All the fine things - CATCH UP

As I intend resuming this blog I thought I'd catch you up on some of the things that I've been doing whilst not updating. Not a complete list, just what springs to mind :

Right back on July 27th, I saw Tom Waits play at the Playhouse in Edinburgh. The gig was the most expensive ticket I've ever paid for and, even though it was a delight to get to see someone who so rarely plays gigs, there was perhaps too high an expectation. But ultimately it is that Tom is an actor that provides the biggest obstacle. It means that you can really only enjoy the show as a SHOW, and not quite ever get on the inside of any of the material the same way as you can when you're not in the same room as the actor (ie when listening to Tom's amazing albums, without having him in front of you reminding you that he's acting). On its own terms however it was surely brilliant; it just left me a little empty after having been to such heartfelt gigs as Mavis Staples, Bruce Springsteen and Public Enemy earlier in the year.

October 29th, I saw Dr John playing in Blackburn following the release of his latest record The City That Care Forgot. It was nothing on seeing him the year before in Holmfirth, and I feel the Lower 911 (his backing band) sometimes produce too stodgy a sound. However there were some truly great moments, especially the gospel finale. The venue was full of Blackburn locals though, which resulted in it being one of the strangest concerts I've been to!

5th November, I saw a production of Antigone at the Royal Exchange. It was far from perfect, for example Dionysus appeared to dance in a slow eastern martial-artsy kind of way, restraint and controlled : ie Dionysus was VERY Apollonian! But overall it was enjoyable and worthwhile. Surprisingly the school kids in the theatre seemed to go wild for it!

17th November I saw Kayne West on his Glow in the Dark tour at the M.E.N. Arena. There was some unfulfilled bluster, and it would've been nice seeing him sharing the stage with his musicains rather than them playing from the pit; but Kayne is brilliant. It all ended in a truly awesome extended version of Love Lockdown off Kayne's new offbeat album 808 & Heartbreak. An album that I don't think anybody could've ever seen coming... and a very interesting and heartfelt conceptual record from a heartbroken iconoclast.

2008, Liverpool was the European 'Capital of Culture'. It was mostly pretty embarrassing sadly. I paid my last visit of the year on November 30th to visit the Le Corbusier exhibition in the crypt of the great modernist Catholic Cathedral (one of my favourite buildings in the world). Unfortunately they'd managed to make the fascinating Le Corbusier seem somewhat dull, largely due to over egging his paintings etc, which are really no match for his urban visions and architecture, which the exhibition was shockingly light on.

18th January 2009, Last Sunday I saw Richard Thompson at the Lowry in Salford. He was performing his 1000 years of popular song material, dating back to the 1100s and coming right up to Nelly Furtado's fantastic disco-stomp Maneater. There was a good ole song about people who scab on striking workers, The Blackleg Miner. Here performed by Steeleye Span : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X7pnRgBan7c - Thompson did an awesome version of this 19th century folk song from the north-east, really capturing the anger and distate for those who cross pickets. One of the two women he had backing him was a bit theatrical and distracting, and I'dve loved some additional folk songs where a village beheads a child because they suspect it is possessed by the demon spirit of a neighbouring village etc, but conceptually a great event nonetheless.

Last Friday I went to see a dark comedy about Burma at the Contact Theatre. It was like having Burma's Wikipedia entry read out in your face by Giles Brandreth. It really didn't work for me.


I'll leave you with another song from Richard Thompson's 1000 year-old canon; here performed by four old people in a lobby of somewhere or other : JAVA JIVE