year. Hhmmmm >strokes beard< a gig to launch the DVD maybe?

Watch this space...

My New Lamp

This evening Chris took me to Cressida Bell's 'open studio' out in the wilds of Hackney for her pre-Christmas show with wine and sweets and a little Christmas tree and her goods on display. I like Cressida's stuff and it's nice to walk in and see the printing tables covered in scarves and cushions in all colours and designs, a mass of colour that pulls me in (I do like a bit of colour).

One of my favourite bits n bobs at home is a lampshade I bought from Cressida two or three years ago that I think of as my 'garden' lampshade with trees of different shapes and colours painted round the shade. When I went over to look at the lampshades this evening my eyes kept swivelling over to a shade with a more geometric pattern and a matching base. My eyes kept finding it amongst all the other lamps and shades which can only mean that I like and need it.

I also got a lovely woollen scarf in reds and blues in the 'Indian stripes' design (same design, different colours to the photo on Cressida's website). I was surprised that she remembered that I'd bought the same scarf last year, but that time in greens and purples and in silk. What a memory! I like the design.

Here's a photo of my lovely new lamp with my 'garden' lampshade in the background. Oh, and the picture of the parrot is actually painted on a feather and is from Canadaford.

War Horse

Tonight saw a break from the relentles gigging of the last couple of weeks to the more serene and civilised theatre-going of the National Theatre and the production of 'War Horse'.

I found it strangely moving and harrowing. The tale of young Albert who loves his horse, Joey, so much that he enlists in the army during the First World War to rescue him. He's raised Joey from a frightened colt to become a magnificent stallion, a horse fit for an officer and the officer is dramatically killed during the first battle. Joey is rounded up by the Germans and put to work pulling an ambulance and then a cannon, before tanks come on the scene and Joey runs wild through no-man's land...

The star of the production is Joey and Joey is a puppet. An eight feet tall puppet manipulated by three men but, strangely, it's easy to ignore the humans and see Joey as a horse, with all the gestures and twitches of a horse. Similarly his rival and then friend, Topthorn, a black stallion to Joey's chestnut colouring. Both are huge and very 'horse-like' but other horses in the production are more lightly drawn. There is also a little girl puppet and a comedy goose as well as swallows and a nasty crow that pecks at dead bodies on the battlefields. I *like* the goose.

The play gradually drew me in through the careful plotting, the excellent acting and the wonderful puppeteers. I was particularly taken with Thusitha Jayasundera as Albert's young mother who projected that right mix of pragmatic farmer's wife and woman who will take on the world for her men, a sympathetic character played very well with the universal cares and woes of mothers everywhere.

The staging was both simple and incredibly elaborate. A relatively bare stage for most of the production with atmospheric lighting and restrained use of props, presumably so that nothing took away from the glory of the horses. Lots of attention to detail from swallows flying on the sunny summer morning that opens the play to the death crows of the battlefield, little touches that show someone has really thought it all through and secured the funding to fulfill their vision.

It was also terrible. The horror that is war and the hell that was the First World War are stark. The petty rivalries of the farmers' extended family pale into insignificance after the first battle in France with the cavalry shot to ribbons and the dead men and horses littering the stage while we go back to Devon for Christmas 1914 when Albert gets a bicycle to make up for the loss of his magnificent horse. Then follows the degradation of Joey as he survives the first battle, the dehumanisation of the troops as some of them fight to hold onto their humanity and others don't, becoming automatons and puppets of their leaders themselves. This should be mandatory viewing for all our leaders.

It stirred memories and made me think of my Granda. He was a soldier in the First World War who lost an arm, wounded and delirious in no-man's land and saved by a young girl in a bombed farmhouse (rather similar to the second act in that respect). The things he must have seen (and probably done) don't bear thinking about and that's probably why he didn't speak about the war until his last few years and it was then that I got to know him a little.

One of my earliest memories of him is going with him to his allotment when I was about five on a sunny afternoon, wandering through the fields and he took me to see the horses. Granda had a way with animals and the horses were his friends - virtually everybody and everything was Granda's friend. He picked me up with his one arm and put me on the back of one of the horses and then walked away, turned and made a clicking sound with his mouth and the horse trotted over to him with me on it's back. I was terrified but all he was doing was giving me the thrill of my first (and only) horse-ride. He was a daft old bugger with a fondness for booze and I wish I'd known him better.

We're All Going To Drown

It's now been raining for 23 weeks and my brolly is broken. O woe.

From one Beverley to another ...

Some readers may recall that I was booked to see Buffy Sainte-Marie play at the Highline Ballroom in New York back in June this year. But I went into hospital instead to have a part of my anatomy ripped out.

Well, Buffy is playing the Highline again on 28 March 2008 and I've booked tickets. I *will* see Ms Sainte-Marie. And, of course, March is when her new album is due out, so maybe this will be a 'launch' event?

Many thanks to Christopher for finding out that important news!

Beverley Knight at the Royal Albert Hall

Last night was Beverley's night and she seemed a little bit thrilled to be playing the Royal Albert Hall. It's quite prestigious in its own way but I always find it an odd building, a warren of corridors to get into the auditorium and in the middle of nowhere in Kensington, mid-way between tube stations (I rely on Chris for directions as a former Kensington kid). The concert (one doesn't have 'gigs' there) was being recorded so I'm hopeful for a DVD release at some point.

We missed the support acts and were ushered to our seats in the second row from the stage (big wow for being that close!) while they put the finishing touches to the stage, with big cloth drapery partially obscuring the old gold organ behind the stage, all of which looked great with the lightshow. The band and singers were at the back leaving the front of the stage free for Bev to prowl and kick and jump and dance away to her hearts content - she's an athletic kinda gal on stage.

Lights dimmed and on she came, all slim and good looking in a short kimono-stylee mini-dress, all thighs and stilettos below and wild mane of hair above, eyes sparkling and a big smile for the adoring welcome she received, glancing round the packed round hall, all of us there to see her. It was great being so close - a mere few yards away - so I could see her properly. What great photos I could've taken! Instead, I threw myself into my role as backing singer for the night, singing along, clapping on cue and doing my own boogie when instructed and when the music forced me. Bev ain't good for a bad back (I must have a word with her about that).

She was on stage for over one and half hours singing songs from across her career but focused on the hits and the latest album, 'Music City Soul'. And what a great performance. She hasa great voice but doesn't just belt 'em out, she controls her voice and doesn't go in for all that so-called diva crap of wailing up and down the register for the sake of it - Beverley's a proper singer. And a writer - it's easy to forget that she writes her own songs and has a great ear for melody and words.

She's also very fit and in good shape, and no wonder when she bounds around the stage like a thing possessed, making sure all sides of the audience get a good chance to see her. She was on top form.

Favourite songs last night were a stonking extended version of 'Flavour Of The Old School' with the singers joining her up front for some co-ordinated moves, a mellow 'Shoulda Woulda Coulda', a rip-roaring 'Piece Of My Heart' (which always sounds so much better live than on record), 'The Queen Of Starting Over', 'Greatest Day' (with smiles all over her face) and, of course, my favourite, 'Come As You Are' (it sounded a bit muted last night but great nonetheless). The encore was great too, with 'Gold' and the wild 'Black Butta' with Bev struttin' her funky stuff all over the stage.

It all seemed to be a bit much for Bev at the end, her big night at the Royal Albert Hall, and there were tears as the lad singer hugged her and led her to her place in the centre for the big group bows before leaving the stage. When she came on stage at the start she said something like. 'And they said this would never happen', meaning her playing there, so perhaps this was a longtime dream come true for wor Bev'lee?

It was a great show last night and had me on my feet for almost the whole time - well done, Bev!

"The Best Band In The World"

Ears still ringing from my third benediction with the Pistols, I sit here thinking what on earth can I say that I haven't already said following my previous two benedictions and blogs (see below, dear reader). Shall I point out that they were fabulous? That they were vicious? That John was a dancing Quasimodo as he pulled shapes and hopped around the stage, doing what I think of as his 'public image' dance, swaying from side to side lifting knee and opposing arm, pogoing, working the crowd into a lather. O yes, I could say all that. And more.

They were on top form tonight, John's vocals savage and scathing by turns, sharing his wisdom ("Never trust the middle classes - ever!"), telling us how gorgeous he is ("I've got better tits than Madonna" as he pulled up his shirt to show us - and he's right, he has), drinking Red Stripe and gargling with brandy. Going back to his monitors every now and then to refresh his memory with the lyrics (he commented that you'd think he'd remember after singing them for 30 years), having a swig and then launching into another marvelous song.

Steve and Glen were tight as ever, mimicing each other on either side of the stage and going in to Paul's podium at the end and start of every song, Paul being the backbone. Classic riffs like the opening to 'Pretty Vacant' and the best drum roll ever in 'Holidays In The Sun'. What a class band they are, tight and powerful, throwing out that wonderful, scary sound, so right for John to overlay his fearsome words.

John did all the talking (of course) and only referred to the band twice. At the end of 'No Fun' when he'd run out of words to spit at us but Steve was still playing the riff facing the speakers and John called out 'Oi fatty!' to get his attention. The second time was at the very end after the encores when he threw out his arm to refer to the band and said, "They're the best band in the world". He's a softy at heart.

Top tunes tonight were a killer version of 'Submission' extended on the long play out and very hypnotic (at least to those of singing and swaying along to it), '(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone' (with John changing the words to 'I'm not your rolling stone'), 'Seventeen' which sounded wild and frantic and, of course, 'EMI'. The four singles were great - is there any feeling quite like singing 'no future' in 'God Save The Queen' or 'I wanna be Anarchy' in 'Anarchy In The UK' and not being able to hear yourself because of the sheer noise? Everlasting anthems.

The encore was 'Bodies' and 'Anarchy' after which the Pistols left the stage and the lights came on. I couldn't believe that would be it, after all it was their last night in London so there must be more. And there was! Lights still on and back they came, John commenting that now that the boring people had gone we could have some fun. He explained that his friend, Denton the Bear, had recently been killed by some Russians for some reason (hence the flag that had been flying above the stage each night) and he dedicated the final song to Denton - 'Roadrunner'! Wow and cor. Blistering!

After that John said he really appreciated us all turning out to see them and called his fellow Pistols 'the best band in the world'. I'd turn out anytime to see you all, John, and yes, you're right (as ever), they are. It's been a rare privilege to see the Sex Pistols in action. They're bound up in legend and mystique, and no little filth and fury, and that's all part of the experience. I've waited 30 years for this and they didn't disappoint, not one jot.

Thank you.