'Censored Scenes From King Kong' at the British Film Institute

Never heard of it? No, neither had I until Chris mentioned it was a BBC telly play from 1973 by Howard Schuman with Julie Covington in the cast and then it was firmly on the radar. Is that enough of a clue as to why I might be interested? No? Well Howard Schuman wrote 'Rock Follies' in 1976 and 'Rock Follies of 77' in 1977 and Julie Covington starred in both series along with Rula Lenska and Charlotte Cornwall. I'm sure all three ladies are probably fed up with people keep harking back to 'Rock Follies' but it was a classic. Oh, and Andy McKay of Roxy Music wrote the music. Added cred points there.

The BFI has a series on at the moment about cinema/television techniques and this play was being shown as part of the series. This was (supposedly) an early example of the technique of having your actor in front of a green or blue screen and projecting whatever you wanted on the background. The BFI people explained it but it went over my head since I don't really care, I just wanted to hear from Howard (who was in the audience) and see it. Sadly, all I heard of Howard was him shouting out that the BBC exec in charge of the play series thought it was camp like 'Rocky Horror' and didn't want to show it. No introduction or anything.

It was part of a series of plays shown at 11:00pm on the BBC that was cancelled during power cuts or something. So it wasn't banned by the BBC, just a case of bad karma (man). It's only been screened two or three times before so only a hundred or two people have ever seen it. Including me.

'Censored Scenes' is a bit of fluff really. It opens with a bloke being all Buddhist in Japan and then he turns up in London after a few years of having vanished from his hospital bed. His friends somehow find him and they've become a singing group. In the meantime he searches for the missing film cut from 'King Kong' that show the ape making love to Faye Wray. He thinks he finds the film but it turns out to be a heroin stash (as you'd expect in his topsy-turvy world). None of it makes any sense and harks back to the late '60s rather than the early '70s but that doesn't matter (man). The main thing is that this was the playground that led to 'Rock Follies'!

Yes Julie Covington was in it but I got excited when I saw she was on the rehearsal stage with Beth Porter! Beth played Kitty Schrieber in 'Rock Follies'. And who was their manager? None other than Michael Angelis who was the manager of the Little Ladies in 'Rock Follies'! Three 'Rock Follies' stalwarts three years before that show was even written and I was thrilled. Every now and then were little tricks and phrases that reminded me of 'Rock Follies' and this was surely part of the inspiration for the later series (sugar mountain anyone?).

Derek Fowlds played three parts in it and it was lovely to see him from back then. He played Basil Brush's sidekick and then starred in 'Yes, Minister' and 'Heartbeat' but it was fun to see him do some 'arty' acting early in his career.

The wow factor of the afternoon was increased to stellar proportions by having Fenella Fielding sitting behind us - yes, *that* Fenella Fielding! The lovely Fenella is now 86 but still getting out to frequent cinema and television events. I didn't say anything, obviously, but I was secretly delighted.

There are exactly two bad photos of Howard Schuman on the internet (how can he be so invisible?) and none of 'Censored Scenes' so here's a photo of Fenella instead!

'King Lear' at The National Theatre

This afternoon we were treated to a performance of 'King Lear' at the National Theatre with Simon Russell Beale in the title role, a production I've been looking forward to. Simon is one of the big stars of the National Theatre and I've seen him there lots of times but I thought he might be a bit young to play Lear. Not at all. He became the right age in front of my eyes as he moves from a vigorous and dynamic king to a physical and mental wreck who sees his family die around him. It's a painful play that, in the right hands, can elevate the spirit. It's a long play and you need stamina to get through it.

I was very admirationous of the set that used every trick and treat afforded by the Olivier stage, with it moving round and up and down, different screens coming down to create different atmosphere's and a surprising lack of obvious props. It was a very busy stage fit for an army (which appeared at a couple of points) with all sorts going on, including a dead stag on a white tablecloth at one point (although I'm not sure why). The lighting was excellent and the sound was haunting, with storms in the background and birdsong.

Simon Russell Beale was, of course, excellent, a cold and distant king forcing his daughters to explain their love of him before he descends into madness and horror only to realise his error as his life leaves him. It's an exhausting performance as he goes through the massive range of emotions on his road to madness and back. He gives himself over to the performance, an unlikeable man eventually stripping down to his underwear and later a hospital gown before finding himself again along with some sympathy as he realises what he's done. It's a brave performance.

Other performances of note were Stanley Townsend as Kent and Stephen Boxer as Gloucester along with Tom Brooke as Gloucester's wronged son and Sam Troughton as Gloucester's bastard son who wreaks havoc in the kingdom through lies and deceit. It's Kent's last lines that get to me, spoken over the dead body of his king, "I have a journey, sir, shortly to go; My master calls me, I must not say no". Loyal to the end, my lord Kent. This speaks of a Lear we don't see, a Lear before the events of the play in which he's a good friend and king, before we see his descent. It's one of the puzzles of the play - before it starts he's obviously a loving father, doting on his daughters and they love him but then it all goes wrong and we're left to puzzle about it.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the women in the play but that might be comparing them to the production I saw at the Donmar Warehouse a few years ago that had the strength and calm of Gina McKee as Goneril. Kate Fleetwood just seemed to shout a lot. I quite liked Olivia Vinall as Cordelia, the wronged daughter who eventually rescues her father and returns from France at the head of an army. She fails, sadly and is killed, carried onto stage by a distraught Lear.

The military motif in plays in the last few years is starting to wear a bit thin and this production has 20-odd soldiers in it, no real lines, just uniforms and guns and lots of stomping round the stage. The black uniforms were, at least, a relief from khaki but, along with the long, swirling black leather coats was a little bit camp (and a bit third reich). And I didn't approve of the dead stag at all.Putting aside these minor foibles I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to see a play of power and substance, well produced and well delivered.

'UPROAR!' at The Ben Uri Gallery

The 'UPROAR!' exhibition at the Ben Uri Gallery celebrates the first 50 years of the London Group of artists over 1913-1963. The title comes from the furore created by Mark Gertler's 'The Creation Of Eve' (opposite). Looking at the painting today it's difficult to imagine why it created so much outrage but it did. It shows God lifting Eve by her hair out of Adam, surrounded by lush grass and huge flowers. Shocking, I know.

The Ben Uri Gallery is just off Abbey Road (yes, Beatles fans, *that* Abbey Road) in what I assume was once a small shop. It's bijou, with the walls hung with paintings upstairs and downstairs in what was probably the storeroom. It's a small space but it's big enough in ambition to take on this exhibition and produce a heavy, glossy programme with all the paintings in the exhibition reproduced alongside short essays. Each artist represented in the exhibition has one painting or other work on display in chronological order, with the later works downstairs. One of my favourites of the later paintings was 'Kitchen Interior' by John Bratby from 1956 that I really wanted to touch to feel the splurges of paint layered on top of paint, ridges of paint behind the glass.

I really liked Duncan Grant's 'Window, South of France' from 1928 that is just that, an open window looking out on a lush and rolling landscape of fields leading down to the sea in the distance. The wall inside the house is covered in wallpaper with rich roses, bringing the garden inside the house, and a vase of poppies reflected in the open window.

This picture doesn't do it justice. The colours are much more vibrant when you see it in front of you with deep reds of the flowers and the greens of the fields are made up of many shades. It's a lovely painting and I'd love it on my living room wall.

It was nice to have Duncan's painting hung next to a small painting of a still life by Vanessa Bell, a bowl of apples a la Cezanne. Other Bloomsberries are represented in the exhibition, including Roger Fry's 'Portrait of Nina Hamnett' from 1917 (below) that I instantly saw was really Suzanne Vega - the resemblance was instantly noticeable to me, possibly because I was seeing Ms Vega that evening at the Barbican.

Another painting that drew my eyes was 'Rue Fontaine de Caylus, Marseilles' by Edward Wadsworth from 1922. It's quite a simple painting in one sense, with washing hung up to dry between the houses on either side of the street. The street descends as it goes deeper into the painting, with a single woman in the street. Who hung up all the washing?

The colour and shapes are what draw me in - sheets and shirts and pants, all hanging out to dry in the breeze. It must have been wet underneath those lines and lines of washing when they were first hung out. Again, I'd be quite happy to have that painting on my wall.

Another painting to name check is 'Self-Portrait' by Claude Rogers from 1938, a painter I've not heard of before. He's dressed in shirt, tie and jacket, looking out at the viewer and he could do with a shave. The interesting thing about it is that it could have been painted yesterday - the hair-cut, the clothes, the attitude, all could be from a hipster now. The only thing that dates it for me is the glasses. I can't find a copy of it online so you'll just have to go an see it for yourself.

All in all, it's a great little exhibition so you can dip your toe into the London Group. It's a brave move by the Ben Uri Gallery and I look forward to seeing what it does next.

Suzanne Vega at The Barbican

On Friday Ms Suzanne Vega came to town to sing songs old and new and take us into the realm of the Queen of Pentacles (her new album). Suzanne played at the Barbican in London where her live album from 2012 was recorded. It was mainly just her and guitarist, Gerry Leonard, on that wide stage, joined for a few songs by Alison Balsom on trumpet. It was a very stripped back set, even with Gerry's inventive guitar playing.

With a new album to promote for the first time in about seven years we had a 'hits' plus new songs kind of setlist and it worked really well with the new songs blending in unobtrusively with the classics. That, of course, meant that some of the songs I love hearing Suzanne play live had to be dropped to make space for the new ones but that made it quite intriguing trying to guess what she'd keep in the set. It was also good to hear the new songs played live, some of which will undoubtedly stay in Suzanne's repertoire long after this tour to launch them is over.

Suzanne came on, dressed in black and holding a black disc that she hit and it turned into a black top hat which she put on to open with 'Marlene On The Wall', the first song of hers I heard back in the '80s. We were then taken back and forward in time with old favourites and new songs from the latest album. Old favourites included 'Caramel', 'Gypsy', 'The Queen and The Soldier' and 'Left Of Centre'. Her voice is as soothing and powerful as ever and continues to draw me in as she unfolded the lyrics to her songs. We also had two of my personal favourites, 'Solitude Standing' and 'Small Blue Thing'.

From the new album, 'Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Tentacles' we were given  'Fools Complaint' (that introduces the Queen of Tentacles), 'Crack In The Wall', 'Jacob and The Angel' (which Suzanne introduced by saying she was brought up as a Buddhist), 'Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain' and 'Song of The Stoic'. This latter song is a sort of follow-up to 'Luka' that tells us what happened later in his life. Alison Balsom came on to add trumpet to 'Horizon' and, while introducing the new favourite 'I Never Wear White', Suzanne explained that a different version of the album had to be released in the Bible belt in America because the song contains the word 'virgin'. It's a dark song with dark riffs and tells us why Suzanne always wears black.

The set ended with the almost mandatory 'Luka' and 'Tom's Diner' with Suzanne once again wearing her top hat as she moved around the stage. The encore was a surprising version of 'Walk On The Wild Side' in memory of Lou Reed followed by 'Some Journey' and 'Rosemary' and then on she came again for a second encore with 'In Liverpool'.

It was a very enjoyable evening with Ms Vega sharing her songs with us. It wasn't just me that enjoyed her either, the gig was sold out and she received standing ovations several times. The new songs work really well mixed into a setlist with the older songs - they're all her creations, afar all, and there was no jarring between old and new. It'll be interesting to see which songs stay in the setlist for future gigs. That means I'll just have to keep going to see Suzanne play live whenever she's in London. And I will.

Thanks for a great evening Suzanne!

'The World Goes Round' at Union Theatre

Last Sunday we went to the matinee of 'The World Goes 'Round' at the Union Theatre in Southwark, a review of the songs of Kander & Ebb.

You might not know the names but you know their work - they wrote 'Cabaret' and 'Chicago' (and many more shows, such as 'Curtains' and 'The Scottsboro Boys', both of which I've seen). This review is something they put together in the early '90s to showcase their songs in another way. As far as I know, this is the first time the show has been put on in London since the '90s so it was worth seeing.

The Union Theatre is a small venue and I've been there before. It's another one of those little venues that seems to glory in not having seat numbers and investing in odd habits. Would it really detract from your artistic integrity to be a trifle more professional? Still, it puts on little played shows so that's a good thing.

Five mature singers and five young dancers present the show. There are no themes to try to pull the songs together, just a series of good songs sung by good singers. The show pulls together a range of songs from Kander & Ebb's career up to the early '90s so doesn't show their full repertoire, but it's a pretty damn good set of songs.

My favourites were 'My Colouring Book' and 'Maybe This Time' sung by Susan Fay and 'Class' sung by Susan and Emma Francis. Another favourite was about the end of the world with 'Coffee In A Cardboard Cup' sung by the whole ensemble.  The final song, acting as an encore, is 'New York, New York' in which the initial verses are all sung in different languages.

It's a great show (despite the theatre and having iron girders obscuring the action) so, if you've got the time, go and see it. It's only on for another few days so see it.

Patti Smith at Cadogan Hall

Patti Smith declared her gig at Cadogan Hall on 5 February as her William Burroughs Centenary Concert to tie in with the centenary of his birth. The gig was billed as an evening of words and music with Patti, Tony Shanahan (guitars and piano) and her son Jackson on guitar. It was a mix of songs, readings from Patti's 'Just Kids', some of her poems and a reading from Burroughs' 'Wild Boys'. Patti kept the Burroughs theme going throughout the gig as she kept referencing him, her chats with him way back when and which songs of hers he said he liked. Patti said she used to stalk him and wait for him to come out of the bar next to the Chelsea Hotel in New York.

The start of the gig was delayed due to the Tube strike to allow people to turn up and then on came Patti, greying hair tied in pigtails, regulation black jacket over white shirt and jeans messily tucked into black boots. She had arrived. She carried various books, papers and her glasses to the lectern and started telling us that people kept asking her what she would do to commemorate the birth of William Burroughs and her response was that she had to work and was booked on a tour, so that night was her commemorative concert. Later, she told us that his best advice was to keep her name clean and to get a gold American Express card.

We were given readings from 'Just Kids', Patti's book about growing up and meeting and sharing her life with Robert Mapplethorpe. It was similar to her gig at the Purcell Room last year as part of Yoko Ono's Meltdown festival and she gave us some of the same readings, her favourite readings. I love the short tale of Patti and Robert travelling up to Times Square on Christmas Eve 1969 to see the 'War Is Over (if you want it)' poster from John and Yoko and deciding that the '70s would be their decade. Which it was.

As well as the readings, Patti also gave us songs, a goodly mix over the years but with a slight emphasis on her early work. She dedicated 'Beneath The Southern Cross' to Lou Reed and her other friends who've left in the past year and gave us the perennial 'My Blakean Year' as well as the hits, ''Because The Night' and 'Dancing Barefoot'. It was nice that she said she wrote 'Because The Night' with a 'nice New Jersey man' and the lyrics were written for Jackson's father.

Patti did two covers, 'It's a Dream' by Neil Young and 'Beautiful Boy' by John Lennon. I'm not sure why she chose those songs but they seemed to fit in with the rest of the set nicely.

The stand-out songs for me were 'Birdland' (that she read from her lyric book until a couple of minutes into the song) and a great 'Horses/Gloria'. The slow build to the manic rock beats and all the while her voice and words taking us forward. I loved seeing Tony and Jackson both looking at her at one point clearly having no idea where she was going and waiting for Patti to give them the cue for the guitars to pile in again. That was performance art going on in front of us.

After much clap-clap-clapping we were given 'Banga' and 'People Have The Power' as an encore, with much howling and woofing going on during 'Banga'.

This was Patti at the peak of her powers, little girl giggles at one point and powerful, growling vocals at another, ad libbing her own lyrics. At one point I distinctly thought 'this is art happening in front of me', an artist in full control of her art and her audience. It was a most impressive performance. Patti left me elated, having glimpsed something bigger than myself, almost breathless, and that is what an artist does.

Thank you Patti, I'm looking forward to next time!

PS: I took this photo at Foyles on the Southbank in London when she came to read from 'Just Kids'. Patti's hair is greyer now but her artistic integrity is intact. And that's what matters.

Dancers Dance!

I was listening to Suzanne Vega's new album, 'Tales From The Realm Of The Queen of Pentacles' this morning and one line of 'I Never Wear White' really made me think. Suzanne sings that she doesn't wear white because it's the colour of virgins and rides in the park, she wears black because it's the 'colour of secrets, outlaws and dancers...' and that line took me back to seeing 'A Chorus Line' in the summer last year.

In 'A Chorus Line' Cassie (played by Scarlett Strallen in the revival at the London Palladium last year) sings 'The Music and The Mirror' that starts off with 'God, I'm a dancer and dancers dance'. That's what dancers are for, what they do, they dance. It's the same with any artist - writers, artists, actors, dancers, whatever - since the core of their being is to create and to perform.

This is sort of getting back to the 'who are you?' question I've blogged about before and it's a recurring question for me. If dancers are meant to dance and writers are meant to write and painters are meant to paint then what does that leave for the rest of us mere mortals? It chimes with the 'be whoever you are' message and it affects all of us. I am whoever I decide I am. It's my choice, not yours.

Who are you? Who am I?

Maximo Park - 'Too Much Information'

I don't often blog about individual records but in the case of Maximo Park's new one I must make an exception. On a first listen I am suitably stunned. This is not the album I was expecting or was hoping for. It's so much more. It is not a follow up to 'The National Health', the lads' last album, full of rampant guitar and keyboard and Paul's voice soaring and almost but never quite cracking. I should have guessed from the teaser songs they published in the last month or so. I didn't listen to it streaming over the past week. I was patient and waited for the record to come out.

There are two versions of the album and, obviously, I went for the deluxe version with more songs. The title of the album is, as ever, a line from one of the songs (in this case, 'Midnight On The Hill') and I have no idea what the artwork is meant to be. It's their fifth album (if you discount 'Missing Songs') and ably demonstrates their strength and vitality, a fearless approach to producing new music and experimentation. This isn't a record produced to formula or to please, this is so much more.

So, what is it?

Maximo Park has torn up the 'how to make a Maximo record' rulebook and started afresh. This is a band we're familiar with and there's enough 'old' Maximo to keep us happy but there's more to explore. The lyrics have gone to new heights and complexity with imagery flowing in intriguing directions that will take several listens to get a grasp. The music is far more experimental than on previous records and explores different avenues - there are a couple of indie-guitar driven pop songs but most are a quieter affair.  We even get harmonica on an almost folksy 'I'll Be Here In The Morning' (although it might also be an early demo for a Faces rocker?). We also get a cover of Nick Drake's 'Northern Sky' which sounds so different with Paul's accent.

There is so much in this record that it'll take me a while to unpick it but I know I'm going to enjoy the adventure. There are Paul's trademark literary songs about poets and people and his 'Middlesborough Man' is possibly the most poppy song on the record and 'My Bloody Mind' is almost Stooges-like. They effortlessly move through different styles while being thoroughly original all the way.

I fell in love with Maximo Park again today, with an older band with more experiences to sing about and musical routes to explore. It's a great listen and I look forward to delving into the subtleties of this record and joining them on what will be a really interesting journey going forward. I am most impressed and already loving the songs.

Well done lads!

Edna St Vincent Millay

I was browsing through my 'Poems On The Underground' book the other day and came across this lovely poem by Edna St Vincent Millay:

What Lips Have My Lips Kissed, And Where, And Why (Sonnet XLIII)

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more. 

I've not really come across Edna before and knew nothing about her until I googled her and she certainly sounds like someone I should know more about (look at her wiki entry). One of her poems that I am familiar with but didn't realise was by her is 'First Fig':

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light.

Does summer sing in you?

David McAlmont sings Bowie at The Hideaway

On Friday evening we went to see David McAlmont's 'Wall To Wall: Bowie' set at the Hideaway jazz club in Streatham (i.e. off-off-off West End). The Hideaway is a great venue, very stylish and very orange and black. David first did his Bowie set in 2013 and, since it was the Hideaway's most popular show of 2013, he was asked to reprise it over three nights last week - we missed it the first time round so had to go on Friday.

We saw David McAlmont's Prince show last year (also at the Hideaway) in which he rearranged and sang his favourite Prince songs so I was expecting interesting re-interpretations of Bowie. And that's exactly what we got. He worked with Hideaway music director and pianist on the night Janette Mason to come up with some jazzy, chilled out versions of some songs and funked up versions of others. Backed by a pared down band of just keyboards, bass, drums and guitar and joined on stage for some of the songs with added vocals by Sam Obernik (who also had a few songs to herself) it made for an enjoyable evening.

David came on in blue suit (a la Bowie 'Life On Mars') covered in blingy jewellery, an enormous glam boa and a painted face (but not the lightning flash of Aladdin - that would be too obvious) and launched into 'Watch That Man' that he described as the song closest to the original arrangement. He went on to give us 'Suffragette City', 'Starman' and 'Changes' with Sam Obernik leading on 'Life on Mars' and 'The Man Who Sold The World'. David also gave us 'Let's Dance' and an electric piano funked up version of 'The Jean Genie'.

The second half of the show led off with 'Fame' and a torch song 'Lady Grinning Soul' with David walking round the tables in the audience after inviting us to stroke his boa if we wanted (I did). After 'Ziggy', Sam performed a lovely version of 'Kooks' and 'Wild Is The Wind'. 'Space Oddity' (in which David and Sam floated out in space). The show closed with a funky 'Young Americans' with David in dancehall mode towards the end. The encore was 'Modern Love'.

It was a great, fun show and a good end to a long week. David was on top form and I'd not come across Sam before and she's a bit of a find. Other than 'Let's Dance' and 'Modern Love' (and 'Space Oddity') all the songs were from the '70s and the first half of the '70s at that. That is classic Bowie territory but it might have been interesting to hear David's re-interpretaion of some of his later material, even something from the latest album perhaps? Or maybe that's for the next set of shows? Favourites of the evening were 'Starman' (with David doing Bowie's pointing thing), the funked up 'The Jean Genie' and the already funky 'Fame' and Sam's version of 'Kooks' (I like that song!).

And, to give you a flavour of the evening, here's a video of 'Young Americans' from the 2013 show. Enjoy!