'Pretty Vacant'

I've been listening to 'The Best Punk Album In The World Ever', a CD full of the records of my youth and one I haven't listened to in a while. It has all those great punk songs from 1976 - 1978, songs I grew up with and bought the 7" vinyl singles back in the day. Or maybe I taped some off the John Peel show on Radio 1. I like the CD because it's just like an old tape with loads of different sounds one after the other from the Sex Pistols, Undertones, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Skids, Ruts, XTC, Jam, Damned, Rezillos and so many others.

Whenever I hear 'Pretty Vacant' part of me whizzes back to the summer of 1977 and hearing it for the first time. It's a very distinct memory for me, sitting in the kitchen eating cornflakes and hearing it on Kid Jensen's Saturday morning show, my mother washing up the breakfast dishes and me insisting on having the radio on. It was a road to Damascus type of thing. I'd bought punk singles before and loved The Adverts but hearing 'Pretty Vacant' touched me in a place that hadn't been touched before and awoke something in me that needed to be woken.

I'd not heard the Pistols before. I'd read about them in the NME and Sounds, obviously, but I'd never heard them. No-one I knew had 'Anarchy in the UK' or 'God Save The Queen' so hearing 'Pretty Vacant' on the Kid Jensen show was an ear opener for me and something I'll always be grateful for. I heard 'Pretty Vacant', finished my bowl of cornflakes, grabbed my pocket money and got the bus into Newcastle and headed for the small Virgin record shop behind the City Hall since I knew the Pistols were signed to Virgin and assumed they'd have the record. My memory tells me the shop was small, a bit gloomy and smelling of patchouli but that might be an over-active memory. Whatever. It reinvented me that day.

Has a record ever changed your life?

'Grand Hotel' at the Silk Street Theatre, Barbican

Every year the final year students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama put on a summer show and this year they've chosen to revive 'Grand Hotel'. I saw 'Grand Hotel' in its last production at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004 and fell in love with it. It's a very literate and intelligent show, quite densely packed with half a dozen lead characters all with their own inter-twining lives and plots. There are no real goodies or baddies in this show, it depicts the consequences of choices. It's a very clever show but I engage with it at an emotional rather than an intellectual level.

I generally have the memory of a butterfly flittering here and there but this musical has stayed with me over the years. I saw it twice in 2004 at the Donmar, one a programmed performance and the other a midnight HIV/AIDs benefit show. The Donmar production featured Daniel Evans as the dying Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. The show made the tears well and roll down my cheeks at various places.

Right. So that's my history with the show and I've started off with the personal history to signal that it's an important show for me and I won't tolerate any laziness or mistakes in a production. So, Guildhall students, you have a high legacy to live up to and you certainly won't get an easy ride from me. Did the production work? Damn right it did!

As soon as I walked in to take my seat my expectations were raised by the art deco set of black and white marble floor and gilt trimmings, a versatile set that turns from the foyer, to a bedroom to the hotel bar. Then the music starts and the grand parade as people start milling in th foyer and we meet the lead characters: the Baron ('dangerous games and a carefree existence'), the Prima Ballerina and her Maid, the Book-keeper, the Typist ('I want to got to Hollywood') and the Businessman. We meet the front of house staff at the reception desk and the back room staff ('some have, some have not'), the gangsters who want money from the Baron and the impresarios who need to make money out of the Ballerina. There are a lot of intertwined relationships and themes in this musical.

It's quite fast-paced and we learn a lot about the characters in very short time, like the basic decency of the Baron by helping Mr Kringelein get a room in the hotel when he was about to be thrown out for being jewish and the Typist Flaemmchen being happy to dance with him as soon as she hears he's dying. So, yes, the Baron might be a thief (in the last resort as he says) and the Typist might want money to escape her dreary life but they're basically nice people.

The Baron tries to steal a diamond necklace from Grushinskaya, the Ballerina, but falls in love with her and she with him and this leads to two great songs, the Baron's 'Love Can't Happen' and Grushinskaya's 'Bonjour Amour' the following morning. Finally they have found love and all will be well, she will dance again and he will be her inspiration. On the other hand, we have Flaemmchen selling herself to the Businessman for one thousand marks to take her to America and it is when the Businessman attempts to rape her that the Baron appears in the room to save her. He was in the Businessman's room next door to steal his wallet and he gets shot in the struggle.

The Baron then appears singing 'Roses At The Station' with his last moments of life when he sings about being at the station with roses for his beloved Ballerina as he promised. We learn more about his life in this song, that he has been waiting for love,  "All my life I wanted to be here, all my life I waited to appear at the station with these roses..." and his privileged life,

"I spent my childhood in the fields

My boyhood on horseback

I was a soldier in the war

The bullets whizzed past my ear

And not one came near me till now..."

That's a big show-stopper of a song and the only way the song can be followed is by a couple of dancers coming on to dance a bolero as the Baron lies dead.

We then skip to the next day with police coming to investigate the murder and the Businessman is arrested, Flaemmchen leaving and Mr Kringelein checking out to go to Paris. Who will tell Grushinskaya that her lover is dead? No-one, they'll let her think he's deserted her like all the others, even her faithful Maid Rafaela who loves her mistress. Life goes on however, when Eric the receptionist becomes a father at last (singing a song that echoes one of the Baron's vocal themes) and Mr Kringelein and Flaemmchen leave together to head for Paris to raise her baby. One man dies and lives are wrecked but life goes on. It's a marvellous play with marvellous songs.

The cast were great and so was the music. The acting was good throughout and so was the dancing, it was the voices that drew a line between some of the actors. Best voices belonged to Rebecca Collingwood as Flaemmchen, Ceri-lyn Cissone as Grushinskaya and Emily Laing as Rafaela, all with nice, clear and strong singing voices. Kudos to Ceri-lyn for sustaining the believable Russian accent throughout. Sadly there are no photos of the production available but here's one of Rebecca as Flaemmchen.

The lads were good too, particularly Jay Saighal as the Baron, Joey Phillips as Kringelein, Ben Hall as Businessman Preysing and Jordan Renzo as Eric at the reception desk. Jay has a good voice but the ideal Baron remains with Julian Ovenden with his more powerful and versatile voice. I liked Ben's slowly corrupted Business man who starts off with honour and ends in shame and Jordan had a lovely voice when he sang of his new baby.

All in all it was a great production. It did, however, point to a few drawbacks. Age for one thing. The actors were all in their early 20s and sometimes it's just a relief to see actors of different ages and shapes on stage, not uniformly young and slim. Some of the lads seemed just too skinny for their clothes since they haven't bulked up yet. And where were the black actors? The two Jimmy's song is meant to be sung by black lads but where were they? A note for Simon Haines as the Doctor - great limp but, if you really do have a gammy-leg and a limp then most people learn to compensate for it in different ways - learn to do that and your future limps will be so much more realistic.

But, who am I to be churlish? You were all great and gave me a great night's entertainment seeing one of my favourite and rare musicals and I thank you. You made me cry as well, damn you! I hope to see some of you in the West End in the near future - well done people and good luck for the future!

'Forbidden Broadway' at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Last week we went to see 'Forbidden Broadway' at the Choccy Factory, a show I've meant to see a few times but never managed to catch it before, either here or in New York. Its basically an extended piss-take on current and past shows and personalities and seems to be revived every few years since the original production back in the '80s. Each revival sees old skits deleted and new ones added for the latest hit shows.

This latest production featured Anna-Jane Casey, Sophie-Louise Dann, Damian Humbley and Ben Lewis, three of whom I've seen in previous Choccy Factory (and other) productions. All have great voices and great energy, dashing round the stage with quick costume changes and incessantly changing the height of the microphone which is pointless since they're all mic'd up anyway. The set is simple to avoid cluttering the stage, just strips of silver shiny creating a back wall and a couple of steps to a slightly raised level at the back of the stage for a grand entrance. And a grand piano.

The skits covered most of the current crop of West End shows including 'Jersey Boys', 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', 'Wicked', 'The Pajama Game', 'Spamalot', 'Once', 'Mamma Mia', 'Les Miserables' and 'The Book of Mormon'. Of course, some of these have been in the show for ages because they've been around for ages whereas some are relatively new.There were also piss-takes of individual performers like Liza Minelli, Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Indina Menzel and Angela Lansbury (in her 'Blithe Spirit' persona to ensure it's current).

It was great fun and it's nice to be given permission to laugh at some of the quirkier aspects of some of these shows and performers. The four performers were great and very energetic, keeping it fast-paced and moving forward but I couldn't help feeling every now and then that is was playing it safe or becoming almost a cliche of itself. Maybe this is more about the older skits? What has Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin got to do with musical theatre in London today (and yes, I saw Mandy at the Choocy Factory a few years ago in the poor 'Paradise Found')? And Liza Minelli is just too easy a target for a cheap laugh. Or maybe I'm missing the point.

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the show with lots of guffaws and braying out loud a little too quickly after the punchline as if to say 'I got the joke there and I got it before the rest of you'. It's not a competition and neither is it ok for you to explain the joke to the person sitting next to you in a too-loud voice. Anyway, it's on until 16 August so go and judge for yourself.

'Great Britain' at the National Theatre

This evening we went to see the new play at the National, 'Great Britain' starring Billie Piper. I've never seen Billie on stage before since the only other time I've had tickets to see her she was off that night (the awful 'Treats' five years or so back) so it was nice to finally see her.  It's the latest play from Richard Bean who is still basking in the success of 'One Man, Two Guvnors' and it's already destined for the West End, so much so that the National hasn't even bothered to print programmes (with all the building work going on how can they afford that loss of revenue?). It's only been playing for a couple of weeks so it's nice to see something at the start of its run rather than near the end which is what usually seems to happen.

I won't bore you with the story since you know it - phone hacking and all that jazz. The 'News of the World' becomes the 'Free Press' red-top and Billie Piper is Paige Britain, the news editor who climbs the greasy pole by adding yet more grease. We have incompetent police and corrupt politicians, Paige sleeping with the leader of the Tory party before helping them get elected and calling in favours, twins abducted and their phones hacked - it's all in there in an incredible amount of detail. There is swearing galore and some ripe old jokes getting belly laughs - even from me - and the first time Billie Piper swears you just know everyone will laugh (did she really just say that? yes she did). Lewd, crude and very rude and great fun rolled into it!

Robert Glenister plays the editor of the newspaper who can't seem to say a sentence without a swear word in there somewhere, sacking journalists who come to him with actual news and, instead, inventing his own stories for them to research. He was really good and his press meetings were some of the most raucously funny scenes in the play. Aaron Neil played Sully Kassam, Commissioner of the Met Police and plain stupid who came out with some great one-liners. Richard and Aaron were highlights of the first half, less seen in the second half (well, the Commissioner suicides in the second half).

There's a huge cast and it's a great ensemble show but the focal point is Paige Britain and Billie Piper rules the stage, the centre of every scene she's in (and she's in most of them). This is going to be an exhausting run for Billie so it'll be interesting to see how she fares. Billie does good unscrupulous and excellent double-dealing and deserves credit for attempting this production. She's already a star thanks to 'Dr Who' (she will always be Rose) but this could move her career into interesting directions.

It's clearly a hit and will transfer to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in September - it must be an odd feeling for the cast to know they're going up West when they've only just opened on the Southbank. If you want a good belly laugh then go and see it!

Tommy Ramone

I heard the sad news that Tommy Ramone has died, the last of the original Ramones. I heard it on the news bulletin on the Radio 4 'Today' programme this morning and it's nice that his passing was recognised on a programme as far from punk as you could get.

Tommy Erdelyi was the drummer with the Ramones on their first three albums that hold so many classic and influential songs. He took over the drums when Joey became the singer at the front. I never saw him play with the Ramones but I did see him as part of the Uncle Monk duo playing bluegrass music when he supported Buffy Sainte-Marie at the Highline Ballroom in New York in 2008. He played guitar and sang gently, no drums in sight, and you can download his album, 'Uncle Monk'. He came out to see Buffy and take some photos and when he came into the audience after the show I had to go up to him and shake his hand. He was a Ramone after all.

The last time I heard anything about Tommy was when he was in the video for Joey Ramone's song, 'New York City' on his posthumous album 'Ya Know?' a couple of years ago. Tommy is featured at about 1:20 into the video holding up the street sign for Joey Ramone Place. It's nice that he pays tribe to his brother wearing the mandatory leather jacket.

The first tweet I saw about Tommy this morning was from Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols who tweeted "RIP tommy, that's the last one to go." He would've met Tommy when they first came over to London in the '70s. The Ramones helped to change the face of music in the '70s but never really made it big despite influencing virtually everybody that came after them. I saw them play in 1980 or 1981, after Tommy left the band so I'm pleased I saw Uncle Monk.

I shall play my Ramones albums today. Loudly. Gabba Gabba Hey Tommy!

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - 'I Should Be Proud'

You know when you've got your headphones on and listening to music on shuffle, not really listening, more like shutting out the world? Walking to work or wherever in your own little world, songs coming on and you can hum along to them or sing along under your breath (or even out loud) without really paying any attention. Well I was doing that this morning when I actually heard the first line of the song and thought 'eh?' and started listening to the words and the voice and the music. I've heard the song before but never really listened.

I watched the Motown show on ITV on Sunday evening and, even though it was more of an extended advert for the Motown top 40 CD than anything else, it was great to see clips of the musicians from the '60s and see the remaining stars talk to camera. It was great to see Otis Williams from the Temptations (the greatest ever boy band), Mary Wilson from the Supremes (who I saw sing live at Wembley the night Michael Jackson died), Abdul Fakir from the Four Tops (I really wish I'd heard Levi Stubbs sing live) and, of course, Martha Reeves. I've been privileged to see Martha Reeves and The Vandellas perform a few times and I've even met Martha.

Seeing Martha made me think that it's a while since I've listened to her so pulled all my Martha songs into a playlist to listen to randomly on my way to and from work. Those great classics like 'Dancing In The Street', 'Jimmy Mack', 'Nowhere To Run', 'Heatwave' and so many more. And then, suddenly, I heard the line 'I was under the dryer when the telegram came' and I thought 'what?'. Did I hear that right? That caught my attention and kept me listening to the words and Martha's voice, raw and direct. It's the opening line to 'I Should Be Proud', a song I've heard before but never really listened to.

The song tells the story of the lead character receiving a telegram while she's under the hair dryer to say that her husband is missing in action in Vietnam. That's then followed by another saying he's dead. The refrain is that she should be proud of him and that he was fighting for her but her retort is that he didn't need to fight for her, he was fighting for the evils of society and, eventually, that he was a victim of those same evils. It's quite brutal and direct in its honesty and, I think, that's what stunned me on the sunny and quiet backstreets of Westminster. Where did this pain come from and this big fuck off to those supporting the Vietnam war? It was almost emotionally draining.

It's not the most subtle or sophisticated of songs but it grabbed my attention and made me listen and think and that's what all good songs should do. Well done to the young Martha for being brave enough to sing a song like this back in the day. If I ever have the chance to meet her again I'll ask about that song.

Buffy Sainte-Marie at Southern Fried Festival

Buffy Sainte-Marie will, once again, be jetting in to these shores in a couple of weeks time to play at the Southern Fried Festival in Perth on 25 July. Yes, Perth Scotland. And, sadly, I won't be in the audience. I've done the sums and it would be the most expensive gig ticket ever in this country taking into account trains and a hotel but I'm pleased to see it's virtually sold out. I won't be seeing Buffy but you lucky Scots will so please give her a cheer from me.

My most expensive Buffy gig (and most expensive gig ever) was when I saw her play in Belleville in Ontario, a couple of hours train ride from Toronto, in 2005. I didn't realise Buffy was even still gigging when I found out about Buffy in Belleville and decided it was time I saw her play live. And I did. At the Empire Theatre and the world exploded into multiphonic powwow when the audience joined in the powwow singing all around me. That was a big wow that has never been repeated. I met Buffy for the first time that night and the signed poster of the gig still hangs on my living room wall in pride of place. The first time is always special.

Still, that means that Buffy and, I hope, her band (hello lads *waves*!), will be jetting into London towards the end of July before heading up to Scotland. There's still the chance of a last minute gig being announced in London so I'll be scanning the music news regularly. Buffy will rock your socks off, make you cry and make you fall in love all over again. She will, y'know!

Books About Town

Do you remember the Elephant Parade from a few years ago in 2010 in which colourful painted elephants were dotted around town? All over the place you stood a chance of discovering an elephant and then they assembled in the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital. I blogged about the elephants back then and took great pleasure in finding new ones - going elephant hunting in London was great fun!

I think I've found this years' summer vocation - bench hunting! Books About Town has commissioned a series of benches shaped like open books and painted them to reflect some of the great books associated with London. The website says:

Books about Town launched to the public today with benches shaped like open books popping up all over the capital for Londoners, families and visitors to find and enjoy. 

The BookBenches feature stories linked to London and are based on a range of iconic books from treasured children’s stories such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Peter Pan to classic adult titles including 1984 and The Day of the Triffids. 

The new Books about Town website also launched today with a range of exciting features, including family events, activities and quizzes, downloadable trail maps, artist profiles and information on each BookBench.

To mark the launch of Books about Town, the National Literacy Trust unveiled new research revealing that children’s enjoyment of reading has increased for the first time in eight years. 

This sounds like a great idea and should be fun tracking them down. The website even provides maps to help you find specific benches. I want to find the 'Mary Poppins' bench (Poppins was a great hero of the Olympic Opening Ceremony at London 2012) and '1984' and 'Mrs Dalloway' and 'Peter Pan' and 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' with Mr Tumnus and Lucy and ...

... I hope no-one's using them as actual benches when I find them. That would be too disappointing!

Today Is Poly Styrene's Birthday

Poly Styrene would've been 57 today. Marianne Elliott-Said won her battle to move to a higher life in 2011 just a short while after her last album, the magnificent 'Generation Indigo', was released. I regret not having the chance to see Poly sing those songs live but I still listen to them. I'm listening to them at the moment. I treasure the memories of seeing Poly sing live - at last - at the X-Ray Spex reunion gig in 2008 at the Roundhouse, the evening before I went into hospital for an operation (phew! good timing!).

It's nice to see Poly still being remembered and praised. She's mentioned in Tracey Thorn's autobiography and in her review of Viv Albertine's new book, Viv gives a chapter over to Poly and she was referenced several times in The Culture Show documentary earlier this week on BBC2 about women in punk. She is still a powerful influence on anyone who will listen.

I was lucky enough to go to Poly's memorial gig last year - PolyFest - and saw Celeste (Poly's daughter) singing 'Warrior In Woolworths' but that doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. I still want a box-set of Poly's music, a detailed biography and photo-book. And who knows what else? It's public knowledge that Poly entered the studio to record 'Generation Indigo' with more songs than were released so maybe there's a demo album somewhere waiting to be released? There must be a legacy for such a special life.

Poly's day-glo legacy and memory burn bright. And could burn brighter still.

'20th Century Boy' at Wimbledon Theatre

OK, so it's virtually the law that anything is happening within three miles of my house about one of the Glam Gods - in this case Marc Bolan - then I *have* to be there. On this occasion it was the '20th Century Boy' musical about Marc's life and named after one of his most iconic songs. My expectations weren't terribly high but, y'know what, I was *so* wrong! This is a fab show for anyone with the slightest interest in Marc, T.Rex or Glam.

The story is about Marc's life, the good and the bad, as discovered by his son Rolan when he comes to London from America to discover what he can about his dad's life. His mother is Gloria Jones (writer of 'Tainted Love' and other  Motown hits). Rolan arrives in London to find his uncle and Grandma who love Marc but hate his mother for driving the car that ended up killing Marc in 1977 just as his career was getting back in shape.

The early scenes show Marc becoming a godlike figure in early '70s British glam rock - it's astonishing to think how big he was and how no-one these days even comes close. The world has changed and expectations are different, but Ringo Starr and Elton John were sucking up to him at one point for his 'Born to Boogie' film. That's how big he was. Then it went wrong as the booze and drugs kicked in. Marc was getting back on track when he died in 1977, just short of his 30th birthday.

We see Marc's life acted out in front of us, from his early days as a Mod in London (played to 'London Boys') to his hippy years and development into a Glam God to fighting his way back to the top by touring with the Damned as the godfather of punk. I was enthralled by it all, by what was included from his story as well as what was omitted.

I felt uncomfortable for most of the first half about how the play was anti-Gloria for her role in driving the car that led to Marc's death but it was nice to see the final reconciliation with Marc's mother in the final scenes. Gloria is portrayed as the enemy throughout the play until the final scenes and the reconciliation is well overdue.

It's a great, fun show. By the end of the first half I was puzzling over in my mind how something like 'We Will Rock You' can run for a decade without a plot and something like '20th Century Boy' is still waiting for its chance in the West End. The songs are fab and there's a potentially huge audience so it really needs a West End home. While looking at the stage I couldn't help but think that, if it was on in the West End, it would have more scenery changes, the costumes would be better (Marc's clothes hardly seemed to fit the actor) and there would be a cast recording. Do it people. Make it happen.

It's not the most excellent piece of theatre I've ever seen but it's not half bad and a fun way to fill a few hours. The punters loved it - even the pink boas that seemed to fall to bits in front of you. Get a glitter cannon on stage for the final megamix and we'll all be happy. I'd probably buy tickets for once a month to relive the glory that was Marc.

Go on, make it happen!