'Alice In Wonderland' at The IMAX

I had my first experience of The IMAX last night when we went to see Tim Burton's 'Alice In Wonderland'. It's the biggest screen in the UK and I can well believe it, but it's square rather than letterbox so I don't know what that does to the film.

We saw the 3D version of the film, with big 3D spex and it was nice to see things poking out of the screen at me every now and then but every so often it looked like the lead character in the scene was standing in front of one of those "3D hologram" cards which rather takes away from the experience. Chris pointed out that it wasn't filmed in 3D so maybe that's the reason why it doesn't always work. And you know what? I'd quite like to see it again in 2D.

Johnny Depp was great as the rather sad Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham-Carter was perfect as the perfectly awful Red Queen - nice to see them together again so soon after 'Sweeney Todd'. It was full of British theatrical and screen names and I was both astonished an delighted to learn that the Dormouse was voiced by Barbara Windsor. The range of talent alone makes me want to see it again.

I enjoyed it but, sometimes, the effects got in the way of the story. But see it anyway - it's worth it for Johnny's Hatter at the least.

The Dresden Dolls at Patti Smith's Meltdown 2005

While checking out Richard Thompson's Meltdown schedule at this years' festival on the Southbank I found this video of the 'Stand Bravely Brothers' concert as part of Patti Smith's Meltdown in 2005. It was a celebration of the songs of Bertold Brecht and featured various singers including Patti herself along with Marc Almond, Sparks, the Tiger Lillies and others, plus The Dresden Dolls.

This was the first time I'd ever seen or heard of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione and I'm well pleased I was there that night. After the show The Dolls played a free gig in the open space in front of the bar at The Royal Festival Hall, opening with the glorious 'Good Day' and featuring many of the songs from the first album as well as a beer-swilling 'Amsterdam'. After the show I bought the Dolls CD (on 8ft Records, since this was pre-Roadrunner) and met Amanda for the first time when she signed it for me. Sigh...

Scroll in to about 4:40 to hear the thunder of Brian's drums and Amanda start singing 'The Soldiers Wife'.

Evelyn Evelyn - "Have You Seen My Sister, Evelyn?" - Oberon, Cambridge MA

Here are the Neville twins, Evelyn Evelyn, with their big smash hit, 'Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn?'- enjoy and then click on the cover of their record (on the right >>) to buy it. You know it makes sense.

The Tyranny Of The Sock

OK, so when did you sign it then? Y'know, the form you must've signed to follow the crowd. It was probably a multi-page carbon thingy and, ok, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and accept that you didn't know you were signing up to some life-long, life-sapping deal. After all, you were probably quite young and could well have been influenced in your choices by your parents. But when, exactly, did you sign the form that said you would only wear matching socks?

Now, I can't remember actually signing up to this. So I no longer feel bound by it. That's the kinda guy I am.

I know they (the mysterious *they*) only sell socks in matching pairs but why limit yourself to a matching pair? How dull is that? Even if you wear fluorescent green socks, it's still a matching pair of fluorescent green socks. Mix and match a bit, show your individuality with the colour and pattern combinations you discover. The only thing to be wary of is mixing different materials - one wool sock and one cotton might lead to hot-foot syndrome and, let's face it, you probably don't want that.

So, yesterday, I wore one green sock and one yellow sock to see 'Hair', along with my lovely green boots. Today I wore caramel-coloured shoes with one pink sock with blue toes and heel and one yellow sock with green toes and heel. I shall experiment with colour and pattern next.

Unfortunately, people did not notice my radical anti-matching-sockism at work today so I eventually had to explain my new campaign. Join me?

'Hair' at the Gielgud Theatre

I let the sun shine in tonight with my first dose of 'Hair' in London - I saw the same production with largely the same cast in New York back in February and the hippies are even more contagious on this side of the Atlantic. A great time was had by all and the excellent cast were rewarded with a spontaneous standing ovation at the end - I don't think I've ever seen people get to their feet so quickly and clap along so happily.

There's been a lot of publicity about the show over the last few days with the formal opening night last night and I think we reaped the benefit of the cast being on a high and wanting to love us into submission - and they did. The energy on stage, the professionalism, the excellent choreography, the music and songs, it all worked just right. Needless to say, I loved it!

It's the story of Berger and Claude and Sheila and their hippy chums in New York in 1967 experimenting with sex and drugs with social change and the Vietnam war in the background. Berger is out to have fun, with lots of sex and drugs, Claude is torn between the counter-culture and supporting his country, and Sheila is the hippy radical who helps to levitate the Pentagon and is introduced as Joan of Arc.

Other hippies are Woof who isn't homosexual but wants to go to bed with Mick Jagger, the pregnant Jeannie who loves Claude who is oblivious to her and Crissy who lost the address of the man she loves after one meeting and lives in hope of seeing him again. Some of the songs are designed to shock (like 'Sodomy') and most are relatively short and strung together to add pace and movement. The hippies leave the stage a lot and invade the audience, running down the aisles, handing out leaflets inviting us to a be-in and handing out flowers (my flower is in a glass of water at the moment).

The show opens with 'Aquarius', a great opening song that sets the scene nicely. Unfortunately I've yet to see Sasha Allen, who plays the part of Dionne, since she was off the night we saw the show on Broadway and was off again tonight, but we had the excellent Phyre Hawkins tonight with her big voice (and enormous wig!). The cast were all in great voice and, just as in the Broadway production, I'd single out Gavin Creel (as Claude) and Caissie Levy (as Shelia) for special praise, both with excellent voices and charismatic performances.

The two stand-out scenes for me tonight were the title song, 'Hair', in which both Claude and Hud crawled over the seats in the stalls during the song, touching and stroking the audience (Hud made it to our row K). It was a powerhouse of a scene with the hippies all over the stage and out into the audience, powerful music and those classic words. The other scene I'd pick out was Claude's closer to the first half, 'Where Do I Go?', a touching song that sums up his indecision about the draft. It's also when the cast strip off as they sing along and, just like in New York, I was too busy watching him deliver this poignant song to see all the flesh on display - but, obviously, I cast a quick glance over the rest of the cast at the end.

The second half of the show is darker with an extended bad trip scene and where we learn the fate of Claude. It opens with the great 'Electric Blues' (that Alex Harvey, a member of the original London Hair Band, recorded two versions of the song) and closes with 'Let The Sun Shine In' as the cast leave the stage through the audience and we're left with an echo of the song, a darkened stage and snow falling on a body on the stage. This is rather shocking since, throughout the show we've beet treated to movement and light and song and the echoing silence and gray stage at the end is a counterpoint to the previous two hours. And then the hippies return to sing the encore and we all got to our feet and then .... and then ...

... went up onto the stage to dance and clap along with the hippies. Yes, I did. I didn't in New York because my British reserve was on in full strength but on home territory I overcame the quiet reserve that's inbred in us and let my inner hippy out and I'm pleased I did. The stage got full very quickly - more people wanting to join in than there's space for on the Gielgud stage but I didn't care. It's very hot under all those lights! And on the way off the stage at the end I managed to have a few words with Caissie Levy who was sitting at the top of the ladder at the side of the stage and thanked her for a great show.

You must see this show - it is full of nonsense but it's optimistic and positive, hopeful for the future and full of songs that you know (whether you know it or not). I'm so glad that I saw it on Broadway and now have had the privilege of seeing it in London with mainly the same cast. I'm seeing it again in a couple of weeks time and I can't wait!

Let the sun shine in!

Pomes Poems Peoms

I am going to read more poetry. If you use the Tube in London you'll be familiar with the Poems on the Underground series of posters that publish short poems or extracts from longer ones. I always make a point of reading them and sometimes I actually like what I read. I'm not a great fan of the form but I ought to read more.

Poetry, like everything else, goes through phases and fads and so does my taste. I remember being quite fond of Ted Hughes at school, graduating to Yeats and the Metaphysicals at university. I've had a small volume of Blake for years (I'm partial to Songs of Innocence and Experience) that I used to carry round to dip in and out of when the moment struck.

I suppose one of the problems with being an English graduate (and yes, the song, 'What do you do with a BA in English?' from Avenue Q could have been written for me) is that you dip into so many different forms, genres and eras over the years that I've probably read some of most of the most important poets, but only some. And dip in might mean read one poem. I never had any time for the Victorians until I read something by Tennyson without knowing it was by him and decided to revise my opinions. I got a volume of Tennyson at Christmas and I think it's time to indulge.

Blood Red Shoes - 'Don't Ask'

The new single from Steven and Laura-Mary, aka Blood Red Shoes, 'Don't Ask', will be out on 10 May in limited edition 7" vinyl and for download. But why wait to hear it? Just do the clicky thing below:

Don't Ask from bloodredshoes on Vimeo.

And they've just announced gigs inManchester and London in October.

'The Caretaker' at The Trafalgar Studios

Last night we went to see 'The Caretaker' at the very steep Trafalgar Studios, surrounded (or so it seemed) by young drama students with inappropriate hair wanting to absorb Pinter and Jonathan Pryce's acting. And well they should because he was excellent.

'The Caretaker' is about nothing in particular but manages to encompass a lot of grand themes in a couple of hours. It opens with Davies, an old tramp, being brought into the bedsit room of young Aston who is doing up the house. The room (and stage) is cluttered with a load of junk, all lovingly saved from somewhere, the kind of stuff that *might* be useful for *something* at sometime. There are also various appearances by Aston's younger brother, Mick, who, it seems owns the house that Aston is supposed to be doing up.

It's an odd play, really, with no big plot or story, just a few weeks in the lives of three men during which relationships change and that's about it. But it resonates with so much more. It was first performed 50 years and yet so many of the themes are still relevant today - failure of mental health support, the property market, homelessness - it's still with us today.

And that leads me to Jonathan Pryce's portrayal of the tramp which struck so many chords of recognition - I've seen his tramp at Victoria and on The Strand, usually late at night and slightly the worse for wear. He's got the character down pat but never does he come across as a loveable rogue, he is consistently dodgy and suspect, looking after number 1, a precursor to the 'me' generation.

I liked Peter McDonald's portrayal of Aston, the gentle and caring young man who offers the tramp a bed for a few nights and ends up being verbally abused by him. His long scene about his electric shock treatment in a mental hospital when he was younger was particularly affecting, gradually drawing us into his smaller and claustrophobic world as he recounts the worst terror of his life. You could've heard a pin drop. It was a very powerful performance.

One thing that brought a smile to my face in this rather depressing play was the tap dancing in both acts - I'd joking said I'd hoped for a good song and dance number somewhere in the play and Jonathan Pryce obliged when he tried on new shoes. Twice!

'Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang'

On Sunday evening we went to see 'Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang', the latest film by Emma Thompson and her great portrayal of Nanny McPhee. The film treads a nice line between being a sequel and being a film that you don't have to have seen the first one to enjoy, and it works very well indeed.

As a 'family' film there was a lot of scene setting up-front, with the children being out of control and needing a nanny to sort them out, exacerbated in this film by having the posh cousins arrive at the country farm of their aunt whose husband is away fighting in the Second World War. There are a few sub-plots going on, like the bad brother of the husband who wants to sell the family farm to pay off gambling debts and being threatened by the nasty debt collecting women - it's nice for the baddies to be women for a change, and very good they are too.

The children are all good and interact well, the adults all play their stereotyped roles well and it was a surprise to see Sam Kelly as his pantomime character somewhere underneath his rather fleshily rotund physique. Maggie Gyllenhaal was great casting as the hapless mother who saw the positive side of her children using her wedding veil to trap the escaped piglets. She and Ewan McGregor make a nice couple, especially since Ewan doesn't actually have any lines. The piglets were stars in their own right as a porcine synchronised swimming team.

Emma was great fun as Nanny, gradually becoming prettier as the children learned their lessons. It's actually quite refreshing to have an actress of Emma's calibre deliberately playing it ugly, warts, fat and all, and still commanding the screen. But one of the best scenes goes to Maggie Smith when she sits on a cowpat during a picnic - a lovely scene. And, of course, she trumps everyone else in the penultimate scene when she holds the baby's rattle she was given by Nanny McPhee in the first film which suggests that her character was the baby in the first film, now grown old.

It might be a kids fillum, but go and see it on the big screen while you can - it's a celebration of life. And then buy the DVD so you can celebrate life whenever you want!

Boy George at Leicester Square Theatre

We went to see Boy George at what seems to be his new venue of choice in London, the Leicester Square Theatre, the scene of his residency over Christmas last year and 'Taboo' a few years ago. It's a nice venue, a good size with a bar on either side of the concert room (always a good sign).

We got there just after 7.20pm and the ticket said 7.15pm start - naturally, it couldn't possibly mean the gig would actually start at 7.15pm, that's just not rock 'n' roll. Maybe there was a support act or something...? And there was Boy George on stage, all smiley face and very smooth voice - if George says he'll start at 7.15 then he'll start at 7.15 so get there on time. He played for about one and a half hours with a short interval and it was all over shortly after 9pm and we were ushered out since there was another show planned for later in the evening (some comedian or other). Still, it meant an early escape from the madness that is London's West End on a Saturday night.

George played a well crafted set with something from everyone, the Culture Club hits (of course), his own solo work over the past 20-odd years and some new tunes. He sang the 'Pentonville Blues' (about his 'holiday' last year) which he'd played at his Christmas shows and another new 'un called 'Ken', a lovers rock song with gentle reggae beats. One of my favourites was 'Stranger In This World' from 'Taboo' and I liked 'The Deal' morphing into 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' (again, from the Christmas show). George also did a fab version of 'Get It On' that had everyone on their feet and boogying.

He finished with the glorious 'Bow Down Mister' and I pride myself that I got all the 'Hare Krishna, Hare Ramas' right this time. The encore was 'This Little Light Of Mine', an odd choice for the final song. George said he'd see us again next year so, maybe after his solo tour followed by the '80s tour he'll be heading into the studio? He didn't play the new single, 'Amazing Grace' - unless he played it at the very start of the show and we missed it?

George was looking good, happy and healthy and in great voice. There's always a slight moment of trepidation at the start of a show that it might turn into the horror that was the Koko show a few years back but he seems to be way past that. He was bedecked in his B-Rude clothes, as was the band, mainly sparkly scarabs and skulls but Kevan wins the prize for best tee-shirt - a sparkly skull with an Aladdin Sane lightning flash across the skull.

If you get the chance, go and see Boy George - he puts on a great show and sends you home with a smile on your face. At least he does that for me. And he probably does that for the Pet Shop Boys who were in the audience and Tweeted about it afterwards.