'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!

My Big List of Gigs

I blogged about lists a couple of weeks ago and promised you a big list of the bands wot I have seen. It's not complete and I keep thinking of others, but here it is (in no particular order):

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, SLADE, 10cc, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, The Who, The Clash, Lene Lovich, Rachel Sweet, Wreckless Eric, Jona Lewie, The Ramones, Gary Glitter, Lindisfarne, Marianne Faithfull, The Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex/Poly Styrene, Siouxsie, Brenda Holloway, Chris Clark, Mabel John, Sandie Shaw, Lynsey de Paul, T.Rexstacy, Glen Matlock, The Human League, ABC, Heaven 17, Alison Moyet, Boy George, The B-52's, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Maximo Park, Art Brut, Theoretical Girl, Mystery Jets, Pete & The Pirates, Viv Albertine, Lulu, Shelby Lynne, Suzanne Vega, Petula Clark, Madonna,

Bananrama, Scissor Sisters, New York Dolls, The Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer, Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra, Evelyn Evelyn, Jason Webley, Christian Silva, Sandi Thom, The Simple Pleasure, Sinead O'Connor, Yoko Ono, Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Patti Smith, Eliza Carthy, The Imagined Village, Ronnie Spector, Carole King, Donovan, Roger Cook, Jessie Malin, Richard Thompson, Ray Davies, Uncle Monk, Public Image Ltd, Sugababes,

Prince, Dr & The Medics, Buzzcocks, Pet Shop Boys, Tom Tom Club, Victor Romero Evans and Chris Tummings, Janet Kay, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Dennis Bovell, The Unthanks, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, Jimmy Cliff, Jean Binta Breeze, Thea Gilmore, John Cooper Clarke, Suzi Quatro, P!nk, Our Lady J, Justin Vivian Bond, Gavin Creel, Angie Stone, Linda Lewis, Belnda Carlisle, Novice Theory/Geo Wyeth, Ojos de Brujo, Morrissey, The Mummers, Michelle Shocked, Mary J Blige, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas,

Marc Almond, Kiki Dee, Mammas Gun, Steeleye Span, Macy Gray, Liza Minelli, Ladyhawke, Laura Marling, Kim Wilde, Kim Weston, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Indigo Girls, Alela Diane, Grace Jones, Goldblade, Gladys Knight, Gabrielle, Anastacia, Bad Lieutenant, Barbara Cook, Beverley Knight,

Carl Barat, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Blood Red Shoes, Carroll Thompson, Cerys Matthews, Estelle, Blondie, Emily Barker, David McAlmont, McAlmont & Butler, Comanechi, Cher, Chaka Khan, Bitter Ruin, Fascinating Aida, The Tourists, Alphabeat, Anita Harris, Alan Price, The Funk Brothers, Mary Wilson, Madeleine Bell, Alvin Stardust, Shakin' Stevens, Gregory Porter, Thelma Houston...

... and probably lots more bands from the late 70s and early 80s.

Stanley Spencer Gallery at Cookham

Today was bright and sunny and what better way to celebrate summer than to head out to Cookham in Berkshire to the Stanley Spencer Gallery just down the road from Mr Spencer's family house. The current exhibition is titled 'Paradise Regained: Stanley Spencer in the Aftermath of the First World War', presumably to tie-in with the centenary of the war. I've seen a few of the paintings before, at the 'Crisis of Brilliance' exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery last year, and it was nice to see them again.

The Gallery is based in a small, converted chapel at the end of the High Street with the main paintings on the ground floor and some paintings and drawings on the wall by the stairs up to a small mezzanine. This area holds archive materials you can browse through, books, more drawings and an iPad with an interactive display of the main painting on the wall opposite, the unfinished and huge 'Christ Preaching at Cookham Regata' (on the left of the interior photo above). Someone has clearly put a lot of thought into making this small space work both as a gallery and as an interactive experience, so well done.

One of the more striking paintings in the exhibition is 'The Last Supper' with Jesus and the disciples squashed into a small room for their last meal together and, for some reason, the disciples have their bare feet sticking out from under the table cloth. I was pondering this on the train back to London and can't think of any reason why that particular pose should be remotely meaningful - the catalogue suggests it might allude to Christ washing the feet of his disciples but what an odd way of alluding to it. What I want to know is who is the disciple to the left of Jesus who seems to be merrily scoffing food and shoving it into his mouth. I suspect Judas.

Just as so many of Spencer's painting hark back to Cookham, he sets 'Christ Carrying The Cross' on the High Street outside his family home. You don't actually see Christ, it's everyone else in the parade you see, with people milling around and leaning out of windows to see what all the fuss was about. The direction of travel heads towards the chapel that would later become a gallery to Spencer's memory. He seemed to like painting crowds and there are lots of crowds in his paintings - the trick is to look carefully at them and see what isn't obvious, what he might have hidden away in a corner or behind a more prominent figure. Never take what is obvious for granted in his paintings and drawings.

One of the more poignant paintings in the exhibition is 'Unveiling Cookham War Memorial' from 1922 (which was exhibited as part of the 'Crisis of Brilliance' show last year). I say poignant because it was obviously important to him and his older brother's name is inscribed on the base of the cross as someone who lost his life in the war. There are no soldiers in uniform present and no grieving, this is a celebration with everyone there in their best clothes, lounging around seeing who's there and being seen. The only thing that seems slightly out of place is the Union flag in the bottom right-hand corner and it's this splash of colour that suggests something other than a small town fayre is going on. You walk past the memorial on the way from the station to the gallery so you can't help but see it. On the way back to the station I took a photo from roughly the same place as Spencer's view-point. I'll post that when I download it.

Of course, there's a lot more to Spencer than religious paintings and the war, he was also a delicate and beautiful landscape painter and there are three paintings of Englefield House from different angles covered in wisteria, lilacs and clematis as well as tress and whatever else. I think my favourite was 'Lilac and Clematis at Englefield' that has the simple and raw geometric shape of the building overgrown and tangled by the plants. I like the brickwork, with the different shades of brick bathed in the sun - I suspect that took ages to get right.

It's only a little gallery and doesn't take long to look round but it's obviously well thought out and dedicated to the memory of Spencer. The number of books available, the wall of postcards (how often I bemoan the lack of postcards at exhibitions) and the lovely little catalogue with good reproductions and thorough text all demonstrate that whoever's in charge of the gallery knows what they're doing and knows what punters want. Well done! I got the catalogue and postcards to browse through later.

Beside the door as you go in there's a self-portrait of Spencer, his first in oils when he was 23 years old. The simplicity and the direct gaze say so much about the artist he was to become, battered by war and struggling to find his own peace afterwards in his little country town. There's something terribly English about his paintings, about his crowds and subjects. He painted what he saw around him and even placed his religious paintings in Cookham. He was bringing the immortal to the end of his street, to outside his own house, to make it real to his viewers and, in my view, he succeeded.

'The Pajama Game' at the Shaftesbury Theatre

I went to a socialist rally tonight to hear dialectic Marxism and workers' rights and solidarity with the brothers and sisters and what did I get? Songs! And dancing! But, luckily, the striking workers won the argument and capitalism was shown to be corrupt and selfish *fist in the air*.

I went to see 'The Pajama Game' at the Shaftesbury Theatre. I've never seen it before (or the film) so I was coming to it fresh. It's the story of a dispute over wages at the Sleep Tite Pajama Factory embodied by the management and union leads falling in love and singing lovey-dovey songs while industrial relations fail around them.

There isn't much of a plot, really - boy (management) meets girl (union) they argue and fight then declare love at a works picnic then boy sacks girl and the union goes on strike over a 7.5 cent pay increase. Boy settles the strike by getting hold of the boss's secret accounts that shows he's been fiddling the books and pocketing the money and forces the company to give the workers the pay increase and then boy and girl can get back together. Of course, there's a lot more to it than that (but not much). There's a shedful of casual 1950s sexism in the text that, no matter how it's played, still comes through loud and clear. The politics is also quite odd for 1954, so close to the McCarthy show trials and portraying the little lady as the political one in the play (the union leader is clearly just out to have sex with as many union members as possible).

The play opens with the cast coming in from the floor of the theatre as if they're appearing at the gates at work in the morning. Then we have Gary Wilmot (yes, that Gary Wilmot) as the time and motion expert welcoming us to the factory before the stage is again invaded by the workers pushing their sewing machine tables and chairs on stage for the first big scene. The scenes mainly blur between the factory floor and the factory office with an outing to the local park for the annual works picnic, and, in the second half, with 'Hernando's Hideaway' nightclub. As well as the casual sexism there's also casual racism against native Americans with Gary Wilmot dressing as a 'red indian' for his knife throwing act and scalping lines in a later song. It really quite jarred with me.

Every now and then the stage exploded into colour but, in the main, I thought it was a bit drab. A factory is hardly the right setting for an explosion of colour but it's about pyjamas and they're all colours so it can be done. The colour all seemed to come later in the second half of the show. Oh, and our heroine never wears the yellow dress shown in the publicity posters. On the other hand, there's enough movement and vitality to make up for it, with never a dull moment on the stage.

I really liked the leads. It was great to see Gary Wilmot again - the first time in a couple of decades, I think - and he was great fun with great timing. I also really liked Michael Xavier as our hero Sid (who calls a hero Sid?). He has a great voice and it's a delight to see him again - I saw him as one of the princes in 'Into The Woods' at Regent Park a few years ago so it's nice to see his career progressing so that he's now playing the lead in a big West End show. I also liked Joanna Riding as Babe, the union rep who falls in love. She brought a nice feistiness to the part but didn't quite quash the casual sexism.

The sound wasn't terribly good and sometimes the cast were drowned out by the orchestra (maybe someone new was on the sound-desk for that performance?). Despite the sound and the occasional drabness of the stage, there was something about the production that kept a smile on my face for most of the performance. I don't know what it was but I was conscious that I was smiling. And not just for the daft 'Hernando's Hideaway' section.

It's on for another couple of months so see it if you can - it's not the best musical ever and there are some problems with it but it was great fun and a lovely way to spend a few hours. Solidarity!

PS: Pyjamas are spelled with a 'y' in British English. A minor annoyance having that rogue 'a' in the word on the poster...